We go back to NPC’s because we wanted to chat about why it’s important to have non-player characters with personality. Announcements Sponsor: Gamehole Con Avalon Kickstarter still being kicked around. <= see what we did there? Random Encounter Discussion around episode 150 Mega Dungeons includes feedback from Stephen Dragonspawn, Crimfan, On G+ – Jared Rasher, Michael Parker,...
Mega dungeons, you know, the big ones. There’s Undermountain, Castle Greyhawk, Barrowmaze and many more. We talk about ’em. Announcements 28 games being run by friends of ours at Gamehole Con. Board and card games are also welcome. More talk about Brett’s Avalon setting. Random Encounter All comments this week are about episode 149 – Time...
More commentary on this one. Some of us have consistent weekly games and some of us play with a group every few months. We share our experiences with how frequent we play. Announcements Sponsor – Gamehole Con Thanks Ray Otis for doing up the Zip Zaps art! Random Encounter Unveiling the Mystery Crimfan writes Peter...
Mystery, or the unknown, is a good trope to incorporate into your RPG. But, how far do you go before the players hit a brick wall of frustration and don’t know what to do or what path to pursue? Inspired by an email to us from Michael Drescher, we take a stab at providing some...
Mass combat, we’re not talking specific rules or mechanics. More high level than that. We explain our definition and the tie into miniature war games. A topic suggested by Gabe Dybing. Announcements OSR Contest Winners! Random Encounter Blake Ryan, Crimfan, Bill Durfy, Stacie Winters and Steve Orlik emails us about episode 146 on Tactical Combat...
Are your players neutralizing your combat encounters in rpg’s quicker than you can say “save or die”? Well our friend Walt has just those players. But fear not, Walt! We’ll give you some tips on how to beef up a tactical encounter so it’s challenging for your players! Announcements Want to run games under our...
Pregens are good for one shots and con games. Roll your own pc is good for campaigns, but what if you flip it? Is there a time when pregens could be used for an rpg campaign? :gasp: How about rolling up characters for a convention game or one shot? Announcements Want to run games under...
As part of a character concept, we pose different questions you can ask yourself when creating your player character. Inspired by feedback on our player series from Jim Fitzpatrick. Announcements Want to run games under our Banner at Gamehole? Submissions are open! So let us know what you’d like to run Brett in Origins this...
We have Alex Kammer, Director of Gamehole Con, come on so we can ask him about the kids track that they have in place for this year’s event. Announcements Want to run games under our Banner at Gamehole? Submissions are open! So let us know what you’d like to run Brett in Origins What’s the...
Chris Lange wrote us: “…my question is, when your players know they are playing a supernatural horror game, what are some ways to rend their understanding of the world, to, hopefully, make them uncomfortable due to lack of understanding the world, much as their characters should be feeling.” Random Encounter Jared Rascher comments on Ep...
Super villains and ultimate baddies in role-playing games can be all full of cliches. Inspired by listener George S., we talk about those trope and maybe give you some ideas on how to make them better. Announcements Want to run games under our Banner at Gamehole? Submissions are open! So let us know what you’d...
We talk about playing thieves and rogues. Be it sneaky sneak thieves, trap detector and disabler, swashbuckler Robin Hood Musketeer type or even scoundrels, it’s all about the sinister class of the thief. Or shall we say rogue? Announcements Want to run games under our Banner at Gamehole? Submissions are open! So let us know what...
Building, or creating, things in role-playing games. It could be a keep, a kingdom or magic items. Announcements Want to run games under our Banner at Gamehole? Submissions are open! So let us know what you’d like to run Brett in Origins next month Old School Encounter Contest! – Hobbs and Friends of the OSR...
Some rpg systems have skills list for player characters. Examples of these are 3.x and 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons, GURPS, Champions, Basic Role-Playing, and quite a few more. Whereas there are some older games as well as some modern OSR-based games that do not have skills inherently built into the system. Non-skill based systems abstract it...
Session zero, we talk about how we handle it for our games. We don’t cover every detail, and you will find ways unique to your games and gaming style. Announcements Want to run games under our Banner at Gamehole? Submissions are open! Brett is going to Origins in June Random Encounter Comments about player facing...
