Category: General

I originally discussed this topic in an older article on Rogue Princess Squadron but thought it might be worth discussing again. Let’s face it. Every GM has played favorites. Maybe it was a subconscious thing, maybe it was on purpose to please someone. Sometimes it’s awful and insidious and can...

The most difficult assignment I’ve had in game design remains my contribution to Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters.  It wasn’t the writing.  The taxing aspect was formulating the beginning, the middle and then, that most excruciating of parts, the ending.  Whichever one of the 36...

  A move to virtual has had me running many more games than usual. I’ve been refining and honing a few techniques to keep everything moving smoothly and keep track of everything for every game. One simple tool I have come to rely on is my “Game Night Checklist”. It helps me...

There are a bunch of RPGs out there, and no one says you can’t mash parts of them together to make something you like even more than you’d like the parts individually. Some combinations work great, like peanut butter and chocolate. Others work not as great, like blueberries and soy sauce. The only...

I’ve had the realization that I’ve used the phrase “collaborative storytelling” quite a bit over the past few years. Some in Gnome Stew articles. Some of the uses were in various episodes of the Gnomecast. However, I’ve not explicitly put down deeper thoughts into a...

The last week or so I’ve been building out options in my Sharn-based Eberron game. With many of the characters having intrigue-based backgrounds or connections to organizations, I’ve been continuously picking at how to make their “contacts” feel meaningful and have some...

During the pandemic and the stressful events of 2020/2021 version 1.6, video games and tabletop gaming have become two of my biggest salvations. When I get done with my work day and move from my basement home office to the couch upstairs, I usually pull up whatever old JRPG or game I have unplayed...

Random encounter lists have been around forever in a variety of games. Back in the earliest days of roleplaying, they were used to give different wilderness encounters as the party laboriously traveled over vast areas on foot. Encounter lists have refined and expanded as games have and are often...