Category Archives: DMing

Story Accountants

I’ve spoken before about the roles characters play in a group, but there’s also merit in considering the roles of players. Various books talk about the sorts of players a DM might find at his or her table: the thespian, … Continue reading

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Faith: Filler Arc (Pokémon)

I’m generally not a fan of missing sessions. If we’re not having a campaign in a given week there has to be a pretty good reason, and the most common reason is lack of quorum. That is, if we are … Continue reading

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Faith: Signature Items

Sometimes I worry what my readers think of me. I know logically that nobody goes over this blog with a fine-toothed comb, looking for contradictions so they can shout “Aha! This person says he/she doesn’t like racial stereotyping, but there’s … Continue reading

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Adaptations

I’ve been referencing Chrono Trigger a lot as I talk about Faith, my players’ latest attempt to ruin not just one of my settings but several settings throughout history. But that’s not because I’m trying to run a Chrono Trigger … Continue reading

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A Comedy of Eras

I’ve wanted to use that as a post name forever. There are a lot of “nevers” in conventional DMing advice, and I’ve been on something of an unofficial quest to violate all of them. Consider “never give the players wishes”, … Continue reading

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The Role of Rolls

The essence of D&D, and arguably of tabletop roleplaying at all, is randomness. For years it was right there in the name: D&D ran on the d20 system, where players roll a 20-sided die and use rules to interpret the … Continue reading

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The Superman Problem

After several weeks of illness and travel, my first D&D 5E campaign has finally wrapped up. But in the long stretch of time between last two sessions, I realized a normal campaign post-mortem wouldn’t really cover the things I wanted … Continue reading

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The Secret Language of Character Sheets: Examples

Reading a character sheet isn’t easy, especially when you don’t know what you’re looking for. “Longsword: +6 to attack, 1d8+3 damage” doesn’t actually mean anything without context, and that context is usually buried in gaming rules and minutia. Even if … Continue reading

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The Secret Language of Character Sheets: Theory

There is perhaps no less fruitful question in my daily life then “what do you want for dinner?” The perfect answer is something direct and attainable like “grilled cheese sandwiches with ham like you made three weeks ago”. Acceptable answers … Continue reading

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Campaign Report – Monster of the Week

In July I finished my first non-d20 campaign. Having played in and more or less enjoyed campaigns in Fate, Icons, and a Powered by the Apocalypse system, I wanted to apply that sort of narrative, rules-light feel to a campaign … Continue reading

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