Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Skull RPG: Game Masters Tell Your Story
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Titre
Date
Durée
FInal Episode - Follow us on YouTube
22 Mar 2021
00:02:01
Hey Storytellers,
We started this channel in Sept 2020 and since then we have received 3000 downloads. That is really good for not advertising this channel and just getting organic reach.
Because we do pay a premium for podcast hosting, publishing to numerous channels and helping iTunes audio quality we are switching over to just YouTube because of the costs.
We noticed that as of 3/22/21 we have about 11 - 14 people that regularly download our material. For those of you that do this - we thank you.
We would love for everyone to switch over to follow us on YouTube.
SkullRPG.com/YouTube will get you there. We have tripled our subscribers in the last month and have good engagement in our comments. We would love to see you over there as well, liking, commenting, giving video suggestions, etc.
Thanks,
Dwight and Jacob Scull
How to Take an Idea and Make it a Campaign
19 Mar 2021
00:07:04
Hey Storytellers,
Sometimes you have a great idea but it isn't connected to anything at all, nor do you always know how to scale it up to use in a larger context.
Visit https://www.Skullrpg.com to see what books, free courses, and other resources are available for you and your gaming needs.
In today's episode, we cover how Olson Scott Card did this for Ender's Game and how you can do it as well in your tabletop RPG game.
GM 101: World Creation - How to Play a Game in the Golden Era
27 Feb 2021
00:11:38
Hey Storytellers,
Two episodes ago we talked about the different eras of games using the Greek understanding of creation. So there were the golden, silver, bronze, and clay ages of humanity. Today we explore playing a game at the height of magic or technology that your world will ever see.
The golden age or era is one of the hardest to play an RPG in because your characters are literally becoming the legends of old. There are no ruins of value because the stuff of value is literally being created each and every day.
These are usually higher-level campaigns (or a lot more points in a GURPS system).
Listen for even more tips.
How to handle player conflict in your RPG
25 Nov 2020
00:12:26
Hey Storytellers,
Sometimes your gaming table has a conflict between the players. I am not speaking about a conflict just on the table, but one that spills out to the players themselves. The kind of conflict where you can feel it in the air. Maybe even coming to verbal or physical blows. What is a game master to do?
There has been some buzz lately on the role of a Game Master in RPG's. Is this person responsible for making it fun to play? Are they the "god" of the game? These sorts of big questions.
Today we explore the many different roles that a game master can have. I don't believe there is one correct way to be a game master, but a spectrum of options. That said I do believe there are wrong and abusive ways of being a game master.
Give this episode a listen.
As a Game Master Should I Follow The Rules or My Story?
22 Nov 2020
00:08:52
Hey Storytellers,
There is a tension sometimes between telling a good story (or having a cool concept) and following the rules of the system you are using. This is more pronounced in games where the rules are highly structured. In this episode, we will explore this concept.
If you have a great idea but it is against the rules you have several options.
1) As long as the idea isn't an object that can be easily stolen then it could be from another time and that knowledge is lost
2) I would suggest staying away from relics or artifacts on a person because many game masters inadvertently break their games this way. Eventually, the players will obtain this item, and then what would happen to your game?
3) Some game systems allow you to break the rules more easily than others for the sake of the story, but I would highly recommend that you only break those rules in a way that the players cannot abuse.
Knowing when to Roll Secretly in your RPG
21 Nov 2020
00:11:37
Hey Storytellers,
Many Game Masters roll in the open and let the crits fall where they may, and that may be good with your gaming group, but what if one of your players gets an automatic secret roll? In my games when I have asked for a random roll then my players get suspicious and look for things their characters couldn't know about.
In this episode, we explore several different ways to roll secretly without taking away a player's ability to roll the dice themselves.
1) Have all players roll die 5 - 10 times before the game. Write these down in order and then roll a D10 secretly to determine where in the list you will start.
2) Have the player take 10 on any secret rolls and reveal successes.
3) Make everyone roll randomly for no reason 3 - 5 times in your game.
Other tips in the episode.
Gathering Intelligence in your RPG
20 Nov 2020
00:11:09
Hey Storytellers,
Gathering intelligence is used in long term wars or conflicts (cold war, corporate espionage could fit into this as well) to gain the upper hand on your enemies.
Gathering intelligence is different than gathering clues because intelligence is about finding out critical information to pass back to an organization to make a call about what to do with that information.
These are good missions for mercenaries or in war campaigns.
Another way to run this is in a Shadowrun game where the players are more in bed with one corporation than others.
Listen to the episode for more information.
