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Making sense of random rolls in sandbox RPG – A Tomb-plunder to Pay Your Bills

If you assume that the random rolls make sense, you'll find even the wildest ones to make sense in your sandbox RPG. Just practice your improvisation skill.
If you assume that the random rolls make sense, you’ll find even the wildest ones to make sense in your sandbox RPG. Just practice your improvisation skill. | Photo by Pineapple Supply Co. on Unsplash

Bruni – the dwarven lush and fencer, Mara – an itinerary tradeswoman, and Hrod – a golden-hearted goblin scoundrel – are on their way. From? Where to? I asked myself the same questions as we sat at the table for our first session. But in our sandbox game, it wasn’t me to answer them – I just had to make sense of what the random dice rolls would say. What was it?

Read More »Making sense of random rolls in sandbox RPG – A Tomb-plunder to Pay Your Bills

Meet Your Humble Ravenland’s Graverobbers – I love random player-character generation!

Rolling the dice may spark imagination to create an unusual idea - especially when you do a random player-character generation.
Rolling the dice may spark imagination to create an unusual idea – especially when you do a random player-character generation.
| Photo by Ugo Mendes Donelli on Unsplash

It’s our very first session of the Forbidden Lands campaign. From the very first moment, I see players’ interactions reflecting their alter-egos, the relationships seem like they’ve been there for a long time now. But in fact, we’ve finished creating them just seconds ago. That’s all thanks to random player-character generation and its powerful ability to inspire.

Read More »Meet Your Humble Ravenland’s Graverobbers – I love random player-character generation!

RPG in the Time of Plague – How did I start to run a sandbox campaign? 7-item to-do list

Sandbox RPG campaign in the time of plague
This sandbox campaign was mean to the characters. But it all started out of the mean time for myself. Photo by Jeremy Bezanger on Unsplash

Little time for preparing sessions, having to schedule them to late hours and simultaneous drive to play something exciting – it’s all made me run my first sandbox RPG campaign. The concept appeared to me from time to time on the Internet, but I wasn’t very familiar with it. But when I read in the Forbidden Lands GM’s Guide that “15–30 minutes of preparation is plenty most of the time”, I was sold on it immediately. So why and how I did actually start my first sandbox campaign?

Read More »RPG in the Time of Plague – How did I start to run a sandbox campaign? 7-item to-do list

Do all roads lead to an inn? – cliché in RPG

Can using cliché such as meeting in an inn be beneficial in RPG?
Can using cliché such as meeting in an inn be beneficial in RPG? Photo by Mathieu Stern on Unsplash

Even at the world’s lowest backwater, there’s an inn, a bar or other gathering place of some sort. And in it, you will almost certainly find rumours, mysterious strangers and, most importantly, the main plot. It sounds irritatingly obvious or overused, isn’t it? Well, maybe. But I also disagree about using cliché themes in RPG.

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The first session of RPG campaign in the Brown Lands – Setting the Stage

Atmosphere at the beginning of the first session of RPG campaign is defining for the whole game.
The atmosphere at the beginning of the first session of the campaign is defining for the whole game, photo by Zac Edmonds on Unsplash

Crafting an introduction to the first session of an RPG campaign is a powerful way of setting the tone for the adventures to come. In my opening post of the series, I described a handful of ways to bring up the unique feeling of Middle-earth in my Brown Lands campaign. Those concerned mostly the general layout of the plot. This time, I’d like to focus on how to perform it at the RPG table. So, let’s set off right into the campaign!

Read More »The first session of RPG campaign in the Brown Lands – Setting the Stage