Archive for the ‘GMing’ Category »

Beyond ‘Fred’: Ancient E...

Posted on Aug 13 2010 | 1 Comment
Beyond ‘Fred’: Ancient Egyptian Names Sometimes the hardest part of building a character is  coming up with a good name. You can always take a name from Tolkien or other fantasy novels, but you’ve seen those names over and over and you want something a... Read More »

Teaching the Game: August Blog Carni...

Posted on Aug 01 2010 | 10 Comments
Teaching the Game: August Blog Carnival First off, thanks to Mad Brew Labs for hosting the July carnival on Growing the Hobby. It really got some great discussion going. This month’s carnival actually (and inadvertently) extends that discussion. Much of the... Read More »

11 GMing Tips I Learned from Being a...

Posted on Jun 25 2010 | 2 Comments
11 GMing Tips I Learned from Being a Parent Sometimes running a game feels like herding a group of toddlers through the glassware department of  a department store while carrying an armload of wet cats. While most of the time players act like the responsible adults... Read More »

Games…Must Have Games…

Posted on May 28 2010 | 1 Comment
Games…Must Have Games… I hate gaming dry spells. I think the longest period I’ve gone without gaming was two years, if you’re talking about actually sitting at the table, either as GM or player. If you’re counting game preparation... Read More »

Want to be a Better GM? Ask Your Pla...

Posted on Mar 25 2010 | 5 Comments
Want to be a Better GM? Ask Your Players How do you know how good a GM you are? You’ll need to ask your players. Below is a questionnaire I hand out to my players from time to time to find out what’s good about my game and what needs to be improved.... Read More »

Check Out Protodimension Magazine

Posted on Nov 10 2009 | 2 Comments
I stumbled across this ‘zine while checking out my stats. They did a very nice write-up of my adventure creation with the 6 W’s post (Thanks!). If you’re looking for all things conspiracy-related, this ‘zine is a must. I love playing with conspiracies (probably too much for my players’ own good ) and I’ll definitely be using... Read More »

Your Teacher Was Right … Creat...

Posted on Oct 14 2009 | No Comments
Your Teacher Was Right … Creating Adventures with the 6 W’s The six “W’s”. You know — the questions your teacher talked about over and over. The ones that every book on how to write covers: who, what, when, where, why, how. These questions are good for more... Read More »

Dancing with the Dark

Posted on Oct 12 2009 | 4 Comments
Dancing with the Dark Morality. A big topic, with even bigger answers. What is good? What is evil? Are evil actions ever justified? Can we ever truely overcome evil? If we can, should we? Do moral issues have a place in RPGs? Undoubtedly, yes.... Read More »

Beg, Borrow, and Steal

Posted on Sep 28 2009 | 2 Comments
Evil Machinations is branching out. Starting 6 October 2009, I’ll be publishing a free weekly newsletter called “Beg, Borrow, and Steal”. Not a repeat of my blog posts, BB&S will contain: Small locations you can drop into any game — a tavern, an inn, a spaceport, etc. NPCs — people you can add to your game How to’s for... Read More »

Handling Problem Players

Posted on Sep 17 2009 | 1 Comment
Handling Problem Players We all get them: the incessant rules lawyer who challenges your every call; the “loopholer” who will exploit everything not nailed down in the rules to gain that extra +1 advantage; the player who takes everything... Read More »


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