Finding and Using Clues in your RPG
19 Nov 2020
00:11:14
Hey Storytellers,
In order to pull off using clues in your campaign you need to figure out what the players are to discover and then work backward for how the players can figure it out.
Once you have the final result for the players work backward for how they could obtain pieces of information in parts. Three parts is the easiest way to do this.
If your players have to find the names of three people they need to obtain one at least one name and could do side quests for the other two.
I would put the roll to obtain the fact that they need to track down three people and one of their names so low that even if all of your players rolled a one they would find out that information. If they rolled higher they could get two and if one rolled a critical success maybe give them the third name.
Otherwise they get one or two names and have to do side quests to find clues to the third person.
Listen to the episode for more on this.
Summoning with a twist in your RPG
18 Nov 2020
00:09:56
Hey Storytellers,
The classic summoning trope. The players walk in on a group of mages/cultists/clerics/etc. and have to stop the summoning by this group. Normally by killing enough of them that the spell will fizzle out, but what if there was a different way of doing this?
Think about how ritual spells could work. What if the first part of the spell just calls the one they are trying to summon? The hard part of the summoning is where they are putting in the binding conditions for that creature to appear. This is the part your players come in during. If they kill all of the summoners the monster still appears but without the binding magic being finished it is free on our plane of existence.
Listen to the episode for more ideas.
Dungeon Crawl with a twist in your RPG
17 Nov 2020
00:09:38
Hey Storytellers,
The classic dungeon-crawl adventure. I was hesitant to even talk about this except that Jacob said what about power vacuums in the dungeon? And then we were cooking.
Power vacuums are anything that creates a gap in power that other things will need to fill. A dungeon has its own ecosystem and the monsters on each level are a part of that. If the players are going through a dungeon they are creating power vacuums in their wake by killing the denizens of the dungeon.
Then as often is the case the players will leave the dungeon several times to sell loot, take a long rest or maybe travel weeks or months away to upgrade weapons and armor or to sell the rest of the loot.
What happens in the dungeon? Well, most game masters have literally nothing happen. What a great opportunity for something to happen while the players are away. So instead of just waiting down the four empty floors, they are greeted with a new entrance and armed guards, not from the town but the denizens on the floor they would have killed next.
Now they are waiting for the players and ready for combat.
Here more about this in this episode.
Build suspense by keeping your players moving in your RPG
16 Nov 2020
00:09:58
Hey Storytellers,
Keeping your players moving is all about not allowing them to stop and rest. In a game like Dungeons and Dragons that can cause some anxiety in your players. Typically the party moves at the pace of the spell caster(s). Once they are out of magic or cool tricks then the party should rest. I know that D&D 5e made this more balanced, but even if this isn't your players' style let's examine what this can do for you the game master.
Your players have just walked through rooms of enemies with ease. No damage is taken and most of their magic is intact. What could you do to spice up the game more?
One idea would be to have the room they need to leave has a locked and trapped door. The lock will need an 18 or higher on a d20 to open (since you know the rogue's skill). So they might need 18 rounds to open unless they roll lucky. If you tell the rogue after his/her first crack at it that it looks very complex you might want to take 20 on it. You have now delayed the players. Now spring the trap once you say that to have the team make a check to hear what is coming down the hall. Then have many small level monsters coming to the players and they need to get the door open and fend off this attack. After 18 rounds they open the door and flee through it. With the horde of small monsters on their heels.
To not kill your players have a rope bridge in the dungeon they are exploring that can easily be cut to stop the seemingly never-ending horde of monsters coming at them.
I guarantee your players will talk about that adventure for a long time.
Listen to the episode for other ideas of how to run this concept in your game.
GM 101: World Creation - Do You Need a World Map?
26 Feb 2021
00:11:28
Hey Storytellers,
I don't know about you but when I first tried to write my own adventures as a Dungeon Master for D&D 3.5 I thought I needed a world map. The same was true when I tried my hand at GURPS.
But what if I told you that that may be the worst way to start a campaign?
Instead, just draw what is needed.
If starting at first level or low level or local adventure just start out with everything they may possibly encounter at those levels.
So if you need a map it doesn't have to be more than 3 days journey in any direction and contain things like "abandoned mine" or "woods" or "larger town will name later."
So don't feel like you have to design the entire world and then drill down because frankly after reading a ton of fantasy novels we feel like that is a requirement, but for gaming you can go the other way.
Using Sabotage in your RPG
15 Nov 2020
00:06:42
Hey Storytellers,
Sabotage is usually associated with planting explosives and blowing up a building. In a high fantasy or another genre that may not be an option. But that doesn't have to stop you from running a game of sabotage.
