Stargazer's World

Next to last post for RPG a Day 2025, and the prompt for today is Experience. So, allow me to discuss the experience mechanic in role-playing games, albeit somewhat incoherently, just some random thoughts, if you’ll indulge me.

The experience mechanic, so familiar in RPGs, is part of the game’s influence on society, adapted to electronic games, and a key component of the gamification of culture. After all, the badges and perks from your banking app are a little bit like leveling up in a game.

Even as a young gamer in the “olden days” of the late 1980s (as my son called them yesterday, clearly a Peppa Pig reference, see below), I wondered, “Why are these tables so complicated? Why are the numbers at high levels so massive? Can’t we use smaller numbers to make them more manageable?”

Peppa is name level and has built her stronghold, Rule Cyclopedia style.

Look at some of these tables. For example, the AD&D 1e Magic User Table goes up to 3,000,000 experience points!

Or look at this table from The World of Synnibarr.

While different experience point totals for different classes were common for many years, I quickly became a fan of unified experience tables when D&D 3rd edition came out. Compare the D&D 3. Experience table to all the experience tables from Rifts!

Despite being a fan of old-school games, I really dislike games that use different experience tables for each class. In my mind, Shadowdark and the Without Numbers games from Sine Nomine Publishing (Stars, Worlds, Cities, and Ashes Without Number) do this right. Look at the tables below. Manageable XP totals, Worlds Without Number even offers the opportunity of different-paced advancement.

I remember handing out experience points at the end of games, and when AD&D 2e came out, not just for treasure or monsters, but also for class-specific and role-playing-related rewards. Players were responsible for keeping track of their experience totals, and all sorts of shenanigans ensued. Someone forgot to add the latest experience reward and is falling behind. Another person made an error when calculating the large amount of experience points, and their character is at a higher level than it should be. Even basic math can be a challenge when sleep-deprived or distracted by Monty Python jokes!

I then started keeping a tally of the experience point rewards for each player. They kept their total, and I did as well. If there was any discrepancy, we could refer to my notes. I eventually just created Excel worksheets for the experience totals. Players stopped keeping track of their own experience totals and instead relied on me to tell them when they leveled up.

This practice may sound similar to milestone leveling, where players reach specific milestones in an adventure and level up, regardless of the number of experience points. You can read a comparison of traditional experience point leveling and milestone leveling here. However, I was not advancing milestones per se. I still calculated XP totals and could award extra points for specific milestones of achievement, but I did not abandon the experience system.

Of course, there are plenty of systems that don’t use experience points and tables. Some use experience points, but players spend them to increase their character’s statistics. Others dispense with experience points altogether and don’t address this, instead rewarding players in other ways. I have always liked how Call of Cthulhu handles skill increases, rolling to see if you get better at the skills you used in an adventure, which is succinctly explained here.

I am currently running a Savage Worlds game, and the latest iteration of the rules, the Adventure Edition, has really dispensed with experience tables, fully embracing milestone leveling. But I have not given up on it! I use a version of the previous rules, still keeping a tally of experience points, and inform players when they level up.

Why am I still stuck on the old paradigm? I suppose I’m set in my ways. It helps me to have a numerical way to measure how the characters grow, and the Savage Worlds experience is simple enough that all I am doing is using these numbers as a way to visualize how slow or fast they level up, awarding extra points when they achieve a significant milestone. I am adding math to something similar to the milestone advancement model.

Whatever I play next after our current campaign, likely Worlds Without Number or Shadowdark, will end up being something similar to what I described above. A simple experience model that I can tweak, allowing advancement to be effective and rewarding for long-term play, while also enabling me to reward players for significant achievements in their stories or the campaign.

How do you manage experience in your games? Do you still dole out experience in your games? Have you embraced milestone leveling? Any advice for me or readers on handling experience? I’d love to read your ideas and comments about the prompt; feel free to share them here in the comments or tag me wherever you’re sharing them. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.

Surprise! Earlier in the month, I missed two days, and I quickly remedied the situation and posted the Day 9 post two days late. And now, 19 days late, here is the post for Day 10 of RPG a Day 2025. The prompt is ‘Origin.’

For Day 6, on the topic of Motive, I wrote about the Central Casting books by Jennell Jaquays. So for today’s prompt, I decided to grab my copy of Central Casting Heroes for Tomorrow (which I erroneously called Heroes of Tomorrow on Day 6) and roll up a character’s origin.

Here are the results. First, there are the results of the rolls on the random tables in the books as per the Character History Worksheet. I realized I didn’t write down the rolls; apologies, but you have the results of those rolls here. For all the names used, I generated them using online random generators.

After that, there is the origin story for the character based on the results in the worksheet. I did not create any corresponding character in a specific system. However, I’d like to invite our readers to make one based on the character story provided here. If you share your character in the comments or send it to me through social media, email, or tag me on your post, I will write a follow-up post collecting the characters you create. I’d love to see what you create based on the character origin in this post.

One last thing before getting to the point of this post. I said I would not use AI-generated art for these posts, but after completing the character’s origin today, I had an idea of what he looked like and used Gemini, Google’s AI, to create the character portrait at the new depth of his story. I know this can be a controversial topic, and I support real artists creating genuine art; I don’t spend my money on AI-generated content. So I apologize in advance for using the AI-generated portrait.

And now, without further ado, here is the origin of my sci-fi character:

Central Casting Character History Worksheet

Player Name: Roberto (Sunglar)

Name: Davian Othvad-Case

Sex: Male

Die Roll Modifiers

p. 13-14 Future History Modifier (FutMod): 12 (Imperial Space)

• Name: Old Ascendancy of Dothe

(102A) Tech Level Modifier (TekMod): 13 (modified to 4 see event)

(102B) Culture Modifier (CuMod): 2 (modified to 10 see event)

(103) Social Level Modifier (SolMod): 2

(105) Birth Modifier (BiMod): 20

(749) Title Modifier (TiMod): 3

Future History:

(101) Race: Human

(102A) Tech Level: Second Stellar Age: Mixed Technology; high and low-level technology intermixed (changed to Renaissance, see event)

(102) Education Points: 36 (spent)

(102B) Culture: Barbaric

(103) Social Status: Poor

(103) Literacy Chance: 80% (literate)

(749) Nobility Title (if any): None

(104A) Legitimate Birth? Yes

(104B) Family: Two Parents

• Father – Jariden Othvad-Horris
• Mother – Kasra Case-Jayla

(104C) Siblings: Three

• Oder brother – Anedre Othvad-Case
• Younger brother – Ayaan Othvad-Case

(104C) Birth Order: Second

(105A) Home world: Racial Home, Glacial World

• Driebos

(105B) Place of Birth: In a bar, in a prison

(106) Unusual Births: Nothing

(107) Notes about Parents: The head of household had one job, guide/pilot, had a patron, the grandfather, who was of well-to-do social status. The father was chosen at random for this job; he traveled widely with the patron and learned about the galaxy alongside him.

• Grandfather – Cavir Case-Koltn

(208 – 211) NOTES & EVENTS

Age – Event or Note

• [N] 1-12 – Patron: a female of extremely wealthy social status; secretly a notorious crime figure, on one hand, an evil figure of the underworld, while publicly known for philanthropic works, interested in exploration and adventure. The character was selected to be prepared for a special task (GM determined); learned a craft (baking)
  • Name: Zenia Riccia, High Priestess of the Banking Conglomerate
• [D] 1-12 – Developed a jaded taste for expensive and possibly exotic pleasures.
• [R] 13-18 – Family upheaval: parents split up, character stayed with mother. Three years later, the parents remarried.
• [R] Adulthood / 25 – His homeworld secedes from the “empire”, and aligning against the government in power, the resulting war devastates the planet. Planet tech-level falls from the Second Stellar Age to the Medieval. Culture becomes Dynamic.

