The discussion was around the use of the traditional 10-foot pole. Early D&D games were full of dungeons traps, and paranoid characters would use a long pole to check for pits, poke treasure chests (in case of mimic beasts) and try to push doors open.
RPG Ideas Articles
Explore Geek Native's articles tagged with RPG Ideas. This collection covers topics in Tabletop & RPGs.
Making traps in your D&D feel better and more realistic
Yes, sadly, you might watch this video and conclude you’ve been doing traps all wrong. You might have been too kind.
Can you sleep in armor?
The question “Can you sleep in armour?” tends to be asked by tabletop roleplayers. It can be a big deal and an awkward one to answer.
RPG Inspiration: Ancient Scotland
Are you trying to come up with images and scenery suitable for your RPG? Filmmaker Joh Duncan just shared a film called ‘Ancient Scotland’ that shows twenty-one unusual locations from the air. Here we have ancient wonders, castles and islands. It was a hard film to make, physically demanding and often wrestling with the weather. […]
This is how you get a world filled with dungeons: the true story of a temple digging compulsion
Dungeons are a big part of Dungeons & Dragons adventures and many other similar roleplaying games. A few years ago Geek Native put together a list of 22 reasons why your fantasy RPG has so many dungeons, but sometimes true stories are stranger than fiction. What if people in your fantasy world just had a […]
Genre Police: You Call it Wuxia, I call it Wushu
From a western perspective, Wuxia and the Samurai genre can be very easy to blend together. In reality, though, Wuxia is a different beast. It has a history of rebellion, heroes disinterested in serving a local lord and finding their own destiny. Sound familiar? It’s probably the content of most weekly gaming sessions. Let’s take […]
Experienced Dungeon Masters offer up their ONE piece of advice for new DMs
Are you an old-time DM or a new one? If you’ve only recently started enjoying Dungeons & Dragons as a DM or another game as GM then this list of compiled wisdom might be of benefit for you. On the other hand, if you’ve been in the hot seat for years now is there a […]
15 alternatives to starting your fantasy RPG in a tavern
It’s not wrong to start your fantasy adventure with your to-be-heroes in a tavern but it is a cliche. What if you want to do something different? An accessible and wise approach is to have your players work together to build some reason to care for the other PCs into their own character’s background. ‘Session […]
RPG Ideas: Running games in a historical context
Tim Chant is a gamer and author (and baker) based in Edinburgh. His latest project, The Frost Fair, asks ‘what if?’. What if history worked out slightly differently. Would the world be very different? Geek Native invited Tim to suggest some ideas for running RPGs in a historical context and he stepped up to the […]
12 different ways to roll up your DnD character
The official Player’s Handbook in Dungeons & Dragon’s 5e offers two suggested ways of discovering your character’s six attributes. You can either assign points from a balanced array of numbers or roll 4d6 and drop the lowest dice. The method is to create PCs who are likely to be a bit more notable than the […]
