How to solve the murder-hobo problem

It's a dilemma almost as old as the tabletop roleplaying hobby itself: In a game that revolves around exploring and (often) looting dangerous places filled with dangerous creatures, how does a DM cure players of the seemingly irresistible urge to simply murder and loot literally every living thing they come across? I mean, combat and...

A compact random personality generator

Reading through the Chimera roleplaying system rulebook, I came across this nifty little chart for quickly generating NPC personalities. Two D12 rolls, one on each column, give you a range of random, unique personalities. Roll Outlook Roll Demeanor 1 Bigoted 1 Violent 2 Paranoid 2 Overbearing 3 Bleak 3 Arrogant 4 Fearful 4 Capricious 5...

20% off 3Deep roleplaying system

Calling all roleplaying geeks! Support an independent creator and get a discount on 3Deep, a nifty new tabletop RPG! The game's creator has very generously given me a discount code to distribute to my followers (all 3 and a half of you!). Use this link to get the 20% discount: http://www.rpgnow.com/browse.php?discount=963d7354ef 3Deep is a rules-light...

An intro to tabletop roleplaying games

Tabletop roleplaying is a very unique kind of gaming. If you've never played a tabletop RPG before (or seen others play one), the terms and concepts can seem disorienting. So, to get you started, here's a quick primer on tabletop roleplaying games—the most fulfilling and endlessly creative kind of game you'll ever play. Tabletop roleplaying games...

A quick way to build colorful NPCs

As a gamemaster, you're responsible for narrating and describing the world your characters inhabit—but players often take sharp left turns into places you didn't expect them to go. Sometimes this can severely tax your ability to think on the fly and keep things interesting. So how do you avoid having your characters wander a landscape...

Gamemastering tip: How to integrate character backstories into your game

Since the FAR System is all about simulating a character's experience in an awesome story, it's important that every character have some sort of backstory. The backstory places your character's motivations—the FAR System calls them Story Aspects—in context and helps set the tone for the rest of the game. Backstories can be brief summaries of...