A while back I did a post about Inspiring the game, wherein I talked about various sources of inspiring moments that could be ported over to RPGs and some problems that might be encountered when doing that. This is a follow-up post to that one. I'm hoping to lay out a few sources of my own inspiration and chart the paths they took into games that I ...

Welcome to the third installment of the House Rules column. In the first article, I discussed whether a house rule was necessary as a solution to your problem at the gaming table. In the second article, I discussed house rules that added something new to the game. Today, I want to discuss one of the most complicated types of house rule; modification. Modifications are what we most often think ...

Rust, over on www.youmeetinatavern.com posted a link to an excellent resource for GMs who want to crack open their old school rpg books or who want to stir some ol' school flavor into their modern RPGs. It's called A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming, It's written by Matthew Finch, and it's available as a free download from Lulu. Frankly, I'm not sure why this little gem is free but I'm SOglad it is. Described ...

One type of house rule is the supplemental house rule. Supplemental house rules are created to address something that you consider "missing" from the rules system that you are using. In theory, you aren't changing rules as much as adding new ones. Some examples: In early D&D and AD&D, making a roll of natural 20 a critical hit that inflicts double damage (this one proved to be so universally popular that ...

The following is a situation that I've thought about using in an adventure. During rush hour in the big city, it's not uncommon to bump into people on the way to work. Most of us don't even take notice besides an "excuse me" and perhaps a quick wallet tap. In my scenario, I was going to have a PC watching the news while having lunch. A woman's face flashes across ...