Campaign Mastery

I’ve written a number of articles on the subject of Campaign Planning & Structuring which have been very well received, notably (oldest to newest): Back To Basics: Campaign Structures(also contains links to another twelve related earlier articles). Back To Basics: Example: The White Tower Back To Basics: Example: The Belt Of Terra The Echo Of […]

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… ************************************************************************************************* Ooops. While preparing this post I discovered that in my urgency to get content produced that a couple of editorial errors have crept in recently. I’d love to say they were […]

Preamble This Month’s Blog Carnival was proposed more or less as follows: People love it when player characters do great heroic deeds and win fame and fortune in a campaign. But how about when things horribly wrong go… and it’s all the fault of some foolhardy decision by some Player Character? Those can be either […]

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… ************************************************************************************************* Chapters 34 to 36 were mostly already in first-draft form when I started the series, but I’ve since realized that there’s a lot more that needs to be said as background […]

In this concluding part of my series on encounter tables, I look at Urban Settings, Dungeon settings, and talk about ways of integrating Wandering Monster encounters into plotlines and infusing them with meaning. And I might throw in the occasional new idea in other relevant areas, to boot. A quick catch-up – In part one […]

************************************************************************************************* 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… The panoramic picture used as a backdrop to illustrate this week’s post was so incredibly stunning that I had to make the full-sized picture available for those who might want it […]

In part one of this series, I talked about the philosophical grounding of random encounters – the theoretical why’s and wherefore’s that underpin the encounters that result, and the ways and reasons why they matter. In this part, I’m going to discuss ways of creating better, smarter, encounter tables – ones that prompt you to […]

On The Origins Of Orcs, Chapters 27-28 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… ************************************************************************************************* Chapters 27 and 28 were partially unfinished when I started this series, which means they are presented in first-draft form and not the fully […]

The epic conclusion to the Second Great war between Elves and Dwarfs as plots, intrigues, betrayals and surprises come to a head.

How to overcome the problems with random encounters

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… ************************************************************************************************* While most of Chapter 21 had been done when I started this series, Chapters 22 and 23 were at best partially finished, which means my easy ride is over. In the […]

I’ve got so much campaign prep to get done that if I don’t do it here, I’ll either never get it done in time… ************************************************************************************************* Chapters 18-20 are all in final form. I don’t change “speaker” in mid-paragraph, but the speaker does change from one paragraph to the next. So if it seems like the […]