SKILLS

Skill Name / Rank

• Cooking (Gourment) / 1
• Craft (Bake) / 3
• Literacy / 3
• Partying (hobby as a profession) / 5
• Social Dancing (formal and informal) / 2
• Skiing / 3
• Survival (R) / 3
• Survival (U) /1
• Survival (W) /2
• Weapon Use (Gun) / 3

OCCUPATION(S)

• Above average education (3d6 Education Points)
• Hobby practiced as an occupation (consuming passion +2 Rank), Partying (Rank 5)

(312) PERSONALITY

• [N] Studious, studies often, pays attention to detail (Driving)
• [D] Tactless, speaks before thinking (Weak)
• [R] Exotic Personality Trait – [N] Know-it-All (has a 10% of really knowing anything) (Weak)
• [R] No personality trait develops

Alignment: Neutral

Attitude: Self-Centered

Attribute Modifiers & Age

• Starting Age: 30
• +1 to Strength & Constitution
• 50% Starting money, problems borrowing money

Davian Othvad-Case, the Gentleman Raider

Davian Othvad-Case was born on the ice moon Driebos, in orbit around the gas giant Erabos, during the Second Age of Conquest, following the fall of the Stellar Concord and the breaking of its territories into warring factions. The colonists of Driebos settled on the galactic frontier, seeking to escape the wars that would follow them to the fringes of known space. Hardy pioneers, they benefited from the Concord’s technology in taming the ice world. Still, they maintained the old ways of their ancestors, organized in clans led by the strongest and most capable warlords. A technologically advanced society that extracted exotic gases used for non-Faster-Than-Light (FTL) propulsion systems from Erabos, but mined the frozen oceans of their homeworld by hand in their wind-propelled sled-ships. A high-tech society embracing ancient traditions considered barbaric by the far more advanced and powerful stellar potentates, the Old Ascendancy of Dothe.

During Driebos’ foundation and growth as a trade center in the fringes of colonized space, the Old Ascendancy of Dothe was involved in a series of wars with its rivals in their sector of space. Davian’s father, Jariden Othvad-Horris, was a poor street urchin in the moon’s main spaceport. He broke into the ship of a well-to-do pilot and hyper-route scout who took pity on him. Instead of handing him over to the authorities, the pilot gave him a job on his ship.

Jariden trained under Captain Cavir Case-Koltn, learning to pilot the ship and explore new hyper-routes lost after the fall of the Concord across the Dothian sphere of influence and beyond, seeing the greater galaxy, and falling in love with his patron’s daughter. Cavir disapproved of Jariden’s courting his daughter, Kasra Case-Jayla, and dismissed him from his post, forbidding Kasra from communicating with him. Kasra renounced her father’s clan and eloped with Jariden. Davian’s older brother, Anedre Othvad-Case, was born soon thereafter.

Banned from the Astral Scout Guild by his former patron, Davian’s grandfather, the influential Captain Cavir Case-Koltn, Jariden became a black-market navigator in less reputable gas haulers, his job often taking him away from Driebos, his family living in poverty, for Davian’s mother, Kasra, was too proud and obstinate to ask for help from her father.

Jariden was on one such journey away from home, Kasra pregnant with her second child, when the Old Ascendancy of Dothe finally turned its attention to Driebos and conquered the moon, annexing it to the Ascendancy. While Jariden desperately tried to return home, unable to break the Dothian blockade of Driebos, local clans and families who refused to submit to the invader’s will were rounded up to resettlement camps, where Kasra worked as a waitress in the bar serving the prisoners. Davian was born in the back room of the bar, as his brother Anedre helped his mom with the delivery.

When Jariden was finally able to return home, his family had been relocated from the more hospital equatorial zone of Driebos to the inhospitable northern hemisphere. Banned from practicing his trade, Jariden worked as a laborer for subsistence wages in the construction of the Dothian orbital citadels from which the conquerors ruled Dreibos. At the same time, his wife cared for their growing family.

Life was hard for Davian’s family, and when his younger brother, Ayaan Othvad-Case, was born, his parents were unsure how they would feed their three children. However, a visiting Dothian philanthropist, Zenia Riccia, High Priestess of the Banking Conglomerate, took an interest in young Davian after seeing him participate in the traditional war dance with the other children of his class. Insisting to his parents that she could offer the boy an education and opportunities they could not, Davian’s parents reluctantly handed their second-born son to the High Priestess.

Unknown to Davian’s parents, Zenia Riccia was secretly the head of one of the largest Dothian criminal syndicates, controlling the drugs pushed on the poorest inhabitants of Driebos to keep them docile and easily controlled by the Dothians. The High Priestess also chose Davian, for her seers had foretold he was destined to find the lost hyper-route to the Stellar Concord’s lost throne world.

As a young child, aboard one of the orbital citadels, Davian received an education unlike the one he would have received on the surface settlements on Driebos. While he enjoyed ostentatious and exotic pleasures growing up, he was never allowed to forget that he was not a Dothian himself. Davian was studious, and while he excelled in core subjects, he showed talent for crafting culinary delicacies and for his dancing abilities, which were in full display in the lavish events at the High Priestess’ estate.

He proved so adept in the courtly skills valued by Zenia Riccia’s courtiers that Davian became the apprentice of the High Priestess’ Master of Revels. The young man was known as the gentleman artiste, renowned for his talent as well as his wit. Ready to engage in the most intricate performative dance, as well as to verbally spar with the most experienced courtier with cutting wit and deep knowledge unusual for his young age.

When Davian was allowed to visit his parents before his rite of adulthood, he found a family in ruins. His oldest brother was addicted to hallucinogenic drugs, his parents separated, and his younger brother was involved with the resistance movement fighting the occupation of the Old Ascendancy of Dothe.

Experiencing firsthand the conditions that his people experienced under Dothian rule changed Davian. He returned to working for the High Priestess, becoming her Master of Revels, where he coordinated lavish events and grew as a renowned reveler among Dothian high society. However, he used his influence and position to help his family. His older brother recovered from his addiction, his parents reconciled, but his younger brother left the home and joined the underground resistance.

Davian’s secret sympathies drew him closer and closer to the resistance, eventually feeding information and secrets to the movement through his brother, while continuing to work for Zenia Riccia.

When the Driebos resistance rose against the Old Ascendancy of Dothe, Davian openly helped them and betrayed the High Priestess, killing her as the orbital citadels fell from the sky. The rebels’ triumph was short-lived, as the Dothian retaliation was swift and brutal. The Ascendancy bombarded the moon with powerful weapons, killing the inhabitants en masse. The survivors were plunged into a pre-industrial age, and the Old Ascendancy of Dothe quarantined the system.

With most of his family dead, his homeworld in ruins, and disenchanted with the outcome of the failed rebellion, Davian Othvad-Case escaped the system blockade and joined a crew of raiders and pirates, harrying the Old Ascendancy of Dothe space lane, where his old fame precedes him. The military commanders who hunt for him and the captains he preys upon call him the Gentleman Raider.

RPG a Day 2025 has been a great year! For today’s prompt, Connect, I’ll talk about the connections I’ve made participating in the initiative this year.  For 2025, I’ve been writing a daily blog post here (still missing Day 10, I know!), sharing it on my social media accounts, and Bluesky has been a pleasant surprise. I’ve really connected with a lot of RPG enthusiasts, some of whom I knew before, and others I discovered this year.

It is always great to connect with Richard ‘Bat’ Brewster. I always appreciate his comments, feedback, and the great posts he shares on his feed and blog.

I am always interested in connecting with other Spanish speakers who play RPGs in Spain and Latin America, and a post about this as part of the RPG  a Day resulted in discovering the feed #loderol and LA ESQUINA DEL ROL GAMES, self-described as a Mexican indie TTRPG studio.

I can’t believe I had never followed Matthew Pook’s YouTube Channel regularly. Unboxing in the Nook has great shorts for RPG a Day this year, but I am now delving into his other videos and reviews. Of course, Ivan Mike, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in person this year, has two videos, one for days 1 to 11 and another for days 12 to 21, so far this year. You can certainly follow him for his RPG content, but he’s been posting about life and offering great advice, so be sure to check out all his content.

Photographic proof I met a YouTube Star!

I always enjoy Timothy S. Brannan’s content, not just for RPG a Day, but year-round. Including his blog, The Other Side, and his game products.

I have also become a lot more active on Discord this year, really rebuilding the Puerto Rico Role Players community there, with he help of friends from that group.

Here on the blog, at the RPG a Day Facebook page, on my socials, but particularly on my Bluesky, I’ve really enjoyed connecting with all of you. I know I’ll blog less for the rest of the year, but I really hope we can keep in touch through all those alternative means.

We are not done with ##RPGaDay2025 just yet, two days left to go. Let’s reach the finish line!

I’d love to read your ideas and comments about the prompt; feel free to share them here in the comments or tag me wherever you’re sharing them.

Suspense can be particularly challenging to convey effectively in a tabletop RPG. It requires the right mix of player buy-in, effective GM presentation, and a collaboration between all parties. Today’s topic for RPG a Day 2025, Suspense, made me think of recent games where I have felt suspense most effectively.

I don’t want to speak about suspense from my perspective as a GM; that view is a little askew. I would rather discuss my experiences as a player, particularly in relation to suspense and horror games, which are my favorites to play.

