GameMastery Guide Preview: New Rules!

Friday, June 11, 2010

In the past several GameMastery Guide previews I've talked a lot about the awesome art, the helpful tables, and the tidbits of advice from some of the best GMs in gaming, but in a lot of ways—as useful and inspirational as all of that can be—that's dressing. What many GMs crave is new techniques in their repertoires and new weapons in their arsenals. In short: new rules.

We've got that.

Aside from all the handy charts and thoughtful discussions, the GameMastery Guide is chock full of new rule subsets, new systems for handling a wide variety of challenges, and new ways to imperil or reward your players. Want new disasters? How about rules for pyroclastic flows, tsunamis, undead uprisings, and more. Love the haunts in past volumes of Pathfinder Adventure Path? Enjoy rules for making your own. Want a dramatic way to run chases? Just flip to Chapter 8. Have characters entered a realm of magic gone wild? Chapter 7 has you covered. Looking to truly drive your PCs insane? Rules for sanity and madness start on page 250. Want proof? Just check out a few examples below.

Chapter 8, Advanced Topics, is actually framed in its entirety as a discussion of how to create and customize the rules of your game to achieve the results you need, whether this means devising entirely new subsystems—along with examples you might model such new rules off of—or just preparing enough to make your players think you're a game-designing genius. Being a GM is half about trickery and illusion after all!

Next week, the wait is finally over! Check back for our final GameMastery Guide preview!

F. Wesley Schneider
Managing Editor