Metagaming usually gets a bad rap. When people say “metagaming,” visions of know it all players who have read the Monster Manual cover to cover and memorized the stats, abilities, and weaknesses of every monster dance through our heads. Who wants to play with that person? Where is the fun in...
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B2: The Keep on the Borderlands, Part Two I’m not going to summarize the history and purpose of the venerable module know as “The Keep on the Borderlands” again. You can check out my previous article on this topic for that information. Instead, I’m going to dive into the...
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Continuing a series discussing how to be a better player, this article is the belated third one on the subject. Most gaming advice out there is pointed at game masters, and while players can gain a fair amount of insight from those articles, it’s always a byproduct. The intention with this series...
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Is there a player in your group who always shows up late to the table, no matter how hard they try? Do you have a PC that struggles to keep up with the dice rolls during a fast combat round? Do you have someone in your party who forgets important details and often needs a reminder? Is there...
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Do you find yourself stuck when trying to come up with new ideas for your D&D campaigns? Homebrew campaigns are great, but sometimes it can be tough to come up with ideas on the fly. If you’re experiencing writer’s block, don’t worry–you’re not alone. As a...
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RPG gamers will likely have come across a concept called the “social contract” at some point in their gaming career. Newer gamers may have not seen the topic discussed directly, but they engage with it every time they play. For those people that don’t know: the social contract is the agreement...
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Shhh…! I have a secret. But I’m going to tell you about it anyway. I hate intra-party secrets. Despise them. I think a secret being held back from the rest of the party by a fellow PC should cause that PC to burn in the 18th pit of fire on the 147th layer of the Abyss while being...
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In fiction, a plethora of “lone wolf” characters exist. They’re there for a reason, and they can get along just fine with minimal assistance from others. However, in a group RPG setting, it’s really rough to have one of the characters in the party be a lone wolf. If...
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One of my Saturday groups has just started up a Traveller game. Even though we knew we’d be doing a Session 0 to make characters together, we still had an e-mail discussion about what everyone wanted to play. Very quickly had a couple of folks who wanted to go the military route, someone wanted to...
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Among my many life regrets is that I do not have my own theme music. But you know who does? Aliyah of the Dust, a mystical Nano who performs miracles. So does Xiao Mei, a sword warrior able to wield her Da Dao (a Chinese machete-like blade) to generate windstorms. In fact, each of the characters I...
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