We've all been there: The game is going gangbusters, but it's getting late. People have work or school in the morning, and you have to stop soon -- even though the adventure isn't over.
Before my baby daughter Lark was in the picture, I was up for gaming until two or three in the morning on Saturday nights. I could sleep in the next day without any worries, so ...
Brcarl asked a couple of questions (1, 2) in the Suggestion Pot about using modules and personalizing them. I’m currently running a published module (D&D 4e Keep on the Shadowfell), but have at least one player who would like the story to be more personalized toward the PCs. Any suggestions on how to take (often very generalized) published adventures and tweak them to integrate with PC backgrounds? ...
My regular gaming group of five includes four GMs, which is fantastic for all sorts of reasons -- but one of the best things about it is that as a GM, I'm constantly exposed to new ideas, new approaches, and new tricks and techniques that I never would've come up with on my own.
The background-independent pilot session is one of those techniques.
There are lots of ways to kick ...
I once ran an adventure that resulted in a TPK. Darn Hodags. Everyone rolled up new characters and wanted to take it on again. It was a playtest, so that wasn't a big issue. However, I wasn't quite happy doing an exact reset and sending the players through again. I didn't think they would be able to resist knowing where the secret doors were or having their characters ...
I finally got a chance to playtest "Dead Man's Hand," the Victoriana game I'm running at GenCon. The adventure was designed as a sequel to last year's "Lost Luggage," using the same characters and background. Since the 2nd Edition of Victoriana is only now getting a full print run, I decided to run this adventure as an "introductory scenario" (which saved me from having to update the characters).
Since "Dead ...
"I check Gnome Stew every day." -- Monte Cook (
