Here's a question dug from my GMing archives.
In a previous modern occult campaign, there were two players, Dan and Sarah, that played two characters, Drake and Shayla. Dan was very much into roleplaying and being "in character", while Sarah found roleplaying awkward and preferred to refer to Shayla's actions in the third person.
Prior to the campaign, it was established between Dan and Sarah that Drake and Shayla would be madly in love ...
This is the fourth and final article in this series -- the home stretch. My definition of "roleplaying-intensive" is in Part 1, along with tips 1-3; tips 4-6 are in Part 2 and tips 7-9 are in Part 3.)
10. Driftable Mechanics
(This topic was suggested by Gnome Stew reader Irda Ranger -- excellent suggestion, IR.)
"Drift" just means taking an element -- usually a mechanic -- from one RPG and ...
I love names.
As a player, naming my character is one of my favorite aspects of character creation. It usually shakes out one of two ways:
I hit on the perfect name right away and it instantly helps me define the character. Sometimes this comes at the end of the process, sometimes at the start (it's better at the start).
I agonize over choosing a name. I try real names, random ...
I apologize for the almost exclusively "D&D-ish" nature of today's Hot Button, but I think it definitely deserves addressing. It's a question that also comes up in other games that have similar distinctions (such as Palladium's alignment system or Star Wars Light Side/Dark Side distinctions).
Do you allow evil player characters in your standard campaigns?
I mention "standard" because I'm sure all of us old-timers can recall at least one ...
With D&D 4e out (and looking awesome so far), I wanted to start building a collection of prepainted fantasy minis for future use. While I plan to buy some boosters as well, I figured I'd kick things off by ordering a host of cheap minis for representing PCs. Even if creatures get counters instead, it's always cool when the PCs have their own minis.
Back when I was collecting ...
(The first three steps, and my definition of "roleplaying-intensive," are in Part 1; tips 4-6 are in Part 2.)
7. Make Good on Your Promises
By this point, you've made two promises to your players, one explicit and one implicit:
Here's the kind of game I'm going to run. This is the explicit promise you made in in step three, when you pitched a roleplaying-intensive campaign to your players. The follow-through ...
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 ...
(The first three steps -- and my definition of "roleplaying-intensive" -- are in the first post in this series.)
4. Choose Your System Wisely
Suggested by the Stew's own Patrick Benson in the comments on the first roleplaying-intensive game post, picking a system that reinforces the kind of game you want to run is critical.
Some games are just better suited to a focus on roleplaying than others -- despite all ...
