RPG Bloggers - Join the Carnival!

I've blogged before about how much I love the community, so what better time to celebrate one of its best parts?

How the RPG Blog Carnival works:

Every month there is a different topic for the carnival, set and hosted by a different RPG blog and I have enjoyed participating when I can in the past. The carnival, being a movable feast, will move on somewhere new every month so be sure to check the main page (link below) for updates.

All bloggers are welcome to participate, the host sets an open topic, or suggestions for posts, and it becomes an open conversation starter across and between the participating blogs.

These are the original guidelines from the first RPG Blog Carnival post from 2008:

1. There's no submission guidelines per se. Simply blog about the chosen topic (see below) on your own blog, and leave a comment to this post letting me know that you would like your post to be included in the the carnival. If you don't have a blog, make one.
   
2. Limit your submissions to one post, so make it good. This will encourage people to write well and offer a wide variety of authors.
3. This carnival closes [at the end of the month].
   
4. Once closed, I will post a summary and linklist of all the carnival's submissions and announce who will be hosting the next one, what the closing date will be, and what the topic is.
5. If you are interested in hosting the next (or any future) carnival, please send me an email or leave a comment here so that I can sign you up.
   
6. I'll maintain a list of who will be hosting each carnival, and the order in which they will hosting them. I'll also make that list public as soon as I have it.
   
7. Other than the chosen topic, that's about it.

Head over to the main RPG Blog Carnival page, either using the link at the top of this post or in the sidebar, and see what the current and upcoming topics are.

How to take part in the RPG Blog Carnival:

1. Write a blog post on or inspired by the topic of the current carnival and including a link back to the carnival hub.
2. Comment on the host's carnival hub post with a link to your carnival submission post.
3. Head over to the other blogs that have taken part in the carnival, check out their submissions and leave some comments...

How to host the RPG Blog Carnival:

Signups to host RPG Blog Carnival are hosted on the official page on the Of Dice And Dragons blog and there is full information on the process and benefits for both hosts and submissions over there, but in a nutshell:

1. At the start of your allocated month, write an opening/introductory post that will serve as the hub for all the other carnival posts for your chosen theme.
2. At the end of your month, review all the carnival submissions and post a round up handing over to the next host.

The RPG Blog Carnival has been running for over a decade (you can find the archive here) and I hope it will keep on rolling on; please support this cornerstone of the RPG blog community by visiting the submissions every month even if you don't participate.  Kudos to all who have been involved and who keep it running, and I hope even more bloggers join in the fun in the future.

Creating Dynamic RPG Plots from Plot Elements

I love storytelling as a DM, and I love player agency and character stories.  The railroad was never for me so I have always shied away from published adventures in favour of building my own.

Here's the list of emergent plot elements we scribbled in session 1 of our fictional campaign:

Places	The graveyard of the Gargants	The Town of Fallowmarsh
Antagonists	The massing forces of the Undead	Enemies of the Elf who would see him fail	The Goblins
NPCs	The Hermit	The Halfling's Father
Things	The Gargantbone Spear	The Sundered Harp	The Beast	The Silver Key
Scenes	[use of the Bard's abilities]	[use of Paladin powers]

I'm trying to keep these fluid, they can (and will) change so the connections will be fluid too - nothing is fixed until it comes into play.

From this I can scribble some ideas of how these elements might be connected: