Hey Storytellers, We started this channel in Sept 2020 and since then we have received 3000 downloads. That is really good for not advertising this channel and just getting organic reach. Because we do pay a premium for podcast hosting, publishing to numerous channels and helping iTunes audio quality we are switching over to just YouTube because of…

Hey Storytellers, Sometimes you have a great idea but it isn't connected to anything at all, nor do you always know how to scale it up to use in a larger context. Visit https://www.Skullrpg.com to see what books, free courses, and other resources are available for you and your gaming needs. In today's episode, we cover how Olson Scott Card did this…

Hey Storytellers, Have you ever noticed why most D&D / Pathfinder games occur in a place with definite boundaries? Visit Skullrpg.com to see what books, free courses, and other resources are available for you and your gaming needs. In this episode, we talk about ways to get out of places with definite boundaries and how the gaming mat has limited D…

Hey Storyteller, Creating a fantasy race can be daunting. Are my players going to be in this race? Are they trying to save this race? How does this race fit into the larger campaign? Do they worship different gods? Who are their heroes, villains, economic structure, language? Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th editio…

Hey Storyteller, Creating a fantasy city can be daunting. Do you need a map? How many store owners and types of stores do I need to have created? What about guilds / factions / temples? Do I need to know what the tech / magic limit is for this city? Where do I even begin? Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to…

Hey Storyteller, Creating a fantasy kingdom can be daunting. How many people do you need to create? Do you need to flesh out one or more temple systems? What do you do about the economy or leadership or any number of things? Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.…

Hey Storyteller, After reading many fantasy series it feels like in order to start a campaign some people feel like they have to recreate the Silmarillion. But do you? Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adve…

Hey Storytellers, We have moved to posting every Monday/Wednesday/Friday. To finish up our how to play an RPG in ____ era. We turn to the modern era or the clay era. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Advent…

Hey Storytellers, We have moved to posting on Monday / Wednesday / Friday. The Silver era or age can be explained this way. Atlantis (golden age) has just fallen. The survivors have landed, scattered across the world. They don't have the technology or maybe even raw goods to bring Atlantis back but compared to the primitives they are now living amo…

Hey Storytellers, We are moving to a Monday / Wednesday / Friday publishing schedule at this point. We hope that lets you catch up and listen to each episode as they land. In today's episode, we talk about most of the RPG's we play. This is the bronze era using a Greco-Roman Mythology understanding of humanity. Your players are exploring a world th…

Hey Storytellers, Two episodes ago we talked about the different eras of games using the Greek understanding of creation. So there were the golden, silver, bronze, and clay ages of humanity. Today we explore playing a game at the height of magic or technology that your world will ever see. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's …

Hey Storytellers, I don't know about you but when I first tried to write my own adventures as a Dungeon Master for D&D 3.5 I thought I needed a world map. The same was true when I tried my hand at GURPS. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Ch…

Hey Storytellers, In today's episode, we cover different eras as an overview. Using the Greek understanding of Golden, Silver, Bronze and Clay age of Humanity we talk about this in RPG terms. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our …

Hey Storytellers, In one of my campaigns, I wanted to tell a story about the players hunting down a particular villain. I didn't want this game to last more than about 8 months of real-time and I didn't want to spend a year of in-game time that didn't connect to the overarching storyline. So what did I do? Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 8…

Hey Storytellers, In our last episode, we covered if you should use traps or not. One really nasty thing to do is to incorporate them into a mini-boss encounter. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adventures…

Hey Storytellers, Do you need traps in your RPG? Do you need to create a dungeon where every room somehow has a 20,000 GP trap designed to kill your players? Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adventures for…

Hey Storytellers, Sometimes in the middle of a conflict, you realize that your players are running through it too fast. So what do you do about that? Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adventures for Game Ma…

Hey Storytellers, In today's episode, we will cover how to scale the challenge rating of your encounters (up or down) depending on the players around your table. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adventures…

Hey Storytellers, Eventually, you may be ready to make your own custom RPG adventure and even campaign. This entire podcast is dedicated to helping you do just that and if you already make custom RPG's then our podcast is designed to give you more tools or maybe a way of using your current tools in a different way. Check out our newest book - Human…

Hey Storytellers, The next step to running a premade is learning how to string together one-off adventures if you want to run these cheaply either from free adventures on the internet or with some patreons dedicated to these. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon…

Hey Storytellers, Today we answer the question about what is the easiest way to get into being a Game Master. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adventures for Game Masters to Run in any TTRPG: https://www.a…

Hey Storytellers, In today's episode, we cover what to do if your players kill your plot hook or just decide they don't want to do the adventure and want to do something else. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 …

Hey Storytellers, In today's episode, we will cover how to create a backstory for your good NPC's in your stories. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adventures for Game Masters to Run in any TTRPG: https://…

Hey Storytellers, In today's episode, we talk about how to create a memorable villain. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adventures for Game Masters to Run in any TTRPG: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NQ38H2K…

Hey Storytellers, This isn't a plug for our course "Just Enough Planning" (https://skullrpg.com/just-enough-planning-course/). Instead, we are covering how much planning you may feel comfortable with as a game master. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/…

Hey Storyteller, Many times you try out a storyline and one or more of your players (or worse even you as the game master) is bored with it. Instead, there is a better way and you can do it at the start. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Ch…

