TPK Talk for Nov 16
Short post today because it’s late and because I am watching Desert Bus and playing Feed the Beast again.
Author: Jim
3 Ways to Use Religion in Your Game
Getting back in the habit with a post I’ve wanted to write for a while. Religion at the gaming table can be an interesting and sticky subject. There are a lot of ways to treat it, and I could write for months about it. I’ve played with people of a few religious stripes, from those with none at all to pagans and various flavours of Christian, and they’ve really helped me define my idea of what belonging to a religion means, and how it can matter narratively. I’m an apatheist myself, but I understand the power of religion as a cultural force in the lives of millions of people, so I’ve always wanted to give it a treatment that resonates with faithful people without disincentivizing secular players. There’s a wide gulf between representing real-world religion vs. fantasy religion, but today I want to pay attention to fantasy religion. We’ll talk about the way I do it next week, but here’s three other ways you could treat religion.
TPKtalk for Nov 9
Remember, when failing a blogging challenge, it’s important to fail it as much as possible kids. No, really I’ve just had a lot going on and had trouble finding my focus. I even gave Ryan the month off intending to tackle the challenge head on. That was, in retrospect, not a great plan. But I’m back, and we’re good to go with another TPKtalk!
Stealing Like an Artist
30 Days of GMing Day 5
Today’s topic is Stealing like an artist: what inspiration have you drawn from other games, books, movies, etc? I struggled with this post a lot. One one hand I want to say I haven’t stolen anything in a long time because I can’t remember specific instances. On the other hand, I know I’ve been doing it because everyone does it. A lot. Which means I’m probably doing it without thinking about it. Everyone does it differently, but here are some things I like to steal.
Pre-Published Adventures?
30 Days of GMing
While I’ve sung the praises of modules before, I’ve run precious few of them. In fact, I think I’ve completed a total of one in my twenty years as a GM. I blame getting my start as a Larper, where there are no modules and everyone is a snob (myself included). Still, it’s something I’ve been thinking about.
Finding Players
30 Days of GMing
Finding players can be a challenge in a lot of ways. When I started I knew no one who played rpgs, and later I knew so many people that it became hard to pick just four or five for a campaign. I usually keep a mental list of people who tell me they want to play D&D, and when starting a game or filling a spot, I draw from that in order. But there are lots of other considerations.
Favourite GMing Tools
30 Days of GMing
I love tech at the gaming table, but use precious little of it. My 10 year old battlemat is still being drawn on with washable markers, and we only just moved to using minis from using dice to represent characters. Such is the ghetto table of the starving student. I use a lot of tech in my online game, Google Hangouts, Gametable and Xsplit, but they all seem like pretty simple tools to me. Just software that gets the job done. But not all tools are tech.
Advice for New GMs
30 Days of GMing
It’s my first post in the 30 days of GMing, and I’m excited to get this challenge going. I’ve written a lot of new GM advice, from things I wish I’d known when I started to how to put a party together to the absolute basics. I love the thought of new people sitting around tables and living rooms all over the world and having fun while telling stories and smacking monsters. But I can write more about it. My biggest piece of advice for a new GM is don’t panic.
TPK Talk for October 5
Many awesome videos this week, as well as a killer kickstarter and a challenge! Which I have accepted. See you on Monday and for the next thirty days straight with the 30 Days of Gamemastering!
Maps, Adjectives, and Beginnings
TPK Talk
It’s Saturday, which means yet another roundup of nifty articles and tips, including the thrilling conclusion to Mike’s monument post, some thoughts on starting campaigns and Hank Green talking about maps. Go!