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Welcome to Evil Machinations, rpgGM.com’s blog of GMing tips and ideas. I’m glad to decided to stop by. Please feel free to look around. I’ve put a fair amount of information here culled from my own personal experience (three decades worth, this August) and the experiences from other GMs I’ve known over the years.

Wouldn’t it be great to game all the time? Unfortunately, most of us don’t have that luxury. Day jobs, family obligations, chores, errands…it all eats into game time. And GMs have it even harder, since they need to find time to prepare for games. Since GMing isn’t your full-time job, Evil Machinations provides information to help make prep time and game sessions easier and more fun.

What I bring to the table to help you:

• A background in live theatre, which helps me take adventure ideas, whether written down or still just bouncing around in your head, to life.
• Experience creating NPCs so real that my players once held a wake for one who died.
• Experience running games so vividly real that my players forgot the real world for a short time.
• A deep understanding of how details make a difference. It’s the small things that really help bring things to life.
• 30 years of experience as both a player and GM, with a focus on running character-driven games.

Don’t know where to start? Here’s some suggestions:

Want to know how to create better NPCs? Try:

• Evil Does Not Equal Stupid: 8 Tips for Playing Evil Characters
• Building Better NPCs I: Extras, Walk-Ons, Bit Players, and Major Characters
• Building Better NPCs II: 8 Steps to Memorable NPCs
• Building Better NPCs III: Character Webs
• Change Your Hat, Change Your Character

Want to know how to create adventures? Try:

• Your Teacher Was Right … Creating Adventures with the 6 W’s
• Web Resources about Writing Adventures
• More Resources for Writing Adventures

Want some help working with players? Try:

• 21 Sure-Fire Way to Loose Players
• 11 GMing Tips I Learned from Being  a Parent
• Handling Problem Players
• Player Contributions

Or you can start with some of the most popular posts:

• Character Questionnaire
• “Where are we again?” Creating Unique Fantasy Cities and Towns
• 20 Unusual City Encounters
• What’s Good About 4th Edition?
• X Marks the Spot: 11 Map Making Tutorials

Don’t be afraid to join (or start) a conversation by leaving a comment.  I love reading people’s comments and I try to respond, though I have to admit not as often or a well as I’d always like. Still, I do love to hear from you. You can find more information about leaving comments on the My Comment Policy page.

Please feel free to contact me:

Email: jade[at]rpggm[dot]com
Twitter: jaderpggm

Welcome
Cheri “Jade” Arbuckle
rpgGM.com
Because GMing isn’t your full-time job