GamingPerspectives

Episode 174: Prehistoric RPGs, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     This topic comes from Jolene reading RPG forum and Redit posts.  Jolene asked Saul if there were any published RPGs and Saul actually had one RPG in his collection and almost Kickstarted two prehistoric RPGs.  They talked about the subject and decided to do an episode on this very interesting RPG topic.
     The three games discussed are Paleo Mythic by Osprey Publishing, Wurm from Choasium and Cavemaster by Jeff Dee.
    Saul found a D&D 5th Edition setting book called Planegea on Kickstarter that is a fantasy pre-historic setting.  Here is the link if you want to check it out. : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/atlasgames/planegea?ref=recommendation-no-result-discoverpage-8
  
   Thanks for listening and please share our podcast.
 
   Music by John Kaza, song Caveman
  Available from Tribeofnoise.com

Episode 173: Halloween Themed Games, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

The Halloween episode, where Saul and Jolene talk about running Halloween Themed Rpg games.
     Saul talks about obvious Halloween themes such as Horror and Mystery games that would fit in perfectly with the holiday motif.
    Saul discusses well known games such as Call of Cthulhu to lesser known games such as Dark Conspiracy and Stalking the Night Fantastic.  
    Jolene points out to Saul other game RPG games would be a good fit.  Liminal, Alien and WWII RPGs would be good fits with Halloween themed games
    Many games are mentioned in this episode.  
   Thank you all for listening and please share out podcast.
    Music by Hansen Chat,  song Halloween Party Part 2.  

Episode 172: GMing to Your Strengths, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     Saul and Jolene discuss playing to your GMing Strengths.  If your good at art, lean into your art skills and bring that talent to the game table.  If your good at making funny voices use that skill at your gaming table.  Saul and Jolene discuss these and other skills that can make your GMing at the game table a better experience.  
      Saul of course goes way off course a couple of times and so you have  a bit of longer episode.  Saul mentions two books which he could not remember the titles of during the recording of the episode. One was Hamlet's Hit Points by Robin D. Laws .  The other book was Improv for Gamers by Karen Twelves.  Both of these books are easily available online.  They may also be available from your favorite hobby and games store.  
  As always thank you all for listening.
 
 Music by Human Vibe, song Strength of My Will.'
  Available from Tribeofnoise.com

Episode 171 Making Non-Generic RPGs into Generic RPGs, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

    A few episodes ago Saul made a comment about 5th Edition D&D.  The gist of the comment was that a ruleset not intended as a generic RPG be used as a generic RPG.   This was aimed specifically at D&D 5th edition due to one the popularity of the RPG and because of that popularity it has spawned many different RPGs using that ruleset.   This was due to the number of RPG PDFs that Saul had bought and was not impressed with the use of D&D 5th edition rules OGL.  
       That was a while ago and since then he has played many different RPGs and now Saul is thinking he may have been wrong.  Especially after looking at a few RPGs whose rules have been used for completely different genres that what the original rules were used for.
     Saul and Jolene discuss this topic with Saul using three systems that in his mind were never intended to be used as a multi-genre, generic ruleset, but actually do a great job of exactly that.  
    Thank you all for listening and please share our podcast.
   Music by Counterfeiti, song Generic, off the album A Glimpse, an Eclipse.
   Available from Tribeofnoise.com

Episode 170: No Villain In Your RPG Adventures, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

    A listener posed a question to Saul and Jolene, does there need to be a Villain in your RPG adventure or campaign.   Saul's first  thought that sure you can and Jolene wasn't so sure.  
    Saul came up with three different instances where you may not need a Villain pulling all the strings trying to thwart the player characters.  Listen to that discussion between Saul and Jolene, though even after what Saul said she didn't seem that convinced.  
   Thank you all for listening and all we ask is that you share our podcast with your gamer friends.
 
   Music by Amity in Fame,  song The Villain.
   Available from Tribeofnoise.com

Episode 169: The One Ring 2nd Edition, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     The One Ring RPG is one of Saul's favorite RPGs.   Saul liked The One Ring so much, he bought extra copies of the rules to give them out to various members of his RPG group.  Two failed One Ring RPG starts he finally found a group that was enthusiastic about playing in the One Ring.  He even found of couple would be Lore Masters to run some games.
     The One Ring 2nd Edition was Kickstarted and is close to go to printing and then to distribution to those that pledged.  Early PDF's were sent out to those that pledged and now they eagerly await the final PDF.  
      So what makes The One Ring a good game?  What kinds of changes are there from the 1st edition to the 2nd edition?
      Saul and Jolene discuss the One Ring 1st Edition published by Cubicle 7 and the long road to the 2nd Edition by Free League.
    As always thank you all for listening and all we ask is that you share our podcast in your gaming circles.
    Music by Scorpio Dragon,  song Knife In the Dark, off the album The One Ring and Other Stories

Episode 168: Game Balance in RPGs, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     In this Episode Saul and Jolene talk about "Game Balance" in RPGs.  But there was a failure of a "meeting of the minds" between Saul and Jolene.   Saul was thinking of balance in encounters were Jolene was talking about rules balance.  
    As always thanks for listening and please share our podcast with family and friends.
 
  Music by Brentin Davis,  song On Balance.
  Available from Tribeofnoise.com

Episode 167: Matching Rules to Setting in RPGs, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     Though we all love an RPG we know the basic rules, which eliminates a hurdle that we gamers have to jump when playing RPGs.  There are times that a set of RPG rules fits the setting so well there is no way a generic system could come close to emulating the genre.  
     Saul and Jolene discuss this idea and give examples of game rules that match the genre so well it is hard to contemplate any other ruleset being used.
      Though Saul could have gone on for hours, Jolene thankfully stops him from going on too long.
   Thanks for listening and please share our podcast on your social networks.
  
   Song by, Jim Gaven, song Match Made In Heaven, off the album Power Play
   Available at Tribe0fnoise.com

Episode 166: Wealth and Money In RPGs, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     Money and Wealth in RPGs is handled a multitude of ways from the beginning of RPGs when you just threw gold pieces at the player's characters in the 70's and 80's.
    Though many games still employ some sort of monetary system some newer games have decided against and accounting style monetary system where you keep a running tally of wealth.  
    Saul and Jolene discuss monetary systems from D&D, Traveller, Shadowrun, Liminal, GURPs, SpyCraft, Space Opera and others.  
    As always, thank you all for listening and especially those that share our podcast.
   Music by Beggarz, song Handful of Money, off the album Cocaine Etiquette

Episode 165: Non-Combat Encounters, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

      Saul and Jolene on a previous episode discussed making combat encounters more fun, so Saul thought they should discuss encounters that do not center on combat.  Non-Combat encounters, even in games like D&D where there is a heavy emphasis on combat.  
      Even in D&D having encounters that do not deal combat or fighting are possible and fun.  Saul and Jolene also talk about how adding non combat encounters might make certain players have a bit more fun especially if they didn't make combat centered characters.  
     Other elements of these types of encounters are they are usually garner more roleplaying, less things to prepare for the GM and the group as a whole can really enjoy a different pace in their RPG sessions.
    As always thank you all for listening.
 
  Music by The Passionists, song Last Encounter, off the album Parallel Similarities.
  Available from Tribeofnoise.com