How do we outsmart our players? It’s all their brains against ours. Surely the odds are against us. However, here’s a neat trick we can perform to make our villains smarter and our adventures more cunning. We look at the possible plots and actions our poor villain might take and group them into three buckets. […]
Continue readingHere’s an email from RPT GM Sam about campaigning: Hi Johnn! Glad I stumbled upon your stuff over the weekend. I am a gamer from Melbourne, Australia. I’ve been playing RPGs for about 12 years and I’ve been interested in GMing for about 5 years now. My biggest problem is this: I find creating stories […]
Continue readingI got this tip while reading The Index Card RPG by Rune Hammer Games. Treat every session like you were prepping for a one-shot. If you’ve ever run a convention game or organized play type game, you know it’s a bit different than your typical campaign prep mindset. No one expects to play again after […]
Continue readingI recently read about a memorization technique called Memory Palace, also called Method of loci. It helps you memorize lists and facts. Dungeons are more my style than fancy palaces. So today let’s look at how this quick memory hack can help you prep faster and run adventures better. We Think Story Our brains are […]
Continue readingHere’s a cool experiment from fellow RPT reader Iona to reduce the anxiety she felt before games. As smart, caring, sensitive people, we GMs want the best experience for our players. But this leads to perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and unease before sessions. Here’s how Iona solved it. I have something I would like to share […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips GM Leif told me this: “Game prep, or ‘designing’ as my DM Partner and I call it, is my biggest challenge currently. It’s tough to find the motivation to get started.” I asked for a bit more info, and while I wait for his response I’d like to share with you a quick […]
Continue readingAfter each game, let’s take 10 minutes to review our session log to help plan for next time. I outline below a quick approach we can follow using my Loopy Planning method. We do this for a couple of reasons. First, we tend to improvise a lot during sessions. So we want to review and […]
Continue readingRPT GM E. shared with me that they’ve got writer’s block, and maybe a little GM burnout. Here’s their email, paraphrased a bit: RPGwise, I realized this week my creativity is gone. I had to brainstorm and couldn’t whip up anything. Right now, I’m in a total slump gamewise. Right now is a great opportunity […]
Continue readingHere’s another way to get players more engaged and better prepared to game when they arrive. It could also get more players showing up more often if you have that problem. Send a message to your players a week before next session. An alert. But with added strategic pieces to make it a fantastic new […]
Continue readingSometimes things get dull, predictable, and stale. Your players get into the same old rut of “break down the door, kill the monster, take the loot.” Or if your group is more into roleplaying, perhaps it’s “meet the NPC, kill the NPC, Speak With Dead.” lol. Next session, let’s mix it up. Let’s inject a […]
Continue readingNext session, let’s mix it up. Let’s make things more fun for ourselves and our players using these d6 tables of dangers, goals, and plot twists for ideas.
Continue readingGlad I stumbled upon your stuff over the weekend. I am a gamer from Melbourne, Australia. I’ve been playing RPGs for about 12 years and I’ve been interested in GMing for about 5 years now.
Continue readingResurrected GM Anthony asks how many sessions a published adventure should take.
Continue readingI just read your response to RPT GM Sam and thought about how I keep campaigns interesting.
Continue readingWhy do we fear improv?In my experience, GMing by the seat of your pants means facing embarrassment and frustration because of?
Continue readingMartin Ralya at Engine Publishing sent me a preview of his latest book, Never Unprepared: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Session Prep. (Thanks Martin – the book looks great!) Written by Phil Vecchione, the 127 page book is carved into three main sections: Understanding Prep Prep Toolbox Evolving Your Style There are also meta […]
Continue readingDungeon Master Tool Review: How To Be On Top Of Your Game Without Breaking A Sweat Track your entire world, your whole campaign, and every adventure with MyInfo Software Update January 2013: Video Course Shows You How to Use MyInfo Hi, this is Johnn. I’ve just setup an online course to show you how to […]
Continue readingFrom Brad Allen Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #523 Applying the Hollywood Formula to RPG Storylines I’ve been GMing for many years but only recently tried to enhance my pacing and story-writing skills. For a long time my games suffered from frequent lulls and anti-climaxes, but no longer. A year or so ago, I did some research […]
Continue readingFrom Kit Reshawn Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #517 As I’ve gotten older, I’ve run into a bit of a problem when it comes to running campaigns. Getting people together for a session becomes more and more difficult, so players often forget details about previous sessions. I’ve played with GMs who have a rule that can be […]
Continue readingFrom Len Henderson One of the most enjoyable parts of roleplaying for many gamers is combat. However, especially in large groups, players can wait for a considerable amount of time between turns. This sort of wait leads to boredom and cross chatter, annoying the GM and the player whose turn it is. Here are things […]
Continue readingBy Paul Robertson Be prepared I list this first because it is the most important. I played in this adventure and for a few sessions the GM had done extremely little to no prep work. They flew by the seat of their pants for those sessions. This can usually be pulled off by more experienced […]
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