How would it work? Well, think about sabotage being related to information or anything else that could hurt a rival faction or country. It doesn't have to be destructive in an overt way. Instead, it could be planting evidence on a top official, giving a known spy misinformation to then attack the enemy in a different spot, or it could be using some magical means to blow something up.
Build suspense by using a Countdown in your RPG
14 Nov 2020
00:09:48
Hey Storytellers,
When most people think of a countdown they think of the classic sci-fi trope: the self destruct sequence. This is how that goes down. The captain is threatened and decides to start the self destruct sequence. Then the conflict is escalated and eventually, the clock is stopped with mere seconds to go. Everyone breathes deep and the credits roll - looking at you Star Trek.
Ok, but how can you run something like this in your game that actually works?
The key is to NOT put down a stopwatch or other timekeeping device. Instead, figure out how many minutes you want to have in your countdown and translate that time into rounds in your RPG. So 3 minutes could be 30 rounds, and so I would use a 30 round counter (2d10 of different colors if you don't have a tens d10 die).
Or if you are running a battle and they have to hold out until reinforcements arrive in three days, then you figure out what waves of enemies are coming and when they will come.
Running a countdown can be fun as it adds suspense to the game session and gives the players an easy sense of purpose. Listen to the episode to hear even more ideas on how to run this in your game soon.
How to run a Battle in your RPG
13 Nov 2020
00:10:52
Hey Storytellers,
Battles can be a lot of work to plan, so here is how to think about them to make it easier. Start with changing your square size from 5 foot to 20 - 50 foot squares. Then one figure represents multiple people (except for the players if they split up). Mages get their own square, trust me. Then infantry / cavalry / etc can each get their own to represent 100s - 1000s of troops.
Then I would plan out the battle map and put in hills and flat places in a typographical fashion. Finally, you need to figure out what both sides are bringing to the table.
The last thing you need to think about is what spells your clerics / wizards are using. I suggest long-range spells and ones that change how the battlefield looks. Walls, stone to mud, grease, but fewer damage spells unless they are huge in size as a fireball could be only one square depending on the size of the squares. More tips and tricks in the episode so give it a listen.
How to run a War in your RPG
12 Nov 2020
00:09:10
Hello Storytellers,
War in RPG's can feel very much like a railroad, no options and one objective. One way to not do this is to give your players an objective, without telling them how to accomplish it. You could also add bonuses for doing more objectives - think like a video game where you have one goal to succeed in the mission, but there are three or for side goals that will make the war easier.
War can also be boring as it might just be the same three or four things done repetitively. I would come up for your players to be able to stop the war, but with consequences. Listen to the episode for ideas on how that could work to end this campaign. Then you could move into the next campaign with different characters 20 - 100 years later showing what the player's last characters have done.
How to run a Holding Mission in your RPG
11 Nov 2020
00:11:27
Hey Storytellers,
This is a favorite type of game and is used in many movies. This is basically where your players have to hold a location for either reinforcement to arrive or opening a door on the other side of the room while the rest of the party is fighting an unstoppable horde of enemies. The door opens and now you can escape.
To do this correctly, you figure out how long do your players need to hold on. Then determine if there will be waves of issues / enemies coming at them or a constant stream of enemies and they need to escape in so many rounds or be overwhelmed.
Think Star Wars Episode 4 where the heroes go to rescue the Princess, but they botch the attempt. Then they are shot at and hid in a trash compactor to fight a monster and then finally escape only to face Darth Vadar and lose their mentor.
Or Lord of the Rings where they are being pursued by goblins until they get over the bridge with the Balrog, also losing their mentor.
There are many other ways to do this. You can bleed your players over time until they can fully escape, or have a fast action sequence for only 10 rounds or less until your players can close the big iron door and breath a sigh of relief.
Listen to the episode for ideas on how to incorporate this into your game.
How to do Guard Duty right in your RPG
10 Nov 2020
00:07:55
Hey Storytellers,
Guard duty in most campaigns is just used at night while the players sleeping, but how else can you use this?
You can use guard duty to escort a person or thing to a place. This could be a scientist, cure for a disease, secret plans, a little girl with new magic than many will want to kill.
In many ways, this is the Mandalorian. The child, "baby Yoda," is more of a liability than help because he slows down the Mandalorian and could be killed easily.
I would create a chart (gasp) to create the major obstacles to extract (think rescue or kidnapping episodes). Then list ways you can see your players overcoming each and what happens if they fail. I also like to have ways that my players can recover from a failure throughout the adventure. Different levels of failure is what I strive for so they can limit the damage coming to them, but maybe not always prevent it.
