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### Make It Personal

Posted by J.T. Evans | Nov 14, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice, Player Advice | 0

### Gnomecast 224 – Tabletop Safety Toolkit Inte...

Posted by Poddy Gnomington | Nov 5, 2025 | Gnomecast | 0

### Preludes

Posted by Phil Vecchione | Oct 29, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice | 0

### Small Groups vs. Large Groups

Posted by J.T. Evans | Oct 24, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice | 0

### Gnomecast 223 – Getting Spooky with Bridgett...

Posted by Poddy Gnomington | Oct 22, 2025 | Gnomecast | 0

### Making Second Chances Cinematic: Introducing the I...

Posted by Jesse Edmond | Oct 17, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice | 0

## Make It Personal

by J.T. Evans | Nov 14, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice, Player Advice

Session zero is packed. Like, really packed, with so many things to do and consider and take care of. There’s establishing the style/theme/tone of the game. Discussing safety tools. Establishing a genre to experience. Determining which system to use. Figuring out what setting to romp around...

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## Gnomecast 224 – Tabletop Safety Toolkit Interview

by Poddy Gnomington | Nov 5, 2025 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GC\_224\_Safety-toolkit-list-Final.mp3 Join Jared as he interviews Kienna Shaw and Lauren Bryant-Monk, the folks behind the Tabletop Safety Toolkit, a resource providing gamers with access to a variety of safety tools. There’s a ton of options...

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## Preludes

by Phil Vecchione | Oct 29, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

In my current Blades in the Dark game, I started to post preludes in our Slack channel a few days before the game. These preludes are short narrative pieces, centered on one of the characters, and convey some information to the players about the upcoming session. It is not the first time I have...

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## Small Groups vs. Large Groups

by J.T. Evans | Oct 24, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

How large is your RPG group? Small? Large? Average? What are the ramifications of each size of group? Do you have too few players? Too many? It all depends on what you’re looking for in your games and sessions. Back in early high school, the largest group I was part of had 15 players and 22...

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## Gnomecast 223 – Getting Spooky with Bridgett Jeffries

by Poddy Gnomington | Oct 22, 2025 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GC\_223\_Getting-spooky-with-Bridget-Jefferies\_final.mp3 Join Ang as she chats with guest Bridgett Jeffries about all things spooky and scary games. Need some insight into how to bring the best of horror to your table during this spooky season? Listen...

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## Making Second Chances Cinematic: Introducing the Invocation Reroll

by Jesse Edmond | Oct 17, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

The problem isn’t the mechanic. It’s the framing. Rerolls are inherently dramatic — a refusal to accept failure, a desperate second chance — but most games treat them as paperwork.

The solution is simple: give rerolls a ritual.

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## A Look at The Art of Kobold Press

by Jared Rascher | Oct 13, 2025 | Reviews

Kobold Press sent me a review copy of The Art of Kobold Press, a book showcasing the artwork used by the company over the course of its lifespan. That gives me the perfect opportunity to recall my connection to RPG art over the years. I was really fortunate to play RPGs in an era when some amazing...

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## How to Steal a Story (to Use in Your Campaign)

by Josh Storey | Oct 10, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

“Everything’s a reboot. There’s nothing original anymore.” Boring statements. Defeatist. Ironically, not even original complaints. “Everything’s a remix.” Punk as hell. Creates opportunities. Empowering. Whether we’re talking about Marvel movies, the...

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## Gnomecast 222 – Combating Analysis Paralysis

by Poddy Gnomington | Oct 8, 2025 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GC\_222\_Combating-Analaysis-Paralaysis-final.mp3 Join Ang along with Jared and JT as they talk about how to combat analysis paralysis! What do you do when your players get stuck overthinking and overanalyzing things and start dragging the game down!...

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## Making Weapons More Interesting

by Drew Bassett | Oct 3, 2025 | Game Mastering, General, GMing Advice

Your weapons are more than just damage dice.

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## Basic Elements of NPCs

by J.T. Evans | Sep 29, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

NPCs in your RPGs come in all shapes, sizes, purposes, abilities, and reasons. It’s near impossible to enumerate all of the facets of an NPC or why they are in the storyline. Despite the Herculean task before me, I’ve done my best to outline what I think are the basic elements of NPCs...

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## What’s Your Pre-Game?

by Phil Vecchione | Sep 26, 2025 | Game Mastering, General, GMing Advice

Every week, I run a game on Sunday evenings. Currently, I am running Blades in the Dark and Neon City Blues on alternating weeks. Every Sunday afternoon, I start my pre-game so that I am ready for game night. What makes up my pre-game changes depending on the game, where it is being played, etc,...

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## Gnomecast 221 – Fixating on Trifles

by Poddy Gnomington | Sep 24, 2025 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GC\_221\_Triffles\_final.mp3 Join Ang, Chris and JT as they chat about what to do when your players get fixated on trifling matters that you didn’t intend to matter in the game. Do you make it matter or do you redirect them, and how do you do...

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## Gnomecast 220 – Virtual vs. In-Person

by Poddy Gnomington | Sep 10, 2025 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GC\_221\_in\_person-v-virtual-final.mp3 Join Ang along with Josh and Jared as they talk about the pros and cons of playing virtually online versus playing in person face-to-face. Listen to them talk about what they love about both ways of playing!...

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## Post Game Debrief

by Phil Vecchione | Aug 29, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

Last month, I started a new way to manage the information for my campaigns, and I have been excited about it. Excited enough, that I started doing something that in my 40 years of gaming I have not really done before, that is to have a post-session debrief. It happened by accident, the first time,...

Read More

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