Archive for the ‘Planning & Preparation’ Category

52+ Miniature Miracles: Taking Battlemaps the extra mile

52+ techniques to vastly increase the scope of what you can depict on your battlemaps.

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Location, Location, Location – How Do You Choose A Location?

How do you choose a location? Where do events transpire? What considerations should you take into account, and what is the process and the chain of logic that gives the best answers most rapidly? These are questions that Blair and I will have to tackle repeatedly tomorrow, as I write this, because our next pulp […]

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Breaking Through Writer’s Block Pt 6: More Translation Blocks, Crowding Blocks, and Final Advice

This entry is part 6 of 7 in the series Breaking Through Writer's Block

We all suffer from the occasional bout of writer’s block. This series started with the premise that different types of content meant different kinds of writer’s block, and needed different solutions to the problem. The immediate success of listing so many different solutions while outlining the article showed the validity of the approach; so far, […]

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September 2013 Blog Carnival: Location, Location, Location!

Everything has to happen somewhere, and that means that locations are an essential element of RPGs and RPG settings. And that makes locations a worthy subject for this month’s Blog Carnival. Posts I would like to see as part of this month’s carnival are:- How do you choose a location? How do you represent a […]

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On The Origins Of Orcs, Chapters 78-85

This entry is part 31 of 31 in the series Orcs & Elves

I’ve got so much campaign prep to get done that if I don’t do it here, I’ll never get it done in time…    A triple-sized serving of the Orcs and Elves series today, to make up for missing last week, and to wrap up the Clan Wars plotline.    I explained what had occurred […]

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Breaking Through Writer’s Block Pt 5: Translation Blocks

This entry is part 5 of 7 in the series Breaking Through Writer's Block

Translation blocks are a type of writer’s block which occurs when moving from one level or layer of the story that you’re telling to the next.

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On The Origins Of Orcs, Chapters 75-77

This entry is part 30 of 31 in the series Orcs & Elves

I’ve got so much campaign prep to get done that if I don’t do it here, I’ll never get it done in time… It’s all been leading to this! Although there are a few more chapters to come, this is the climax of the Clan Wars plotline, which in many ways is the climax of […]

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Breaking Through Writer’s Block Pt 4: Dialogue, and Narrative Blocks

This entry is part 4 of 7 in the series Breaking Through Writer's Block

In part one of this series, I identified several primary types of writer’s block. All but two have been dealt with; this article examines solutions to those remaining primary types: Dialogue Blocks, when you have a conversation to write but have no idea what the participants will say, or what they are saying seems wrong, […]

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On The Origins Of Orcs, Chapter 74

This entry is part 29 of 31 in the series Orcs & Elves

I’ve got so much campaign prep to get done that if I don’t do it publicly, I’ll never get it done in time! Only one chapter this time, but it’s a biggie… ************************************************************************************************* Clan Wars XIX: The Hidden Dragon Beneath the granite facade of one particular mountain range lies a heart pockmarked by limestone caverns. […]

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Who Is “The Hidden Dragon”? – Behind the curtain of the Orcs and Elves Series

This entry is part 28 of 31 in the series Orcs & Elves

A real-life example of solving a plot problem for an RPG.

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Breaking Through Writer’s Block Pt 3: Action and Personality Blocks

This entry is part 3 of 7 in the series Breaking Through Writer's Block

There are four more primary types of Writer’s Block that I identified in part one of this series, and this article is going to tackle two more of them, and offer 17 solutions to those specific varieties of problem. The types of Writer’s Block to be dealt with in this article are:- Action Block, when […]

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On The Origins Of Orcs, Chapters 71-73

This entry is part 27 of 31 in the series Orcs & Elves

I’ve got so much campaign prep to get done that if I don’t do it in public, I’ll never get it done in time… This was supposed to be just two chapters, but at the last minute I broke the first into two smaller, more digestible, chunks. ************************************************************************************************* Clan Wars XVI: Faith & Politics “It […]

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