Our 13th Age campaign is blossoming into one of the most amazing, highly improvised RPG campaigns I’ve ever played. So much so that I consider it one of the high points of my GMing career. I decided it was a good time to share some of its highlights and show you how we made the 13th Age Dragon Empire our own.
New (Year’s) Resolution Mechanics
I don’t usually do New Year’s resolutions. They feel so much like shoveling ahead everything we hate about ourselves. Much like everyone else’s, my last year has been filled with ups and downs. And like many, when I get introspective about the past, I tend to focus more on what worked less than what worked great. I’d like to break that cycle.
“13th Age” Musings: Running Non-Combat PC vs. NPC Scenes
Specifically for my needs, 13th Age does not have an obvious way to emulate “duel of wits.” I’m aware I could just “roleplay” them or make use of the generic difficulty ratings and “failing forward” concepts. In spite of that, I still felt like something’s missing from my 13th Age GMing toolbox.
“13th Age” Musings: Story Hook-Based Adventure Prepping
Last week, I was scrambling to prepare for my bimonthly 13th Age game session. We’d just completed the campaign’s first story arc, one I’d run with tight narrative control (That’s fancy jargon for “railroading”). I wanted the next arc to be more episodic in nature and allow players to chose where to the story would go. I am, however, well aware of the chaos and paralysis that can occur on both sides of the proverbial gaming screen if the GM opens up the world and waits for the players to do something. As I was brainstorming to find a good compromise, I stumbled on an idea.
13th Age Musings: Of Templates, Uniqueness and Adventure Hooks
On one hand, I’m excited about creating stories, plots, and themes needed to establish the best possible campaign. I know the game provides me with some solid tools to do just that. On the other hand, I want to fiddle with the very same tools to make them even more useful.
RPGs for Kids: “Castle Death” Revisited
Last year, I wrote a short series of posts about a dead simple roleplaying game I played with my son Nico. I thought I should revisit it and add more meat to the concept. The Game Based on the first RPG system I created when I was my son’s age, Castle Death is a simple […]
First Play Impressions: “Firefly RPG”
I’ve been rather discrete about it but I had significant doubts about how the Firefly RPG would turn out and be perceived by gamers. By that I don’t mean the usual jitters of the insecure designer, as I was just one cog of many in an all-star team working on the Gen Con Preview book. […]
Chatty DM, Freelancer, Epilogue: Tales of Ubiquity
Between May and August of 2011, I wrote a series of articles that looked back on the different stages of my life which led me to become a RPG freelancer. This an epilogue of sorts. You can read the previous articles here: Part 1: Lessons from Academia Part 2: Lessons from Day Jobs Part 3: […]
Of Tables and Games: What I’m Playing Now
Before I start, a little Chatty update: Winter and Spring have been my crazy freelancer months for a few years now. I’m knee-deep in pushing the Cortex Plus Hacker’s Guide to layout. Dave and I released the preview version of the Fantasy Heroic Roleplaying game to backers and the response has been both positive and […]
A Chatty Life: The Prescription
As a follow up to my last Tumblr post, I’ve started taking actions to clean up my life hygiene. The various health professionals working on my case have repeatedly told me that the secret to a more stable life as a Type II Bipolar-ite was to have a healthy lifestyle and a toolkit to deal […]
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