Exploring genres beyond fantasy can make you a better Dungeon Master
Being a Dungeon Master or Game Master is more than just rolling dice.
You’re the Dungeon Master, or Game Master. You’ve spent hours planning out an adventure for your players. You wrote down all the stats for potential opponents. You painted the minis. You hand sculpted the walls and bric-a-brac that make up the dungeon layout you present before your players. Maybe you even made some phone calls or sent out online messages to make sure everyone is going to make the game.
It can be a lot of work.
And then within the first minute of play one of the players pipes up and says something like, “Oh, yeah. I remember this. The same thing happened in the last Forgotten Realms novel I read.”
It doesn’t matter that you, the Dungeon Master, has not read that novel. Or seen the movie. Or played the game. Or experienced whatever piece of media that was brought up. You’re likely to feel a little let down. You might even feel as if you’ve ruined the night for your players by giving them something familiar. Heck, your players might even grumble a little.
And all that hard work feels like a waste.
Game Master Tips- The Power of Long Rest, Short Rest, and Random Encounters in 5E D&D
Dungeon Master: “You’ve been fighting and slaying monsters all day. Your caster’s spells are nearly depleted, all of you bare wounds, and you’ve just stabilized the halfling rogue who is unconscious. What do wish to do?”
The players of the adventuring party nearly in unison: “We make camp.”
English not your first language? Use that for RPG fun
Monsters of Faerun, Japanese language edition, D&D 3.5, 2004
One of the great experiences of taking part in tabletop role playing games online is that you get to interact with people from different cultures, often who do not have English as their first language. The roots of tabletop RPGs are mainly in countries which have English as a common tongue, and no few of us gamers were brought up on English and are mostly familiar gaming with others who speak English, so it can be interesting and sometimes a challenge to game with those who come from a different background.
That being said, there are plenty of online games taking place in non-English languages despite many rules sets having not been officially translated, including the most recent edition of Dungeons & Dragons. A quick look around various sites which are home to online RPGs can lead one to campaigns in Spanish, German, and any number of other languages. Still, it seems games in English are quite common, perhaps the most common.
Even the English language has its variations
Ty’s Gaming Resolutions for the 2016 New Year
In a matter of days it’s going to be a new year, and like the beginning of every new year, many of us make resolutions. Some of us will try to lose weight or quit smoking. Others will try to be nicer to people or maybe promise to put money into savings. Me? This year I’m going to try to be a better tabletop role-player. How do I hope to accomplish this? By following my resolutions below.
Expanding my horizons in the new year, Part I
Are you going to watch the ball drop to kick in the new year?
I have a tendency to find a role-playing game I like, then stick with it and nothing else for months, even years. Right now I’m enjoying Fifth Edition D&D, so I’ve been playing lots of it. See, I’ve been gaming for 35 years, off and on, and I’ve played all kinds of systems, some good, some bad, and I guess now in my forties I’ve grown a bit … maybe “lazy” would be the right word, though I prefer “skeptical.” I’m usually not interested in learning yet another system, especially if it’s one which I know I won’t be playing more than maybe once or twice. I need to break this habit. There are lots of great games out there which I’ve yet to experience, and a few which I’ve only experienced once or twice. So, one of my gaming resolutions is to play more games that are new to me, to enjoy the experience of different game systems. I’m especially interested in trying out some zombie survival games.
Expanding my horizons, Part II
Liven up your role playing games with music soundtracks
Players and game masters alike often look for ways to spice up their role playing games, to perhaps add a little atmosphere. Music can be essential to such a quest, providing background sound to keep play on an even keel or highlighting adventurous moments with a boost of adrenaline.
Longtime gamers likely will have their favorite tunes, but those new to the hobby might be wondering what music goes best with a session of Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Shadowrun, Traveler, or any number of tabletop RPGs. Also, with the holidays upon us, you might be looking for some gift ideas for your favorite gamer.
I have found that soundtracks often provide excitement and variety to gaming sessions. Obviously music is a subjective matter, much like deciding upon a favorite role playing game, but over the years here are a few soundtracks that have proved quite successful at my gaming tables:
Conan the Barbarian
Dungeons and Dragons – Descriptive Combat Using Real World Fighting Techniques
Hello again my loyal Nerdarchists. As I have mentioned on numerous videos I have done years worth of combat with the historical fighting style of the German Longsword. Having knowledge of how an actual sword fight can go can make describing combat scenes and maneuvers far more interesting and realistic.
Over the years of study I have used several historic manuals. You can use the Knightly Art of the Sword by Ringeck. This is a great book that not only has the text with corresponding artwork showing the sword-work in motion, but it also has the original German so you can see how it translated. And if you are fluent in German you can read it as it was originally written.
