Your character doesn’t need to be perfect… it needs to be interesting. 🎲
Flaws aren’t weaknesses—they’re story fuel. 🔥
Watch now 👇
youtu.be/dUD3Rk2lwPU

#TTRPG #StarTrekAdventures #GMAdvice #CallYourBoysTTJ

How To Run A Recurring Villain James Bond Style #gmadvice #gaming #gmtips

How To Run A Recurring Villain Right #gmadvice #roleplaying

What if your character is the problem… because nothing is wrong with them? 🤯
Stop making perfect characters. Start making playable ones. 🎲
Watch now: youtu.be/dUD3Rk2lwPU

#TTRPG #StarTrekAdventures #GMAdvice #CallYourBoysTTJ

Letters. NPCs. Hidden threats.
Your Bastion is alive—even off-screen. 👀
👉 youtu.be/FSMag3t7Vz0

#DnD #TTRPGLife #GMAdvice #ActualPlay #MakeYourNextRollLegendary

Homebrewing TTRPG Ideas Welcome to the Glyph and Grok - A weekly blog-letter exploring design, execution, and culture relating to anything played on a tabletop.

New post up at the Glyph and Grok this week, my tabletop weekly newsletter : open.substack.com/pub/glyphngr...

#dm #dnd #osr #gmadvice

How To Make Failure Interesting In RPGs #gamemastering #gmadvice #rpg

Over on my tabletop gaming feed, I shared a new blog I wrote about using project management skills as a game master. Using project management for creative writing is similar, but the one person you're wrangling is yourself!

#blogger #ttrpgr #gmadvice

My 'how to GM' series focused on prep because in most situations 'how to be a great GM' comes down to agreeing expectations and choosing the right tools and system for the game experience you want.

Even railroading is just a useful technique in the right circumstances.

#ttrpg #rpg #GMadvice

Stop throwing high CR monsters at your party.

If your villain is not layered, they are not dangerous.

We dig into mastermind tactics and long game plotting in Tabletop Cafe.

Watch now 👇
youtu.be/Hy-2bUa_Be0

#RPGTips #GMAdvice 🎲

How To Enrich Your D&D Experience: The Importance of Trying Out New Systems Familiarity brings its own kind of peace of mind. For most of the tabletop RPG industry, this peace is represented by a specific structure - one rule system, one set of assumptions and one common language which allows players to easily sit down at a game table with no barriers to play. For many of today's groups, that structure is defined as…

Trying new RPG systems is not about abandoning what you love. It is about learning new tools for play. From Cthulhu to Blades to worldbuilding games, every system teaches something D&D never will.

#ttrpg #dnd #rpg #indierpg #tabletopgames #roleplaying #gmadvice #worldbuilding #TheRPGGazette

How to Run a Total Player Disaster #gmadvice #rpg #dungeonmaster

DB #11: Don't Say Action Tracker (ft. Isaac Allen Burns) The Tag Team returns.

And of course, the audio versions.

#daggerheart #actualplay #gms #ttrpgs #rrpgs #gmadvice @darringtonpress.bsky.social

www.hagdealgaming.com/db-11-dont-s...

#GMAdvice

The fastest way to kill horror is to explain it.

Describe what’s happening.
Let players decide what it means.

tinyurl.com/RottedCapes2b

#TTRPG #IndieRPG

#GMAdvice

The fastest way to kill horror is to explain it.

Describe what’s happening.
Let players decide what it means.

tinyurl.com/RottedCapes2b

#TTRPG #IndieRPG

🛠️ Ever freeze when a player rolls a complication?
This episode explores how Star Trek Adventures 2E turns those moments into story gold.
Watch 🎥 youtu.be/1mumHIy_xWA

Listen 🎧 open.spotify.com/epi...

#GMAdvice #2d20 #TTRPG

So You've Decided To Run A Role-Playing Game: A New Game Master's Guide To Building A Great RPG Campaign So You've Decided To Run A Role-Playing Game: A New Game Master's Guide To Building A Great RPG Campaign - Kindle edition by Johnson, Steve. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading So You've Decided To Run A Role-Playing Game: A New Game Master's Guide To Building A Great RPG Campaign.

Thinking about running an RPG? Read this book. #RPG #TTRPG #GameMaster #GM #GMAdvice #Roleplaying

amzn.to/4tyQGFt

Calling all Dungeon Masters! 📣

Ready to create campaigns your players will talk about for YEARS? Learn how to subvert common RPG tropes with confidence & creativity.

