Had the great honor of returning to the Worldbuild With Us podcast to talk about my upcoming book, So You Want To Be a Game Master. Pop over there for a sneak peek at the treasures I’ve hidden inside the book, but stick around for the amazing game setting we brainstorm at the end of the podcast.

This week, we’re honored to have author, RPG designer, and Game Master extraordinaire Justin Alexander back on the podcast to discuss his upcoming book So You Want to Be a Game Master: Everything You Need to Start Your Tabletop Adventure for Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, and Other Systems!

Justin gives us a tour of this step-by-step guide and how it can help GMs new and experienced alike run their best games, avoid railroading, do quick-and-dirty worldbuilding, and more! Plus: early misadventures with homebrew Batman RPGs, the unexpected power of TV trays, questions from our patrons, a worldbuilding jam featuring the waters of Europa, and heaps of other topics in this XXL episode.

So You Want to Be a Game Master? is due out in November, so be sure to preorder it today or pick it up from your friendly local bookstore when it hits the shelves! Check out https://thealexandrian.net/so-you-want-to-be-a-game-master for more info and links.

Listen Now!

You can find my previous appearance over here.

If you went back in time, there would be plenty of differences you’d expect to see, but there would also be a lot of differences that would take you by surprise. (As L.P. Hartley wrote, “The past is a foreign country.”) I suspect that for most, one of these would be the sheer number of people who were scarred.

Specifically, scarred by smallpox.

Smallpox was a truly terrible disease. Thirty percent of those who caught it would die. Those who survived would almost certainly be marked with distinctive, pock-marked scarring on their skin. Many would be blinded. (Before smallpox was eradicated, 90% of the blind had been blinded by smallpox.)

I have two points here.

First: Vaccinations are good.

Second: Our view of the past is lilied by the Romantic paintings and Hollywood glamour through which we typically view it.

Can we take advantage of this when we’re worldbuilding?

Of course we can!

To start, if your game is set in any kind of pre-modern era (whether in the real world or otherwise), you can just make a point of including smallpox scars in your descriptions of NPCs.

More than that, though, you can use the inspiration of smallpox scars to introduce completely fantastical elements into a setting. For example, we could run down the list of D&D diseases and simply brainstorm the distinctive scars they might leave in their wake:

• Cackle fever could leave some of its victims with rictused atrophying around the corners of their mouth, locking them into a permanent laugh.
• Some of the victims of demon fever could be left with pale, reddish-grey hair.
• Even those who recover from slimy doom might have damaged sebaceous glands, resulting in their sweat having a thick, gelatinous quality.

(Not every disease, of course, leaves permanent scarring. You don’t need to overdo it here. A little can go a long way while also being more effective than a cavalcade of disease-signs.)

But that’s not all!

Look around your setting and ask yourself what other fantastical elements could leave their mark (literally) on the characters?

This is exactly what Frank Herbert does in Dune, for example, by having large amounts of Spice stain the iris and sclera, resulting in the distinctive blue “eyes of Ibad.”

So we can similarly imagine:

• Survivors of a werewolf attack having claw-scars marked silver from the dust sprinkled in them to fight off lycanthropy.
• The drug spacers take to prevent bone loss having the side effect of causing their iris to lose color, resulting in spacers being referred to by the slang/slur “white eyes.”
• Those living in an antimagic field developing chalky, flaking skin.

What type of mana-scar does a magic missile leave? Is it the same or different than a prismatic spray?

What about a wound inflicted by an elemental?

Does repeatedly jumping through a stargate leave a mark?

Something else to consider is what non-human scarring looks like. For example, Amazon river dolphins are born gray-skinned, but often look pink because (a) their wounds heal pink and (b) they fight each other so much, their entire bodies are usually covered in scars.

• Does an elf sunburn the same way a human does? Or does their skin turn a metallic copper or silver instead?
• Can serpent people lose (and regrow?) their tails like geckos?
• Would a tabaxi exposed to the sulfurous atmosphere of Avernus see its fur change color?
• When a tiefling is injured, do their wounds heal with a slightly more demonic/devilish appearance?
• Does a magically healed wound heal perfectly? Or does it leave a distinctive mana-scar? (Could the appearance of this scar differ depending on what type of magic was used?)

Tangentially, flamingos are pink because carotenoids in the brine shrimp they eat turn their feathers pink. So you can also invoke the effects of strange or limited diets.

Scars are badass and every scar tells a story — either about the character with the scar, the world as a whole, or both.

