Politics & Inrigue Archives - Roleplaying Tips

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Big Bang Events

Big Bang Events: How to Create Player-Proof Plots I’m very excited to announce GM’s Log #12 is now available. The topic is a core method I developed in the early 2000s that’s saved my Canadian bacon for over two decades now. A problem that hits my inbox and my coaching sessions on the regular is […]

Know Of Any Good Mystery Resources?

Over on ze Discord, Al Dente wants to noodle on mystery resources: Hey! I’m trying to get better at designing mystery scenarios for investigative games like Call of Cthulhu. I was wondering if you guys could suggest any resources i should check out @Loz replied: GURPS Mysteries could be a good source. I remember their […]

Three New Layers for My Shadowdark World Building

Hello Game Master and happy Super Wolf Moon! In these parts, it’s the first full moon of the year (wolf) and Luna is at perigee (super). Snowing here in the morning darkness, so I can’t see it. But the clouds sure are bright. It’s great getting mooned on a Friday. This week I started prepping […]

The Woes of Rulership

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0110 A Guest Article By Jared Hunt To those on the outside, being the boss may seem like the best job around. Seen from the top, however, the sacrifices, responsibilities, and woes involved make being in charge a little less glamorous than it might appear. Here are just a few of the […]

d20 Noble Obligations

Privilege & Power: Using Nobility in Your World-Building and Plots. Read Part I here. And happy Wednesday. Yesterday, we looked at the rights and privileges nobles may get in your world. This helps flesh out noble PC backgrounds, aids in world-building, and inspires plot and encounter ideas. A fantastic way to balance out some of […]

Privilege & Power: Using Nobility in Your World-Building and Plots

Privilege & Power: Using Nobility in Your World-Building and Plots. Read Part II here. The idea of nobility comes up often in our campaigns. Villains, character backgrounds, NPC classes, settlements, and intrigue and politics, for example, can make nobility important in your milieu. Noble NPCs are special because they have special privileges and responsibilities most […]

How One RPT GM Exploits The Flatulent Feline

If you caught Monday’s announcement, I’ve written a new book with RPG AI expert Danny McKeever about how to use GPT for adventure building. It gives you detailed and specific prompts you can paste into ChatGPT (or Zorgon in Campaign Logger) to help you create adventures, worlds, NPCs, and treasure. In French, it turns out […]

11 Ways To Make Mysteries Magnificent

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1211 Brief Word From Johnn Check out this cool session pic from Platinum Wizard of Adventure Nemsoli: I asked Nemsoli what I was seeing, and he replied: What you are looking at is a Dwarven Forge 3d model my GM bought and painted. The two minis are clockwork owlbears he printed and […]

Fantastic Factions => 4 Tricks To Get The Most Out Of Your Villain Factions

Why do I use factions so much in my campaigns? You know I love my NPCs. They are our avatars and “Agent Smiths” in the game to influence players and direct the characters. Therefore, we get even more value out of groups of NPCs. But random clusters do not make great storytelling. We need each […]

The Four Levers That Inevitably Pull Players Through Your Adventures

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0974 I’m writing right now in my Guide to 5 Room Dungeons about Push versus Pull. Push GMing means forcing players in a certain direction. But players are their own beings. They think and act independent of your wishes. You cannot control another person. Therefore, you cannot control your players. If you […]

Manic Mystery Mayhem – Three Lessons Learned About GMing Mysteries

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0750 Manic Mystery Mayhem I had an interesting game on Wednesday. I made a couple big mistakes you can hopefully learn from. I’m playtesting the mystery portion of my Demonplague I: The Frozen Necromancer adventure, which releases in 2017. The PCs must find out who or what is behind disappearing villagers. During […]

Factions Done Blades In The Dark Style

I’ve become a big fan of the way that Blades in the Dark handles world-building. Assign basic stats and create agendas tracked with progress clocks.

Rhyme Clues For Your Campaign

From Coyote O’Reilly Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0289 Rhyme Clues For Your Campaign I’m preparing a fantasy-horror Rolemaster game where the characters are stationed in a town full of strange events. For inspiration, I’ve looked to European folklore that arose from superstition and fear of the dark, and Tales from the Brothers Grimm. I’ve explained to […]

Political Campaign Tips – Part II

From Johnn Four Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0203 A Brief Word From Johnn Happy New Year Well, it’s great to be writing the ezine again after a three week Christmas break. It’s like returning to an old friend. Happy New Year to you. I hope you find this week’s article of value for your games. Visa, […]

Political Campaign Tip: Create A Social Ladder

From Johnn Four Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0201 A Brief Word From Johnn Free Archives Download Updated This is one of the reasons last week’s issue was delayed; however, I’ve finally got the archive plain text zip download updated to Issue #200 and it’s available free for download! https://www.roleplayingtips.com/encyc/ Merry Christmas! The RoleplayingTips GM Encyclopedia Is […]

Innkeeper Intrigue

From John C. Feltz Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0185 Innkeeper Intrigue The innkeeper or bartender may very well be the most stock, archetypal, and boring NPC ever created. PCs interact with innkeepers every day, relying on them as a source of food, shelter, and information. But even if the GM roleplays each innkeeper well, there’s usually […]