Not related to any one particular system of rules.
26
votes
7answers
736 views
Fighting boredom in combat as a player
Sometimes (as a player) I get bored during combat. At times I feel like all my turns are the same (especially when playing lower level characters) and when that is combined with no combat progress ...
23
votes
6answers
508 views
How do you handle verbal exchanges between NPCs without taking the PCs out of the spotlight?
One of the assumptions I make as GM is that the players should always be in the spotlight. Sometimes the players find themselves in a situation where they watch NPCs speak to each other. I don't ...
14
votes
5answers
367 views
When planning a campaign, should I know what the ending is before we start?
I am planning the next campaign while the current one comes to a close. Our group favours sandbox play and I facilitate that with Icar's event driven system. While writing down the list of events ...
17
votes
7answers
343 views
How do I roleplay getting used to violence?
So I just rolled up a character for a game (D&D 3.5 if it matters) and looked around table to see we had two ex-soldiers, a professional bodyguard, and a 'famous' adventurous. (A level 1 bard with ...
20
votes
10answers
929 views
Flaws that aren't flaws
What do you do when a system gives points at character creation for flaws/disadvantages when a player can permanently remove the effects of that flaw by buying something or spending other points to ...
11
votes
5answers
251 views
How to simulate distraction during battle without actually distracting the players?
Here's my situation. In an encounter I have coming up next week, an epic aerial battle between an Angel and a powerful necromancer rages overhead a group of low-level PC's. Attempting to assist in ...
2
votes
1answer
163 views
Techniques for Different Length Game Sessions [closed]
I have been both a player and GM for a long time. Currently, life takes up most of my available gaming time. Thus when I do get a chance to game, I'd like to make it as close to optimal as possible.
...
7
votes
5answers
341 views
Game-within-a-Game Cross-Genre Ideas
I've started running the starter adventure on Eclipse Phase. I have an idea for our first full-length campaign, but it's a little complicated. I need a (relatively) simple game to play the part of a ...
17
votes
9answers
543 views
What happens in adventure locations between adventures?
I'm running a sandbox with several adventure locations that have been visited, but not entirely cleared, and ones that have been left open for new residents to arrive.
I'm looking for a method for ...
2
votes
2answers
199 views
Avoiding meta-gaming in combat [closed]
What are some ways of avoiding meta-gaming (both as a player and as a GM) within combat. One of the basic decisions in combat is what to use on what, when and where and how to best position yourself ...
0
votes
1answer
207 views
Good sources for adventure ideas [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Are there any good websites which have story hooks and plots points for campaigns?
What are the good sources for adventure ideas/plot hooks for RPG games? I am ...
11
votes
3answers
262 views
Stopping rule questions from overrunning encounters
A common problem I observe is that the players start flooding the GM with questions regarding rules during an encounter (within and outside their respective turns). From the perspective of a GM, how ...
36
votes
6answers
904 views
Preventing saturation in a horror campaign
I am currently designing my first horror campaign and what I've come up with so far is pretty dark and gruesome. I worry that if it is gut wrenching the whole way through, eventually the players will ...
13
votes
6answers
380 views
How can I make downtime interesting?
My group is running a set of published adventures, so there's a pretty linear path between them. But between modules, there is the opportunity to go back to town, spend some money, and get some good ...
3
votes
0answers
140 views
Dealing with power gamers [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How to Handle a Powergamer / Munchkin
I'm pretty sure this was asked before but I couldn't find it
How do you deal with power gamers? That player who is clearly maxing ...
18
votes
10answers
429 views
How do I transition my players from roll-playing to role-playing?
The context for this question is the same as this related question about spending time in town, but I am looking for sufficiently different advice so I thought it warranted its own question.
I've ...
40
votes
12answers
723 views
How do I make weather an important part of the game?
We're starting up a dark ages fantasy game, using some homebrew rules similar to D&D.
As the GM, how can I make weather an important part of the game?
To be clear, I'm not trying to just toss in ...
