So the group got together tonight and we ran through another section of the Ferryport Adventures. And it was so much fun! We have a really good crew of players and thanks to some of my recent research into RPG programs, the game went extremely smooth tonight.

I have been using MapTool a lot lately while designing, and this has really changed the way  I design and GM. Being an artist, I always figured I was a little more visually stimulated while playing RPGs, but tonight I realized how much.

I spend quite a bit of time coming up with the story arcs, character back stories, and locales, but tonight, when I had a map projected behind me, it really helped with acting though many of the scenes. I am not an actor, but when I had a token with a character face in it, and a general feel for how a environment is, I had a much easier time confronting the players as that NPC. If they went to see the captain of the watch, I made a quick map of his office and they had to position their character tokens to show how they stood in the room. In the dungeon part, MapTool easily shows what characters had line of site of monsters, or if monsters were partially concealed, and that lead to a much more strategic style of gameplay.

Here is a screen cap during our game tonight to get a feel.

Deep in the Sewers of Fish Town

MapTool is completely free, so if you game, I highly recommend using it!

Most times after running a game, I am reminded why I got into the fantasy genre, but tonight I felt like a 13 year old kid, watching my world come to life.

In other news, I am on the road for the next two weeks, but should have time to work on the elf book some more. As March approaches  we are getting a lot closer to starting the Kickstarter, so keep your eyes open!