Your recurring villain appeared right on schedule, but through a string of lucky crits, they’re now on the ground bleeding out. The players completed the dungeon, but in the process destroyed the McGuffin that you had planned to have aid them on their quest. In their defense, they thought it was...
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Game masters walk a razor’s edge. On one hand, we’re tasked with pitting our players against ever-mounting challenges. The threat of death and loss needs to feel real. The greater the danger, the more satisfying the victory. But we don’t want to make it so tough they won’t...
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When you are planning an encounter for the game you are running, and you carefully select what monsters you want to include, what are you thinking about? Are you thinking about relative threat levels, fun special abilities to play with, or are you looking for something that makes the monster feel...
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In the world of tabletop RPGs, few practices are as divisive as the fudging of dice rolls. Most people have strong opinions on the subject either way, and it’s often difficult to find a middle ground. This article attempts to take a balanced, neutral approach to fudging. While at times, it...
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Two weeks ago, on the Zoom call for my Forbidden Lands game, we did a quick check of who was vaccinated and when, and realized that we would all be fully vaccinated (including the 2 weeks post shot), for our next session. So, I asked if everyone was comfortable returning our game to being...
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Please consider the following content warnings before proceeding forward with the article. I will touch upon real-life trauma and tragedy as I explore “the line” in horror gaming. In this think piece, I’ll be exploring “the line.” What’s the line? You know the line. That line in horror...
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In my last article, I talked about jumping into the GM’s chair in case of emergency. This time, I’m going to talk about a more planned approach at selecting the next GM. There are a few approaches that can be taken, so let’s dive into it! Volunteering The best scenario is when a...
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A few months back, during a short Star Wars campaign, my character made the brilliant decision to put on an enviro suit, go outside the space station built inside an asteroid, and try to sneak up on an Imperial troop ship blocking our landing bay. One of my friends looked at me with a raised...
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You have all been in this situation. I got my campaign set up and through session zero. The characters and their roles have been selected and everyone is set. Then through no fault of their own, one of the players has to drop the game because of their work schedule (which is totally cool, because...
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If you’re a player in your RPG group, but also have the ability to run a game, I suggest you be prepared to run a game at the drop of a hat. Your current GM can suffer from burn-out, overload from Real Life, work stresses, or just might run out of ideas as to what to do next with the game....
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