Join Andy and Chris as they talk about LotR and Andy’s Band of Blades game!
Episode 135 – Dialect, Savage Worlds, and Campaign Length
Andy and Chris got to game in-person with each other! They talk about the experience of playing Dialect as a world building game for a campaign.
Episode 134 – The Book of the New Sun, and Challenging Game Settings
We’ve all read books or watched movies that were difficult, but ultimately rewarding. With Andy having just finished Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun, we talk about whether that kind of challenging but satisfying-in-retrospect experience has a parallel in RPG campaigns. What kind of value do we get out of dense, difficult settings and campaigns?
Show notes:
- Review of Impossible Landscapes at Hypomodern.com
Episode 133 — What Makes a Great First D&D Adventure?
As Andy prepares to run Stormwreck Isle, conversation turns to what makes a great D&D starter set or introductory adventure. What experiences do you think best embody D&D? Bonus content in this episode includes more discussion of The Thing, and (if you listen closely) the sound of Andy’s pet guinea pigs squeaking and chattering in the background.
Episode 132 — All About Randomness and Dice! (with guest GM Toby)
How do you calculate odds and probabilities at the game table? What do we get out of random dice rolls and random tables? And how do dice probabilities work, anyway? We’re joined by mathematician and GM Toby, who talks with Chris about both the mechanics of probability and the ways we use randomness to have fun at the game table.
Episode 131 – Play a Dungeon – The Mice of The Artemis
It’s part 2 of our annual Build-a-Dungeon/Play-a-Dungeon specials! Jo, Abby, Liz, and Brandon come on to play through “The Mice of The Artemis” with Chris as GM. Happy holidays everyone!
Episode 130 – Build a Dungeon 2023!
It’s the holidays so that can only mean one thing: it’s time for us to build a dungeon and then play it live on air! In this year’s Build episode, Andy and Chris are joined, yet again, by John Corey and Kyle Latino of The Splatbook!
Episode 129 – Long-running Campaigns and their Challenges
Andy and Chris talk about The Walking Dead and videogames before diving into their topic: what questions do long-term campaigns raise that RPG rulebooks do not address?
Episode 128 – Palladium Surprise Package Unboxing and More
With Chris temporarily away, Andy is joined by guest co-hosts John and Tim for something we’ve never done before: opening a mystery box of gaming goodness live on the air. Tim unboxes a Christmas surprise package from Palladium Books, after which we revisit one old topic and then ponder a brand new one.
Show notes
- Palladium Books, and their annual Christmas Surprise Package deal
- Adventures in the Northern Wilderness, the Palladium Fantasy sourcebook with cover art that caught John’s youthful attention
Episode 127 – Are Your Games “Interesting Failures”?
Andy and Chris take a different approach to gaming in this episode as they discuss the idea of “interesting failures”–art and experiences that don’t succeed, but that nonetheless deliver something worthwhile. After discussing Alien Resurrection, Andy’s favorite example of an interesting disaster, they move on to talk about what “interesting failure” looks like in a TTRPG campaign, and why it’s not such a bad thing at all.
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