Archive for the ‘The End Of The Rainbow’ Category

Like Sand through the Klein Bottle: Time Travel in RPGs, Part 3

This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Time Travel In RPGs

Hopefully, this will wrap up the article on Time Travel! Part 1 looked at the problems of Time Travel in RPGs, and reached the conclusion that the GM had to have some understanding of the nature of time in his campaign before he could adjudicate the complexities that could result. Part Two comprised excerpts relating […]

Comments (6)

A Journey Of 1,000 Years: Time Travel in RPGs, Part 2

This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series Time Travel In RPGs

The first part of this article looked at two simplistic solutions to the question of how to handle time travel in RPGs, and found that as they stood, neither was satisfactory. A number of readers were kind enough to write in, suggesting additions that could be made to these two solutions to make them more […]

Comments (5)

When Inspiration Is Not Enough: Time Travel in RPGs, Part 1

This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series Time Travel In RPGs

When writing my submission to the June 2010 Blog Carnival, A Medley Of Inspiring Media, I said that Time Travel was a special case. This article started off as just another section of that Blog Post, but quickly showed signs of growing into another of those monster subjects requiring a multiple-part post to completely contain […]

Comments (14)

Blog Carnival June 2010: A Medley Of Inspiring Media

This month’s RPG Carnival, which Campaign Mastery is delighted to host, poses the question: What non-game media have most inspired your games and how? A doozy of a topic, this. Sure, there are the obvious genre-related materials – you can’t talk about Fantasy in this context without mentioning The Lord Of The Rings, first the […]

Comments (3)

What inspires your games?

This month’s RPG Carnival, which Campaign Mastery is delighted to host, poses the question: What non-game media have most inspired your games and how? The answer for me is Saturday morning cartoons, which I grew up on and still watch today. Anything is possible in a cartoon. It’s pure imagination at work in every genre. […]

Comments (29)

The Pursuit Of Perfection, Part 5 of 5: Character Evolution

This entry is part 5 of 9 in the series Lessons From The West Wing

In the first part of this article, which is itself just the first installment of a series of articles, I discussed the execution and delivery of unique-ness in an RPG campaign, and derived a definition of doing so to a standard of perfection that was achievable in more than a hypothetical sense, that was actually […]

Comments (5)

The Pursuit Of Perfection, Part 4 of 5: Evolving The Campaign

This entry is part 4 of 9 in the series Lessons From The West Wing

In the first part of this article, which is only the first installement of a series, I discussed the delivery of uniqueness in an RPG campaign, and derived a definition of doing so to perfection that was achievable in more than a hypothetical sense, that was actually a practical goal: “Perfection in an RPG is […]

Comments (3)

The Pursuit Of Perfection, Part 3 of 5: Laying A Campaign Foundation

This entry is part 3 of 9 in the series Lessons From The West Wing

In the first part of this article, which is itself just the first installement of a series of articles, I discussed the execution and delivery of uniqueness in an RPG campaign, and derived a definition of doing so “to perfection” that was achievable in more than a hypothetical sense – that was actually a practical […]

Comments (8)

The Pursuit Of Perfection, Part 2 of 5: A Perfect Vision Through A Glass, Darkly

This entry is part 2 of 9 in the series Lessons From The West Wing

In the first part of this article, which itself is the first installement of a series of articles, I discussed the execution and delivery of uniqueness in an RPG campaign, and derived a definition of doing so to perfection that was achievable in more than a hypothetical sense, that was actually a practical goal: “Perfection […]

Comments (5)

The Characterisation Puzzle: The First Decision

This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series The Characterisation Puzzle

If you’ve been following this series from the beginning, then you are now equipped with three new techniques for character development, all of which are useful when for some reason you’re struggling to find an idea. So how do you choose between them? I can’t answer that for you. It might be that one of […]

Comments (3)

The Characterisation Puzzle: The Window Shopping Technique

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series The Characterisation Puzzle

New techniques for getting under a character’s skin don’t come along every day; the techniques described earlier in this series have been my standard weapons for such tasks for the last two decades. So, when I thought of an original one earlier this year, I paid attention. This new technique is, in many ways, even […]

Comments (4)

The Characterisation Puzzle: The Inversion Principle

This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series The Characterisation Puzzle

The second technique of character development that I call apon when stumped for ideas is something that I call The Inversion Principle. Some parts of this I had worked out many years ago, but it was when I read an interview with John deLancie (“Q” in Star Trek The Next Generation) that the final pieces […]

Comments (2)