Part one of a four-article series on designing and running a one-shot, single-session adventure. See the end of the article for links to the rest of the series. Unfortunately, I’ve never been to a gaming convention, but for years I have been intrigued by the early tournament adventures of the late 1970s and early 1980s. … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #31: Screen Wrap, for June 2020. This was originally published on June 29, 2001, at Gaming Outpost, as Game Ideas Unlimited: Screen Wrap. I usually call it “recursive occlusion”; but that’s because that’s what Peter Davison’s Doctor called it in Castrovalva, and now that I get around to thinking about what that … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #30: Conflict, for May 2020. A few years back my band Collision left its equipment set up in a church in which we had been practicing. The drummer had gotten our logo made as a drum head cover, so there was this picture of the earth crashing into a giant … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #29: Political Correction, for April 2020. The phrase has been around long enough that I cannot imagine anyone in the English-speaking world does not know what “politically correct” means. In the short form it means never saying anything that might offend any member of any minority group, whether or not such a … [Read more…]
Someone once wrote that good Game Masters seem to know a little bit about everything. If it’s not obvious, this is because they need to know how the world works so they can make their own game settings seem real. I know this first-hand from years of running fantasy campaigns. At one point or another, … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #20: The Problem with Protests, for July 2019. It was brought to my attention that twenty thousand well-meaning wrong-headed religious conservatives have signed a petition asking Netflix not to run a show produced by Amazon exclusively for Amazon Prime subscribers. The show is a scripting by Neil Gaiman of a … [Read more…]
This tale follows from the events of Tracks on a Moonless Night. Background Sir Garrett of House Winchester and his retinue have been in the region around Blackwater Lake for months now, searching for Sir Garrett’s lost ancestral estate, named Falconridge, which once lay somewhere near the shores of the lake. After several adventures and … [Read more…]
My name is Osye E. Pritchett III (pronounced Oh-Sea). I am a Christian and a gamer. This is my story (abridged). To start I would like to affirm that I believe in God. I believe in the Incarnation; that is, I believe that God became man in the person of Jesus. Wholly God. Wholly man. … [Read more…]
It’s been a while since we heard from the Winchesters. We now return you to another thrilling adventure in Northumbria! Background Sir Garrett of House Winchester and his retinue have been in the region around Blackwater Lake for months now, searching for Sir Garrett’s lost ancestral estate, named Falconridge, which once lay somewhere near the … [Read more…]
This scene takes place between part 2 and part 3 of “Terror in the Tower.” Background The session began with the PCs back in the village of Lakesend, in between forays to the ruined temple of Pholtus. At some point, the PCs had an interesting discussion on treasure division, and I, as DM, played the … [Read more…]