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Tag: GM

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Cut to the Chase: DMing Pursuit

FInd out what 5E gets wrong in their chase rules.
 
Crumbling James and Professional Dungeon Master Justin G talk Chase scenes.
It’s easy for chase scenes to be boring and fall flat. They can quickly devolve into mindless dice rolling at best and comparing stats at worst. Where is the fun in that?
Justin G brings his experience to bear to help you create memorable, exciting, and dynamic chase scenes. This will be a great too in any GMs toolbox.
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Random Encounters with DM Dix and Crumbling James

Discover how to use Random Encounters without derailing your game. DM Dix and Crumbing James pulled back the veil on random encounters to help you use them in your games. We went over the basics (as well as some advanced techniques) so you can level up your random encounters.

  • What is a Random Encounter? – When to use them (and when not to).
  • The secret to not railroading the players.
  • Random Encounters by region. – Balance: What is it good for?
  • Triggers: Hard vs Soft.
  • A complete system for using random encounters in your game.
  • Leveled up Random Encounters like no other.
  • A free offer to take the work out of encounters!

Get ready to take notes because you’re not going to want to miss a thing.

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Teenage Angst and Things from the Flood

I am 38 years old. I was born in 1981. That puts my graduating year as 1999.

Have you started caring yet? Don’t worry, I plan on giving you many more dates and numbers inconsequential to your own life.

The reason I mention this is that my prime teenage years were during the sunset of grunge. The economic growth of the late 80s crashed into the recession of 1990. There was a sense of fatalism and that the cultural excesses of earlier times had robbed us of some important authenticity. It’s not a new story, as “The Catcher in the Rye” had been telling it since 1951, but it’s a good one. Nineties culture just made the story that much dirtier.

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Your Magic Sucks

A while ago, I wrote an article about describing your combat. People like to think that role playing and combat are two separate things, but they don’t have to be. The way your character fights says something about them too. Does your fighter hammer away repeatedly with their sword, relying on their strength to batter away the enemies defenses? Or do they dance away from their opponents sword, spinning underneath their blade to stab forward under their guard? Both of those are very different and very visually pleasing.

What about magic, though? People often fall into the same trap. “I cast magic missile.” Roll some d4s. Done.

Continue reading “Your Magic Sucks”
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Campfire XP

Player’s have this long and elaborate backstory. They have 20 some years of tragedy written out, just waiting for that moment their character can be vulnerable and explain what dire straights have forced them into this life of adventuring. Normal well adjusted people don’t want to go sleep on the ground in the cold woods to save the world from whatever abominable threat has reared it’s head this time. Hell, I get cranky if I just skip breakfast.

But what if that moment of vulnerability never comes? What if the heroes are so busy running around killing the baddies and solving the mysteries that they just don’t get that opportunity? Sometimes I want to know about a character’s first love, what their favorite smell is, what keeps them awake at night, and their best drinking stories. The players generally want to share that with you if you just give them an opportunity.

Enter Campfire XP.

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Elements of Horror

Once upon a time, I was a young DM playing Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition. Yes, that does date me a bit. Long before Curse of Strahd was a thing, there was the Ravenloft box set, which contained all the world building and additional rules you need to play in the demiplane of dread. Vampires, ghouls, zombies, and mists that would wrap you up and take you away. It had all thing things it needed to be scary.

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Conan

Look, I’m going to come right out and say it. This is my favorite fantasy RPG system I’ve played. It feels really heroic, it has a delicious level of crunch, and you can give someone the stink eye until they die. If you have other qualifications as to what makes a great RPG, I’d love to know what they are. I can’t imagine what would top that.

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Giving Your Cities Character

Heroes can spend a lot of time out in the wilderness. There is a lot of action outside of town, what with monsters ravaging the countryside, forgotten dungeons, and that pesky environment to contend with. Eventually, the characters are going to come to a settlement, however. Maybe they just want to grab supplies or have a long rest without worrying about pesky Anhkegs for once. Perhaps the city is actually a focus, and you’re planning to run an urban campaign. Whatever the reason, the forests and plains are giving way to wood smoke and buildings. How do you make this community stand out? Continue reading “Giving Your Cities Character”

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Campaign Prep in Bullet Points

When I’m running a streaming game or recording an episode of our podcast, it’s not enough that I have plans for whats going to happen in the game; I also need to know when it’s going to happen. I prefer to have each episode reach some sort of completion. If there is a cliffhanger, I want that to be intentional.

So how do I keep a game going where I need it to go? I think in threes.

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