When I wrote about game shepherd NPCs on Monday, Lugh chimed in with several suggestions for keeping the game shepherd from taking up too much of the stage. The last of these was, instead of using an NPC to dispense the necessary exposition, using one of the PCs, particularly one built to know just about [...]
Categories: For Roleplayers, GM Advice |
Tags: game shepherd PCs, GM Advice, roleplaying | 
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Yesterday, I wrote about the game shepherd NPC. What got me thinking about that character type (or at least, what got me thinking this time) was that one feature that all of the 3D Zelda titles share—their local equivalent of the game shepherd, someone to look over Link’s shoulder and tell him about things that [...]
Categories: Characterization, For Roleplayers, GM Advice, Reviews and technique, Secondary characters, Technique |
Tags: game shepherd NPCs, GM Advice, Reviews and technique, roleplaying, Zelda | No Comments »
One of the things we’ve learned pretty quickly about introducing a player or group to a world they’ve never played in before is that they might not really know what the place is like. Not everyone reads the setting info cover to cover, after all. This is usually where we bring in the Game Shepherd [...]
Categories: Characterization, For Roleplayers, GM Advice, Secondary characters |
Tags: game shepherd NPCs, GM Advice, roleplaying | 7 Comments »
During my riff on overarching plots in general, I pointed out one question that is vital to the writer of the overarching plot at every event (and, for that matter, is one of the few that should be answered event by event, rather than once and for all at the beginning). By this time we’re [...]
Categories: For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Plot, Technique |
Tags: overarching plots, roleplaying, structureless creators, writing | No Comments »
In general, if you’ve got an overarching plot, you should have—one might even say there has to be—a major conflict. Something has to tie all those little plot threads together, after all! But how much do you actually have to plan beforehand, and how much can you leave to your subconscious mind, the actions of [...]
Categories: For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Plot, Technique |
Tags: major conflict, overarching plots, roleplaying, structureless creators, writing | No Comments »
Yesterday, I talked about landmarks and steps that a plotter who isn’t interested in full-on outlines could use to guide herself through an overarching plot. Today, I’m going to go into more detail on one of the steps: determining a plot’s scope.
Scope is, as plot variables go, somewhat messy; there are a lot of things [...]
Categories: For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Plot, Technique |
Tags: overarching plots, roleplaying, scope, structureless creators, writing | No Comments »
If you’re the kind of person who plans everything out in advance naturally, big overarching plots probably come relatively easily; they’re all about planning ahead and knowing how to make everything fit together, event by event by event. But not all of us are outliners; I know I’m not and probably never will be! How, [...]
Categories: For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Plot, Technique |
Tags: overarching plots, roleplaying, structureless creators, writing | 4 Comments »
(Do I even need to tell you what prompted this post?)
When last seen, the broken walls of the old buildings had shimmered in the starlight, haunted by the soft strings and fluting of the lone musician; now the musician is gone, and in the sunlight the walls are merely ruined stone. The carnival last night [...]
Categories: Description, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Mood, Places, Scening, Technique, World-building |
Tags: locations, mood, roleplaying, RPG Blog Carnival, scening, the perfect version, World-building, writing | No Comments »
My participation in RPG Blog Carnival: Fantastic Locations continues!
Light levels in a scene may be one of the most subtle ways of creating the mood for the perfect version of a location, but they’re not the most counterintuitive way; that honor goes to the people who create a location. After all, people aren’t part of [...]
Categories: Description, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Mood, Places, Scening, Technique, World-building |
Tags: locations, mood, people, roleplaying, RPG Blog Carnival, scening, the perfect version, World-building, writing | No Comments »
This series was written for RPG Blog Carnival: Fantastic Locations.
When I used yesterday’s post to introduce the idea of the perfect version of a location, one of the mood-contributing factors I discussed was light. It’s easy to forget, as an element; we’re used to always having at least some around us, and to not being [...]
Categories: Description, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Mood, Places, Scening, Technique, World-building |
Tags: light, locations, mood, roleplaying, RPG Blog Carnival, scening, the perfect version, World-building, writing | 3 Comments »