#how to gm

[emptymanuscript]

Make Exploration into a Game to Hook Players

VERY Interesting.

I think I will have to digest and remember this for my own gm-ing. 

I wonder if there is a generational aspect to this. 

Because the highlight and click was something of an evolution in video games as well. Back when I started playing video games, we knew to just click everything and we knew we missed stuff because games were not just poor about highlighting objects to click but were often intentionally difficult to stretch out game time and play.

Games got better. Fairly quickly. But there were still often hidden things that weren’t highlighted that you had to just click on whatever interested you in the hopes that you would stumble on something.

And I wonder if that baked into some of us an expectation that you could simply present an environment and that players would run around “clicking” things. Especially playing with the “rule” that if they rolled well, you gave them something whether you had intended to or not. Which I definitely have. If a player rolls a crit success while fiddling around, then I give them something, it doesn’t matter that I didn’t plan to, it’s part of the game for me, it’s the stumbling on the non-highlighted thing. They expected it and I’m rewarding their thinking. But this seems like a better way of handling things. AND it seems like they wouldn’t contradict. It’s just 2-4 highlights with a roll well enough to create secret extra options.

Yeah... I like it.

[ocdkitsunami]

surge and kit designs <3

[elderwisp]

BUFF & BONE

↬ dnd lore about buff and bone below

BUFF: Orc | Barbarian | True Neutral

✧˖ ° Being a strong fighter and leader is in Buff's roots. Or so that's what his father believed. You see, Buff is average. Unremarkable even. Buff never quite understood what being the son of a chieftain meant. Oftentimes he would found himself studying the world around him rather than paying attention to his duties. Replacing getting to know his subjects for mental acuity and self-discipline. Talking to people was overrated anyway. Disappointed, Buff's father sent his only son on a journey to prove his worth.

STR: 16 | DEX: 10 | CON: 14 | INT: 14 | WIS: 12 | CHA: 6

-

BONE: Skeleton | Fighter | Subclass: Echo Night | Chaotic Neutral

✧˖ ° Bone, previously known as " the Viper" was a masked member of the minor thieves guild faction out of the city, working as an interrogation and torture expert. This Faction and the local group of exiled necromancers have been at odds with each other in a dispute over a very powerful artifact that had the power to give eternal life with access an infinite number of universes and timelines. The necromancers accuse the thieves of stealing the artifact (naturally) and of course they did (obviously). After a few ill attempts of retrieving the artifact back ,the necromancers launched a full scale invasion of the thieves hideout. Knowing that all that follows is slavery or death, the Viper used the artifact, not knowing what to expect, binding to this soul and knocking him out. Unfortunately for the Viper, the Necromancers killed every one of the Thieves guild members and in fact, did take bone into servitude. He had remained with the Necromancers for 14 years, strung to a wooden board with all 4 limbs bound, suffering horrible attempts to remove the artifact from his being. Watching the artifacts side effects take hold, month after month his organic body rotting off and leaving nothing but clean white bone in its stead.

STR: 8 | DEX: 16 | CON: 12 | INT: 12 | WIS: 12 | CHA: 14

-

HOW THEY MET:

Buff's quest was much more difficult than he anticipated. What exact fortune was he meant to bring back that would be enough? And it wasn't like his father left him with much. Taking to a nearby village, Buff began doing odd jobs in order to take care of his basic needs. His next particular gig was enough to finally buy himself a new pair of pants. The catch? He needed to clear out a group of necromancers holed up in a cavern. Sounds easy enough except Buff's luck had just run out. - The Viper on the other hand, had a change of luck one morning and he is startled by screaming coming from the entrance of their cave. After 10 long minutes of the sounds of death surrounding his Chamber, The door is flung open and in front stood a huge, bloodied Orc. Thinking this is the end The Viper lowers his head, ready to meet his FINAL fate but is met with the sensation of a hard thud on a cold floor. The orc had severed his bounds, No words are spoken but almost immediately after, The orc smiles and collapses with a deep wound in his abdomen region now visible. Later the Orc awakens and notices bandages covering his wounds and a cold meal sat besides him, and in the corner sits a very small Skelton with a very disturbed look. "Did you do this?" asks the orc. "I felt the need to save you, seeing that you saved me" said the skeleton. After a while of bonding and healing the made the decision the adventure forth together, in search of purpose. During the orc's healing process, he introduces himself as Buff, the son of a powerful Orc Warlord. And when asked the skeleton's name he responds "I don't have one, who I was doesn't exist anymore, call me whatever I guess" and with a smile and use of his tribes naming scheme, "the Viper" has now become "Bone".

Bone's portions are written by my bf, wahoo! <3

[heybiji]

[broh3m3]

[kyurochurro]

make sure to kiss your local chaplain goodbye before you have to leave camp! :p 🩵

[thegoodmorningman]

Good Morning. No one is free in a world with clocks and calendars.

[geezmarty]

Had the opportunity to work with the wonderful @naladraws on these two pieces for the upcoming "How to GM Romance" TTRPG toolkit - it's a really cool project so I was very excited to take part in it 💖

More info + preorder here!

[justalittlebluetiefling]

Beth has been studying at the Essek school of long rests or something.

[scourge-sympathiser]

SCOURGE SUNDAY 025/???

BLESSING leader of WATERCLAN

[ocdkitsunami]

OK so GMS rouge basically

[suburbanbonfire]

welcome to the big leagues, boy

(prints here)

[backmarkerr]

It wasn’t news for anyone except Mika Häkkinen, that Michael played dirty on the football field if he had to, and that he knew how to be sneaky enough to get away with it.

Moodboard for In The Closet by @racingghost

I'm absolutely obsessed with this fic and Makkinen's dynamic, and was inspired to make this after a new chapter was posted today. Heartily recommend reading it!

[autogen-brainrot]

“The birds follow the cold draft / the story”

Jake finally knows what it’s like being on the other side of the rambling 😭

[multi-fandomdisaster]

Hear me out: A game of Call of Cthulhu, but it takes place in Hatchetfield and the eldritch horrors that you're dealing with are the Lords in Black

[cementcornfield]

Is it fair to say that Tee is a need?

Tee is a need, yes.

If the front office isn't able to make that work, would you be disappointed in that?

I'd be very disappointed in that, yeah.