The Heart Monitor
The Giants are Back! Extra Life Game Day 12 Hour Marathon!
In honor of Extra Life Game Day, and by popular demand, we are bringing back our 12 Hour Marathon and continuing Against the Giants. . .this time with Frost Giants! The event will take place Saturday, November 6th from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm EST and will once again be live-streamed on Twitch! Registration for this event will open October 1st and will be limited to 7 players.
Curse of Strahd Post-Mortem
During the founding of Open Heart Games, in order to gain familiarity with Roll20 and playing online, I asked a group of friends to join me in playing this module. Why did I choose Curse of Strahd? . .Curse of Strahd is a fantastic module and one that you should consider running if you have not already done so. That being said there are a few things that I think could be improved upon. . . .
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.
A Heartfelt Thank You
We had such a wonderful time running and streaming 12 hours of D&D 5E: Against the Giants. We’d especially like to thank our players for making it so much fun, Jeff with World Gone Geek for helping us stream, Josh with Obelisk Productions for helping us to get set up and showing us the ropes and designing our overlays (the photo credit of which goes to Taylor of Taylored Photography), and Josh K. for helping monitor our chat! We would also like to thank everyone who donated, tuned in to watch, or shared their support for Open Heart Games on social media. We’ve got such a great community here. Thank you all.
Extra Life 12 Hour Marathon Survival Guide
Here we are, folks! Just days away from our first 12 Hour Marathon benefiting the Extra Life Charity! We have our players. We have our brand-new Twitch channel all set up. And fortunately, this is not my first rodeo; I used to run 12 hour marathons at the Malted Meeple also to benefit the Extra Life Charity. Therefore, I have decided to share some of my wisdom and answer the question: what can you do to prepare for a 12 hour marathon of gaming?
Avatar Legends. The Most Successful RPG Kickstarter in History!
I wanted to take some time today to shine a spotlight on a project that I am really excited about. . .And that project is Avatar Legends from Magpie Games! The Kickstarter has entered its second week and has broken the record for the highest grossing RPG Kickstarter of all time (on its third day!). At the writing of this article, the Kickstarter has raised over 4.5 million dollars. Incredible! But what makes this roleplaying game so special and why all of the love?
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?
Lots of Irons in the Fire
Greetings, friends! Today’s blog isn’t really much of a blog at all but rather an explanation of today’s lack of a blog. We have so many irons in the fire right now and we are super excited about each and every one of them. However, they are keeping us extremely busy at the moment.
12 Hour D&D Marathon: Against the Giants!
Charity is at the heart of what we do. Since our inception, we have been working with Extra Life to raise money for our local children’s’ hospital, Carillion Children’s. Every month, we donate a portion of our sales to this terrific organization and cause. Today, we are extremely excited to announce our newest event—A 12 Hour Marathon! The event will take place Saturday, August 21st, in celebration of Extra Life Tabletop Appreciation Weekend! The marathon will begin at 10:00 am EST and will end at 10:00 pm EST. And this time, we are not just donating a portion—the entire ticket price will go directly to Extra Life! We won’t touch a dime!
“Hail and Well Met!” Joining an Established Campaign
It is no small feat to join an existing group and it can be very intimidating to say the least. In fact, I think one of the most challenging things one can do in a roleplaying game as either a GM or a player is to join an established group mid-campaign. Will you fit in? Will they like your character? How many inside jokes do they have? And the list goes on. I would like to posit that joining an existing group does not have to be all that intimidating if you know how to approach it. Let's talk about how to make it easier and discuss some of the perks!
Meet the Team
Hello, everyone! We have just reached the half-year anniversary of Open Heart Games. Can you believe it?! . . . We hope that in the past 6 months, you feel as though you have gotten to know us. We have certainly enjoyed getting to know you all and building a community with you. So we thought we would take this opportunity to introduce ourselves once more.
Opinion: Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos. Who is this Book for?
Recently Wizards of the Coast announced two new books for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition. . .a new adventure module titled The Wild Beyond the Witchlight which I am super excited for. . . .[and] a campaign setting for one of Magic: the Gathering’s latest worlds. This book is entitled: Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos. I am much less interested in this campaign setting than in the new adventure module and, to be honest, since its announcement, I have been asking myself “Who is the target audience for this product and why was it chosen as the next campaign setting?” My goal here is not to yuck someone’s yum. . . Instead, I want to give my assessment of the product based on what we know so far. . . .
CANCELLED! What Do You Do When Your Players Cancel?
[Having players cancel is not] unprecedented and it happens from time to time and sometimes I myself have to cancel sessions due to scheduling conflicts. But at what point is it best to call it and cancel the entire session? And what do you do when you have prepared an entire session and your players cancel?
Announcing Our Latest GM AMA
That’s right, folks! Today we are announcing our second Game Master Ask Me Anything (GM AMA)! This will be a Facebook Live event hosted on Sunday, June 27th at 12:00 pm EST. I will be live on Facebook and viewers are encouraged to post questions during that time. In case you missed it last time, here’s a bit of a recap on what the GM AMA is and why we do it.
The Importance of Community in Roleplaying
Many communities are formed around a location, an idea, or a shared interest and so forming a community when we roleplay makes sense. I don’t really think that we set out to form a community with intent, I think it just naturally happens. Group chats form, inside jokes take hold, moments are shared, stories are told, friendships are formed, and more. This is the magic of roleplaying: spontaneous community-building. The glue that holds the community together is the shared experience that the players take part in.
Don’t Fill Out Your Backstory
It is my opinion that all roleplaying is, at its heart, designed to be cooperative storytelling. If this assumption holds true, I will argue that the cooperative storytelling element ought to include the creation of the character backstory. If the player and the Game Master both have a hand in the character’s backstory, both become more invested in it. . .
Mistakes Were Made. . . So Now What?
No matter where you are on your journey as a storyteller, you are bound to make mistakes. So what do you do when they come up. . .I have found that when dealing with mistakes the best policy is honesty. . .the journey of the Game Master is a long one and everyone loses their footing along the way. Keep to the path and keep working towards greatness!
Getting Started in Non-D&D RPGs
Today I am going to give an overview of some great ways to get started in some other roleplaying systems and give my thoughts on some of my favorites. My list is by no means exhaustive and there are some great starter kits for roleplaying games that I have not listed here.