Playing Call of Cthulhu in high school was a treat. It was the first game I got to play as a player. I was a fan of Lovecraft, and although I have a more nuanced view of him today, I remain a fan of the game. To a D&D player, the Sanity rules, the eldritch books, and the undefeatable evils all seemed fresh. After years of playing, including CoC, the element of suspense seems better served by other mechanics.

I wrote about Gumshoe this year for Day 14, and mentioned Trial of Cthulhu, which seems like the best system for running Cthulhu for me. However, I have not played Arkham Horror, which I don’t own, nor Cthulhu Awakens from Green Ronin, which I do own.

However, I have played a game that did suspense right, Ten Candles. A collaborative storytelling game played by candlelight, where you burn the index cards that describe your character, which you created collaboratively with the other players. I won’t go into too many details, but the Wikipedia entry for the game has a nice description if you are interested.

I will say this was the most suspenseful session of an RPG in a long time. We played it two years ago, in 2023, near Halloween. The game is excellent, but the GM also helped. Jose García also ran a two-session adventure, which was very exciting. He definitely excels at suspense and horror RPGs. I’m sharing some pictures of the session.

The one horror RPG which I really want to play, but haven’t, is Dread. I have owned the book for years, and I have yet to run it. Maybe this year, for Halloween, we can play it. I’ll let you know.

What system do you believe best handles suspense? Any tricks you use to create suspense in your games?  I’d love to read your ideas and comments about the prompt; feel free to share them here in the comments or tag me wherever you’re sharing them. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.

Tactic, that’s the prompt for today on Day 27 of RPG a Day 2015. A tactic is, according to Merriam-Webster,  “a device for accomplishing an end”, and Google, using Oxford’s results, says, “an action or strategy carefully planned to achieve a specific end”. I’ve been dispensing some general advice this month on keeping adventures going, encouraging player participation, and overcoming frustration. But let’s get down to the nitty-gritty: how do I do it? What are my tactics for this? Apologies if you’ve read some of these ideas in a previous post. I’ll reiterate some key points and discuss lessons learned over the past few years.

Sunglar’s Game Master Tactics

• Keeping a regular game going

Pick a day and frequency, stick to it, don’t cancel unless it’s an emergency. Really stick to it!

I’ve been fortunate to have kept a regular weekly game going since 1993. I started playing much earlier, in the summer of 1986, and we played almost every day back then. We were in high school, and we played whenever we could. Granted, when my grades slipped a bit, my mother put her foot down, and I could only play on weekends. We did, almost the whole weekend. During the summers, we played practically every day. Then we went to college, got jobs, and formed relationships. We kept playing whenever we could, but it was haphazard. I took stock of my gaming habits and decided to settle on one night a week, a regular day, and stick to it.

It has worked well since 1993, for 32 years. The day has moved around; players come and go. Natural disasters and pandemics have caused interruptions, and we’ve had to adapt to play remotely. My job, which has recently involved extensive travel, has presented new challenges, but we’ve managed to adapt to them. As the Game Master (GM), the onus is often on me to plan, coordinate, remind, and facilitate the game, but I do it.

I rarely cancel, primarily due to personal illness, family emergencies, or travel, but if I can play, I run the game. If players have any problems, and they inform me in advance, we may consider an alternative day that week. I run the game at the agreed-upon time, with the players who show up. I really believe that consistency and commitment are 75% of the success in my games. If players know you are showing up, they will too. Some may not, some may be there for a time, and then life happens, and they step away from the game. Other players will come. If you are consistent, they will come!

But how do you do this when you don’t want to run a game, when you feel frustrated?

• Dealing with GM burnout and frustration?     

Grin and bear it!

That sounds harsh and a little boomer-like. It works for me, but it may not work for you. Allow me to be more nuanced.

Being a GM can be frustrating. It is all about being part referee, part improv artist, part social coordinator, part public speaker, part entertainer, part scribe, and part cat herder. A lot of hats, a lot of balls in the air, you may drop a few now and then. Particularly as a new GM, it is a lot to handle, and many who take on the responsibility of being a GM are often intelligent, perfectionists who overanalyze and can be overly self-critical. The same traits that make us good GMs also mean we can be terribly hard on ourselves, doubt our abilities, and overthink the game long after the session is over. I’ve been there.

How have I dealt with it? First of all, it gets better with time. Like most things in life, from riding a bike to public speaking to coding, the more you do it, the easier it becomes. One way to be a better GM and work through frustration is to do it.

But being a GM is so many things; we may not all be equally proficient at all of them. I may be better at improvisation and creating stories, but not so good at remembering the rules. Lean into your strengths, seek help for your deficiencies. Recruit the rules lawyer to help with combat or help other players with their characters.

Overwhelmed with things to do? Ask a player to handle initiative. Another may be the “hobbit-accountant” (fond memories of a former player, Luis Alvarado!) and keep records of the party’s treasure—parcel out responsibilities to the group.

When you feel frustrated or overwhelmed, acknowledge and address your feelings, but avoid overanalyzing them. Some of the tactics I use include trying not to linger thinking about the session after the game. Immediately after the session, I do something else; I try not to think too much about the game, and I do something else the next day. With a cooler head and some time between the game and my assessment, I sit down to take notes, review, and consider what I can do next.

When that doesn’t work, I take notes on my thoughts before making any rash decisions, read what I wrote, and then proceed. That may involve planning new strategies for future sessions, consulting with players as necessary, and determining next steps, which leads me to the next point.

• Keeping players engaged and participating

Be respectful, friendly, and treat others as you would like to be treated.

I am fortunate that the players in my group are close friends. Communicating with them is easier because we know each other, we trust each other, and they are the family life has given me!

Regardless, I treat them with the same respect and kindness I treat others with. In games and in real life, being respectful and friendly to others will get you farther. I talk with them, not at them. I listen. I receive feedback openly and with a positive attitude. Keep your players engaged by listening to them, including their suggestions, and being respectful of their ideas.

If what they say is not clear, ask. Say, “This is what I understand by what you said, am I correct?” or “Could you rephrase that, I want to make sure I understand what you mean.” Likewise, ask if people understood you, and be willing to repeat yourself if necessary.

Be very aware that people learn and interpret information in different ways. They also game for various reasons. Some cherish the social aspect, while others appreciate the tactical side, providing the space and opportunities to participate in meaningful ways. Play to their strengths and interests and give them a chance to shine. Make sure everyone is having fun!

• How do you make sure people are having fun?

Ask them!

That last bit about playing to players’ interests and having fun has a lot to do with the type of game you are playing. Ensure the game and campaign are something that everyone enjoys, including yourself. Clearly set boundaries and expectations. A session zero is an excellent opportunity to discuss the above topics, as well as safety tools, and collaborate as a group to agree on something all can enjoy. What this is may change over time; return to the topic when necessary.

As you get to know your group, creating or adapting scenarios for them will become easier. If you ask them about their characters’ history and motivations and use that information in the game, this will go a long way toward keeping them engaged. When in doubt, ask them. What sort of adventure do you want to play? Create a survey and share it with your players.

I use social media, online tools, and messaging services to keep the players engaged. I used messaging to remind them of sessions, to stay in touch, and to answer questions outside the game. I use online tools for reference images, to list NPCs, and any other resources that help players remain engaged with the game.

Remember, even if you feel bad, if you think a session wasn’t all it could be, if players are having fun, you are doing something right. Make sure being a GM is ultimately for you as well. I am one of those who prefer being a GM. It may not be for everyone, but give yourself a chance; you may find out you like it far more than you thought.

Do you agree with the tactics outlined above? What else do you do? What would you do differently?  I’d love to read your ideas and comments about the prompt; feel free to share them here in the comments or tag me wherever you’re sharing them. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.

Day 26 of RPG a Day 2025 proposes Nemesis as the topic. And all I can say is:

Cobra, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

The first thing that came to mind upon reading the prompt was one of the lamest characters in one of the lamest movies you could ever see —the Nemesis Enforcer from G.I. Joe: The Movie.

I have read that in the new Energon Universe by Skybound Entertainment, the Nemesis Enforcer has been transformed into a frightening creature in modern comics. However, for a fourteen-year-old me, the Nemesis Enforcer was the most entertaining aspect of the otherwise terrible movie.

Of course, a later franchise I enjoyed gave us another Nemesis, in Resident Evil 3. I remember it as a terrifying enemy in the game, granted, I played this 26 years ago. I don’t think it translated as well to the big screen.

According to the Wikipedia entry, the etymology of the word nemesis “is derived from the Greek word νέμειν, némein, meaning ‘to give what is due’, from Proto-Indo-European *nem- ‘distribute’.” This same entry also identifies the goddess Nemesis as the “goddess who personified retribution for the sin of hubris: arrogance before the gods.”