New episode: open.spotify.com/epi...

#DnD #TTRPG #Pathfinder #GMAdvice

The Dragon Empress and other Big Bads (Revisited) [Revisiting and expanding on a post from, golly, 2009!] While not all campaigns have them, many do, the biggest of Big Bads: Dark Gods, Lich Kings, Embodiments of Primal Chaos, and other such insan…

Revisiting an old post about having massively powered top enemies in your campaign:

seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/2026/02/01/t...

#RPGs #TTRPGs #FRPGs #D&D #Pathfinder #CampaignThoughts #GMAdvice

Coming soon: Rotted Capes: Second Bite The World Didn't End with a Bang, but with a BITE! Rotted Capes: Second Bite is the new edition of the superhero-horror RPG.

#GMAdvice

Prep situations, not solutions.
Let players surprise you.

#RottedCapes 2nd Edition KS:
tinyurl.com/RottedCapes2b

#GMprep #TTRPG #IndieRPG

Coming soon: Rotted Capes: Second Bite The World Didn't End with a Bang, but with a BITE! Rotted Capes: Second Bite is the new edition of the superhero-horror RPG.

#GMAdvice

Prep situations, not solutions.
Let players surprise you.

#RottedCapes 2nd Edition KS:
tinyurl.com/RottedCapes2b

#GMprep #TTRPG #IndieRPG

🛠️ Ever freeze when a player rolls a complication?
This episode explores how Star Trek Adventures 2E turns those moments into story gold.
Watch 🎥 youtu.be/1mumHIy_xWA

Listen 🎧 open.spotify.com/epi...

#GMAdvice #2d20 #TTRPG

And my latest longform video for #Pathfinder2e is up on Youtube!
Making your own minions can seem daunting but it's not that bad if you start simple and go step by step.
I just hope with this video I can help you get started!

#VTuber #GMAdvice

A villain returning is easy.
A mistake returning is harder—and better.

This new d20 table is built for emotional callbacks, not power creep.

#ttrpgdesign #rpgtools #gmadvice #storyfirst

The Illusion of Knowing - MarkEzraStokes.com Imagine for a moment that you’re in a dark-but-candlelit room, across a modest table from a wizened woman. She squints at oversized cards spread across the navy-felted table, and she begins to speak: “Ah yes… I see a decision weighing on you…” You hang on to her every word. What if this same narrative trick was used at your TTRPG table?

What if “the oracle at your table” wasn’t there to predict the future…

…but to mirror back what your players are ready to explore?

That’s the heart of Ealdsmyth’s Stewarding philosophy:
markezrastokes.com/t...

#TTRPGcommunity #IndieRPG #StoryGames #EmotionalStorytelling #GMadvice

Dangerous Game Mastering Advice (Dirty… Not Killer) “I don’t play fair. Fair is boring. Fair is predictable. Game mastering isn’t about rules—it’s about rhythm, pain, and payoff. These are the dangerous tools—the ones that cut clean when you know where to stab. Not cruelty. Not ego. Controlled violence in the service of fun.”

Dangerous GM advice:
Lie beautifully.
Cheat when the story deserves it.
Break things, then let your players rise from the wreckage.
This isn’t “fair.” It’s fun.
#TTRPG #GMAdvice #PlayDirty

youtu.be/j2ivh5Go9GM?...
I started a YouTube channel the other day. Going to be about tabletop games, RPGs, encounter prompts, stuff like that.
#ttrpg #dnd #dungeonmaster #gamemaster #gmadvice #dmadvice #rpgencounters #encounterprompt

Dave created a scratch-off fog of war battle map for #Shadowdark and other RPGs.

Check out the how-to video:
youtu.be/iuaidy0GsWg

#GmTools #GmTips #RPGTools #GmAdvice #DnD

We are keeping the DURF train rolling this week!

What are your favorite things about this great little game?

Are there any supplements you recommend for it?

And would you be excited about a new sci-fi world to explore?

#ttrpg #DURF #GMadvice

Review: Dragontown and the Darkness Below Using it as a gateway into the hobby for my kids: A whimsical, system-neutral TTRPG campaign-scale adventure with a Saturday-morning cartoon vibe that is broken down into chapters!

This week's post is reviewing Dragontown and the Darkness below and discussing running for my kiddos: #ttrpg #osr #shadowdark #dragontown #gmadvice

open.substack.com/pub/glyphngr...