Some of my favorite characters were the most irritating people on the planet, and the most insane freaks to boot. I’ve screamed, referred to myself in the third person, and stole the show every session while playing these characters. Other players loved and hated me for it. I’m typically a fade-into-the-background kind of guy who hates talking to people he doesn’t know but secretly starves for the spotlight. I typically shrink away from center stage, except when I break out of my shell and play an obnoxious character.
Last weekend, while getting together to play the Adventure Club adventure, we had the opportunity to check out a new gaming tavern. AFK Tavern bills itself as being the kind of place where you buy a drink, sit around a table, and play RPG games; it sounded like our kind of place. While, as the site says, they are undergoing stress testing and implementing fixes we found ourselves a bit unprepared to take advantage of playing outside of our own normal habitats.
During last week’s Dear Apathy Jeff came up with the idea of writing down a list of unresolved plot threads in order to keep players on one track of adventure. I’d like to suggest that instead of doing this when you’ve come to a cross roads instead keep a running character journal of what your character has been doing. This will allow you to reflect back on what you’ve been doing in the campaign and what needs to be done. Besides it makes for easy doodling if you need to make some quick sketches or map out some particularly nasty corridors.
A lot of the problems in a game are caused by players who aren’t committed to the game, don’t play in a cooperative manner, or are being dicks in one way or another. By following the advice contained within, you can be a better player at the table.
To be perfectly honest with you, I collect gaming crap. I try out lots of little tools to try and make the experience better, but in the end I just have a bunch of clutter. And so, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about a more elegant solution for my gaming needs. I don’t have all the answers, but I’ve finally settled on the three ring binder as the centerpiece.
Yesterday I discussed how to talk to your GM about problems with their game. If you followed my advice you probably pulled them aside and had a meaningful conversation about your concerns. Assuming you presented your case well and made it clear that you were serious, your GM probably seemed receptive to your problems. You [...]
Unless you have been lucky or haven’t been playing very long, you’ve probably experienced it. Your GM is taking the game in directions you don’t like or aren’t comfortable with, or perhaps is just not running the style of game you want to play; perhaps they have implemented house rules or “interpretations” that you disagree [...]
We’ve all spent hours looking at dice in our local game store. We’ve carefully chosen those that call to us, usually based on looks. Eventually, long after we’ve paid for them and come home, we cast them back into the Bag of Shame because they fail us constantly with a slew of terrible rolls. Or, [...]
Unlike their D&D counterparts, Savage Worlds Wizards don’t have a plethora of spells littering their character sheet. Also, there isn’t a described cantrip mechanism that lets them do little magical things all day. But that’s a problem that a little imagination can fix without altering the rules at all using skill trappings. What are Skill [...]