GamingPerspectives

Episode 307: Playing Yourself, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     Saul was reading Reddit posts and came across a post about players playing themselves too much in RPGs.  There was quite a bit of a discussion and most respondents said they didn't play themselves at all because they didn't want to play their boring lives.
     Saul on the other hand thought that he had for most of his RPG life had played himself or an aspect of his personality in the game.  Usually a one dimensional character.  As Saul got older he started to branch out and play characters that were totally different than himself.
       Thank you all for listening as we start to close out 2024 and head into the New Year!
     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by Claudio Souza Mattes, song Adapt Yourself, off the album Rewind     Available from Tribeofnoise.com
     Used Under the Creative Commons License 4.0     https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Episode 306: Lower Player Count RPGs, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     Jolene was looking online and found a person who was asking for help.  They had never GMed a RPG and they only had two players.  The person was asking if there were any games that were made for one GM and two players.  Jolene asked Saul about this and after a brief discussion they decided to do an episode on the subject.     Jolene and Saul have an episode dealing with single player games, one Saul remembered was Ghost Dog which is a RPG based on the movie of the same title.  It is a RPG where the player is an assassin that lives by a code.  Since that episode Saul has run a few games with very low player count.  Hence the new episode dealing with Low Player Count.              Thank you all for Listening     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by Lead to Gold, song Less is More,  off the album 10 Minutes with LTG    Available from Tribeofnoise.com  Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Episode 305: Changing the Adventure, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

         A listener and friend asked Saul and Jolene about a question his daughter had asked him.  The questions was, "Should a GM change a dungeon campaign after the players make characters that can see in the dark."  The GM designed the dungeon with the idea of limited visibility of the characters due to it being pitch black in the dungeon.  Slightly upset at the characters the GM decided to change the dungeon.  Is it okay for the GM to change the adventure after devulging information of the game?     Saul and Jolene both discuss the implications of changing the adventure due to the players action in making their characters.  Is the GM being petty? What would the players think of having their characters possibly nerfted? Listen and find out what Saul and Jolene think about this situation.    Thank you all for Listening     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by Sounds Hilarious, song Changing!, off the album Make Money with Music    Available from Tribeofnoise.com   Used Under the Creative Commons License 4.0   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Episode 304: Making an RPG Based on a Computer Game, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     In this Episode Saul and Jolene talk about making a RPG from a computer game.  This was from a question that Saul read online about a father that wanted to make a RPG for his kids that played Destiny 2.  Saul thought he recognized the game and even thought he had the older computer game but he was thinking of Mass Effect 2.  Still Jolene and Saul discussed the trials and tribulations of making your own RPG.       It has been Saul's belief that making your own game would be a big work and time investment.  But a few years ago he saw the show Carnival Row.  He even downloaded a free version that used the Cypher System from Monte Cook Games.  It had a lot of the lore and art from the show but Saul didn't like the Cypher System for this game.  He set to port it to Free Leagues Year Zero Engine.  This was before Free League put out their SRD or their version of the OGL.        And just a couple of months ago Saul wrote up another game based on Year Zero about cuddly animals going on adventures in the spirit of The Wind the the Willows, Watership Down,  Books by Brian Jacques.  Saul wrote it in one day and with a bit of adjustments he made a playable game where he ran two separate adventures.     So it can be done.  Saul and Jolene also talk about writing a RPG with a big IP and whether its worth trying to publish such a RPG game.           Thank you all for Listening     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by Soul Understated, song Gonna Make It,  off the album Unreleased     Available from Tribeofnoise.com    Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Episode 303: Light RPGs, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     Saul was looking at Reddit and found a post about how the person didn't like playing "Lighter" RPGs because they were more work for him in roleplaying than a crunchier systems like Pathfinder.  Others also agreed and added comments about why they didn't like RPGs.  
     Saul and Jolene have tried a few "Light RPGs".  Games like Kobolds Ate My Baby, Sleepaway Camp, The Quiet Year, Tales From the Loop and others.
     Listen to hear what Saul and Jolene have to say on the subject.
     
