GMs set the tone of the campaign when they begin its design. This is just fact. Players, on the other hand, set the tone of the campaign after the game has begun. Again, this is just fact. But problems can arise when the former clashes with the latter. Recently, How to Be a GURPS GM: […]
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Gamemaster’s Guidepost: Campaign Creation Best Practices
We’ve all been there before. New campaign, who dis? Getting started on a new campaign for your players is easy, but it’s also hard. As the GM, you need to be able to describe to your players exactly what you are trying to do. This summary of what you want to do is where things […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: What Makes a Worthy Character
In my continuing ramblings on what makes something worthy in gaming today I’m talking about one of the things that all RPGs have: characters. This might be a player character or a non-player character, but whatever it is it should have “character.” Here’s what I feel make up a worthy character. A Worthy Character Should […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Coping With Campaign Fails
The job of the gamemaster is at its most core to be a storyteller, but it’s the players job to tell it. That sounds a bit wonky, I know, but bear with me. GMs create the framework for players who then fill in the bits and bobs with their actions within the game. . . […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: What Makes a Worthy Campaign
I’ve talked about what makes a worthy GM and what makes a worthy player . . . but there’s something missing. And that something is . . . what makes a worthy campaign? Normally, a GM comes up with the idea he wants to run and plans the campaign out over days or weeks and […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Being a Worthy Player
I talked about what makes a worthy GM here. Now it’s time to talk about what makes a player worthy. Yes. The GM must be worthy of their players, but so too should the players be worthy of their GM. I’m rarely a player myself (I prefer being a GM), but when I am there […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Being a Worthy GM
This thread on the forums brought up something that is near and dear to my heart: “How do you determine if a GM is worth your time as a player?” The subject is actually a little complicated so I’m going to invert it a bit and instead ask: “How do you as a GM determine […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Gamemastering Wuxia Campaigns
Running a wuxia campaign for GURPS is not exactly hard, but it can be daunting at first. I’ve ran two such campaigns so far: The Middle Kingdom – which was a kind of modern kung fu flick with a Narnia vibe; and Ten Thousand Jade Petals – which is more fantasy with wuxia and xianxia […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Gamemastering Urban Fantasy Campaigns
I’ve been running a urban fantasy campaign for the better part of two decades. The same campaign setting but multiple systems until I finally settled on GURPS just over fourteen years ago. It was one of the first things I created in GURPS and I’ve learned a lot over the iterations. I am of course […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Paid Gamemastering
The topic of gamemastering for pay came up in the GURPS Discord and I just had to jump in. First, I’ve done paid GMing in my past and it can be a great experience if you know what you’re doing. You need to be a good GM, capable of improvisation on the spot, willing to hash […]
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