Category: Johnny’s Five
| April 15, 2013 | Posted by John Arcadian |
My last article was about the trope of mind controlled characters. Reading through the comments and seeing the many diverse options and attitudes towards mind controlled PCs, I can realize where there are narrative moments where it can work but that it is still a very tricky subject. So here are 5 tactics I wrote up (or grabbed from others’ ideas) that can help prevent mind controlled PCs from causing issues. 1. Limit Damage One of the biggest complaints that I’ve heard…
| March 19, 2013 | Posted by John Arcadian |
My room-mate and I often take a night or two a week to watch through episodes of some series together. This is the closest either of us get to watching “TV” in the traditional sense. Our latest effort, House Of Cards, is a series on Netflix that deals with Francis Underwood, the current Majority Whip getting passed up for Secretary of State and using his influence and power to destroy his Washington enemies with politics and backstabbing. It’s a great series and got us talking about how…
| August 31, 2012 | Posted by John Arcadian |
Inspired by Troy’s Fantasy Wagon Train article, it struck me the other day how much I loved walking into weapons shops in the video game RPGs. Having this small, free form area that was full of interesting visual tidbits, a couple of interactions with NPCs, and a selection of items which might add some element of uniqueness to my current play experience delighted me to no end. I also remember that experience in my first roleplaying game. The Game Master drew out my search for…
| August 28, 2012 | Posted by John Arcadian |
Inspired by Troy’s Fantasy Wagon Train article, it struck me the other day how much I loved walking into weapons shops in the video game RPGs. Having this small, free form area that was full of interesting visual tidbits, a couple of interactions with NPCs, and a selection of items which might add some element of uniqueness to my current play experience delighted me to no end. I also remember that experience in my first roleplaying game. The Game Master drew out my search for…
| August 1, 2012 | Posted by John Arcadian |
A few weeks ago, I went on a weekend trip down to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. The cave system at Mammoth Caves is the longest known cave system in the world, comprising ~400 mapped miles of intertwining caves. That is 400 miles that they know about and have mapped. It probably stretches much, much farther and deeper. It was an impressive place, the 12ish miles of it that were open to people without a special spelunking license, and it left an impression on me. Relating…
| September 19, 2011 | Posted by John Arcadian |
Arrr, ye fair and gentle readers. Ye be knowing what today be, donch’a? Why of course it be International Talk Like A Pirate Day. That be meaning we ought to be talking about, and like, Pirates. Well ole redbeard Johnny has a small treat for ya. In honor of the day, I’ll be dropping some nuggets o’wisdom on how to make your game a little more piratical. Pirates Need Conveyance! – Whether or not yer pirate game has anything to do with the little traversed…
| September 1, 2011 | Posted by John Arcadian |
As Game Masters, I think we’ve all been in the place where we get wrapped up in creating a world or game with an intricate backstory or lots of details. (When I refer to backstory throughout the rest of this article, I mean the intricate details that surround a world or campaign. ) Whether it is the detailed story of the intricate social-politcal relationships at court, the involved history of how the alien races came to be involved in the millenium long war, or just…