While I read about many Greek gods converted to D&D and AD&D while I was growing up, I do not remember seeing Nemesis as a D&D goddess. I wonder if she’s a deity in any other tabletop role-playing game. She would certainly make an interesting goddess or retribution.

But after all that preamble, what is a nemesis in our RPGs? A nemesis, per the modern meaning of the word, is a rival or arch-nemesis. A good nemesis is a crucial component of a game. Give the players a good enemy to hate, a great rival attempting to foil their plans,  and you are on the way to a memorable game.

Since I tend to run long campaigns, recurring nemeses (the plural of nemesis) are a great tool, but often are more arch-centered rather than present the whole campaign. There are exceptions, but more often than not, there is a series of villains that may or may not work for the BBEG.

Some memorable nemesis in my campaigns include Terr Sotor, about whom I wrote before during RPG a Day in 2016, a former street urchin assassin, the players encountered in one campaign, who became one of their biggest rivals in the next campaign.

There was also Von Beck Strauss, an evil military commander, and father of one of the players in my second long-running AD&D 2nd edition campaign. He was created by one of my players as part of his background, and he became one of the major villains in that campaign. Another memorable villain was Admiral Malaver, a thorn on the players’ side in our Pathfinder 1st edition pirate-themed game.

A good nemesis has ties to the players, in their background or as a rival to their goals, as the game progresses. While it is not impossible, brute opponents may be more challenging to turn into a nemesis, unless they are so powerful that their presence and immense power pose a threat. More often than not, a good nemesis is conniving, clever, and returns time and time to challenge the characters. A good nemesis is hard to beat, but not impossible. If a nemesis is undefeatable, then it becomes a frustration. Build them up, make the players loathe them, and it will be all the sweeter when they finally defeat them!

What makes a good nemesis to you? Any memorable ones in your games? Any additional advice to make a nemesis unforgettable? I’d love to read your ideas and comments about the prompt; feel free to share them here in the comments or tag me wherever you do. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.

Happy Monday! We begin the final week of RPG a Day 2025. This month has really flown by. I’m still missing one post for the month, specifically day 10, and I will get to it before the month is over, I promise. But let’s get back to the topic at hand, the prompt for today is Challenge. Weirdly, my brain has been free associating this month, and for this topic, my mind turned to the DC mid-1980s DC Challenge series published by DC Comics. In a way, this makes me think of the challenges of being a Game Master. Allow me to explain.

If you have never heard of DC Challenge, or a series with a similar concept, like the Kamandi Challenge, let me introduce you to them. I’ll quote the description by TV Tropes that summarizes DC Challenge this way: “The DC Challenge was a 12-issue maxi-series published by DC Comics from November 1985 to October 1986. It was a Round Robin series, with each of the first 11 issues helmed by a different author and artist, who ended each issue on a Cliffhanger which the next team had to resolve. The final issue was a collaborative effort by six of the authors.”

A different group of creators works independently on each issue, telling a continuous story with “no collaboration”. That last bit is in quotes because, as you read above, they worked together to wrap up the story. I don’t remember which issue I started reading the story in. It was either #4 or #6, most likely the latter, because that lines up with the time I started going to the one local comic shop back then. I believe I have #4 because I purchased the back issue later.

I don’t own the whole series. I purchased issue #3 many years later. Never owned #1 or #2. As much as I liked the gimmick of the series, I don’t recall it being particularly good. A little tongue in cheek, I was more of a fan of the execution than the final product. The idea of creators having to make sense of the story that came before and set up a cliffhanger for the next set of creators fascinated me.

This format was probably why I was also enthralled by The Dungeon series of novels and the shared world the authors created. I mentioned The Dungeon as inspiration in a previous post. I had read series like Wild Cards, a shared world super-hero-inspired anthology series, but what fascinated me were DC Challenge and The Dungeon, where new creators pick up the work of others and build upon what was created before.

In many ways, this endeavor always reminds me of what being a Game Master is all about. As much as I like world-building and the years I’ve spent crafting the worlds we play in, these are never my creation alone. I may set up the stage for certain situations, but my ideas and concepts rarely remain the same when they meet the player’s input. And that’s a good thing!

Too many GMs also want to be storytellers, but we should not strive to tell our story and have the players be the audience, which is boring. Our role is to be interpreters. To collaborate with our players, we weave together their disparate ideas and character concepts, facilitating a shared experience where we create a story together.

I guess my concept of GM is a mix of old-school and modern story-game elements. GMs should not be lone storytellers; players have agency, a shared role where we all create a story together.

When it works, when all participants are in sync, the process is delightful. When there is dissonance, where interest, mood, and expectations clash, as a GM who usually is the one enabling the collaboration, I feel like the author of an issue of DC Challenge, trying to make sense of the story the best way I can.

These less-than-ideal situations can happen in the larger context of a campaign, in a specific session, or in an encounter. Ideally, a GM can make sense of the situation, regroup, learn from the experience, and move on to become a more experienced GM, whether it’s discussing it with players after a particularly contentious session, refocusing a campaign in a larger context, or simply rolling with the punches and moving forward.

We often discuss the wonders of Game Mastering, including the tools and strategies for success, but we also need to address the small-time frustrations and feelings of inadequacy that arise when things don’t go as planned. Knowing we must improvise, and we are not always best at it.  To work through our feelings, to take a stab at making sense of the story and moving forward. The ability to do just that, to cut through the frustration and go forth, is perhaps the most essential tool you can have to be a long-term GM.

What do you think? Agree or disagree? How do you deal with frustrations as a GM? AS a player, how do you support your GM? I’d love to read your comments or reactions to the prompt; feel free to share them here in the comments or tag me wherever you do. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.

Dear reader, I hope you are having a relaxed Sunday. And now for your reading enjoyment, here is an RPG a Day 2025 post. The prompt for today, the 24th, is Reveal.

The reveal, the twist, is such a popular concept in the media that the urge to use it in our games is almost inevitable.  TV Tropes has a nice write-up of the concept of the reveal.

A reveal is necessary for many plots to work, as stated in the link shared above, a mystery or investigation hinges on a reveal. Reveals as a surprise in many plots can be refreshing, but like everything, this is better in moderation.

I can understand the urge to overuse reveals, as much of the content we consume is built around them, and we are conditioned to expect them. As a beginning Game Master, I was guilty of this. I could see the excitement when my players discovered an unexpected twist, so I kept piling them up.

When I first ran the sample dungeon in the D&D Mentzer Red Box, I ran the adventure by the book. We had fun, but I could see the grind boring some of my players. So, I added a few new monsters. I saw their eyes light up, so I added more surprises and more reveals. I saw they loved discovering the properties of magic items, so I created a room full of boxes with magic items, with no rhyme or reason, and whenever they pulled out an item, I made up the descriptions and powers. Not an official item from the game, but something I created out of thin air. That’s how the halfling got an earring that turned her into a butterfly.

That’s an extreme example. I was a new GM, and I learned from that. I learned it so well that sometimes I’ve sat on reveals for years, only springing up the surprise on the players campaigns later. Some can be real a-ha moments. Like the time the BBEG was the low-level assassin they fought two campaigns ago! Or real duds, like the time they realized both fantasy campaigns happened in the same world. I was excited; the players seemed less so.

So, the advice is that revealing information used sparingly can be effective. Too much will make it less effective. But delaying reveals too much can make them fall flat. A healthy balance is the recommendation.

I think I’ll keep it short and sweet for today. What does the prompt reveal mean for you? Do you like big reveals that change a game? Or do those unexpected big surprises ruin the game for you?  I’d love to read your comments or reactions to the prompt; feel free to share them here in the comments or tag me wherever you do. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.

Saturday is here, and so is another post for RPG a Day, day 23 this time, the prompt Recent.

What recent games have I purchased? I have probably bought fewer RPGs in 2025, for various reasons. I have been travelling for work, and buying books on the road to carry back home isn’t easy. Also, fatherhood changes your priorities. I find myself picking up a book or toy for my son more and more, rather than buying a new book for myself.

But what have I purchased this year so far that has impressed me?

Pick #1: The PDF of the Demon Lord Engine: Rules Compendium by the brilliant Robert J Schwalb, a collection and update of his rules used in the Shadow of the Demon Lord, Shadow of the Weird Wizard, and other Schwalb Entertainment games. This book is not a stand-alone game, but a compendium of the rules, a refresh of the games as they have evolved through his publications, and a reference that allows the author to produce settings and other games that reference these rules. I love Schwalb’s work and this succinct presentation of the rules is great. I will continue to support his work. If you have not checked out his games, do yourself a favor and do so. Well worth it!

