Category: Game Mastering

Meeting the Villain – And Letting Them Live

Posted by Alexander Atoz | May 12, 2025 | GMing Advice

It’s a classic TTRPG punchline: the GM spends...

To the Rescue! Tips for Running Rescue Missions

Posted by Peter Martin | Apr 28, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice, Tools for GMs

Whether it’s Aragorn showing up with his army of...

Prepping With Limited Time

Posted by Phil Vecchione | Apr 25, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

This past weekend, my gaming group did not reach...

Challenging the Tropes: The Paladin

Posted by Josh Storey | Apr 11, 2025 | Game Mastering

In the D&D cultural zeitgeist, the paladin is often characterized as a stick-in-the-mud or worse, a narq, but there’s so much more to this trope beyond the memes. So let’s take a closer look and figure out how to use the fantasy of a stalwart champion to create absorbing character arcs.

Getting The Band Back Together

Posted by Phil Vecchione | Mar 28, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

In November, I paused my Mutants in the Now game...

Adventure Design: Node-Based Design

Posted by J.T. Evans | Mar 19, 2025 | Game Making, Game Mastering, GMing Advice

This is the final article in my adventure design...

Prep Your Published Adventure

Posted by Phil Vecchione | Feb 28, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

I generally don’t use published material for my...

Adventure Design: Clues, Rumors, and Connective Tissue

Posted by J.T. Evans | Feb 24, 2025 | Game Making, Game Mastering, GMing Advice

To get your PCs to move from one scene to the...

Coaching Yourself At The Table

Posted by Phil Vecchione | Jan 31, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

I give you all a lot of GMing advice. I also...

Adventure Design: Supporting and Opposing NPCs

Posted by J.T. Evans | Jan 8, 2025 | Game Making, Game Mastering, GMing Advice

In any adventure, the party of player characters...

Five Things I Learned in 2024

Posted by Phil Vecchione | Dec 27, 2024 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

It being that time of the year, I decided to...

Adventure Design: Maps and PC Handouts

Posted by J.T. Evans | Dec 11, 2024 | Game Making, Game Mastering, GMing Advice

Players love getting handed real-life, physical...

Adventure Design: Combo Encounters

Posted by J.T. Evans | Nov 27, 2024 | Game Making, Game Mastering, GMing Advice

“I stand there and swing my sword.”...

Challenging The Tropes: The Loner

Posted by Josh Storey | Nov 25, 2024 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

Tropes are frameworks for plot beats and character arcs. Cliches are the overused versions of those beats and arcs. Cliches, generally, should be avoided, but tropes are useful AF. They work like signposts, guiding your decisions when it comes to story elements and, in turn, speeding up your session prep.

Setting The Table

Posted by Phil Vecchione | Nov 22, 2024 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

Recently, one of my gaming groups decided to...

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