How to Run Encounters… NOT!

This is the start of a series of True Game Mastery lessons about running different kinds of Encounters. Except it’s not. Because Encounters aren’t what you think they are.

What Does Detect Magic Detect?

Just a little digression about magic: detecting it, identifying it, and why D&D’s answers to what can be detected are stupid as hell.

Dealing with Problematic Actions

Action adjudication is pretty straightforward. Except when it’s not. And when a tricky action comes along, Mere Game Executors are stuck executing the game’s pre-programmed code like robots while True Game Masters follow the Three Laws of Game Mastering NonRobotics.

The Tao of the Dice

It’s tough to know when to call for a die roll and when not to. And no matter what anyone’s told you — including me — there’s no substitute for good, mature, adult judgment. So throw away your checklists and simple rules and trust your gut.

The Joy of Secrets

You know what players love? Discovering secrets. You know what GMs and game designers hate? Players discovering secrets. That’s kind of messed up; don’t you think?

The Declare-Determine-Describe Cycle

True Game Masters know that nothing breaks a roleplaying game’s flow quite as much as the game’s rules do. So they take a methodical approach to keeping the rules in their place.

Inviting the Principal PC to Act

A True Game Master paces the game with smooth narration, flowing seamlessly from scene to scene and moment to moment. Unfortunately, a TTRPG is a dialogue, not a monologue, and eventually the players get to kill the pace by talking.

Better Narration Through Visualization: A Lifestyle Guide

Narration: the art of telling your players what’s what and who’s where. If you find yourself muddling to provide good Scene-Setting Narration, maybe it’s not your skills that are the problem, maybe it’s your lifestyle. Seriously.

Game Mastering Makes No Sense

True Game Masters take Ownership and Build investment. And those concepts are so vital to Game Mastering that I’m never going to mention them again. And what I do mention won’t make sense. Because GMing is nonsense.

What it Means to Master a Game

I can’t teach you to be a True Game Master — yes, that’s my plan; I love doing the impossible — I can’t teach you to be a True Game Master without telling you what it means to master Game Mastering.

Why Run Games Anyway: An Angry New Year Story

The New Year is a good time for reflection. Searching the past for the clues that’ll help you find a better future. So, this New Year, Angry invites you to think about why you even do this whole game mastering thing.

The Best and Worst of D&D 3.5

I ain’t a reviewer or a critic. I don’t trash things for easy laughs. I don’t do tier rankings. And I don’t do clickbait lists. In that spirit, he’s my list of the Five Best and Five Worth Things About D&D 3.5.

Fumble Beats Crit

Hot take: fumble mechanics are more valuable than crit mechanics. In fact, crits are only valuable if the monsters are rolling them. But I’m only proving one of those things today.

How Chrono Trigger Saves the World

Save the World campaigns are pretty divisive. Mostly because GMs always screw them up. Want an example of a great Save the World TTRPG campaign? Look no further than Chrono Trigger, a Super Nintendo game from the 90s.

What Examples Can’t Show and Designers Don’t Know

When it comes to explaining roleplaying games, there’s a giant, glaring question no one seems to be able to sufficiently and properly answer. And that is: just what the hell does it mean to be a Game Master. And really, that’s the first question anyone must answer before they can teach anyone else how to run games.

We Don’t Need Failure States After All

There’s this discussion that happens anytime anyone brings up death, failure, and loss in RPGs online. About how RPG systems should be better at handling failure because it’s so vital in RPGs. And that discussion… is wrong.

Presentation Matters

Let’s complain about a how a twelve-year-old game’s brilliant ideas were marred by the language used to communicate them. Because that’s a GOOD use of my time.

The Big Boneyard Beach Battle: An Angry Table Tale

Angry, asked everyone, how did you run that giant battle on the beach between the skeletons, the sailor NPCs, and the PCs? Even my players asked me how I did it. Well, I’ll tell you how I did it. If you’re sure you really want to know.

Introducing: Your Character

It turns out that it’s actually important for players to periodically describe their characters to the group. Unfortunately, players suck at everything. Especially describing characters. Fortunately, I wrote a script you can force them to follow.

Well Begun is Half Done

How you start your game determines how it goes. And that doesn’t just affect you, it affects your players. Fortunately, Angry’s got a startup script you can install in your GM brain.

What if Your Players Don’t Want To?

I’ve been pushing GMs to turn all the bookkeeping and character maintenance crap in D&D into a game of its own. Or rather, into a part of the game at the table. But many GMs have raised a question: what if their players don’t want to do that crap.

What Training Looks Like and Why It Matters

One of the most important Townbuilding tools, believe it or not, has to do with Training. And that’s why it’s such a problem that no one knows what PC Training looks like.