Cinematic Combat Part 3 – The Absence Of Mechanics
This entry is part 3 in the series Cinematic Combat Why should the pace of gameplay be held hostage by combat mechanics? Anything else we can take or leave – we can assume success on any skill roll and...
View ArticleTales from the front line: The Initiative Conflict
This entry is part 1 in the series Tales from the front line I originally intended to present the Tavern Generator that I promised on Monday as today’s post, but it will take longer than I initially...
View ArticleSequential Bus Theory and why it matters to GMs
I’m writing this article on the day that the idea occurred to me, but I’ve held it back until an opportune gap appeared in the publishing schedule. I was waiting for the bus today (well, on the day...
View ArticleTransferable Skills From Bottom to Top and back again
A collision of thoughts: the origins of this article The other day, I was searching through past articles looking for a particular reference for a cross-link when I found myself re-reading my article...
View ArticlePieces Of Creation: Maxima and Minima
This is the second-last article in the great character giveaway of 2016. Today I present a pair of more traditional supervillains whose main interest lies in the way the character’s abilities are...
View ArticleA New ERA and other products to empty your wallet
Today I have two Kickstarters and some related and unrelated products to tell readers about, all well worth your hard-won cash. ERA: The Consortium The first of the products I’m featuring is “The...
View ArticleBasics For Beginners (and the over-experienced) Part 6: Challenges
This entry is part 6 in the series Basics For Beginners (and the over-experienced)I’ve been asked a number of times what advice I have for a beginning GM. This 15-part series is an attempt to answer...
View ArticleUse The Force, Fluke: Who’s On First This Time?
For the record, none of the PCs in the Star Wars campaign is named Fluke. But the pun was irresistible. When we started playing Star Wars: Edge Of The Empire, we got the initiative system all wrong....
View ArticleAll Wounds Are Not Alike IV – Accelerated Healing
This entry is part 5 in the series All Wounds Are Not Alike When I first started gaming, one of the hot topics of conversation was always Clerical Healing and how to stop Clerics being nothing more...
View ArticleEngagement vs Involvement: The forgotten balance
Every player, and more importantly, every PC, who is participating in an RPG is a member of a team. That team can be constructed to form an idealized “machine” if the players collaborate on their...
View ArticleHe Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Servomech: User-friendly Encumbrance in RPGs
This article was inspired by a Facebook post by Toolmaster way back in July 2015 on Dungeons & Dragons Memes, a facebook community run by The d20 Collective who offer various gaming-related...
View ArticleAll Wounds Are Not Alike V: Narcotic Healing (part 1)
This entry is part 6 in the series All Wounds Are Not Alike I wasn’t going to make this a two-part article, but – as happens all too often – there was simply too much to include in the one post. Part...
View ArticleAll Wounds Are Not Alike V: Narcotic Healing (part 2)
This entry is part 7 in the series All Wounds Are Not Alike It has often been suggested that players get addicted to the ease of healing that comes with “Holy Water Drip Bottle” syndrome. And that...
View ArticleJust Another Pointy Stick I: Spell Storage Solutions Pt 3a
This entry is part 3 in the series Spell Storage Solutions This is the third part of an intermittent series that will examine alternatives and possible implications to the standard spell storage...
View ArticleNot Just Another Pointy Stick: Spell Storage Solutions Pt 3b
This entry is part 4 in the series Spell Storage Solutions For anyone who didn’t know, and who hasn’t noticed the change to the masthead, Campaign Mastery was honored with the Silver Ennie for Best RPG...
View ArticleBasics For Beginners (and the over-experienced) Part 9: Rewards With Intent
This 15-part series is an attempt to answer the question, “what advice do you have for a beginning GM?”, three articles at a time – while throwing in tips and reminders of the basics for more...
View ArticleThree Coins In The Luck Machine: a different take on game control
A guest article by Boris R. If you think that slot machines and RPG games are complete opposites, you’re wrong. You can enhance your game world by taking a lesson from slots and increasing the...
View ArticleThe Ultimate Weapon: Spell Storage Solutions Pt 5
This entry is part 6 in the series Spell Storage Solutions This is the (almost-) final part of a very intermittent series that examines alternatives and possible implications to the standard spell...
View ArticleThe Bigger They Are, The Bigger The Headache: The Proxemics Of Scale
I’ve been thinking a lot about the size of creatures lately, because it seems to me that size poses unexpected problems for the GM. This is a subject that’s been at the back of my mind for years, ever...
View ArticleBlog Carnival Anchor – Ordinary Life (Nov 2016) plus, How Long Should Potions...
In addition to everything else I have going on here at Campaign Mastery, next month we are scheduled to host the Blog Carnival. The current carnival over at of Dice and Dragons is all about potions,...
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