Hey Storytellers, Our group has two main game masters, as well as, others that are learning or haven't GM'd in a while. If you have a group like this you might have some issues if the old GM just hasn't gotten used to being a player yet. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https:…

Hey Storytellers, Many of our games start with jokes as we ease into the game. That isn't an issue, but the issue is about 30 minutes in if you have one or more players still cracking jokes in a serious game. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZT…

Hey Storytellers, Sometimes your players are distracted and some distractions are totally understandable. Those aren't the ones I am talking about, but rather if they aren't engaged in your RPG what are some of the ways to help bring them back to your game. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RP…

Hey Storytellers, A rules lawyer is one who will correct the game master most of the time about the specific rules (and errata buried on the internet) for the game you are playing. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book …

Hey Storytellers, Today we talk about when you should say "Yes" to your players. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adventures for Game Masters to Run in any TTRPG: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NQ38H2K My sh…

Hey Storytellers, The fastest way to improve your improvisational skills is to have fun using them. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adventures for Game Masters to Run in any TTRPG: https://www.amazon.com/…

Hey Storytellers, In this episode, we talk about how many premade adventures can't be run strictly by the book and that you, as the game master, may need to use your mad improvisational skills (or amateur ones), to make up for the fact that your gaming group wasn't a part of their test market (assuming they even had one). Check out our newest book …

Hey Storytellers, In today's episode, we talk about how the game master can use some light improvisational skills in your game. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adventures for Game Masters to Run in any TT…

Hey Storytellers, In this episode, we will discuss ways to handle your player's bizarre choices in your RPG. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adventures for Game Masters to Run in any TTRPG: https://www.am…

Hey Storytellers, In today's episode, we cover some of the ways that game masters feel like their players are ruining their game. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adventures for Game Masters to Run in any …

Hey Storytellers, The rule of three says that you can let your players level up (like in a D&D / Pathfinder) game after three game sessions. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adventures for Game Masters to …

Hey Storytellers, Yesterday we created a Cyberpunk / mystery RPG campaign. One of the issues I have had was losing the thread of the story used in a campaign like 4 months into the story and my game sessions would suffer. Find out more about this with our free course: https://skullrpgbooks.vipmembervault.com/products/courses/view/1047566/?action=si…

Hey Storytellers, Here is where we take the elements from yesterday's RPG Campaign episode and actually start to flesh out a campaign. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adventures for Game Masters to Run in…

Hey Storytellers, We have covered the elements of a good game session, but what do you need for an RPG Campaign? Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adventures for Game Masters to Run in any TTRPG: https://ww…

Hey Storytellers, This podcast talks about two different things. Some RPG's are prop heavy (looking at you Dungeons and Dragons), but then we branch out into other types of props that people use to help with immersion in the game. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.a…

Hey Storytellers, You just got a new RPG and you want to play it tonight. How can you do that? Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adventures for Game Masters to Run in any TTRPG: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0…

Hey Storytellers, For many tabletop RPG Dungeon Masters, one of the hardest, most time-consuming tasks is to roll up a high-level wizard for use in your game that will challenge your group. There is nothing worse than showing up woefully unprepared and having to cut your game short because your players raced to the final encounter, and you don't ha…

Hey Storytellers, In our last episode, we defined many different types of genres. In this one, we match the genre to the RPG. Check out our newest book - Human NPC's: 84 Complete NPC's for 5th edition to use in your RPG in minutes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCKRZTM/ Check out our first book - 19 RPG Adventures for Game Masters to Run in any TTRP…

Hey Storytellers, Knowing that there is a different way to play an RPG if you like different genres was very helpful to my gaming. So do I like mysteries, but like a dash of horror every once in a while? Do I like action / adventure but love that in a western-style or a sci-fi style or both? Check out our courses for Game Masters: https://skullrpgb…

Hey Storytellers, Coming back at you with some game master / dungeon master 101. One of the interesting things is to think about what type of game master you are? You should do this because you might be trying to run a game that fits you but not your players and that could lead to some conflict. Check out our courses for Game Masters: https://skull…

Hey Storytellers, We are staring a new series for Game Master 101. We realized we cover a lot of GM 201 or 301 material and thought going back to the basics was a good idea. Learn more at https://skullrpg.com Get the free Tell Your Story course here: https://skullrpgbooks.vipmembervault.com/products/courses/view/1047566/?action=signup What is the r…

Hey Storytellers, You don't get to have a podcast channel without a shameless plug every once in a while. So this is for our paid course Just Enough Planning. It is a 3-hour audio / video course that will cover the concepts in our Tell Your Story free course, but with editable PDF workbooks to create your next (or current) RPG Campaign. Check out o…

Hey Storytellers, Sometimes you just want to create a dungeon, castle, spaceship or cavern, but if you draw like I do it just takes way too long to get something to look decent. But Dungeon Script is a great tool that can easily draw out what you want with really no learning curve. However, it has some great features that can take you time to learn…

Hey Storytellers, Today we cover our free online course called Tell Your Story - it helps you think of your RPG campaign like it is a play. It was eye-opening to me once I realized this it changed my entire way of planning my RPG campaigns. Give us a listen to learn more and then click on the link below to get it for free. Check out our resources p…