GamingPerspectives
Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene is a husband and wife team that love Hobby Gaming. We play RPGs and Boardgaming and wish to share our love of this hobby with everyone we know.
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Episodes
Friday Aug 16, 2019
Friday Aug 16, 2019
Gabriel Vega the Director of Convention Development and Organizer of Pacificon had some "Breaking News" and wanted to do and interview give Saul and Jolene first dibs on this News. Gabriel has been organizing Pacificon for the last 15 years here in the SF Bay Area. Gabriel has also started some smaller specific gaming and interest convention in the Central Valley. Saul and Jolene have been going to Pacificon since Gabriel bought the convention from previous owners. Pacificon takes place over the Labor Day weekend at the Santa Clara Mariott which will be the new location for DunDraCon in 2021.
Saul asks about Gabriel's gaming roots and it goes back, way back to 1977 and how a particular set of events led to Gabriel's close connection to gaming and Gaming Conventions.
Gabriel pulled good joke on Saul and literally left him speechless when he joked about what the big news was. The Breaking News is pretty cool adding another gaming convention to the SF Bay Area coming next year.
Thanks for listening and please share our podcast with family and friends.
Friday Aug 09, 2019
Friday Aug 09, 2019
Things that you can easily do to immerse your players at your RPG table. Saul and Jolene discuss simple and cheap things you can do to get buy in from your players. From special character sheets, handouts, notes to maps, all these things and more can get your players really into the setting of the game. Saul discusses the different things he has done to get the players ready to play Dresden Files, Tekumel, Star Trek Adventures and other RPGs .
So get creative and get ready to lead your players into an more immersive game at your game table.
As always thanks for listening and all we ask is that you share our podcast with family and friends.
Music by North Hive, song Immersion off the album Immersion
Available from FreeMusicArchive.com
Saturday Aug 03, 2019
Saturday Aug 03, 2019
Romance in RPGs, Saul and Jolene talk about why this has not happened much in their games at home. Romance can add an interesting element to any RPG games. Jolene finds an RPG specifically about romance. Actually a trio of rpgs by Emily Care Boss. This was not the romance in RPGs that Saul was thinking about, Saul was thinking of more of a courtly romance or adding a love interest to a PC character. Also discussed is romance between players and some pitfalls this might lead to. Jolene's research yielded some funny and cautionary tales of romance done wrong in games. All in all if players are mature enough and willing romance in an RPG can add a lot of roleplaying opportunities.
As always, thank you all for listening and please share our podcast with family and friends to help get our podcast to as many listeners as possible.
You can look at and buy Emily Care Boss' romantic rpgs here: http://www.blackgreengames.com/shop/romancetrilogy
Music by Pianochocolate, song Romance, off the album Blueberry.
Available from FreeMusicArchive.com
http://www.blackgreengames.com/shop/romancetrilogy
Saturday Jul 27, 2019
Saturday Jul 27, 2019
Saul and Jolene talk about the OSR. What is it, why are there so many different versions. Why do people want to play this old style game. Saul remembers his Original D&D and AD&D days. Jolene did a bit of research in this nostalgic type of fantasy rpg style and found quite a bit of games and information.
You can Find OSRIC here : http://www.knights-n-knaves.com/osric/index.html
Castle and Crusaders: https://www.trolllord.com/indexnew.html
Dungeon Crawl Classics: https://goodman-games.com/dungeon-crawl-classics-rpg/
Swords and Wizardry: https://froggodgames.com/frogs/product/swords-wizardry-complete-rulebook/
White Box: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/190631/White-Box--Fantastic-Medieval-Adventure-Game
There are many other OSR games and products.
As Always thank you all who listen to our podcast and all we ask is that you share it with your family and friends.
Music by Dee Yan-Key, song Nostalgia off the album Summer Nights
Available from FreeMusicArchive.com
Friday Jul 26, 2019
Friday Jul 26, 2019
In this Bonus Episode we talk to Theresa D. a game board player(Scrabble) and game Ap developer. Saul and Jolene met Theresa at KublaCon game Convention in May and decided to talk more about her entry into board gaming and how it ties to her work at Temple Gate Games. Of course Saul digresses and stray off topics but Jolene as always is there to wrangle him back.
We recorded this interview before July 4th but Saul and Jolene went on Holiday right after so this is published a bit later than intended.
Check out her companies page here: https://www.templegatesgames.com/
We would like to thank Theresa for taking time from her busy schedule and talking to us. After this interview she was at San Diego Comic Con where she was on panel discussion. Go Theresa Go!!
Thank you all for listening and all we ask is that you share our podcast with family and friends.
