#table tools

[talesofgames]

Minor Festival Generator

Three tables to create minor religious festivals for your game: Minor Festival Generator

  December is one of those times in the year when religious festivals loom large. Such communal worship is often absent from our games. Large festivals are generally treated as plot devices in a campaign. However, in a setting with multiple deities, there should be frequent minor festivals.

  I noted previously my failure to adequately portray the cults in my game world

  The tables in the…

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Updated: GMC Body Language

Another look at using body language to portray better GMCs: Updated: GMC Body Language

  My weakest area as a GM is my portrayal of GMCs. Thus, the most relevant part of the comprehensive Guidance chapter of the Spark RPG by Jason Pitre was the GMC advice. This essay expands upon Jason’s suggestions. I have written before about the ideas of Jason Pitre found in Spark RPG:

  My first essay was Bright Sparks, about Player Principles

Next was Story Sparks, exploring Jason’s seven…

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Fantasy Mook Traits pdf Launch

Another book launched. This time a set of tables to add character to your horde of mooks: Fantasy Mook Traits pdf Launch

  Following unexpected progress with the layout over the Easter holiday, I am pleased to release another Table Tools pdf today. I really wish I had the time to be more productive, but life is not playing out that way this year.

  The new release is called Fantasy Mooks Traits. This is a small set of tables designed to create identifying tags for the mooks in a horde. The volume comes with five BO…

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Saga Tables: Exposition 7th Sea Style Part 3

Six table to generate a source of in-game knowledge: Saga Tables: Exposition 7th Sea Style Part 3

  In February last year, I backed the Kickstarter for the second edition of 7th Sea. This proved to be another campaign with overwhelming support, making the rewards phenomenal value. I received so many pdfs as part of the rewards package, but I chose the second edition rules as the starting point.

  As to be expected from rules written by John Wick, 7th Seacontains a wealth of excellent advice.…

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Prophecies & Omens Part 4: Generating Prophecies

My last essay on the topic presents three tables for creating random prophecies: Prophecies & Omens Part 4: Generating Prophecies

  Here at the start of a brave New Year, the travelling RPG Blog Carnival is back at Tales of a GM. It is a great pleasure to host the carnival for another January. My nominated theme is Prophecies & Omens.

  See the Prophecies & Omens launch post for more details.

In my first contribution, I outlined bird auguries in RPGs

My second contribution presented five tables to randomly generate auguries

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Prophecies & Omens Part 2: Bird Augury Tables

Sample tables for birds carrying divine messages: Prophecies & Omens Part 2: Bird Augury Tables

  The start of a brave New Year brings the travelling RPG Blog Carnival to Tales of a GM once more. It is a great pleasure to host the carnival for another January. My nominated theme is Prophecies & Omens.

  See the Prophecies & Omens launch post for more details.

In my first contribution, I outlined bird auguries in RPGs

    Adding Avian Auguries

In my previous contribution to the Prophecies &…

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Heroic Nicknames Preview 02: Colour Nicknames

A second extract from my latest pdf. Heroic Nicknames Preview 02: Colour Nicknames

  Last week I released of my Heroic Nicknames pdf. This book is over 100 pages long, and launches my Names for Games series. Heroic Nicknames presents an extensive set of tables to allow any fantasy GM to add a wide range of nicknames to their GMCs. Many of the tables are warrior-focused, but a broad variety of names are possible.

  This pdf grew in the writing, and took me far longer to complete…

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Improv Gaming, Part 11: Improv at the Table

The last in the series brings together all my improv tools as I show you how I run my game. Improv Gaming, Part 11: Improv at the Table

  This essay is the last major topic in the series exploring my approach to the liberating practice of improvised gaming. I hope you can take something useful from my techniques, and ease your progress towards faster prep.

  See my Improv GM page for more articles on this topic.

  In my approach to improv gaming, I have seven supports:

Background Reading

My Players

Instigating Incident

Collection…

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