Running the Game Archives - Roleplaying Tips

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The GM’s Ten Commandments: GM vs. Players

RPT GM Krys sent me this article on The GM’s Ten Commandments. While an old article from 1987, it still has some good advice. The first of Volny’s commandments made me stop and reflect: Do not consider the players as adversaries “If the players quickly neutralize or bypass these clever entrapments, the GM often has […]

The Dangling Description Mystery Method Formula — The Secret Sauce To Riveting Descriptions

I was working on a new Faster Combat lesson about the Action Economy last weekend and a lightbulb went off. I know exactly what I want to deliver each time you and I describe something to our players. This applies to descriptions for encounters, NPCs, items, monsters, and locations. This applies to boxed text, bullet […]

Use Micro Breaks To Take Fast Notes

RPT GM Ed Marley asks: I was wondering if you had any tips on how to take notes during a session. Not what tool to use, but the logistics of taking notes mid-session. I find the give-and-take between the players and I during the action is fast and fun and I don’t want to disrupt […]

Campaign’s Pillars: How to Pacing Your Game’s Exciting Moments

Manage pace during sessions instead of scripting it. This lets you react to your game as it unfolds and is one less strict plan you must track. But, leaving pace to encounter-level decisions burden you with yet another thing. Until you’ve made pacing a habit and can spot opportunities to switch energy up mid-session, it […]

Novel Ways to Use Non-Combat Initiative

I asked for ways you use initiative outside combat. Several cool ideas hit my inbox I’d like to share with you today: Social Initiative From: Alexander T Greene In Mythras, I’ve based a non-combat initiative score on CHA rather than DEX. CHA in social initiative means those with high charisma are more likely to lead […]

d6 Ways to Spice Up Next Session

Sometimes 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 […]

Is Running Two Game Masters a Disaster?

RPT Patron Morgan Joeck asks about having one campaign with two game masters: A friend wants to run a dungeon crawl, and I like the concepts behind Demonplague. I was wondering how you would suggest co-DMing the campaign. How much of the through line is there between the four modules? Would GMing the first one […]

Campaign’s Pillars: How To Pacing Your Game’s Exciting Moments

Manage pace during sessions instead of scripting it. This lets you react to your game as it unfolds and is one less strict plan you must track. But, leaving pace to encounter-level decisions burdens you with yet another thing. Until you’ve made pacing a habit and can spot opportunities to switch energy up mid-session, it […]

d6 Ways To Spice Up Next Session

Next 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.

Get Into Gamespace Faster With A Good Session Warm-Up

Sometimes you have a rough transition between everyone arriving for a game and the game starting. Everyone catching up on news, one player looking everywhere for missing dice, another player bugging you with min/max ploys. It’s raucous. When you do finally catch everyone’s attention, it still takes awhile for players to ease into character and […]

Tag Archive

The GM’s Ten Commandments: GM vs. Players

The Dangling Description Mystery Method Formula — The Secret Sauce To Riveting Descriptions

Use Micro Breaks To Take Fast Notes

Campaign’s Pillars: How to Pacing Your Game’s Exciting Moments

Novel Ways to Use Non-Combat Initiative

d6 Ways to Spice Up Next Session

Is Running Two Game Masters a Disaster?

Campaign’s Pillars: How To Pacing Your Game’s Exciting Moments

d6 Ways To Spice Up Next Session

Get Into Gamespace Faster With A Good Session Warm-Up

Use This 10 Idea Checklist To Fix Your Pacing

Is Running Two Game Masters A Disaster?

What Do I Do When My Players Try To Rob A House?

How Long Does Forever Take? A GM Pit Trap To Avoid

My Phases of GMing

Science Fiction vs. Fantasy – What’s the Adventuring Difference?

Quick & Cool Magic Item Backgrounds In 60 Seconds

What Do You Wish Players Asked You?

The Haunted Mansion Savage Experience – Intriguing GMing Tips Gleaned From A Con, Part 3

Save Yourself Some GMing Headaches

Being A Devil With The Details – Intriguing GMing Tips Gleaned From A Con, Part 2

Intriguing GMing Tips Gleaned From A Con, Part I

Make Your Turns Go Faster – Improving GM GIT Part IV

What Props Do You Use?

Getting Your Players To Roleplay More — Improving GM GIT Part V