How to run a Rescue mission in your RPG
09 Nov 2020
00:09:15
Hey Storytellers,
In this episode, we will discuss how to plan your players rescuing an NPC or maybe a captured player. This looks a little different from a kidnapping, which we covered in our last episode.
Running a rescue mission requires finding out where they are being held and figuring out the security involved to keep them locked up. You can chart out each obstacle and what is needed to bypass each. I would also figure out what happens if they fail by less than 5 and 5 or more. Is there a recovery roll or do the alarms automatically go off?
I would tread lightly on doing any torture for information as many people (thankfully) find this to be a trigger. Instead, if playing with magic or technology that is greater than ours today, have the means to extract the information. Detect lies is a standard spell in D&D for example. You don't have to be that creative with it.
Kidnapping in your RPG
08 Nov 2020
00:07:04
Hey Storytellers,
Sometimes your players will need to non-lethally subdue an opponent for a ransom or maybe just for a period of time. Your players may need to impersonate this character and it wouldn't make any sense if both your copy and the original person were seen near the same location.
In this episode, we will talk about the mechanics around kidnapping a person and as the game master what you need to have prepared for this to occur.
You will need the person's schedule so that the players can figure out just the right time and place to swoop in and take the person hostage.
Of course, putting the players on a time limit to do the job means that they may not be truly able to know what the victim does on a Thursday afternoon. Is it like Tuesday afternoon since Monday and Wednesday were similar? Who really knows? This is where you as the game master can add in some excitement by having the victim's schedule be just a little different.
How to use Legendary Items without breaking your RPG
07 Nov 2020
00:08:36
Hey Storytellers,
In this episode, we talk about how to bring in balanced items without breaking your RPG. Too many times game masters will want to do something cool and bring in a magical relic. The issue is the relic is too powerfully for just one member of the party to have it, but that is what happens. Now one person has a crazy sword that makes them a killing machine and everyone else has nothing.
These items are known as a McGuffin - or an item that is used as a plot device to further your game. McGuffins can be a huge magical sword, powerful item of magic, the One Ring or other such artifacts. But there is a huge downside to using them improperly.
They basically just break your RPG. Once the game is that unbalanced you only have two choices: 1) leave it alone, or 2) try to fix it.
But the level of thinking that got you into this problem may not be sufficient to get you out of it. So you either take away the legendary item (but it is probably your sole plot device) or you give others minor relics to help make it more balanced. Except now all of your monsters aren't powerful enough to stop the players and everyone is bored soon.
The solution to this dilemma is found in today's episode.
Using Sun Tzu's 5 Types of Spies in your RPG
06 Nov 2020
00:09:50
Hey Storytellers,
If you have read the Art of War by Sun Tzu he speaks about the 5 different types of spies. In this episode, we delve deep to show you how each of these spies can be worked into any of your RPG games, even if you aren't playing a spy game.
The 5 types are: (1) Local spies; (2) inward spies; (3) converted spies; (4) doomed spies; and (5) surviving spies.
Local spies are those in a small area. If you are in another country and a local citizen is helping you out at peril to themselves then they are a local spy.
Inward spies are those that have some official standing with one of your enemies and they are willing to provide information to your side.
Converted spies are the typical double agent. You found a spy and converted them to give misinformation back to their side in exchange for safety, freedom and/or money.
Doomed spies are used by inward and converted spies to hand over to prevent their cover from being blown. Typically they are your spies that you are ok being killed to achieve your goals.
Surviving spies could be any of the first three types of spies that are kept alive or maybe even extracted if a situation calls for it.
See how each of these could be used in your RPG campaign in this episode.
GM 101: World Creation - Picking Your RPG Era
25 Feb 2021
00:11:29
Hey Storytellers,
In today's episode, we cover different eras as an overview. Using the Greek understanding of Golden, Silver, Bronze and Clay age of Humanity we talk about this in RPG terms.
A Golden Age adventure means that your world is at the pinnacle of magic / tech / etc. Most RPG's don't take place here.
Instead, most take place during a bronze age of heroes. This allows the players to explore old castles (now turned into dungeons because of time) for ancient relics.
Listen to the episode to learn more.
How to run a Heist in your RPG
05 Nov 2020
00:07:27
Hey Storytellers,
This is perhaps my favorite genre that most game masters only think works in a modern setting: Running a heist. Heists just aren't for the Ocean's Eleven or Shadowrun RPG games. You could have a heist in your D&D / Pathfinder / Vampire: The Masquerade / or any other RPG game you are running.
