No question falls more near and dear to my role-playing heart than this one: What are the best adventures made of? Some may choose to answer this question by answering the question What is the best role-playing system? Is it D&D, RuneQuest, Shadowrun or Cyberpunk, White Wolf or Cathulu, maybe its GURPS or some crackpot home brew system you've been trying to get people to play for decades. Is it D20 or Perts? With Figs or without? Do you use Props? Costumes? Accents? (OK maybe we can rule accents our right now).

It seems that there is always someone who wants to play an assasin. And why not? If done true to form they would be James Bond with an invisibility cloak or that famous Nija assassin dude. What's his name?

This is a quick 10 best list, it consists of things I’ve done, learned and seen other GMs do. Some of these are real gems. If you are new to GMing you might get some much needed advice bellow. If you are an old timer, you may have a few good nods and maybe an “ah”. Either way, enjoy.

If I learned anything at GenCon, it was how much I have to learn about gaming. I used to think I would have what I wanted if I spent my entire paycheck on gaming shwag, but GenCon taught me that I was wrong. First I would have to get a better job, and then spending my entire paycheck would put a dent in the down payment on the marvelous things I saw  – that I must have.

After what seemed like ages of constrictive rules and board-game play, “role playing” had been getting a little stale for me. Even the excitement of playing at Gen Con was over shadowed by the mechanical nature of the games. Don’t get me wrong, the major games are still fun in their own regard, but it feels like “role” has been systematically replaced with “roll” and games have become more about the figs and less about the story.

Pathfinder. There I said it. No. I’m not taking sides. I’m just putting it out there. Pathfinder. It’s like 3.5 but better. Here is what pazio says about it:

I

was so excited to hear about the pending Dark Sun release that I ran right over and wrote a 3 page blog entry about why its the best D&D campaign setting of all time. Then I promptly proceeded to screw up the entire entry trying to add a link to the Dark Sun logo.

One topic that comes up repeatedly in gaming circles (for both new and old players) is the question of who your character is or rather who your character is “supposed” to be. Is your character supposed to be you with a different set of skills and abilities, in a different time or place? Is your character supposed to be a completely made up persona, who is as unlike you as possible? Some gamers, such as Jim H.

In the last 30 years, I’ve been asked this question a million times or so. Sometimes, the answer I give makes people want to give it a try and sometimes, it makes them look at me like I have three heads — to which all I can say is “No! No! My CHARACTER has three heads.”