A procedural adventure is a guarantee for success: The GM will know exactly what to prep and the players will know exactly what to do. But it can also feel hollow. ENnie Award-winning RPG designer Justin Alexander reveals the simple trick for aligning character to campaign, whether your PCs are street rats or demigods. Your games will never be the same.

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Go to Table of Contents

A guild of brass and bronze workers which actually serves as a focal point for Vladaam chaositech research.

Guildsman District
Brass Street – H8

AREA 1 – STOREFRONT

A variety of workbenches cluttered with tools. Guildsmen on duty here will do minor repair work.

TOOLS: Two sets of jeweler’s tools and a set of tinker’s tools.

MERCHANDISE: Various works of brass and bronze, mostly knick-knacks, cheap candelabras, or specialized components of little value. Total worth of 150 gp if it’s all hauled out of here. There are two sextants worth 250 gp each and a set of brass marbles worth 1 gp.

AREA 2 – STAIRWELL

The stairwell is guarded with three alarm spells which are triggered by anyone traversing the stairs who isn’t wearing a guild badge.

• An audible alarm (heard throughout the workshop and out on the street).
• A mental alarm that notifies Aliaster Vladaam.
• A mental alarm that notifies the guioldmaster.

AREA 3 – UPPER WORKSHOP

This workshop contains ten sets of smith’s tools, two sets of tinker’s tool, and two sets of jeweler’s tools., along with a large supply of brass, bronze, and copper (2,000 pounds, worth a total of 1,000 gp). Two small forges are positioned near windows (for ventilation).

PAPERS: A few miscellaneous papers are strewn about, including a Bill for Repairs Done to a Spiked Pit Trap.

SECRET DOOR – DC 16Intelligence (Investigate): The chaositech workshop in Area 4 is actually the second floor storey of the building next door (which has no access to its second floor, just a long stair that goes up to its third floor), so it’s not immediately apparent that there should be any access to it.

BILL FOR REPAIRS TO A SPIKED PIT TRAP

To the attention of Arquad—

A request of remuneration for the services of the Founders’ Guild in the repair and servicing of the safeguards in the back hall of Marquette’s Textiles, Pitch Street, Guildsman District.

To whit—

Repair of hinge mechanisms in door.

Replacement and treatment of spikes.

Additional items—

Blue whinnis commissioned from the Poisoners’ Guild on Black Str. Paid in full. Inc. in billed amount.

Billed amount—

1,875 gold thrones.

DM Background: The trap mentioned here is located in the hallway of Part 17: Undead Shipping Warehouse. The poison (blue whinnis) is being sourced from Part 7B: Alchemy Lab 2 – Poisoner’s Guild.

AREA 4 – CHAOSITECH WORKSHOP

A faint, pink-purple haze clings to the ceiling. There’s sickly-sweet scent raw with some form of potent pheromone. (Ask the players what the emotional reaction of their PCs is to the powerful pheromones.) Strange machinery – some combination of bronze and an unidentifiable black metal – crawls up the walls, although it’s difficult to tell where one device ends and another begins. Several work tables in both halves of the room are covered with softly bubbling chemicals, strangely glowing items, and an eclectic effluvium of technomantic components.

CHAOSITECH: Among a variety of half-completed devices and experiments, there is a sickening rod and blight bomb. There is also a copy of the Book of Greater Chaos. (See Addendum: 5E Chaositech.)

RIFLE CRATE: An open crate that originally contained 12 hellsbreath rifles from the Shuul Foundry. 6 remain in the crate, 2 others have been partially disassembled (and are in various states of study), and 4 have been repacked into a smaller container with a note attached: “Have these sent to the security cache in the temple on Malav Street.”

• DM Note: The temple referenced in the note is Part 6: Abandoned Temple of the Great Mother.

IRON COFFER (10% chance): There’s a 10% chance of an iron coffer containing 500 gp, 40,000 sp, and 50,000 cp with instructions to have the Ithildin couriers ship it to the Red Company of Goldsmiths on Gold Street (see Part 12).

STAT SHEET

Guild Apprentices: Use artisan stats, Ptolus, p. 606.

• Proficiency (+2): Arcana, Smith’s Tools
• Equipment: dagger, hourglass, magnifying glass, oil of mending (x2), Vladaam deot ring

Master Craftsman: Use artisan stats, Ptolus, p. 606.

• Proficiency (+2): Smith’s Tools
• Equipment: hourglass, magnifying glass, oil of mending, Vladaam deot ring.

Chaositech Master: Use mage stats, MM p. 347.

