Game Master's Journey

I've gotten a lot of great listener feedback on recent topics, including the Star Wars RPG dice system, running political games, running sandbox games, and more. Tonight I'll go through the feedback on these topics and hit some of the highlights. I'll also tell you a little bit about the Edge of the Empire campaign I'm planning, and how I'm preparing for it very differently from other campaigns I've run in the past.

Today I’ll reopen some discussion on episodes 40 and 41 with some enlightening comments from listeners of the show. I'll share what listeners think about elegance in RPGs and the new Fantasy AGE RPG.

We talk a lot about being a Game Master on this show, appropriately enough. But how can we be better players? Look on any online gaming community and you’ll see there are far more players looking for a GM than the other way around. How can you be the kind of player GMs want at their tables?

Welcome to Game Master’s Journey Unplugged. Sit with me around the fire, as I discuss what I recently learned watching another GM run a game.

The more experience I gain with RPGs, the more I appreciate elegance in RPG systems. Not only do elegant mechanics make a game easy to learn, teach and grok, but it also helps everyone at the table keep their focus where it belongs—character and story. Today I look at a few systems, some more elegant than others, and try to tease out what works and why.

Running a published adventure that will span the majority of the careers of your PCs presents unique challenges. Will Johnson returns to the show today to discuss those challenges.