Since Jolene and Saul have been playing various RPGs they have been discussing what they liked and did not like about the RPGs. One thing they zeroed in on was combat in the different RPGs. It also made Saul think about some game mechanics he had seen from some pretty old games like Space Opera, TOP Secret SI and many others. Saul and Jolene discussed how each game dealt with Combat Mechanics. Some of them they liked others not so much. This epiosde was born out of the discussion of what combat ...
Oct 01, 2024•33 min•Ep. 351
There have been times that a certain player at your table took charge of the table or maybe was the leader at the table. Heck back in the ole Days, there was a player who was, "the Caller". It was their job to talk to the GM and tell the GM what the players were doing. It was a way to speed up game play. Saul once played in a game where they took this idea to heart and only The Caller would talk to the GM. The Caller could even countermand what the player had told the Caller what they wanted to ...
Sep 22, 2024•39 min•Ep. 350
Saul and Jolene recieved an email from a listener Morgan who had some suggestion for episode topics. Thanks Morgan! One of the topics was Time Travel RPGs. Saul and Jolene thought it was a good topic and discussed several TV shows that had time travel episodes or where about time travel. They came up with way too many shows to discuss, so Saul picked his top 4 shows. Then the discussion began about what if any RPGs were about time travel. Saul looked on RPG.net and was surprised at the number of...
Sep 12, 2024•36 min•Ep. 349
In this episode Saul and Jolene interview David Gabriel of Producer of Kublacon Conventions. Kublacon is the SF Bay Area Largest gaming convention that takes place over Memorial Weekend. But this year they are putting on Kublacon Fall Veteran's Weekend. It will be the first year this event is happening. So if you want to ease your way into a Kublacon, this is the way to do it. The following prices have a Tabletop events fees of a couple dollars. A Weekend Pass is 40 bucks for the whole Friday to...
Sep 10, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 348
Saul and Jolene were discussing mystery shows and came across a reddit post. The post was from a GM complaining about how his players are not getting all his clues that would point the PCs toward the Big Bad Guy. The GM was lamenting how much work he had been doing on the campaign. The GM had made maps, developed numerous NPCs, many of which had informaton that they could give the PCs only if they questions those NPCs. Many others posted some advice about what may be going on but most of the adv...
Sep 04, 2024•42 min•Ep. 347
Saul and Jolene were talking about long campaigns. The discussion lead to games were character played gernerations of a character. I was thinking how many generations one could play and what RPGs make it part of their system or setting. The first game that came to mind was Pendragon. A friend of mine ran the Great Pendragon Campaign for some fellow gamers. That GM runs games where "Death is On the Table" according to him. Which to me means he is a no holds barred GM and if the dice goes against ...
Aug 31, 2024•39 min•Ep. 346
Bonus Episode, an interview of Dave and Matthew from the Effekt of podcast. Saul and Jolene interview the very likeable chaps from the UK. Not only do they have a very successful podcast called the Effekt podcast which mainly deals with Swedish RPGs but they discuss all kinds of RPG topics. They also have been working on a gritty, Western RPG called Tales of the Old West using a version of Free League's Year Zero system. Their Kickstarter will launch in early September. They have a very well don...
Aug 27, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 345
Saul and Jolene were discussing the Sanity stat in CoC and if any other RPGs used some sort of Sanity stat in games. That lead to Saul and Jolene to think of other games where the mental conditon of the character was kept track. What seemed like would be a short list of games became longer and longer. It seemed that quite a few games included a way of determining the mental state of the character. This surprised both Saul and Jolene. They game used many different ways of decribing and dealing wi...
Aug 19, 2024•38 min•Ep. 344
This episode came about when Saul was reading Reddit Posts and came across the question of what was more important in a RPG, Mechanics or Setting. Saul noticed many posts that sided with the idea that it was "mechanics" that was more important one of the two. A few chose setting but they were largely outnumbered by those that thought mechanics were more important in RPGs. Saul brought this up with Jolene and after a lengthy discussion they decided to do an episode on this subject. Thank you all ...
Aug 07, 2024•47 min•Ep. 343
Jolene read a post from a father of three young daughters who he wanted to run a roleplaying game for but one daughter was very adverse to combat and violence. Jolene talked to Saul about the post and they discussed the various games they had run for very young and new RPGers. When their son was young, Saul regularly ran games at local con for kids. From D&D to Gamma World, Saul ran "kids" games at con for several years. Jolene has run games for her son and his friends at home. She also has ...
