Posts Tagged by metagame

6
Signs of Campaign Greatness
April 12, 2012 Posted by
GMingAdvice03

Some campaigns are not that good, some are fine, and some are ones we never forget. In my last article I talked about my Elhal campaign, and how it was one of the great ones. In a discussion on G+ (btw, Circle +Gnome Stew), some Plussers asked me what made Elhal so great. So I did some soul searching, as well as asked some of my players and we came up with some factors that not only made Elhal great, but could make any game achieve…

14
GMing Concept Garage Sale, 2012
January 6, 2012 Posted by

It’s that time of the year again, where as a belated holiday gift, I hand out my accumulated B-string campaign ideas from the previous year. Lucky you!  The real gift however, is the ideas in the comments section from readers. These are not only great campaign ideas, but they can be dropped into an ongoing game as a new location hook. And if you’re on the lookout for a new campaign idea, maybe for New Year New Game? don’t forget that we have 3 years…

7
The Game Outside The Game
December 13, 2010 Posted by
GMingAdvice05

Years ago, before the Stew was cooking, I read a great essay by Richard Garfield written for The Horsemen of the Apocalypse anthology discussing how he came up with the idea of Magic:The Gathering. In the essay, he talked about the idea of playing the game outside of the game…a metagame, and how the metagame intensified the game. That got me thinking about Metagaming in RPG’s. It’s Not This… So most of us are familiar with the negative connotation of metagaming, defined in the D&D…

9
Hot Button: To Meta Or Not To Meta?
November 12, 2010 Posted by

If you happen to do a search on the tag meta here on the stew, you’ll find that I tend to dominate use of the tag. That could be because I’m the only one who uses it, but it is also because the metagame is a key component in a lot of my Game Mastering philosophy. Looking it up on Dictionary.com, meta is defined as: meta- 1.a prefix appearing in loanwords from Greek, with the meanings “after,” “along with,” “beyond,” “among,” “behind,” and productive in…

24
The Tools Of The Game
May 15, 2008 Posted by
GMingAdvice04

The way a GM sets up their personal fortress of solitude at the gaming table is very indicative of their style. Some GMs run their games behind a stack of books and official published material, while some GMs run their games with just a pair of dice, a pencil, and a notepad. Some of us turn everything digital and call their laptop savior, while some of us make elaborate binders and organizers full of information. If the GM plays it fast and loose without dipping…

7
Illustrations vs. Descriptions: And the winner is . . .
May 12, 2008 Posted by
GMingAdvice03

As I’ve started to run more and more published settings and adventures, I find myself doing something new to my GMing style. I’ve been turning the adventure/setting/rule book to my players and just pointing to art that is built into the product. Using pictures to backup description isn’t a new practice to me, but I usually try to first use a verbal description to hook the players into the story, and then back it up with a picture. I also tend to find my illustrations…