NB: Based on a discussion I had in a local gaming Discord. A friend asked whether I have ever played in or run a game where players could indicate that they were uncomfortable with certain themes or topics that came up during the game. As previously noted, I use X cards and Lines & Veils … Continue reading The value of safety tools
"Leaning His Forehead on His Hand" by Hugh Thomson A lot of folks advocate minimal DM prep in favor of improvising during play. This approach definitely has benefits, not least of which that it encourages more folks to run games even if they have otherwise busy lives! But I also advocate for more substantial GM … Continue reading Healthy GM Prep
One of those "1 like = 1 answer" things made the rounds on social media lately, and so I jumped in on Twitter. But I thought I'd repost here, with my answers slightly expanded in some cases. If you were a D&D character, what race and class would you be? Dwarf Wizard, probably. Sometimes I … Continue reading 1 Like = 1 Answer – D&D Edition
I was talking to Variant Roles friends yesterday about GM prep tools and thinking about the ones I have found the most useful. Woodweaver's Puzzleknot by Volkan Baga Five Room Dungeons: This basically comes down to structuring encounters and making sure you have variety and some rising action with a climax. This incredibly useful tool … Continue reading The GM tools I find most useful
One of the reasons I like Gothic settings is my assumption that, by default, all player characters are human. In an upcoming game that doesn't take place in the Forgotten Realms (probably Krevborna again), I wrote the following: In this game, all player characters start as standard Humans. Outside of that restriction, everything about your … Continue reading Gothic Humans
I really have a simple set of use cases for what I want in a virtual tabletop (VTT), even if I'm using a map, and none of them involve the character sheet or an online dice roller. Those things feel like a solution in search of a problem. Technology excels at generating small random integers … Continue reading Towards a requirements analysis for virtual tabletops
Emmessi Tome by Craig J Spearing For an upcoming campaign focused on hunting monsters, I started putting together a list of variant or house rules I'd like to use. Some of these are "official variants" directly from the books; others come from friends; and others are things I just wanted to include. The current version … Continue reading Draft of variant rules for a new campaign
Somebody asked the other day about which subclass would be "better", Forge or Grave Cleric. Dungeons and Dragons is a collaborative game first and foremost. So pick the class (and subclass) that seems like it'll provide the most fun for you based on the tropes you enjoy. Maybe you like the idea of a dwarf … Continue reading Class choice thoughts
I somehow picked up the (bad?) habit of treating blog posts as a bit less conversational and a bit more like an article. But with the demise of Google+ and the dumpster fire that Twitter can often be, blogs can fit into a slower conversational rhythm. For the next few weeks, I will experiment with … Continue reading Thoughts on players on streamed games
As a session, this mostly consisted of connective tissue. Were this campaign a trilogy, we would have just concluded Act II and enjoyed a relatively low-intensity segue before starting Act III in the next session. Narrative As the party had just eliminated an Elder Evil cult, they went back to the clock tower where their … Continue reading Krevborna – Session 12 review