In this episode, we will break down how to run a heist in a high fantasy world like D&D or Pathfinder.
The basics are simple, your players need to obtain something that is highly guarded by people, traps, and magic. How they get by each obstacle is something that we will cover as well. Taking a premade map (or making your own) of a castle, tower, or dungeon and labeling each area to fit your game needs is where you start. Then on a separate piece of paper (or chart like excel or google sheets), you list out what is guarding that location and how the players may get around it. And what happens if they fail by a small margin or by a large margin.
Running a Chase scene in your RPG
04 Nov 2020
00:09:37
Hey Storytellers,
Chase scenes are a stable of the movie genre. You can have the heroes (players) giving chase to track down a suspect after they flee from a building. You can have the heroes being chased by something too big to kill. Or you could play a chase scene out as a long game of police versus serial killer. Each clue giving them the ability to get closer or further from finally catching the perp.
You can also use this same mechanic in a drinking game at the local bar. Some races will get bonus saves versus poisons (alcohol). Or flip the chase on its head. Play a chase scene as a battle of wits and strength like was done in Sherlock Holmes (with Robert Downy Jr).
Regardless of you want to play a chase give us a listen for ideas on how to execute these ideas in your RPG.
How to create 3 or more different factions in your RPG
03 Nov 2020
00:08:33
Hey Storytellers,
There are times when you want to explore different guilds or factions in your RPG. Every good conflict needs at least two parties, but by developing 3 or 4 different factions in your world.
Giving flesh to your different factions allows you to build a world that is more real. One side is working against another. Players potentially hired by one or more for jobs or spying. By having 3 or more factions or guilds that have motives and goals of their own you will be able to create small or large conflicts and move your story along. You will also have the ability to do doublecrosses and backstabbing with these groups and your players.
How to plan your RPG campaign end to end
01 Nov 2020
00:08:23
Hey Storytellers,
If you listened to the last 6 episodes you can see that there is a lot to keep track of if you want to tell a cohesive RPG Story from end to end. If you wanted to capture everything you were going to do (even if planning just a day before hand) it would be hard to keep it all together.
This is why I developed the Just Enough Planning workbook and course. To give you a quick and easy way to keep track of everything in your game. It is modular so that you can expand it as needed to encompass a game lasting a month to one lasting over a decade.
Bonuses include over 100 maps, 3000+ NPC names (hundreds categorized by gender and race - human, elf, dwarf, orc), unique monster names (for that dragon or huge spider that really needs a name), legendary names (for your big bad or epic hero or loot), tavern name generator and a location name generator (with ways to change the names to show time is passing in your world). Whole thing available to listen on audio as well.
In this episode, we examine how to transition to your last plot and the ultimate conflict. We also cover how to end your campaign in a way that allows you to safely leave it and move onto a different story or explore the world again with a new set of player characters, but maybe 100 years into the future.
Learn more at https://skullrpg.com
Get the free Tell Your Story course here: https://skullrpgbooks.vipmembervault.com/products/courses/view/1047566/?action=signup
Then the group can decide if they want to play in the world shaped by their previous player's actions (both good and bad).
This type of storytelling allow for character and player growth, as well as allowing the game master access to much of the world building they have already done.
Playing a game that might last over generations can be really enjoyable if done correctly and this episode will cover some ideas on how to pull that off.
Big reveals and transitions between acts / subplots
30 Oct 2020
00:09:42
Hey Storytellers,
In this episode, we build on the past 4 episodes to show you how to transition between your first and second acts (or subplots) in the RPG campaign we have been building out together.
Knowing how to transition between major plotlines while teasing out your major conflict, big bad, and big reveals is a skill that will pay dividends for years to come.
If you don't foreshadow any information any big reveal you have will fall flat. We will talk about what things need to be foreshadowed, when and how so that your players will start to hear and remember things. Good foreshadowing can't be one throwaway line but rather a series of events that hint at the same thing. The reveal explains the motivations for why the event is happening the way it did.
Planning out your first game session
29 Oct 2020
00:13:03
Hey Storytellers,
Building off of the last several episodes we are going to talk about the hook and plan out the first 1 - 2 game sessions in this episode to give you a feel for how that could work in your game.
If you have never planned out a game session before this a great episode to see the overall view of that process that we use. There isn't a "correct" way to plan a game session and each person has their own method and I am teaching you mine in hopes that you could listen to these episodes, be able to come up with a story, conflict, major plot, 3 acts (or subplots) and individual gaming sessions to run with your group.
Naming important places and people in your RPG campaign
28 Oct 2020
00:06:37
Hey Storytellers,
The worst feeling in the world is having to come up with an important name on the fly.
