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You are here: Home / Archives for gm advice

Toronto Fan Expo: The DM Master Class Seminar

September 1, 2010 by The Chatty DM

One of the highlights of my visit at last weekend’s Toronto Fan Expo was the one hour panel I had the honour to share with RPG legends Ed Greenwood and Robin D. Laws. We ended up speaking to packed room of 100+ people. I was impressed!

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: advice, DM advice, Ed Greenwood, gm advice, Robin Laws, Toronto Fan Expo 2010

The Final Stage of a RPG Group: Dissolution

July 6, 2010 by The Chatty DM

I thought I was done with this increasingly inaccurately named “4-stages of RPG group development series” when I wrote the last part about Stagnation, but recent event in my gaming group lead me to a painful decision and I thought that tackling it as an addendum to the series would be a good idea.

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Player Psychology, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: d&d 4e, gm advice, GMing, Group Dynamics, The 4 stages

The Plot Kill

April 28, 2010 by The Main Event

In the ongoing debate of killing of PCs and total party kills, one aspect of PC death is often left out: The Plot Kill. Having turned Plot Kills into defining campaign moments and having received some memorable Plot Kills myself, I think the concept warrants discussion.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Pain of Publication, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: DM advice, gm advice, pain of campaigning, plot kill

Pain of Campaigning: Literature and Adventure Planning

November 2, 2009 by The Main Event

Much of gamer culture is shared and it’s not very interesting to rip something off that everyone instantly recognizes and inevitably metagames for. That’s where literature comes in.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Pain of Publication, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: gm advice, pain of campaigning

Making Your 5×5 Campaign Plan Into A Grid

September 30, 2009 by guest

Maybe it’s the gamer in me but when I first read the post title “The 5×5 Method” I immediately visualized a grid. When I read Dave’s post, I got that feeling but it seemed more like a tree than a grid with branches flowing from one another and even sometimes intersecting.

Filed Under: Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: advice, campaign planning, gm advice, planning, The 5x5 Method

Origins 2009: Monte Cook “Being A Better Game Master”

June 26, 2009 by Dave

When asked to sum up the essence of being a game master, Monte often responds with something smart-alek like “everything I know could fill up a book… and so I did and WotC published it.”

Filed Under: Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: being a better GM, gm advice, monte cook, origins 2009, seminar

Mean Things I Have Done in Horror RPGs

October 31, 2008 by Dave

Had a PC’s longtime girlfriend seduced by a butt-ugly vampire. Replaced a resurrected PC with his evil twin… permanently. (As a result of this) Force said evil twin into working with the PCs after he was disowned by the rest of his doppelganger crew. Killed a PC’s roommate, brought him back as a Frankenstein’s Monster. […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: call of cthulhu, gm advice, horror

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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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