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47 contributions to Game Master's Laboratory
Painted Battle Arena
I posted the battle arena that I printed off a few weeks ago. It's about 22 inches across. Here it is painted. It's about 99% done. I'm going to do some edge highlighting.
Painted Battle Arena
0 likes • 6d
@Jarrad Maiers thanks.
0 likes • 4d
@Richard Mills thanks Richard!
Obojima
I am currently running a campaign in Obojima (5e setting) and it is the game I find myself coming back to in my thoughts over and over again. When going through the setting with my players, I had them talk about their backstories and what brought them to this specific part of the world. Then, by encouraging co-creation, we all came up with an inciting incident and area. We are four sessions in and we haven't even had combat yet! I am the one doing the least amount of talking in the room while my players bring themselves to life and I am simply reacting as the world. As a way to learn what to focus on, I have my players do a fun little exercise where they write a small journal entry (A few sentences to up to a paragraph or so) from the perspective of their character so I can see what resonated the most from the session we had. Now that I've started "The Game Master’s Handbook of Proactive Roleplaying", I have asked them all to list one overarching, long-term goal and one or two short term goals that supplement it. I'm so excited to finish the book so I can continue to apply its principles to my game! I am currently re-reading the chapter about factions.
1 like • Sep 27
Awesome. I've been very curious about this setting. What are you liking/disliking about it.
Battle arena.
Those of you in the Friday morning chat would have heard me talking about the giant battle arena I'm printing. I'm about half way though and this is how it's looking. When it's done it should be about 22" in diameter. For comparison I also posted pictures of the largest I could print it on one plate.
Battle arena.
1 like • Sep 27
@Richard Mills thanks Richard. I have all the parts printed off now and need to sand a few connectors so they fit smoothly. Over all I'm pretty happy with this first attempt but I made some blunders with it too. I have recut the file, taking into account what I learned, and am very tempted to print it again.
0 likes • Sep 27
@Jody Schofield thanks Jody
Pro-Active Module/Zine Project Mentioned During Coffee Morning
Hi Folks I'm trying to think who it was that brought this up a few weeks ago at a Friday Coffee Morning and have a feeling it was @Mark Petersen . The person was sounding out if any of us liked the idea of collaborating on e-zines or similar for free for members on here. Each zine to have Proactive design principles & techniques for the GMs & players. I remember @Jonah Fishel advising that a proposal for this be posted so we all know what we're working towards. Also, @Jonah Fishel or @Tristan Fishel , if we were to do this, can you suggest particular a template in either of your books? Or pages/chapters from your books if we need to be reading more to get the job done. I know we tentatively settled on 5.5e for this as its the most common system. I saw something cool recently in a daggerheart product I backed on Kickstarter where adversary statblocks had columns per tier of play under each action with appropriately scaled attacks and damage. That way each monster could be easily used at any level of play. I think that would be a good way to go (I know it was an adaptation from one of their 5e publications, just can't remember who it was but I've the free 1 click preview I could screenshot a page if someone needs an example of what I mean.) A useful reference scaling monsters for tiers this way is The Lazy GM's 5e Monster Builder Resource Document which I always keep handy when running a game. That way I can throw whatever I want at players on the fly and call it what I want. (just be sure to quote the bit at the top of its page if using this Monster Builder)
1 like • Sep 27
I think this was my idea. Basically it's to collective put together a series of modules for different level characters in a shared world with common bad guys and factions. Each module would essentially be a series of encounters that could be tweaked to what ever story the DM wants to tell. The problem I'm trying to solve is that modern D&D modules take months if not years to complete, and more being what it is, that isn't always possible. Groups should be able to complete each module in 3 to 4 sessions and have a complete story. They could then choose to do another one if the group wanted to keep playing with these characters. Thanks for the ideas Richard.
Horror Campaign Development
Some of you may have heard me talk about wanting to do a 5 week mini campaign this Halloween. I've got my players and I've come up with the scaffolding. I sent out the following questionnaire to them. What I love about this is that I'm giving them the opportunity to actually share their real fears with me to be used as material for the game, but I have stressed that I DO NOT WANT THEM TELL ME IF THEIR FEARS ARE REALLY THEIRS OR JUST FEARS I GET TO USE FOR THE GAME. If they give me their real fears they will have a more intense experience. Once I get their questionnaires back I'll put together the actual sessions. Each session will focus on a different horror element with the guiding principle being that if they can hit it, its combat, not horror. If anyone is interested in my over all story I'm happy to share it. I just dont want to type it all out if no one is intertested. As a setting, Im loosley using a four session module called One for the Sorrow - Whispers in the Mist as my sand box. Its ideal because its already split into 4 sessions. I need 5 but I already know what my fifth session will be
0 likes • Sep 21
@James Willetts thanks so much for this pointer! I have no experience running horror. I'm trying to keep the horror elements out of the combat though as much as I can because if they can just killing it it's not that terrifying
1 like • Sep 22
@James Willetts 🤩🤩🤩
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Mark Petersen
5
310 points to level up
@mark-petersen-6595
My name is Mark. I got back into playing D&D after a 35 year hiatus. Now I'm going from player to DM with a ton of over ambitious ideas!

Active 18h ago
Joined Nov 12, 2025
Provo, Utah
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