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You are here: Home / Archives for guest

Skill Challenges in 5th Edition D&D

August 16, 2016 by guest

Skill challenges were the best kept secret of 4e D&D. They were awesome, but they were so poorly explained that it caused a lot of confusion.

Filed Under: Featured, Game Hacks & Content, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 5e, D&D, skill challenges

Realism vs. Genre Emulation

June 15, 2016 by guest

Why do you suppose the PCs win nearly every D&D battle they have? There’s an illusion of threat, but how often does the party really lose a fight?

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Newest Critical Hits, Player Psychology, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: genre, genre emulation, illusionism, night's black agents, realism

Target Mapping your Monsters: Worldbuilding via the “Monster Manual”

September 3, 2014 by guest

While I read the newest Monster Manual, I could feel the monsters coming together in and around dungeons and world events. There is easily digested lore for every monster in the main part of the book, and each of the 2-3 pieces of lore has something a GM can sink their teeth into and turn into a piece of an adventure.

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Editorial, Featured, Game Hacks & Content, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 5e, D&D, D&D 5e, D&D next, Monster Manual

Thirteen Books Nerds Should Read

June 7, 2012 by guest

Do you collect facts like little boys collect dirt? Do you read nearly all morphemes that flit past your eyes (including cereal boxes and the fine print on DVD cases?) Did you already know the definition of morpheme? If you didn’t, do you have at least five apps on your phone that could tell you? If you said yes to two or more of those questions, read on.

Filed Under: Editorial, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: beowulf, endurance, frankenstein, grendel, hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, I have no mouth and I must scream, if on a winter's night a traveller, into the wild, johnny got his gun, OD&D, the big sleep, the eyre affair, the name of the rose

More Than Openness: Designing in Public

February 24, 2012 by guest

One of the distinctions that I missed in my last article is that openness doesn’t necessarily have to be inviting. It just leave the door open. Doing something in public combines openness with a call to the public to look at what you’re doing.

Filed Under: Editorial, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: designing in public, game design, Kickstarter, school daze

Game Design and Openness

January 20, 2012 by guest

I do all of my design work at Sand & Steam openly. Every bit of what I do is laid out for everyone to see, warts and all. When I first started, I choose openness not because of any high-minded philosophy about information needing to be free. No, I did so for one very simple, very motivating reason: I was scared.

Filed Under: Editorial, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: closed design, D&D next, design, open design, sand & steam, wotc

Scotty’s Brewpub: Gaming, Grog, Grub, and Good Times for Gen Con

July 22, 2011 by guest

There’s a lot going on at Scotty’s during Gen Con. The short, take away is JUST GO, you’ll have fun. That’s enough if this looks like it’s going to be a TL;DR for you.

Filed Under: Featured, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: D&D, gen con, pathfinder, restaurants, wizards of the coast

26 Years of Gaming Lessons

April 20, 2011 by guest

My wife’s birthday is coming up, which made me think of my birthday, which made me think of my age, and thus, the length of time I’ve been a gamer. I’ve been a gamer for 26 years, and in that time: I’ve lost an arm and a leg in the same fight; witnessed the best […]

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: AD&D, Life Lessons, Rifts, wil wheaton

How Do You Turn a GM Off the Tracks Onto a Dirt Road?

November 22, 2010 by guest

As part of running Roleplaying Tips, I often receive questions about common gaming problems. One reader sent me this question recently, which might have come up in your gaming group: “How do you wean a GM off of a cinematic/railroad style?”

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Inquisition of the Week, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: gming advice, railroading

How to Read Minds: Body Language at the Gaming Table

November 12, 2010 by guest

Did you ever meet someone whose stories always fizzle without much of a punch? Me too. The issue with their stories isn’t necessarily the content; some other guy or gal might tell the same stories with everyone around them hanging on their every word.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Storytelling

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