Blogging for GMs, Day 31

Today is the last day of the Blogging for GMs project, day 31! I received two entries over the weekend:

• Jonas Karlsson contributed God Proposes, Man Disposes.
• Frank Filz wrote An example of prep for Cold Iron.

Both Jonas and Frank have written posts for the Blogging for GMs project before, and I’m pleased to be able to round out the project with their work. Jonas’s intriguingly-titled post delves into some roleplaying theory as it pertains to the independent RPG Sorcerer, and to gaming in general. Frank’s entry discusses preparing to run a game with the homebrewed Cold Iron system (authored by Mark Christiansen), and relates to a comment he made here on TT.

Thank you Jonas and Frank, and thank you to everyone who contributed to the Blogging for GMs project! I’ll be posting a quick “project roundup” tomorrow to officially wrap things up.

A Cast of 1,350

Silent Ladies & Gents is a massive archive of pictures of silent movie stars, and a perfect source of period NPC photos (say, for Call of Cthulhu).

Getting Inspired by LARPs

Every year at GenCon, I try to make it a point to play in at least one LARP (Live Action Role-Playing game). The main reason, of course, is that LARPs can be a lot of fun — and since they’re production-intensive, I don’t tend to get too many chances to play them.

LARPing is also a good source of inspiration, and for day 28 of the Blogging for GMs project, I’m going to look at 6 ways that LARPs can give you fresh ideas about GMing.

Read more

Strange Name, Interesting Articles

The Harrow hosts articles from 1998-2001 on a range of topics of interest to GMs. My favorite is Santa Claus Adventures.

I’d Rather Rake Leaves Than Do Prep

This past Saturday, I ended my Airship Privateers campaign for good. This is never a decision I make lightly, but it’s also not a decision I’m afraid to make once I’m sure it’s the right course.

I knew it was the right thing to do when it hit me that I’d rather rake the yard than do prep for the game. At the moment, I’d rather do just about anything than prep, including things — like raking leaves — that aren’t generally at the top of anyone’s list!

To try and make prep more fun (or at least easier), I’ve compiled a list of GM prep resources for RPGs for day 26 of the Blogging for GMs project.

Read more

Give Sex a Chance

Don Mappin (of Abulia Savant) considers a topic that tends to get swept under the rug in RPGs, in sex, Sex, and SEX! (with one NSFW image).

Blogging for GMs, Day 25

The Blogging for GMs project is in its final week, and we’ve got 3 posts for day 25:

• Frank Filz contributed Game Master Characters.
• Arref Mak posted Amber: high school age startup.
• Brannon Hollingsworth has started a new series of posts, with GM Inspiration, Week 1.

This is Frank’s third post for the project, and he takes a look at a rather unusual way to use NPCs who are part of the PC adventuring party. Arref’s post offers 8 tips on starting an Amber game for high school students (which can be applied more generally to starting up any game with a new group), while Brannon lists 8 sources of inspiration for your game, along with some specific examples.

Thanks, Frank, Arref and Brannon!

Storing Your Stuff

The October issue of The Lady Gamer features a nifty article about Storage Ideas for Gaming Supplies.

Next Page →