of Dice and Dragons

They’re inexpensive, portable and hold up well - so why don’t more gamers and GMs use them?

Almost every role-playing game lends itself to their use. Spellcasters can put spell information on them while those that use weapons can use them not only to list their weapons but also any special features and ammunition. They’re also great for those that have a range of attack options; list out each attack type along with all the appropriate modifiers so you can speed up combat.

Got a character with different attack types and options? Go grab a pack of colored index cards to make finding things easier.

Speaking of multi-colored index cards they’re great for the GM. Set up a different color for each item you need to track. Yellow for NPCs, green for locations, blue for creatures and white for character information. During a session you can grab a card and clip it to your GM screen so it’s easy to see the information.

So go ahead, grab a pack of index cards and streamline a few things during your sessions.

Keeping your players off guard is helpful in building suspense and also keeps them guessing as to what’s coming next. The most common ploy to do this is to simply roll a die or two behind your screen and smile at the players, but why not take it up a notch.

Pick a player at the table and have them roll a die, the result selects someone else at the table. In my case I have four players so I’ll have someone roll a four-sider the result is the second player. Once your second player is selected have them roll a d20 and then smile. The trick here is to actually have something happen with respect to the result - not everytime and not always bad, just often enough so they don’t know what’s coming.

If one thing is certain when it comes to role-playing games is that you’re going to have encounters. Some good, some bad, some where the players come out on top and still others where the NPCs seem to have the upperhand.

After reading the ongoing thread on the gmmastery mailing list I decided that an ongoing series of encounter ideas would be a good thing. Once a week I’ll be adding a new encounter idea to the blog for you to shape and use in your campaigns. Keep in mind that an encounter does not have to be combat oriented, it could be role-playing oriented just as easily.

Encounter - The funeral procession.

The setting could be anywhere, a crowded street in a city or on a space station, possibly a country road.

The procession is heard before it is seen. A member of the clergy is leading with family and close friends of the deceased, the casket or urn containing the remains follows. The sound of chanting and smell of incense fill the air.

From here you can take the encounter in any of a number of directions; here are a few ideas:

- Do nothing, it’s a simple funeral procession, nothing more.
- The deceased is actually an undead (chose appropriately for your role-playing system) and it choses the moment it passes the party to reveal itself.
- The deceased was murdered and a member of the procession points to a party member and yells, “That’s the one! That’s the monster that killed him!”
- The procession is stopped by the local police force for not having the proper permits.

You can also tie the funeral to your campaign in a more personal manner, have the deceased a known NPC or former character who has retired (with permission of course).

Be sure to check out these additional encounter ideas