Using prepublished adventures are handy, but may not facilitate the character development you seek. But you can inject homebrew elements into your prepublished module and make it your own. Announcements Gaming Moot and Roundtable help you find a new game to play and meet other BS’ers. Link. Brett will be a guest on Craig Shipman’s...
Slow burn lay out everything up front. Hot start or in media res, getting right into the action. Opening an rpg with either has its benefits. Random Encounter The Warden comments on Deploying Lore The Warden comments on Deploying Lore There are typically two approaches I like to use when it comes to providing setting...
Forbidden Lands is a tabletop RPG by Free League Publishing. Sean is about to run a short campaign and taps Phil Vecchione to provide some insight. Phil has been running Forbidden Lands for over a year and the original player characters are still alive. Phil Vecchione is no stranger to Gaming and BS. He’s been...
Right? Plot coupon, where you have to go around and collect a plot point from NPC’s before you can move to the next step in an rpg scenario. It’s one of Brett’s favorite things to do in tabletop role-playing game! Random Encounter Voicemail from Kyle on Deploying Lore Voicemail from Kyle on Deploying Lore Email...
Sean is not a fan of supers rpg’s. Brett is not a fan of the hex crawl. We ask ourselves why and would there be any way to open up our minds. Random Encounter - Voicemail from Craig Shipment, and an offer! - Voicemail from Kyle - DM Cojo on Playing Pretend - Deploy the love... email from Stephen Dragonspawn - Matt H. on pre-written adventures vs homebrew Die Roll - Craig’s Youtube – https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYOGZIpC-07NtWr-xBm8zm9aV3oA4HPM7 - Akodoken’s product – https://adventureaweek...
Conveying rpg lore to your players. You can give them the mongo journal you created, but there may be other ways to deploy lore in your tabletop rpg. Thanks to Billarnold on the forums for the inspiration on this one. Random Encounter DM Matt emails us on Brett using different ability for skill checks DM...
Playing pretend allowed us to be a cop or robber or doctor or superhero when were kids. Now we play role-playing games and sometimes forget we’re taking on a role. Lets go back and play pretend! Random Encounter Voicemail from DM Cojo Voicemail from DM Cojo Voicemail from Chris Shorb Voicemail from Chris Shorb Email...
Spott hidden in Call of Cthuhlu, perception in Dungeons and Dragons, maybe it’s notice in other games. Some game masters will find these skills to be a royal pain in the ass. You tell the player that they need to roll the skill to see or hear something. What if they fail the check, and the failure brings the...
Team spirit, yes we have it, how bout you? Is Dungeons and Dragons a team game? Certainly it is a collaborative rpg. You need to rely on different class abilities in order to overcome obstacles and have your character survive. Little argument there, but what about being an actual team game, with mechanics, or incentives,...
Some tabletop role-playing games can have a LOT of rules and mechanics. We can often use them or not. Pick what you want, leave what you don’t. But! There may be advantages to codifying rules for your rpg. Announcements New Avalon product on DTRPG – Avalon Trinkets Exploring Eberron giveaway, enter your email here: https://gamingandbs.com/explore-eberron ...
Every PC hurts, sometimes. Healing in table-top role-playing games. You can use spells, scrolls, potions, but then there’s the long and short rests. A combat lasts 2-3 minutes. The party is wasted. You hear it come from the players, “we rest!” Are there other ways to handle the 5 minute work day of an adventurer?...
Brett throws some Advanced Dungeons & Dragons at his home group and realizes how it is turning his game into something different. This isn’t to talk about the rules of AD&D, but to offer insight into how the game provides a different experience for his game group and how Brett runs the fantasy rpg. Announcements Giving a...
Audio in tabletop role-playing games can certainly help with immersion. You can use looping music for background ambiance, or you can use sound effects for things occurring within your game, examples include the crackle of a fire place, sounds of laser guns, battle noises with swords clanging and much more. Does it ever become too...
Game master screens, we talked about them in the past. Do we use a GM screen or do we not? But times have changed as we start to do more gaming via online – Zoom, Discord, Skype…has the purpose of the GM screen changed with the times? Random Encounter Voicemail from Chris Shorb on GM...
Of course the game master is considered a player in a traditional tabletop role-playing game. They just have a different role with different duties and responsibilities. Seriously, being the game master is no joke. You schedule games, maintain order at the table, paint the picture, become well-versed in the rules, create or present the setting....
