Evil Machinations

City Creation: Businesses

Posted on Jun 05 2009 | No Comments

What kind of businesses does a town need? Despite what fantasy games might imply, towns are more than just the ubiquitous taverns, inns, weaponsmiths, armorers and magic shops we usually see. Most of a town’s business will be to support its own residents, not adventurers, which means that town the PCs are passing through likely doesn’t even have a... Read More »

City Creation: Government

Posted on Jun 04 2009 | No Comments

I’m going to skip over the “City’s Look” category for now; currently, Meadowbrook isn’t developed enough for me to have an idea of how it looks like yet. Which brings us down the list to “mayor”, “police chief”, etc. What do all these positions boil down to? Government: who governs the city, what they do,... Read More »

City Creation: Mood, Theme

Posted on Jun 03 2009 | No Comments

Mood and theme may seem like something that should’ve been left behind in English Lit. 101. Yet, I’ve found them very useful for game development; they give me a jumping-off point, particularly when I need to make things up on the fly. Mood Many cities and towns seem to have an overall “feel” about them. Think about it — how often... Read More »

City Creation: Name, Pop.

Posted on Jun 02 2009 | 2 Comments

This is the first installment of my fantasy city creation, using the Location Worksheet as a basis. City Name First off, our city needs a name. I want something that sounds reasonable for a fantasy world, but not so wacky it invites player jokes. Many real-world cities are based on some feature of the land around them or are taken from the name of a real person... Read More »

Location Worksheet

Posted on Jun 01 2009 | No Comments

Note: all references in this article to World of Darkness games are to these game’s Second Edition, because that’s what I’m currently running . All but the most causual “beer-and-pretzels” games need locations — cities, kingdome, what have you. Another tool White Wolf included in their first edition Storyteller’s Handbook... Read More »

Campaign Worksheet

Posted on May 29 2009 | No Comments

Yesterday, I talked about the adventure / story worksheet. Today, I’m covering the campaign / chronicle / saga worksheet. The campaign worksheet is very similar to the adventure sheet, but expanded to cover the entire arc of the campaign. For my campaign sheets, I use basically the same questions and topics, but answer them from the perspective of the entire... Read More »

GM Tools: Story Worksheet

Posted on May 28 2009 | No Comments

White wolf publishing introduced the idea of a story worksheet in their Vampire Storyteller’s Companion (first edition) . Basically, it’s a “quick reference” sheet that covers key details of the adventure at a glance, such as a plot summary, key NPCs and situations, any rewards for the characters should receive and the conditions for success... Read More »

My Appendix N

Posted on May 21 2009 | 5 Comments

Dice Monkey posted a blog entry on is site titled My Appendix N about inspiration sources. So, here’s my “Appendix N”: Tolkein, J.R.R., The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, of course. But not for any material from Middle Earth itself. Tolkein’s works are pure inspiration for me — they challenge me to make my worlds... Read More »

Kids & RPGs: Passing it Down

Posted on May 20 2009 | No Comments

Just recently, I’ve started a new campaign. I think I’m more excited about this game than any other I’ve run (which is saying a lot, given the fact that I practically live for running games). It’s nothing fancy: just a plain, vanilla, out of the box ADD3.5 game, using largely canned adventures. The adventures aren’t anything to... Read More »

Character Questionnaires

Posted on May 13 2009 | 2 Comments

I’ve mentioned how useful character questionnaires are to me as a GM. I can draw reams of campaign ideas just from the questionnaires I receive. My questions run the gambit from “What does your character look like?” to “What gives your character’s life meaning?” I ask players to answer the questions in character, except for... Read More »