Posts by Jason Campbell

When teaching a TTRPG to new players, their only prior experience may be with roleplaying video games. You can build on these experiences, but you also must deal with some of the expectations based on the limitations of video games. Such players will have some experience playing as different characters, but in most video games,

You’ve introduced your group of new players to the rules of the game, and they’re excited to create their first characters. They all look through the rulebook and create a fighter, a barbarian, and two paladins. Sure, they’ve all created a character according to the rules and have even written up some personalities to make

Making Space for Storytelling As a GM, you’ve at least partially defined the world that your campaign will take place in. Whether it’s a setting you’ve written yourself or a commercially available campaign setting, the basics will be set, but there will still be many details that offer room for expansion. Even in the most

The only limitation to character creation should really be whether the character concept fits into the setting and genre of the game world. “What character are you going to create for our grim medieval world?” “My character is a plucky green alien monkey who uses their bounty hunter training to help the poor.” “Umm…” So

People learn in several different ways. Some learn by reading or being told all the details at once. Others learn better by example. In any case, you can make the rules easier to learn by making the rules memorable. The best way to do this is to remember that combat is a part of roleplaying.

It is important to understand that rulebooks serve two basic purposes. They teach the rules to players new to the game, but they also serve as a reference tool for GMs and players during a game session. Most rulebooks are arranged in a way that supports players during gaming sessions, so explaining the rules from

The first thing that players need to understand before they play is the idea of playing their part. Before you even begin to explain the rules of the game, they need to understand this. This is what defines roleplaying games as distinct from board games and video games. In a board game, you play as