Good gameplay starts when the players want more they can have. Whether you’re designing a game system, an adventure, an encounter, running a combat, or adjudicating a trap, you’ve got to understand why you can’t let the players’ goals align.
Players love haggling in Dungeons & Dragons, but haggling mechanics usually suck, players suck at it, and modern roleplaying games treat shopping like a trip to a modern mall. Fortunately, I’m here with a better way to handle shopping trips and barter exchanges. You might even find some tricks to sharpen your own house-ruling and system hacking if you pay attention.
Why do Dungeon Masters get so weird about encounters, randomness, and determinism. Whether you’re talking about Passive Perception, keyed encounters, quantum ogres, or wilderness encounter placement, most DMs just freak the hell out about knowing outcomes in advance or plotting encounters with anything other than precise geographical and temporal coordinates. Don’t worry, guys; you aren’t railroading just because you’re not running a full-on holodeck sim.
We Game Masters never think about narrative points of view. We just default to the thing we’ve always done. Years ago, I suggested that it was time to switch from calling players you to a third-person approach. It was great for pacing and clarity, but it also changed how players connect to their characters. But is that a problem? More importantly, have you ever considered how your narrative point-of-view affects your game?
Any idiot can run a game. Trust me, I've played lots of games run by lots of idiots. But True Game Masters build their players' Investment and take full Ownership of the game. And this 25-part, year-long course will tell you exactly how to do that.
Want to learn how to twist, bend, break, and rebuild the rules of your game to your liking? Want to see a bunch of new rules and systems created by The Angry GM? Start here on the path to becoming a hack like The Angry GM himself.
Do you want to read war stories and recaps from The Angry GM’s campaigns? And then listen while he explains why he does the crap he does at his table? Check out these articles for practical game-table examples and a peek behind Angry's screen.
Want to read a bunch of random useless gamer theory bulls$%&? If you really want to, these articles are loaded with useless bulls$&%.
Do you want to see The Angry GM berate a bunch of hapless GMs just like you just because they dared to ask a question? Want to ask a question yourself? Start here to read the Angriest Advice Column about gaming on the web.
Every so often, the Angry GM stumbles on something — a book, a game, a system, a blog, whatever — that is so utterly and amazingly not s$&% that he’s forced to admit he doesn’t actually hate it. Even though he didn’t create it himself, he doesn’t hate that thing. And that’s worth talking about.
Want to dig back through every article the Angry GM has ever posted? Mostly? In order? This archives the place to do it.
Love the site? Wish you could somehow get all the best bits of advice and read them anywhere? Even places with no internet? Even while pooping? Well, now you can. In book form!
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