Pick #2: Raiding the Obsidian Keep, written by Joseph R. Lewis and published by The Merry Mushmen. I heaped praise on this adventure on Day 21, so I won’t repeat myself here, but this is my favorite adventure so far this year.

Pick #3: The Tome of World Building by Matt Finch and published by Mythmere Games. This PDF was a crowdfunding reward and is a companion to the revised Tome of Adventure Design. A fantastic resource for world-building, presenting processes you can follow to create your world, or to inspire experienced homebrewers.

Pick #4: The Darkest House, by Monte Cook Games. I knew about Kickstarter for this book, and at the time, I was uninterested. However, when I saw the physical book during Free RPG Day this year, it intrigued me, and I bought it. The maps, images, and audio available to run this online intrigued me. Since I’ve been running a lot of online sessions for our regular group due to work-related travels, this seemed like something I could use.

Pick #5: D&D 2024! Okay, so I technically began purchasing them last year, but I completed the core books this year. Despite my problems with the books shipping from WotC, and the final books arriving all banged up, I ended up getting the special covers for all three books, so I own two copies of each of the core books (PHB, DMG, and MM) plus the D&D Beyond digital versions. The books look very nice, and the rules seem very user-friendly, written with new players in mind. I haven’t played them yet, and I haven’t purchased Dragon Delves. Having skimmed it at a store, I think I’ll pass. Maybe I’ll get the digital copy. I am not a fan of how monsters are organized in the 2024 MM, but otherwise, the rules interest me. I may play the game sometime in the future. However, I am interested in the new Starter Set to see how they teach D&D to new players.

Two games I don’t own, but hope to soon are Daggerheart and Draw Steel. I want to play them sooner rather than later.  

I also hope that my friend José Gacia will run the new Alien Evolved Edition for us. The new Alien: Earth series has me in the mood to play that game!

What recent games have impressed you? What have you purchased recently or would care to recommend? I’d love to read your recommendations or other reactions to the prompt; feel free to share them here in the comments or tag me wherever you do. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.

As I was preparing to write today’s post for RPG a Day 2025, a friend shared with me a video by a pair of Puerto Rican reactionary intolerant grognards, repeating tired clichés, “this is not my D&D”, “the savage orcs of old were cooler”, “there are women in my TTRPG”, “queer representation bothers me”. If you’ve been online, sadly, you’ve heard it all before. I won’t say who they are because they don’t deserve the traffic or the attention. They are pathetic, and let’s leave it at that.

However, that led me to reflect on how happy I am that the hobby I’ve loved for so long has become more tolerant and inclusive, and that so many people can come together to enjoy RPGs. How can we be better allies to our LGBTQ+ friends? How can we support women and feminist perspectives in gaming, as well as the representation and voices of cultures other than ours in TTRPG spaces?

FFrom my perspective as a cishet male, I advocate for speaking out. Make it clear that all gamers are welcome in our games, and that hatred and bigotry will not be tolerated. And before someone argues about it, no, I do not have to tolerate intolerance. Pictoline had a great piece about Popper and the Paradox of Tolerance. The previous link takes you to the Spanish version; you can see it in English here

We should not put up with snide remarks or comments about women, different cultures, or the LGBTQ+ community, even when those speaking then claim to have said them in jest. Speak up when others try to silence diversity! I won’t pretend to know or understand all the nuances on these topics from my position of privilege. Still, I want to share some information, continue creating awareness, and encourage our readers to share their stories, to keep learning, and to contribute to making our hobby grow as a more inclusive space.

I want to share a piece on Feminism and Tabletop RPGs. This article from the RPG Gazette titled Gygax’ Worst Nightmare – Women Rising and Enjoying TTRPGs. A list of games by women and non-binary designers.  From FemHype, a post about gender representation in TTRPG space. The article Roll for Belonging: Role-Playing Games and Inclusion in the Queer Community. And this article, Queer tabletop roleplaying games provide valuable lessons that even ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ can learn from, new research finds.

I also recommend reading: How a new generation of gamers is pushing for inclusivity beyond the table, Between Civilization & Play: A Cultural Perspective on TTRPGs, and Diversity and Representation in TTRPGs: The Importance of Inclusive Storytelling.

Human Rights Campaign has a page dedicated to Being an LGBTQ+ Ally, which I recommend checking out.

I know Michael, the Stargazer, and I won’t stand for any form of intolerance or bigotry here in the blog or gaming in general. I think it is worth repeating that all gamers are welcome, except the sexist, racist, homophobic, and intolerant gatekeepers. That lot can crawl back under the rock they came from.

Thanks for reading, see you all tomorrow on my next #RPGaDay2025 post.

For today’s prompt, Unexpected, I’ll welcome you with a statement you don’t expect from me: “I’ve found an adventure I want to run!”

If you know me or have read my posts over the years, you’ll know I rarely, if ever, run published adventures. In 39 years as a Game Master, I’ve run four adventures: the introductory adventure in the D&D Mentzer Red Box, the D&D Basic adventure B7 Rahasia, the AD&D 1e Forgotten Realms Adventure REF5: Lords of Darkness, and the Call of Cthulhu Western-themed horror adventure Down Darker Trails, but using the Amazing Adventures rules.

I read many adventures and find inspiration in some, but I rarely want to run a pre-written adventure. I enjoy creating my homebrewed worlds and the adventures in those worlds; that creative process is something I enjoy immensely.  The first two instances mentioned above, the adventure in the D&D Red Box and Rahasia, were in 1986, just as I was starting to learn to play RPGs. The third one, Lord of Darkness, was a request from a player around 1999, who wanted me to run a published adventure. I did, and it was no fun for me.

Then, when my son was born and I started playing again in 2019, I knew that the demands of fatherhood and an infant child would cut into my prep-time, so I ran Down Darker Trails and enjoyed it enormously! There were a lot of details to fill in the adventure; it was more of a background and a series of events I could run and adapt to my style of Game Mastering.

Despite this positive experience, I have not run any other adventures since. Then I discovered this gem. When I told my friends Anibal, Felipe, and José that I wanted to run an adventure, they seemed flabbergasted.

Okay, so after all the beating around the bush, which adventure do I want to run? Drum roll, please!

Raiding the Obsidian Keep, written by Joseph R. Lewis and published by The Merry Mushmen.

I became aware of the adventure in a Questing Beast review video. The themes described and the adventure organization presented by Ben in his review intrigued me, so I had to get the PDF. I was not disappointed.  From what I can tell, this is an expanded and illustrated version of the original adventure available via DriveThruRPG, The Obsidian Keep, adapted for Old School Essentials.

I don’t want to spoil it, but the exploration of an island devastated by chaos is a quirky swords and sorcery adventure, featuring interesting NPCs, situations, challenges, opponents, and magic items. Dark, foreboding, but a lot of fun. The implied world seems so interesting that I now want to read the author’s Dungeon Age novels. Regardless, adventure can be adapted to other fantasy worlds. I can see this adventure being a good fit in Mystara. I wholeheartedly recommend it, and I’m now eager to run it, sooner rather than later.

What unexpected surprise have you discovered in an RPG recently? Any new game you did not know about? A supplement or adventure you’d care to recommend. A new rule that caught your attention? I’d love to read your thoughts on the topic; feel free to share them here in the comments or tag me wherever you do. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.

And just like in the post for #RPGaDay, for day 10, in 2016:

Day 20 of RPG a Day 2025, the prompt is Enter, and all I could think of was this.

“Enter freely of your own will and leave some of the happiness you bring.” Dracula

That quote, from the movie Bram Stoker’s Dracula, paraphrasing the line from the book, is ominous in its original context, but I want to twist it around and read it literally. Let’s give it a positive spin and explore ways to welcome new players into our hobby, encouraging them to contribute and bring happiness to our games, both in particular and in general.

As an admin in two very active groups on Facebook, the public group Puerto Rico Role Players, and the private group Dungeons and Dragons Puerto Rico (Follow the link for the specific group, there are a few with similar names, and you must agree to the group rules before your request can be approved. But I digress!) every week there are people interested in playing, new folk who want to learn to play the game, or people who know how to play and want to find a group.

Thankfully, there are local FLGS where people can play in Puerto Rico, the ones that I know of being Titan Games, both in Caguas and Río Piedras, Star Games in Moca, and Yahtzyyy TCG, Games & Collectibles in Mayaguez. There are more hobby shops in Puerto Rico. If you want to see a list of local stores, visit the Roleplayers de Borikén Discord and see the complete list.

So, what can we do to help new players enter our hobby?

First of all, be welcoming, and share your love and knowledge of the hobby with people interested in learning. Be willing to run games for new players and invite them to play with your group.

