Over the years my gaming friends and I have put a lot of thought into the idea of the perfect game. At first this discussion focused on game systems, settings, and genres. While we still happily debate the pros and cons of different games, mechanics, and systems, we soon realized that the game itself is only a small fraction of the game experience. That thought lead us to the realization that the experience was the most important aspect of the game and started us thinking about improving that … [Read more...]
The Combat Experience – Ideas to Make Combat Fun
April 24, 2015 By 2 Comments
Combat is an extremely important part of the roleplaying experience. For some gaming groups, it is an absolute necessity and even why they play the game. Odds are that in your roleplaying endeavors, you����ve probably been part of some great combat experiences and some not-so-great combat experiences. But what can you do to consistently make combat fun for your gaming group, both as a gamemaster and as a player? Here are some simple ideas to make your roleplaying combat experience more fun! Get … [Read more...]
Hard Moves & GM Intrusions Part 1: Combat Calamities
April 20, 2015 By 2 Comments
Both the Cypher System (Numenera and The Strange) and games Powered by the Apocalypse (Dungeon World, Monster of the Week, Apocalypse World etc.) have a similar element that provides for a gamemaster "action" against a character. In the Cypher System these are called GM Intrusions while most of the PbtA games use the concept of a Hard Move. In both cases they are a mechanical element designed to make the characters' lives more "interesting" and usually carry an XP award or something … [Read more...]
The Combat Experience – Don’t Forget the Environment!
April 13, 2015 By 3 Comments
As you may already know RPG Alchemy is hosting this month's RPG Blog Carnival and this month our theme is The Combat Experience. In my personal experience one of the most often overlooked elements to a combat encounter is the environment in which the encounter takes place. Whether it's the terrain, the illumination, or even the weather, the environment can be used to impact the nature of a combat in several important ways. Environment as Ally When thinking about the location in which a … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Help Your GM Out
March 23, 2015 By 3 Comments
You like your game master, right? They work really hard and spend a lot of time building awesome adventures for you and your friends to play in. They develop awesome bad guys for you to wade through and destroy. Seems like you always get to win and they always lose. Super fun for you, right? Well maybe you can help your game master out a little with building those awesome adventures. Here are five ways you can help your game master out with creating an awesome game session. Build Characters … [Read more...]