Players are not "collaborators" because they can't drive the story places the GM is not prepared to go.
D&D
5e's character creation is out of control.
Chief Yells at Character Creation
2 "How does the story need this encounter?"
GMW Academy: Designing Encounters
Random encounters are like the worst part of a sandbox campaign combined with the worst part of a railroad campaign.
Chief yells a Random Encounters
We're going to write a session of play, starting with the story, and using the 3-act framework. By the end of the lesson, you'll have a session of play ready to take to your table next week.
GMW Academy: Designing a 3-Act Session
Heaven forbid players complain that the GM 'removed their agency'.
Chief Yells at Decisions
As I covered thoroughly in the Story-First Approach article, when we sit down to write a new adventure, the first thing we must decide is what story we’d like to tell. Now, the word “story” has a variety of meanings out there, so let’s get that nailed down first. For […]
GMW Academy: The 3-Act Structure
It's unfair to expect that the GM will always make things right when PCs blunder into danger.
Chief Yells at Death
The story is both priority one and step one to any adventure. The story comes first.
GMW Academy: The Story-First Approach
Oof, it has been a while, hasn’t it? I know, I know, “Stanford!? Where the hell have you been for 9 months!?” Busy. That’s where. Busy doing what? Awesome things, of course! If you’re not aware, we had a wildly successful Kickstarter for those code::2050 dice. Also, we’re still recuperating […]