Bard of Valiant

Last night our party faced a god. This was the whole goal of the current adventure, something everyone knew was coming for several weeks and was looking forward to last night.
Well, I thought everyone was looking forward to it. It turned out there was a huge discrepancy between how I, as the Game Master, viewed [...]

The core vocabulary of RPG rules, both tabletop and computer-based, revolves around some basic concepts that are understood across rule systems and genres. In creating my homebrewed rule system, I was not interested in trying to reinvent the wheel, but rather to leverage that core vocabulary.
Six standard character abilities that act as guidelines to the [...]

Click pics for large size.
We just started the game so the table is still pretty neat. I give out experience points for snacks so we never lack for munchies and soda.
We’re still using the default character sheet although I’ve considered making a custom version. There’s so much wasted space on these.
We use 2 skills [...]

It’s a pretty common scenario as a random encounter in near future/scifi settings, an employee goes “postal” and threatens everyone nearby. Mix things up in your fantasy game by adding a bit of risk there as well. Roll percentile dice and look up what happens:
Who is likely to go “off”?

Sphere: Related Content

Danny sez, “Naomi Novik, the author of the excellent (and Peter Jackson-optioned) Patrick O’Brian-meets-Anne McCaffery historical fantasy series, Temeraire, has announced that Del Rey is putting it the first volume as a free, DRM-free, PDF download! Novik’s series is perfect for this. I know a lot of people who love Hornblower Napoleonic barnstormers, but who [...]

Things I’ve used lately:

Previous Installments:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
No one leads a party or a game like the Game Master will. His influence is by far the most pervasive on any gaming table. – Bard of Valiant
And one of the things the Game Master has a huge influence in is who is playing [...]

Previous Entries: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
In any game the leader can only go where the players are willing to follow, whether it be a Guild Leader in World of Warcraft or a Game Master of a tabletop role-playing game. If the players won’t follow, you have no game. And there are really two [...]

In Part 1, we discussed why leadership skills matter to a Game Master and his gaming group. In this article, we’ll take a look at some different styles of leadership and how they pertain to game mastering.

Sphere: Related Content

Many systems for fantasy gaming have a list of spells as long as I am tall, either in the main book for players or in optional expansions. Usually, on creation, a player will pick 3 to 5 of these for his character and they often include things such as magic missile, read magic and burning [...]