RPG Mainframe

Episode 63: Mindful Differentiation

Enhance your dungeon designs by mindfully 'switching the music' and more to build variety and excitement. Come hang out a bit as I muse on a method to push your dungeon designs further.

Episode 62: Player Investment

All mailbag all the time as I spend some time thinking on reader comments and questions. How do you increase the enthusiasm and 'in-it-ness' of your players? Here's my best six answers.

Episode 61: Dividends of Minimalism

My new lifestyle has removed most of the common trappings of any tabletop game. Weird thing is, this has proven a boon.

Episode 60: Altered State Campaign Retrospective

It's finally over: almost 5 months of weekly play in the ALTERED STATE world of guns, AI, and world-ending schemes! In this episode, I take some time to think back on the highlights of our campaign, and the GM lessons I walked away with.

Episode 59: Begin the Beginning, End the End

The campaign thinky-series continues as I take a look at my notes for starting and concluding your next campaign. Are these methods helpful? Do you have your own mantras for campaign starting and ending? 

Episode 58: The Art of the Middle

In this episode, I go deep into the art of mastering your campaign's MIDDLE. It's before the end and after the beginning, and the end of the middle means the beginning of the ending.. wait... Oh, just listen to the podcast.

Episode 57: Demythifying Stat Blocks

I take a long, folded path to explain my recent revelations about creating and recording stats for my monsters. My new thesis? Trust your reader (even if its you!) and write far less than you think you need to. The key is differentiation, NOT detail.

Episode 56: The Memory Flash test

I stumble on a new way to attain conceptual command of my session prep, rather than deeper, more detailed note taking and re-processing. Write, forget, write again, remember. This is the MFT! 

Episode 55: Writing RETUNE

A dive into my methods and struggles writing my choose-your-path novel RETUNE. The how, the why, and what it means for the game master inside us all!

Episode 54: Megacities

In this episode, I reveal the winding path I took to realize how valuable disposable work is, developing creative muscle, and facing hard truths! Join me for the twists and turns of a GM staring down a new campaign.