Jul 31, 2024•32 min•Ep. 342
Saul and Jolene have run and been in various RPGs where planning took place from the simple to the complex. Saul and Jolene were talking about why certain RPG games, adventures and players tend make plans to deal with situations in RPGs. From games like Shandowrun and Cyberpunk to good ole D&D gamers make plans. Some games players are just inclined to make complex plans such as Shadowrun, Twilight 2000 and others. These games where players plan also tend to be very lethal. After their discus...
Jul 26, 2024•38 min•Ep. 341
Saul and Jolene were talking about the various Science Fiction RPGs that they had played and GMed. Saul was talking about his favorite ones and asked Jolene about her favorite Sci-Fi Rpg. They discussed how the different rules worked for and against liking the various Science Fiction themed RPGs. After a while Saul decided to take notes and suggested doing an episode on the Best Sci-Fi RPG. Though they can only mention and discuss a few of the Science Fiction themed RPGs published they try to co...
Jul 16, 2024•43 min•Ep. 340
Some RPGs try to mimic things in the real world, things from movies books, and even things that the author remembers. These things are then added to their RPG as an in game mechanic that really sets that RPG apart from other games. Saul and Jolene discuss their favorite game mechanics that really make the RPG stand out. Saul and Jolene discuss Traveller, The One Ring, Tales From the Loop and others in this discussion that was started due to a Reddit post. Saul really likes the ones listed where ...
Jul 06, 2024•46 min•Ep. 339
Jolene came across a post on Reddit of a new GM asked a question about how emotionally invested other GMs are in their creations for their games. From NPCs, to actual towns and villages do GMs care about Towns and it's inhabitants. Saul and Jolene discuss how those people who are younger and newer to RPGs can have a different view of how to play an RPG than older gamers. Viewing actual plays of RPGs have had large impact in new people coming to the RPG hobby. Not only that they have come into th...
Jun 29, 2024•42 min•Ep. 338
A popular way to start out an adventure or campaign is "in media res". Though most RPG games start off with a common scene of the Tavern or Pub. This in the beginning type of start is what most gamers know. Another way is to put the characters in a stressfull situcation from the beginning. One common way of doing this is the "your all in prison" beginning. Now this beginning can be very displeasing to most players. Especially if the players do not know that this is the way the game is going to s...
Jun 21, 2024•37 min•Ep. 337
The idea of cursed items comes from the very beginnings of RPGs. Even the Original D&D had a list of cursed items that you could give away to the characters in their treasure loot. The question is why would a character ever take something that is cursed. From simple to powerful items many players are willing to risk the chances of touching or using a cursed item because of some perceived benefit for their character. Saul and Jolene discuss cursed items from the games they played and ones he ...
Jun 13, 2024•35 min•Ep. 336
Saul and Jolene were talking about when at a RPG table session, sometimes the group goes off the rails. Not in game but at the actual game table. Non game side discussions, players looking at their phones, players joking around out of character and many other things that players can do to disrupt a RPG session. If you GM for any length of time this will probably happen to you as a GM or even see this as a player. You might even be the player causing the table disruption. Saul and Jolene discusse...
Jun 06, 2024•32 min•Ep. 335
Saul and Jolene were thinking about the rules about who goes first in RPGs. It was a lively discussion where we talked about several different games and how they dealt with initiative. Saul and Jolene talked about it at length and decided it was a good topic for an episode the podcast. Saul and Jolene discuss initiative system from the ole Dungeons and Dragons to Feng Shui, to Champions, Dark Conspiracy and others. All of them handling the subject differently and Saul and Jolene discuss why RPG ...
May 29, 2024•44 min•Ep. 334
In this episode Saul and Jolene talk about traveling mechanics. Many RPGs have rules on how to deal with traveling in their games. Some games have very detailed rules while some might not even cover traveling in their games. Fifth Edition D&D have some rules but they seem more like guidelines than actual rules. These ideas are covered in the Gamemasters Guild. Another fantasy rpg that has a bit more detailed rules is Dragonbane. Exploring and searching are a big part of the Dragonbane and be...
May 22, 2024•46 min•Ep. 333
In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss the difference and problems that arise from the difference between Player and Character knowledge. Depending on the genre and the player , players are going to push the limit of what a character can know. But there are times when a character will have be more knowledgable than the player does. Saul and Jolene cite several examples on how a player espoused their character's knowledge on certain subjects. In one example the character was successful and play ...