8
votes
4answers
285 views
Are there any problems with spies amongst the players?
As GM, I'm planning to, at some point, invite a friend from out of town who plays RPGs, to join our game with a appropriately levelled character.
This character (and the new player) is actually a spy ...
10
votes
3answers
388 views
How can I emulate TV Shows with only 2-3 main characters?
I watch a lot of TV. Probably too much.
Shows like Buffy the vampire slayer and Firefly have a whole slew of characters, which is perfect for a gaming party as you fill in the slots to the point you ...
17
votes
9answers
556 views
How to help players settle down and focus?
We have a weekly game in the evenings; however, we often don't start playing for a few hours after we get together, if at all. This has been exacerbated recently by other events with the same people ...
0
votes
1answer
159 views
Fleshing out an idea: “an orc was raised by humans, so he fights with the humans against his species” [closed]
So my younger brother is getting started in the RPG space ( <3 ) doing variations on a Lego RPG (they make those now?!). I'm advising him on his GMing.
But, crazy twist, he wants to have one of ...
10
votes
6answers
278 views
Mechanical ways to handle dark power temptation
In many settings there are light and dark versions of powers. Dark force and light force in Star Wars, Defilers and Preservers in Dark Sun and so on.
In this post I will use the term dark power for ...
6
votes
7answers
472 views
How do I help my players figure out how to stay alive in a realistically-deadly sandbox campaign?
Related:
What to do when a player character goes suicide
and
How can DMs effectively telegraph specific dangers in D&D?
I like playing sandbox-style RPGs (whether pen and paper or ...
15
votes
11answers
898 views
How do you keep the party on the map?
I'm running a fairly sandbox game, where the party can wander around easily from place to place. When the party visits areas I've prepared something for, they generally have a good time. When they ...
17
votes
7answers
365 views
Fantasy and magic in a primarily realistic setting
I'm running a game that's best described as "medieval fantasy," in the sense that we're actually trying to have the lives of people in the setting strongly resemble the historical Middle Ages. There ...
13
votes
7answers
312 views
How do I write a one-off scenario that could lead into a larger campaign?
Here's the situation: I've got a group of people interested in getting together for a fantasy roleplaying game, with me as their GM. This particular group hasn't all gamed together before, we're ...
17
votes
6answers
423 views
Difference between writing a one-off scenario and writing a quest for a campaign?
I want to get some of my friends into roleplaying by running a self-contained single-session game with them rather than an actual campaign opener (for lack of a better term, I'll refer to this sort of ...
8
votes
3answers
348 views
Role playing/plot focused one shot sessions
I am faced with a challenge with creating a one shot session for a couple of friends. From experience I can see that it is difficult to indulge players into setting, plot, world, characters in a ...
11
votes
5answers
548 views
What stands out about an Iron Age setting?
High fantasy RPGs tend to be set in an era similar to the late Middle Ages. This seems to be the norm for D&D, and it seems to be what players of such games expect.
Let's say you have a group of ...
11
votes
8answers
493 views
GMing an unorthodox setting the players know NOTHING about
Just a while back, there has been a question concerning GMing a setting the players know better than the GM. Now, let me ask you sort of an inverse of that question. I.e. how to introduce and ...
31
votes
11answers
1k views
What are some dangerous non-fantasy creatures?
We're running a fantasy game where the adventurers frequently travel through the wilderness. Too many of the threatening encounters they have are with fantasy creatures (like goblins, orcs, etc.). ...
17
votes
3answers
431 views
How does a GM fix the rules when they goof?
I think it happens to the best of us. I'm not the best of us, so I get to goof a bit more often. The specific example I'm going to mention was using Dresden Files (a derivative of FATE for those who ...
13
votes
5answers
346 views
Truly alien NPC races
How can I make intelligent NPC races that are truly alien?
They need to be:
Culturally non-human. They need to be stranger than any sort of human culture that already exists.
Rational. Behaving ...
