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Avoid This Nasty Description Trap GMs Often Trigger

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1019 I saw this writing tip from @ShawnMerwin and it applies to GMing, as well: Avoid “begin to” or “start to” unless those actions are interruptible. “You begin to hear a scream” is simpler as “You hear screaming.” Clearer and more concise is better. So it is for GM descriptions. And that […]

How To Do A Deeper Analysis Of Your GMing In 5 Easy Steps

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1010 In a past Musing I talked about pre-mortems. Anticipate problems before they occur and fix them in advance. Everyone wins. Players win by getting smoother gameplay and great sessions with fewer friction points. You get a double win. You not only have more fun at every game, but you create a […]

Run With The Impressions Technique

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0998 Here’s the thing with read-aloud scripts and boxed text you find in published modules…. It’s boring. And it kills the mood. Imagine an actor stopping mid-scene to grab the script and read it aloud to you. A terrible experience for both actor and audience. Likewise, stopping your natural way of describing […]

An NPC Improv Trick

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0988 RPT GM Haukur asked me for tips on how to improv better. Here’s one using NPCs in two specific ways to come up with great ideas while under pressure. Players do not understand how exhausting it is to GM a session. A friend at work was chatting with one of his […]

Smarter Villains To Challenge Tough Characters

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0984 We wax a bit philosophical today. Last email I shared a session account of my Murder Hobos campaign. A few RPT GMs asked about the quasit incident. An invisible creature snuck out of a room to report to the stage boss that the PCs had arrived. One GM asked if this […]

What Surprises Lurk in Our Fog of War?

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0972 Let’s talk about the unknown for a minute. We instinctively fear the dark. Yet, we can’t help but wonder what’s there. Use this tension between darkness and light to fuel curiosity, wonder, and excitement for your games. We Sit in The Middle What might not be obvious is there are different […]

A Confidence Hack For Better GMing

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0936 Great GMing means making great decisions. In the heat of gameplay we have a lot going on in our foggy noggins. (Say foggy noggins ten times fast.) We’re doing some math, picking NPC words, choosing foe tactics, observing players, drawing maps, conjuring details, thinking three seconds into the future, and on […]

A Quick Tip On Session Prep

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0916 I 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 […]

Create Your Memory Dungeon

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0915 I 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 […]

What Makes A Player Valuable?

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0909 Last Starfinder game I felt valuable when I came up with a good idea about talking to the Starfinder Society office greeter. That person would see the comings and goings of everyone and might get us a lead on the employee we were investigating. It’s awesome feeling valued. I was thinking […]

Building Encounters On The Fly

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0903 Roleplaying Tip GM Dario asks, “How do you create encounters on the fly? Do you just have the DM tables at hand, roll a d20 a few times and voilá? Or do you have a specific procedure?” Thanks for the great question, Dario. I have a few tools for improve encounters: […]

Do This Often To Keep Your Players Engaged

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0885 Questions are the best way to get your players tuned in, roleplaying, and thinking about the game. However, not all questions are equal. GIGO applies here. Ask a bad question, get a garbage answer and no game lift. But ask the right question at the right time and you reap all […]

Quick GMing Lessons Learned Playing Three One-Shots In Two Days

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0857 I rarely play. I almost always GM because I like that role best. But at IntrigueCon I got to log 14 hours on the art-side of the GM screen and I made notes based on my observations and learnings. In a past Musing I discussed how GM details can derail the […]

Online RPG With VTT: How To Engage Players Better

An RPT GM asked how he could help his player engage more and roleplay better after switching to online Virtual Tabletop (VTT) games. Several GMs wrote in with fantastic tips. Thank you! Here’s what they said.

Coax The Details Out

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0751 It all starts with a flaw. The item does not work as expected. This creates surprise, which makes great gameplay. After the surprise, it makes the item distinct and valued because it’s not just another +1 dagger. Design cost-value into your flaws and find that sweet spot where the penalty of […]

Trick Question For You – All Players Count

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0748 Trick Question For You – All Players Count I had a great game on Friday. I’m a cleric for our Out of the Abyss campaign. A player complimented me for thinking outside the box. As I only had 9 hit points at the time, I assume he meant the box was […]

How To Beat Prep Anxiety

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0766 Here’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 […]

Fear the GM

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0764 When I surveyed readers last year about what kinds of adventure design challenges you all faced, one thing that came up was how to solve the PCs rampaging through your encounters without a care in the world. The characters don’t plan, never retreat, and don’t parley. This topic is salient because […]

A Fantastic Encounter Building Tool

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0762 If you have writer’s block, this is a fantastic GM encounter building tool created by Brennan OBrien. Today’s Musing is a short one. Just check this tool out and explore its possibilities. For example, I think it’s awesome for encounter building. Encounter Building Recipe Start with an encounter seed idea for […]

Why Will It Be Fun?

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0779 We get stuck in our own heads. What we think will be fun for players is actually ego strokes for our GMing. Don’t fall into this trap. Here’s a perfect example. A GM asked for help polishing their encounter: GM: “As the PCs explore a cavern I plan on having a […]

Build Story Last

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0776 For RPG purposes, I define story as the sequence of events that come out of gameplay. And I think of plot as the GM’s plan for those events. Plot comes first, story comes second. Plot is based on ideas and connections for events and situations. It’s flexible and adapts to character […]

Get Off the Reverse Railroad

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0722 Do you create detailed backgrounds? Kingdoms, villains, magic items. These days I avoid them like the plague. They’re like reverse railroads. I only want a paragraph — two at most — about each game piece. Here’s why. You flesh out your campaign in two ways: either you play the game, or […]

My Table Rules

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0707 “The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don’t need any rules.” – Gary Gygax, Born Jul. 27, 1938. This quote was called out to me by my buddy Colin Theriot. And it came in handy last Murder Hobos game. The party is fighting a group of […]

GMing Your First Game Session – d12 Tips

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0703 What advice would you give to a GM prepping their first session? A reader emailed me and shared their nervousness at sitting behind the screen for the first time. So I asked this question over at the Game Master Tips community (almost 9,000 members woot!) and received some great advice. Here’s […]

Panicked Prep for Next Session

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0714 Panicked Prep for Next Session We start at 6:30 pm. We finish at 11 pm. Four and a half hours or 270 minutes. That’s five 60 minute encounters, or nine half-hour encounters. Let’s combo and say 3×60 + 3×30. My goal is now creating just six encounters. Next, I brainstorm encounter […]

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