• Proficiency (+3): Medicine, Chaositech Tools, Smith’s Tools
• Equipment: oil of mending, chaositech tools, chaos storage cube (Ptolus, p. 535), any 1 chaositech weapon (Ptolus, 535), Vladaam deot ring
• Chaositech Stabilizaiton: 50% chance of negating chaotic failure of chaositech device.
• Resist Insanity: Advantage on saving throws made when working with chaositech.
• Tinker: Work 1d4+6 days to double a chaositech item’s range, area, duration, or add +2 to its damage or save DC.

Spellcasting: 9^th-level spellcaster. Spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks.

• Cantrips (at will): acid splash, dancing lights, mage hand, sense spell (Ptolus, p. 632)
• 1^st level (4 slots): detect chaositech (Ptolus, p. 628), mage armor, magic missile, shield
• 2^nd level (3 slots): meld into stone, siphon (Ptolus, p. 633)
• 3^rd level (3 slots): counterspell, gaseous form, lightning bolt
• 4^th level (3 slots): private sanctum, stoneskin
• 5^th level (1 slot): mislead

Vladaam Guards: Use guard stats, MM p. 347, with AC 17. (Equipment: breastplate, shield, longsword, longbow, arrows x20, potion of healing, Vladaam deot ring.)

Go to Part 12: Guild – Goldsmiths

On April 3^rd, 1998, a new column appeared in Pyramid Magazine for the first time: “Suppressed Transmission” by Kenneth Hite.

Let’s unpack this.

Pyramid, which premiered in 1993, was a gaming magazine published by Steve Jackson Games. It had been preceded by the legendary Space Gamer (1980-85) and Roleplayer (1986-93). The original Pyramid ended its run in March 1998, but only because SJG was taking the unprecedented step of offering Pyramid as a subscription website.

Today, this is likely to elicit little more than a shrug. At the time, though, it was a hugely controversial decision. Pay money?! For a website?!

But Pyramid was the last of the generalist RPG magazines. (Dragon had finished its transformation into a complete house organ. White Wolf and Challenge were already gone. Shadis would be out of print by the end of the year.) Going to an online subscription model would allow it to survive. And survive it did, each week delivering a half dozen or so articles and reviews.

Note: Some of my earliest professional sales were made to Pyramid Magazine during this time period. Check the Bibliography for more information.

And right from the beginning, Hite’s “Suppressed Transmission” was there.

To describe Hite’s column as a “hit” honestly feels inadequate. A common “joke” at the time was that the majority of Pyramid’s subscribers were only subscribing so that they could have access to “Suppressed Transmission,” but I’m not really sure it was a joke. No matter where you were hanging out in the online RPG community, each new column would immediately spark furious discussion. It sometimes felt like we were all just waiting for the next column to drop. It rapidly established itself as something between a tentpole and a shibboleth.

Sheer popularity alone, however, doesn’t fully describe the impact of “Suppressed Transmission.” It was a huge influence for an entire generation of game designers and game masters, mainstreaming — at least in the RPG field — a slew of ideas and influences which had previously existed out on the fringe.

“You know about the suppressed transmission, of course?”
– Slacker

Okay, enough beating around the bush. What is the Suppressed Transmission?

There is, in truth, an ineffable quality to the column that can make it difficult to capture exactly what makes the column so special. But the short version is that Kenneth Hite has a voracious appetite for:

• Conspiracy
• Secret History
• Horror
• Alternate History

He takes these four elements and, like a master alchemist, mixes them into potent elixirs — “suppressed transmissions” ready for broadcasting into your campaign.

So that’s part one: Hite has collected a treasure trove of the most amazing and crazed material, and he shares it freely with the reader while inventing even more besides. For example, when the world went mad for the “truths” revealed by Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, I was underwhelmed largely because Kenneth Hite had already revealed those “truths” to me… and a dozen other Grail conspiracies besides, all trussed, roasted, carved, and served up for the game table.

The second thing — and this can be quite hard to communicate to anyone who hasn’t actually read one of the Suppressed Transmissions — is the sheer density Hite achieves. Reading these columns is like having a firehose aimed at your brain. In a four-page essay, Hite can deliver mind-blowingly brilliant concepts for a dozen — or more! — full-fledged campaigns. A Suppressed Transmission collection is like a neutron star, and every paragraph neutronium.

