“It’s not roleplaying.” Yes, that is the dumbest argument from which I have defended 4e. It is usually followed by a statement like: “it’s combat with miniatures,” or “the skill challenges demolish the need for roleplaying,” or “they just repackaged their miniatures so they could sell more books.” Let’s get right to the heart of […]
Using Elements from Real Life in Your Game
One way to get your players to role-play more is to do so yourself. When you have them meet an NPC, bring something fresh to the table when you play that character. How do you do that without spending hours planning an NPC? Well, one way is to bring in elements from your daily life […]
Character Background Integration
One of the great benefits of generating your own world and campaign ideas is that you can integrate the background of each PC into the overall story. With a published module or adventure, this is much more difficult to do. Being able to do this well requires a couple of things: 1) Between the character […]
How to Avoid the Railroad
There are several reasons why I find it fulfilling to write my own campaign adventure arcs, but the one that is probably the most important is that it makes it easier to avoid the railroad. What is the railroad? That is the act of forcing your players into a certain course of action and not […]