Saturday Jul 20, 2019
Saturday Jul 20, 2019
In this episode Saul and Jolene talk an old rpg Gamma World by TSR. It was the first RPG owned by Saul and it was Jolene's first RPG game she played way back in the early 80's. Saul and Jolene discuss all the iterations Gamma World that were published. From the first edition published in 1978 to 8th edition published in 2010. Saul has copies of 4 different editions. Saul and Jolene talk about why they liked the game. Saul discusses running the latest edition at local con in kids and teen rooms.
Thanks to all that listen to our podcast and all we ask is that you share our podcast with family and friends.
We have to confess an error we refer to the bipedal mutated rabbits as Hoppers but they were actually called Hoops. Hoppers were the large horse sized mutated rabbits that some used as mounts. Hoops were smart and Hoppers were considered dumb by Hoops in the game. Sorry for confusing the two mutated rabbits.
The Day After aired on November 20th 1983. Interestingly enough the NATO ran a command post exercise called Able Archer, later records reveal that this was the closest the world was to nuclear world war since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Check it out, pretty scary stuff.
Music by Blue Ducks, song Floss Suffers from Gamma Radiation off the album Six
Available from FreeMusicArchive.com
Sunday Jul 14, 2019
Sunday Jul 14, 2019
Saul and Jolene talk about Ghosting in RPGs. So what is ghosting and where does this term come from. Saul listens to many podcasts and it was a term used on another gaming podcast called "Gaming and BS". In it a host talks about ghosting. Saul had never heard of the term and asked Jolene what it was about. Saul and Jolene discussed and laughed about this subject and decided to record and episode about this strange way of dealing with a problem player or group in RPGs.
Why to gamers Ghost games or players. It an long held stereotype that gamers are not good in social situations but this term comes from dating. So its just not a gamer problem, that problem is communication. Saul describes a couple RPG "ghosting" scenarios. Saul and Jolene discuss the humorous stories and offer some ideas on how better to deal with those situations.
As always thanks for listening and please share our podcast with your family and friends.
Music by Hollie Cook, song Ghostly Fading off the album Live at WFMU for Sophisticated Boom Boom with Shiela B. 3-23-18
Available at FreeMusicArchive.com
Saturday Jul 06, 2019
Saturday Jul 06, 2019
In this episode Saul and Jolene talk about the Barbarian class in Dungeons and Dragons. From the first time Saul saw the optional class in 1985 in issue 63 of The Dragon magazine. The Barbarian has become known as the quintessential "tank" in D&D. Though Saul doesn't like the use of the term tank for the Barbarian class it really does fit. With the high hit points, damage resistance, high physical damage potential the Barbarian is a great class to play in combat situations.
Saul and Jolene also discuss the RP potential of Barbarian characters away from the combat encounter. Whether you play your Barbarian as a brute, sly, wily, she is always a fish out of water in social situations, where she is not at home. A great rewarding character to play on and off the battlefield.
As always thank for listening and please share our podcast with family and friends.
Music by Triclops, song Send Conan Home, off the album Live at WFMU
on Diane's Show 11-6-2008
Saturday Jun 29, 2019
Saturday Jun 29, 2019
Saul and Jolene discuss the buying of new RPGs. Why do people continue to buy new RPGs? If players and GMs like a particular RPG why would you buy new ones. What makes gamers continue to guy games even as their collection grows to the point they won't be able to play all of them? It is an interesting question which Saul and Jolene dive into. As Jolene marvels at the number of different RPGs on her shelves she knows that Saul will continue to look at and buy new RPGs. Saul says because he likes certain mechanics that some newer games offer. Or maybe they look at RPGs in a different way. Finally Saul reveals the real reason most gamers continue buying RPGs even as their collection grow to unplayable sizes. Either way gamers continue to chase that perfect RPG and for writers and publishers they are okay with that.
Music by Frau Holle, song Chasing Rainbows off the album Ascending Souls.
Available from FreeMusicArchive.com
Sunday Jun 23, 2019
Sunday Jun 23, 2019
Today Saul and Jolene talk about Cathartic Gaming. In previous episodes this subject has been mentioned from time to time , but we thought it deserved its own episode. Saul gives the definition of the word cathartic and catharsis and then Saul and Jolene relate it to RPGs. The idea that all games are cathartic in one form or another the main difference is in scale. From simple diversion as one can have in reading a book or watching a movie or tv show, to a full cathartic moment where you release stress through feeling strong emotions.
Though we mostly play for diversion at times there have been moments when our games have gotten emotional or have had a strong emotional reaction to a situation. Saul and Jolene believe that GMs especially ones that run games with high emotional content be prepared to deal with the ramifications of running those games and be aware that those games may "trigger" players.
As always thank you all for listening and please share with family and friends on your social networks.
Music by, U Can Unlearn Guitar, song U Needed Me (Cathartic Karaoke)
From the album: 2 Digitizdat: The Circumvention of Populace Censure