The response floored me. ‘That’s not how this works, right? We failed the roll, so the information is locked off’. I was totally baffled.
Articles by Ben Jackson-Ellery
You can find more of Ben Jackson-Ellery's Tabletop & RPGs articles on the blog.
Genre Police: A Sense Of Place
When we look at any scene in an RPG, it is taking place somewhere.
Genre Police: Big Damn Heroes
I have hit a player issue that I hadn’t thought about before that actually goes back to the first ever Genre Police article I ever wrote.
Genre Police: Expectation Traps
I recently had a really interesting conversation about how we differ in designing a session of a game.
Genre Police: The Big Short
The classic ‘white whale’ of any RPG gamer’s experience is the long-form campaign.
Genre Police: Vampire’s End
Each of those endings taught me something about GMing that I think we can look at when we are ending the game.
Genre Police: Dragon’s End
This last fortnight, I finished two massive campaigns. Both of the games have been running since 2020 and so together represent about eight years of effective play. This meant a level of pressure – a story is often only as good as its ending.
Genre Police: Notes From The Field Part 2
It’s also crucial to make sure that you pace yourself in game prep. Make sure you’re not overdoing it. You owe it to yourself to occasionally take a breath and make sure everything feels like you can handle it.
Genre Police: Notes From The Field Part 1
Every so often, I have a bad season and a series of game sessions that don’t fire how I expect them to.
Genre Police: Progress, Challenge & Growth
Ok, so let’s talk about the big elephant in the room. Plot NPCs are the people who move the plot forward.
