The Heart Monitor
These Characters Live Rent-Free in My Head: 10 Characters I’d Love to Roleplay (Part 1)
My day job in the gaming industry, running games for Open Heart Games, hosting game nights for local friends, and other side projects all keep me very busy. So busy that like the cobbler whose children run around without shoes or the carpenter whose roof is never finished, I never really find the time to commit to playing in a campaign of my own. However, this does not prevent me from having a healthy flow of new character ideas. . .especially when new content comes out. So, I have compiled a list of my top 10 Characters that live rent-free in my head. I will likely not be able to play them anytime soon, but I think they are really neat.
A Diabolic Dissection of Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
The party stood in the brimstone filled streets of Elturel as the river Chionthar reflected the warm light of the morning sun. They had succeeded where lesser heroes would have failed. They had redeemed a fallen angel, defeated multiple demon lords, and returned their beloved city from the nine hells to the material plane and most importantly, they were home at last…
This is how we wrapped up our campaign for Descent into Avernus this past weekend. I was very pleased with the results of an 18 month campaign and felt that it was a satisfying conclusion. This is actually the second campaign Open Heart Games launched and, due to scheduling, it was the first to wrap up. From here on out, expect heavy spoilers! Ye be warned!
Five Ways to Improve Your Session Zero
I am a Game Master who has been running session zeroes for years and I have a process that I like to go through; however, I am always learning new things, reading about new best practices, and trying to improve all my sessions. In my opinion, session zero is the most important session as it either consciously or subconsciously drafts up a social contract, gives the players a roadmap of the campaign, and gives players and the GM the opportunity to discuss the hard and soft limits of any content they wish to experience within the campaign.
Late Campaign Tip: Loose End Checklist
Today I want to talk about how to prepare to wrap up a campaign, tie up those loose ends, and give your players the satisfying ending that will excite them and give your campaign the ending it deserves.
Now You Are Asking the Right Questions
In a previous blog post, I gave several tips for online play and today I wanted to dive deeper into the topic. I especially want to highlight ways to ensure that each player has their time in the spotlight and gets to shine. I think it comes down to making sure you are asking the right questions in your sessions as a Game Master and giving each player an opportunity to speak.
Using the Three Villain Model in Your Campaign
For me and my writing, all good things come in threes and villainous factions are no different. If you did not know, I really like villains; not because I root for the bad guy, but because they often offer a great foil for our heroes to face and can come with unique motivations and goals of their own. Nearly all villains fall into one of these three categories.
Give The People What They Want!
Over the past few weeks I had something pretty unique happen not once, but twice. Each session ended with the players using all of the resources at their disposal, some great character synergy, and no small amount of luck and one way or another the big boss fight I had planned was over much sooner than I anticipated. It was truly memorable and enjoyable for the players, and rather frustrating for me as a Game Master, especially due to what feels like wasted prep. But here's the thing, it isn't important to me as a storyteller as long as the players are having a good time, making memories, and are able to tell a great story for years afterwards. Sometimes you just have to give the players what they want!
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space Confirmed!
Last week was the first D&D Direct program and we got to see a slew of new product announcements, content updates, and even a movie announcement. Nothing captured the attention of the internet more than the announcement of the return of Spelljammer, updated for D&D 5e. . . .While some have considered Spelljammer to only have a cult-following, the reception of the return of Spelljammer has been overwhelmingly positive. I for one am excited to explore Spelljammer along with my players and the rest of the D&D Community.
Advice for Remote Play
When I was recently at Ravenwood Castle, it occurred to me that I am well into my second year of running role-playing games almost exclusively online, a fact that I reflected on in a previous blog entry. I was speaking to a new friend about how running games in person is so different from running games remotely and that got me thinking about how I had to learn to run my games differently when I began running sessions remotely. Being the naturally curious and research-driven person that I am, I began a deep dive into the web to discover the best way to translate the excitement of roleplaying from the tabletop to the digital realm when I decided to begin running games online. Here are some tips and resources that I have found useful.
Back to the Table. My First In-Person RPG Session in Years.
