The Chaos Gremlin archetype looks at the chaotic square on an alignment chart and says, "I'll take two." These are the people who read, "In a TTRPG, you can do anything you can imagine," and just said, "Bet." The fantasy of a Chaos Gremlin is one of ultimate freedom. They embody the no gods, no kings, no masters mindset. They're the epitome of "Doing it for the plot." And they don't see a reason to follow the rules because rules are all made up anyway.

Here’s a strong opinion of mine. I’ll die on a hill defending this opinion as well. Here goes. The main point of role playing games is to get a group together to tell stories in a collaborative and fun manner while using a set of rules to guide the storytelling though its paces. Let’s break […]

It’s a classic TTRPG punchline: the GM spends hours crafting a recurring villain—personality, motivation, master plan, and fatal flaw—and 20 minutes into his grand debut, the players kill him. This is followed by hastily retconning someone else into being the “real” head villain. Some GMs use cults or cabals instead of named villains. Others hold […]

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/GC_212_Problemplayers_final.mp3 Join Ang and Jared, along with special guest Carl Lehmann as they talk about problem players and what to do about them when you find one at your table. Links: Origins Game Faire Fury of the Forsaken by Lou Anders Symphony Entertainment    

Whether it’s Aragorn showing up with his army of the dead in Lord of the Rings, the shot of the rescue team breaking through to the trapped people in the disaster movie, or a hero saving an innocent victim from a mugging or kidnapping, there are few things that capture the spirit of heroism as […]

This past weekend, my gaming group did not reach quorum, and I was staring down another blown session. There has been a string of them with this group, and we have struggled to get games going. I was itching to run something. Rather than canceling the session, I told the remaining players we could play […]

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/CG_211_Continuityconcerns.mp3 Join Ang along with Chris and Phil as they talk about managing continuity for you and your players in your campaigns. Does it matter? How much attention do you need to give it? What if you’re running an Actual Play for an Audience? LINKS: Buckeye Game Fest Panda’s Talking Games Dragon Week on YouTube

All images were taken from the Dialect game, store, and KS page I was invited over to a friend’s house with some other friends. There, I knew two of my regular players, and two other folks with little to no experience in TTRPGs, were going to be spending the afternoon with me. Looking to test […]

Friends The main reason I play tabletop role playing games is for the friends I have at the table. I’ve been gaming with the members of my current group for between 7 and 25 years, depending on which member I’m accounting for. They’re great people. They’re great friends (during and between sessions). We’ve helped each […]

In the D&D cultural zeitgeist, the paladin is often characterized as a stick-in-the-mud or worse, a narq, but there's so much more to this trope beyond the memes. So let's take a closer look and figure out how to use the fantasy of a stalwart champion to create absorbing character arcs.