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...

Games and Mhor – Villainous Contemplations

Villainous Contemplations By Lord Mhor Running role-playing games well is not easy. Here are several adjustments that can make your RPG sessions and villains more interesting: 1) In all your sessions, focus on behaviors, attitudes, and agendas rather than mechanical rules-crunching. Any game system becomes boring if it isn’t backing up good stories. Make the RPG experience more than numbers...

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 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 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...

Tales from the Gazebo – Character Creation Session Dictators and Democracy

Character Creation Session Dictators and Democracy By Cape Rust Now that we have dealt with the Character Creation Session (CCS) haters, it is time to prepare and execute the actual CCS. Depending on your game creation process, a majority of your planning for the CCS might already be done. However, if you have not been keeping notes or are just really tired of preparing for a game and want to get...

Tales from the Gazebo – Character Creation Session Haters

Character Creation Session Haters By Cape Rust A good character creation session has the ability to shape and influence the success of a campaign. A good character creation session can excite your players, solidify inter-party relationships, and even give you as the GM some great plot hooks and adventure ideas. Bad character creation sessions can potentially disrupt or even destroy the gaming experience....

Tales from the Gazebo – The Alliance Method: There be Hybrids on RPC! Part 3

The Alliance Method: There be Hybrids on RPC! Part 3 By Cape Rust We have finally gotten to my favorite part of preparing for the character creation session: the rule of cool. It is a bit ironic that the rule of cool is so similar to an old rule about stupidity. The old rule about stupidity goes something like this: if it is stupid and it works, it is no longer stupid! The rule of cool advocates...

Tales from the Gazebo – The Alliance Method: There be Hybrids on RPC! Part 2

The Alliance Method: There be Hybrids on RPC! Part 2 By Cape Rust Last week, I pontificated about the importance of players and the considerations that must be made based on their desires. This week I will cover why considering what type of game you are running is a key element in the character creation process. If you’re lucky, I might even cover the final element of the Alliance method, the rule...

Tales from the Gazebo – The Alliance Method: There be Hybrids on RPC!

The Alliance Method: There be Hybrids on RPC! By Cape Rust The Alliance or Hybrid method is the third of the character creation three stooges. This is the method I try to use as much as possible when I’m running games. The Alliance method allows for maximum flexibility on both the players’ and GM sides. Sadly, the Alliance method isn’t just a matter of grabbing the Crew and Brown Coat creation...

Tales from the Gazebo – Character Creation Part 2: The Brown Coat Method, Continued

Character Creation Part 2: The Brown Coat Method, Continued By Cape Rust Welcome back to my discussion of the Brown Coat or “independent method” for character development. We discussed some of the upsides and a few of the minor downsides to this method. I’d like to delve into some of the major downsides and end on a positive note. Because all of the players are developing their characters independently,...