I GM For You Building Stories Together

So few RPG folks left on Twitter that I had 5 of the 10 Top posts on #rpgaday2025 for a few days :) I’m still playing lots of games “new” and old. Currently writing my own Solo/Co-op Framework (system agnostic) which I’m calling “Augmented Imagination” and playtesting it with “Beyond the Wall”

Many thanks for organising #rpgaday2025 . I only seem to post anything during August but I read a lot of the posts from other folks during this time and always find a few new people to follow. It’s a great way to celebrate a great hobby.

#RPGaDay2025 31 The best rewards in most Fantasy RPGs are magic items and XP but there are alternatives… Gold (if there is something worth buying). Public recognition/renown. A Title (Knight of the Realm). Gaining an influential Ally. A Boon/Favour. A Map/Rumour to an exciting location.

#RPGaDay2025 30 Dragonbane, Coriolis & Vaesen ask EXPERIENCE questions each session. Did you use your characters flaw? Did you show some aspect of their background? Helps to nudge players into RP. Done wrong it would just be “Did I mention I was raised by wolves”

#RPGaDay2025 29 CONNECT In Brindlewood Bay players connect the clues to provide a wrap-up to the plot. The more clues the harder it is to explain and it’s a team effort to put forward a decent explanation. The GM doesn’t have any definitive solution so it becomes very creative.

#RPGaDay2025 28 SUSPENSE. 1st level characters fighting a Troll (turned to stone if in direct sunlight at the end of its turn). They kept stealing its blanket, so it had to recover it rather than use its action to hit them. Sun started to go down (on a 1 on a d6 each round) and the suspense went up.

There are games where Theatre of the Mind combat is enjoyable, usually with Zones like Modiphius’ Dune, or Fate Accelerated. Both types are enjoyable but switch the game from one type of player skill (experience & detail) to another (narrative). Both still rely on imagination & creativity

#RPGaDay2025 27 TACTIC I mostly like RPGs with tactical combat. I particularly enjoy grids in D&D. I understand it well enough to make choices and take calculated risks. I’m not so keen on Theatre of the Mind for games where abilities focus on range and area of effect or movement rates.

#RPGaDay2025 26 In my mind a NEMESIS has to survive a few adventures (hard to do fairly in an RPG). Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes stories is an example and mostly survives by never being in the same location as the hero, or only there when it is socially impossible for the hero to act

#RPGaDay2025 25 As a GM I try to CHALLENGE the characters (and the Players) in various ways. Perhaps some monster that’s way too tough for a simple fight? Perhaps some situation with the added complexity of a moral dilemma? Perhaps negotiation with a hated rival is an option?

#RPGaDay2025 24 REVEAL I like an adventure with a slow reveal of the explanation or the “big bad”. Perhaps apparently unrelated encounters with goblins and rat-men and then a band of assassins, to eventually learn they are all controlled by a Mind Flayer or a Beholder or Cthulhu or the Bene Gesserit

#RPGaDay2025 23 RECENT New game, CORIOLIS already seems like months of fun. Small ship (Firefly-ish) on a much larger vessel that undergoes a massive malfunction. Our ship & equipment is in a distant cargo hold. We wake from cryosleep and need to escape before it falls into the sun. Great start!

#RPGaDay2025 22 ALLY A new group of RPG characters begin as allies against the monsters. It doesn’t take long for the characters to become friends and then the players. Even online, different nationalities/ages, united by their struggles and triumphs even though it’s “not real”

#RPGaDay2025 21 UNEXPECTED When we knew we were about to face a Red Dragon, we drank potions of fire resistance, cast spells for temp HP, ate a heroes feast to avoid being frightened and we slaughtered the poor thing. Same monster as an unexpected random encounter…

#RPGaDay2025 20 In RPGs, the moment when one of the heroes first ENTERs a new room, often before you know what’s there, is one of high engagement from the group. Sometimes you have an idea what’s coming, other times you might step on a pit, trigger an alarm or a glyph that summons a demon

#RPGaDay2025 19 DESTINY was one of the Angels in Captain Scarlet. It would make a good setting for an RPG with players as agents of Spectrum. It could be an action/sci-fi/horror mix with the sinister Mysterons murdering and replacing people to enact their revenge on Earth. SiG!

#RPGaDay2025 18 SIGNs & Portents was the in-house magazine for Mongoose Publishing, starting in 2003. d20 Conan, Judge Dredd, Slaine, Babylon 5, OGL and expansions for D&D. Adventures, art, classes, articles on wider gaming topics, it was easily as worth reading as the better-known Dragon magazine

#RPGaDay2025 17 RENEW In Tales of Argosa PCs renew limited uses of abilities after a brief rest they make a couple of Will Saves and each success lets them Restore half lost HP or Regain a Use or (on a Great Success) Restore a lost Attribute Point. Makes for a meaningful choice.

Fate Accelerated

#RPGaDay2025 16 fate-srd.com/fate-acceler... has OVERCOME, Create Advantage, Attack & Defend. These 4 Actions cope with everything. Overcome handles Pick Locks, Persuade, Resist... The main challenge is new players always want to do a bit of damage to a foe AND trip them at the same time!

I was protected by Nondetection magic so could pretend to be the Emissary of Orcus, but wanted to trick the demons into thinking the (honourable) Paladin was under my control. When they scanned him, he was! Also, talked him playing along rather than launching a crusade against overwhelming odds.

#RPGaDay2025 15 My sorcerer once had to DECEIVE another player character (a Paladin), tricking them into accepting a spell (spiderclimb) so willingly fail the save. A note to the GM it was actually Charm Person! We were in the Demonweb Pits, approaching a meeting with a lot of powerful Demons.

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It takes 2 very confusing sessions for the players to work out what’s going on and then the dilemma … Blow themselves up? Try to leave a message for the next iteration? Find some way to prevent future iterations?

If 3 copies of the artefact exist a portal opens to let the aliens into our universe. Previous iterations of the party’s ship have blown themselves up to prevent this. Strange “memory echo” hallucinations from previous iterations start to affect the crew.

#RPGaDay2025 14 The most complex MYSTERY I’ve recently attempted to pull off was my homebrew scenario for Mothership. A pulsar star system which flares every 3 days. This brings a quantum duplicate of ship and crew into the system every 3 days. The player ship is not the 1st.

#RPGaDay2025 13 Shadowdark really punishes players if they run out of torches, giving Disadvantage on most rolls. In my igm4u.com/dangerousdel... solo game using playing cards, in DARKNESS you can’t even leave the Delve until you draw/defeat a room card on a Diamond

#RPGaDay2025 12 “PATH” Life-Path mechanisms for Character Creation. Traveller where you spend a number of 4-year terms in one or more careers accumulating skills and benefits and can even die during the process. Star Trek (Captain’s Log) has a career in Star Fleet

#RPGaDay2025 11 Try some FLAVOUR text next time your character casts a spell or attacks. Not every time, but I appreciate knowing how my fellow players envisage the scene. Arcane gestures? Calling upon god(s)? Dodging desperately some cool stunt. No mechanical difference, but it certainly entertains

#RPGaDay2025 10 Superhero RPGs need an ORIGIN story, explaining how you got your powers + became one of the good guys. Alien baby crash-lands on Earth/Moral parents. Wealthy Vigilante with Expensive Toys/Avenge parents. Radioactive spider/Guilt for not saving your uncle.

#RPGaDay2025 9 “Inspire” Great RPG Artwork can inspire us. Great Settings can inspire us. Great Systems can inspire us. Here are a few with it all-in-one…