“Kobold Press builds on its excellent track record with another great release—new and provocative.”
—Mike Mearls
Whether it’s advice from grognards who were running games at the dawn of RPGs, or suggestions from the new generation of game designers, these 21 essays by experts are here to help you improve your GMing skills and create fun, amazing, memorable campaigns that’ll be talked about for years.
In this book, master GMs and storytellers give you advice about solo campaigns, shy players, cell phones, and making rulings on the fly. Are you unprepared for the game you’re running half an hour from now? Did you accidentally kill all the PCs? Do you want to run a game for kids? Did the plot take a sudden turn and the PCs have gone into uncharted territory? We’ve got you covered.
Complete with discussions on highlighting player strengths, tips for new and veteran GMs, and character romances, you’ll find useful advice about making your game more welcoming, more engaging, and more fun.
Featuring essays by Keith Baker, Wolfgang Baur, David “Zeb” Cook, Frank Mentzer, Shanna Germain, Monica Valentinelli, Steve Winter, and many other game professionals.
Praise for Guide to Gamemastering
“So, I am in the middle of reading this jewel. I gm games since I started playing RPGs (I play since 1983), but this book still manages to give me advice (on what I could do as a GM) or at least it provides some kind of structure to what I already do for years now, and having such a structure is great, because knowing what you do vs. doing it right “by accident” is still an improvement!
“I am happy I decided to buy this book. Every GM should read it!”
— Tom Ganz on Kobold Facebook page
Praise for Prior Design Guides
“Should be a must read for anyone who has played the game for a few years and is ready to delve into the craft of world building in a serious way. I wish I had this book fifteen years ago.
“While there are larger, more complete, surveys of demography and climatic issues, I have never seen such an effective survey of the topics that really matter, and make the difference, in delivering a quality game world to your players.”
— Paizo Review by Ayronis
“Highly recommended for gaming nerds everywhere.”
— CityBookReview.com
“If you’re an aspiring pro this book is a must. If you’re a rules hacker like me, this stuff is solid gold.”
— Berin Kinsman, UncleBear Media
“A fantastic collection . . . a solid 5 star rating.”
— Joshua Gullion, AdventureAWeek.com
“An amazing collection — from some of the best designers and writers creating role-playing game material today.”
— Brian Fitzpatrick, BlogCritics.org