May 15, 2024•40 min•Ep. 332
In this Episode Saul and Jolene discuss making connections between characters. Saul remembers the ole days when the only connection you needed or wanted was the love of killing monsters and taking their stuff. Things have progressed to tell more meaningful stories than when Saul was a kid. A way of doing that is to have connections between players that gives them a more meaningful reason for characters, of any genre, to go adventuring. How do you make these "Connections" between players. An incr...
May 08, 2024•39 min•Ep. 331
In this Episode Saul and Jolene discuss overpowered or broken elements of a RPG. Sometimes its a skill, a spell, a feat, a rule or a myrid of different things that can be either be misinterpreted or written too vague or not written well. Saul and Jolene both recount experiences read from online posts and personal experiences when players and GMs might have made an error when reading or creating a character or item. When this happens it can unbalance the party, lead to boredom and generally some ...
May 01, 2024•35 min•Ep. 330
Saul was thinking what were some themes or genres that RPGs have a hard time capturing the feeling or thrill of playing. Jolene had a difficult time wondering what Saul was even talking about but after a while she realized the concept Saul was trying to explain. One example was Sports. A Sports themed RPG that wasn't a miniature game or boardgame desguised as a RPG. That discussion is what lead to this episode. So is there anything subject, theme or genre that RPGs are not good at? If you have a...
Apr 24, 2024•33 min•Ep. 329
Saul and Jolene were talking about how people "backtrack" or take their turn over in boardgames, they take their turn and then change their minds and redo their turn. Saul and Jolene discused how it seems like a bad idea. This act of "backtracking" can frustrate other players but what about in an RPGs? The idea of backtracking an action or a scene in a RPG is usually contemplated by a GM who feels bad or remorse about how things worked out. So they "backtrack" the play. Why would a GM do this an...
Apr 16, 2024•38 min•Ep. 328
In this Episode Saul and Jolene answer a question proposed by listener Mike. He asked about maps. How much detail do you share with players when you give them a map. Saul and Jolene thought it was a good question to make an episode. Along with maps, Saul thought about how much general information do you share with players. Saul asked how much should you share with the players? Does what the character "knows" determine the amount of detail in Maps and Info? Jolene remembered a couple situations w...
Apr 05, 2024•38 min•Ep. 327
What are things that influence what your play style in RPGs. Saul and Jolene discuss a couple of things that might influence the way you play your character. Saul admits that for about 20 years, Saul played variations of his own personality and not really trying to Role play an aspect of himself. As usual Saul strays from the subject by talking about two of his all time favorite RPGs, the One Ring and Shadowrun 5th edition, and Jolene brings him back to the subject at hand though Saul was using ...
Mar 28, 2024•34 min•Ep. 326
Someone asked about World Building, and if there was any advice, books, or manuals on how to do it. Saul looked at his vast amounts of PDFs and found a couple of books on World Building, and Saul even found he had some physical books on the subject. Jolene not a fan of World Building, she finds it odd that people would spend the time on world building as she is not a fan of the endeavor. List of Books mentioned: The Ultimate RPG Game Master's Worldbuilding Guide by James D'Amato The Only World B...
Mar 23, 2024•35 min•Ep. 325
Saul and Jolene were discussing how would a GM Desiminate Information about their RPG Setting. Especially when the lore is vast and deep. Saul and Jolene came up with various methods and things to consider what a GM can do to make the "Info Dump" not only be easier but actually work. Saul used Bethorm rules written by Jeff Dee, for running his Sakbe Road to Redemption game set in the world of Tekumel Thank you all for Listening Web Art by Jim Foster Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones Music by An...
Mar 13, 2024•32 min•Ep. 324
Recently Saul and Jolene were at a local Gaming Convention and at a RPG game and when the group broke for a quick dinner break, one player never came back. This has happened at gaming conventions and even in home game groups. What can a GM do to mitigate the affects of the missing player. Though usually more problematic at a Convention or in a One-shot RPG game there are things that you can do as a GM to make the session still go well. Saul and Jolene discuss what happened in their Star Trek gam...
Mar 08, 2024•33 min•Ep. 323
Saul and Jolene were at a Con recently and there a few people stated that there needed to be more rpg games and therefore the idea of needing more GMs came about. There was even a discussion on Facebook about what gamers could do to get more people to gm at conventions. With that discussion in mind Saul and Jolene decided to record an episode of what gamers could do to get more people to run games at Cons, at FLGS, or even at home games. As always thanks for listening Web Art by Jim Foster Episo...
Feb 27, 2024•38 min•Ep. 322
