Campaign Mastery

This is technique number 1 for getting inside your character’s heads. It’s something I was taught in a Graphic Design course that I completed back in 1992 – so here we are 18 years later, and it’s still fresh in memory. That speaks volumes of its usefulness!
Step 1: Prep
Get a couple of pencils and a [...]

Developing a characterisation is like a jigsaw puzzle. You solve the bit around the edges first – the most obvious characteristics – and then try and fill in the middle a bit at a time until the whole picture presents itself.
There is usually one critical “piece” of the puzzle, which – when ’solved’ – connects [...]

By D.L. Campbell
One of the first posts I ever read at Campaign Mastery was the amazing 50 Barbarian Hooks. I instantly thought, ‘I hope there will be more of those!’ followed by ‘I wanna try that!’
Another list has joined the party (though I’m still greedy for more – hint, hint everybody) and I finally produced [...]

In a previous blog, I’ve written about my Superhero campaign currently facing a big finish (A Grand Conclusion: thinking about a big finish). This post will be a sequel of sorts, because any big finish naturally invites the question, “what’s next?”
In this case, “next” is a sequel campaign. Many of the preceeding characters will make [...]

In one campaign years ago, the PCs did so much travel it seemed far-fetched to give them an encounter every time they hit the road. However, I still wanted to pace things so the party was not instantly appearing at their destination each time. A fun solution we came up with was campfire chats. This [...]

Tony Scott, in the interviews that accompany “Beverly Hills Cop II” states (while discussing the casting of Brigitte Nielson for that movie) that his background is in painting, and that casting is like putting colours on the canvas.
I found this to be a really interesting comment. I’ve written articles in the past about giving each [...]

The following ideas could be used for player characters stuck on a PC background and purpose. Game masters could also use them for interesting NPC wizard hooks. If you have any ideas for more hooks, just comment below, maybe we’ll get to 100.

Master’s experiment goes wrong, transforming the PC and cursing the master. PC quests [...]

This will be an unusually brief post, inspired by Johnn’s reprise of his hits-and-misses when it came to his 2009 resolutions, which you can read here, and by the fact that this post will appear on New Year’s Eve, 2009.
It all revolves around some thoughts I had while pondering the question:
Why do people make the [...]

I’d like to start this blog with a shout-out to an old buddy of mine named Chris Mount, for reasons that will become obvious as it proceeds. When I first discovered roleplaying, Chris was the guy who taught me how to play. Without his guidance, I would never have amassed sufficient expertise and experience to [...]

I know I’ve written about this before (An Epic Confusion, Or How To Stage A Blockbuster Finish), but I’ve been thinking some more about big finishes to campaigns, prompted by the fact that my superhero campaign is currently in what I hope turns out to be an epic conclusion. As I developed this final scenario, [...]