TTRPG Stock Sessions — Flashback and Memory
Salutations, nerds! Today I’m going to examine the concept of stock sessions for tabletop roleplaying games. In particular I’m thinking about the idea of delving into a character’s memories and exploring their backstory a little bit in a flashback! A stock session for a TTRPG is reusable scenario a Game master can plug into campaigns that still feels different because of the specific characters involved. Think of it kind of like how a good chunk of anime have a beach episode. That’s what I mean.
Taking Inspiration from the Language of Flowers for Your RPG Campaign World
Salutations, nerds! Today I’m writing about flowers in tabletop roleplaying games. Specifically I’m thinking about how back in the Victorian era people were way extra and liked to make codes out of everything. How ladies held their fans was a language in and of itself to the point the hand they carried it in could indicate whether or not they were available for someone else to pursue. In a culture that really didn’t like saying things outright there was a lot of reading between the lines — a lot of implication. Floriography, or the language of flowers, says this poignantly. If you’ve ever wanted to passive aggressively flip someone the bird this was a really excellent way to do so.
Adventurer as a Culture in Tabletop Roleplaying Games
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re gonna rhapsodize a little bit about adventurers as a culture in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop roleplaying games. A little definition delve first off. Any time more than one person participates in and shares something they are participating in a culture. It could be a super small one. Your local comic book store where you go to play Magic: the Gathering has a culture made up of the references and inside jokes that have come up there and that is a culture you participate in.
Giving Characters Status in the RPG World
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to talk about fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons characters in positions of leadership and I’m going to do my best to make a case for letting them have status in your gaming world. And yes, I am talking about allowing for a rogue to become the leader of the thieves guild, or have a mage take a place in a circle of high sorcery. I know a lot of Dungeon Masters who won’t allow for these sorts of circumstances so first I’m going to address some of the reasons why not and then we’re going to move right along to the reasons why I think it’s at least worth trying in one of your campaigns. Ready? Okay.
3 Ways to Handle NPC Conversation Without Breaking the Flow of Your RPG
Salutations, nerds! Every once in a while the NPCs in a tabletop roleplaying game talk to each other and this has a tendency to become super awkward for a Game Master. Few GMs enjoy the feeling of narrating back and forth with themselves while a group of players wait on hold. Today I’m going to be sharing three ways to handle this circumstance during an RPG session.
Worldbuilding Through Perspectives on 5E D&D Adventurers
Salutations, nerds! How do the layfolk in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons settings react to adventurers coming to town? I’ve played in a lot of settings handling these circumstances in a lot of different ways and today I want to pick this apart a little bit because there are basically three schools of thought on the matter. Imagine you’re living a basic life in your home town and Superman comes to town. This is the frame of mind I want you in for this 5E D&D discussion..
Planning Your RPG Experiences in Scene Structure
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to talk about a little thing I learned from my White Wolf days helpful not only in Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop roleplaying game related endeavors but also in my fiction writing and I’m hoping it helps you too. This is the concept of thinking in scene structure for your RPG experiences.
Tabletop Takeaways from World of Warcraft’s Torghast, Tower of the Damned
Salutations, nerds! I’m going to take a break from our usual tabletop roleplaying game related content to talk to you for a moment about a massive multiplayer online RPG — World of Warcraft’s new procedurally generated dungeon Torghast, Tower of the Damned. Over the past couple of weeks I have been in there almost every day. Mind you it’s incredibly difficult and hard content is usually anathema to a person like me. I don’t even want to do the regular dungeons because it takes me a while to get the mechanics down. There’s just something different about this one.
Managing Unexpected Sidekicks in 5E D&D
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to talk about what happens when your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons party decides to adopt an NPC you didn’t expect them to like. (AKA the thing I do that is the bane of every Dungeon Master I have ever had!) If it makes you feel any better though I’ve had my share of players doing this to me as well. I have some wisdom to share on how to keep track of these 5E D&D character and creature sidekicks and make sure to keep things straight as you go.
In Defense of Chaotic Neutral Alignment in 5E D&D
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to take a moment to talk about alignment in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons because let’s be honest, it’s just one of those bottomless topics there are a thousand things to say about. No, really. I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about alignment, what it means and how people play it in 5E D&D. this conversation like so many other conversations about alignment started with the words chaotic neutral.
5 Sources of Motivation for 5E D&D Adventurers
Salutations, nerds! Today I’m sharing five reasons a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons character might be out adventuring. So often at the table a Dungeon Master asks what the party is doing at the beginning of a session and players pause before admitting they don’t know. This is fine! Sometimes you figure out a 5E D&D character’s motivations as you’re playing. Today I want to go down a list of reasons your character can run with and what kinds of adventurers fall under these umbrellas.
In RPG Play Everyone’s Responsibility is To Each Other
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to talk about sharing responsibility when it comes to tabletop roleplaying games and the ultimate responsibility — to the other people at the table. The important part of a good tabletop RPG is making sure everyone has fun. That’s you and everyone else whether you’re the Game Master or a player. On paper this sounds like a big part of what the GM is there for and in a sense this is correct but the GM has a lot of things they’re already responsible for keeping track of and as a player it’s a good idea to keep tabs on each other’s mental weather.
Subpar Character Optimization is a Foolish Perspective for 5E D&D
Salutations, nerds! There’s a lot of discourse online about optimization of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons character creation and what options to take when you level up. And honestly…we’re still talking about this? A lot? In 2020? In 5E D&D? This has to be an exaggeration. Excuse me a minute while I do a quick online search — oh. Oh, I guess we are.
Doing Your Part as an RPG Player to Create Cinematic Combat Encounters
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re looking at combat in a tabletop roleplaying game and how you as a player contribute to describing them and fostering a more cinematic experience. I can imagine some of you reading this tentatively thinking, “But isn’t this the Game Master’s job?” And actually you’re right — to an extent. Players possess some degree of agency when it comes to how their RPG characters fight is perceived. Now the discussion becomes how to get those cool moves across without being an attention hog.
4 Components of Crafting NPCs for your RPG Experiences
Salutations, nerds. Let’s sit down and talk a little bit about how to craft a good NPC for tabletop roleplaying games like fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. We’ve talked about how to get characters and players to like an NPC and today we’re going to get down to the base designs for 5E D&D or any RPG of choice.
