Today’s #GMAdvice stems from a fantastic article by Hayley Gordon with Storybrewers (@storybrewers on Twitter) that centers on the topic of narrative authority in TTRPGs. The example Hayley uses to set the table is an adventuring party who has just entered a cave and has been thrust into combat. The traditional model is the the…
Continuing from last week’s Isaiah the Gray #TBTRPG story, the First smiles: “May the Darkness be with you.” Isaiah, Jimmy C, and Captain Issac leave the chamber without saying another word and manage to reach the Valley of the Sith without further issue. There, the three men observe that the lay-lines of Korriban have been…
The previous two #ifthiswereaTTRPG posts dealt with characters who succeeded in their “rolls” – Frodo, and the President of Melcor – so today, we’re going to examine a famous failed roll from a favorite movie of mine: Toy Story. Those that love Toy Story know the scene well: Woody, consumed with jealousy and envy over…
In the spirit of yesterday’s post regarding one-off TTRPG sessions, today’s #newbieTuesday advice is all about your first one-off! In contrast to a longer-term tabletop story, one-offs are a one-time-only story. Think of them as an episode in construction but potentially the “short-story” version of a whole season/series. For new players, one-offs are the best…
Today’s #worldbuildingMonday covers a bit of a different topic: one-off/one-shot stories. Typically, our Monday worldbuilding advice has been centered around persistent worlds that GMs/players are in for, hopefully, quite some time. We’ve discussed scale, best practices, and numerous other topics for worldbuilders to get their universes just right for play. Today’s advice though centers around…
It’s release day at StoryTogether and we’re proud to present Episode 8 of The Couriers! There are only three episodes left in Season 1 and we’ve been doing a lot of reflecting as a team on how we get bigger and better with Season 2. Better lighting, audio, story-driven editing, and animations are all things…
A few weeks ago, we discussed managing sources of conflict from a worldbuilder’s point of view. Today on #GMAdvice we’ll talk about the same topic from the GM’s POV. Level of Difficulty: For a GM, it’s important to be able to set expectations with your players when providing them context. Having a pulse on how…
Continuing from last week’s Isaiah the Gray #TBTRPG story, Isaiah responds to the Captain: “I wish I knew. I hope we help solve that here. Now, let’s keep going.” The three men continue onward and enter a sparse room whose only striking component is its elegant minimalism. At its center is a plain, nondescript chair.…
I originally got the idea of #ifthiswereaTTRPG post series from the Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4 episode “First Contact.” In the episode, the Enterprise crew is clandestinely evaluating whether a planet – which has just achieved warp drive – is ready to join the broader galactic community. Naturally, a slew of things go…
We’re talking about encountering dilemmas on today’s #newbieTuesday post. Group problem solving is a core element of the tabletop role playing game experience. Social situations, puzzles, and even combat oftentimes require a degree of creative problem solving among the group of players. Chaining these dilemmas – and their outcomes – together is most oftentimes the…