A few years ago, I found myself with a quandry. I was running a game of 7th Sea on a week night with four players in what we futily hoped would be a three hour session (I'd soon be happy with two hours). I knew that everyone would be coming from work or school and want dinner, so I needed a technique to make every moment count. What I ...

Heh, that title alone should probably spawn 50 comments :-) In the early days of RPG when AD&D was king, my groups eventually crawled out of the dungeons and started running more soap opera style games. Rather than clear out an orc infestation, we were more likely to be found courting maidens (or men, if one of us were in "drag"), running fiefs, and forging alliances. This being AD&D ...

I've been involved with many campaigns over the years that were location-based; that is most, if not all, of the campaign took place within a single location. The classic example is the superhero city; other examples from my campaigns include seaside resort towns, space stations, and pirate ports. I really enjoy running location-based games; over time, the location really gets fleshed out. I get to know the streets, ...

You've just walked into the game room and are patiently setting up your notes and props. As the players gather around you, you turn to Bob. His last character, Chance Fortune, was gunned down after a particularly unwise scuffle with some space station guards. You plan on introducing his new character to the rest of the party, who are busily hoisting drinks in the Starbase lounge in honor ...

I once pitched a new RPG to a friend. His first question was "Does the combat system require miniatures and a grid?" I'm paraphrasing a bit, but his essential point was that he enjoyed RPGs that emphasized stories and roleplaying while foregoing detailed tactical combat. If the RPG did have a highly detailed combat system, he was walking away. This brings me to today's hot button: Does the grid inhibit ...

In my first post in this series I spoke a little about my experiences at GenCon 2007, concentrating on rookie considerations. Obviously, I'd learned much more than that and my experiences in actually playing con games also remained with me. Last December, I'd decided that my weekly game, which took place on Fridays ostensibly from 8-11 (although we were usually lucky to get in 2 hours of play), had ...

When I was approached to don the pointed chef's hat and add to the stew, one of the first posts I drafted reflected on running a monthly game. I've been running a monthly game for almost half a year now, and it occurred to me that there were many parallels with convention gaming, parallels I couldn't make if I hadn't gone to my first gaming convention (GenCon 2007) ...

As I said in the first Short Sessions post, subplots can eat up a lot of time and hijack the entire session. As subplots tend to only involve one or two characters, this could also sideline a good chunk of the party while one or two players hog the spotlight. To much subplot time can also drag out an otherwise tight adventure. However, as Troy pointed out in the previous comments, ...

By its nature, a short session doesn't offer a lot of game time so it's important to be able to maximize the time you have. As I said in my last Short Sessions post, a three hour session will not equate to three hours of actual play. (I should have clarified this a bit more in my previous post, but I consider a "short session" to be anything ...

As a thirtysomething gamer, my groups tend to be made up of people with careers and families. As such, we don't have a lot of time to game. In some cases, we're lucky to set aside three hours a week (or every two weeks) to game. And as those of you that have GMed for any significant period of time know, setting aside three hours does not equal ...