Here we name our places and important NPC's for the RPG campaign we are building.
We used our Fantasy Location Name Generator and pulled information from our 3000+ NPC names.
I have it in PDF as well as a Google doc - both are yours with the short online course that walks you through how to use the generators and the resource.
How to create plots and subplots for your RPG campaign
27 Oct 2020
00:13:17
Hey Storytellers,
The problem with creating a compelling story is that over time you forget the way to connect the individual gaming session to the overall story you wanted to tell months ago.
The way to fix this is to drive to the main plot, but the way to make sure you do that is to break that plot up into 3 or more subplots. Each subplot will tell a complete story but build in such a way to move the story forward.
This helps you to create your individual gaming sessions because you know that you have 9 - 12 gaming sessions to tell this entire subplot's story.
Thinking in terms of plots and subplots or in terms of a play with 3 acts and 12 scenes in each act will help you to drive your campaign forward with purpose.
Many people have issues coming up with good ideas to build a campaign off of. In this episode, we tackle four ways you can use to come up with good ideas for your next RPG.
The easiest way to get a new idea is to take an old idea and twist is a little bit. To be fair, one could argue that there are no truly new ideas anymore, just changes on a common theme.
So take media that you consume or have consumed. That could be books, podcasts, tv shows, movies, YouTube videos, or whatever else I might be missing. You will take ideas from here and tweak one a little. Or combine two or more ideas.
Another way to do this is to look at older RPG books (that are probably cheap used or can be found...) and take their ideas for worlds and history.
Or you could choose to play in someone else's world, but not with the heroes they are used to. A lot of the LOTR video games do this. As do the Star Wars games. You play in a familiar world, not as the people you know.
For the next 6 episodes, we will be creating a game from scratch and walking you through how to come up with the idea, the conflict, the subplots, the game sessions (ideas for the first five anyway), the transitions between subplots, and more.
Subscribe so you don't miss out on an entire game planned out for you almost end-to-end.
GM 101: How to Move Forward in Time Quickly in Your RPG
24 Feb 2021
00:07:48
Hey Storytellers,
In one of my campaigns, I wanted to tell a story about the players hunting down a particular villain. I didn't want this game to last more than about 8 months of real-time and I didn't want to spend a year of in-game time that didn't connect to the overarching storyline. So what did I do?
Since we were playing GURPS I gave them 30 points to spend on whatever they wanted and told them that we would be fast-forwarding the game a full year in the calendar. They had done side quests and other things in that year that didn't correspond to the story, but they would still get experience for it.
I could do the same thing in a D&D or Pathfinder game by giving 2 - 3 levels and saying the same thing.
Listen to the episode for even more examples of how to accomplish this.
Using Improvisation in your RPG
25 Oct 2020
00:08:16
Hey Storytellers,
Have you ever had your players make a decision that removed a key room, NPC or story element? The thing that many people forget is you are literally the only one that knows where that element was supposed to be.
Here is an example: You plan out a mini-boss on the 5th floor of the dungeon. But your players decide to stone shape a wall and if you kept the map as is they would avoid this mini-boss entirely.
Some game masters will just give up on their mini-boss fight they spent an hour or two creating, but that isn't the best option.
Instead, change the map so that now the hallway they "found" leads to the mini-boss and your time isn't wasted.
Other tips like this are in the episode.
How to use foreshadowing in your RPG
24 Oct 2020
00:08:16
Hello Storytellers,
Foreshadowing is hinting toward a future event. There is a proper way to do this and if done poorly when you drop your big reveal your players are completely lost.
You see if you hint at what you want to reveal your players will start to guess at what is happening. That doesn't mean you make it obvious, but like in GRRM Game of Thrones there are numerous hints about Jon Snow's father isn't who he thinks it is.
Compare that to the deathly hallows in Harry Potter and there was little foreshadowing for most of the elements there. So it felt like it came out of nowhere and was likewise disorientating.
How to use clues in your RPG
23 Oct 2020
00:09:29
Hey Storytellers,
After you drop the hook for your players also drop clues for where they could go in the story. This allows you to allow for them to have choices (no railroads), while not having a full sandbox environment.
I like to give 3 or 4 different choices for the players to follow after the initial hook. Then they can follow one of those if they wish or come up with a different choice. But because I have prepared (at least initially) where the story will be heading I can pivot for their requests.
Clues come into play because I like to add an air of mystery to most of my stories that last more than several game sessions. Sure it is fine to have the dungeon crawl or quick one-off, but overall I like to drive the game thematically if I can, and giving players clues helps me to do that.
