Last night at the workshop, we had a nice discussion about weaving character goals together. I wanted to post that example here so people looking for a more hands-on expression of this proactive stuff can see it. Here's how it worked: we had a group-designed setting (very loose) with a few facets we had decided on (starting conflicts, a few factions, locations, etc). Each player had a vague goal they were bringing to the table: 1. See the world 2. Uncover the truth of my origin/heritage 3. Get back the magical artifact that raiders stole from my community 4. Reconsider my stance on the ethical use of magic and come to a new understanding 5. Figure out what happened with the magical disaster all those years ago These are pretty vague, and they aren't specific enough to build encounters around - yet. Your job as a GM is guide the conversation (live, ideally) to help the players attach these goals to SPECIFIC people, places, and things, with as much overlapping interests as possible. I first asked Player #1 about seeing the world, and he said... 1. Travel to every island in the vast sea, starting with my list of islands I haven't been to yet This was slightly better, and it allowed me to ask for clarity on #3... 3. Follow the raiders to their island stronghold of [name]. I have never left the island before, so I need a crew who is well-traveled and capable. We can then use #3's goal to tie together #1's goal: we can have Player #1 be the well-traveled character who knows where the raider's island is, but hasn't been there yet - and wants to visit it because he hasn't been there. This points both of their "objects of desire", or the focus of their goals, at the same place. Meanwhile, we have goal #2 develop into... 2. Use my grandfather's secret notebooks to understand the magic of the [stolen magic item]. Since that item was stolen by the raiders and taken to the island that unites goal #1 and #3, this goal must also tie into that island destination (and also to the magic item itself, which is the object of desire for goal #3.

UPDATE: This issue is now available for purchase at RPG Trader! You can buy it here: https://rpgtrader.com/products/10182/the-game-master-s-field-notes-issue-1 It will be available on DriveThruRPG at a later date as well! The first issue of our new monthly zine, the Game Master's Field Notes, is out now! Written in the style of the Game Master's Handbook series (the Proactive Roleplay and Collaborative Campaign books), these 36+ page issues are packed with advice, articles, mechanics, and encounters suitable for any game. This month's theme: Travel. This issue is currently available to all Gold members, but I'm working on getting it up at DriveThruRPG with our other packets for those who want to purchase individual issues. Gold members also have access to our monthly (returning this month) workshops, every packet we've ever made, and a slew of other game materials/recordings, plus the playtest draft of our upcoming RPG, The Ordained! In the meantime, I've attached a free, shortened preview to take a look through, which you can download right from this post. Each issue contains: - Articles written in the style of the Game Master's Handbook series. These are a essentially condensed book chapters, covering all-new topics. - System-agnostic mechanics suitable for any game, made to be easy-to-use and understand. Each is table-tested and made to encourage proactive and/or emergent roleplaying. - Encounters, ready to drop into any game! These are modular and made specifically for proactive roleplaying games. We're excited to keep the momentum! I'll comment under here once this issue is available on DriveThruRPG (I was hoping to have it up by now, but there's a brief review process and I didn't wanna wait!). For now, Gold members can access it in the Classroom tab alongside all other materials.

Hi Folks I'm trying to think who it was that brought this up a few weeks ago at a Friday Coffee Morning and have a feeling it was @Mark Petersen . The person was sounding out if any of us liked the idea of collaborating on e-zines or similar for free for members on here. Each zine to have Proactive design principles & techniques for the GMs & players. I remember @Jonah Fishel advising that a proposal for this be posted so we all know what we're working towards. Also, @Jonah Fishel or @Tristan Fishel , if we were to do this, can you suggest particular a template in either of your books? Or pages/chapters from your books if we need to be reading more to get the job done. I know we tentatively settled on 5.5e for this as its the most common system. I saw something cool recently in a daggerheart product I backed on Kickstarter where adversary statblocks had columns per tier of play under each action with appropriately scaled attacks and damage. That way each monster could be easily used at any level of play. I think that would be a good way to go (I know it was an adaptation from one of their 5e publications, just can't remember who it was but I've the free 1 click preview I could screenshot a page if someone needs an example of what I mean.) A useful reference scaling monsters for tiers this way is The Lazy GM's 5e Monster Builder Resource Document which I always keep handy when running a game. That way I can throw whatever I want at players on the fly and call it what I want. (just be sure to quote the bit at the top of its page if using this Monster Builder)

I have a party that thinks, when they run low on spell slots and hit points, they can just take a long rest anywhere -- the middle of a corridor, bridge, hallway -- you know, high-traffic areas -- and they are back to 100%. I constantly give them random encounters, which do tend to happen in hallways, but they just keep trying until everyone gets bored and I just say, "the night passes with out incident". I need to find someway to give them consequences, but also give them some mechanism to where they can take a long rest that makes sense. I'm open to any ideas. Thank you.

Good news and bad news! The bad news is, Happy Hour Wednesday will be going on hiatus for a bit---I've shifted my work schedule around and I'll have to stop running on Wednesdays. I've made a community poll to see what other times might work here! Since we have Coffee Hour with Jonah, I may hold off on this for now and just making that, but we'll see! If you can't make coffee hour but want to join the chats, definitely let me know and I'll try to prioritize getting this back up sooner. To soften the blow, there are new prep videos in the classroom! We're trying to show proactive prep more in action, so if you want to check them out, you can find some concrete examples in the classroom or at this link: https://www.skool.com/game-masters-laboratory/classroom/b10da8af?md=23cd1876a2ae43f9b5e571db4ba8d69a