It's getting to be that time of year again where some shows I follow will finish their new episodes and I'll have to wait until some time in 2010 for another new one. While I generally dislike the wait, I can certainly see the value in keeping the audience interested while managing resources. It's simply not feasible to run a weekly series 52 times a year (soaps excepted, of course) ...

I recently started a modern fantasy campaign set in 1983. My goal was to somewhat emulate the teen movies of the 1980s (rest in peace, John Hughes) with episodic "monster-of-the-week" style adventures. It went very well for the first few adventures, but then something happened. I started to stray. I've always been a fan of long story arcs and conspiracies and, through the introduction of a couple of mysterious ...

I love quotes; movie quotes, inspirational quotes, Biblical quotes, and even fortune cookies.  In geek culture, quotes are very popular.  If I say: “I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.” I am betting most of you know the movie (Aliens), the speaker (Ripley), but more importantly you know scene that the quote came from.  In my group of ...

Time to dip into the Suggestion Pot to see what's cooking.... BladeMaster0182 writes "I was wondering if you guys had any advice on running an evil campaign. They’re a different monster than good ones (since evil characters are likely to kill each other.) What is a good way to keep it going? Some ideas I had were have them be apart of the same race or order." Good suggestion, and ...

Over the years, I've met lots of GMs who've created and lovingly detailed their own campaign settings, most often for D&D. These settings are usually extensively developed, complete with maps, country write-ups, elaborate histories -- the whole nine yards. But as much as enjoy writing setting material, I've never actually done this myself. I've dabbled -- drawn detailed maps for fantasy worlds, written chunks of material for specific cities, ...

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 ...

This past Saturday night, my group played the final chapter in a year-long, 18-session Mage: The Awakening chronicle. It was one of the best campaigns I've ever run, and, in 20 years or so of GMing it was the first campaign I've ever ended according to plan. Planned for the Very First Time Up until a couple years ago, I'd never even been involved in a non-one-shot that had a ...

I have no idea if this concept has been floated before, but it's new to me -- and it's been enormously helpful over the past couple of weeks. As my Mage game draws to a close, I'm working towards a specific ending scene. I don't know what'll happen in that scene -- more to the point, what the PCs will do -- but I know what I want it ...

When I write GMing advice here on the Stew -- and previously on Treasure Tables, as well as for freelance projects -- one of my goals is to only give advice that a) I have taken myself, b) is based on observing other GMs or games or c) I would take if the opportunity arose. Almost exactly two years ago, I wrote a series of articles outlining six ways ...

When you first think of running a campaign, there's probably one overwhelming motivation for your game. Whatever you do, don't forget it under the weight of all your research and preparation. Design your campaign to satisfy what you're aiming for. My group's current D&D3.5 campaign was conceived with two strong motivations in mind. We knew 4e was coming, but we had lots of supplements for third ...

Whenever I start a new campaign, I try to run a "pilot adventure." In television, a potential television series shoots a pilot to convince broadcasters to carry it. Pilot episodes are usually a little rough around the edges and certain elements are smoothed out, removed, or changed prior to the series proper. A good pilot adventure can set the tone for the campaign and give the players a good idea ...

When you're watching an episodic TV show (think Lost), who does everything happen to? The main cast. And who drives the action when things aren't happening to them? The main cast. The same should be true in your campaign (which, in a lot of cases, resembles an episodic TV show more than most other types of media): Whenever something worth playing out at the table happens, it should happen to ...

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, ...