Not related to any one particular system of rules.
15
votes
4answers
986 views
Please stop giving the town sheriff a noogie!
Related to this question but more closely related to this question.
How can I get my PCs to not cause a single or small handful of characters to become the butt of a joke when that humor could easily ...
15
votes
5answers
485 views
Why the bad guys don't just teleport somewhere drop a bomb and teleport back?
This question could be also How to avoid teleport/drop bomb/teleport back attacks? or How to avoid the use of Dimensional Shamblers as bomb carriers?
Background
Recently my group of players thought ...
15
votes
6answers
553 views
As an experienced GM, what pitfalls should I watch out for?
I've been GMing for 20 years and have recently started to question if I need a GM-makeover. We are still having fun but could the game be more fun if I shed some bad, and well ingrained habits? I ...
15
votes
4answers
349 views
How would I quickly put together a believable map of an area?
As part of my "Closed Circle" campaign, I'm looking for ways to quickly put together a believable map of a college campus and surrounding area, complete with believable building placement. "Quickly" ...
15
votes
4answers
268 views
Good techniques for getting player-character backgrounds integrated into the game?
So I'm starting a new campaign for an existing gaming group soon, and I'd like to actually incorporate character backgrounds that the players will be creating (eventually). These aren't epic-novels or ...
15
votes
2answers
220 views
What are the consequences of letting players be characters from a work of fiction?
What are the consequences of letting players be characters from a book, movie, or other pre-existing work of fiction?
For example, how would I handle a campaign based on the X-Files where the PCs are ...
14
votes
9answers
439 views
What to do when you end up duplicating another players character?
Frequently I seem to roll up characters who are the spitting image of someone else's character. Most recently I rolled up a Utility Force Wizard for Star wars: Saga edition, which matched someone else ...
14
votes
5answers
526 views
A summary of visibility?
Does anyone have a pointer to a good (plain and simple, quick to use) guide to visibility ranges, or could someone please give me (us) a brief, basic summary of visibility? (How far can you see on a ...
14
votes
9answers
848 views
Randomly-generating weather for a sandbox campaign
I'm running a sandbox campaign and I've been looking for a method of randomly determining the weather for the day.
Features I'm looking for:
Low-to-medium handling time during play. Big tables are ...
14
votes
10answers
543 views
Weapon that does 5 damage vs. one that does 1d10 damage: What characteristic of the weapons causes this difference?
Say I have these weapons, both with a +1 bonus to hit (the number doesn't matter, just that they are exactly the same in all other respects but damage):
5 damage on hit
1d10 damage on hit
IMHO all ...
14
votes
10answers
1k views
Glossary of Common RPG Terminology [closed]
This thread is a Community Wiki to define terminology specific to the world of RPGs which outsiders looking to come in may not be familiar with.
This question is for terms which are not unique to a ...
14
votes
5answers
312 views
As a GM, what aids could I use to create adventure scenes on the spot?
As a GM, many a time I run into a situation that I know nothing of, am not prepared about, and need something, NOW! Maybe it is a freeform adventure and plot was not prepared, maybe I prepared some ...
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 ...
14
votes
4answers
583 views
What are the literary influences of the D&D Bard?
Can anyone tell me what sources, in literature, film, etc. inspired the Bard class for Dungeons & Dragons? I'm familiar with the Celtic Bards of history and legend, but the modern D&D Bard ...
14
votes
4answers
223 views
Is there a method for sliding seamlessly from one system into another during a campaign?
Has anyone changed system/setting/genre but kept the characters during a campaign?
Players can become very attached to their characters, even when the campaign/setting/genre or system is getting ...
14
votes
1answer
241 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 ...
14
votes
5answers
265 views
How to abstract a trial?
A session I am writing for my gaming group will take the characters through a murder trial. One of the players is the accused, and he and his companions will need to build a case and defend ...
14
votes
9answers
780 views
What games have good treatments of sub-Saharan Africa, or fantasy analogues?
I'm aware of Atlas Games' Nyambe, and I read the Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom sourcebook that White Wolf released for Vampire some years back. Which other books treat the area well, or at least as a ...
14
votes
3answers
235 views
How do you build rule mastery in your game?
No one likes the "rules lawyer." However, most GMs like players to know the rules. There is nothing more frustrating to have a player, or players, come to a table to play a game--that they are excited ...
14
votes
5answers
293 views
Rules for player inventions
To illustrate what I mean, let me give a quick example:
In the-dark-eye, there is a Staff Ritual named Hammer des Magus (No idea what the term is in english). Its effect is that everything ...
13
votes
11answers
478 views
How can non-magical healers be useful when magic healing is available?
In many roleplaying games the prerequisite to perform magic healing is knowledge, and during action it is mostly limited by magic capacity and sometimes time. Meanwhile the prerequisite to perform ...
13
votes
12answers
711 views
Why would I hire you?
I'm designing a D&D 4E campaign (set in the Forgotten Realms) for my local gaming society, which may or may not spill out into bigger things, rpg.se has given me too many ideas!
I want the party ...
13
votes
8answers
571 views
When should the DM hide a PC's hit points?
