Fanservice BS: I Hate Ability Scores (In D&D 5E)
It’s time for my first ever Fanservice BS, wherein I post the rant my Patreon supporters wanted to hear. Today’s topic: why I hate ability scores in D&D 5E.
Crafting Herbcraft (Part 1): Conceptual Herbology
Creating new rules isn’t as simple as coming up with a fun idea for a system and then making it. There’s a whole thing in the middle where you actually spend a bunch of time working out how not to accidentally make a turd. Too bad WotC didn’t know about that step when it came to their crafting rules.
Herbcraft in D&D 5E
Surprise! Here’s a preview of an upcoming article. It’s a set of rules I built for crafting nonmagical herbal items in D&D 5E using the herbalism kit (and proficiency therewith). Feel free to check out the rules and then come back soon to find out how and why they were created.
30 Days of RPG a Day in One Day
After four years of missing it, I decided to participate in David Chapman’s #RPGaDay blog carnival discussion thing. And, because I’m me, I decided to do the entire thing in one day at the last minute. Enjoy.
The Session Zero Blitz (Part One of One): How to Even Session Zero
A good campaign starts with a good Session Zero. But how do you even Session Zero? In the third part of this one-part series, I’ll tell you.
The Session Zero Blitz (Part Preface): Engage!
The secret goal of every Session Zero is to evaluate the players at your table and figure out what the hell they actually want from you. Fortunately, players aren’t that complicated and there’s an easy way to classify them. But it’s not the system you think.
The Session Zero Blitz (Part Zero): What The Hell is Session Zero For?
Every campaign can benefit from a well-run Session Zero. How do you run a good Session Zero? I can’t tell you that until I tell you what a Session Zero is actually for.
Hide and Seek: Read this Article (Optional)
Is there any value to hidden content in D&D? Not just optional content, but actual, concealed, hard to find, totally missable content? Of course there is.
Wishing and S$%&ing: Campaign Startup Dilemmas
Starting a new campaign isn’t just about building a world, coming up with some story details, and telling the players what characters to make. It involves resolving dilemmas and making hard choices.
Hide and Seek: Traps
There’s lots of things GMs might hide in their adventures. For example, traps. But how does D&D handle traps? Why does D&D suck at handling traps? And how should it handle traps?
Conflicted and Misaligned: Storytelling, Conflicts, and Morality
Conflict lies at the heart of every story. And when we think of conflict, we think of the struggle between good and evil. Especially in D&D. But what if I told you that good and evil aren’t in conflict at all? And that D&D alignment is complete and utter gibberish that never made any sense?
Angry Information Management (Part 2): Facts, Implications, and Distractions
Information in your game can take many forms. Any by many, I mean three. It can three forms. And this article is all about them. And a whole bunch of other stuff.
Angry Information Management (Part 1): The Role of Information
As a GM, apart from not killing idiot players who deserve it, your primary job is to communicate information. And that means you have to be able to manage information.
Tick Tock: The Weird Clock Speed of D&D
It’s time for a random pile of bulls$&% from the brain of the Angry GM. Today’s steamer is about clock speeds, decision points, why D&D runs at two different speeds, and how the designers of RPGs really need to figure that s$&% out better. Don’t worry, this has nothing to do with Time Pools.
Exploration RULES!
Before we can build any rules modules, we have to have a solid framework for those modules. Using the previously published core rules tweaks and the time pool – both of which desperately need some revision and correction and clarification, we’re going to build a master module for exploration. We’re also going to discuss exactly what the hell a “master module for exploration” is.
Through a Glass Darkly: IC, OOC, and the Myth of Player/Character Seperation
Let’s talk about the mythical distinction between players and characters. Players are characters. Characters are players. And once you accept that, it’s a lot easier to run a fun game. Warning: this gets ranty.
Plotty Plot Plotting (For Adventures)
If you get over the bulls$&% notion that planning a plot is somehow railroading, you’ll discover just how powerful plot threads are as tools for designing adventures and campaigns. In this article, we’ll discuss the basics of plot points and how to build simple and complex adventures around them.
It Cannot Be Seen, Cannot Be Smelt: Hacking Time in D&D
Everything in D&D is marked in 5-foot squares. So it makes sense that the whole game is meant to be played on a grid. But everything is also marked out in minutes and seconds and hours. Where’s the grid for time. That’s a weird question, I know. But answering it leads to a powerful tool.
How to Start Starting a Campaign: Preplanning the Premise
How do you start a campaign? Well, that all depends on what you mean by “start.” There’s lots of ways to start a campaign. Let’s start by talking about how you start starting a campaign. Preplanning and premises.
The Infamous Angry Riddle Solution
Here it is: the awaited solution to the Infamous Angry Riddle Solution. Enjoy. Hahaha. Just kidding. You’re going to hate it. And I’m not sorry.
Why Are You Doing This: Fighting Tyler Durden, Game Designer
Hacking is bad for your game. That’s an undeniable fact. So, if you’re going to hack your game, be prepared to fight for it. Even if you’re only fighting yourself.
Glue: The Binds that Tie Your Campaign Together
Every campaign needs something to hold the players together. That’s because players are constantly trying to blast apart. It’s like nuclear physics. Which is why you need gluons. Or glue. Or tortured, mixed metaphors. Whatever.
The Infamous Angry Riddle Contest
Once upon a time, six years ago, I ran a contest on my website. And people were furious. As a fun bit of bonus content, here’s the story and the logic puzzle that infuriated my budding fanbase.
Don’t Roll the Dice When You Can Hide Them Instead
We play games because we don’t know how they are going to turn out. And games use several tricks to keep us from knowing the outcome. The problem is GMs only ever use one of those tricks. And it’s the worst one.
The Italian Campaign: On Shape and Glue
Designing a campaign is like ordering dinner at The Olive Garden. Except for the parts that aren’t like that at all. Which is most of the parts. Anyway, let’s talk about campaign structures, about the Shape of your game and the Glue that holds it together.
Tweaking the Core of D&D 5E
Before we can build new modes of play, we need to admit that the core rules of D&D 5E have a few oddities and are lacking in a few things we’re going to need. So let’s get out our tweaking tools and tinker with the core.
Do We Really Need More Rules: Modes of Play in D&D
I can’t help how my brain works. I get distracted from solving problems by solving totally different problems. But before I invent more goddamned game mechanics, it’s worth questioning whether I should.
Ask Angry: Why Doesn’t Speed Affect CR in D&D 5E?
Managrimm asks: Why doesn’t a monster’s speed factor into it’s CR? The aggressive trait raises your offensive CR. It seems like ranged attackers with a speed of 60’ are more dangerous than ones with a speed of 15’.
Campaigns, Settings, and the Angry-can Church
As Henry VIII once basically said, “I’M POPE NOW!” That’s right. Welcome to my church. Now, let’s get dogmatic about campaigns, settings, and adventure paths.
The Big Picture: Everything You Ever Need to Know About Game Mastering
This is it, this is my everything. This is why I’m such a great teacher. This is everything I know about RPGs and GMs and the secret order and structure that underlies them.