Online Desktops for GMs

This is a guest post by Patrick Waddingham (Patrick on TT’s GMing Q&A Forum). Patrick offered to write a post about online desktops for TT, and I was more than happy to take him up on it.
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While “chaotic” is a fun word to describe an NPC vigilante or demon prince, it loses its allure when used with “organization of gaming material.” The internet promotes organization as much as it seems to fight it.

The trick to organizing game material is to make sure that all of your resources are quickly and conveniently available to you. Online desktops are a great way to organize game notes and provide access to your favorite internet resources.

E.N. Guilds - Messengers’ Guild

My first solo freelance RPG work, E.N. Guilds - Messengers’ Guild, has just been released by E.N. Publishing.

If you’re interested in exploring the methods, quirks and ramifications of message delivery in a fantasy world, give this one a look! It’s full of neat ideas that you can apply to any fantasy game (plus a hearty helping of crunch for your d20 game).

Roleplaying Tips #301: 120 Benign Wilderness Encounters

Roleplaying Tips #301 follows up on the 150 non-combat urban encounters presented in issue #299 with 120 non-combat wilderness encounters for your fantasy game. Many aren’t actually encounters, though — instead, they’re meant to be fuel for impromptu descriptions, and for adding flavor to wilderness travel.

Interview with John Kim

John Kim is one of the most active and prolific RPG thinkers on the web, with a well-known personal site (simply called John H. Kim’s Role-Playing Game Page) that covers everything from RPG theory to convention reports. John’s LiveJournal is one of my regular reads, and he can be counted on for thoughtful and insightful gaming commentary.

So what’s he like as a GM? John was kind enough to answer that (and several other questions) in this email interview — and in the process, he provided enough RPG links to keep you busy all week.

Creepy Stuff for Your Game

Creepy… is an EN World thread full of neat ideas for scaring your players.

Whether you’re running a horror game or just want to change things up in your non-horror campaign, there’s a lot of great material here.

Food, Rituals and Gaming

Via 10 by 10 room, I found this excellent Forge post by Tony Lower-Basch about food as a gaming ritual, and its impact on play.

In a nutshell: Tony serves dim sum to his gaming group, and their gaming session runs more smoothly. Clearly what you eat, and when you eat it, has an impact on your gaming.