Campaign Mastery

Some problems are so serious that they threaten the viability of the entire campaign. All is not lost – here are your choices. 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 […]

Three roleplaying tips for both players and GMs regarding the conveying of emotions. A short but universally applicable post. Tip One: Tone A basic roleplaying tip for anyone at the game table, today, especially useful for beginners. Tone of voice can be used to convey all sorts of emotional states, including quite complex ones. When […]

Discomfort niggles, nags, distracts, and exhausts – for everyone. Until now, there have been no rules for simulating this. If it’s good enough for elite athletes to take into account, it’s good enough for an RPG. Another quick World Cup -inspired post today. During the Qatar v. Switzerland match (in Portland, I think), played in […]

This quick post offers an adventure idea that works with almost ANY campaign, almost ANY genre. 2 1/2 weeks ago, I started a quick little article, 5-10 paragraphs long. For the last 10 days, every day, I’ve thought “It’s almost finished, any day now it will be done”. The last time I checked, it had […]

There can be huge benefits to undertaking measures that will improve the delivery of languages (real or alien) and accents at the game table. The article below contains a lot of advice for the delivery of foreign-language speech and accented speech at the game table. You don’t have to adopt all of it – find […]

There are parallels between Perspective, as used by artists, and how players and PCs will perceive plotlines in an RPG Campaign. Wow, but this turned out to be bigger than I expected. I expected to be able to post it Monday, instead it’s going up today – early Sunday morning in my neck of the […]

Most systems keep skill & stat checks simple, but there can be rewards for a more aggressive approach. A cavalcade of minor medical issues have impact the delivery of this article, causing delays. So expect another short fill-in article next week as I try and wrestle the schedule back into position. That should buy me […]

Colors are often associated with emotional states. Remapping them can create uniqueness for non-human races and cultures. This is something of a filler article. The one that I’ve been working on all week on Futuristic and Alien tech is around the 10K words already but isn’t quite going to be ready in time. I thought […]

A technique for creating unique and interesting characters that makes their cultures more rich and detailed. Simple but comprehensive. I was reading something on Quora the other day about how Deep Space 9 used the overall concept of Ferengi Traits to make the personalities of Quark, Rom and Nog distinctive (and don’t worry if you […]

Ripple plotlines use domino chains that feed back to the main plotline while cascading out to trigger other plotlines in a chain reaction. They can start from the most apparently inconsequential act or decision and grow until whole Kingdoms hang from them like Christmas baubles. Today (as I write this) is Australia Day, our equivalent […]

Today, I offer a new technique for rolling multiple dice many times with great efficiency. Any RPG can benefit from that! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas break. Mine was great, though not without its challenges – but I have evidently weathered them, because here we all are, in a bright and shiny New […]

Lots of die configurations can substitute for a d20, or for 3d6. This article looks at some of the most unusual. Part 3 of 3. There’s something indescribably appropriate about writing the first words of this post on Halloween – after all, many of these rolls are monsters unfit for gentle company. At the same […]