Bambi Eyes: Vote for TT in the 2005 Pen & Paper Fan Awards

Voting is open for the 2005 Pen & Paper Fan Awards — between now and April 21st, you can nominate your favorite RPG products online (thanks for the reminder, RPG Blog).

The nifty thing about the P&P Awards is that they’re 100% write-in, with the winners in each category determined solely by how many votes were received. This is different from all of the other RPG awards out there (see Origins Awards, Relevancy and GMing Awards and Which RPG Awards are Relevant to You as a GM? for a bit of discussion on this topic), and it’s a nifty approach.

Treasure Tables is eligible in the “Best Magazine or Webzine” category, and with competition like Dragon Magazine, Roleplaying Tips, Deep in the Game, RPG Blog and other kickass sites and publications, I think some Bambi eyes might be in order. If you get good mileage out of TT, I hope you’ll consider slinging a vote our way.

GM’s Workshop LJ Community

I was on the All Games Considered podcast this past Tuesday (the show isn’t out yet), and Mark Kinney, one of the two hosts, mentioned the GM’s Workshop LiveJournal Community.

I’m not wild about LJ as a format, but YMMV — and so far, it looks pretty good, with a nice mix of specific and general questions (much like our GMing Q&A Forum) and some solid responses.

Malcolm Sheppard Discusses GMing Advice

Malcolm Sheppard has split his gaming commentary into its own blog, Shooting Dice; it’s a lot less acerbic than his LiveJournal. Good GMing Advice delves into what constitutes good (as opposed to vague and/or useless) advice for GMs, and how that should look in print.

I’ve obviously got a horse in this race (and it’s a the topic of a popular thread in the GMing Q&A Forum) — what do you think of Malcolm’s points?

Gamers Gone Wild, Now on DVD

There’s an adage in film and comics that I think should be applied to GMing advice: “Show, don’t tell.”

Imagine if the next RPG rulebook you bought had not only a section of advice for GMs, but came bundled with a DVD showing an iconic gaming session from the GM’s perspective — wouldn’t that be useful, especially for new GMs?

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By the Book and Work:Fun Ratios

Two interesting GMing threads on RPGnet: A GM busts his ass. And for what??? and Do you listen to how the book tells you to GM?.

(Related TT posts: More Fun, Less Work, How Different RPGs Define the GM’s Role and How Did You Learn to GM? — and our GMing Q&A Forum, of course.)

Meaningful Death in RPGs

Chris Chinn mulled over the topic of meaningful PC death in RPGs, and came to some interesting conclusions.

His post also ties in with …And Then James Bond Spends a Month in the Hospital here on TT, as well as Jonathon Tweet’s marvelous Kirk rule.

The 4 Types of RPG Prep

Frank Filz breaks down GMing prep into 4 categories — creative, mechanical, organizational and research — and discusses them in Categorizing RPG Prep.

He looks at several different systems and draws some solid conclusions (I really like his 4 categories — they make for a useful framework for discussion).

From the Movies: Using Single Shots to Convey Themes in RPGs

You’ve seen Gladiator, right? Remember the scene just before the opening battle, where Maximus is letting the grass brush his palm, alone in his own world, thinking about home and family?

That scene says a lot about Maximus, the world of the movie — and Gladiator’s themes.

Wouln’t it be cool if you could do that in your game?

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