Be patient. The growth in popularity of tabletop role-playing games has created interest in many people who might not have discovered the hobby in the past. These new players will have questions, and younger players may have different cultural references than you. Listen, embrace them, and support their interests.

Be supportive. New fans of RPG games may play differently than you; be accommodating and recognize that we all play in different ways. Encourage them and help those interested in becoming Game Masters.

Embrace diversity; everyone is welcome in our hobby. We may not all have the same experiences, so let’s celebrate those who think and act differently. The things we can’t support are intolerance, gatekeeping, and hate.

All are welcome, and they all bring their own experiences and ideas that will enrich our hobby. Let’s do our part to encourage new players to join the tribe!

What do you think we can do to welcome those interested in learning to play? Any additional suggestions? Any specific ideas? I’d love to read your thoughts on the topic; feel free to share them here in the comments or tag me wherever you do. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.

Day 19 of RPG a Day 2025, with the prompt of Destiny, led me down another strange rabbit hole. I began thinking about the concept of destiny, the Marvel Character Destiny, with her precognitive abilities, choices in role-playing games, and a short story by one of my favorite authors, Argentinian Jorge Luis Borges, The Garden of Forking Paths. Let’s see if I can make a coherent post out of all of this!

When I recently wrote about my influences and inspiration, I missed a pretty big one: the Choose Your Own Adventure Books. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past 46 years, I’d like to share a video from one of my favorite channels that explores the history of Choose Your Own Adventures.

The first of these books, in which you were the protagonists and your decisions changed the story in different ways, was The Third Planet from Altair in Spanish, El Tercer Planeta de Altair. A friend of mine loaned me the book, and I became obsessed with this type of book. I read everyone I could get, including my favorite series, the sci-fi adventures of Be an Interplanetary Spy.

In many ways, these types of books, with their choices that took the story in varied branching directions and to different endings, were a primer for the tabletop role-playing games that would be so formative and influential for the rest of my life. I could read all the different destinies the characters lived. I continued reading them long after I started playing RPGs and moved on to game books like the Lone Wolf series.

 I can’t remember what issue of X-Men I first read about Destiny, but this bling elderly mutant with precognitive powers captured my imagination. I based a few NPCs on her early in my D&D campaigns, but I don’t think my player ever picked up on the fact. Later, when I had her stats for the Marvel Super Heroes RPG, I ran a solo campaign for a player of mine, where this mysterious figure guided Daredevil to save the Black Widow from the Crimson Dynamo in the Soviet Consulate in NYC and embark on a wild series of adventures. The secret benefactor who guided him and whom he never managed to find, Destiny! In case you are curious, you can see the stats for Destiny in the Marvel Super Heroes, aka FASERIP, here.

Much later in college, I first read one of my favorite stories by the writer Jorge Luis Borges, The Garden of Forking Paths, or El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan in the original Spanish. I won’t spoil the story for you. You can read it in English here or in Spanish here. Alternatively, you can also watch a video discussion below.

Without going into specifics, one of the short story’s topics is alternate realities, not unlike the many-worlds concept, or the multiverse of DC, and the much-maligned version of the same concept in the MCU. The ideas of multiple realities, that decisions branch into endless possibilities, that I grew up with, from the Choose Your Own Adventure type books, the comics, to Borges, and more, were immensely influential in my Game Mastering style. I embraced the idea of letting players choose their destiny, allowing them to take the story in unexpected and wild ways. Instead of seeing this as them breaking the story I created, I viewed it as them weaving it together.

It also influenced my world-building, and to this day, I still yearn to play that game where multiple characters from different campaigns meet to unravel a secret across the realities of all my campaign worlds.

As a final note, my love stories about destiny, non-linear storytelling, and hypertextual mysteries continue with my love of books such as The Prestige and House of Leaves, the author of this last one being a fan of Borges himself, to movies such as Memento and Inception.

What does Destiny mean to you in the context of your games? Did you know about some of the stories, books, and movies I talked about? I’d love to read your thoughts on the topic; feel free to share them here in the comments or tag me wherever you do. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.

Allow me a last thought, I recently reconnected with the player of the Daredevil game I mentioned above after many years. Maybe I should call him and tell him about Destiny.

Hello readers, happy Monday. For day 18, the prompt is Sign. I mentioned on day 9 how Babylon 5 was an inspiration, and this prompt immediately makes a connection for me with an episode of Season 1 of the show, Signs and Portents. If you’ve never watched the show, Season 1 was a superb introduction. Although there were a couple of less-than-stellar episodes, it set up the groundwork for greatness. I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t watched it, but the name of the episode is also the name of the season; it is that important.

But I am not here to discuss that specific episode; instead, I want to share one of the many lessons the show taught me: how signs can be a valuable tool in your GM arsenal.

Baylon 5 was great at foreshadowing, at setting things up which paid off one, two, even four seasons later. But this being a TV show, which would face cast changes and production problems, the series creator J. Michael Straczynski made great use of misdirection and creative storytelling to make the crumbs he planted along the way pay off. As he created the show, he had trapdoors he could use to get rid of characters if the actors became unavailable. Check out this post on writing that mentions the idea of trapdoors and poses some helpful ideas for GMs.

Watching Babylon 5, I learned to use signs, parents, visions, and foreshadowing to create expectations and build tension in my games. Let’s call them signs for simplicity’s sake, and to keep to the day’s topic. These signs can be a great tool to show possible outcomes, but if you use them carefully enough, make them mysterious and vague, you can adapt them to the eventual outcome, whatever it may be.

For example, you start a campaign where a soothsayer says, “Your journey will end in fire and ash.” A few adventures later, a plume of smoke can be seen in the distance. Some time later, the characters meet dwarves escaping a volcano that erupted in the mountains they call home. Then there are rumors of a red dragon in the mountains. Are these all related? They could be! Will they all tie together at the campaign? Is the fire and ash a final battle with a great dragon? Will they burn the temple of an evil god? Fight in the elemental plane of fire? All of these are possibilities, and the above signs can all be adapted to your needs.

I keep notes of the signs I use, along with two or three possible ideas on how they can be used. I create flowcharts to illustrate the ideas and adjust them as necessary as the campaign progresses. I have an idea of where we’re headed, but players often change the story in unexpected ways.

Also, this bears repeating from previous days: listen to your player. They will interpret signs, make connections, and develop crazy conspiracy theories, which may guide your interpretation of the signs. You can steal their ideas and make them feel like they’ve uncovered the secrets.

Do you use signs and portents in your games, or are you a fan of foreshadowing? Do you plan them with forethought, or do you throw everything at the wall and see what sticks? Are you a fan of planned storytelling on a grand scale, or do you prefer player-driven emergent storytelling? I’d love to read your thoughts on the topic; feel free to share them here in the comments or tag me wherever you do. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.

If you haven’t watched Babylon 5, what are you waiting for? It is available for free on Tubi.

Sunday funday! Today’s prompt is Renew, and I’ve been thinking about how to approach the topic. Renew is a verb that means to resume (an activity) after an interruption. I have historically run long, multi-year campaigns, and to keep things fresh, I ran a primary campaign that was usually longer, followed by a shorter campaign or two, to break things up.

For example, during our Pathfinder 1e pirate-themed campaign, we played the first part of the campaign for a year and a half, then took a 23-month break to play our Mutants & Masterminds campaign, and then retook the Pathfinder game for another year and a half.

For our D&D 5e campaign, we played for a little over a year. In 2017, Hurricaine María hit Puerto Rico, we were forced to take a break, then we played Stars Without Number for a year, I took some months off when my son was born, we played Down Darker Trails for a for months, and they we retook the D&D 5e campaign, but switched systems to Castles & Crusades.

Such prolonged hiatuses can be the death sentence of a campaign; how do we manage to renew interest in these different games after such long breaks? Part of it is being hard-headed. I refuse to abandon a campaign and instead return to it to continue.

A large part is player buy-in. Players are interested in their characters and stories, and they engage with the world. To achieve that engagement, I make sure to integrate their backstories and interests into the plots. Ensure that different characters have the opportunity to excel, triumph, and grow their characters, and a chance to achieve their goals.

AS a Game Master, when there is such a long hiatus, I always like to come to the gam with fresh eyes. A shift in tone, new goals, new locations, enemies, or a time-jump to shake the status quo. These are some elements that motivate me as a GM as well.

I keep copious notes and share a lot of information with players. Small handouts, image references to NPCs, online groups, and messaging tools are used to keep shared information and maintain interest in the campaign. Whenever we are renewing a campaign that has been on hiatus for a long time, I put together a primer or update as a handout to start the game anew.

