GamingPerspectives

Episode 311: No To Hit Rolls, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

Saul read an article about a couple of RPGs that had elimnated the Iconic Mechanic of Rolling to Hit.  Saul mentioned the idea to Jolene.  Jolene had a lot of questions about the whole idea and how it would work.   Jolene's questions were why, how and would it be fun?        It was a good discussion so they decided to do an episode on the subject.  The big game on the list is a new game coming out in the near future by Matt Colville now called Draw Steel.  There is a link at the bottom of these show notes.           Thank you all for Listening     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
Here is a link to Matt Colville's preorder:    https://mcdm-rpg.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
    Music by Riff Master, song Rolling with Thunder,  off the album Enter the Realm    Available from Tribeofnoise.com    Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Episode 310: Deities and Demigods in Your Games, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     Hey there Listeners,  Happy New Year!  Saul and Jolene were reminicing some of the more memorable times of their games. Jolene mentioned the times that they came across some very powerful creatures, Dragons were high on the list from game of D&D to Shadowrun.  Other powerful beings were giants, demigods and gods.  Saul and Jolene discussed what made those moment memorable and how and why they interacted with the Player Characters.       Saul discussed how in the first 30 years of this GMing he did not use powerful beings in his campaigns, especially gods in his campaigns.  He regulated them to the same bin as Spell Components.  It was only after running the published campaign Storm King's Thunder that Saul really started using powerful beings as encounters in his campaigns.           Thank you all for Listening     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by Jay Van Ijzer, song Demigods   Available from Tribeofnoise.com   Used Under the Creative Commons License 4.0    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Episode 309: New RPGs for 2025, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

It is the New Year and as we look forward to 2025 EN Publishing asks what New RPGs we are looking forward to the New Year.  Saul choose his top three and discusses some of the games that made the list.  Saul noticed quite a few games are getting a 2nd edition and other are being resurrected from the way back machine and are getting a new edition thanks in no small part due to Kickstarter and other crowd funding platforms.     As we enter the New Year we would wish everyone a better 2025 than we had in 2024.  Play some games and have fun.  And a big Thank you all for Listening to our humble podcast.     Happy New Year Everyone!   Saul and Jolene     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by  A to the G, song By New Year's Day    Available from Tribeofnoise.com  Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Episode 308: Reading the Rulebook, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

There was a post on Reddit about how RPGers read rulebooks for new RPGs before they ran a session.  The answers at first were vey like minded.  People stating that they read the rulebook completely.  From reading it once to reading the rulebook from cover to cover multple times.       Saul was a bit shocked at reading these posts since he had never read a RPG Rulebook that way.  As Saul read more he found posts more aligned with his style of reading a rulebook.  If you consider jumping from section to section.   Jolene and Saul discussed this topic and decided it was a good one for an episode.     We are well into the Holiday Season and we would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Everyone!  
       Thank you all for Listening     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by Tobin James,  song Rules of the Road    Available from Tribeofnoise.com   Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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/