Behind the Screen: Missed Connections
Writing this while I wait to take a later flight due to plane maintenance is its own special form of irony, but let’s talk about missed connections in games. Several systems, in addition to telling a...
View Article#RPGchat Topic: Group Dynamics
Last week, we talked about introducing newbies to games. This week, we’re going to build on that a bit and discuss group dynamics like building a new gaming group and navigating issues with existing...
View ArticleBehind the Screen: Over The Failure Wall
Let’s talk failure. Failure may be the most complicated facet of tabletop gaming because it often means different things at different moments – TPKs can feel like victories, griefers love when things...
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From the Ziggurat of Mirth: A Closer Look at Aberrations
From time to time in this column, I’d like to explore a class of monsters in the 5th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. This month, I’m going to talk about those things that are not of this world –...
View ArticleEmergency Gaming Kit: Einstein’s Brain
It is a common trope in gaming to find, rescue and recover arcane artifacts and rare manuscripts from lost tombs, hidden caches and private collections. Such artifacts often contain great knowledge,...
View Article#RPGchat Topic: Powered By Gods
Hi, friends! It’s #RPGchat day and we’re going to talk about clerics, paladins, and other classes that are fueled by divine (or profane!) power. Join me tonight at 9pm EDT!
View ArticleIlluminating Spaces: What Accessibility Means to Me
This month is the Accessibility Blog Carnival, hosted by Jacob Wood and Accessible Games. One of the prompts was what accessibility means to you personally, and I thought this would be a good time to...
View ArticleBehind the Screen: Spreading The Love Damage
I often talk about equal distribution in gaming, although normally I’m referring to time, loot and opportunities for awesome – all positive things that should be shared evenly. What about when it comes...
View Article#RPGchat Topic: Economics!
Tonight, we are going to get economical and discuss ways that the economies, currencies, and trades in your worlds can affect your stories. Join me at 9pm ET!
View ArticleBehind the Screen: Everything in Modulization
Adventure modules are meant to give gaming groups a leg up on a new campaign or one-shot idea, but recently I’m finding there’s a lot more work than just painting by number. I originally started GMing...
View Article#RPGchat Topic: Gaming and Social Media
Hello, friends! #RPGchat is coming up at 9 pm ET and I’d like to invite you all to hang out on the Twitter and talk about how social media has affected how you game now – and how it may change the...
View Article#RPGchat Topic: Setting Essentials
Hi, friends! Join me tonight to talk about the essentials for a setting – published and homebrew – during tonight’s #RPGchat at 9pm ET!
View ArticleBehind the Screen – Life Before Game
It’s a common mantra that “gaming is life,” and for tabletoppers it’s often painfully close to true. For many of us, the older we get, gaming winds up being the only thing we can get friends together...
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From the Ziggurat of Mirth: Uncommon Commoners
Commoners. You can’t swing a dead displacer beast around the local community without hitting at least a half-dozen of them (well, unless the displacer beast ate a bunch of them first), but the point is...
View ArticleBehind the Scene – Endings Game
The worst thing about the best games is when they’re over. Given that, it’s often tempting to keep a good game going even after the PCs have done just about everything you had for them to do. The Big...
View ArticleBehind the Screen – Before You Wreck Yourself
Privilege is a hell of a drug. Those of us who have it in droves can do a surprising amount of harm without ever intending to, and gaming is not only not an exception, it’s a regular offender. Before...
View ArticleBehind the Screen – Just Desserts
I used to love fudge. Like, to an unhealthy degree. In fact, it was the one thing my parents refused to teach me how to make for myself because they knew in a week we’d go broke on sugar and I’d be...
View ArticleBehind the Screen – Political Animals
It’s the middle of summer of an election year, which means we Americans are about as sick of hearing about politics as human beings have a capacity for being. Despite this, I’ve chosen now to write...
View ArticleBehind the Screen – The Two-Bites Rule
So the rule in fiction is “kill your darlings,” and by and large, I recommend the same for GMs most of the time. Since GMs are typically the ones suggesting the games being run, it follows that we have...
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The 100 Word RPG Hook: The Cheeseburger Sanction
He saw the warning on the wall: read it, but ignored it. It was, after all, an absurd claim. His thoughts drifted for a moment, imagining a cartoonish wild-eyed hobo stapling signs like this all over...
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