Strangely, in our Current Savage Fading Suns (Fading Suns setting, Savage Worlds rules), we’ve been playing for almost three years without taking a break. I think the main reason is that we’ve had many interruptions due to my work and continued travel, being forced to play online, and there have been many types of adventures, and that variety has kept the campaign feeling fresh.

Those are examples of how we renew our games. What are some of yours? What tools do you use to keep your games new and fresh? Do you play a system that helps with this? I’d love to read your thoughts on the topic; feel free to share them here in the comments or tag me wherever you do. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.

Happy Saturday! Third weekend of RPG a Day for 2025. The prompt for today is Overcome. There are many challenges we must overcome, both personally and as a community, and as a hobby. In these times, I am sure you can think of many more. However, for today, I want to talk about overcoming a particular set of challenges, specifically the feeling that we are an unsuitable Game Master.

I have written and posted about this before. I will again, but I think this is a recurring issue, and as a community, we can always support one another.

A simple truth: being a GM is hard. For most games, you’re the rules arbiter, usually the one who masters the rules early on. You are expected to set up a narrative, play different characters, keep the plot straight in your head, and be entertaining while doing all that!

I have been doing this for a while now, and I feel like I handle the stress and feeling of inadequacy that can creep up on you as a GM well. However, I am not immune, regardless of how long I’ve been running games. Allow me to share some advice.

Practice makes perfect.

Like many things in life, you’ll be a better GM the more you do it. Even if you feel like a session wasn’t perfect, if you receive feedback from your group that could be discouraging, getting behind the screen and giving it another try is an opportunity to learn and be better.

Don’t sweat the small stuff.

The game part in role-playing games is essential. An RPG should be fun for everyone, and it is ultimately a game. It is something we do for fun. Ultimately, it is a game! Treat it like such.

Believe in yourself.

Especially in the digital age, it is easy to see amazing GMs running their games, some professionally, and feel like you’ll never be that good. You don’t have to! Everyone’s game mastering style is different. The audience you have to engage with is your players. If they are having fun, you’re doing something right.

Give yourself a break.

If you are overwhelmed, take a step back. Don’t take on more than you can chew. Breathe, regroup, and move on.

You can do it!

When you decide to try your hand at being  GM, you are helping your game group have fun and supporting the game community at large by spreading the hobby. We are here to support each other. Reach out to your friends, in real life or online. Ask for help and advice. If I can personally help anyone out there with their games, please do not hesitate to reach out.

How do you overcome the challenges of being a GM? What other advice can you offer? Can we help you in any way? I’d love to read your thoughts on the topic; feel free to share your thoughts here in the comments or tag me wherever you share them. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.

Well, we’ve reached the midpoint of RPG a Day 2025. Technically, the midpoint will be noon today, but you get the idea. The topic for today is Deceive. So, when is it ok to deceive your players? Allow me to give you some context.

I love twists, and often come up with ideas for campaigns where things are not what they seem, and the conceits for the campaign get turned on their head.

I’ve done this twice before; once for a one-shot game that ended up being directly tied to our regular campaign, and another for a campaign that was a secret prequel to an established RG franchise.

The first instance was during a long-running AD&D 2nd edition homebrewed campaign. The players were about to fight with a dangerous Efreeti that guarded a powerful artifact. The session ended as the battle was about to begin, and by the time the next session rolled around, I told the players I was not ready for the adventure and the encounter, and if we could play a one-shot adventure that I wanted to try out instead. I handed out pre-made characters, and as the adventure progressed, the players started to find some odd connections between these characters, their regular characters, and the plot of the regular game. By the time they defeated the BBEG, it turned out the Efreeti had defeated them and ensorcelled them with the artifact, and the adventure they played was an illusory reality they had been living in. They defeated the enemy and the artifact, but realized they had been the Efreeti’s prisoners for months!

The other instance was a D20 Modern game where the characters worked for a secretive worldwide organization investigating strange occurrences and incursions from alternate realities. Unbeknownst to the players, this was a prequel to Torg. The campaign ended with the High Lords’ invasion of Earth. This event was a twist, but ultimately one that satisfied me more than the players, since none were big fans, or even particularly interested, in Torg.

For instance, I have a post-apocalyptic campaign idea where the players are in an isolated and remote geographic area, and they solve some challenges to their community, slowly unraveling the mysteries of what lies beyond their immediate community, only to find out their world is the Rifts campaign setting.

Other twist-based campaigns I’ve come up with include a Robotech game that is secretly, and very subtly, a mash-up with G.I. Joe and Transformers. A campaign that is a twist on the Buck Rogers XXVc game from TSR. In the near future, the characters are a military team sent to take down a Russian station in the asteroid belt that is being prepared as a mass driver cannon against their enemies. By the end of the mission, the characters end up in suspended animation, and they remain so well into the future, a variation of the Armageddon 1995 from the short story anthology, Buck Rogers, Arrival. But instead of arriving in the future of the XXVc game, the players discover Mongo has conquered the future solar system, and it becomes a Flash Gordon-inspired game.

There are a few more like that in my campaign idea list. The problem is that for these twists to work, I would have to deceive the players, lead them to expect one type of campaign, only to discover another. I can see that being fun for me as a GM, and for some players, but not so much for others. False expectations can lead to dissatisfaction, disinterest, or outright frustration.

The first instance described previously, the AD&D 2e game worked because it was a one-shot and tied to the regular campaign. The deception was minimal and ultimately had a satisfying payoff. The second instance, the Torg prequel, worked because it was a fun campaign that the players enjoyed, and ultimately introduced the game and setting to them. I wrote about the campaign in a post here in the blog back in 2010, and mentioned that one of my players remarked about the campaign that this was “the best game of Mage that was not Mage that he ever played.”

However, some of the instances outlined above would require a level of deception that could frustrate players, and I am not a fan of deceiving my friends and creating false expectations. Ultimately, I believe the twist could erode trust between the GM and the players. If I were to run any of the campaign ideas outlined above, I would be upfront and transparent about the twist, ensuring the players are informed and honest with them. No self-satisfying twist is worth deceiving my players.

Do you agree or disagree? Do you deceive your players to achieve similar twists in your games? I’d love to read about your experiences and ideas; feel free to share them in the comments or tag me wherever you share them. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.

Today’s prompt for RPG a Day 2025 is Mystery, and mysteries are hard!

All facetiousness aside, running a tabletop role-playing game mystery can be difficult, and we’ve been trying to do it almost since the start of the hobby.

When I think about mysteries, I think of Call of Cthulhu (CoC). Published in 1981, I first played it in 1988 or thereabouts. My good friend Luis Miranda (whom I’ve mentioned previously in the blog) and I love the game. There were many challenges when playing CoC. Miss a Library Use roll? You don’t get that critical clue. I remember the adventure where we got lost in the forest. None of us could navigate, and we couldn’t read a map or a compass. We were lost in a large and very expansive forest, paraphrasing the musical Spamalot, and when we got back to the mine (I think it was a mine), the cultists had fled, the adventure was over, and we failed.

Play this video for the full effect of the previous paragraph!

This conundrum is by no means exclusive to CoC. Around 2008, twenty years later, I stumbled upon a post-apocalyptic game at a FLGS. I think it was a Gamma Worlds game via D20 Modern, but I may be wrong. There were elements of Fallout as players woke up in a vault and tried to escape. The players kept making roll after roll and missing, unable to find a way out of the vault. Their frustration mounted, and the GM sat there and waited for the players to solve whatever puzzle or combination of actions he had predetermined was the way out of the vault. I stood up and left frustrated, and I wasn’t even playing the game. I can’t imagine the players!

Between those events, I read the Gumshoe system. I picked up The Esoterrorists on my first visit to Gen Con, and while reading it, I wondered: Do we need a system built to run investigative scenarios? Are the problems proposed here real? I had been lucky in retrospect, not to have many games grind to a halt due to a bad roll, but after reflecting upon it, and seeing the game mentioned above, I became convinced Gumshoe was right.

You’d be surprised to know, I’ve never run a Gumshoe based game, despite owning various, The Esoterrorists, Ashen Stars, Trail of Cthulhu. If you want a rule summary, Pelgrane Press provides one here. However, I’ve embraced the philosophy behind the game and not made the clues to solve a mystery depend only on a single die roll. Share the information, let the players interpret clues, and keep the investigation going, which may ultimately solve the mystery.  

Just like Luis Miranda was my classic CoC Keeper, these days my go-to, favorite horror games GM is my good friend and current player at our weekly gaming group, José Garcia. I may have to ask him to run Trial of Cthulhu.

How do you handle mysteries in your games? What’s your favorite rule system or sub-system within a rule set you deal with mysteries? I’d love to read about your experiences and ideas; feel free to share them in the comments or tag me wherever you share them. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.

