Do you build encounters and adventures in such a way that players have lots of opportunity to show off their character’s abilities, powers, and personality? Andy and Chris discuss!
Tom Knauss of Frog God Games joins us to discuss the new Lost Lands: Tehuatl Kickstarter. We enjoy an in-depth talk about the process of creating a Mesoamerica-themed setting book, then launch into this episode’s topic: how you care for your physical game books.
Note: the sound quality for this episode isn’t up to our usual standards. Our sincerest apologies, and we’ll do better next time—and we hope you enjoy the episode anyway!
Episode 45 appendix (aka show notes):
This week Christopher Becker came on to talk about running set-piece encounters. Those points in your game where you take some special care to prepare.
Do you break out special terrain or miniatures? Do you prepare a big speech for the BBEG to deliver? Do you treat every moment as a set-piece lovingly created for your players?
Christopher works at the Ann Arbor District Library. The AADL has shifted most of their programming to video during the pandemic. In lieu of an in-person RPG Fest this year during the month of September they’ll have a series of videos aimed at GMs. You can view all of those videos at aadl.tv!
Do you share your GMing secrets with players after each adventure? Or do you hang on to them in hopes of re-purposing them? With Chris back at the helm as co-host, we follow this topic into some unexpected places, including the merits of re-running adventures and the importance of information asymmetry in RPGs.
What’s the key to making NPCs who are memorable, interesting, and possibly even beloved by the players? Chris, Andy, and John discuss. And as a bonus, Andy breaks out a brand-new GM challenge for his co-hosts. Listen and judge their on-the-spot GMing decisions!
Special guest (and former host) Chris joins Andy and John to talk about what you can do when you’re just not feeling very excited about your game.
Do you like running games set in established, well-defined settings? Do you prefer coming up with setting details on the fly? Something in between? John and Andy talk through the big topic of finding or building the right setting for your game.
Episode 40 appendix (show notes):
What does fear look like when it crops up in your games, horror or otherwise? How can you use fear to motivate player characters and make for a fun, tense game? John and Andy discuss.
What role do maps play in the games that you run? While Chris is taking a few weeks of parental leave, Andy is joined by guest co-host John Corey to discuss the wonderful topic of maps.
Note: the audio quality on this episode is a bit lower than our usual standard, for which we apologize; we’ll do better for the next episode. There’s a noticeable echo effect. If it helps, imagine that we’re recording the podcast from deep within a gloomy dungeon!
What do you do when a character in your game bites the dust? If character death happens, how do you work it into your campaign, and how do you address the topic with your players? Andy and Chris discuss this notoriously tricky subject.
