Over on Bluesky and Mastodon Dice Camp, I post regular fantasy roleplaying game tips for GMs and players. At the end of each month, you get the full collection of that month’s tips right here for your reading pleasure. And please feel free to follow me at either of the above locations to get new tips every day, fresh out of the idea forge.
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FRPG GM Tip: Encourage the players to share the details whenever their characters gain cool new benefits through features or magic. Then make note of those benefits and look for ways to build scenarios into the campaign where the characters get to show them off.
FRPG GM and Player Tip: Talking about what type of game you all want to play — gritty and tactical, loose and story-focused, et al. — is important. But in addition to the styles of game you like to play, think about the styles you want to try, especially in a short campaign you can use as a testbed.
FRPG GM Tip: It’s always good to have a sense of where the campaign might go, but never let a focus on the future distract you from the here and now. Too much time thinking about how things might unfold can leave you off balance when the players decide to take the game in an unexpected direction
FRPG Player Tip: It can feel like cheating to ask the GM about changing up an aspect of your character you’re not enjoying, but the reality is that it doesn’t matter. The game is a story told collectively, and the continuity of that story is flexible enough to absorb whatever you need to have fun.
FRPG GM Tip: When taking stock of how the story changes as the campaign unfolds, don’t just focus on the long term. If narrative developments resulting from the characters’ actions remain unseen because they take too long to play out, it’s easy for the players to lose track of those developments.
FRPG GM and Player Tip: It’s a perfectly valid mindset to really, really, really, really, really not like humor in your fantasy games. But if you’re not at full-five-“really,” don’t be afraid to do ridiculous things even in a serious campaign. Lighter moments can give a somber story even more edge.
FRPG GM Tip: Roleplaying encounters work best when multiple characters with different agendas insert themselves into the scene. But especially with a small party, things can go flat if one character does all the talking, so never be afraid to spotlight quiet characters by having NPCs focus on them.
FRPG Player Tip: For managing character resources, including spells and magic items, index cards make it easy to find things and equally easy to focus in on one thing at a time. Flip cards over, turn them upside down, or fan them out to track what you’ve already used and what you want to use next.
FRPG GM Tip: Any time a random combat encounter makes sense from a pacing perspective, do whatever’s necessary to ensure it makes sense from a narrative perspective as well. Discovering that defeated creatures hold information or resources immediately useful to the party gives encounters a purpose.
FRPG Player Tip: If you’re new to RPGs, stay watchful for those moments when your character does something you had no idea they were going to do. That feeling, that out-of-body experience where it’s like your character is a different person and you’re just watching them, is what it’s all about.
FRPG GM Tip: Whatever happens in your current game session, have at least one positive event in your next session trigger off those developments. Having the characters gain tangible benefits because of something they did last week reinforces to the players that they’re accomplishing things.
FRPG Player Tip: Lots of character development comes from answering questions put to you by the GM — but you can ask your character questions too. Every new scene, every location, every challenge, flesh out your character’s backstory by asking whether what’s happening has a connection to that story.
FRPG GM Tip: Encounters during a journey can often make that journey feel more consequential. But whenever the party backtracks along a route taken before, or if a new journey feels a lot like a journey already taken, make sure encounters feel like they’re adding to the story, not just filling time.
FRPG Player Tip: A campaign is generally a GM-created framework filled out by the characters’ choices. But never be afraid to help build that framework. Most GMs love to hear about things the characters want to accomplish, especially if those things connect to backstory the GM isn’t aware of.
Art by Dean Spencer