Self-Improvement Archives - Roleplaying Tips

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Stopping The No-Game Blues

A Brief Word From Johnn How have you been doing? We just got back from a crazy camping trip. Mosquitoes, heavy winds, stuff breaking… I also earned a pulled neck muscle, so now I turn my whole body to look around. You could say I’m all-right now. 🙂 While I was killing bugs and cooking […]

3 Early Warning Signs You’re Suffering From GM Burnout

3 Early Warning Signs You’re Suffering From GM Burnout A GM replied to my recent Master of the 5 Room Dungeon email and said they’d lost the spark for GMing. I asked them for more details in case I can help, and am awaiting a reply. Meantime though, I’ve suffered from apathy and burnout several […]

Do This To Drastically Improve Communication With Players

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1168 When there’s good communication, it’s invisible. When there’s bad communication, everyone feels it. As an anti-social, only child introvert, I’ve always considered myself as having a low emotional quotient. I’m much more polite in writing. 🙂 At work I’ve been called direct due to my questions. Being direct is effective, in […]

3-Step GM PiXiE Kaizen

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1155 There’s a myth about game master time management. Or even about time management in general. Folks think it’s about time. But in my experience that’s not true. It’s about energy. Doing campaign prep for 15 minutes a day will get more prep done over the long haul than doing it once […]

Create Your Memory Dungeon

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0915 Create Your Memory Dungeon 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 […]

Drama People Versus Object People

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0800 Did you know I collect world views? Weird, I know. A world view is the lens through which a person sees. It’s how they interpret what they experience. For example, I found an article with accompanying infographic on how the wealthy view the world differently than people in poverty. One world […]

The Problem With Realism Is…

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0730 Imagination. I remember a monster I built to guard a 5 Room Dungeon. It was a bit of a platypus. It spun webs and spit poison. It could climb. It could magically blink. It turned out quite effective and my players got snarky about it. They thought the monster was from […]

Play the Infinite Game

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0784 A small book that has made a big impression on my gaming is Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse. It’s a philosophy that analyses two types of games. Finite games, like Monopoly and Risk, have a clear start and end. Infinite games, like some campaign-style RPGs, do not have […]

Don’t Beat Yourself Up

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1072 RPT Patron A. asked me this question last week: Tell me more about how you rate yourself fairly without demotivating yourself, I could use that. The context of this request is a Musing I published that talks about doing post-session assessments of your GMing. And A. wants to know how to […]

Who’s Fault Is It? Yours?

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1067 RPT GM Duane V. asked me this interesting question about the responsibility of the GM: Hi Johnn. I was reading your latest DM Tips and a question that has bugged me for a while popped into my mind. In politics, we blame the leader if things go badly; in sport, we […]

Three Dumb GM Habits I Need To Break

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1056 I have three dumb GMing habits I have to break. I’ve even written about these before. But it’s good to have a reminder because they creep back into my games over time. Maybe you have these habits too? My Precious I hold too much information back. Imagine trekking across dangerous lands, […]

The GM’s Ten Commandments: GM vs. Players

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1038 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, […]