13
votes
2answers
253 views
City Services Generation
I'm looking for a way to determine typical numbers of services that would be available for a medieval city/town/village based on population which I can then project into a fantasy setting. (System is ...
12
votes
10answers
602 views
Flat or flattish earth issues
What major effects would having a flat or rather flattish earth instead of a planet on a game world? (Technological, social, physical etc.)
Mind you, I'm not looking for fully detailed scientific ...
11
votes
3answers
265 views
Are there tips on reconciling the playing differences in this group?
My Werewolf game is going along quite swimmingly to the point that the players will ask that I keep the server (We play using maptools) open so they can discuss the plotline for hours after each ...
14
votes
1answer
239 views
How to play a character that has an alien mindset and thought process?
I have a character that I am currently portraying who is not human, and I would like to increase the obviousness of his non-humanity ( mainly through dialog and actions ).
The character is a ...
8
votes
4answers
248 views
Pros and Cons of giving my party a spell based on the Portal Gun from the Portal video game series?
I'm considering giving my party's mage a Portal Spell as a way to spice up our campaign. The catch is they can only use it twice per day, the target surface has to be flat, clearly visible by the ...
5
votes
9answers
518 views
Where to find an adventure with a crashed spaceship
I'm running a fantasy sandbox game and would like to include a crashed spaceship as an adventure location in the game.
Two of the player characters are humans with some scifi tech and they are ...
10
votes
6answers
863 views
Fantasy economy: how to design a deep, sophisticated crafting system?
I want to construct an immersive, complex and functional fantasy economy in order to inform my world-building process. I'm interested in finding a working economic model and applying that into ...
6
votes
3answers
311 views
How can I stat up a troll in 5 different systems?
I'm developing a small, system-agnostic setting, which will be published in several mediums (blog, PDF, and paper). I'd like to stat up several of the most unusual creatures for popular systems: ...
9
votes
2answers
245 views
Simulating grenade explosions in a stairwell
What would be a fair way to adjudicate the detonation of a grenade in an enclosed space, such as a stairwell?
I have used the rules for blowback in games such as Shadowrun before, but recently ran a ...
19
votes
5answers
494 views
How to handle diverging expectations on “background density”?
Sorry, this is lengthy, but I want to put this into context.
After many years (try 15) of not GM'ing a group of my own, I recently made an attempt to return to the head of the table and shake off ...
18
votes
5answers
384 views
How do I learn to do accents?
I've always enjoyed playing in games where the GM/DM/ST makes use of a variety of accents to differentiate between NPCs. I've always wanted to learn how to do that, but I realize that I'm not ...
17
votes
6answers
709 views
Realistic modern day combat system to model real life ambush
I came across a video (helmet camera) of an Taliban force ambushing US infantry troops in Afghanistan. This is a link to the video of ambush: Combat in the First Person, Spc.Michael Gannon guides us ...
21
votes
8answers
539 views
What can I do to give the players the same feel their characters would have about wilderness travel?
I find that in a lot of our group's games, traveling long distances through wilderness is too easy. In real life, it's quite arduous traveling overland. No one who's just walked a hundred miles is ...
13
votes
4answers
307 views
Festival Mini Games
My D&D party will be going to a town with a festival in it. Generally during festivals there may be some games that are going on, kind of like small carnival type games or "mini games", ones that ...
8
votes
4answers
209 views
How do I get players to assign alternate tactical goals?
Based on my prior question on signalling alternate end states and Redefining Combat, how do I present PCs with the ability to assign their own tactical goals beyond "clear" to a hostile environment ...
8
votes
6answers
380 views
Giving Players the Game They Want
Currently I am running a game of Legend of the Five Rings, 4th Edition that is an extension of my 3rd Ed campaign. The current setting is a courtly endeavor, which dredges up certain problems. When ...
33
votes
12answers
1k views
What rewards can compete with experience points?
My group is running a series of published adventures. I am GMing one of the modules (level 21-24) after which another member will be taking the reins.
I have plans for a side-adventure that will take ...
