Tag Archives: guest
I Fail to Follow: Making Followers Easier for the GM
A guest article by: Jynx001
I’m terrible at GMing followers when I’m running a game. One of the players in my last game acquired one around game nine, rolled up stats, described her, and figured out what role she would play in the party. The player did all the work for me. I ignored it. Completely forgot she existed and didn’t even write down her name. I had plenty of opportunities to incorporate the NPC into the story in some semi-meaningful way and I simply didn’t. My bad on that one, whatever-your-name-was.
This isn’t the first time I’ve failed at giving followers a fair shot – I’m guilty of many counts of allowing backpack familiars and henchmen that seem to phase in and out of existence as they are remembered. The sin is especially egregious, considering that in many game systems the player is spending some of their hard-earned XP or other resources to simply be allowed to have a friend! (Just like real life!) It bugs me that I’m so bad at NPC allies. So, I started examining why it was happening to search for solutions.
Practical Effects: Creating Props for Star Wars and other Sci-Fi Games
A guest article by: Jynx001
My gamer friends and I have a kind of competition going, wherein we try to out-nerd each other with various gimmicks. It started with a pirate’s map burnt onto a piece of leather and eventually escalated to manila folder evidence bags containing NPC dossiers and a custom made USB drive full of world lore and digital game books! When it once again became my turn to run a game, I had to try to reaffirm my place in the game-geek hierarchy by creating some interesting props – and for bonus points: at least one per game session.
The challenge was threefold. First off, we meet weekly – only a handful of hours could be allocated to the creation of props. Secondly, I’m broke – I would have to rely on dollar store finds and my limited collection of office supplies. Thirdly, we were playing Star Wars Saga edition. Any time I could hand over a code cylinder or a vial of alien toxins rather than just describing them, I would try to do so.
Haste! w/ guest Highcove: DM’ing with Charisma, Resurrecting Old Campaigns, and More!
[powerpress] | Episode 98 |
Announcements
Tonight we’re joined by Kickstarter backer Highcove, he’s here to talk with us about his blog DM’ing With Charisma, and I Podcast Magic Missle, as well as all things gaming so tune in!
Also, a very special shout out and get well to our friend Brian Patterson, aka @d20Monkey who has recently hurt his knee pretty badly and is laid up. If you’ve never read d20Monkey now is the time to catch up while Brian recuperates, and be sure to send him some well wishes while you’re at it. Get well soon Brian!
