Posts Tagged ‘NPCs’

Trade In Fantasy Ch. 3: Routine Personnel Pt 2

This entry is part 6 in the series Trade In Fantasy

The 2nd of likely four posts looking at everyday personnel in Trade. In this part, Beasts of Burden, Provisions, Carts, and Wagons. For anyone wondering at the cause of the delay, just look at the number of tables that I’ve ended up using in this post – then remember that each of them has to […]

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Trade In Fantasy Ch. 3: Routine Personnel Pt 1

This entry is part 5 in the series Trade In Fantasy

The first of at least three posts looking at everyday personnel in Trade. This covers everything from wagon drivers to guards to dock-hands and farmhands. Anybody who can be considered a faceless cog in the trade machine, in fact! Credit where it’s due: The series title graphic combines three images: The Clipper Ship Image is […]

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A Roll Of Six Modifiers

There are six types of skill roll modifier that I take into account when assessing any attempt by a character – PC or NPC – to carry out some task. Past articles have focused on just a few of them; this post is intended to provide an overview of the whole. I worked on the […]

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Lost Axes Of Character: A Tool for GMs

I know some readers (Hi, Johnn!) who simply zone out when the word “Alignment” is mentioned, but bear with me. There’s good reason why it’s downplayed in the newest editions, decoupled from racial profiles and game mechanics, but this is alignment as you’ve never seen it before, with a whole different purpose. This is the […]

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Trade In Fantasy Ch. 2: Trade Units Pt 2

This entry is part 4 in the series Trade In Fantasy

Repeated from last time: The concept of an abstracted “Trade Unit” lies at the heart of making Trade a playable event on a recurring and large scale. Without it, you bog down in minutia; with it in place, direct comparisons become easier and decisions far more prone to “make themselves” unless overridden for story purposes. […]

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Trade In Fantasy Ch. 2: Trade Units Pt 1

This entry is part 3 in the series Trade In Fantasy

The concept of an abstracted “Trade Unit” lies at the heart of making Trade a playable event on a recurring and large scale. Without it, you bog down in minutia; with it in place, direct comparisons become easier and decisions far more prone to “make themselves” unless overridden for story purposes. Understanding the process of […]

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Trade In Fantasy Ch. 1: Ownership

This entry is part 2 in the series Trade In Fantasy

Certain fundamental questions need to be answered about any business operation that the PCs get involved with, either as employees or owners before we can get into game mechanics for the actual operation of an in-game business. Credit where it’s due: The series title graphic combines three images: The Clipper Ship Image is by Brigitte […]

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Trade In Fantasy: Preliminaries & Introduction

This entry is part 1 in the series Trade In Fantasy

Preliminaries: A long time ago, I wrote “Trade In Traveler”. This week (and in the weeks to come) I’m starting a companion piece, “Trade In Fantasy”. Non-Fantasy GMs – I suggest either using the Trade in Traveler rules or updating them using this series as a guide. Depending on how long winded I get in […]

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Sweet Sweet Music: Bardic Repertoires

What non-magical songs should a bard know? There’s more to it than you might think. The Wedding DJ At a wedding some years back, I got to talking with the DJ about song selection. It was a fascinating conversation that I’ll do my best to recreate, but it was so long ago that I don’t […]

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Time And The Everyday Adventurer

There is no standardized, consistent, approach to how long it should take to do things in an RPG. It’s time that changed. A strongly-related question is how long is a skill roll good for, before a new roll is required. I was musing about what to write for this week’s post when I saw something […]

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Systematic NPCs: Design With Purpose

I employ a structured and systematic approach to NPC design. Today, I’m going to give readers the low-down – everything they need to use it for themselves. The system revolves around a text document or sheet of notepaper, and an 8×4 grid on another sheet of notepaper – and something to write with. As ideas […]

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The Local Ambrosia: Food In RPGs

Cuisine is one of the ultimate distillations of culture. This is how RPGs can harness this fact. Introduction I watch a lot of travel documentaries and short videos, especially those that compare cultures. Not only are they inherently interesting to me, they give me vital cultural reference for games that take place in those nations, […]

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