164 Revisiting Logic in Fantasy

I talk about over and under "grounding" fiction in role-playing. I also shill two amazing podcast episodes, Daydreaming About Dragons 69 and Spikepit 333.

163 Player Greatness

I'm back after a hiatus, partly thanks to a challenge thrown out there by Judd Karlman of Daydreaming About Dragons. I'm rolling a d20 for topics this season. Today is #12, one submitted by (I think) Logan Howard of Swordbreaker: If you were tasked with training players for greatness, what steps would you take? In response I talk about developing self-awareness through a player inventory. (Partly inspired by Rob C's confessional on Down in a Heap.) I then talk about developing a table awareness and finally putting in the hours at the table.

161 More on Spell Effects and Kriegsspiel

This episode features some great call ins from Judd of Daydreaming About Dragons and Joe of the Hindsightless podcasts. I spend a bit of time talking about engaging with fiction and projecting one's self into fictional worlds. Then Barney of Loco Ludus calls in to talk Kriegsspiel and cultural stereotypes. I mention Playing At the World, an amazing Kriegsspiel table, David Wesley, the Bruanstein game, Strategos.

160 Spell Effects and Free Kriegspiel

Part 1: thoughts on adjudicating in-game effects literally or adjusting them to the fiction. Part 2: thoughts on the Free Kriegspiel Revolution. Stuff mentioned: Old School Essentials, The Glatisant.

159 Reading Corner - Best of SF

Readings from the foreword to The Best of Science Fiction, an anthology from 1946. Edited by Groff Conklin, published by Crown.

158 Tell Me About Your Character w/JJ

JJ and I talk about character arcs from generation to transformation. The context is a 12 session campaign of the Marvel Superhero Adventure Game with 1 GM and 4 players. We cover topics like card-based mechanics, "comic book frame narrative," switching gears from physical to digital play, fictional positioning, super hero style transformations, etc.

157 Jack Kirby's Eternals

I give an overview of Jack Kirby's Eternals as an RPG setting. Kirby's Kids, The Eternals by Jack Kirby, The Eternals by Neil Gaiman, New Gods by Jack Kirby, Chariots of the Gods by Erich Von Daniken.

156 Ride On #RPGaDay2020

The last five words of #RPGaDay2020: Favour, Close, Ride, Portal, Experience. Things mentioned: Old School Essentials, D&D 5e, Marvel Superhero Adventure Game, Rakka's Raiders (in the Plundergrounds Zine bundle), Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Dungeon World.

155 I Can't Drive 55!

An interesting idea I had, and a kind of fun mini-game, for generating old school D&D stats. Also a bit of life advice about not feeding negativity.

154 Not So Rare #RPGaDay2020

Stream-of-consciousness riffing on the words Rare, Edge, Humor, Lever, and Strange. Things mentioned: Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Over the Edge, The Great Slow Kings by Roger Zelazny.

153 Call-ins and Who Decides How the World Works?

Call-ins from Evil Jeff of Minions and Musings and Jason of the Nerd's RPG Variety Podcast. Milestone XP in Old School Essentials (episode, spreadsheet). Cultural touchstones; Judd on "knife fights in space." Sorcerers & Sellswords. Tiger and Del. Spikepit, Puddleglum, Innsmouth Look, Mike Myers' Canada. Polaris by Ben Lehman.