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…
Today’s #GMAdvice centers around best practices for keeping the party aware of their surroundings & context. While it is ultimately the party’s responsibility to pay attention, the GM is responsible for setting the table in all situations with the appropriate level of information to give the party the opportunity to make decisions accordingly. And those…
Homebrewing is the act of either altering an existing system’s rule set or the creation of your own rule-set, typically with foundational elements from another. Today’s #GMAdvice centers on both how to get started with homebrewing as well as some common pitfalls GMs experience when branching out in this area. Getting started usually just comes…
Today’s #GMAdvice is all about how to run an improv role playing game story. Whether it’s 1 on 1 or with a group of players, improve RPGs can be incredibly fun. There’s much less setup, little to no paperwork, fewer items to keep track of, and you can all just jump right it without any…
For GMs who have a complicated, nuanced, and detailed set of lore at the bedrock of their stories, today’s #GMAdvice is for you as it tackles some best practices around ingratiating players into that lore. When players invest in and treat your lore at face-value, it’s a very fulfilling feeling and most oftentimes makes for…
Today’s #GMAdvice centers around best practices with detail when delivering expository description. Even outside the tabletop RPG setting, when people are telling a story about something that happened to them, we all know when someone does it well and another does it poorly. The former cuts out the extraneous detail, instead focusing on only the…
Today’s #GMAdvice post is all about best practices for implementing puzzles in your stories. Puzzles are a classic gaming mechanism. They force your player(s) to come together to solve something challenging, worthwhile, and rewarding. From Tomb Raider, to Final Fantasy, to Dungeons & Dragons, puzzles are ubiquitous part of the gaming experience. That said, in…
Today’s #GMAdvice centers around how to structure your characters’ first meeting. When yourself and the players sit down for their first session, there’s a buzz about things. Everyone is excited and ready to get into the action. You need to harness that energy and design an appropriate forum for your players’ characters to meet and…
Today’s #GMAdvice is all about how to resolve disputes should they arise at the table. A majority of issues tend to stem from the perception of an uneven distribution of “screen time” – aka the time spent where the GM is primarily focused on a player – and/or items/treasure/goods. In these cases, it’s important for…
Today’s #GMAdvice centers around a hot feature that’s been making the rounds, especially in video games, in the past several years: the Nemesis system. There’s numerous incarnations of Nemesis systems of course but, at it root, a Nemesis system is one in which players are incentivized to have a rival or rivals throughout the duration…