Posts Tagged by mechanics
| February 1, 2010 | Posted by Phil Vecchione |
One of the challenges in a new campaign occurs when the players discover that they do not like their characters. Given time, the lack of excitement on the players’ part will degrade any efforts to sustain the campaign and ultimately lead to its collapse. Even the greatest plotline or the most richly described world will not hold your players at the table if they have no passion or love for the character they run. As GMs starting a new campaign, one of our first jobs…
| January 8, 2010 | Posted by Phil Vecchione |
While I love the creative and storytelling aspects of being a GM, also I love the mechanical aspects of games. In my downtime from running games and stirring the Stew, I read a lot of rulebooks, many for games I am not planning to run, just to read about different mechanics. I love to see how different designers handle skill checks, car chases, or character growth. With my background in science and computer programming, I find the idea of how a game designer models the…
| July 29, 2009 | Posted by John Arcadian |
Scarecrow dropped this little nugget into the Gnome Stew Suggestion Pot, and it’s a great topic. Someplace I think we’ve all been as GMs. "Last night I finally ran my first game of Star Wars Saga. Everything was in place. I knew the rules, I knew the scenario. I was ready for them to fail as well as succeed. I was prepared to say ‘yes’ to the players and let them go off at a tangent rather than railroad them. The game was as dull…
| September 19, 2008 | Posted by Martin Ralya |
Combat plays a significant role in most RPGs, and where there’s combat there’re characters getting hurt. Something I’ve observed is that rules for healing time are a major factor in setting the tempo of your campaign. How so? Let’s consider a few dramatically different approaches: D&D — Push the Healing Button! D&D in all its forms has always made healing spells, items and potions pretty readily available. How many parties go adventuring without a cleric or a healthy supply of healing potions? Very few. Accordingly,…
| June 6, 2008 | Posted by Walt Ciechanowski |
Heh, that title alone should probably spawn 50 comments In the early days of RPG when AD&D was king, my groups eventually crawled out of the dungeons and started running more soap opera style games. Rather than clear out an orc infestation, we were more likely to be found courting maidens (or men, if one of us were in “drag”), running fiefs, and forging alliances. This being AD&D 1e (pre-nonweapon proficiencies….geez, is it that difficult to say “skill?”), the only things on our sheets even…
