Campaign Mastery

Yet another post talking about the weather – but this time, from the perspective of what detail to throw away. 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 […]

The difference between the level of detail that you want when a PC is actually present and what is needed when it’s all NPCs and should happen purely in the background is almost total. Earlier treatment of the subject within this series focused on paring back and simplifying to the level of detail required for […]

Today I’m going to walk you through the design of a divided die roll, one of my favorite RPG tools. Dividing one die roll by another creates a large low-result probability and a long tail of low-probability high results. I’ve written about them before in The Physics Of Uncertainty, and used them in Oddities Of […]

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 […]

Weather At Sea can be considered to comprise several of the unluckiest things that can and will happen to a ship, so it’s somewhat appropriate that this is the dominant subject of the thirteenth part of this series! Believe it or not, the entire weather system presented in the post was designed on a single […]

Finally! After the diversions caused by Rafts and boats, today the series focuses on Ships at sea, with a bonus sci-fi section or two on the side. The original plan was to also include Weather at Sea and Exotic Transportation Modes but the former has quickly grown to the point where the post would not […]

Running a campaign is a lot easier if there’s a clear process that maximizes opportunities for success and avoids the worst traps and pitfalls. Campaign Mastery has again been recognized as one of the top 20 blogs devoted to the subject of RPGs. Given the caliber of the opposition, I consider this to be a […]

Today’s post focuses on Rafts and small boats like Kayaks and Canoes. The defining trait of such vessels is that while they can have sails, their primary motive power derives from the use of oars or paddles. It’s taken quite a bit longer than I intended, due to a fundamental truism of publishing, at least […]

“I attack him while he’s distracted.” That’s not an appropriate response to an antagonist Monologing, but it happened once. There came a time when a new player, unfamiliar with the genre, joined the Adventurer’s Club campaign. At one point, in an adventure, the villain began to Monologue – and that was this player’s response. This […]

Rivers provide a natural alternative to roads and overland travel, if the river happens to go where you want it to. That’s more likely than it might initially seem, because rivers provide natural resources and defenses that make them natural locations for settlements, with transportation of cargo a bonus on top of those advantages. Table […]

I was recently offered the opportunity to review a copy of Mythwoven, a new RPG supplement by Sphynx Tale Games, by the Author Brett Moore. His description sounded intriguing: a collaborative worldbuilding game designed to enhance session 0 and immerse players in the game world’s lore. From the additional details that his email disclosed, I […]

The 4th chapter of the Trade In Fantasy series looks at Modes Of Transport and trade route planning (9th post in the series). Table Of Contents: In today’s post: Chapter 4: Modes Of Transport 4.0 A Word about Routes 4.0.1 Baseline Model 4.0.2 Relative Sizes 4.0.3 Competitors 4.0.4 Terrain I 4.0.5 Terrain II 4.0.6 Multi-paths […]