Here's something that is important for the whole group to pay attention to: Character Roles. The best description of the problem I have read came from Fang Langford when he was working through his description of Scattershot a few years ago. At the time he called it Sine Qua Non, Latin for "without which not". [The current version is here.] It is important to clearly label the ...

This post is inspired by John Arcadian's recent post, Ah, the good old Scry and Fry. Before I get into this post, however, I want to whip you into a frenzied mob. March with me and demand a solution to the whole "Scry and Fry" thing, especially the fry part. Gnome Arcadian, show us the solution or (raising torch high in gnomish hands) we'll show ...

What's the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don't be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack. Characters with class One of the new online features for Fourth Edition, once Wizards of the Coast gets the DDI rolling, is supposed to be a character creator. But in addition to generating stats ...

What's the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don't be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack. Gotta Know When to Fold 'Em Card stock buildings, erasable battlemaps, D&D brand Dungeon Tiles, homemade encounter areas drawn with crayon. Those have been my tools in trade ever since I landed on the ...

With D&D 4e out (and looking awesome so far), I wanted to start building a collection of prepainted fantasy minis for future use. While I plan to buy some boosters as well, I figured I'd kick things off by ordering a host of cheap minis for representing PCs. Even if creatures get counters instead, it's always cool when the PCs have their own minis. Back when I was collecting ...

Sometimes the GM must do non-game related tasks. As the GM your role extends beyond just running the game. You schedule the sessions, you organize the materials for your game, you approve supplements and verify character builds, and you need to provide the tools for the game. When you agree to be the GM you are agreeing to a second job. I'm not suggesting that you treat the GM ...

Before there was a Gnome Stew, there was Treasure Tables. Martin, resident Head Gnome of the stew, started Treasure Tables as a blog dedicated to articles on advice for GMs. He posted every weekday for over two years and racked up an impressive 779 posts! He also started a forum at Treasure Tables where many of the gnomes met online and discussed our current games, sought help for problems ...

One of the things that I love to do at the gaming table is to create a sensory experience for the players. I like to use music to set the mood, handouts and props to give a tactile feel, and unique pieces of scenery on the gaming space to create a sense of perspective. I love to get the players mentally involved in the game with outside props ...

What's the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don't be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack. Gnomes shouldn’t drink and drive The D&D Third Edition Arms and Equipment Guide is chock full of DMing goodies. My favorite is the list of ales and wines. From Dragonbite bitter ...

If there is one thing that I can't stand in a game it is players criticizing the verisimilitude of a game in the little details. The act of trying to define a virtual reality is one thing, but to insist that your game world uses the physics of the real world in every way is pointless. You have elves, you have laser handguns, and you have psionic abilities, ...

The Wiki. A self-editing web page. A Swiss Army Knife application. It has been hailed as the office savior and reviled as the destroyer of corporate culture. It has reached the techno buzzword status in corporate America. That's all fine and dandy for the boardroom, but what about the game table? How can your campaign benefit from a wiki? Let's take a look. To understand how ...

“Everyone Digs the Custom Rigs” While running a game in a published campaign setting has a number of benefits, there are a few hazards. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan and active consumer of published settings. I’ve run Greyhawk games since the early 80s, and have no intentions of stopping now, regardless of which rules system I use. The benefits of a published setting are obvious: The authors ...

Have you ever had that weird sensation that you’re not actually playing the same game as everyone else at the table? You’ve described the scene: a noble and his retinue are in a large hall. The noble is about to engage the party in conversation, almost certainly to hand out a mission. And then the rogue chimes in with, “When he starts talking, I’m going to try to ...

Drawing maps, statting NPCs, writing plots, and preparing handouts. Prep work is still work no matter how you slice it. Improvising on the other hand is fun! You skip all of those tedious tasks and get right to the good stuff – running the game! I often improvise sessions and it works great for me. The players get a great game, and I don't have to spend days ...

I won't deny it, I'm a big fan of Google. My place of employment recently switched to Google Apps, and I've had an opportunity to dive head first into the Google world. But of course being a gamer, I can't help but see some uses for Google at the gaming table, especially since everyone in one of my groups has a laptop. I'm not thinking of the obvious things ...