Gray Ooze – inside the GM mind of Alex Gray
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A Monster of the Week Halloween One-Shot
Boo! Spooky Season is upon us once more! My group agreed to try out Monster of the Week this Halloween and now it falls to me to write the adventure. In this post, I use the MotW tools to create an adventure in which the players confront a cult that seeks immortality by ghoulish means.
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Session Reflection: The Celestial Job
Last weekend I sent the party on a planar adventure. I reflect on the session to identify what worked and what didn’t from my prep. My number one takeaway? We’re better off at the table with some note cards rather than having the full text of an adventure.
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Prep Notes: The Celestial Job
I’m prepping a one-shot adventure for a group of friends this weekend. Follow along with my prep as I get ready to take my table on a heist to Mount Celestia.
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Creating a Campaign One-Pager
I go through a process to prepare a one-page campaign overview for my players. Besides creating a concise campaign guide, this exercise focuses my thoughts on the player experience. I feel more prepared for our first session having done this exercise.
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Campaign Prep: Choose Your Own Villain
I’m working on a new campaign for my play group. I want my players to choose not only their path towards a goal, but the goal itself. How can I prepare an engaging campaign while leaving the campaign’s villain TBD?
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Loose Changeling: An Urban Mystery Adventure
I wrote this mystery adventure to support a “prepare to improvise” play style. In the adventure, the party discovers a series of murders. However, the apparent explanation doesn’t add up and the party uncovers a sinister plot.
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Session Reflection: D&D on a Backpacking Trip
I brought D&D on a summer backpacking jaunt. My first try running a TTRPG on the trail didn’t go so well, but I think next time will be better.
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Alternity: A TTRPG from TSR’s Twilight
What can we learn from Alternity, the sci-fi system from the waning days of TSR? It’s a crunchy system that seems like a version of the d20 system from a parallel reality.
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Inspiration: the 5E Mechanic We Love to Change
Ever notice how every GM seems to run have their own take on inspiration in 5E? Let’s take a look at why 5E D&D’s inspiration system is unsatisfying and what we can do about it.
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Session Reflection: At the Monongahelas of Madness
What I learned from running the one-shot At the Monongahelas of Madness: Introduce characters through action. Unusual character options make for unexpected solutions. No scene is uncuttable. When simplifying mechanics, stay simple.