For example, in “Six Flags Over Roswell,” Hite takes the Roswell alien crash in 1947 (conspiracy) and looks at what might have happened if the crash had really taken place at six different points in time (alternate history). Not only is every one of these variations pure gold, but for most you can just as easily frame a campaign around the event itself (PCs are Union spies racing their Confederate counterparts to investigate the crash), the immediate aftermath (psychic alien body-jumpers are infiltrating the Mexican government), or the strange other-world that results (the covert war of the Wizards of Menlo Park or the steampunk Republic of Texas).

Or all three.

In “Justinian and Arthur,” Hite introduces the concept of “high historical fantasy.” From Procopius’ Anekdota he takes the claim that Justinian and Theodora, Emperor and Empress of the Byzantine Empire, were secretly possessed by demons. Then he observes that King Arthur was essentially Justinian’s contemporary, and from Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur he takes the Roman War in which Arthur fought an emperor who “had gotten with him fifty giants which had been engendered of fiends.” Sure, the emperor in Malory is Lucius, but that’s easily swapped out, and then:

Set [the PCs] out on the wild frontier between Arthur’s Britain and the Byzantine Empire. (No, there wasn’t any such border in Real History. I’ve got news for you; there weren’t any demons in Real History and there probably wasn’t any King Arthur, either.)

As the PCs find out more and more about Justinian’s demonic plans, they can work with Arthur’s spies, be harassed by the Unseelie Court of Morgan le Fay, and generally skulk around dodging fiend-engendered ogres Nazgul enforcer types. […] Finally, they uncover Jusinian’s plan — to find the Holy Grail and pervert it for his diabolical ends! Warning Arthur just in time, the PCs must keep the Grail safe from Justinian’s demon-giants and distract Belisarius (or convince him that Justinian is a demon; no small task given that his wife is in the same coven as Empress Theodora) so that Arthur can defeat the evil Romans and save the day. This is the sort of thing you can call “historical high fantasy;” it has the advantages of historical games (evocatively familiar and wonderful names and places, conveniently assembled background materials for research at your whim) without the disadvantages (having to do research to get things perfect, having to stay true to history, having to risk a player who knows more about the period than you do). When you add the cool fantasy trappings like giants, monsters, demons, magic swords, sorcery, and poison, you got game.

Oh, and do take the time to read Procopius. The bit with the demon-Emperor’s disappearing head is a hoot.

This is the sort of thing that Hite does all the time, taking 2 + 2 + 2 and somehow making it equal 187 (which means “the beginning of great enlightenment” in New Age kabbalism).

But it’s more than that.

As Hite takes you on wild romps like:

• Who Killed Kit Marlowe?
• A Night To Embroider: Who Sank the Titanic?
• A Dish Best Served Cold: The Antarctic Space Nazis
• Six Degrees of Francis Bacon
• Patterns in Amber
• Things To Do In Gaming When You’re Dead

The real suppressed transmission — the transmission hiding within the transmission — is that Hite is showing how he creates campaigns and adventures. Every column is an exemplar of how he sources material and then combines it, twists its, inverts, bissociates it, and builds upon it to create pure gaming gold.

As you work your way through a Suppressed Transmissions collection — and I do recommend taking it slowly; this is material best savored rather than binged (no matter how tempting the binge might be) — you can feel Hite reprogramming your brain.

And we haven’t even gotten into his alphabets (here’s 26 bite-sized, themed bits of awesome to inspire your adventures) or his how-to essays that peel back the curtain to look at each of the four pillars of Suppressed Transmissions (conspiracy, alternate history, secret history, and horror) in detail.

It will probably come as no surprise at this point to learn that I consider “Suppressed Transmission” to be a major influence on me as a creator and as a GM. Despite this, until recently, I haven’t talked about the column very much. The primary reason for this is that it simply wasn’t available: When the online version of Pyramid was shut down in 2008, the archives became unavailable and the published collections went out of print.

Sadly, for the most part, this remains true. Hite wrote over three hundred “Suppressed Transmission” columns, and the vast majority of these remain available only to those of us who were subscribed to Pyramid in its final days and downloaded the archives before they were taken offline.

But at some point in the not-too-distant past, Steve Jackson Games has brought Suppressed Transmission: The First Broadcast and Suppressed Transmission 2: The Second Broadcast back into print. These two collections include several dozen of the original columns, each of which has been festooned with detailed footnotes and extensive commentaries that somehow manage to make them even more awesome.

In conclusion…

… what the heck are you waiting for?

Grade: A+

Author: Kenneth Hite

Publisher: Steve Jackson Games
Price: $29.99 (each)
Page Count: 128 (each)