Tag: advice

July 23, 2009

Looking for Group

Not yet, precisely. Angela and I are moving to the D.C. area soon. Very soon. This is the primary reason that I haven’t been posting much lately. I’ve been busy. I know a good number of gamers in the D.C. area. I know that there are a large number of RPG blogger-types there as well. Since I last lived in...

May 14, 2009

Its Just A Game, Part II: Emotional Insulation and Player Characters

This is something of a follow-up to my last post. There have been times, in the past, when I’ve become too emotionally wound up with a character I’ve been playing. This happened more often when I was involved in LARPing where the immediacy and direct correlation between a player and PC was particularly strong. My playing style involves a degree...

May 12, 2009

It’s just a game

It is a trite sentiment that annoys some people, but it is true… and important to remember. How many people have ever gotten upset or angry while roleplaying… enough to ruin your fun? Of those remaining, how many have ever been part of a roleplaying session that was derailed when someone got upset or angry? If you don’t fall into...

April 23, 2009

Netbook at the gaming table

Recently, I’ve acquired a netbook. In particular, I got an HP Mini (I got one with a solid state drive, but the one linked looks like a really good deal). I love it. It is small and light enough (about 2 lbs.) that I can toss it into my bag with my gaming books and not notice the weight. The...

March 17, 2009

The Perils of Dual GMing

Angela and I have been running our Woodstock game together. In some ways, it is very nice to have two GMs, but it can also be tricky. Here are some problems we’ve run into: Lack of flexibility – You know how sometimes, as a GM, you just sort of wing it? With two GMs, that’s tricky. You don’t want to...

January 8, 2009

Cave maps

The other day I was, as I often am, doodling. This time, though, I thought I’d turn my doodle into a map of a cave system. A problem quickly developed. I wanted vertical tubes connecting small areas. I wanted those tubes to be interesting – have cutbacks and ledges and such. In order to do this on paper, I’d need...

January 5, 2009

Making Magic Mysterious

I finally began reading the Black Company novels recently. I’m still early in them, so – while I’ll say that I’m enjoying them so far – this isn’t a review. One minor thing I noticed is that the wizards of middling power who are part of the Black Company often use magic to produce horrors. These might be swarms of...

September 8, 2008

Romantic entanglements

On Saturday, we played our temporally-displaced Exalted game. It was a good session in which I got to explore my character a bit more than usual. One thing that I sometimes have trouble with is figuring out how characters feel about things. Sometimes it is obvious. Sometimes, though, people have unpredictable desires… and PCs should be no exception. So, yeah....