I have over the years gone through various phases of gaming. Mostly those were based on rule systems. My late 80’s, Palladium phase, my 90’s World of Darkness Phase, the 00’s d20 phase, and most recently my 10’s Indie phase. Through those phases, my preferred tone, dark and grim, remained...
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When asking for feedback, there are a plethora of approaches. So many, that I’m not going to even try to list them, let alone dive into them. Some will work for you; many will not work for you at all. You’ll need to track down various systems and see what works for you. Today, however,...
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Recently on an episode of Pandas Talking Games, my co-host, Senda, and I were talking about the topic of managing changes in campaigns and talked about changes in group dynamics and their effects on group formation and performance. As it turns out, more times than not, this topic overlaps with my...
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In my previous article about side quests, I talked about “Side Quests for the Fun of It.” In this article, I’m going to talk about side quests, but from a slightly different angle. This time, I’ll be talking about side quests that directly matter to your main plot. Even...
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bugbears are “just a raid by bugbears” if the players WANT them to be just a raid by bugbears
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Let’s talk about game design for a change, which is something I really enjoy writing about. What is something most RPGs have in common? You have hit points or some resource that tracks whether you can or cannot keep playing. Does this mean that your character is dead once you run out of hit...
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A few weeks ago, I tweeted this… Just curious… in this whatever part of the pandemic we are in, does anyone else have problems concentrating or being creative? I have trouble reading and can’t even bring myself to play Minecraft. All I can do is watch TV and TikTok. — Phil Vecchione...
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It is common practice for tabletop RPG players to use their smartphone during a gaming session. You will see them checking their email in between turns, texting someone who isn’t there and even taking pictures of the game. Is this behavior rude? Should the DM regulate cellphone etiquette at...
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I was forty-six sessions into my Forbidden Lands game when I lost interest. I am sure it wasn’t all at once and was more likely gradual, but around session 46 is when it reached critical mass. I just wasn’t feeling it like I did before. I have learned that this feeling, this lack of excitement for...
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Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) games have changed the landscape in a lot of very positive ways, but the one that has resonated most at my table – even feeding into other games – is the idea of “failing forward.” That is, creating a partial failure that moves the plot, or at minimum...
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