Author Archives: Brent
Game Design Hour: The 4 most useful RPG design things I know
Do you want to design a tabletop game? I’ve designed a couple of indie tabletop RPG games and a couple of indie board games. I’m in the middle of developing one of those board games, so I’m going through the process I’ve cobbled together over the years. This is part of a series of blog posts … Continue reading
First-Class Role-Playing…for Players! Part 4: Creating an Interesting Character
In previous posts in this series, I provided basic advice on creating a character, table etiquette, and dealing with problems. This post is all about going one step beyond and creating an interesting, deep character. Any character is (simplistically) made of two things: nature and nurture. The nature comes from the character’s inherent physical and mental makeup: … Continue reading
Monster Monday: Lizardling Knight of Tarakona
The savage continent of Tarakona, where draconic races battle for supremacy! While the bureaucratic lizardling empire sends its well-trained units onto the battlefield in regimented rows and columns, the only wild cards on the field are the knights. Knights are the smartest, most careful combatants in a lizardling army, carefully surveying their enemy for weak points and exploiting … Continue reading
Faction Friday: Naomi’s Gnolls
Naomi’s Gnolls can be used either as a friendly faction that sends the PCs out on a mission, or as a foe that the PCs must overcome. This pack of gnolls is led by a charismatic human woman, Naomi Darvenel, who either restrains the gnolls into a force for good, or leads them on directed raids. As a friendly … Continue reading
First-Class Role-Playing…for Players! Part 3: Troubleshooting and Summary
Welcome to the third part in a series about playing tabletop RPGs. The first post gave you some basic advice, while the second covered more advanced topics like improv. This post offers guidance on problems you may run into. The Inflexible DM Some DMs aren’t really running a role-playing game; they’re narrating their novel, within which the PCs … Continue reading
First-Class Role-Playing…for Players! Part 2: How To Be Awesome
This post is for players who have played enough sessions to have the game’s basic rules under their belts. If you’re completely new to role-playing, read this first post in the series. Work With Your DM Accept your DM’s house rules Your DM has certain guidelines and parameters for the world, and house rules to play … Continue reading
First-Class Role-Playing…for Players! Part 1: Help! I’ve Never Played Before!
Welcome to tabletop role-playing! We’re glad you’re here. You’re going to play an important character in a story, and you want to do the best you can. Good on you. This blog post (and a few more coming later) provides advice to players of tabletop role-playing games, helping them to be better players. Each section will … Continue reading
Monster Monday: Lizardling Archer of Tarakona
The savage continent of Tarakona, where draconic races battle for supremacy! What the lizardling empire lacks in creativity it makes up for in training. Its archers can do terrible damage with their short bows. This is important, as they’re trained to maneuver around the rear of the battlefield and do damage from afar. A single good hit … Continue reading
Faction Friday: The Dragon Slavers
A wealthy halfling, Harran Mialorn, has been cowed by a young dragon named Mezvorax into kidnapping people to be the dragon’s slaves. He and his followers (also slaves of the dragon) live in a bat-filled mansion. Each follower wears an amulet that keeps them dominated by Mezvorax. About a quarter of those kidnapped become working members of the … Continue reading