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You are here: Home / Archives for Roleplaying Games / Adventure Prep

Tales of the Apocalypse, Part 3: Prepping the Game

September 20, 2010 by The Chatty DM

While Apocalypse World is a low prep RPG, it is by no means a no prep one. The game/author reminds us in no light terms to refrain from plotting out a story. Instead, the book provides a series of structured tools to build what’s called Fronts, templates of linked threats that loom around the PCs, trying to forward specific dark agendas the PCs may decide (or have no choice) to go against.

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Campaign Logs, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Apocalypse World, Chatty's 2010-2011 campaigns, Chatty's year of Indie Games, indie games, indie rpg, Post-Apocalypse, Vincent Baker

Tales of the Apocalypse Part 2, Reprisal at Ambush Hill

September 8, 2010 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty recounts his first Apocalypse world session right after character creation. A fight, an explosion, some threats and a love scene, just like in the movies!

Filed Under: Actual Play, Adventure Prep, Musings of the Chatty DM, Newest Critical Hits Tagged With: Apocalypse World, Chatty's 2010-2011 campaigns, Chatty's year of Indie Games, indie games, indie rpg, Post-Apocalypse, Vincent Baker

Of Sorrowful Villainous Shrikes and Losing Encumbrance

June 22, 2010 by The Chatty DM

Way back when, I used to write these short posts (yeah, Pffft!) where I would mix and match various cool things I’d seen on the web or to update people on things I had been doing. I thought it would be a good time to do one now.

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Freelance Writing, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, art, d&d 4e, Fan Art, monster

The Downside of Awesome

May 17, 2010 by The Chatty DM

I’ve recently discovered a pattern common to the gaming sessions where I’m not entirely satisfied with the way things went. I realized that it’s partly because encounters reach a state of complexity such that players become confused about the best way to navigate through them. The goal becomes fuzzy or the options are either too numerous or too complex mechanically to be used in full.

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: advice, Player Psychology, rule of cool

The Briarthorn Needle, Gnomish Airship

April 30, 2010 by The Chatty DM

The game’s action will occur entirely on board a Feywild grown, Clockwork-powered gnome airship called The Briarthorn Needle owned by ‘neutral’ fey privateers. The last warring factions of Sikkara (our Clockowork D&D gameworld) have agreed to meet on it to negotiate a peace accord and put an end to 8 years of global war.

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: Airship, Clockwork D&D, d&d 4e, Gears of Ruin, Gnomes

The Gnomish Viral Music Box

April 28, 2010 by The Chatty DM

Upon freeing themselves from the Fomorians, the gnomes knew that they could not rely on the other, more powerful races, to guarantee that they would not fall back into slavery. While many champions of the Gnomish causes have risen in the last centuries, the masters of trickery have created their own tricks to ‘convince” the world’s best heroes and scoundrles to help them.

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Artefact, Cursed Items, D&D, Gears of Ruin, Gnomes, What if

Gears of Ruin Interlude: The Warforged Wars

April 20, 2010 by The Chatty DM

The arrival of sentient machines in an already explosive political situation plunged the whole world into global wars among economic, religious and opportunistic alliances. The auto-clanks (humanoid machines) ended up obtaining their emancipation at a horrendous price of scrap metal and blood. They took the name “Warforged” as to never forget how they won the right to exist as free beings on this hostile world.

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: 4e, Clockwork D&D, Gears of Ruin

Friday Chat: Are You Trying Too Hard?

February 5, 2010 by The Chatty DM

Friday Chats are end-of-week posts intended to foster discussion on various RPG topics that bounce around in my noggin’. This week, with my post on prepping for my game,cramming it with all the awesome Magitek I can think of and applying lessons from last week’s posts, I caught myself asking, yet again, “Dude, aren’t you […]

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Musings of the Chatty DM, Uncategorized Tagged With: advice, Friday Chat, GMing

Gearing up: The Setting, Pre-Prep and the Adventure Plan

February 3, 2010 by The Chatty DM

As many of you know, I’m starting a D&D clockwork campaign called Gears of Ruin set on a dying, water and magic-poor world. One where the gods nearly lost the war against the Primordials and more or less abandoned this ravaged, but resource-rich husk to its own fate.

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, Gears of Ruin, Tropes

Gears of Ruin: Party Creation Session Template

January 4, 2010 by The Chatty DM

We start the new year with a new D&D 4e campaign.  I spoke a little bit about this new D&D 4e clockwork campaign we were starting. After having read the first chapter of the Dungeon Master Guide 2, Mouse Guard and having heard about several games where character generation is part of the shared game […]

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, advice, Chatty's 2009-2010 Campaign, DM tools, Gears of Ruin, Player input

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About the Author

  • The Chatty DM

    The Chatty DM is the "nom de plume" of gamer geek Philippe-Antoine Menard. He has been a GM for over 40 years. An award-winning RPG blogger, game designer, and scriptwriter at Ubisoft. He squats a corner of Critical Hits he affectionately calls "Musings of the Chatty DM." (Email Phil or follow him on Twitter.)

    Email: chattydm@critical-hits.comWeb: https://critical-hits.com//category/chattydm/

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