Author: Don Mappin

It’s a rare situation, but what if one of your players comes to your table with the idea to play a child as their character? What would be your initial reaction? Now, I’m not talking about childlike as in, say, a kender, but an actual child. Furthermore, can we even agree on where the bar is when it comes to defining a child? Is the 16 to 18 yr old teenager staking vampires at night a child or do we have to go even further,…

Have you run, or plan to run, an RPG in an established property? Chances are pretty good that if you have you’re more than familiar with the pitfalls of working within someone else’s playground. Beyond just genre emulation your players also have expectations in what such a game will entail. How can you best meet those expectations while staying true to the property? It’s a careful line to walk. Setting the Stage Whether it be Star Trek, Leverage, or your own favorite property there are…

Happily, I recently finished my much-maligned Song of Ice and Fire campaign. For all its faults, the game did end in an appropriate fashion and was notable for being the first time I made a player cry (in a good way). It was a manly weeping — in the context of the game — and was heartfelt at the table. Frankly, these are the moments I live for as a player and as a GM: emotional involvement at the table. It’s one thing to take…

Who put their card game in my RPG? It may not be a question you’re asking yourself today but it could be a question you’re asking yourself a year from now. The “deck building RPG,” Genesis Aspyrias, is currently in development and puts a new twist on the evolution of RPG mechanics. Previously I’ve discussed the collectible card RPG and some general trends within the industry, as well as their potential impact as a GM. One of those games we’ve unboxed here, the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay RPG by Fantasy…

If only during the course of planning and play our games came with convenient warning signs like this. Sadly, since they don’t, you’ll just have to live vicariously through my own experience that, recently, included experiencing the feeling of impending termination from both sides of the screen. In reality neither of these are the end of the world, but certainly could have been handled better. The consideration of ending a campaign is not necessarily one to be wondered aloud in front of your players. Behind…

There’s a new game in town that you may or may not be familiar with, Margaret Weis Productions’ iteration of the latest Marvel superheroes RPG, Marvel Heroic Roleplaying. Having run every iteration of every Marvel RPG to date, I must say that the Marvel Heroic version may not only be the best but the first RPG in several years that has made me pause and appreciate the underlying mechanics within. Or in other words, made me feel like I wasn’t just doing the same old narrating exercise that…

Mistakes are an inevitability of life and those with a passing familiarity of RPGs are more than accustomed to their fair share of errata. But when is too much…too much? If running a game and challenges involved in keeping everyone engaged isn’t enough, GMs must also contend with the ever-changing landscape of rules corrections. In many minds there has been a disturbing trend over the years in software of releasing when it’s “good enough” and patching on the back end. Sadly, our favorite RPGs (dead…