     Thank you all for Listening     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by Frenz, song The Light    Available from Tribeofnoise.com    Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
  

Bonus Episode: Why We Still Play Round Table, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

          Saul and Jolene decided to ask a question of their gaming friends, Felipe, Cipriano and Michael,  "Why do you still game after playing for so long."   Saul has been gaming with Felipe, his brother, since 1978, with Cipriano right after that and Michael since Junior High.  Though some of them had some short stints of not playing here or there,  Saul and his friends are still playing RPGs today.  So why do they still want to play? Listen and find out.         Thank you all for Listening     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music Bruce Zim, song Friends Forever    Available from Tribeofnoise.com  Used Under the Creative Commons License 4.0  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Episode 302: Pre-Session Question, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

      This episode comes from Jolene surfing the internets and finding a post on Reddit.  She mentioned it to Saul and they talked about this idea.  Saul remembered that at some Convention Games a few GM's did this to get the players ready to enter the world of the game,  break the ice between players and do some information dissemination.               Thank you all for Listening     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by Shirley Jones, song Questions,  off the album Black Cat Blues    Available from Tribeofnoise.com    Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0     https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Episode 301: Top 3 Forever RPGs, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

          A question was floating around in social media and on Reddit, that if you only had three RPGs to play for the rest of your life which ones would they be.  Saul was intrigued of whittling down all his favorite RPGs down to three that he would play forever if he had only three to play.   Saul and Jolene discussed it a bit and though Jolene didn't like the idea of paring down the RPGs she liked to just three though she reluctantly did come up with a final 3.           Saul was a bit more manic and he listed his favorite systems of about 20 games and game systems.  From classics RPGs like D&D(all played editions) Traveller, Space Opera Stalking the Night Fantastic and other 80's RPGs.  Also included on his list was his 90's RPGs like Dark Conspiracy, Feng Shui, Hero, and many more.  Then the more modern games of the 2000s.  D&D 3rd Ed., Spirit of the Century, Warhammer 40k RPGs, Cortex Classic RPGs and more.        Saul was finally able to get down to the final 5 favorite game systems which is a bit like cheating since you can play various setting and genres.  So prepare to get angry, disappointed or delighted by the games chosen.      Thank you all for Listening     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by Sharon C, song Forever,  off the album Calling You    Available from Tribeofnoise.com    Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0     https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Episode 300: Favorite Combat Mechanics, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

      Since Jolene and Saul have been playing various RPGs they have been discussing what they liked and did not like about the RPGs.  One thing they zeroed in on was combat in the different RPGs.  It also made Saul think about some game mechanics he had seen from some pretty old games like Space Opera, TOP Secret SI and many others.        Saul and Jolene discussed how each game dealt with Combat Mechanics.  Some of them they liked others not so much.  This epiosde was born out of the discussion of what combat mechanics they liked those games.  
        Thank you all for Listening       
        Web Art by Jim Foster        Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by Brian Cho, song Prepare For Combat.    Available from Tribeofnoise.com Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Episode 299: Stealing the Spotlight, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     There have been times that a certain player at your table took charge of the table or maybe was the leader at the table.  Heck back in the ole Days, there was a player who was, "the Caller".  It was their job to talk to the GM and tell the GM what the players were doing.  It was a way to speed up game play.  Saul once played in a game where they took this idea to heart and only The Caller would talk to the GM. The Caller could even countermand what the player had told the Caller what they wanted to do.  Needless to say Saul never went back to the game club.        Games these days have become more collaborative, there is more player agency.  There is also the idea of making sure all players get in on the fun.  Making sure all players have input in the game at your table.  This has been called sharing the Spotlight.  Where every player and their character gets a chance to shine.  But what if a player is taking more than their share of the Spotlight.       Saul and Jolene discussed why this happens and what can be done about it after reading a reddit post by a new GM having this problem.  After a lengthy discussion, Saul and Jolene decided to do an episode on Stealing the Spotlight.       
    Thank you all for Listening     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by Tanay Jackson, song In the SpotLight,  off the album Tanay    Available from Tribeofnoise.com    Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/