This is one of our Bonus Episodes an interview of Lester Smith the author of one of Saul's favorite RPGs, Dark Conspiracy. Lester Smith has worked for many famous game companies. From small companies like Flying Buffalo to TSR. Lester was gracious to talk to us and share some of his story. From his gaming roots, to finding RPGs to being hired to work on RPGs. Now a "retired" game creator his is finishing up his Bookmark RPG Kickstarter, check it out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/les...
Feb 15, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 321
A husband asked a question about a good Modern RPG that he could run for his wife. She was not interested in anything related to Fantasy or the Science Fiction genre. Not interested in any fantastical or supernatural elements in a modern setting. When Jolene asked about this situation he immediately went to his bookcase and his Drivethrurpg Library. Saul picked out some RPGs that did not have any supernatural or fantastical elements. From the generic RPGs to some RPGs that offer a very specific ...
Feb 14, 2024•38 min•Ep. 320
Dungeons and Dragons turns 50 this year. Saul and Jolene discuss what they feel has been some of the most important changes to D&D from it's publication and how it has impacted their lives. Thanks for Listening. Web Art by Jim Foster Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones *editorial note: Saul states that the first hardback AD&D book bought was the Monster Manual but it was the Dungeon Master's Guide. The one with the red effrit on the cover. Music by Kathrin Klimek, song The March of the Dr...
Feb 09, 2024•37 min•Ep. 319
Saul was given a Dragonbane Box Set in July and though he looked at it he did not delve too deeply into the rules. Fast forward to the middle of January 2024 and Saul's brother decided to run a Dragonbane game for their regular Friday Knights Night. Jolene also plays with the Friday Knights group and after a couple of game session of Dragonbane Saul and Jolene decided to do a review of the game. Saul had sworn off Kickstarting any Fantasy Roleplaying Game due to two factors. One was that Saul hi...
Feb 01, 2024•38 min•Ep. 318
Familiars and Animal Companions in RPGs. This was a topic that Saul came up with and starting to talk to Jolene about her thoughts on the use of both in RPGs. The first RPG discussed was of course D&D from AD&D to 5th Edition but others were discussed and how different genres could have different iterations of a Familiar or Animal Companion. Saul and Jolene also discussed what a GM should consider when dealing with animals under the control of the PC. Or would the GM treat the familiar a...
Jan 24, 2024•39 min•Ep. 317
Aging in RPGs. Some games have rules about them, some games ingnore age of the characters and other games, age is an intrical part of the game. Saul and Jolene talk about age in RPGs from the very young and the very old. How and what effects are there due to age seem reasonable and how do different RPGs handle age in their games. Thanks for listening, we really appreciate it. Web Art by Jim Foster Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones Music by The Jody Band, song Getting Up in Years Available from ...
Jan 21, 2024•34 min•Ep. 316
Reading from the Reddit post about RPGs, Saul came across a post by a first time GM who was looking for advice on his ideas that he has for a brand new campaign. The new GM wanted to embed a powerful NPC with the party that would grow in power as the party grew in power. There was quite a few responses and Saul talked about the post with Jolene. There was quite a bit of discussion and funny stories about new GM mistakes and the current episode is the result. Thank You All for Listening. One of t...
Jan 10, 2024•39 min•Ep. 315
In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss the use of Side Quests in a tabletop RPG. Should you add Side Quests to your rpg campaign? What are Side Quests? What different types of Side Quests are there? Are there any problems with using Side Quests? Happy New Year to all of you. Thanks for listening. Web Art by Jim Foster Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones Music by John Vandergriff, song Side Quest. Available from FreeMusicArchive.com Used under the Creative Commons License 4.0 https://creativecomm...
Jan 07, 2024•37 min•Ep. 314
Most GM that have been in the hobby for a while will have one, two or a few RPG games that have never hit the table. Saul is no exception to this problem. Though Saul might have quite a few more RPGs on his bookshelves than most but then again he has been playing RPGs since 1978. Still whether it's a couple games of half you collection of RPGs that you have not played it does become a bit depressing seeing all that gaming goodness go unplayed. Saul read a post on Reddit of a GM ranting more than...
Dec 28, 2023•33 min•Ep. 313
This Episode Saul and Jolene discuss some RPGs that are making their was to being published in 2024. Saul threw in a couple that have just been published in the last months of 2023. These are games that have piqued the interest of Saul and Jolene. Podcast Error: the first RPG discussed by Saul he stated was called the Lost Isle but it is called the Hidden Isle. The link to their Kickstarter page is here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/causacreations/the-hidden-isle Our Apologies for this m...
