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In AD&D, there was a training requirement to advancement that didn’t reflect how people actually learn. In this column I’ll talk about how the real world works in this context. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. To Train or Not to Train? One of the more notable abandoned rules in RPGs is the...

There are several Golden Rules, really. These are my three for role-playing games. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. The topic today isn’t the one people are familiar with from religion and philosophy: treat people as well as you yourself want to be treated. That Golden Rule is present in some...

Years ago I devised a framework that can be applied to “all” games, to help aspiring designers of board and card games. Let’s see how it applies to RPGs. Article courtesy of Pixabay. Years ago I devised a framework that can be applied to “all” games, to help aspiring designers of board and...

For those who prefer "realistic" numbers in RPGs: Inflated numbers of combatants for battles litter history books, derived from wildly inaccurate contemporary histories. We can do much better in figuring out actual numbers. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Some GMs don't care about practical...

As a big fan of the old Spelljammer, I really wanted to like the new 5e version. But it doesn’t fix some of the problems of the old version. What Sets Spelljammer Apart Beth Rimmels wrote a thorough review of the new Spelljammer product ($44.93 including tax, free shipping, from Amazon; list...

Adaptations of any fiction from one medium to another tend to suffer from unnecessary changes, including tabletop role-playing games. Unfortunately, what’s necessary and unnecessary is often a matter of opinion. Picture courtesy of Unsplash The Curious Case of Artemis Fowl When the Artemis...

Like sports fans, RPGers want consistency of GMs rulings. This is both in the “meta” mode, what characters do aside from adventures, and adventures mode. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Call It Consistently! Watching the NBA finals a few years ago, I often heard the plea of players and...

A few years ago for an online course about strategic wargame design I devised a list of about a dozen dichotomies between warfare and games. The paradox of wargames is that warfare and games are polar opposites! After writing some 150 “Worlds of Design” columns I decided to do the same for RPGs...

Moderns are accustomed to cheap and readily available maps that show distance as well as road connectivity. That kind of map is rarely going to exist in a low technology/Medieval setting. Two views of the same geospatial relationships (part of the Britannia game map) Distance vs. Time Our...

Last time I talked about the nature of armies. Let’s discuss particular types of armies and how they might interact. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Last time I talked about the nature of armies, now I'm going to discuss particular types of armies. and how they might interact: The Noble's...

If you’re building a full-scale world for your campaign, that will likely involve armies. Let’s discuss what happens in the real world so that you can avoid straining the disbelief of your players. There are lots of different kinds of armies. This column and next, I'm going to talk about some...

Most RPG settings have some form of godhood. Yet there are some age-old questions that come into play as you create religions. By Unknown author - Os Deuses Egípcios – IMAGICK, CC BY-SA 4.0, File:Deuses Egipcios.png - Wikimedia Commons Gods and “hokey religions” (to quote Han Solo in Star...

What is “Imposter Syndrome?” It’s a common problem for “creatives.” In RPGs it primarily applies to game designers, but some homebrew GMs will also recognize it. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. What’s an Imposter? The Imposter Syndrome applies to game designers, but some GMs will also recognize...

I’ve written about plague in world-building, now it’s time to discuss droughts. Extended drought, and consequent famine, is a common major reason for the failure of empires and civilizations. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. What’s a Drought? I’ve written about plague in world-building...

Unfortunately, for a long time schools taught that "close is good enough" (for everything, not just language). That attitude results in many errors, and in creators who just don't care about how they write. Further, some English instructors tell students that being precise and following...

Thanks for the interesting discussion so far. Freelance RPG editors cannot charge what a professional editor would charge. Because typical RPGs (especially indie) aren't so much professional endeavors as labors of love, where little money is earned. A professional (non-RPG) editor would cost...

Some small publisher/self-published RPG rule sets suffer from poor grammar and syntax. Some RPG creators need someone to edit their writing for quality of communication as well, especially for clarity—rules are no good if the reader cannot understand them. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. We Need...

I tend to evaluate games beginning with the assumption that most published games are played only one to three times before gamers move on to the next game. This is a consequence of the thousands of new tabletop games published every year - among other things. Picture courtesy of Unsplash. A...

How believable is your world? Or to put it another way, how much must players suspend their disbelief to enjoy the game? Picture courtesy of Pixabay. The second spectrum of game master play styles is about how much or how little the game resembles a believable world. Believability becomes...

When it comes to gamemastering, are you focused on improvising the world or making it believable? Let’s discuss the first. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. I like to categorize as a way toward better understanding. Of the two styles, let’s discuss improvisation by the Game Master in making...