Play this Game Part 4 of 4: Killer Horror - Rest of the cast and the start of the murder timeline
22 Oct 2020
00:07:31
Hello Storyteller,
Welcome to part 4 of 4 of running a horror game with a killer picking off a cast of characters.
In this episode we finish with the rest of the cast and cover the first 5 days of who is murdered and casting suspicion on other NPC's.
The key is to drive all of the murders to the last one. The brash wizard on Day 21. During the middle of her spell she is killed and this sets the village back three weeks in the past to repeat the same events until the players kill the monster.
Learn more at https://skullrpg.com/resources - check out the resources page for a downloadable pdf with the NPC's and monster you will need for your D&D 5e game. No email needed.
In the last part of our 4-part episodes we will conclude with the remaining NPC's as well as the first 5 days of who gets murdered and how. Check out the episode and also the resources page for more.
Play this Game Part 3 of 4: Killer Horror - The cast of NPC's
21 Oct 2020
00:09:43
Hello Storyteller,
Welcome to part 3 of 4 of running a horror game with a killer picking off a cast of characters.
In this episode we will show you how voices, inflections and verbal ticks could be used to distinguish between NPC's. You could also do this with props, like hats, physical mannerisms, etc.
Learn more at https://skullrpg.com/resources - check out the resources page for a downloadable pdf with the NPC's and monster you will need for your D&D 5e game. No email needed.
In this first part, we create NPC's for use in the game. They will be used to help move the players knowledge forward. They will be killed and suspicion will fall on them. Check out the episode and also the resources page for more.
Play this Game Part 2 of 4: Killer Horror - Choosing the Killer
20 Oct 2020
00:08:56
Hey Storytellers,
Having an intriguing villain is critical for running a game in the horror genre, but especially true for the killer horror genre. The killer needs to be able to get in and out of places quickly, or unseen.
Well the Pashisha from D&D 5e fits the bill with a slight change - the flesh eating demon really loves humanoid brains.
Each victim is killed in a different way, poison, tiger or wolf attack, stabbing, pushed from a wall, but each and every one of them is missing their brain.
The Pashisha can turn invisible and polymorph into a couple of different animals. If you want more of a challenge you can have multiple Pashisha's or see that they dwell with other creatures and could have a lair.
This is great for lower level characters as the challenge rating of the 5E Pashisha is just 3. But you could give is some additional levels to make it harder if your players are higher level.
Play this Game Part 1 of 4: Killer Horror - Setting the scene
19 Oct 2020
00:09:41
Hello Storytellers,
This is a four-part video where we will walk you through setting up a multiple game session horror story where a killer is hunting down NPC's one by one. It has mystery, intrigue and horror. If the players aren't fast enough time itself will reset and they will live the events again until they can stop the killer from resetting time.
Learn more at https://skullrpg.com/resources - I have the killer's stats and NPC's names, brief character sketches, and the first 5 days of who is murdered. All free - no email required. Get the free
Tell Your Story course here: https://skullrpgbooks.vipmembervault.com/products/courses/view/1047566/?action=signup
Now back to the story. In this episode, we will detail out the scene. A small village in a valley surrounded by mountains. This allows you to have a closed-loop scenario. Once the players are in the village they have walked into a pocket dimension. Only a plane shift spell would free them, so this is best for characters of lower levels.
How to use "Killer Horror" in your RPG
18 Oct 2020
00:10:11
Hey Storytellers,
Killer horror is what most people think of when they think of the horror genre. This is where you have a group of people (teens or young adults typically) that are being stocked by a killer (think Jason, Freddie, Scream, etc.).
Get the free Tell Your Story course here: https://skullrpgbooks.vipmembervault.com/products/courses/view/1047566/?action=signup
In these movies there is typically one lone survivor and that wouldn't work well for an RPG gaming group. Instead, you will learn how to incorporate this into a group.
Also stay tuned to the next 4 episodes as we will help you plan out an entire game session (probably 2 - 4) with a scene, a killer monster, a cast of NPC's.
I think you will enjoy using this killer horror in one of your games.
Game Idea: Ghosts of children are really demons in your RPG
17 Oct 2020
00:10:10
Hey Storytellers,
Nothing is more frightening in horror than children. If you haven't watched Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House (season 1) it is worth it. So much horror deals with children in some shape or form.
What happens if you turn this on its head? What happens if your gaming group is asked to help a woman put to rest the ghost of a child?
We will explore changing each ghost in your RPG to function as spirits of the dead do in the show Supernatural. There are rules to properly dispatch a ghost.
