“Help! My player won’t leave the inn!” We break down the four types of passive players and how to engage them without railroading.
🔥 Hot Topic
RPG Tips Articles
Check out all our coverage of RPG Tips. This collection covers topics in Tabletop & RPGs and Interviews.
RPG Tips Article Timeline
2026
2025
Genre Police: The 5-Step Campaign Refresh
Stuck in a rut? We revisit the five pillars of the Genre Police column – from Dials to The Self – and show you how to use them to design a unique campaign like Arcane.
From travel writer to DM: How real-world wanderlust shapes extraordinary RPG locations
We interview Duncan Rhodes about his new book, The Creative Game Master’s Guide to Extraordinary Locations. Learn how his background as a travel writer helps him turn generic fantasy maps into versatile, session-sustaining set pieces.
Changing class names until D&D is low-key sinister
Rebranding a class changes how a player interacts with the world. A wizard who is an Academic or a Censor treats reality like a document to be edited. These sinister titles shift the focus from heroic fantasy to a cold and clinical obsession.
Theater of the mind – Inspiration from the golden age of radio drama
Explore how the “theater of the mind” from Old-Time Radio can enhance roleplaying games. Learn five audio techniques to build immersion, from verbal tricks to sound science.
Genre Police: Catch It On A Re-Run
Running the same roleplaying game one-shot for different groups? It’s a masterclass in GMing. Learn how re-running a scenario teaches vital skills in design, pacing, refinement, and adapting to group dynamics.
Genre Police: System Expectations
Feeling bored with your regular roleplaying games? Challenge yourself as a GM. Learn to push systems to their limits, change basic rules, and mash up genres for exciting new play.
Why the scariest D&D monsters only exist in your mind
Learn how to describe D&D monsters to make them truly scary. A guest post by Tom Gilbert of LunaBear Games, creator of the Deck of Holding Kickstarter.
Genre Police: Keeping Our Own Gates
I’m an advocate for pushing RPGS into new places and have written at least one article here over the years that in reflection got a little bit to esoteric. But I think it’s important to occasionally balance the scales. So let’s look at those suppositions.
Genre Police: What did we learn?
Last article, I was fully on the soapbox. I talked about how you can change up your expectations of an existing system if you feel stuck in a rut, but also don’t want to change the system. At the end of the article, I said I’d revisit some of the ideas to shake up the campaigns I’ve had over the years.
