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Hi!

It's great having you here! I'm Andrzej and it's my place for sharing the hobby of tabletop RPG games, mainly from the GM perspective. If you are new to them and think about starting as a Game Master, you'll find plenty of my first-hand learning experience and hopefully some useful tips here. And if you're interested in some inspirations or session reports for your games, there's that too.

Since I'm blazing a trail in a new direction, I'm virtually unable to write anything honest and meaningful without addressing the change of course first.
GM's tales

What am I doing it all for?

I wasn’t idle, let me assure you. I’m hard at work on my ttRPG projects. I only need to unstuck from writer’s block, which I’m doing right now, as I’m writing this post already.

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GM's tales

Year 2024 – My Plans, Predictions and Wishes

I Like to start each year with at least a few days dedicated to reflecting on my overall goals, the direction I want to move in, and the values I want to bring about in my life. This includes not only achievement-like, challenge overcoming but also – and each year even more importantly so – the life balance values. Creating stories for my games and running them at the table became a more and more meaningful way for me to exercise and avail myself of my creativity. Given that, I wanted to share what I set out for the coming Wheel of Time’s revolution and what I predict will happen regarding some of my favorite RPG titles.

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Mama, just killed my RPG campaign! (for schedule conflicts, of course) | Photo: salvatoregiuffreda on flickr.com
GM's tales

RPG schedule conflicts for sessions (and blogging)

I started writing this post a week ago – as I promised to some of you who have stayed in touch with me in the last couple of months. But then, over the weekend, I realized I had to do something equally as brutal as it was honest and benevolent. I had to kill my RPG campaign because of schedule conflicts. And I felt terrible. As Hendrix sang in the timeless “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” now I’ve gone and thrown it all away.

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Hello back! …again

So today’s a quick update: I’m alive, and so is my blog – after a few days of downtime. It’s all taken care of, but recovering for such a long period will take time. I was weighed down by some non-RPG issues and had to think through really hard about committing back to doing my blog. It was a tough decision as I knew it’d be either a serious thing or nothing at all. I decided, finally, that picking up my writing is a good point. And I’m going to do just that.

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Adventures in Middle-earth 5e

Building up the Tension Before the Campaign Climax – Silence Before the Storm

Lately, I told you how the party of the Brown Lands decided to split up and handle various tasks at once. Bruni and Eradom were waiting by the fords on Anduin to guide Rohirrim soldiers. At the same time, the Rook and Ingolf were about to scout ahead and gather more information about the bandits’ camp in the Raven Gully. To everyone, it was clear that the campaign’s conclusion was drawing close. The proximity of the finale raised the tension tangibly, but I see it could be disrupted if not played right. Have you ever felt that all was going great for your game, but suddenly, the mood was gone? Everyone at the table was invested in the game, immersed in their characters until abruptly, they felt disconnected? A scene everybody was edging to play out passed by without almost any impression or impact? I indeed felt that a handful of times. And I think reflecting on this particular case may help me (and hopefully, you too) handle such situations better in the future. So let’s see what happened just before the final chapter of the Ghosts of the Noman-lands. Especially since I’d love to find out why and how I, unconsciously, handled building up the tension right up to the final session.

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