The way in which I approach gamemastering has changed and evolved a lot over the years; every game I play and person I play with impacts my thought process and style. Of all the RPG elements I've been exposed to I think the way in which I look at success vs. failure has the most impact on my current approach. At their mechanical core virtually all RPGs have a system to determine whether or not a character succeeds at a task or action. In a lot of older games (and some newer ones) this is … [Read more...]
101 Star Wars Encounter Ideas (1-50)
December 10, 2014 By 4 Comments
Star Wars is one of my favorite settings of all times. I enjoying both game mastering and playing in campaigns set in the Star Wars universe. Here are 101 Star Wars encounter ideas that a game master can use in their campaign. Some of these encounters are small encounters, such as passing by a unique individual in a city. Others are big encounters, such as encounters that may evolve into a social interaction or combat. Here is the first half of 101 Star Wars Encounter Ideas (1-50): 1. … [Read more...]
Setting Elements
December 8, 2014 By 3 Comments
Last week I wrote about my personal campaign management style (you can read about it here). One of the key points of my method was to design the��setting utilizing various��setting elements, brief descriptors for a��variety of interesting sounding things. In a nutshell, I use these bullet-point style elements as a framework for my campaign by seeing which ones catch the players' interests and linking them together in exciting ways. The article generated quite a bit of feedback in a variety of … [Read more...]
Does Your Gaming Group Play New Or Classic RPGs?
December 3, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Arguing over editions, or 'Edition Wars', is something that I have never understood. It is a topic that some would lump in with politics and religion as something that you don't talk about with friends... if you want to stay friends. For my group discussing editions has never been an issue. For the most part, we've always adopted the new edition of a game and progressed forward with the hobby. Sometimes we liked it, sometimes we didn't, but it never was something that we really dwelled on. It … [Read more...]
My Campaign Management
December 1, 2014 By 7 Comments
Having run more RPGs��than I can remember over the past 30+ years I've seen my campaign management style change and evolve. I've run everything from heavily scripted campaigns to completely improvised ones. I've run loosely related episodes in a vast sandbox to tightly connected adventures in a predefined area. Over the years I've discovered both pros and cons to��all sorts of campaign management��methods��but my current system seems to be the ideal style for my group and the games we enjoy. For me … [Read more...]