Episode 52 — What Expectations Do You Place On Your Players When Starting a Campaign?

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Episode 52 — What Expectations Do You Place On Your Players When Starting a Campaign?
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Chris and Andy create a d10 random table of unexpected things that can happen when the players start a fire—and after some discussion of Andy’s “Alien” campaign and D&D Christmas giving, we launch into our official topic: expectations you place (or don’t place) on your players at the start of a new campaign.

d10 Mysterious/Interesting things that happen when a fire is lit

  1. Fire creature emerges
  2. Fire doesn’t put out heat, it puts out cold
  3. Flames are an unusual color
  4. The flame is magic and can never be put out
  5. It spreads unexpectedly
  6. Smoke starts forming words/symbols
  7. This fire is connected to another fire
  8. Attracts attention of something nearby
  9. Light from fire shows another plane of existence
  10. Fire violates a taboo

Episode 51 — How Do You Manage Inventory in Your Games? (with Tim Saucer)

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Episode 51 — How Do You Manage Inventory in Your Games? (with Tim Saucer)
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Special guest GM Tim Saucer joins Andy and Chris to discuss the ins and outs of handling inventory, equipment, and encumbrance in roleplaying games. Plus, the gang puts together a special bonus Thanksgiving-themed random table, in case you need some holiday inspiration!

Episode 50 — Season 1 Finale, and Resetting the Table of Topics!

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Episode 50 — Season 1 Finale, and Resetting the Table of Topics!
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Brace yourselves for a big episode! Chris talks about his experience running a Halloween scenario for two very different groups of players. And then, to cap off the first “season” of the podcast, Andy and Chris brainstorm a new Table of Topics!

Episode 49 – Broken Control Panels, Aliens, and Spoopy Sitcom Recaps

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Episode 49 - Broken Control Panels, Aliens, and Spoopy Sitcom Recaps
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All all GMs are wont to do, Chris and Andy continue to break their self-imposed rules and make yet another d6 table on air. This time it’s all about fixing broken control panels on space ships. After that they talk about Andy’s upcoming Aliens inspired game and recap Chris’ halloween one shot.

d6 table for “Something is Wrong with a Control Panel”

  1. Panel is on the outside of the ship
  2. Rival faction controls the panel and offers a Devil’s Bargain to gain access
  3. Aliens/Enemies between you and the panel
  4. AI thinks you are a threat and locks you out
  5. Lacking a crucial tool to fix the panel
  6. Ship full of helpful tech appears

Episode 48 — Scary Warehouses, 90s Sitcoms, and Halloween One-shots

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Episode 48 — Scary Warehouses, 90s Sitcoms, and Halloween One-shots
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Chris and Andy break all the rules in a special episode centered around Halloween gaming. Listen as we create a d6 table you can roll on to see what scary things are happening in this warehouse (you needed one of those, right?), and then move on to discuss a unique Halloween game that Chris is cooking up.

Episode 47 – A Different Kind of Fantasy Gaming

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Episode 47 - A Different Kind of Fantasy Gaming
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Listen as Ryan Gough teaches Andy and Chris all about a game played by millions of people that they barely understand. For regular listeners this one is a bit far afield from what we normally do, but we thought it’d be fun to discuss on air. Hope you enjoy it!

Extra special thanks to Ryan for coming on and being a good sport about this!

Episode 46 — How Do You Design Your Game Sessions So That Players Can Show Off?

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Episode 46 — How Do You Design Your Game Sessions So That Players Can Show Off?
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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!

Episode 45 — Tom Knauss, Tehuatl Kickstarter, and the Care and Feeding of Your Game Books

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Episode 45 — Tom Knauss, Tehuatl Kickstarter, and the Care and Feeding of Your Game Books
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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):

Episode 44 — How Do You Prepare Set-piece Encounters?

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Episode 44 — How Do You Prepare Set-piece Encounters?
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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!

Episode 43 — What Do You Do With the Encounters and Secrets Your Players Don’t Discover?

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Episode 43 — What Do You Do With the Encounters and Secrets Your Players Don't Discover?
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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.