Category: Gaming

  • Ten Maguffins for your Games

    Maguffin is a term for a motivating element in a story used solely to drive the plot. It serves no further purpose. It won’t pop up again later, it won’t provide resolution. Really, it won’t do anything except possibly distract you while you try to figure out its significance. The classic example is, of course,…

  • #RPGaday Wrap-up

    The weekend sort of got away from me, what with an event I was running going off very successfully and a few other things. But it meant not having a moment to finish up the last four days of RPGaDay, so let’s take care of that now, shall we? Day 28: Favourite Game You No…

  • #RPGaDay, Day 27: Favourite Idea for Merging Two Games

    I haven’t actually merged two games together before. I’ve played in campaigns where there was a parallel group, and the GM eventually brought us together for the big conclusion. That was a lot of fun and was handled really well by the GM, and made the lead-up to the final battle particularly epic. An idea…

  • #RPGaDay, Day 26: Favourite Inspiration for Your Game

    My favourite inspiration for gaming largely depends on what game I’m running. In general, books and shows/movies inspire campaign ideas across the genres. I also get a lot of inspiration from non-fiction sources; for years I used National Geographic Magazine as a source for adding cultural flavour to my games and characters, for instance. As…

  • #RPGaDay, Day 25: Favourite Revolutionary Game Mechanic

    One of my favourite games from my early RPG days, which I sadly never got to play, was Skyrealms of Jorune. It was one of those games that, were I bit older when I came across it, I likely would have appreciated it more. At the time, though, I loved it because it featured none…

  • #RPGaDay, Day 24: Favourite House Rule

    My favourite house rule is one I implemented for the Jade Regent Adventure Path campaign we just started. Instead of tracking XP and making sure they get enough at the right times, I’m going to just level them as appropriate. I wouldn’t do it for a regular homebrew campaign. But for the Pathfinder Adventure Paths…

  • #RPGaDay, Day 23: Perfect Game for Me

    Much of what makes a perfect game for me ties back to what I was talking about yesterday; it’s more the people I’m gaming with than the game itself. Good players, after all, can make even a bad or mediocre game enjoyable. And with the right group role-playing can pop up in almost any game,…

  • #RPGaDay, Day 22: Perfect Gaming Environment

    I don’t really have any preference when it comes to the physical environment I game in. I’m just as happy to sit around a living room as I am to sit at a table, or play at a store or con as opposed to a private home. I do have a separate room at home…

  • #RPGaDay, Day 21: Favourite RPG Setting

    Back in my AD&D playing days, I was a fan of both the Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms settings. Gun to my head I liked FR a little bit more, but they were two of my favourite settings. Eventually support for Greyhawk dwindled, resurging briefly when 3rd edition came out and then fading again. Forgotten Realms…

  • #RPGaDay, Day 20: Favourite Horror RPG

    I mentioned in an earlier RPGaDay post that I’m currently diving deep in to Trail of Cthulhu. But before that I was head over heals for the Call of Cthulhu game, going all the way back to the first box set. I loved playing it almost as much as I enjoyed running it. The issue…