Playing online is a lot different than in-person. Online gaming changes play in subtle ways. Pacing slows a bit. Prep can take longer. Engagement becomes trickier, too. In-person, I find side chatter keeps energy alive and engenders teamwork. Online, it’s just one mic talking to another, and it becomes too chaotic to hear well when […]

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Welcome to the fourth and final part of my series breaking down Game Master V’s tricky session! We’ve explored how to handle passive players, the Multiball cognitive load of GMing several NPCs at once, and turning treasure into hooks. Today, we bring it all together by tackling the Hot Potato and how to keep the […]

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The fighter awoke on flat, wet, cold rock, his face in a puddle of something warm and sticky. His eyes immediately fixated on a tipped, flickering lantern leaking oil right toward him. Thus began my Lost Isle campaign, an homage to The Isle of Dread and the TV show Lost. We started In Medias Res. […]

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Welcome back to our series diving into Game Master V’s tricky session! Last time, we tackled the problem of Passive Players. Today, we’re looking at a big cognitive load pit trap, which I think of as the Multiball problem. This is when too many things are moving at once and we lets things drop. “…the […]

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How can you get players engaged more in roleplaying encounters? Game Master Vildara presents this tricky session situation: Last night was a bit of a first for me and I find myself here looking for advice to avoid a situation like this. The crew is escorting a bride to her new husband on some backwater world. […]

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Here’s a great tip from Game Master Cam on how we can add zest to objects, items, and treasure: Dear Johnn, Your Man/Nature/Monster dungeon history idea makes me think of my object history table: Thanks Cam, this is a great approach. I especially like the last bullet: Who wants the object? I used to make […]

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How do we take a standard monster and make it feel alive without writing pages of lore? Today during Tiny Prep I added the first faction to my Lost Isle campaign. I am running troglodytes I call the Sovereigns of Stink, though in-game they’re the Rotscale Clan. To bring them to life and make them […]

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What kind of campaign do you run? We had a fascinating discussion in the Discord this week about how some campaigns end with a bang and others quietly retire. From RPT GM Gilladian: Campaign endings are hard. I have been a dm for over 30, maybe 40 years. I don’t remember most of the old […]

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It’s what’s between rooms that’s the real puzzle. Hola Game Master! Before I draw on today’s mapping tips, please consider this my invitation to you to join us for RPT Map Week. Draw, paint, thumbnail, click, sketch, or code a map based on a daily hook. Today’s Map Hook: A Flooding Dungeon. This is a […]

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Constrain one thing to transform your dungeons. Hola Game Master! Continuing our celebration of RPT Map Week (make sure you swing by the #rpt-map-weeks channel on Discord to check out the daily hooks), I want to talk about the hidden rules dictating your map designs. How Architectural Constraints Affect Maps We often draw floor plans […]

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Take Part in RPT Map Week #1 Hola Game Master! Starting next Monday, April 20, @Auke and I are running a fun, free, chill event on Discord for those who like to make maps. Each day for a week there will be a map hook I created. The theme is Locations Under Pressure. Read the […]

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Tuesday, I shared out the tip to create Back Pocket Encounters you can push into play in case you need to change the pace, stall, or provide a transition or clue. In response, Roleplaying Tips GM TT writes: Examples of each of the 3 Back Pocket Encounters would have been nice. Thanks for the suggestion, […]

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