GamingPerspectives

Episode 251: Funny RPGs, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

Play and GM RPGs long enough and you will experience a gut busting funny RPG session.  This happens whether your are playing D&D, GURPs or any other RPG.  Play long enough and there is that session where everything comes together it is just play funny.         What about RPGs that try to bring that amusement, merriment or funny situations to the forefront of the game.   Saul and Jolene have played a wide assortment of games that are intended to be funny and some by their very nature bring out the laughter.  Saul and Jolene discuss their favorite RPGs when they want a session of laughter and fun.   Web Art by Jim Foster    Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
   Music by Static in Verona, song Funny Things, from the album Secret Like Shadows.    Available from Tribeofnoise.com    Used under the Creative Commons License 4.0       https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode
 

Episode 250: Strange Character Requests, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

After GMing for any significant period of time one has to deal with some unusual character requests.  Sometimes players want to try something new or just different.  Every once in a while a player will approach the GM with a very unusual or strange character idea.       This got Saul and Jolene wondering what the most unusual character requests have been put forth by players.  Jolene found on Reddit about a player that wanted to play a 5 year of Tiefling.  Saul remembered a story about a player that wanted to play a very old bar owner.     What should you consider when a player asks to play a very unusual character.  One that as a GM believe might break your game or world or not fit in to the group's idea of a good character.   
 Thank you all for listening  
   Web Art by Jim Foster    Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by Al Stone, song Strange, off the album I Want It All  Available from Tribeofnoise.com  Used under Creative Commons Licene 3.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode

Episode 249: Most Popular Character Type, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     Jolene asked Saul, "What do you think the most played character class is?"  Saul immediately said, "Fighter."  Jolene asked how he came up with that guess.  A discussion followed about the most popular character type and why people like to play Fighters.     Saul and Jolene decided to record an episode about this topic.  Why are "Fighters" so popular?  Saul and Jolene say their favorite class in most games no matter the genre is a sorcerer or wizard.  Yet fighters are the most played character type according to 2020 D&D Beyond data that was published.      For many reasons the Fighter in any genre seems to hold a lot of appeal.  The D&D, to Feng Shui, to Shadowrun the down and dirty fighter types are the character type of choice for many RPGers.  Saul and Jolene discuss why this might be in this week's episode.   Thank you all for listening.
   Web Art by Jim Foster   Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
   Music by Temple Velocity, song I Will Fight For You, off the album Murder of Crows   Available from Tribeofnoise.com   Used under the Creative License 3.0   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode   
    cited article https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2020/07/dd-and-the-most-popular-class-is.html

Episode 248: Does Getting Older Change Your View on RPGs, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     Jolene was asking Saul if he thought his views on RPGs had changed over the years.  At first Saul didn't think his views had changed but Jolene was being very wiley and knew they had.  It did not take long for Saul to change his mind about how some of his views had changed.       Jolene asked about the games Saul did not like in the past, Traveller, CoC and Vampire, and immediately Saul knew the trap had been set.  So the discussion ranged from a variety of subjects about how getting older changes one's view about many RPGs and the hobby overall.   As Alwasy Thanks for Listening.
   Web Art by Jim Foster   Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
 
 
   Music by Charles David Sharp, song The Sage, off the album The Sage.    Used using the Creative Commons License 3.0   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

Episode 247: Does Being A Paid GM Change Your Game, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

In this episode Saul and Jolene talk about a question saw on Facebook that asked, "Does being a paid GM change your game?  There were plenty of comments and Saul picked out a few to discuss how it correlated with being a paid GM.One comment was asking if the GM would be considered to be a player in an RPG game.  For Saul it seemed like a silly question but if you really dig into the issue it is not so easily answered.  Another commenter didn't like the use of the term play because they thought it didn't fully describe what a GM does.        Finally Saul and Jolene discuss how being paid might affect the GM in their approach to GMing.  Whether it included more prep, more props, maps, voices, and added stress to perform.    For Saul he used the idea of being a Con GM Vs Running Home games to show how he tackles a Con game in comparison to a home game.  Extrapolating that to being paid Saul believed it would surely impact his approach and responsibility over putting on a good RPG game.
  Thank You all for listening.  Web Art by Jim Foster  Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
  Music by Brentin Davis, song Getting Paid Over Here    Available from Tribeofnoise.com  Used using the Creative Commons License 4.0   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

