Questing's Readings - 28/6/09

This week, there has been some interesting discussions going on about alternative reasons for rewarding XP other than combat. There's also some advice for GMs in various issues when it comes to players and a few posts about gaming in other parts of the world. Overall, it has been quite a fruitful week of readings.

A Butterfly Dreaming
4E from One Year In
Some deep look and thoughts on the 4E system after it has been released for one year.

At Will
Complicated Goals: Making Memorable Encounters
How to create memorable encounters with opponents, goals and complications.

Campaign Mastery
Shadow Levels: A way to roleplay the acquisition of Prestige Classes in D&D 3.x
An interesting houserule of holding character advancement before they enter into a prestige class.

Capturing Fantasy
Why You Should Explore Your Character's Past
Revealing some hidden opportunities in having a character background.

Dungeon's Master
Skill Aide: Dragonmarks
A simple houserule for all the dragonmarks that gives a small bonus to skill checks.

Character Motivation
Some thoughts on why your character should have a motivation.

GamesTopica.Net
Meta-Plot Special! Why XP is the Ultimate Meta-Plot Device
How XP can be the best tool to promote your meta-plot.

Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer
Roleplaying Games in the Philippines: 2009 Edition

Newbie DM
Table Drama: Handling PvP & angry players
5 ways to handle a situation when your players at are each others throats.

A couple of free mapping and landscape visualization tools for new DM’s
A couple of free tools to create stunning maps and landscape pictures.

Sly Flourish
Three New Ways to use the Monster Manual 2
Three simple ways to transfer the new mechanics of MM2 to MM1.

Stargazer's World
Gaming on the cheap
A list of free or cheap RPGs for different genres.

A Gamer In Japan Part 1: The Group
The 3 types of gaming groups that you can find in Japan.

tenletter
The Worst Gamer City In The World
Jatori explaining where is the worst gaming city in the world and can he do about it.

The Dump Stat
Fitting the way you DM into combat Roles classification
An interesting observation of GMing types according to the class roles of 4E.

The Recursion King
Experience points for class goals (revised)
An interesting houserule for rewarding XP for accomplishing class-related tasks.

The Spirits of Eden
Wow, There’s A Lot Of Unearthed Arcana Stuff In 4e
An interesting observation of how much of 4E's rules are similar to the variants in Unearthed Arcana in 3.x.

Uncle Bear
Worldbuilding 101: Holidays
Some guidelines on how to create a holiday for your setting.

Unofficial Games
Meeting interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture... and NOT killing them
Some suggestions on rewarding XP for exploration.