Tales from the Gazebo – Guns in Games: Fantasy Settings
Guns in Games: Fantasy Settings
By Cape Rust
I hope that last week’s primer was helpful to a few of you, and if nothing else you had a few cool pictures to look at. This week I’m going to discuss a few of the different settings or time periods that guns have been found in and, based on real world history, give you an idea of how those guns might behave and hopefully give you some interesting...
Tales from the Gazebo – Guns in Games, a Primer
Guns in Games, a Primer
By Cape Rust
With the huge debate over guns and gun control, I figured it would be a great time to poke the lion and write an article or series of articles on guns in games. Now I could go into a disclaimer about how Roleplayers Chronicle doesn’t take political stances or advocate violence, but we are talking about guns in role-playing games here, so no need for such trivial...
Tales from the Gazebo – A Resolute New Year
A Resolute New Year
By Cape Rust
By now you have been spammed with hundreds if not thousands of articles and social media posts about, referring to, or making New Year’s resolutions. Often these are made with the best intentions and some of them even last past the first 30 days of the year. In practice I skip making these resolutions as I try to keep my word and why should I set myself up for failure?...
Tales from the Gazebo – Gamer Gifts, Part 2
Game Gifts, Part 2
By Cape Rust
So here it is Dec 19th, or the 20th or even later than that depending on when you came across this article. So let’s say that it is Dec 19th; the end of the world is 2 days away, but there is still a chance that the Mayans were wrong and there might actually be a Christmas. Now if you have already blown your last few paychecks on anti-zombie gear and are hoping that...
Tales from the Gazebo – Gamer Gifts
Gamer Gifts
By Cape Rust
Keeping with the holiday theme, I’d like to throw a few gaming gift ideas at you. Times are tight, that is no big secret, and depending on the size of your gaming group, trying to bring a little holiday cheer to your fellow gamers can turn into an expensive proposition.
I normally write articles about my take on running games and try to give advice to Game Masters, so you...
Tales from the Gazebo – Holiday Gaming
Holiday Gaming
By Cape Rust
I have been giving advice on GMing a Progressive game for quite a few weeks and with the holidays fast approaching, I thought it was time to take a break and lay down some of my thoughts about the highs and lows of holiday gaming. While holiday gaming should be a time of joy for some gaming groups, it is usually far from that. Holiday gaming, like most other things having...
Tales from the Gazebo – Progressive Games: GM Planning, Part 5 (Third Time is a Charm!)
Progressive Games: GM Planning, Part 5 (Third Time is a Charm!)
By Cape Rust
Being the third GM in a Progressive game is similar to being a third child. For those of you who don’t have children, have never been a third child or are just confused, here is what I’m talking about. Parents are always worried about the first child. Every time that child does something, anything, parents worry about...
Tales from the Gazebo – Progressive Games: GM Planning, Part 4 (Sloppy Seconds cont.)
Progressive Games: GM Planning, Part 4 (Sloppy Seconds cont.)
By Cape Rust
Should I stay or should I go? Do I stay in the same setting as the first GM or do I change the scenery? There are two sides to every coin and today we will explore a tiny bit of each of those sides. Unless your group as a whole decided what setting the game would start in, then the 1st GM had it easy. They could choose any...
Tales from the Gazebo – Progressive Games: GM Planning, Part 3 (Sloppy Seconds)
Progressive Games: GM planning, Part 3 (Sloppy Seconds)
By Cape Rust
Yes, I went there. Being second in line to me is one of the toughest positions to be in as far as GM’ing a progressive game goes. If your group has never run a progressive game, the person who was first in the chute might not have thought about all of the consequences of some of the items they gave the group or actions they...
Tales from the Gazebo – Progressive Games: GM Planning, Part 2
Progressive Games: GM Planning, Part 2
By Cape Rust
The Prog game can really shake things up for a gaming group if done right and done well. The foundation of that success lies on the shoulders of the players, but the GM/GMs are the ones who make the Prog game inhabitable. The first GM builds the first floor of the house of cards that we call a Prog game. While this might seem like an overwhelming...
