Have you ever experienced a situation where you can’t shake an RPG session?
Articles by Ben Jackson-Ellery
Ben Jackson-Ellery has been hard at work writing Tabletop & RPGs articles for you.
Genre Police: Looking For Augusta
So, I had a long discussion about chickens. This isn’t actually weird in our house given that we have chickens as pets, but this was especially odd because this particular chicken wasn’t real.
Genre Police: Rules Of Conduct
While some RPG sessions may thrive on unstructured character interactions, social skill dice help balance the expression of a player’s character, especially when personal attributes differ from those of their in-game persona. Games like D&D simplify this with one roll, while World of Darkness offers a layered approach. However, over-mechanizing social actions can restrict the narrative, calling for periodic evaluation and ensuring that mechanics serve the game’s intended exploration while allowing for character growth and varied interactions.
Genre Police: Role Assumptions
Lately I have been thinking about social interactions and personal relationships in roleplaying games, which lead to an interesting discussion with some of my players.
Genre Police: Friendship Is M…echanical
When we look at D&D, often a narrative about a group is about found family or how outcasts come together to trust each other.
Genre Police: High Esteem
So let’s take a look at how we can boost players’ love of your game.
Genre Police: I’m In Charge!
I want to now look at a few other ways hierarchical structures in RPG groups can sometimes cause conflict at the table.
Genre Police: Who’s In Charge?
So often, a leadership position in an RPG can be a thankless task.
Genre Police: Joining The Agency
One of the idioms about GMing games is about making sure your players have agency. And in basic principle this a very good idea.Â
Genre Police: Reading The Intent
It might be obvious but I think it is worth mentioning that any roleplaying game ruleset are a ‘text’, much as we would look at any sort of media.
