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…
When you sit down to start your next tabletop RPG campaign, you’re sitting at a fertile, nearly infinite sandbox of story. And every TTRPG story is different – its twists and turns, worlds and characters – with its many facets up to the GM & players. So before you all take that crucial first step…
Every group of players at the table is unique. They each have their own wants, needs, goals, and play-styles. Balancing these facets can be a challenge, especially if the players’ perspectives are quite different from one another. Today’s GM/DM advice centers more specifically on how the game master can better balance contrasting play-styles in their…
There’s no doubt there’s quite a bit to “juggle” in the GM/DM’s role. The players, characters, NPCs, the world itself, what’s happening, what will likely happen…there’s a lot for the GM/DM to consider as the story plays out. Today’s Game Master Advice post aims to help ease the anxiety and pressure folks might feel about…
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,…
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…
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…
Life goes by fast. Faster than you’d ever expect. And with the pace of modern living, it’s all the more difficult to appreciate the truly important moments of our lives in real time. And for those of us who get so much out of playing stories together, this sentiment holds doubly true. So this week’s…
In many tabletop RPGs today, the worldbuilder and the GM/DM are the same person. They are responsible for the story world, its setup, its “main plot,” as well as conducting & guiding the story along with all of the players and their characters. As worldbuilding winds down – and character creation begins – there’s a…
Tabletop RPG GMs/DMs have a lot to manage when they’re facilitating stories. And sometimes, when things aren’t going their way, frustration can build and boil over to railroading and over-punishing players. Today’s GM Advice is all about how shifting your mindset from being the table’s leader to the table’s guide can exponentially improve everyone’s experience…