Player facing die rolls. Do they fix something that is missing from some tabletop rpg’s? Spurred by listener, Ace’s, email we talk about why we do or don’t like them. We hit a goal on Patreon so you’ll hear Sean show off his accent skills. Announcements Sponsor: Gamehole Con 2017 registration is now open! Thank you...
Learning a new game, there’s a few ways to approach an rpg. The obvious way is to read the book. There can be other ways, certainly. 00:01:18 Announcements Gamehole Con event submission opens April 16th 2017 for the Nov 2017 show Evercon 2018 dates – Jan 5 – 7 2018 00:04:16 Random Encounter Voice mail...
We invite Darcy and Troy from the Cypher Speak podcast to come on and educate us on, what else, the Cypher System rpg by Monte Cook games! How does it all work? What are the upsides of the system? There’s player facing die rolls, GM intrusions, cyphers and much more. Find more of about our...
Recorded at Gary Con 2017, we talk a bit about our experience at the con as well as the dynamics of game conventions. Sorry, not Random Encounter or Die Roll this week.
Another entry into our Player Series, this week we talk about clerics. Strengths, weaknesses, how to play them and how they are servants of a deity or ideal. Announcements Gary Con is upon us Sean is on future episode of Hobbs and Friends of the OSR Random Encounter 3:50 Matt Bohnhoff comments on voices Edwin...
Spurred by listener Steve Orlik, his original email to us follows Hello BS-ers! I have a question/possible topic for you. I’m wondering what your thoughts are on who really controls the game, the gm or the players. I guess this is geared more towards Brett since we all know Sean has that train thing going...
Join us as we talk with rpg designer Eloy Lasanta of Third Eye Games about his latest kickstarter (launched March 7th, 2017) for Pip System Corebook. You can find Eloy online at the following… Third Eye Games Facebook Twitter
We’re not talking about voice as in perspective, but actually tweaking how you speak in first person as your player character or npc. It helps with immersion, but you also have to be conscious of insulting someone at the table by taking a genuine speech impediment and making it a method for comedic stand up....
Potions, brew them, drink them, stick ’em in a bottle. Announcements We’ll be at GaryCon! Random Encounter James Carruthers emails us and calls BS on our Dragons episode. Jason comments on G+ re: Social Encounters Michael Drescher emails us. George takes us back to episode 12! Blake Ryan emails us. Finnulf provides feedback via our website. Die...
First installment of our Player Series, we’re talking about the Fighter. The fighter has a purpose, it’s to smash faces. We also provide some ideas on how to actually role-play the combat intensive fantasy class. It’s not all fun and games, they do have their weaknesses too! Announcements We’ll be at GaryCon Guests of Gamehole...
Someone called BS on us for our original episode that covered social encounters so we’re revisiting the topic. We even give some examples of how we’ve setup a social encounters. Announcements Azrael Arocha our Venezuelan friend living in Canada is launching a podcast, Rolero Casual. BS’ers will be at OrcCon in LA – make sure...
Dragons! They are ancient creatures of legend causing fear in player characters throughout the years. Claw, claw, tail, bite attacks. “Save versus breath weapon” and the feeling of impending doom sets in as you pick up the d20, rolling it inside your fist before you close your eyes and toss it upon the gaming table....
Brett goes full on Ranger as we go on to talk about wilderness encounters. You can come across interesting things while walking around in the woods, and the night can make you lose your way. We share some of our own wilderness encounters. Announcements Brett has finally seen Rogue One. Spoilers if you haven’t seen it. Jason...
The politics in gaming, the politics ooo feeling good. We touch on law, but tie it into politics and that doesn’t make any sense. Politics is full of intrigue, plotting and scheming. We hit it at a high level, of course. Random Encounter Patron Pure Mongrel comments on G+ Jim Fitzpatrick comments on G+ Crimfan...
Social encounters in role-playing games. There’s the ongoing debate on how to handle a not-so-social player playing a type-A rpg character and how mechanics and/or oratory skills play into the encounter. Announcements Streets of Avalon AP with Chris, Tom, Emily, and Kev Episode 1 Episode 0 Random Encounter Roger F. shares a weather-related scenario. Edwin,...
