The Greatest NPC Ever

Take a moment to think about your favorite NPC from a game that you GMed.

What made her stand out? Why did your players enjoy him so much? What made her fun to play?

I’d lay even money that at least two of these seven traits came into play.

Read more

Primer on Basic NPC Roles

From walk-ons to guest stars, this article on The Harrow discusses walk-ons, guest stars, professions, choosing names and other NPC-related details: Adventure Writing: Nonplayer Characters. It’s a good approach to the topic of NPCs, and it covers the basics well.

GMing Wiki Growing Steadily

The Treasure Tables GMing Wiki is coming along well, with at least 10 sections already up, running and being edited.

The GM software section is my current favorite — it’s turning into a standout collection of links to mapping programs, NPC generators and other nifty GM aids.

Props to the folks who’ve been populating the wiki — they’re doing a great job, and I’m excited about how useful this resource already is. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I recommend at least taking a peek.

Tips on Writing Adventures

Rich Redman (who worked on the d20 Modern RPG) offers up some good advice on writing adventures in these two columns: Adventure Writing, Part 1 and Part 2.

This is an area I can never have too much help with, and I hadn’t seen these before — hopefully you haven’t seen them yet either!

Scenario Creation Basics

Reaching back to 2003, here’s a great article by Heather Grove on the essential elements of writing an adventure: Author’s Style Guide II: Adventure Writing.

And going back still further, to 1992, Writing for GURPS covers the most basic of basics (and not just for GURPS). Whether as an intro or a refresher, both are worth a read.

Every GM Should Own at Least One Pink Shirt

Have you ever heard the saying, “Every man should own at least one pink shirt”? In my experience, the key to wearing a pink shirt is confidence.

And you know what? Confidence is critical to good GMing, too.

How you approach GMing matters a lot less than maintaining momentum. If you don’t know the answer, make it up; if you’re not sure something will work, try it and then get some feedback; if you need help, ask for it; if you ran a bad session, make the next one better.

Keep moving forwards, with confidence, and many of the other myriad details involved in GMing will follow.

Game Crafters’ Guild of Ireland

The Game Crafter’s Guild of Ireland describes itself as “an open, non-commercial, voluntary organisation through which all those involved in creative pursuits associated with gaming can find a place to share ideas, discuss their work and find collaborators.” Sounds like it has the potential to be a neat resource for GMs, too. (Via Gaming Report.)

d20 Play-by-Post Forum

d20Universe is a forum built specifically for d20 play-by-post games (PbP), and I’ve never seen a site quite like it.

Features include a built-in die-roller and the ability to create characters for different games under one user account, among others. If you’re a PbP GM, it’s well worth a look. (Via EN World.)

Next Page →