I know as much about Emeril as the first few lines of his wikipedia page, a few catch phrases heard here and there, maybe one morning news segment's worth of observation of him cooking, and the summary of him in Futurama's ongoing spoof of him. The last items is probably most revealing. Bam!
Still this is enough to warrant naming this whole GM planning method after him. Summarize it with one catch phrase: "take it up a notch".
You see, playing a fantasy roleplaying game is about writing a hero's journey. All hero's journeys follow a path from the mediocre to the magnificent. They grow.
To plan a campaign, an adventure, an encounter, follow the rule: take it up a notch.
No one wants to play the standard encounter over and over -- that's what computers are for. RPG is about experiencing and conquering something new.
My last campaign of 1 1/2 years was a success in many ways because every encounter was an expansion beyond what the previous was. New risks, new scenarios, new rewards.
In chapter two of the campaign, the party quaked in fear of the ancient quake dragon. In the final chapter, the party was spit fighting multiple foes, and only two of them faced the dragon alone. They grew into this, fighting ever mounting obstacles and dangers in their path. They earned their right to be heroes.
Each week, every encounter grew more dangerous. Some died. Some lived to tell the tale and became heroes.
So next time you think ahead as a GM about what to do next, think about taking things up a notch, an ongoing game of can you top this. Your players will love it.
Still this is enough to warrant naming this whole GM planning method after him. Summarize it with one catch phrase: "take it up a notch".
You see, playing a fantasy roleplaying game is about writing a hero's journey. All hero's journeys follow a path from the mediocre to the magnificent. They grow.
To plan a campaign, an adventure, an encounter, follow the rule: take it up a notch.
No one wants to play the standard encounter over and over -- that's what computers are for. RPG is about experiencing and conquering something new.
My last campaign of 1 1/2 years was a success in many ways because every encounter was an expansion beyond what the previous was. New risks, new scenarios, new rewards.
In chapter two of the campaign, the party quaked in fear of the ancient quake dragon. In the final chapter, the party was spit fighting multiple foes, and only two of them faced the dragon alone. They grew into this, fighting ever mounting obstacles and dangers in their path. They earned their right to be heroes.
Each week, every encounter grew more dangerous. Some died. Some lived to tell the tale and became heroes.
So next time you think ahead as a GM about what to do next, think about taking things up a notch, an ongoing game of can you top this. Your players will love it.
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