This post originally appeared on DyingEarth.com between 2004 and 2007. A column on roleplaying by Robin D. Laws A few columns back, I mentioned the iron rule of theatrical improv: never negate. The idea is this: when you’re working together to create a scene on the fly, you have to accept, and build on, any […]
Tag Archives: gm advice
The following article originally appeared in an earlier iteration of See Page XX in September 2008. A column on roleplaying by Robin D. Laws Pipe and Believability A while back on the Yog-Sothoth forum dedicated to Trail Of Cthulhu a discussion arose from that game’s suggestion that players be permitted to select their exotic languages […]
The following article originally appeared in an earlier iteration of See Page XX in April 2008. It discusses several technical details about podcasting, which the reader should bear in mind are now over 12 years old. By Paul MacLean [Editor] Paul, also known as Paul of Cthulhu is the head honcho over at Yog-Sothoth, and […]
The following article originally appeared on an earlier iteration of See Page XX in April 2008. A column on roleplaying by Robin D. Laws Give a Clue The heart of the GUMSHOE system is its method of ensuring that players always gather the clues essential to the solution of a mystery and lots of other […]
The following article originally appeared on an earlier iteration of See Page XX in February 2008. Distractions are Your Friend Using Props and Toys in Your Game by Jamie Maclaren Role-playing is a very specific type of group interaction, but many of its features are not unique. There are many activities that involve sitting, talking, sharing […]
The following article originally appeared on an earlier iteration of See Page XX in February 2008. Find James Semple’s stings for Trail of Cthulhu here, and you can also find the soundtracks James composed for Trail of Cthulhu and Night’s Black Agents. A column on roleplaying by Robin D. Laws Sting, Sting, Sting A GUMSHOE issue […]
The following article originally appeared on an earlier iteration of See Page XX in October 2007. Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Started Loving Losing Control by Fred Hicks When I sit down at the table, I’m looking to feel. I want my character’s triumphs to exhilarate me, and when he makes a bad decision, I […]
Always one to show his work, Noah Lloyd shares his number one technique for running table top roleplaying games in the latest Pelgrane Video Dispatch.
GUMSHOE divides abilities according to whether failure at that ability can drive narrative. Because it is never interesting to fail to get information, you never fail with your investigative abilities. General abilities, on the other hand, do offer the possibility of something interesting—if often horrible—happening when you fail a test. You can fail to run […]
This post originally appeared on DyingEarth.com between 2004 and 2007, but could prove useful for the many subsequent GUMSHOE systems. A column about roleplaying by Robin D. Laws On a fundamental structural level, RPG sessions are their own beast, and are unlike movies, TV, and books. However, these related storytelling forms are always worth looking […]