Friday Links for October 9, 2009 (a day early)

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Hi all!

I’m going to be gone tomorrow, so I thought I’d post my Friday Links a day early. Yes, it might warp the time-space continuum, but oh well. No worse than the large hadron collider.

• Unique Tavern Encounters from the Bard of Valiant. You know when you read the first thing in a list of 11 and laugh out loud, it’s probably going to be a good list. This one is. I absolutely love the visual of having a bunch of burly tavern-goers drinking their grog though a straw!
  http://www.bardofvaliant.com/2009/10/unique-tavern-encounters/
• From Held Action, we have a brief description of Spirit Mimics, such as the woman behind the counter in a diner that may never have existed. To me this is a great idea to use sparingly. The idea of a magic shop that moves around isn’t new, but maybe a phantom tavern that shifts from location to location with a unique set of NPCs. Would the PCs want to try and find it again?
  http://heldaction.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/phantom-diners/
• Bigtime food for thought from the Emergence Design Weblog about making magic more mysterious. This is something I’m currently tinkering with in my own system and wondering about, so the timing is perfect. How do you balance the factors of game balance, rules, and knowledge to come up with something worth the PC’s time investigating?
  http://ruscumag.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/rpg-design-making-magic-mysterious/
• In the “Things I Could Have Used a Few Years Ago” category (for a campaign based loosely on ancient Rome), Evil Machinations provides us with Roman names beyond Fred…
  http://www.rpggm.com/blog/2009/10/05/beyond-fred-roman-names-for-characters/
• From Gnome Stew and John Arcadian comes “Johnny’s Five – Five Things About Your Game That Will Never Beat the Reality Test,” which really puts a damper on the “reality factor” of dungeon diving and adventuring in general. I think reality and the fun factor have to peacefully coexist, but there are aspects of the five things mentioned that I like to bring in now and then myself… such as having to drop a PC’s pack before going into a dungeon because the entrance is caved in and too small to get in. But who wants to have to deal with the eating and waste management portions during a game? Bring on the encounters and combat!
  http://www.gnomestew.com/johnnys-five/johnnys-five-five-things-about-your-game-that-will-never-beat-the-reality-test
• From Akratic Wizardry, we have “The Duchy of Briz: Overview and Map,” which proves that you don’t have to have a huge setting location to find some adventure or story ideas. I love the fact that he worked in not only the history of the place, but provided hooks, such as the rumors of treasure in the cairns of Solan and the few who ever return from the hidden mounds of the dead. Great stuff!
  http://akraticwizardry.blogspot.com/2009/10/duchy-of-briz-overview-and-map-revised.html
• From Gothridge Manor, we have some ideas on how to make Villages a bit more crunchy. Providing a bit of a skeleton for each village (max 4-5 sentences), makes a lot of sense to give you some ideas when the players get restless and want to stop in the next village for a drink…
  http://gothridgemanor.blogspot.com/2009/10/villages.html
• From Bard of Valiant and Viriatha, we have some great things to consider for new characters. I especially like the idea of coming up with secrets for the character and passing one to the GM to pass to another player and coming up with the list of character traits!
  http://www.bardofvaliant.com/2009/10/8-new-character-tips/
• In the wow category we have “Iconic Elements in Campaign Setting Design” from Badelaire at Tankards and Broadswords. I’m going to have to reconsider my own Immortals’ Wake and Phaedrus campaign settings with these iconic elements in mind. Great ideas.
  http://tankardsandbroadswords.blogspot.com/2009/10/iconic-elements-in-campaign-setting.html

So there you have it… Some wisdom from the blogosphere on all things roleplaying.

Have an awesome weekend!

–Fitz

Related articles by Zemanta

• RPG Design Sub-Index from Emergence Campaign Weblog (ruscumag.wordpress.com)
• Iconic Elements in Campaign Setting Design from Tankards & Broadswords (tankardsandbroadswords.blogspot.com)
• 5 Tips to Handle NPC Followers from Jonathan Drain’s D20 Source: Dungeons & Dragons Blog (d20source.com)
• The Three Motivators: A Character-Building Tool (gnomestew.com)

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1. Friday Links for October 16, 2009
2. Friday Links for October 30, 2009
3. Friday Links for October 2, 2009
4. Friday Links, December 4, 2009
5. Small Press Week Links for Friday, October 23, 2009