Dec 21, 2023•36 min•Ep. 312
A bit different in this episode Saul and Jolene talk about Miniature Wargames. Miniature Games come in all genres, from large armies to single miniatures on a table. Some have large books for rules others don't. Jolene was asking about miniature games that were not Warhammer 40K and easy to play. Saul has played more miniature games than Jolene but she has been going to conventions and has watched many miniature games and asked the players many questions about their games. Most have been very ac...
Dec 15, 2023•48 min•Ep. 311
Saul saw a post on Reddit about a GM who had problems Roleplaying Dialogue with the PC when they were talking for the NPCs. The GM also wanted the players to do more RP in their sessions. Saul realized this was a big problem for a GM that wants more RP from his players but was really intimidated by NPC dialogue. There were quite a few help hints in the responses but other Reddit users. Saul thought some of them were really ingenious and talked to Jolene about this as a toplic for the podcast. Jo...
Dec 07, 2023•34 min•Ep. 310
In this Bonus Episode we interview Panny and Aled of Leyline Press who just very recently fullfilled their Kickstarter for Salvage Union a post apocalyptic mech game. I came across their rather large "Quickstart" rules a while ago and was impressed with the scope of their free quickstart PDF and how well their RPG was presented. I remembered dealing with Panny when he worked for Modiphius and talked with him on Discord. After a quick chat we decided to do an interview. Salvage Union is quite a s...
Dec 06, 2023•59 min•Ep. 309
Saul was looking at FB posts and he read a post concerning the topic of metacurrency in RPGs games. The Original Poster had a rather negative view of metacurrency. One that too many new RPGs were using this "gimmick". Another complaint was that it drew him out of the immersion of the roleplaying session with the use of metacurrency which there was little or no explanation about the metacurrency in the actual play. Another problem was that it seems lazy roleplaying game design. This post got quit...
Nov 28, 2023•38 min•Ep. 308
Roleplaying during combat scenes? Is this possible. It seems that most "real" Roleplayers check out during this part of the roleplaying game because it is the least interesting, too tactical, too simulationist. Saul and Jolene counter this mindset and say that you can indeed have Roleplying during Combat. They discuss different games and playstyles. With creative input from the GM and the players the roleplaying of an RPG does not have to stop when the combat dice hit the table. Thank You All fo...
Nov 15, 2023•40 min•Ep. 307
This is a subject that is very close to every GM. Saul who has been a GM for over 40 years has gotten things once or twice over those years from rules, to setting GMs can make mistakes. Usually these mistakes do not have any long lasting effect on a long running game. When Jolene told Saul about this topic from a Reddit topic, Saul starting thinking of mistakes he has made over the years and most were pretty small but couple affected the players characters significantly. The Reddit poster had a ...
Nov 10, 2023•41 min•Ep. 306
Saul was thinking about running an Urban FRPG in the near future and looked to see what kind of materials where available for running an Urban Campaign. A campaign in that takes place entirely in a city. He talked to Jolene about it. She was intrigued by the concept and went off to find what she could on the subject. Saul remembered a Physical Geography class from Jr. College that discussed where and why cites sprouted in certain areas. Also how cites are constructed when planned or not, how the...
Oct 30, 2023•38 min•Ep. 305
With Halloween coming up real soon, Saul and Jolene were discussing the idea of Horror RPGs specifically what it takes to run a good horror game. Though Saul would say he is not the type of gamer that like the horror genre he does own more than a few Horror RPGs. One of the first horror RPG he bought was Stalking the Night Fantastic back in the late 80's and Dark Conspiracy in the 1990's. Saul now has quite a few what one would term Horror genre RPGs. So how to you run an horror rpg and make it ...
Oct 25, 2023•42 min•Ep. 304
Saul and Jolene have experienced that player that wants to direct the other players action. In boardgames its called quarterbacking. In the old days of Original D&D and Advanced D&D there was the Caller, who told the DM who did what to make the game go by faster. Back in the day Saul's brother and friends did not play that way. Once he went to a D&D club and that was exactly how they played, and for Saul is was not fun at all. So years later Saul and Jolene have experienced this phen...
Oct 17, 2023•37 min•Ep. 303
Saul was looking at the Dragon Bane RPG boxset that was a gift from this brother Felipe. He was looking at Low Fantasy Gaming and wondered why Dragon Bane was more successful. They both very similar products. Both were a D20 based Fantasy RPG, both are simple rules and yet there seems to be a disparity of how each was recieved by the RPG buying community. Saul asked Jolene about this topic and she went to the internet and found various reasons why Dragon Bane was seemingly more popular than Low ...
