The Alexandrian - Misc Creations. Over the course of several conversations spread across the past few weeks, I've been reminded of something that is rather easy to forget: Not everyone knows what I know.
This has nothing to do with me being smarter than anybody else. It's just the result of a slow accumulation of random information and experience over the course of 20+ years of gaming. (Somehow I only just now realized that this means that there is significantly more time between when I started gaming and now, than there is between when I started gaming and the publication of OD&D in 1974. Tabletop Audio - Ambiences and Music for Tabletop Role Playing Games. Strolen's Citadel: A Role Playing Community. The Dungeon. Gnome Stew’s Giant List of RPG Adventure Types. My planning cycles for my current game are, for me, pretty short — usually one week.
That’s actually a good thing, because it forces me to focus on the important stuff and helps me avoid getting bogged down in crap that won’t hit the table, but it does mean that I’ll take all the help I can get. One thing I find helpful is having a list of adventure types (not plots) to choose from, and that’s the focus of this article. Below is a big list of broad adventure types suitable for a wide range of RPGs, genres, campaign styles, and groups — I hope it’s useful to you! Using the List This list is like a menu: browse, find an adventure type you like, do some brainstorming on possible plots, and you’re off. I got the idea for this list from the Decipher Star Trek RPG, which I’m currently running for my group.
GM Advice: A Learning Mechanic. I had a reader ask about the mini-game that appears in my D&D campaign.
A few people have expressed interest in it, and I thought it might be worth a look. I don’t pretend this is clever or innovative. This is very much a system I cobbled together as I was groping around trying to simulate a character learning. In our game, I had a situation where one player was working to translate a “book”, which was several pages of backstory they needed to know. Any time his character had enough downtime, the character could sit down and spend a few game hours attempting to translate the next section.
Dice of Doom. Dice of Doom Podcast 045: Rules that enhance Roleplaying Games and Crafting “Who ‘dun it?”
Mysteries In this carrot dangling episode we discuss rules mechanics and how they can be used to enhance roleplaying games. In particular we discuss how this is done in Rolemaster, Deadlands and Spirit of the Century. We also answer some listener questions, namely our thoughts on DnDNext, Palladium, and how to craft a classic “Who Dun It?” Mystery in your games. Posted in Dungeons & Dragons, Games Mastering, GURPS, Podcasts, Role Playing Games, Spirit of the Century Tagged deadlands, DnDNext, dungeons & dr, palladium, rifts, rolemaster, spirit of the century Dice of Doom Podcast 044: Listener Questions, Gaming Lectern and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition. The Dead Villain’s Catalogue / Kobold Quarterly. October 8, 2010 / Phillip Larwood Or 30 Things to find on a Villain’s Corpse.
[See The Dead Adventurer’s Catalogue] Wendell bent over the body of the goblin chieftain they had just slaughtered, his slender hands shifting through the goblin’s filthy goods until he encountered something shiny and hard. “Look here, Tarquilos my old friend. The goblin chief has a little something extra for us.” Tarquilos approached the wizard’s hunched frame and peered down at the idol held in his hands. “I’m not sure taking that is such a good idea, Wendell.
“Nonsense, this thing has no enchantment I can discern. Before Tarquilos could mouth a response, Wendell used his sleeve to polish the idol’s alien geometry. Wendell looked sheepishly at the warrior by his side as Tarquilos drew his sword. Critical Hits. Gnome Stew, the Game Mastering Blog.
The Alexandrian - Misc Creations. An Essay by Justin Alexander I think every GM probably has a story about the time that they spent hours carefully detailing some piece of lore or a particularly intricate conspiracy... only to discover that their players didn't really care. Or you complete a dramatic and powerful series of adventures featuring the unraveling of a conspiracy wrought by the Dark Gods of Keht... but three months later you mention the name "Keht" and are met by blank stares from the players. But often -- even as you're meeting with this kind of frustration -- the players are still having a great time. They'll tell all sorts of tales about the time that their characters did X... and do you remember that time that Y did Z?
In discussing this problem with other GMs, I've seen many of them come to the conclusion that players just don't care that much about the game world. Well, there's a grain of truth in that. Are you sure you actually want the players to know what's going on? For the gamer who's sick of the typical. The RPG Athenaeum. Roleplaying Tips Blog.