Travis Miller's Blog About Sword & Sorcery Fiction and Classic Fantasy Adventure Gaming
I use the word "experience" a lot in my writing. It's one of those words I find useful but troublesome. Like the word "fun", it is vague and full of underlying assumptions. One dictionary definition of experience is "an event or occurrence that leaves an impression on someone." An experience isn't merely an event or …
Continue reading What is the Essential Experience of Dungeons & Dragons?
Modern game designers talk about mechanics or storytelling when they talk about encounters. I have a different approach that goes to the root of why we play.
Encounters are the basic unit of play in a roleplaying game. Understanding what makes up an encounter is fundamental to game mastering and adventure design.
A phrase commonly used in conversations about role-playing games is "genre emulation." One might say that Call of Cthulu emulates Lovecraftian cosmic horror or Feng Shui emulates Hong Kong martial arts action films. Role-playing games do not emulate a genre. Role-playing games are one of many mediums that makes up a genre. A RPG is …
One of the biggest challenges for a sandbox campaign is getting players to engage with adventure locations. Set up and run the campaign correctly, and this challenge goes away.
My number one priority as a game master is to create a gaming experience that produces strong bonds of fellowship in the game group. This essay is about how I tap into a variety of emotions in an effort to build deeper relationships between the players.
I hypothesize that one of the reasons the "collaborative storytelling" claim persists is that both RPGs and stories produce powerful emotions. Stories and games can feel the same or at least very similar. This makes them seem like the same thing but they have a crucial difference.
Grumpy Wizard 
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