The following content assumes that your game includes vampires, either as monsters, enemies, or player characters. The aim here is to help give them a more defined position and purpose for both players and GMs, but without including any mechanical stats. Enjoy!
Concept Quarian engineer. A bit about the quarians Quarians are a race of interstellar nomads, long since driven from their home planet by a race of Artificial Intelligence known as the geth, originally created by the quarians as a servant race. The quarians attempted to destroy the Geth when they became fearful of their creation’s growing intelligence, and the geth responded naturally to preserve their [Read the article]
I love running games. Fantasy, Sci-fi, Retro, Space, Modern… you name it, I love it. I love it when you’ve got those players sitting there, leaning forward, waiting to hear what you’re about to say, waiting to see what you’re about to hand out, and waiting to attack whatever it is you’re about to throw at them. In a nutshell, I love the challenge of [Read the article]
“Curses take many forms. The seemingly impossible quest of a fey lord can puzzle PCs and send them on far reaching quests, or the scarring hex of a hag could totally change the way a hero is viewed, both by others and personally. The curse of lycanthropy is particularly well familar, and tales tell of those strong enough to break through the curse, and command their new forms, [Read the article]
One of the reasons I opted to use Mutants and Masterminds 3e for my Mass Effect conversion is that it offers a very flexible set of tools that allow for a number of approaches to GMing, and particularly to building NPCs. Approach 1: The Detailed (“Official”) method M&M handles NPCs pretty much the same way it handles PCs, with a couple of differences: 1) NPCs [Read the article]
Daily Encounter started as a useful site, presenting easy to incorporate encounters, often complete with maps and stat blocks. It has blossomed into and incredible resource over the last few months as John Pope has added a number of new designers to his list of authors (a few of which have also been highlighted by KoboldQuarterly.com). Each week they present new and flavorful elements to add [Read the article]
I, like many people I’ve spoken to, were disappointed with the new vampire option presented in Heroes of Shadow. It’s not in fault to the mechanics. They feature excellent flavor and a fun balancing act of healing with limited healing surges. It’s not the fact that we already had vampire-esque options in the form of feats. I certainly don’t have a problem with such a [Read the article]
So, you’ve got a few ideas about what makes a good encounter and how to get your players to understand the meaning of “take cover!” You’re probably asking, “Now what?” First of all, Alejandro, don’t interrupt me when I’m talking about Mass Effect, it’s rude. Second of all, since you asked, chances are good your players will need something to play, yes? Well, probably your [Read the article]
Some pitfalls and roadblocks to avoid, and tips to heed, when writing your own RPG…
So what does it take to build an encounter for a game like this one? In short, what makes running an encounter for a game setting like Mass Effect significantly different from a D&D setting, or a superheroic milieu? I’m glad you asked. Unless you didn’t, in which case I wish you had so that I could answer properly. I’ll wait. It’ll give me time [Read the article]