Jolly Blackburn is the creator of the comic Knights of the Dinner Table and one of the principal game designers behind Hackmaster and Aces & Eight. He was at Visioncon 2011 and I got to sit down with him to discuss what’s new with Kenzer Company, the tabletop rpg industry,
Thank you RPPR listeners! The Ruins of Lemuria PDF Ransom was a success! We are hard at work behind the scenes creating many cool things for you and running games over Skype for the ransom contributors. Synopsis: Rhetoric is a divisive issue in tabletop games. Where do you draw the
CONTRIBUTE TO THE RUINS OF LEMURIA KICKSTARTER TO GET 10 PREVIEW AP EPISODES OR A SEAT A SKYPE GAME RUN BY ROSS PAYTON! Synopsis: Chase scenes are an underutilized element in many games. A staple of action stories but RPGs focus on social scenes and combat. This is because it’s
Synopsis: In fiction, revealing too much information right away is a sign of bad storytelling. In role playing games, it’s often essential for a good session. Game masters have to realize that what they think the players should know is often not enough for the players to actually understand what’s
Halloween is right around the corner so we are once again talking about running terrifying games. RPGs can’t really provide shocks like film or TV, but it’s still possible to run a truly scary game by keeping a few principles in mind. Specifically, a GM should focus on presenting ambigious
Morality and alignment are two of the trickiest issues in tabletop RPGs. Every player has their own perspective, beliefs and biases and they frequently come out during play. How do you deal with conflicts over moral dilemmas? We go over several possible reasons why this occurs and how to resolve
My campaign for Monsters & Other Childish Things, Road Trip is out! Buy your copy now. Cody has a new blog, Popgun Chaos. Read his reviews and essays about comics and bask in his glory. The Get Aaron to Gencon Kickstarter was a success! Listen to Aaron’s game. If you
My campaign for Monsters and Other Childish Things, Road Trip is available for pre-order! Buy it here! The Codex of War is out! Download it here. If you like our AP episodes, donate to the ‘Get Aaron to Gencon’ Kickstarter to get early access to 5 AP episodes. The real
At long last, the Codex of War is finished! This is the third book in the New World Campaign setting. The colony has survived its first winter in the New World, a testament to the courage and fortitude of its inhabitants, but now a greater threat looms over the fledgling
Adam Scott Glancy is one of the co-authors of Delta Green and is the man behind Pagan Publishing. I talked to him over Skype about the newest Delta Green book, Targets of Opportunity, a collection of new DG antagonist groups and M-EPIC, a Canadian anti-mythos organization. We also talk about
Role playing is a collaborative hobby but conflicts between players and the GM inevitably arise. Cody, Dan, Tom and I discuss how adversarial gaming can affect your game and how to deal with it. RJ and I also talk about the new online tabletop section of the RPPR forums and
RPPR regular Cody reads 3 classics of fan fiction: The Music Destroyer, Guess Who, and Napoleon Dynamite in the Outer Space. This is accompanied by Beethoven’s Concerto no 5 in E flat major.
For this episode, we have Cody and RJ as guests and we discuss how to deal with improbable and implausible player devised plans. While heist movies are based on elaborate schemes, does every game need a 20 step plan in order to slip past a single guard? We also talk
In this episode, we have a special guest: Mike from Bear Swarm. We discuss why edition wars and hating on games in discussions is a pointless endeavor and why people endlessly flame each other over them. We also talk about Catalyst Game Labs and of course, Tom has a letter.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the Codex of War Ransom! In this episode, Cody, Tom and I discuss the use of social skills against other players, because of this blog post. When I ran a game at Fear the Con, I disallowed a player to use a persuasion skill
New Rewards for the Codex of War Ransom! Have Ross run a game of YOUR CHOICE over Skype! In this episode we discuss how to add a sense of wonder to your game. Tabletop RPGs are only limited by your imagination yet too many games are dull dungeon crawl affairs
CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT RPPR AND THE NEW WORLD CAMPAIGN! GET 10 PREVIEW ACTUAL PLAY EPISODES. HAVE YOUR CHARACTER WRITTEN INTO THE NEW WORLD CAMPAIGN. LISTEN TO CODY’S UNEDITED READING OF MY IMMORTAL! In this fanfiction reading, Chris, Jason and I each read a timeless classic. Jason reads Batman: Nemesis
Zombies of the World: a web series from RPPR co-host Ross Payton. Visit the Zombies of the World website and tell your friends about it! The Codex of War: A New World Campaign PDF ransom is up! Donate now to make sure we meet the goal! Synopsis: Running a mystery
My Immortal is one of the most infamous fanfictions on the Internet. Cody reads the first four chapters, the opening of a goffik epic. I can’t really add on to that. Prepare for the darkest, most dramatic saga of this generation. Or not.
In this episode, we have two guests, Cody and Aaron, to help us dispense advice for newbie game masters and share stories of our novice attempts at running a game. Plus the usual letter from Tom, an anecdote and an explanation of the phrase “There’s monsters in the school, Tom.”
During the holidays, we got together to record some classic fanfiction for your enjoyment. First off is Tom reciting Doom: Repercussions of Evil a classic story of horror and rocket missiles. Read the entire story below the fold. John Stalvern waited. The lights above him blinked and sparked out of
In this episode, Tom and I review 2009 in terms of gaming. The most memorable moments, games we played, games we wished we played and more. We also go over some of what we have planned for 2010 and Toms has some ‘anti-resolutions’ for New Years in his letter. Shout
THE GUY WITH A JETPACK AND A HIGH POWERED RIFLE: When combat broke out he would zoom up into the air and start sniping. He had a kind of code against killing, he only killed villains if they fought back, or sassed him. Ab3’s first proper rant is now immortalized
If you are a fan of our Actual Play episodes, head over to the brand new RPPR Actual Play Podcast. It will feature a new AP episode every single week! We’ve already got over 11 hours of Call of Cthulhu ready for download. Don’t forget to comment on the episodes
[singlepic id=57 h=320 float=left] The Hulk has arrived! The Goblin Hulk has dropped anchor! Weighing in at over 17,000 words, this campaign sourcebook details the inner workings of the goblin hulk, a massive ship supporting an entire horde, bent on despoiling and looting everything of value in the new world.
The Paragon Tier begins! A year has passed since the destruction of the thieves’ guild. The Water Barons now control Border Town, the second settlement of the colonial government. With their new power comes new challenges and new allies. A dragonborn sorcerer joins their ranks, played by Bill. What else
A group of prisoners has been shipped to a remote laboratory in Nazi Germany during the final days of World War 2. But when they arrive, their guards disappear and they are left to their own devices. The lab is deep within the wilderness and a raging snowstorm makes escape
A group of vigilantes has learned about a secret project codenamed Long Stairs by the US military. They’ve found the base and must plumb its depths to find the truth behind the mystery of all masks, both good and evil. What dark secrets will be uncovered? Who will be spared?
Pacing is vital to form of storytelling, yet it seems to be overlooked in role playing games. After running a dozen games at Gencon and Dragoncon this year, I realized how important a proper pace is for a RPG. Tom and I discuss the importance of pacing, how to improve
SHIT JUST GOT REAL It’s time for the final battle between the Thieves Guild and the heroic ragtag army of underdogs (i.e. the players)! Who will live? Who will die? Who will die, then live because the players bitch enough to make me change my ruling? Find out in Episode
