Lex discusses why game balance is important. We often think of game balance when coming up with campaign-affecting house rules, but we should also keep it in mind when making rulings on-the-fly during play. These spontaneous house rules can have just as much impact on our games as the ones we spend time designing.

Game Master's Journey 181: House Rules & Game Balance

Game Master’s Journey is a discussion podcast for GMs and players of Dungeons &amp; Dragons and other tabletop RPGs hosted by Lex Starwalker. The show explores strategies players and GMs can use to enhance the gaming experience for everyone at the table. Lex also discusses the creation of his homebrew D&amp;D setting, Primordia, providing a valuable worldbuilding resource for DMs creating their own setting.

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I continue my overview of Vampire: the Masquerade by White Wolf Games. This week I talk about the virtues and humanity, backgrounds, diablerie, frenzy, rotschrek, and awarding and spending experience points.

Vampire: The Masquerade Part 3 | GMJ 296

I continue my overview of Vampire: the Masquerade by White Wolf Games. This week I go over the Disciplines—the various vampiric powers—as well as the clans of vampires. I also talk about generation and how the blood pool mechanics work.

Vampire: The Masquerade Part 2 | GMJ 295

I give an overview of Vampire: The Masquerade RPG by White Wolf Games. In this first part I talk about some of the things I’ve learned from Vampire that have made me the GM I am today. I discuss how the prelude concept from Vampire changed my games forever, and I’ll go over nature, demeanor, and personality archetypes in more detail.

Vampire: The Masquerade Part 1 | GMJ 294

This week I give a brief introduction to the Storyteller RPG system by White Wolf. This is the system used for the World of Darkness games, including Vampire: the Masquerade, Werewolf: the Apocalypse, Changeling: the Dreaming, Mage: the Ascension, and Wraith: the Oblivion. This versatile system is easy to learn, easy to teach, and easy to run, and it’s one of my favorites.

The Storyteller System by White Wolf | GMJ 293

Craig joins me again today to continue our discussion of his Mage chronicle. We talk more about the open-ended magic system of Mage and how, to a large degree, the biggest limitation is the players’ own imaginations. We also talk about Pathfinder’s Adventure Paths and how vignettes and preludes can add depth to the tabletop RPG experience.

Game Master's Journey 181: House Rules & Game Balance

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