Singular Moments In Adventuring

Audio Commentary: Let The Players Fill in The Blanks

2013-04-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

Audio Commentary: Focus on Gaming at the Gaming Table

2013-03-31T08:00:00.000-04:00

Audio Commentary: Session Recaps are Important

2013-03-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

Audio Commentary: How I Found Eclipse Phase

2013-02-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

Audio Commentary on the Setup Act Post

2013-02-15T08:30:00.000-05:00

Audio Commentary on the About the Author Page

2013-01-31T08:30:00.000-05:00

Audio Commentary on Three-Act Structure in a Campaign

2013-01-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

The Setup Act

2012-09-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

The setup act on my campaigns starts by giving the players a premise and a theme to create their characters and define the group with. The act continues in the first few sessions as the rest of the campaign world gets introduced. It finally ends when the players establish themselves in an area.I use a wiki to jot down the premise, theme and any other pertinent information to the players. That

Three-Act Structure in a Campaign

2012-08-31T08:00:00.000-04:00

As I read the Requiem Chronicler’s Guide by White Wolf Publishing, I came across a very interesting notion on page 20. The idea that a campaign could be divided into the three-act structure that consists of setup, confrontation, and resolution.As I analyzed my current and past campaigns, I found that I was already employing at least the first and second acts. I was constantly failing to deliver

World Of Darkness Cheat Sheet

2012-08-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

As I prepared myself for running a World of Darkness game, I found that consulting the rules could be a challenge during play. To help the group use the rules more effectively, I compiled a simple cheat sheet for the core system.The rules for World of Darkness can be difficult to remember. Flipping through the book during play is not an option most times. Therefore I decided to place them in a

What Is The Goal?

2012-07-31T14:16:00.000-04:00

After writing a theme, and thinking of the campaign as a story. I decided to create an end game scenario. A goal that once satisfied, would signal the end of the story.To come up with an end game scenario, I thought in terms of the playing characters. Starting with the premise, using the theme as a guide, what would be their goal?The goal was something shared by the group, or coterie in the

Theme in a Campaign

2012-07-15T10:37:00.000-04:00

Having a theme is new concept for me. One that has the potential to improve my campaigns by bringing cohesion and giving direction to both the players and GM.In the World of Darkness by White Wolf Publishing page 22, we have the following description of the theme:Every story has its own theme, a summation of what it’s about. Sometimes called the “moral” or “lesson” of the story, a theme doesn’t

Those Notes are Important

2010-09-15T09:00:00.000-04:00

Only recently have I started passing notes in my games. From a humble start, notes have transformed the way I share information with the players, empowering them to role-play their characters as they see fit. Note passing was something that I started as an experiment in my games. At first, the notes only contained information about treasure such as armor, weapons, or gold. Most players

Meeting Expectations

2010-07-15T13:15:00.002-04:00

After completing a task, there is always the expectation of a reward by the players. Even though material rewards are common in most situations, meeting the players expectation is all that is needed to reward them for their adventures. For example: The party goes adventuring in a very poor area of the country, full of dangers but very poor in spoils. While they may be fighting a lot, there

Starting with Zombies

2010-06-30T09:00:00.002-04:00

Zombies are an incredible means to start off a campaign. My current campaign uses them to define the antagonists and to incorporate other monster's types into the game. The demands associated with having a medium size zombie army helped define the antagonists in my current campaign. No single person could come up with that many monsters on his own. Therefore, the main villain in the story

Share, Share, Share

2010-06-15T09:00:00.002-04:00

Too many times, I was forced to guess the likes and dislikes of my fellow gaming buddies. Constant guessing would lead to several problems, some of which could easily anger or disappoint those at the table. An open communication was all that was needed to ensure an enjoyable time during play. Are you interested in high fantasy games only? Do not withhold that information from the group, but

GMing Style

2010-05-31T09:00:00.001-04:00

The stories on my campaigns are a mixture of dark and heroic fantasy genres. That's my personal GMing style. If you sit down at one of my games, that's probably the type of adventure I will run. The main plots on my stories are remarkably similar. I have switched settings three times and systems twice, and I still find myself running basically the same type of game. The party gets hired for

Group Dynamics

2010-05-15T09:00:00.003-04:00

An often overlooked component of a tabletop role-playing game is the group dynamics. While having a good game system, a cool campaign setting, and an awesome storyline are all important, the game will only be enjoyable if the attendees share a similar play style and etiquette. Conventional tabletop role-playing games are about the interactive story that gets created by the GM and players.

Random Encounters

2010-04-30T09:00:00.002-04:00

Random encounters have always been an integral part of my campaigns. Those type of encounters add 3 qualities that greatly enhance game play. They exemplify the description of a locale, allow the PC's the chance to follow a non-linear style of play, and give life to the ancillary parts of a campaign setting. As the PC's venture in the campaign world, each new locale is described to them in

Maps Section

2010-04-15T09:00:00.002-04:00

To speedup play in my games, I usually sketch, on either the GIMP or Autorealm, tactical maps for the players. After many campaigns, I have accumulated a large number of sketches. I have created a new section called Maps in which I have uploaded my collection in the hopes that someone else may find them useful. My aim with these maps was to provide the players with the basic shapes of the

Dreams: Worms

2010-03-31T09:00:00.004-04:00

I have had several aspects of my campaigns based on my dreams. These dreams varied wildly in subject matter but in all cases, I found that they were very useful in adding some mystical value to the story. Below is an example of such a dream. There is just enough information to make it interesting, and yet it's missing several parts that could easily be filled in with the setting and system

Accepting Failure

2010-03-15T09:00:00.003-04:00

Most of my games feature the PC's as centerpieces to everything that is happening in the story. As centerpieces, the characters are a little different than most other regular folks in the game. They are heroes. The ones that can do - the ones that will risk it - the ones that will inspire both young and old to acts of greatness. They are what most people wish they could be. One of the

Controlling Your Own Character

2010-02-28T09:00:00.006-05:00

I once played a barbarian character that was adventuring in a big city. He was a nomad that chose to leave his tribe after a painful experience. His tribe was mostly composed of hunters and gatherers. While he was noble at heart, he had very little experience with the outside world. At a local tavern, however, he got in a argument with some really large, really strong fighters. That

Breaking Out of the Ordinary

2010-02-15T09:00:00.013-05:00

Monty Python's Flying Circus is a show that broke out of the ordinary. As I read about the artists that integrated their troupe, commonly known as the Pythons, I noticed a lot of similarities between their goals for the show and mine for my campaigns. The Pythons had a goal in mind for the show. It wasn't to create a name for themselves, generate wealth, or further some political agenda.

Game Balance

2010-01-30T09:00:00.001-05:00

Having less options can sometimes make the gaming experience more enjoyable and decrease the complexity of a game system. To that end, I usually do two things: Look for campaign settings and supplements that stay very close to the core rules of their chosen system and shy away from changing rules during game play without careful consideration. I have seen a lot of campaign books and