We buy shelves of thick books. We plan detailed adventures. We memorise rules.In Play Unsafe, Graham Walmsley explores what happens when you throw the serious stuff away: when you stop working, stop planning and start playing.This book explains how to make roleplaying less like work and more like play; stop killing other players' ideas and build on them instead; and put stories at the heart of your game.

    We've included dozens of helpful tips to help you better organize your games, design adventures, and make your NPCs come to life. In addition, we've included a number of settings for unusual dungeons. In short, there's something for everybody in this exciting addition to the AD&D game system.

    You'll learn to:* create your ideal character* improve group dynamics * help your group accomplish its goals * assess your opponents* build a more exciting campaign * and much more!~ There are even tips on how to take pieces from different game systems and combine them into an entirely new game that's perfect for you and your group. Everything you need is here to take you from good to better to best!

    Want to explore an epic history of your own creation, hundreds or thousands of years long, all in an afternoon? That's Microscope.You won't play the game in chronological order. You can defy the limits of time and space, jumping backward or forward to explore the parts of the history that interest you. Want to leap a thousand years into the future and see how an institution shaped society? Want to jump back to the childhood of the king you just saw assassinated and find out what made him such a hated ruler? That’s normal in Microscope.You have vast power to create... and to destroy. Build beautiful, tranquil jewels of civilization and then consume them with nuclear fire. Zoom out to watch the majestic tide of history wash across empires, then zoom in and explore the lives of the people who endured it.Mock chronological order.Defy time and space.Build worlds and destroy them.A role-playing game for two to four players. No GM. No prep."Microscope is incredible! A truly brilliant design. Also, the book is extremely well done. Highly recommended."-John Harper, designer of Agon & Danger Patrol"Ben Robbins' Microscope may be the clearest-written game text I've ever read - which is helpful, because it is also one of the most innovative games I've come across in a long time. Microscope engagingly challenges assumptions and upends long-held conventions of play while delivering a singular and satisfying evening of gaming. And "fractal role playing" is no joke - the minute you finish, you'll want to dive back in and explore some interesting sliver of the vast history you just built."-Jason Morningstar, designer of Fiasco"It's been a long time that a game captures my attention like Microscope. Bypass the hype, it's a truly remarkable well-instruction'd game"-Andy Kitkowski, founder of story-games.com

    Each class comes with a set of new powers, class features, paragon paths, epic destinies, and more that beginning players can use to build the characters they want to play and experienced players can plunder for existing 4th Edition characters. In addition to new builds, this book presents expanded information and racial traits for some of the game’s most popular races, including dragonborn, drow, half-elves, half-orcs, and tieflings.

    It gives you the basics on running a great game, info for more advanced dungeon mastering, guidelines for creating adventures, and tips for building a campaign. It shows you how to: Handle all the expressions of DMing: moderator, narrator, a cast of thousands (the nonplayer characters or NPCs), player, social director, and creator Use published adventures and existing campaign worlds or create adventures and campaign worlds of your own Conjure up exciting combat encounters Handle the three types of encounters: challenge, roleplaying, and combat Create your own adventure: The Dungeon Adventure, The Wilderness Adventure. The Event-Based adventure (including how to use flowcharts and timelines), The Randomly Generated Adventure, and the High-Level adventure Create memorable master villains, with nine archetypes ranging from agent provocateur to zealot To get you off to a fast start, Dungeon Master For Dummies includes:A sample dungeon for practice Ten ready-to-use encounters and ten challenging traps A list of simple adventure premises Mapping tips, including common scales, symbols, and conventions, complete with tables Authors Bill Slavicsek and Richard Baker wrote the hugely popular Dungeons and Dragons For Dummies. Bill has been a game designer since 1986 and leads the D&D creative team at Wizards of the Coast. Richard is a game developer and the author of the fantasy bestseller Condemnation. They give you the scoop on:Using a DM binder to keep records such as an adventure log, PCs' character sheets, NPC logs/character sheets, treasure logs, and more Knowing player styles (role players and power games) and common subgroups: hack'n'slasher, wargamer, thinker, impulsive adventurer, explorer, character actor, and watcher Recognizing your style: action movie director, storyteller, worldbuilder, puzzlemaker, or connector Using miniatures, maps, and other game aids Using 21st century technology, such as a Web site or blog, to enhance your game The book includes a sample adventure, The Necromancer's Apprentice, that's the perfect way to foray into DMing. It includes everything you need for a great adventure--except your players. What are you waiting for? There are chambers to be explored, dragons to be slain, maidens to be rescued, gangs of gnoll warriors to be annihilated, worgs to be wiped out, treasures to be discovered, worlds to be conquered....

    This is the essential volume for the well-equipped Dungeons and Dragons character.

