On the surface, being a new tabletop RPG player can be an intimidating experience. You’re often surrounded by folks who know exactly what to do all the time. So when the GM turns to you for the first time and says “It’s your turn; what do you do?” it can be a little intimidating. Today’s…
Happy 2021 everyone! On the surface, the sheer scale and variety of tabletop RPG systems makes it seem as though your story – your world – is meant to be tailored to just one of them. That it’s your world which needs to confirm to their rules in order to be brought to life. Today’s…
No matter how thorough the rule book for the tabletop RPG (TTRPG) system you’re using, there are going to be times when a situation is more or less up for interpretation. And naturally, players care about the result in these situations. After all, they’ve invested considerable time, effort, and energy into their characters, the party,…
Whether you’re brand new or super-experienced in tabletop role-playing games, we’ve all run into the challenge of how to describe what playing stories is really like. Today’s Newbie Tuesday post aims to help solve that quandary! And then, hopefully, just about anyone you’re talking to will have that “ah ha, that’s really cool” moment and…
The characters in your tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) story are likely to encounter all sorts of obstacles and opportunities. Whether they’re epic battles, heartbreak, or perhaps summiting your world’s tallest peak. But no matter what those milestones in your story look like, it’s crucial that the theme, meaning, and choices of/during those experiences have an…
If you’re a tabletop role-playing game story creator, you doubtless spend time & energy in worldbuilding. Settings, characters, plot threads…much of your investment out of session as the game master comes in ironing out these details. As obvious as it may seem on the surface, it’s important to keep top of mind during all of…
Previously: https://storytogether.com/2020/12/10/isaiah-the-gray-part-30/ Introductions & Welcomes The Defiant’s crew – Isaiah, Jimmy, Isaac, Corban, and Zero-You – gathers in the central operations room of the ship. Zaren, cold and despondent, files in last. An uncomfortable silence fills the space. “Everyone,” begins Isaiah, “please introduce yourselves. Zaren here has been through a great deal. And whether he…
Playing as a character in a story can sometimes be a confusing concept for new players. And making choices on your character’s behalf isn’t immediately intuitive for lots of folks either. Add-in all the rules, the stats, the math…and oftentimes you’ve got yourself a recipe for a bit of a slog at the beginning. So…
When players are coming up with their characters’ backstories, oftentimes they’re not doing so together. Character creation after all traditionally is a highly individual process; although, there’s certainly collaboration here and there. So as the GM when the players submit their characters’ various backstories, it becomes clear pretty quickly that sometimes their various elements can…
If you’ve been playing tabletop role-playing games for awhile, you know that flow is constantly on the mind of the GM/DM. How is the pacing? What is the interest level in what’s happening? How engaged are the players with a particular plot thread(s)? And so on. You know what great flow feels like: everyone is…
