Ask Angry April 2024 Mailbag

To celebrate my emerging from the disaster that resulting from letting my supporters pick the topic, I’m going to answer a bunch of questions sent in by readers. There’s no way that can go wrong.

Character Arcs for Reals

To bring the Character Arc-Pocalypse to a close, today I’m writing about Character Arcs. For real this time.

The Personal Character Quest Plus One Campaign

Let’s keep the Not-Character-Arc Momentum going. Here’s my super secret recipe for executing an absolutely terrible Personal Character Quest Campaign in the least terrible way possible.

You Meant to Ask About Personal Character Quests

This isn’t a Feature about incorporating Character Arcs into tabletop roleplaying games. That would be interesting. This is a boring-ass Feature about players picking their own stupid character quests. Which is a terrible idea.

Envisioning a Campaign

Now that you’ve decided to start a campaign and ignore your players’ input — you master of selfishness you — it’s time to start having visions.

Game First or Group First

You can’t run a campaign without starting a campaign. And you can’t start a campaign without making ten thousand choices. And of all those choices, it’s the second one that’ll get you.

A Campaign Manager’s Guide to Selfishness

You can’t manage a social gaming club that provides your friends with hours of fun unless you’re willing to be a selfish prick. Trust me; if there’s one thing I know, it’s being a selfish prick.

Why Am I Here? And Why Are You?

Thanks to a courageous remark by a Frienemy in my Discord server, I finally have my New Year’s Post. And to show my respect and gratitude, I shall now proceed to piss all over that remark.

How is an Orc Different from a Devil

Thanks to Frienemy-for-Life Mendel, I get to cancel myself by talking about what “always evil” means, how it’s different for orcs and devils, and why both are good for the game. Whee!

Ask Angry January 2024 Mailbag

I warned you that I’d be putting this column on hold, but you all didn’t listen. You kept e-mailing me. Fortunately, I lied. So it’s Mailbag time.

G N S… P?

All I wanted to do was clarify myself. I didn’t mean to end up rambling about what playstyles mean and where they come from and whether it’s time to add another letter to our favorite playstyle acronym.

Why You Can’t Interrupt Your Players

In another article I absolutely don’t want to write, I explain why not being able to boss your players around isn’t a lack of Game Mastering skill, it’s a personality defect. That should go over big.

Tactical Infiltration Action

It’s time for the long, lost, missing Encounter resolution lesson: how to resolve stealth actions and infiltration scenes. And after you read it, you’ll totally understand why I tried to cut it from the roster. Dumbasses.

Shallow Kombat!

“Angry,” everyone keeps asking me, “how can I fix D&D’s shallow-seeming, boring combat?” Well, here’s your answer: “You can’t! But maybe you shouldn’t!”

Ask Angry November 2023 Mailbag

Another month is over. And as I look to the fresh hell of yet another new page on the calendar, I consign myself to the stale hell of responding to reader-submitted questions.

Note Taking for Gaming Fun and Profit

After many long years of refusing, I’m finally revealing the truth: just how do you take good game session notes. The answer isn’t what you think and you’re not going to like it. Which is pretty much standard for me.

How to Teach An Old GM a New System

Experienced Game Master suck at learning new TTRPG systems. But then, game publishers suck at teaching new TTRPG systems. It’s a match made in hell. Fortunately, Angry is here to help.

Ask Angry October 2023 Mailbag

Another month, another monthly Ask Angry mailbag, and another batch of people who can’t just ask a simple, straightforward question without treating me like a moron.

Resolving Social Actions

It’s time to wrap up this whole How to Run a Game Like a True Game Master thing by explaining how to Determine and Describe the Outcome of Social Actions in Social Encounters. And how to portray non-player characters properly.

Ask Angry September 2023 Mailbag

To end the month, let’s open the gift that keeps on giving — or keeps threatening to give me an aneurism — the Ask Angry mailbag.

Mastering the Thousand Cuts

As I didn’t die in a fiery conflagration, I owe you a real lesson on the Art of the Cutaway. Here it is. Maybe next time, I’ll get lucky.

Declaring Your Players’ Social Actions

It’s time for the actual, practical advice portion of the “resolving action scenes” lesson. And you did not read that title wrong. Because the first practical thing you’ve got to learn is that True Game Masters declare their players’ social actions for them. I shit you not.