Give Them a War Room: Player Facing Threat Maps
Posted by Josh Storey | Apr 26, 2024 | Game Mastering, Tools for GMs | 0
Gnomecast 187 – Learning About the OSR
Posted by Poddy Gnomington | Apr 24, 2024 | Gnomecast | 0
The Genre Mash
Posted by Chris Sniezak | Apr 22, 2024 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice, Player Advice, Tools for GMs | 0
Adventure Design: Mood, Tone, and Theme
Posted by J.T. Evans | Apr 17, 2024 | Game Making, Game Mastering, GMing Advice | 0
Dune: Fall of the Imperium Review
Posted by Jared Rascher | Apr 15, 2024 | Reviews | 0
Shadow of the Weird Wizard First Impression
by Jared Rascher | Apr 29, 2024 | Reviews
Back in 2015, a shadow began to creep across the RPG industry. Shadow of the Demon Lord was a game designed by one of the designers that worked on multiple editions of D&D, Robert J. Schwalb. This was a fantasy RPG that was designed for people whose gaming habits had moved toward shorter game...
Read MoreGive Them a War Room: Player Facing Threat Maps
by Josh Storey | Apr 26, 2024 | Game Mastering, Tools for GMs
I love foisting eldritch artifacts or ancient magics onto their shoulders. I take glee in giving them influence within an important organization and seeing what they’ll do. It allows me to ask tough questions about how and when they use their great power responsibly (thanks, Uncle Ben). Plus, it gives my players the power to enact real change in the game – something all of us can sometimes feel powerless to do in our real lives. (My group’s go-to power fantasy is making the world a better place.)
Read MoreGnomecast 187 – Learning About the OSR
by Poddy Gnomington | Apr 24, 2024 | Gnomecast
https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Gnomecast187-LearningAboutOSR.mp3 Ang gets JT and Walt on the mics to learn more about what the OSR (Old School… Renaissance? Revival? Retro? The R varies) actually is. Join us and learn more about this style of roleplaying game. Links:...
Read MoreThe Genre Mash
by Chris Sniezak | Apr 22, 2024 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice, Player Advice, Tools for GMs
One of my gaming groups plays a mashed up game with three genres: Highschool, Swashbuckling, and Urban Fantasy. We call it Children of the Shroud. In the game we play high school kids in a hidden magic world. As part of our magical learning we are part of the Junior Guardians club. It’s a club for...
Read MoreAdventure Design: Mood, Tone, and Theme
by J.T. Evans | Apr 17, 2024 | Game Making, Game Mastering, GMing Advice
When starting to design an adventure for your home group, the first things I always consider are the mood, tone, and theme of the adventure. This will dictate all design decisions, descriptions, monsters included, sometimes the treasure gained, and the general aesthetics of everything I create for...
Read MoreDune: Fall of the Imperium Review
by Jared Rascher | Apr 15, 2024 | Reviews
Licensed games usually take the approach of presenting material that can happen far away from the canon events of the setting. This works especially well in settings like Star Trek or Star Wars, where there is a literal galaxy of locations available for storytelling. Player characters may hear...
Read MoreGnomecast 186 – Mixing Genres
by Poddy Gnomington | Apr 10, 2024 | Gnomecast
https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Gnomecast186.mp3 Ang, Chris and Josh chat about mixing up genres in our RPGs and as a result touch on what genre is, and why we can and should mash it all up together! Links: D&D Lego! The Nebula Awards Daggerheart...
Read MoreThe Carousel: Why I Believe Roleplayers Should Swing
by Michael Esperum | Apr 8, 2024 | General
We are all familiar with the trope of a regular gaming group. You know, the one who meets on regular days in the regular gaming location. And while the particularities of the imagined group differ, the factors of time and space stay constant, but so too does the cast. Although we all know how...
Read MoreThe Crusty Old Gnome: Tips for New Game Masters
by Walt Ciechanowski | Apr 3, 2024 | Game Mastering, General, GMing Advice, Intro to Game Mastering
Face to face, out in the heat, hanging tough, staying hungry… — Survivor, “Eye of the Tiger” In a proud GM Dad moment, my eldest daughter just ran her...
Read MoreReviews Review
by Jared Rascher | Apr 1, 2024 | General
I’ve reviewed so many other things, and I feel like I’ve been missing a fundamental item in all of this. It’s key to understanding all of my other reviews. Today, I’m going to review the process of reviewing. I’ve literally been reviewing things from the time I was born. I remember my siblings...
Read MorePlanning By Mad Libs
by Phil Vecchione | Mar 29, 2024 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice
Planning in RPGs has always been a problem. On one hand, it’s often necessary for a group of players to plan out something their characters are trying to accomplish. On the other, most groups are not adept at planning, and even if they were, the activity is never that exciting at the table –...
Read MoreGnomecast 185 – Taking Over
by Poddy Gnomington | Mar 27, 2024 | Gnomecast
http://misdirectedmark.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/GC_185_takingoverGMing_final.mp3 Ang, Jared, and JT get together on the mics to talk about all the ins and outs of taking over the GMing duties in an existing group. Links: Pathfinder Mini-Dungeon Tome D&D 5e Mini-Dungeon Tome Coriolis: The...
Read MoreGirl by Moonlight Review
by Jared Rascher | Mar 25, 2024 | Reviews
It’s become a bit of a meme for people to declare characters from different genres to be “magical girls.” Prince Adam lives his life, during the day, as an unassuming royal heir that hasn’t quite grown up enough to assume his full responsibilities, but when he holds his sword aloft and says “by...
Read MoreFocusing Player Attention with Description
by Josh Storey | Mar 22, 2024 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice
As the GM, you are your players’ eyes, ears, and other senses. The choices you make when describing your game literally build the way they perceive their characters’ world, and their perceptions of the world will determine their actions. When they latch onto the wrong thing, be it the goblin barkeep instead of the mysterious figure in the corner or the stale corner of bread instead of the bloody murder weapon, nine times out of 10, it’s a failure of description.
Read MoreAdventure Design: Intro and Outline
by J.T. Evans | Mar 20, 2024 | Game Making, Game Mastering, GMing Advice
Welcome to a series of adventure design articles that I’m going to publish over the course of the next many months. The idea for this series hit me hard while I was at the bus stop waiting to pick up my man-child. I’d gotten there about twenty minutes early, and the ideas just starting...
Read MoreIt Came From The Stew Pot
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