MHOR GAMES

Mike Shay of Sly Flourish found his way in front of me a few days ago. In this case it was Tips for One-on-One Games , and I found myself intrigued. I have experience running one-on-one games, having done it for just over a decade now, and Mike's two tips and a framework were delightful to see. The tips: sidekicks and "Sherlock Holmes and Watson" style of play The framework: a three-phase play mode. I won't go into further detail about these. Mike's own work is linked above and is worth watching to have the context directly from him. I want to suggest another style of play for one-on-one games that I've found is fun for those who want a little bit of gonzo shenanigans in their RPGs. The Very OP Player If you understand the word "isekai," congratulations, skip to the next paragraph. You already know where this is going. If not, the type of play I'm describing is styled under the assumption that whoever the player character comes up against isn...

Photographer: Simon Harmer There's a good reason why player's asking for a name is such a prevalent meme in the role playing zeitgeist. Names carry a weight of personality that is expected to translate, either through correlation or juxtaposition, into the character themselves. We see this expectation played out culturally as well, see Wikipedia's entry on nominative determinism for a better understanding of how that plays out, but needless to say, names have a kind of magnetism that can draw us in or repel us from a character. I find this especially true when reading. I don't know the number of characters whose names I've changed in my head to better suit my view of them, but it's easily in the three digit range. I think that's why t he unsung hero of my GMing experience is a baby name book, specifically Bruce Lansky's 100,000+ Baby Names: The Most Helpful, Complete, & Up-to-Date Name Book . This wasn't something that was on my radar until it w...