Results for: Trials and triumphs
The art of gaming without gaming! Trials and triumphs of a full-time nerd in a part-time world
There is no disputing that tabletop role-playing games, and Dungeons & Dragons in particular, are more popular than ever before. While still a niche hobby, that niche has grown considerably large, and the perception of it has shifted as well. The moment when I realized...
Experience schmexperience! Trials and triumphs of a full-time nerd in a part-time world
A item on my list of potential topics, a comment from Nerdarchist Ryan on a recent Saturday live chat, and something one of my players said to me the other day have coalesced into this week’s examination of different ways to approach your tabletop gaming...
There is only one rule! Trials and triumphs of a full-time nerd in a part-time world
One rule to bind them all … After 30 years of playing tabletop roleplaying games, mostly as a Gamemaster (let’s go with that as a good generic term for any game), and having read through hundreds of rulebooks, sourcebooks, manuals and guides along with countless...
Split the party! Trials and triumphs of a full-time nerd in a part-time world
Without a GM to run the tabletop RPG, whether it’s Dungeons & Dragons or whatever game your group is playing, the party’s continuing adventures will be put on hold. But what if one or more of the players can’t make it to your next session?...
Stay in touch between sessions! Trials and triumphs of a full-time nerd in a part-time world
By now, after leading the way to muster a group of roleplaying gamers, throwing their characters into the middle of an exciting situation, and letting the players guide the direction of the narrative, you’ve got yourself a campaign going. What started with your ambition to...
Let players steer the ship! Trials and triumphs of a full-time nerd in a part-time world
In the previous installment, I advised GMs to throw players directly into action to start off a new campaign. This is especially useful for groups without regular gaming sessions and/or groups that include new or lapsed gamers. Your goal is to hook the players by...
Start off with a bang! Trials and triumphs of a full-time nerd in a part-time world
Last week in this column, I began to explore ideas to keep a gaming hobby vibrant amidst increasing demands on time presented by things like children, conflicting work schedules and the like. Adulting can take a serious toll on a gamer’s opportunities for group gaming.
Keep your D&D game alive! Trials and triumphs of a full-time nerd in a part-time world
There’s never been a better time to be a tabletop gamer. Recent years have brought an explosion of products and popularity for board games, card games and – my personal obsession – roleplaying games (of the pencil-and-paper variety). Whether as a rebuff of our ubiquitous...
RollPlay Roundtable Digs Deep into D&D with Matt Mercer, Adam Koebel, Mike Mearls and Matt Colville
In case you missed it, a very thought-provoking event took place on Oct. 9, 2017 for anyone in the Dungeons & Dragons or tabletop roleplaying game community. Hosted on the itmeJP YouTube channel. Adam Koebel moderated a roundtable discussion including fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons...
New DM Handbook: Character Backstory
There are a lot of people who either don’t feel creative enough to make up a character backstory, or who feel like they’re going to do it wrong. There’s no real way of doing it wrong, as long as you can paint a vivid enough...
RPG Player Tip: Great Stories Don’t Need Great People
Getting back on the regular track this week after Origins 2017 – con fatigue is a thing that is real, folks – there were two RPG player experiences I’ve had recently that taught me a valuable lesson. One is from the time-stamped video above that...
Open Legend RPG character build: Israel Amadeus
On Fridays at noon, the Nerdarchy crew as well as the writers here at the site have been playing an Open Legend tabletop RPG campaign live on YouTube. For those not familiar with the game, I thought I would offer up my own character, Israel Amadeus,...
Jon Heder’s lesson in design elements for role play
Episode 99 of Critical Role may have irrecoverably changed my perspective of role playing games forever. Well, that’s not 100 percent sure. Jon Heder, who is coincidentally from my home town, made my favorite D&D move I’ve ever seen. He took Path of the Duck...
5E D&D in space with Spelljammer is back!
Spelljammer thrusts your D&D adventures into space In last week’s column I shared a cobbled-together homebrew system for handling ship-to-ship combat from the homebrew 5E D&D Spelljammer campaign that I run for my friends. With the Memorial Day weekend keeping my players busy we did not...
What you can learn from your RPG characters
Tabletop roleplaying games afford players amazing opportunities. Through the characters and worlds we imagine at the gaming table, we create adventures and stories filled with heroism, villainy, danger, humor, drama, action and intrigue. Through game play we surprise ourselves through improvisation and collaboration, letting our...
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