Another post from Troll in the Corner, this time from February 3rd 2012. There’s an important rule in GMing: show, don’t tell. Now, when you put a setting together, you of course tell the players various things, but once the game is in full swing, it’s obviously much more important to involve the players in … Continue reading Old Stuff – Adding extra sensations
Category: writing
Draft One Page Campaign Opener – Beyond the Pale
Centuries ago, the good people of the Commonwealth took ownership over the lands of the Pale by conquest and divine right. In the ensuing time, life has been good both for the people of the Commonwealth and the locals, with both seeing great strides in the cause of civilisation. Unfortunately, there are still those who … Continue reading Draft One Page Campaign Opener – Beyond the Pale
Story dice plot generator
A few years ago, I picked up a couple of boxes of story cubes - dice with fun pictures on them. The plan was to use them for random encounters specifically in my Ginnungagap setting, as I'd picked up both the medieval fantasy set and the science fiction set. Of course, as with many ideas, … Continue reading Story dice plot generator
Old Stuff – Farewell to Fear
You may remember during RPGaDay2020 that I mentioned I had a copy of Farewell to Fear. It's a really great looking game, and I can't praise Machine Age Productions enough for it, and for all their other work - notably #iHunt and Maschine Zeit.Check out their stuff here on itch.io.This is originally published 4th May … Continue reading Old Stuff – Farewell to Fear
Old Stuff – Hooks, lines and secrets
This one first published on Troll in the Corner on 11th October 2011, my first post there. Over the past few months, I’ve been getting a lot more involved with my fantasy campaign setting project, working title Kingsmead. (Now known as the Old Crown)Getting into the setting meant thinking about the tools that a GM … Continue reading Old Stuff – Hooks, lines and secrets
Old Stuff – Poaching from the best
Back in 2011/12, I wrote a few posts for the website Troll in the Corner.The below was first posted there on February 24th 2012. Apologies if it feels a bit academic in places - I was a lot closer to working on a Masters degree at the time than I am now!I've done my best … Continue reading Old Stuff – Poaching from the best
RPGaDay 2020 prompt 31 – Experience
And that's the end of the RPGaDay prompts for 2020. It's been fun, and actually doing it in the right month (and the right year) has made for a nice change! I feel like taken together, there's less change to my games going forward than I ended up with after the 2019 prompts. No doubt … Continue reading RPGaDay 2020 prompt 31 – Experience
RPGaDay 2020 prompt 30 – Portal
I think it's fair to say that I love a good portal in D&D (less so in Dresden Files, where occasionally you end up on the surface of the Sun). I've been taking a look through 6 Legendary Dungeon Doors from Dreadful Dungeons - that's the free preview supplement to Deadly Dungeon Doors.The book gives … Continue reading RPGaDay 2020 prompt 30 – Portal
RPGaDay 2020 prompt 29 – Ride
I've been thinking more about Out West, and since it's a Weird West setting, then it should including riding of various beasts of burden, right? But what should I use? I've been thinking of just using horses because it's easy and I don't have to worry about it anymore.I've been thinking about using some other … Continue reading RPGaDay 2020 prompt 29 – Ride
RPGaDay 2020 prompt 28 – Close
Well, I'm in the home stretch now and close to the end of this year's writing prompts, so it's time to think about what I'm going to write about once all this is over. Back in 2011 and 2012, I wrote a handful of posts for the website Troll in the Corner. I'd link to … Continue reading RPGaDay 2020 prompt 28 – Close
RPGaDay 2020 prompt 27 – Favour
So since writing this, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything has been announced and I've read the blurb - possibly the mention of group patrons and 'perks' covers some of what I've written below. Let's talk a bit about patrons in D&D. No, not the ones for Warlocks. In Eberron - Rising from the Last War, the … Continue reading RPGaDay 2020 prompt 27 – Favour
RPGaDay 2020 prompt 26 – Strange
I'm guessing a lot of people will be talking about The Strange for this post. I have very limited experience with the Cypher System and none with the Strange itself, but I like the feeling of the setting, and how the game works. So why am I writing about this if I have no idea … Continue reading RPGaDay 2020 prompt 26 – Strange
RPGaDay 2020 prompt 25 – Lever
I guess I could talk about the Leverage RPG? I picked it up for free of DrivethruRPG a few years ago I think. Maybe it was a Halloween freebie? (It seems to be gone from DrivethruRPG, so have a nice article about it instead)I heard recently they're bringing it back to TV after eight years … Continue reading RPGaDay 2020 prompt 25 – Lever
RPGaDay 2020 prompt 24 – Humour
I'm a big fan of humorous asides in games, or playing gonzo-style. And I've played a good bit of Paranoia, so gonzo is easy. I'm debating a gonzo game to be added to my work-in-progress campaign settings. Most of the ones I write are serious. But so far, I haven't come up with an idea … Continue reading RPGaDay 2020 prompt 24 – Humour
RPGaDay 2020 prompt 23 – Edge
There's a weird idea of edginess being cool in some games I've played in. I think we all agree why it's bad.Edginess for edginess' sake is boring, ham-fisted, idiotic, painful. There, that's done. Let's talk about keen weapons. For those that don't know, in older editions of D&D, the keen enchantment improved the critical range … Continue reading RPGaDay 2020 prompt 23 – Edge
RPGaDay 2020 prompt 22 – Rare
I've been trying for days to come up with a better topic than some of my favourite rare magic items from D&D 5e, but I think that will have to do! So, I'm not going to focus too much on the 'obvious' items - the Handy Haversack, Portable Hole and Ring of Spell Storing are … Continue reading RPGaDay 2020 prompt 22 – Rare
RPGaDay 2020 prompt 21 – Push
I'm debating adding some push and pull roleplaying mechanics into D&D. I've talked a bit about this kind of thing before, but I think I can actually make it work this time. Pretty easy really - I want to give players the option of an Inspiration system that takes a cue from FATE points, so … Continue reading RPGaDay 2020 prompt 21 – Push
RPGaDay 2020 prompt 20 – Investigate
I think I've talked pretty recently about how I handle mysteries and investigation, so I think I'll talk about the recent Web DM video about alternate skill checks and how they might play out for an investigation. Basically, that video centred on the use of alternate ability modifiers for various skills. Investigation is an Intelligence … Continue reading RPGaDay 2020 prompt 20 – Investigate
RPGaDay 2020 prompt 19 – Tower
One of the things that I've rarely used in a game is a stereotypical Wizard's Tower. I think I'll have to add one to a game I run in the near future - a small dungeon that goes upwards (as well as probably downwards), with some minor encounters on each level. It would be very … Continue reading RPGaDay 2020 prompt 19 – Tower
RPGaDay 2020 prompt 18 – Meet
You all meet in the inn.It's clichéd, but it works. But how else do you bring your players together? In the last long-running game I played in, I met the party in an inn - but it was Planescape, so they were all sat around having a drink when a portal opened above them, and … Continue reading RPGaDay 2020 prompt 18 – Meet
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