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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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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Under the Big Top: More Circus Ideas Last year, I wrote some tips on circuses: A Clown Cart Rolls Up and Disgorges Endless Foes. Roleplaying Tips GM Jeremy Brown sent me some great follow-on tips. But before I get into those, why do I like circuses? As a GM tool, we get these outcomes: There […]

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Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0110 A Guest Article By Jared Hunt To those on the outside, being the boss may seem like the best job around. Seen from the top, however, the sacrifices, responsibilities, and woes involved make being in charge a little less glamorous than it might appear. Here are just a few of the […]

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Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0050 Rewards: How To Help Your Players Develop Compelling Characters During Play These tips are all about helping your players develop interesting and unique characters during play. A player who really enjoys playing their character is almost always enthusiastic during play and has more fun at the game table. And feeling interested […]

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Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #882 You could slice-and-dice hazards a number of ways, pun intended. However, you might benefit by taking a step back and thinking about their game purpose and choosing them that way. Hazards have three cool combat and action scene effects: danger, senses, and movement. Add Danger Make encounters more lethal with hazards […]

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Monday I explored some scifi stuff with Orbital Trouble: d12 Space Outpost Hooks. Got some great responses and tips from fellow Roleplaying Tips GMs: Outposts vs. Colonies From Wizard of Adventure ExileinParadise First, for my Salvage Space RPG, I am pushing both “colonies” and “outposts” What’s the difference? Colonies are “mostly” self-sufficient on food, air, […]

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Had some large blocks of “waiting time” on the weekend, so I started noodling on what might make space outposts interesting. Why? I’m a sci-fi RPG noob, aiming to run my first game when things settle down a bit over here. And I’m not very familiar with the details and tropes of the genre. So, […]

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