Telling stories is an art that has been with us as far back as cavemen drawing on cavern walls with mud and blood. Since that time, the art has expanded through different mediums – from cave paintings to verbal orations, ballads, poems, sculptures and hieroglyphs, plays, books, movies and yes, role-playing games. It has also evolved through the use of several different literary tools – [Read the article]
You’re getting ready to run a game for your favorite gaming group. The setting you want to use is one of the richest published settings you’ve ever used (Star Wars, Eberron, Dresden Files, Warhammer 40k, etc.). You’ve got an idea for an epic story that is going to touch on many themes of the setting, and hopefully culminate into an “Oh, wow… that was incredible!!” [Read the article]
I like the hobby of RP gaming, partly because I get to hang out with friends, but mostly because I get to experience what it’s like to be in an action movie, fighting ‘real’ bad guys (and sometimes good guys). However… In the beginning, my combat turn went something like this: I attack the orc. I rolled a 19. Does that hit? I rolled 12 [Read the article]
You hear it all the time: “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” You know it’s good advice; what you may not realize is that it applies to your GMing, as well as to your life. “But I haven’t promised anything!” you protest. Think again. We make promises to our players all the time without realizing it. Do you ask your players to provide a character [Read the article]
As a generic rule-set, Strands of FATE is a fully functioning game system lacking only two ingredients: (1) a creative gaming group, and (2) a setting in which to play. I can’t help much with the former ingredient, that’s up to you, but I can assist with the latter. Many of you out there who’ve picked up Strands of FATE (or any of the other [Read the article]
By John Lewis
– Fate is a great game, but it requires an unorthodox way of thinking…
By Peter Simpson
– How many times has your game slowed down because of a skill check?
By Tourq Stevens
– Improving the game – Know the difference between player tension and party tension, and which one is allowed…
There are hundreds, if not thousands of role-playing games out there – maybe even tens of thousands. They all look and act differently, but at their core they are all about gamers sitting around a table, taking on the roles of larger-than-life characters. Dice and character statistics are involved to mitigate actions fairly, while the act of role-playing is largely left ungoverned. When I say ungoverned, I’m [Read the article]
I’ve been playing a new game recently, and I’m loving it. In this article, I’m going to talk about why you might consider tweaking one little part of your game for the better…