“People look at the rules set to see what they can do in the game.” That quote’s from a great email I received from Roleplaying Tips GM Steve S. And it’s often true. For example, lately I tried the Fallout and Dark Eye RPGs. And both times, when not my turn, I was scanning the […]

The post New House Rule: Do Anything appeared first on Roleplaying Tips.

Last week a field across the street burned. A copse of trees also caught fire.  A farmer — Kevin, a friend from volleyball —  hopped onto his tiller and started turning the soil up to slow the blaze down. And fire trucks were cycling at the nearest hydrant and making ranged attack rolls against the […]

The post It’s on Fire! appeared first on Roleplaying Tips.

Classless systems can feel liberating at first. But then characters start to feel same-same. Wizard of Adventure SDavies nails why in this great comment he posted yesterday in CampaignCraft: From 5 Room Dungeon to Universe: I ran a many-year RuneQuest campaign, which is classless. I wasn’t careful and some characters ended up various shades of grey, […]

The post Do Skill Systems Make Characters Too Similar? appeared first on Roleplaying Tips.

Before I share today’s tip, a reminder for Wizards of Adventure that it’s the last Saturday of the month in a few days and that means it’s Zoom time! Hop onto a call with me this Saturday noon Mountain Time to get some help. Get tips, ideas, or feedback about your next encounter, monster tactics, […]

The post Your World Is An NPC appeared first on Roleplaying Tips.

This tip comes from Old Man Masha via the Roleplaying Tips Discord: Here’s a cool way to come up with interesting ideas for elements of your game. First, get a collection of 10 random words. I got: Then, randomly pair them up. I got: Now, each pair can be used as an inspiration! Check it […]

The post A Quick Trick to Create Killer Ideas appeared first on Roleplaying Tips.

A couple of quick announcements. First, I was on the Roleplay Rescue podcast recently with Tiny Prep co-author, Che Webster. It starts off with a question: What would you do if you had a new player to add to your existing roleplaying group? And the convo evolves from there. Here’s the link to listen. Second, […]

The post Golemageddon: Golem Ideas for Your Next Campaign appeared first on Roleplaying Tips.

ExileInParadise made a great comment to a series I’m writing about villains. The method he calls out creates immediate campaign drama with built-in adventure hooks and tactical inspiration for play. Each role can act independently or together, keeping your faction scenes spicy. Take it away Exile…. I really like Mike Pondsmith’s “Meta Characters” from Cyberpunk […]

The post The Meta Characters Method: Factions With Brains, Brawn & Betrayal appeared first on Roleplaying Tips.

Wizard of Adventure Buck asks: Have you ever run or heard of someone running a Groundhog Day type game? Do you have ideas on how to do this? We know: Great question, Buck! I recently ran a Groundhog Day scenario for my Basilica campaign. For Basilica, I used Groundhog Day as a way to convert […]

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Guten morgen. A quick update for Wizards of Adventure: the recording of Saturday’s Q&A call is now available. Some of the things we discussed on the call: Wizards of Adventure: Watch, listen, and download the recording here. Or become a Wizard of Adventure today and also get access to exclusive tools, GM techniques, and GM […]

The post Gain +1 to World Building By Making Every Encounter Count appeared first on Roleplaying Tips.

A Brief Word From Johnn A quick note that Saturday is our monthly Q&A call on Zoom for Wizards of Adventure. Let me help you spruce up an encounter, tweak a plot, or solve a tricky campaign problem. Also, if you cannot make the call, hit reply with your question(s). We’ll address them on the […]

The post 16 Things Every Good D&D Adventure Must Have appeared first on Roleplaying Tips.

I’m back. Thank you for the emails and well-wishes. I had some unscheduled downtime, but all is well. More news on that another time. Been thinking lately about villains. They’re actually the topic of a writing challenge I started a few days ago to get me back into rolling up some words. There are two […]

The post Two Villains That Shape Your Campaign appeared first on Roleplaying Tips.

On Saturday’s Q&A call, Wizard of Adventure Andy shared his latest Campaign Prospectus — a kind of elevator pitch for your campaign. I thought it was great, and he gave permission to share it out. Here is a PDF of his Campaign Prospectus. A couple quick thoughts about it: Clear Themes Andy’s set up instructions […]

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