Cursed items in tabletop role-playing games can make for some pretty shitty situations for player characters. “OH! Yeah, you’re always at minus two to hit.” That can suck. However, there are other ways to make cursed items quirky, fun, laughable yet not too obnoxious. Thanks Ahzad for the inspiration! Announcements Virtual Gamehole Con event registration...
Losing in RPG’s, some say it’s not a thing. But aren’t there times when we feel like we lose in tabletop role-playing games? Announcements Virtual Gamehole Con event registration and badges available now. Random Encounter Feedback from the forums on Changing How You GM Idahogamer Great episode gentleman! I enjoyed hearing the ideas on how...
An introspective episode on how Sean wants to become a better game master. Maybe you’ve considered making a change. What would lead you to change how you game master? What things do you want to eliminate from your style? What aspects would you want to start incorporating more into your role-playing games? Do you have...
Game mastering a role-playing game on the fly is not easy. Familiarity, practice and some brief quiet time certainly helps. Random Encounter Voicemail from Chris Shorb Voicemail from Chris Shorb Matt V. comments on GM’ing for Money Matt V. comments on GM’ing for Money Hey guys, hope life finds you well! Keep meaning to write...
Game mastering for money. Turning your passion for roleplaying games into a profession. How much to charge. What to expect. Thanks to Dayminkaynin for posting it on our forums. Random Encounter Todd Crapper of Broken Ruler Games sends in a voicemail on Descriptions on Demand Todd Crapper of Broken Ruler Games sends in a voicemail...
We spend a lot of time talking about dealing with different issues, problems, players, and styles at the rpg table, but we don’t often talk about Trust. How important is it for the group? Let’s talk about it. Announcements Virtual Gamehole Con event registration and badges available now. Random Encounter Voicemail from Chris Shorb Voicemail...
Easy wins are not about killing the big bad. But we do spend a lot of time talking about “The Big Bad” in our games, helping to make those encounters/fights/etc the best they can be. But, how much value do we put on those easy or quick wins in our games? Those times the party...
Descriptions on Demand in tabletop rpg’s. We’re not always comfortable, especially in a new game, when the GM gives us the talking stick and asks us to make something up on the spot about their game world. Here’s an article that references this approach: https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/44891/roleplaying-games/gm-dont-list-11-description-on-demand So… what do we think about this? From Roger Brasslett...
Making thieves in tabletop rpg’s more interesting is going beyond just picking pockets and opening locks. Inspired from a post from Grotonomu. Announcements Virtual Gamehole Con event registration and badges available now. Heroes Save Villages, charity game on August 29th at 4pm cdt on Hobbs665 Twitch channel,staring Jason Hobbs (Hobbs and Friends), Kevin Madison (Dungeon...
Producers of Dungeons and Dragons, Wizards of the Coast, put out a survey to better understand tabletop gamers and their preferences. Sean thinks it would be interesting to have Brett take the survey. If you have not taken the rpg survey, we encourage you to do so, but feel free to answer the questions out loud...
We talk about this all the time, the idea that player characters like to go off the map, make a choice that sends the GM scrambling for what to do – they want to get off the Sean Train and take a tour of the forested hills “Over there, that spot on the map…” Why...
You want to run an rpg campaign. Your players roll up characters and you do a few intro adventures but realize you don’t have anything long-term. Setting up an rpg campaign. Thanks to Tom for bringing this up. Announcements Virtual Gamehole Con event registration and badges available now. Delta Green: Music from a Darkened Room...
Dungeon crawls. Confined spaces for your rpg player characters to adventure through. The concept Brett comes up with doesn’t mean it has to be a dark, dank, underground structure. Announcements Virtual Gamehole Con event registration and badges available now. Delta Green starts July 30th with session zero, tune in on Twitch.tv/gaming_and_bs at 8pm cdt Random...
Sometimes, it’s ok to have monsters simply be monsters that need to be fought. Not everything the PCs go up against needs to be fraught with moral dilemmas. There are times when we treat monsters as monsters. Announcements Virtual Gamehole Con event registration and badges available now. Sean won an all inclusive copy of Burn...
The topic of GM Style has lead Brett down a potentially dangerous path – the poor bastard is thinking of building his own rpg system! *shudder* So, let’s ask ourselves – why the hell would anyone do such a thing? Announcements Chases coming to How 2 RPG please subscribe. Gamehole Virtual Con moves forward for...
