Award-Winning GMing Advice
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IcebergTitanic had a question that will hopefully end more successfully than his handle's history.
Similar to the questions on Metagaming, I would like to see an article on how a GM can give hints and clues for a story without the players immediately leaping upon it. You know, the old “if the GM mentioned it, it must be important!”
Example: The PC’s are meeting an important dignitary for dinner, ...
I'm filled with curiosity about 5e, as I'm sure Wizards of the Coast intended with their press release. So far, I haven't figured out exactly what it'll look like, but I've been thinking about it since the announcement. I seem to have different reactions as I consider the different groups and hats that I wear.
Home Games The ongoing weekly game that I'm playing in currently is Pathfinder; thanks ...
With our regular game canceled last week, we tried out a game that has been neglected on my shelf for too long. The game was In A Wicked Age. It features a short rulebook, simple character sheets, and seemed perfect for a fill in game. We got started a little late, didn't get all the characters tied together, and quit a few scenes before we reached the end--but ...
Fred Hicks linked off to an article by Stephen called Why the Standard Social Skills?. It's an excellent post, drawing parallels between several popular systems, and noting some of the oddities for character social skills in RPGs. You should read his post (and the comments), but I'll emphasize a few points that spoke to me.
Somewhere along the line, it became accepted fact that RPGs with social skills break ...
Recently, I've been reading the five Otori novels, and have really enjoyed the complex world that they've created. I don't know a lot about Japanese history, so I have no idea how closely the concepts correlate to real world events, but it's a great, complex world that I'd love to game in. But it'd only work well under unusual circumstances.
Playing in her world is similar to playing ...
Last week, some friends were discussing adventure design for publication, but the conversation drifted towards a topic I hadn't really thought about in a long time. Traps.
Way Back When Way back in ancient days, in basic and early AD&D, traps were horrific. You fail your disable trap skill and you're only one save versus poison from a grim death. Bigger than that, though, were the super traps. ...
The fight ended with a hurrah around the table; Thomas, Dram, Baumain, Xori, and Vash were cheered by the townsfolk as the dragon fell to their blades, spells, and prayers. At tables around the room, similar cheers had been erupting every fifteen minutes or so. My table's dragon was the last to fall.
Organized play is an interesting beast. We just completed our fourth season of
D&D Encounters: The ...
Dipping a ladle into our suggestion pot, I see that NinjaBait had a question about setting details: I’ve been a DM/GM for several years now. I’ve never had any complaints about my stories or settings, but I’ve never felt very comfortable with describing what I’m seeing in my head. “The pungent stench of mildew emanates from the wet dungeons walls as stagnant water sloshes around your feet” becomes ...
At our last roleplaying meetup, we cast about for a good game. We had kicked around the idea of playing Diaspora on the message board, but no one had studied enough to lead everyone through the process. Or so we thought... until we agreed that building a cluster together sounded like fun, and decided that we'd share the responsibility instead of relying on a GM to guide us.
So ...
Caring about characters is a tricky thing. Many GMs struggle just to get players to like their own character--to treat their character as a person, with coherent thoughts and feelings, instead of viewing their character as an attractive array of powers and stats.
Once you do reach that lofty pinnacle of caring about your character, there's a further step awaiting. Now that your character is becoming vivid and real ...
A couple of months ago, I wrote an article about the differences between public and private games, particularly with a view to some problems that are more common in public games. Before I go any further, you should go read Steel Wing's great post about his own public play experiences over on ENWorld. The post is Why Organized Play has been an Awesome Experience. Organized play really is ...
Pixedragon asked about several things that often tangle together into a big knot: mysteries, clues, and the GM's spotlight versus the player's flashlights. It also ties into the thrashing that often develops in a Sandbox setting. Here's what was asked: Hiya, I have a question concerning GMing, and it’s something I’ve noticed with other GM’s and in my own game.
We tend to play rather RP-heavy games so it’s ...
For the last year, the local organized environment featured just 4th Edition D&D. One Pathfinder Society GM ran a table, but had the same players show up consistently and wound up closing his table and running it as a campaign. A few home groups met publicly for a week or two to recruit an extra player, Call of Cthulhu recruited and filled two tables for months, but everything ...
Today a GM came in and asked to talk about laying out a new plot. She is an officer in a WoW roleplaying guild, and was looking for advice on a new story arc. I'd never been in an MMO roleplaying guild before (though I have, at least, played WoW before), but figured that plots are plots. Besides, I do have some experience spinning out plots... so I ...
This weekend, we organized and threw our first minicon. It was immensely easier than running a "real" con in many ways--but it also telegraphed some of what goes into planning and executing a con of whatever size. If you're looking at organizing a house con, or want to see what goes on behind the scenes, read on!
I was inspired by an Endgame mini-con that I'd been fortunate enough ...