How do You Use Descriptive Combat in Dungeons and Dragons?
Dungeons and Dragons – Improve your game with Improv
Ok, dungeon masters how many of you spend hours in between game nights plotting and planning your adventures and encounters for your players. You probably spend more time than you should.
Lets look at the key factor. When your players show up at the table they usually have little to no idea what you have in store for them for the evenings entertainment. They only have the ability to react to what you throw at them. Well what if you had a loose outline of the entire campaign and then only reacted off of what the players do?
Does your Dungeon Master use Improv?
Game Master Tips – Giving your Players Agency in Your Campaign
Nerdarchist Ted here and today we are going to be talking about Dungeon master tips or game master tips for your Dungeons and Dragons game, or what ever RPG you play. So for those of you who are unfamiliar with this concept, lets ask the question, What is Player Agency?
Player Agency is when you allow a player to actually control the on goings of a story for a portion of the time or to create something and you allow them to run with it. Technically when a player makes a back story for their character they are doing so with agency but with most groups it actually ends there.
Do you use Player Agency in your RPG?
Playing RPGs with New Gamers
Greetings Nerdarchist Ted here and if you are a regular visitor to our site you will know that today should be a Goblin comic. But Nerdarchist Ryan celebrated Star Wars day with a great comic so we actually launched that one on Monday.
So that shifted my usual articles back a day. So here we are with me on a Wednesday.
New players at your role playing game offer an assortment of challenges as well as an assortment of boon. Now sadly I am not talking about Epic boons bestowed upon you when you reach 20th level but they are advantages never the less.
Player tips for new players in a Role Playing game
How to DM — Cheat With The Lazy Dungeon Master
Hello and welcome fellow Nerdarchists. I’ve got a great way for you to up your tabletop roleplaying game skills. It’s called The Lazy Dungeon Master written by Michael Shea. Don’t worry about which edition of Dungeons & Dragons you are playing. This book is useful. As a matter of fact I’m gonna go out on a limb and suggest you could use nearly all of the advice given for any tabletop RPG. This book is short, sweet and packed with valuable Dungeon Master tips. If you are looking for a how to DM resource this one is at the top of my list. It weighs in at an anemic 123 pages but offers storm giant sized value. If I would have stumbled across this book there is no way I would of bought it, but because a friend recommended it I decided to give it go. At 123 pages I was thinking what the hell is this Michael Shea guy going to tell me about how to DM? I mean, I’ve been gaming for over 30 years at this point.
Wemic — Monster and Playable Race for 5E D&D
Hello fellow Nerdarchists, today I want to bring you one of my favorite races from Dungeons & Dragons past — the wemic. I fell in love with the wemic back in my early days of playing second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. When I got my hands on the Complete Book of Humanoids I played many of those races and wemic was absolutely my favorite. You have to admit the wemic is a realy cool race. So I am proud to give you my take on the wemic both as a monster and a playable race.
Good Dungeon Masters Know The Rules, Great Dungeon Masters Know How To Break Them
Hello reader it’s Nerdarchist Dave and I’m here to take your Dungeon Master game to the next level. Rule zero of running a tabletop roleplaying game is the Game Master makes the rules. Your number one job as the Game Master, Dungeon Master, Referee, Storyteller or whatever you are calling the person running the game is help everyone have fun. It was in the fourth edition Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master’s Guide where I first saw something so simple yet magical. “Say yes.” Those two words changed my perspective completely with tabletop roleplaying games. It made me reexamine how I behave as a Game Master for tabletop roleplaying games.
How to Find a Gaming Group for Tabletop RPG Games
Hey folks Nerdarchist Dave here to talk about the age old question: how do I find a gaming group? This can be super easy or a Herculean task especially among us tabletop RPG gamers. Let’s face it, inside the gaming community there are more socially inept people than you can roll a d20 at. I feel like can say that, being one of the inept. I personally have always gotten anxiety when placed in large social gatherings with people I don’t know.
Getting into Character for Tabletop Roleplaying
Hello Nerdarchy friends and fans! Nerdarchist Ted here. Today we are going to step back and lift the veil from the gaming world and talk about the mindset. I have been tabletop roleplaying for well over two decades. In this time I have played countless characters both as a Dungeon Master and as a player character. Whether you wing it every session or you have a detailed process, you might want some tips so here are some ideas to help you out.
Making and Using NPCs in an RPG
Hello tabletop roleplaying game fans welcome to Nerdarchy. Nerdarchist Ted here and today we are going to talk about your nonplayer characters, or NPCs. These are your staples as a Game Master. Every single monster and person that is not controlled by a player is an NPC and it is up to you as GM to breathe life into them. When planning an NPC you need to keep several factors in mind.
