Campaign Mastery

GMs can take a lot of the strain off by worldbuilding within their encounters. It’s easier than it sounds! Any genre. I’ve been increasingly frustrated lately by dramatic headlines that offer two choices, neither realistic, only for the whole of the content that follows to knock down one of the two and assert that this […]

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 post offers a way to create unique original names on the fly, selecting for cultural relevance as you go. It’s another shortish one to help me stay on-schedule while devoting time to the bigger articles to come! I was half-watching a FIFA world cup preview on YouTube when the hosts flashed up a list […]

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 […]

How to create and implement new tech into an RPG campaign. This half focuses on sci-fi and the more realistic types of innovation. Fantasy to follow! Strange Tech: Sci-Fi / Superhero I’ve divided this question into two halves, one for Sci-Fi and related genres and one for Fantasy. I’m going to try and put them […]

Some secrets are worth killing for, and it can be highly effective to build a campaign, and a campaign world, around that premise. It can be very satisfying to build a campaign, or a campaign arc, around the Big Lie, but it can be harder work than expected. This article will lay out a blueprint […]

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 […]

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 […]

A process for designing & constructing big or complex things, from spells to magic items, castles to space stations, industrial processes to political campaigns, new chemistries to better TVs and AC systems, using something every RPG already has. The real world caught up with me somewhat in the course of writing this article – I […]

A simplified mechanism for the simulation of trade in an RPG where it is not to be the focal point. Background A confluence of thoughts from different sources came together the other day relating to how we assess profit from selling something. I’m not sure it was strong enough to count as a revelation, but […]