March 2008
1 post
Magic Carnival
In a strange city, every year there is a Magic Carnival Night: magic Masks are sold to inhabitants and tourists. Every mask has its personality and agenda. The Mask of the Prince wants the love of the younger princess The Mask on the Barbarian searches for a stolen Totem ecc. ecc. The wearer of the mask can choose to follow the mask or simply enjoying the City and the folklore… but...
January 2008
1 post
Introducing NPCs
Maybe I can steal inspiration from a screenwriter?
December 2007
6 posts
Samantha Black Crow in "American Gods"
“…I can believe that things are true and I can believe things that aren’t true and I can believe things where nobody knows if they’re true or not. I can believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and Marilyn Monroe and the Beatles and Elvis and Mister Ed. Listen, I believe that people are perfectible, that knowledge is infinite, that the world is run by secret banking cartels and is...
1 tag
Shadows of the Mind
The one-shot based on Altered Carbon is finished. Meanwhile I have even given a title to it: “Soulless”. And now I am thinking to the next one. I plan on expanding and improving an old idea. Many chtulhu adventures describe the horror of discovering the secrets beyond the veil of reality. While discovering disturbing details your character loses his mind sanity falling toward madness....
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Adventures: How I categorize them
Maybe it is a bit boring, but I find useful to divide the adventures I propose to my players in 3 kinds: Campaign: In the perfect DnD style, a party of adventurers will face many different adventures and quests. The connection between the quests is provided by the setting and the party living them: all the facts happen in the same “plane of existence”. Saga: In fact very similar to a...
Many hated villains in my campaigns...
…have a thing in common: the first time they met the party, they paralyzed/incapacitated a lot of them for the whole scene. Players remember painstakingly well who annoyed them.
November 2007
9 posts
"I hide behind the invisible mage."
Add-on to yesterday post: given a “colorful” battle, expect players trying clever but out-of-the-rules actions. From yesterday night: Player: “I hide behind the invisible wizard.” Me: “WANT? You said it yourself, he is invisible…” Player: “Yes, yes, let me explain… I want the two-headed displacer beast to bite him while trying to attack...
DnD: exciting battles
Mastering fight-oriented games like Dungeons&Dragons is easy to have the party too “used” to combat. When I want a memorable fight I try to follow these rules: You need more than one single monster. While it is easier too use a single one, it is difficult to balance it. A bit too weak, and the party swarms on the poor creature. A bit too strong and you risk killing characters in...
Inspiration: when searching for creepy ideas...
…Never forget who killed bambi.
Horror Adventure idea: Grandpa secret.
An old man dies. His children and nephews (the playing characters) swarm in a hunt for his testament. In a old house a dark legacy is discovered. The deceased fought terrifying forces for the length of its life…will his descendants accept to bring on the battle?
Your Imagination...
…will never defeat Reality.
2 tags
4 tags
Idea: the Druid-King
A druid is standing in the middle of the forest. His hands are trembling. The wind has just brought the news. His father is dying. His brothers have killed themselves in the battle for the throne. His mother is coming to the forest to call the new King. The leaves are singing the song of fear.
1 tag
Soulless
Every Tuesday we play an adventure based on Morgan book Altered Carbon. The book depicts a future where a person mind is continually saved in a chip installed in the body, so everyone rich enough can be reinstalled in a new body upon death. The adventure practically wrote itself while I was reading the Book. Highly suggested to any Narrator in search of cyberpunk inspiration.
Once upon a time...
… there was a blog where I wrote down ideas for my role playing campaigns. Time to restart?