As far as RPG a Day 2025 goes, this has been a very musical year for me. So many prompts immediately make me think of music. The prompt for today is Darkness, and immediately, the Simon & Garfunkel song comes to mind, The Sound of Silence. The first line of the song is “Hello darkness, my old friend”.

In D&D, Darkness is such a classic spell that it’s hard not to think of it immediately. When we played AD&D 2e, my friend Pierre used to keep a Continual Darkness spell (the reverse of Continual Light) cast on a pebble, covered up, and he would uncover it for instant darkness, or throw it like a grenade. Why is Darkness such a popular and often abused spell in D&D, and is that why everyone now can see in the dark?

Globe of Darkness art by InnocentBystander19 on DeviantArt

The use of darkness in Shadowdark is one of the great things about that game. Having played the game twice already, both online, I must admit that treating darkness as an ever-present threat, ready to swallow you at every turn, is pure genius. I may not be a huge fan of dungeon crawls in general, and I genuinely believe the Shadowdark rules can handle more than just the classic dungeon crawl, as evidenced by all the flavors available from third-party publishers.

While it is likely that next time I play a fantasy game, I’d likely use the Worlds Without Number rules, I will probably port some Shadowdark rules, specifically the torch counter and how it handles darkness, to my campaign. I will play Shadowdark again!

Curiously, the first time I played Shadowdark was with the very same Pierre I mentioned above. Like a good-old-time player used to his infravision / darkvision, he resisted the idea that darkness is ever-present, that it holds the peril that will destroy you. While I initially explained it as a game mechanic to enhance the experience, I ultimately created an in-game rationale for the darkness being the danger it is. A threat that proved true when, on the first encounter in the game, the torch was snuffed, and fighting an undead in the dark felt truly horrifying.

I must say the Shadowdark is darkness made right!

If you are curious and want to read an overview of the D&D spell across D&D editions, the Dungeons & Dragons Lore Wiki has a Darkness entry that will give you an excellent overview of the Darkness-related spells. wikiHow also has a page all about darkness, how it works, and how to use it in D&D 5e.

How do you use Darkness in your game? Any stories you want to share? I’d love to read your feedback, so please leave a comment or tag me wherever you make them. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.

Before I go, here is another version of The Sound of Silence I like, this one by Disturbed.

Welcome back to RPG a Day 2025. The prompt for today is Path.

Last year, I wrote a series of posts with alternate topics as continuing narration, fleshing out a setting I was stitching together each day. While I had fun writing it, I didn’t think it interested blog readers, and I had little engagement with the RPG a Day community. The lesson for me was that the readers are more interested in topical posts than in lengthy campaign background and setting information, at least in the context of this month’s event.

That’s why I struggled with my idea for today. About two years ago, I was inspired by the idea of a northern mountain pass and a town growing into a city during a great, and devastating war that changed a fantasy world. Why I got to write this, I can’t quite remember. It might have been an exercise in creating a two-page background for a city setting. I do know I had D&D 5e in mind when I was writing it. I put it on the back burner along with many other campaign ideas. But the idea or the path across the mountains stuck with me. So, when I was thinking about what to write today, this campaign idea was in my mind.

For the reasons outlined in the first paragraph, I was reluctant, especially since my plans for day 11 are a character story (you’ll see when I post that make-up post I missed!). Regardless, the two other ideas I started writing about for this prompt went nowhere, and I relented. I am sharing the campaign idea for Valienbern, Pathway to the North. I hope you find it inspiring and helpful.

One more thing, last year I used AI to illustrate my posts. I won’t do that this year. Not worth it. So, forgive the lack of illustrations, now on with the post.

Valienbern, Pathway to the North

By Roberto Micheri

Valienbern was founded along the paths and trade routes between the northern provinces of the Theocracy of Dirsdell and the Jeghanner Holds beyond the Kirgsten Mountains in the frigid north. Nestled in the lush pine-filled valley on the southern slopes of the Kirgsten Hills before they become the treacherous northern mountains. Settled by families fleeing the Dirsdellian heresy inquisitions, they signed the charter of Valienbern in the unclaimed valley in the wilderness.

Before the settlement was established and its charter signed by all the founding families, only hunters, solitary hermits, and the odd tribe of goblins or orcs lived in the valley. There were only two permanent settlements in the valley at that time. Black Hawk Keep was built by the fractured Yregian Empire and still garrisoned by an Imperial Commander, even if no Emperor sat on the Ruby Throne. Watching over the Northern Path, pass north into the mountains, the only safe passage across the Kirgsten Mountains for leagues beyond the river Thall. The other was the forest-covered ruins of the Temple of Basall, around which a small community of elves still clung to their old, forgotten ways.

The original settlement was built by the river Tirin, south of the falls of the same name. In these falls, three streams coming down from the mountains, known as Basall’s Wives, or simply the Wives by local hunters, met to form the large navigable river south. Two days’ march from Black Hawk Keep, Valienbern grew as traders and caravans traveling to and from the north made stops to resupply. In time, it became a meeting point for merchants unable or unwilling to travel beyond the Kirgsten Mountains, as well as for merchants and traders from the north. Locals cleared the forests around town as it expanded, farms grew, and the Mayor and Council of Valienbern shared the prosperity with the citizens.

During these prosperous times, whispers of dangers were first heard in Valienbern. First, a dwarven clan settled in town, claiming that monstrosities from the north had overrun their halls. Then the small-folk migrating inland almost destroyed the crops for that year. Those made to work to compensate the farmers for their thievery settled in town and told of the boiling seas of Esterin in the far south.

In the temple to Basall, the elves howled impure incantations, and from the Theocracy of Dirsdell, the priests of the Dragon Gods sent their dragonfolk servants to destroy the temple once and for all. War raged in the western valley, and the Mayor of Valienbern, a follower of the old Yregian gods like many of his citizens, and under the protection of Black Hawk Keep, declared the city would not get involved in the battle. Construction on the walls of Valienbern began during the war, as the city had grown as far north as the Tirin Falls.

As the elves and the dragonfolk fought their holy war, threatening to set the valley on fire, the Jeghanner Holds fell to the Howling Horde. Led on their march south from the ice fields of Xigeria by the enslaved tieflings of the Broken Moon, hordes of tainted orcs, goblins, giants, and unnatural beings from beyond this world, the horde descended like locusts upon the civilized world.

A gnomish citadel crashed east of Valienbern, and the surviving gnomes and local dwarves put aside their ancestral feuds to protect this bastion of civilization from the impending onslaught of the Howling Horde. They built the city walls and created defenses, utilizing the gnome’s inventions and the Moonstone’s magic to power their once-mighty citadel and protect the city, and all who could make it traveled to Valienbern for refuge. Dragonfolk zealots, mad elven enchanters, and cunning elven scouts joined the city’s humans, small-folk, dwarves, and newly arrived gnome saviors to try to weather the storm of savagery and destruction.

Sieges three times, Valienbern survived, but Black Hawk Keep fell. The Howling Horde never stayed long enough to break the city. They ventured south, pouring over the Kirgsten Mountains, east across the merchant cities of Rudell, and west over old Yregia, destroying all in their path.

The Theocracy of Dirsdell fell, its dragons defeated or routed. The merchant princes of Rudell escaped to the Golden Isles across the sea, never to be seen again. Vechinor, The Gardens of Uruth, and even southern Styxeria fell to the Howling Horde. In the west, the vast grasslands of the Unmei proved too difficult to cross, and the Priests of the Nameless God stopped them beyond the Styxerian desert.

In the Jungles of Numir, the Serpent Kings used their ancient magic and banished the Lich Lords of Xigeria from the world, freeing the tieflings who turned on their old masters and destroyed the Howling Horde from within. Some renounced their old ways, turning their back upon their ancestral heritage. Others led their soldiers to carve out small kingdoms. The tainted and corrupted servants of the Howling Horde spread like the wind, carrying their evil to the darkest corners of the world. Magical creatures set loose upon the world now hunt in the night.

The people of Valienbern only found this out after the destruction and scattering of the horde, and the World-Breaking Wars were over.

It has been one hundred and fifty years since the end of the World-Breaking Wars, and Valienbern once again prospers. Trade has slowly resumed along the old Northern Path. Dwarven realms open their halls in the north. Some kingdoms rebuild on the ashes of the old. Valienbern survived and thrived in these dark times and now stands ready as a beacon of hope in a world remaking itself. Will you protect the city? Will you help it grow and prosper? How will you make your mark upon the world?

Dear reader, do you find this type of post interesting and valuable? Do you prefer topical or informative posts over game stories or content? I’d love to know, so please leave a comment or tag me wherever you make them. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.