And if your group determines that those rules don't work then what is left? What about a demon that can take on the appearance of a ghost child to invoke pity and fear? And those are the emotions it feeds upon.
Come down the rabbit hole for a good story idea that you can use this week.
Creating Memorable NPC's
16 Oct 2020
00:13:04
Hello Storytellers,
There are only two types of NPC's: those that are forgotten and those that are remembered. Sadly, most storytellers have forgettable NPC's. That is a shame because with a little work (and not a lot truly) you can create 1 - 3 NPC's that the players could love or absolutely hate.
This brings your game to life. Now I am not advocating that EVERY. SINGLE. NPC. should be remembered, but the ones that are helpful to your players should be. The ones that are recurring should be. The ones that you might want to kill much later for dramatic effect have to be.
Listen to find tips and tricks from using different voices or accents to props if you can't modulate your voice to make your NPC's stand out.
GM 101: Combat Traps
23 Feb 2021
00:08:03
Hey Storytellers,
In our last episode, we covered if you should use traps or not. One really nasty thing to do is to incorporate them into a mini-boss encounter.
In this episode, we talk about using things like a pit trap, poison darts, or even worse types of traps to have the enemy do battlefield control and potentially take out one of the front line melee fighters out of the fight for a while by dropping him/her down a 20-foot hole (with or without spikes).
Play this idea: Village trapped in time due to a botched experiment
15 Oct 2020
00:10:09
Hey Storytellers,
One way to amp up the suspense and terror is to put your players into a "closed-loop" scenario. If you ever watched any movies from the 1980s or before it was very common to have this happen to your heroes. There is a storm, the phone lines are cut (and cell phones don't exist yet), everybody is trapped in one location like a mansion or hotel. Queue lights turning off for less than a minute and then one person is killed. Queue lightning crash. Shocked gasps.
Ok, that is harder to do if your players have teleport or many forms of magic. Stuck in a room, "I cast stone shape." But here is a scenario where it works.
Your players come into a town. They can start to notice that fashion and language sound odd. A "knowledge Local" or similar knowledge will reveal the language is about 200ish years old. That is odd, but maybe the players ran into the RPG equivalent of the Amish.
I won't get into all of it here in the description, but we lay out many possible ways for the players to discover that there is a wizard who is going to perform a grand experiment in the next X days or hours. The issue is the experiment failed and it locked everyone in time.
Over the next hours or days, your players are slowly becoming a part of the story and are less and less able to affect it. If they can't stop the wizard from doing the experiment they will be trapped in the story forever. Of course, there are consequences to stopping the wizard.
This builds on the ideas of psychological horror and choice, as well as using a timeline to build suspense and terror. These three concepts were handled in earlier episodes not that long ago.
How to use time to build suspense in your RPG
14 Oct 2020
00:12:46
Hey Storytellers,
So many times the party moves at the pace of the wizard in medium levels. I know that DnD 5 helped with this problem from earlier additions, but still, there is a way to bring in suspense and terror (if that is what you want) in your game.
What if the party cannot rest? What if they just cannot stop safely or they are interrupted just at the moments that they need to do to refill their spells? Whether that is praying to their god at sunset or sunrise, or uninterrupted rest for a long period of time.
One of the best cinematic shows for this was an episode of the new Battlestar Galactica (as opposed to the one from about the time I was born). It is called 33 and you need to know anything about the story. Every 33 minutes the enemy jumps to their location and they have to scramble fighters until the fleet can charge their faster than light drives, which is like 45 minutes. The issue is the thing chasing these poor people are robots. After days of this, humans are physically falling apart, because drugs can only do so much. They only have so many fighters and fighter pilots. They are making mistakes. Time is killing them. The suspense is crazy.
You can do this in your game and I will show you how - take a listen.
How to handle meta gamers (those people that have memorized every monster in the books)
13 Oct 2020
00:11:45
Hey Storytellers,
Do you have one of those players that obsessively read the monster manuals? They know what the monster is by the beginning of the second sentence of flavor text.
But that isn't the worst part, is it? No, they immediately tell everyone at the table how to fight it, the monster's strengths and weaknesses. This would be fine if they rolled a knowledge roll, but no this person is playing a fighter with no knowledge ranks, yet seemingly their character literally knows everything in the entire pantheon and to defeat it.
How? Well, they are metagaming. They are pulling in outside information that their character cannot know.
Two ways to take care of this: 1) Talk to them outside of the game about it and have your other players watch for it if need be, 2) Change some of the standard monsters to be immune to fire instead of acid if that could make sense or maybe silver doesn't do double damage now cold iron does.