Oct 11, 2023•34 min•Ep. 302
One of the many plights of GMs of RPGs is the dreaded getting the players to learn a new game. Due to Saul's seeking to find that perfect RPG or just likes the "new shiny." Due to this affliction Saul tries to share this affliction with all his players. In some of Saul's groups the players groaned everytime they heard Saul had bought a new game. In other groups his players were curiosious about some of the games in Saul's extensive RPG library. In both groups the playes learned the game to vario...
Oct 04, 2023•42 min•Ep. 301
This week Saul and Jolene discuss the Long and Short rest from D&D 5th edtion. Jolene had asked Saul what he thought about how these affected the game. Jolene was not prepared for Saul's the long winded tirade about the topic. At some point Jolene stopped Saul and told him it would make a good episode for the podcast. Saul quickly got his GP notebook and starting scratching his thoughts about the Long and Short rest. In short, Saul realized and not right away that he didsn't D&D's 5th ed...
Sep 29, 2023•42 min•Ep. 300
Many times players and GM's ignore, change or get a rule wrong. Sometime by accident, other times on purpose because they don't like that rule. Known as "House Rules", "Home Rules", and many other names changing and omitting rules is done all the time. There are some type of rules that usually go out the window, whether you play the "Best Selling RPG" or the smallest "Indie RPG ruleset", rules get ignored. Saul and Jolene had a conversation of some rules that are ignored at their RPG table. Rule...
Sep 22, 2023•46 min•Ep. 299
Play and GM RPGs long enough and you will experience a gut busting funny RPG session. This happens whether your are playing D&D, GURPs or any other RPG. Play long enough and there is that session where everything comes together it is just play funny. What about RPGs that try to bring that amusement, merriment or funny situations to the forefront of the game. Saul and Jolene have played a wide assortment of games that are intended to be funny and some by their very nature bring out the laught...
Sep 15, 2023•31 min•Ep. 298
After GMing for any significant period of time one has to deal with some unusual character requests. Sometimes players want to try something new or just different. Every once in a while a player will approach the GM with a very unusual or strange character idea. This got Saul and Jolene wondering what the most unusual character requests have been put forth by players. Jolene found on Reddit about a player that wanted to play a 5 year of Tiefling. Saul remembered a story about a player that wante...
Sep 07, 2023•34 min•Ep. 297
Jolene asked Saul, "What do you think the most played character class is?" Saul immediately said, "Fighter." Jolene asked how he came up with that guess. A discussion followed about the most popular character type and why people like to play Fighters. Saul and Jolene decided to record an episode about this topic. Why are "Fighters" so popular? Saul and Jolene say their favorite class in most games no matter the genre is a sorcerer or wizard. Yet fighters are the most played character type accord...
Aug 30, 2023•31 min•Ep. 296
Jolene was asking Saul if he thought his views on RPGs had changed over the years. At first Saul didn't think his views had changed but Jolene was being very wiley and knew they had. It did not take long for Saul to change his mind about how some of his views had changed. Jolene asked about the games Saul did not like in the past, Traveller, CoC and Vampire, and immediately Saul knew the trap had been set. So the discussion ranged from a variety of subjects about how getting older changes one's ...
Aug 22, 2023•46 min•Ep. 295
In this episode Saul and Jolene talk about a question saw on Facebook that asked, "Does being a paid GM change your game? There were plenty of comments and Saul picked out a few to discuss how it correlated with being a paid GM. One comment was asking if the GM would be considered to be a player in an RPG game. For Saul it seemed like a silly question but if you really dig into the issue it is not so easily answered. Another commenter didn't like the use of the term play because they thought it ...
Aug 03, 2023•42 min•Ep. 294
Saul and Jolene were talking about "leveling up" in RPGs. They were talking about the difference between D&D and Shadowrun. Saul thought about all the different ways RPGs handled character advancement. As Saul and Jolne talked about it they decided to write down some notes about their discussion and make a Gaming Perspectives Episode. Though Saul digresses as usual to the subject of GMs not liking players rolling dice without being asked by the GM, in his defense this digression was instigat...
Jul 18, 2023•46 min•Ep. 293
Jolene and Saul have been to many local gaming conventions over the years. They usually attend 3 game cons a year. All local SF Bay Area conventions. They have always thought about going to a larger game convention such as Origins, Gen Con and now Game Hole Con, but have yet to make the trek to one of those larger game cons. But all conventions have similar hurdles to enjoy them as much as possible. In this episode Saul and Jolene share tip that not only help you survive but thrive and have as m...
Jul 08, 2023•35 min•Ep. 292
