Archive for the ‘Metagaming & Metagame Theory’ Category

Characters By Design: A road map for purposeful creation

I was reflecting on the process that I use to design NPCs for my campaigns, the other day, and I don’t think that I’ve ever described it here at Campaign Mastery, let alone explained it. That simply won’t do. There are a number of considerations that go into the design of an NPC, and I […]

Comments (2)

An Unfriendly Little Cyberwar: A Subversive Campaign Concept

There’s a documentary series that airs on Australian TV sourced from an American Cable channel, or maybe an Internet platform, called Cyberwar. As part of the advertising for the series, one of the people interviewed offers the statement, “The next war will be cyber.” And that got me thinking: what if there was a global […]

Comments Off on An Unfriendly Little Cyberwar: A Subversive Campaign Concept

Memory Lane: Nov 2017 Blog Carnival Roundup

Campaign Mastery hosted the November 2017 Blog Carnival and had some really great submissions in addition to my using the Carnival as a springboard for a whole heap of articles. The theme this time around was “The Past Revisited: Pick a post (your own or someone else’s) and write a sequel. Should include a link […]

Comments (4)

Nostalgia in RPG Characters

When first I listed this article as a to-do, it represented a very straightforward concept, but I’ve taken so long to get around to writing it that other notions have presented themselves. I now find myself in possession of three distinct and – at first glance – mutually contradictory ideas on the subject. With these […]

Comments Off on Nostalgia in RPG Characters

Parallel Worlds and the probability of events

It’s been a while since I’ve done a straight pseudo-physics article, but as I write this I’m in the final preparations for the Zener Gate campaign*, and as a result the subject has been on my mind. In fact, the campaign is due to have it’s second session next week. Nevertheless, this will all be […]

Comments Off on Parallel Worlds and the probability of events

Dogs and Cats, Living Together: Comedy In RPGs (Again)

With my internet still down (at the time this article was written), I’ve been taking the time to write, and to catch up on a number of documentaries preserved until just such an opportunity came to catch up on them. One of the programs time-shifted in this fashion was something from the BBC, “The Science […]

Comments Off on Dogs and Cats, Living Together: Comedy In RPGs (Again)

The Influence Of Distance Part 3: Far (The first half) and bonus worldbuilding tools

I’m tagging this post as part of the Blog Carnival. The theme is sequels, and I think that being the third part in a series qualifies. The first two parts of this small series (Part 1, Part 2) looked at the tremendous impact of a community being located close to the major social, political, and […]

Comments (2)

The Psychological Dynamics of RPG Groups: A guest article by G F Pace

Introduction Since I first participated in my first session of D&D 3.5, what I enjoyed most was the feeling of sharing a fantasy with other people. There is something liberating in the idea of a bunch of people participating in a history, shaping and characterizing it in every moment. 15 years later, I remain fascinated […]

Comments (2)

The Past Revisited – Nov 2017 Blog Carnival

This isn’t the post I expected to put up today. The other one’s ready, and will appear later in the week. The reason is because it’s almost November – and that has a significance that will become clear any second now… Once again it’s time for Campaign Mastery to host the Blog Carnival for the […]

Comments (20)

To Your Own Self Be True

A side-comment by one of the players in my Zenith-3 campaign the last time we played raised some interesting questions. The player was speculating that the solution to a side-mystery that the PCs are currently investigating might have repercussions beyond those the players were presently aware of, simply to cause trouble between political authorities and […]

Comments (4)

The Elephant In The Gray Room, Pt 4 of 5: Major Structural Repairs

This entry is part 4 of 4 in the series Elephant In The Gray Room

The Elephant In The Gray Room is a metaphor that I have created to represent Plot Holes. These are matters of huge significance or importance that everyone is overlooking because they are not immediately obvious, but that once you see one, you can never forget that it’s there. This is a series about methods of […]

Comments Off on The Elephant In The Gray Room, Pt 4 of 5: Major Structural Repairs

A Role To Play

For the last two days, what was an intermittent telephone and internet problem caused by excessive line noise has become no telephone and internet service at all. So I will be posting this via an Internet Cafe, but it will be the last post published until this mess is sorted out. Hopefully, that means that […]

Comments Off on A Role To Play