    Sections address life in a feudal culture, the duties of the nobility, and the true meaning of knighthood. You'll find a complete system for the design and construction of castles, new BATTLESYSTEM rules for the resolution of sieges, a quick resolution system for massive military campaigns, and an assortment of generic castles to spark your imagination.

    Many adventurers pick up swords or call upon strange powers in times of trouble, yet only a few are chosen by fate or the gods to change the course of history. These are mythic heroes—legendary figures whose every footstep shakes the heavens. With Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Mythic Adventures, it's your turn to change the world. Choose a mythic path and take on unbelievable powers by completing mythic trials tied to your character's story. Each mythic path works in parallel with your character class, allowing you to continue advancing in your chosen calling even as you seek a greater destiny. Best of all, you can start playing a mythic character at any point—even as early as 1st level!Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Mythic Adventures is a must-have companion volume to the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. This imaginative tabletop game builds on more than 10 years of system development and open playtests featuring more than 50,000 gamers to create a cutting-edge RPG experience that brings the all-time best-selling set of fantasy rules into a new era.Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Mythic Adventures is a 256-page hardcover book that includes:- Complete rules for playing mythic characters of six different paths: archmage, champion, guardian, hierophant, marshal, and trickster.- New mythic feats for every class, such as Powerful Shape, which allows druids to transform into enormous animals, or Deadly Stroke, which lets a mythic character dispatch even a formidable enemy with a single blow.- A whole grimoire of new and supercharged spells. Bring down a castle with a mythic meteor swarm, transform the landscape with terraform, or make every memory and record of someone disappear with mythic modify memory!- Tons of monsters enhanced with mythic abilities and ready to challenge your heroes, from dragons to vampires!- A hoard of new mythic magic items and artifacts. Brandish the sword of inner fire, capable of burning even elemental creatures, or turn your enemies to stone with the medusa-headed shield aegis!- A complete mythic adventure for 7th-level characters.- Advice on running a mythic game and forging your own legends.... and much, much more!Cover art by Wayne Reynolds

    What's more, player rules for a host of creatures let players not just fight aliens, but be them!Inside Starfinder Alien Archive, you'll find the following:- Over 80 bizarre life-forms both classic and new, from the reptilian ikeshtis and energy-bodied hallajins to robotic anacites and supernatural entities from beyond the realms of mortals.- Over 20 races with full player rules, letting you play everything from a winged dragonkin to a hyperevolved floating brain.- New alien technology to help give your character an edge, including weapons, armor, magic items, and more.- A robust NPC-creation system to let Game Masters build any aliens or creatures they can imagine.- New rules for magical monster summoning, quick templates to modify creatures on the fly, and more!Cover art by Remko Troost

    Five years after a tragic fire and spate of brutal murders, the people of Sandpoint eagerly anticipate the Swallowtail Festival to commemorate the consecration of the town's new temple. At the height of the ceremony, disaster strikes!In the days that follow, a sinister shadow settles over Sandpoint. Rumors of goblin armies and wrathful monsters in forgotten ruins have set the populace on edge. As Sandpoint's newest heroes, the PCs must deal with treachery, goblins, and the rising threat of a forgotten empire whose cruel and despotic rulers might not be as dead as history records.This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path launches the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path and includes:- "Burnt Offerings," and adventure for 1st-level characters by James Jacobs.- An exploration of your PCs' new hometown of Sandpoint, by James Jacobs.- A history of the ancient empire of Thassilon, by Wolfgang Baur.- The first installment of the Pathfinder's Journal, by Erik Mona.- Six new monsters by James Jacobs, Richard Pett, and F. Wesley Schneider.Cover art by Wayne Reynolds

    

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     Kobold Guide to Plots & Campaigns shows how to begin a new campaign, use published adventures or loot them for the best ideas, build toward cliffhangers, and design a game that can enthrall your players for month or even years. Want to run an evil campaign, or hurl the characters into unusual otherworldly settings? Want to ensure that you're creating memorable and effective NPCs and villains? We've got you covered. Complete with discussions on plotting, tone, branching storytelling, pacing, and crafting action scenes, you'll find all the tips and advice you need to take on the best role in roleplaying--and become an expert gamemaster, too! Featuring essays by Wolfgang Baur, Jeff Grubb, David "Zeb" Cook, Margaret Weis, Robert J. Schwalb, Steve Winter, and other game professionals.

    Whether you're playing a devoted psion or psionic warrior, or a member of a psionic race, or are just looking to expand your character's options, this sourcebook has something for you. Players and Dungeon Masters gain access to new combat options, powers, equipment, and prestige classes, as well as exciting new character classes. Complete Psionic also provides new information on psionic organizations, and Dungeon Masters will find material for incorporating psionics into their campaign worlds.