In any game with hit points (I'm thinking D&D, but any will do), is there ever a situation where the DM ought to keep track of a player character's hit points, and not reveal it to the player?
...
13
votes
6answers
372 views
Finding time to play
How do people find time to play an RPG with friends, around work, study and partners? I've a preference for weekly play but I just can't find the time to dedicate to roleplaying anymore. And when I ...
13
votes
6answers
468 views
Introducing System Mechanics to new players
Context
Hello, I'm assembling a DnD/Pathfinder group, and all the players are new to tabletop rpg. All they know is rpg is about storytelling, dice rolling [ and macabre rituals <- just kidding, ...
13
votes
8answers
315 views
What are some proven methods of generating attachment to locations/objects in a campaign?
It is a truism that a GM can never really be sure what a group of players will do, or which NPCs they are going to grow fond of. Places and objects, however... are they the same? In games like Star ...
13
votes
5answers
347 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
5answers
306 views
How to handle lack of PC communication?
I've currently got a DFRPG group, and it's struggling a little bit. The main issue right now is that there's a good lack of communication between PC's. How can I encourage the players to communicate ...
13
votes
6answers
344 views
Is the information gained from a knowledge check fallible?
I got into a big argument on another forum about the fallibility of knowledge checks. I was under the impression that they represented things a character had learned by virtue of living life in the ...
13
votes
7answers
313 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 ...
13
votes
2answers
248 views
Squad formations
I've just watched episode 1-2 of Terranova, and there is a scene in which a military squad goes to the rescue of some teenagers who are surrounded by dinosaurs in a jungle. When the squad arrives, ...
13
votes
7answers
548 views
How can I increase tension during roleplaying?
In my games, I tend to run into a problem at least once per session. My players just seem to follow the dice and make no effort to either engage with combat or chase adventure. They let the dice fall ...
13
votes
6answers
381 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 ...
13
votes
7answers
284 views
Advantages and disadvantages in using a one-shot pre-gen to introduce a new system
In questions about how to learn new systems, or teach them, a common suggestion is to run a single-session game with pre-made characters and a pre-made scenario.
In your experience as a GM and/or ...
13
votes
4answers
220 views
How can I encourage a style of play where enhancing others' fun is the most important goal?
Let's assume that we can break play styles into two categories: "selfish play," where you want to have fun, and "less-selfish play," where you want to have fun but you want everyone else at the table ...
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 ...
13
votes
4answers
310 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 ...
13
votes
3answers
279 views
Fleshing out a background and roleplaying it
I am a big fan of fleshed out, rich, interesting backgrounds, that give the feeling that the character is real. For that reason, I really like to give characters traits that everyday people have, ...
12
votes
9answers
795 views
How to help players who roll really badly? [duplicate]
Scenario: player rolls to attack, rolls a 1. Next round, rolls a 1. Round after that, rolls a 1. Fourth round, rolls a 2.
This really happened today. He was going back and forth between two different ...
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 ...
12
votes
10answers
692 views
Do you use character sheets? Or, do you use a blank sheet of paper?
Also, what are the advantages and disadvantages for each approach?
12
votes
6answers
373 views
Regional Resource Management and Trade Rules
I've been looking at TSR's old Birthright setting lately, searching for an easy way to quantify trade between political entities. I'm thinking about ways for a city or region or planet to develop ...
12
votes
7answers
896 views
Vast and expanded realistic combat system
I am searching for a combat & damage system for an ad hoc RPG system set in Victoria era, more or less (though this part is completely unimportant). Are there any system that would bring me close ...
12
votes
6answers
260 views
Speed up campaign development
I'm making a campaign, and it's going fairly nicely. However, I found out that my group is able to meet this week, which I didn't expect. So instead of having 9 days to find time to prepare, I have 2 ...
12
votes
3answers
726 views
Is there a creature half dragon and half horse?
Is there a specific such creature, with a name for it and description, in any lore or game?
12
votes
8answers
309 views
How does one get players to explore more?
In a comment in my answer within What qualifies exploration gaming?
Javafueled commented:
It almost begs me to ask the question: How do I get players to explore more? :) – javafueled
In order ...
12
votes
5answers
460 views
High-Tech Dungeon Crawling in Hard Sci-Fi
I've started playing Eclipse Phase with a group of friends. Most of them have a Dungeons and Dragon history, and love getting magic items and such. I've already made up my mind to take the party on ...
12
votes
5answers
488 views
Dark Ages/Middle Ages marriage age?
I am trying to keep a fair degree of verisimilitude in my fantasy games (outside the obviously fantastical elements like magic and dragons). As part of that, the normal/average marriage age for ...
12
votes
2answers
351 views
Method for playing an online text-based RPG that doesn't require everyone to be online at once?
I am contemplating starting up a web-based text game for my D&D group to be played alongside our weekly sessions. The idea would be to play through events related to the main storyline, but not so ...
12
votes
7answers
396 views
How to design an RP-balanced party?
How do you build a party so that they all have social roles? In some games, I often find that one character ends up dominating the social part of the campaign.
In our groups, we usually end up with ...
