Campaign Mastery

World-building through an exotic cuisine technique, it’s easier than you might think – AND more effective. This post is one of those ideas that comes to you out of nowhere but, as you’ll see, as a technique, it’s worth sharing. One of the hardest things to do is to convey a sense of the action […]

In this post, a tool for integrating a character’s evolving personality into their past and backstory. Works in all genres. Wow, but this post is late. The main reason for that is the Worksheets that I’ve linked to later in the article – the article itself was 90% complete last Sunday Night. These took four […]

A question so obvious I don’t think I’ve ever answered it before: Why does a game physics matter? I give 7 reasons. I was working on a future post detailing a speculative (real-world) physics – it’s good stuff, coming soon – when it struck me that I don’t think I’ve ever addressed this fairly fundamental […]

This post continues the text of Part 5 of Chapter 5. Its content has been added to the parent post here and the Table of contents updated. 5.8.1.5 Blended Models In general, the rule is one zone, one model. In fact, as a general rule, your goal should be one Kingdom, one model – that […]

Iteration is one of the most useful campaign planning tools I can think of. This article demonstrates the technique and why it should be your favorite, too. It’s been a while since I wrote about iteration and how to use it – in fact, the last time it was the focus of attention was, (I […]

We all have expectations when we belly up to the game table. Sometimes, the GM delivers on promises both real and implied, and sometimes those expectations were never realistic in the first place. After struggling with the most recent installment of the Topologia game setting (it really should have been three parts, maybe 4, but […]

With the economic foundations sorted, this part gets back to the distribution of fortifications, defensive networks, and Inns. Table Of Contents In part 1: Chapter 5: Land Transport 5.1 Distance, Time, & Detriments 5.1.1 Time Vs Distance 5.1.2 Defining a terrain / region / locality      5.1.2.1 Road Quality: An introductory mention 5.2 Terrain 5.2.0 Terrain […]

While working on the subject of population and its distribution, I stumbled onto a method of using a Realm’s economics for worldbuilding and history generation. Originally subordinated to the main thread, I’ve decided to break it out into it’s own post. Note that the unfinished part that’s been set aside for the next post is […]

Today, Part 2 of the Topologia campaign setting details the Glassdust Desert, the Fields and Farms of Gardenia. But first, a section that got inadvertently left out of last week: Walking Out Of Splinter There are four compass directions, and walking in one of them leads to the edge of a different territory. The river […]

Part 1 of a campaign setting with some unique features – like limited immortality, topological insanity, a touch of the Wild West, and the Church of the Holy Octopod… 40,000 words done for the next post in the Trade In Fantasy series and it’s still not ready to post. So it will be a monster […]

There are ways of imparting dynamic life to a background and to characters that are hard work and ways that are easy. This is one of the easy ways. This is the latest in my series of time-out posts in between the Trade In Fantasy series. I’m concurrently reading two books right now: Dr Who […]

Starting and Running a campaign is a lot easier if there’s a clearly understood process that maximizes the opportunities for success and avoids the largest traps and pitfalls. As usual, I worked on the next part of Trade In Fantasy until it became clear that it wasn’t quite going to be ready in time, then […]