The last in-person session I ran before the world changed took place on February 26th, 2020. We had just completed running through a Star Wars RPG module entitled: Beyond the Rim. In the module, the players are searching for the final fate of the legendary Separatist Battle Cruiser: The Sa Nalaor, missing for decades. . . .Until last night, I had not run a game in person for over two years. Quite coincidentally, the module I chose to run for my return to in- person gaming also involved a missing ship as I ran the Call of Cthulhu 7e module: The Derelict. Though this module was far more deadly than the last in person module I ran. . .I will say that while I missed the bells and whistles of running remotely, and the comfort of running the game in my own home (sometimes in my pajamas), I had forgotten how different it is to run in-person.
The “Blueprint” Heist
Picture this if you will. You are getting ready to sit down for your regular roleplaying session and you tell your players that they are going to help you prepare. With a smirk, you gently slide an outline of a building in the middle of the table. You tell your players that they are going to plan a heist and that the blueprint before them contains everything they will need to do just that. And with that, you turn it over to your players to ask their questions while you build the encounter around these questions and the answers.
Talk Nerdy To Me: How to Make Social Encounters More Interesting
Today I want to talk about my personal favorite aspect of role-playing: social encounters! Social encounters are encounters which require the Player Characters (or PCs) to interact with non-player characters (NPCs) and try to negotiate, gather information, or talk their way out of trouble. This allows the players to get into character and engage in some minor theatrics. . .Social encounters allow us to engage in a pure form of cooperative storytelling.
‘Tis the Season: Five Spooktacular One-Shot Systems for Halloween!
As the season begins to change, the days shorten, the leaves turn, and a chill creeps into the lengthening day. It is the time of year where the rituals of autumn begin to take place: the watching of scary movies, the telling of scary stories, and of course the running of spooky one-shots. But what to run? I scoured the internet to put together my five picks of what Horror RPGs to run for a single night of terror! Bring on the scares!
The Future of D&D
In a recent panel titled Future of D&D, Chris Perkins, Jeremy Crawford, Liz Schuh, and Ray Winninger (all big names in the Dungeons and Dragons world) sat down to tease and discuss the future of Dungeons and Dragons and their comments have set the internet ablaze. . .I wanted to focus today on the future as teased by these Titans of Dungeons and Dragons and what I expect to see and what I hope to see in the future of D&D.
The Wild Wait is over! The Witchlight Carnival Awaits!
In a previous blog, I expressed my excitement and interest for the upcoming D&D module The Wild Beyond the Witchlight. In that blog I shared my predictions for this highly anticipated module. I am excited to share that today is the day to test my prescience! Without further ado, let's jump into the first prediction and see how close I was!
Incorporating Ceremonies and Celebrations in Your Roleplaying Games
Ceremonies and celebrations are one of the ways we mark the passage of time and the important events we experience in our lives. They can take the form of a joyous wedding, a somber funeral, or a boisterous harvest festival. These events can be enormous consequential events with a guestlist in the thousands or intimate seemingly paltry affairs occurring within a single village or even a household. As I am composing this blog, I am packing and preparing for my sister-in-law’s imminent wedding in a nearby state. Considering all of the work and preparation that goes into a wedding and the emotions and feelings tied to these events, I thought it pertinent to talk about how to introduce these keystone events into our roleplaying games and how they can serve as a fun living backdrop to the scenes that the players can interact with.
Life After Death: What Do You Do After a Total Party Kill?
When the entire party is defeated, it can be a very frustrating experience. . .this article [will] provide Game Masters with a few options when a party has a run of bad luck, bites off more they can chew and. . .well. . .bites it.
Avoiding Boring Combat
Combat should be the most interactive and the most intense of the three aspects of roleplaying. Right? Yet in many systems, especially D&D, combat can break down to a dice slog of: roll initiative, roll to hit, hit, now roll damage. . .and so it goes until the monster dies. . .hopefully. Surely we as game masters (and players as well) can do something to help inject some flavor and some fun into our combats to make them more interesting. But how?