Episode 246: Character Advancement, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     Saul and Jolene were talking about "leveling up" in RPGs.  They were talking about the difference between D&D and Shadowrun.  Saul thought about all the different ways RPGs handled character advancement.  As Saul and Jolne talked about it they decided to write down some notes about their discussion and make a Gaming Perspectives Episode.       Though Saul digresses as usual to the subject of GMs not liking players rolling dice without being asked by the GM, in his defense this digression was instigated by Jolene.  They quickly went back to discuss how characters advance in RPGs.     Thank You all for listening as we head toward our 250th Official Episode.   We would like to thank you all for joining us as we talk about playing games.   Web art by Jim Foster   Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
  Music by Solxis, song Welcome Advance  Available from Tribeofnoise.com  Used using Creative Commons License 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Episode 245: Surviving a Game Con, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

    Jolene and Saul have been to many local gaming conventions over the years.  They usually attend 3 game cons a year.  All local SF Bay Area conventions.   They have always thought about going to a larger game convention such as Origins, Gen Con and now Game Hole Con, but have yet to make the trek to one of those larger game cons.       But all conventions have similar hurdles to enjoy them as much as possible.   In this episode Saul and Jolene share tip that not only help you survive but thrive and have as much fun as possible at any game convention you might attend.   As Always Thanks for listening.    Web Art by Jim Foster    Episode art by Michael Shean-Jones
   Music by Diane Tell,  song Where No One Can Survive.    Available from Tribeofnoise.com    Used under the Creative Commons Licence 3.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

Episode 244: Bladerunner RPG Review, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

 
        Now that Saul and run Bladerunner the RPG three times and has gone over the Bladerunner RPG by Free League, Saul and Jolene decided to do a quick review of the game.   Saul pre-ordered the Core book and the Starter Kit.         Though Saul really liked the components of the Starter Set the scenario was quite to Saul's liking.  Saul would call himself a fan of the Original Bladerunner movie, Jolene on the other hand has a slightly different opinion.   But no matter what her opinion of the movie was she really enjoyed playing in the world of Bladerunner.     So listen as Saul and Jolene discuss the Bladerunner movie, the RPG and the book it is based on called, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.    Thank you all for listening.    Web Art by Jim Foster    Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
  Music by Ainst,  song  Dead Runner, off the album Eggs are the Eggs.  Available from Tribeofnoise.com  Used using the Creative Commons License 3.0   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

Bonus Episode: Sean Nittner Interview BigBadCon 2023, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     In this episode we interview Sean Nittner of BigBadCon.  Saul and Jolene have a great talk with Sean Steward of BigBadCon a convention in the Bay Area that is one of the most inclusive and loved gaming cons on the West Coast.  We discuss with Sean his vision of Big Bad Con,  the Pandemic effect and the post pandemic recovery.  What Big Bad Con Does for the gaming community.   Big Bad Con is a charity con so you can have a great time playing games and feel good about donating to an official non-profit charity.
   You can go to https://www.bigbadcon.com/
  to get all the info you need about Big Bad Con.
 
  Thank you all for listening.
   Web Art by Jim Foster
    Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
   

Episode 243:Favorite RPG Game System, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     For this episode Saul was trying to come up with his current favorite RPG game system.  As Saul was discussing his favorite system Jolene asked about another system, then another and then another.  You all get the picture.     After some discussion Saul and Jolene decided to make an episode of Saul's favorite RPG Game System.     Thank you all for listening.
    Web Art by Jim Foster    Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by Phaze 2 Jazz, song My Favorite Guy, off the album Options   Available from Tribeofnoise.com   Used using the Creative Commons License 4.0
       http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/