The Low Resource Tale

We talk about how to run an adventure with few player resources and how to make it so player ingenuity is welcome when you take their toys away. From survival to horror to investigations we talk about ways of a few things to expect and ways to make it awesome. Continue reading “The Low Resource Tale”

The Allied NPC Tale

This week we talk about NPCs why some get elevated, how to deal with the mechanics for those that do get elevated, and why some people make full PCs for an NPC. Continue reading “The Allied NPC Tale”

The Way to End Tale

We talk about how to end a session and a scene. With tips and examples of dramatic situations to leave your players in, the hosts have some deep thoughts about coming to that brick wall. Continue reading “The Way to End Tale”

The Behind the Scenes Tale

Kristine and Ben talk about the ways that you can use the in between session times to make your games better and keep engagement going when you have ideas that just need to get out. Continue reading “The Behind the Scenes Tale”

The Home Brew Tale

We talk about making a setting up for yourself. From new adversaries and minions to new pieces of equipment. This can broaden your horizons so much we wanted to give our initial takes on how to grow beyond the time between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Continue reading “The Home Brew Tale”

The Party Starting Tale

We talk about getting the players to be hooked for an adventure lead and how to make them more of a player party instead of just players. From discussing other RPGs to how to manage disagreements we have a jam packed episode for you today. Continue reading “The Party Starting Tale”

The Home Brew Tale

We talk about some of our different approaches of rules at the table, from how powerful the force is, to how much experience we give out at the table. It’s fun to see our different approaches and how varied our styles are. Continue reading “The Home Brew Tale”

The Street Fighter Tale

For our three year anniversary David and Ben talk about making brawling and mêlée characters that can keep up for damage, as well as looking at ways to build up specializations that don’t normally get a light on the cool ways they can be in a fight. Continue reading “The Street Fighter Tale”

The Gearing Up Tale

We get talking about how to show your gear is your gear. From the care that Mandalorians put into their armour to the lengths that gunfighters will customize their blasters. We also touch upon bringing gear into play with checks beyond just shooting people. Continue reading “The Gearing Up Tale”

The Traditions Tale

We get talking about how to use some of the other traditions of force use, where you can expand past the ideas of Jedi and Sith. We also talk about how to feel more epic for your power level and how to capture that clone wars feel for Jedi. Continue reading “The Traditions Tale”

The Learning GM Tale

We get talking about how to entice your player onto the plot you’re wanting and what to do when they don’t do what you expect or will not engage with what you put before them. (hint: talk to your players) Continue reading “The Learning GM Tale”

The Video Game Tale

We start asking how can you bring the narrative from a video game to the table top and get into emphasizing how you can show off narrative choice in letting the players find agency in what their choices mean.

Continue reading “The Video Game Tale”

The Characteristic Tale

We talk about how characteristics need to be thought of for your characters as your creating, knowing where your character is now in the timeline of their growth, and how you can shape your character off of abilities that aren’t common. Continue reading “The Characteristic Tale”

The Player Choice Tale

Beka and Ben talk about how to make your players make a choice in your games. From giving consequences to taking the plank that their clinging to away slowly we talk about ways of getting your players to engage in the situation around them. Continue reading “The Player Choice Tale”

The Module Tale

Tess wanted to ask about making a published module your own. We talk about how to make the voice of the module yours and how it can make it even more awesome because it allows you to focus on the characters even more. Continue reading “The Module Tale”

The Motivation Tale

David and Ben were able to talk about motivating your players out of their bases of operations in ways that aren’t only a sledge of their obligations showing up on their door. This was asked by a Patreon supporter Andrew Fullard.
Continue reading “The Motivation Tale”

The Espionage Tale

David liked the idea of talking about espionage and then talked about Jack Bauer and Jason Borne. We talk about far ranging ideas from infiltration missions to your party and crew being infiltrated.  Continue reading “The Espionage Tale”

The Rock Star Tale

We got thinking of the classic question, what do you do when you have a character that feels like a mismatch to your party? David and Ben talk about how to turn this seeming weakness into a vibrant strength. From snipers to faces and many places in between. Continue reading “The Rock Star Tale”

The Brave Sir Robin Tale

A question arose about hinting to your players that it’s time for their characters to run away. This is our answer, and we give a few ideas on how to make baddies even more present in your adventure. Tess, David, and Ben all have some wicked ways to make your players realize their characters are about to die.

Continue reading “The Brave Sir Robin Tale”

The New GM Tale

Every now and then we get asked by new GMs how to I get started, I love the universe but this RPG thing scares me. This is David and Ben giving a few pieces of advice and telling a few tales of how they learned to use the dice. Continue reading “The New GM Tale”

The Diplomats Tale

This week we talk about the kinds of campaigns that a diplomat would excel in. From negotiating treaties all the way down to keeping two rebel groups working together. David and Ben give ideas for several campaigns and scenes for you to use and give a few spins on dealing with interpersonal relationships that a GM might not always think of.
Continue reading “The Diplomats Tale”

The Active Set Tale

We talk about the wonders you can find in the background of a scene. From the rolling conveyor belts of a factory to the people in a bar the extras you bring to the scene in description will be paid back in fun for your whole table. Continue reading “The Active Set Tale”

Confessions of a Newb GM: Scaling the Story

As I have done more and more planning for different campaigns, I find that beginnings and endings to have to be the most solid points. Without these two points set in stone the wild twists and turns that the players throw at me have a knack for throwing me into a tailspin that takes quite a bit to recover from. Continue reading “Confessions of a Newb GM: Scaling the Story”

Confessions of a Newb GM: Loudly Thinging

Creating a good atmosphere with your games locations is both amazing and hard to accomplish. Adding to the tale that is retold over drinks another day is a great feeling for a GM, but a problem arises when the setting is all there is. A carefully crafted setting can bring great excitement and create an eerie mood, for instance, but if the encounters are all similar the setting slowly loses its majesties. If every room and hallway that the players get into is of a similar style, everything around it becomes routine; making any positive impressions made fade into a faint grey shroud. Continue reading “Confessions of a Newb GM: Loudly Thinging”

Confessions of a Newb GM: Rising Action

There has been much said in the last few years of making the results interesting from dice rolls. There has been a really good micro-cast about creating a story from the results of a roll. Creating a narrative is what an RPG is best at; while a board game always has an emergent story to it, normally it has nowhere near the depth of an RPG. A large issue is that people are trying to create a narrative from nothing preceding it. Continue reading “Confessions of a Newb GM: Rising Action”