Author: Don Mappin

Experience tends to be the defining metric when discussing whether someone is a good or great GM. That precious commodity that’s measured in years, campaigns, or game systems. It’s also something that gamers new to being behind the screen tend to focus on too much. The reality being that within every to-be GM is a great game trying to get out. I’m a proponent of the gamer lifecycle, a philosophy that gamers — and their tastes — evolve over time and with experience. Now it’s…

Need a spiffy map for you game and are strapped for cash? Want to make it large and visible, but don’t have a plotter at home…or the dough to have your local printshop take care of it for you? Provided you’ve the source art—or access to a community willing to share—here’s a low-cost way for you to manufacture maps, maps, maps to your hearts content! If you’re like me—good looking, famous, and happily married to a spouse with lots of art and scrapbooking supplies (note,…

Having no intention of running a game in 2012, I did not craft an entry for our New Year, New Game event — hopefully you did! — so imagine my surprise walking out of last week’s game discussion with a new campaign to plan. Did I mention it’s based on a licensed property that I’m only passingly familiar with and two players who dwarf my knowledge? Oh, and we’re starting chargen this weekend. Just another day in the GM’s chair? Prep For Success Whether you’ve…

There’s a decent chance you haven’t heard of this CBS drama—recently voted the People’s Choice “Best New…”—so we’re not sure how long it will grace our screens beyond its first season. But the question remains, who will help you if your number comes up? Person of Interest stars Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson as Mr. Reese and Mr. Finch, respectively. Mr. Finch has built a top secret machine fed by NSA data in a post-9/11 world that allows the machine to detect “relevant” threats to…

The most common descriptions used to build a memorable NPC focus on their visual appearance, unusual quirks and mannerisms, or perhaps a voice or accent. In a few rare cases other senses, such as smell (seriously, I’ve used this) or…taste. One area that’s seldom used is the color pallet to describe an NPC. On the surface this sounds strange I’ll grant you, but it works! I stumbled across this several years ago while reading Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey. At some point during the enthralling…

The character portrait – be it for a PC or NPC – is a time-honored tradition. If you lack any artistic skills technology has fortunately been able to offer an alternative, but these options have historically been expensive and difficult to use. How about a photorealistic option that’s totally free? Read on! Models Not Required While 3D modeling packages have routinely been out of the reach of most of us either due to price or complexity. They require you to hunt down skeletal models, textures,…

An adventure name gets the blood flowing into the brain, conceptualizing what may come to pass, and helps keep me engaged. Read on for tips on why you may want to consider using — and sharing — adventure names at your gaming table.