Tales from the Gazebo – Progressive Games: GM Planning, Part 1
Progressive Games: GM Planning, Part 1
By Cape Rust
I started out this series taking about planning with a focus on the players and their characters. The progressive game has many unique aspects that you will not find in most traditional games by its very nature. Now as we transition to the other side of the screen we need to start looking at planning from the GM’s point of view. When looking...
Tales from the Gazebo – Progressive Games Planning, Part 3
Progressive Games Planning, Part 3
By Cape Rust
Here we are at part three. Character creation planning for me is the culminating event for the entire planning process, and this is where all of those other planning factors come into play. By now you understand that players are the key to the Prog game, so it should be no surprise that spending time on their character’s development is the final...
Tales from the Gazebo – Progressive Games: Planning, Part 2
Progressive Games: Planning, Part 2
By Cape Rust
Last week we discussed the first part of the planning process for the progressive (prog) game which involved a few of the aspects of collaboration. As you know by now there is no way I could have covered all of those collaboration aspects; and if I had tried, you would have stopped reading after the first few thousand words. This week I am going to...
Tales from the Gazebo – Progressive Games: Planning, Part 1
Progressive Games: Planning, Part 1
By Cape Rust
Prior planning prevents piss poor performance in a progressive game! I keep mentioning game planning because it really is that important and in many ways the progressive game requires even more planning. The good and bad news about Prog planning is that it is definitely a change of pace for everyone involved. If you go into the Prog planning process...
Tales from the Gazebo – Progressive Games Introduction
Progressive Games Introduction
By Cape Rust
Progressive game, WTF is a progressive game? You might call them something different, but in my world (yes it is an awesome world; full of all you can eat buffets and all the gaming you want and yes you are all invited!) a progressive game is a game where you switch GMs during the game; you keep the same characters and follow the same storyline (sort of)....
Tales from the Gazebo – Storytelling with Spirit, Part 5
Storytelling with Spirit, Part 5
By Cape Rust
Yes as you can see I was finally able to game and the character creation process was even more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Some of my gaming group is resistant to change; they like to stick to the same system. I mentioned it before in this series, but I feel that I have to bring it up again because Spirit of the Century really is a far departure...
Tales from the Gazebo – Storytelling with Spirit, Part 4
Storytelling with Spirit, Part 4
By Cape Rust
Here we are; you’ve listened to me go on and on about my gaming woes and as I have done for the past few weeks, I left you with a cliffhanger. Last week’s article ended wondering if I was going to lay on my back and beat various parts of my body against the floor until I got to game, and we all were left wondering if the married couple of our gaming...
Tales from the Gazebo – Storytelling with Spirit, Part 3
Storytelling with Spirit, Part 3
By Cape Rust
As you can tell from the first 2 installments of this series, my gaming life felt like it was falling apart and I was becoming angry in the process. The hit and miss nature of the past few weeks had taken its toll. To compound all of the drama that had transpired; my workload had increased and I was behind on some writing projects. When it rains it pours...
Tales from the Gazebo – Storytelling With Spirit, Part 2
Storytelling With Spirit, Part 2
By Cape Rust
In last week’s exciting episode we learned that Cape’s gaming group had fallen into a rut where their hobby had started to feel like a job. Compound that with an outstanding GM who was too busy (and sleep deprived) to be able to run the weekly game and it looked as if our heroes were headed toward doom.
Unlike past weeks our GM got notice that he...
Tales from the Gazebo – Storytelling with Spirit, Part 1
Storytelling with Spirit, Part 1
By Cape Rust
I’m sure all of you have run into that time with your gaming group when the normal hack and slash fantasy just isn’t bringing all the gamers to the table. That point when your normal game starts to feel more like a job. This is a critical time for groups as I’ve seen it spell doom for the integrity of the group. Combine all of this with the difficulty...
Follow Us!