Conflict is the beating heart of most stories. And in tabletop RPGs, there are the three traditional pillars of solving story dilemmas: combat, subterfuge, and diplomacy. TTRPGs have historically incentivized combat by making those components fun & exciting. Taking their roots from war-gaming, the hyper-tactical nature of combat is the core of a majority of…
Whenever a tabletop story begins, Schrodinger’s character exists: are they just words on a page? Or are they a real and tangible being? As GMs/DMs, we’re tasked with providing the story canvas from which these characters can truly be brought to life. So this week’s Friday GM Advice post is all about the process providing…
Previously: https://storytogether.com/2020/09/03/isaiah-the-gray-part-19/ The Gray Enter Corban flashes a gentle smile. “There is nothing to turn to – the Light side is always there. If it puts you at ease, I will stay silent on the subject moving forward.” Jimmy shakes his head. “Typical Jedi.” AI’s voice comes over the intercom. “Commander, Captain Issac requests permission…
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…
Everyone is familiar with making choices. And some decisions are more difficult and/or more important than others. “What should my major be in college?” – for example – is likely a bit harder and more important than “What brand of peanut butter should I buy in the grocery store?” But regardless of how easy/difficult or…
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…
There’s no doubt that good GMs/DMs work hard. There’s a lot of prep work, a lot of worldbuilding, and certainly your fair share of shepherding. And sometimes GMs & DMs can get lost in all that shuffle and lose perspective; they forget that playing stories is about having a blast and not about the result…
Whenever I’m talking with a group of people who are just learning about playing stories for the first time, the topic of speaking as one’s character invariably comes up. “Do I have to speak in their voice?” “Do I have to say what they would say?” etc. So today’s newbie Tuesday post helps answer those…
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…
When you sit down to start your next tabletop RPG campaign, before you dive into worldbuilding, character creation, or Session Zero, 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 &…