RPG Tips

I know I’ve had a few conversations over the last year or so about frustration over side conversations and out-of-character chatter. (Although out-of-character conversations and jokes can also be pretty fun!) Some example issues I’ve seen from the various side-chatter: A player and GM are roleplaying and they can hardly hear each other due to active side-conversations. Players ignore the GM and have a side-conversation and remain clueless minutes later about information they should have known (if only they had paid attention), requiring the GM to repeat the same information again. … [Read more...] about Dealing with Side-Conversations

In D&D and other games, I've found that having a character die can be deflating, especially if it's near the end of a campaign. I've discussed a 'Taken Out' rule variant with my Thursday group (which we've adopted for my Redmark campaign), but I'll list some other house rules for dealing with Character Death. Let me know what you think. I'll probably use one of these variants for any future games and campaigns I run. 1. Instant Death This is rules-as-written in most games. Once you mechanically die, your character is dead (unless magically resurrected), and this happens instantly. Note … [Read more...] about Stan’s Alternate Death Rules

So are GM Screens helpful? History The original DM's Screen of the mid to late 70s was a 3 ring binder which you used to hide your maps and monster stats. Generally these could be in your lap or propped up on the table. Later, D&D modules often included a cardboard map which you could pull out and use with one side as a player facing art, and the internal side being the dungeon map. GM Screen Uses The primary uses for a GM screen are: Hiding GM maps Hiding miniatures of upcoming monsters Hiding upcoming props and handouts Hiding GM dice rolls Providing a … [Read more...] about All About GM Screens

I love the slightly-oversized dice from Role 4 Initiative, so I just ordered a new set for use with Cortex Prime. Quite affordable -- only $0.63 per die. I am using different colors for each die type to make it easy to differentiate at the table (and also its great for players new to RPGs who have trouble telling a d10 from a d12, etc.). I'm using Purple for d4s, Green for d6s, Blue for d8s, Red for d10s, and Black for d12s. I'm red-green color blind but these shades are bright and distinct enough even for me to tell apart. Can't wait to use them in my upcoming Cortex Plus campaign! You can … [Read more...] about Oversized Dice from Role 4 Initiative

I did some experimentation with creating one inch tokens for use in games where acquiring minis is expensive or impractical but when you still want something to represent character placement (roughly) on a map. Supplies needed: 1" flexible stick-on magnets, a 1" paper punch, clear Epoxy 1" Stickers for Bottle Cap Pendants, and some character images sized and printed to fit in 1" circles. The hole punch worked well to cut out the images. The next step is to stick the cutout images on the magnets. I was originally going to add in a layer of a 1" wood token using a glue stick, but the … [Read more...] about Creating 1” Magnetic Character Tokens