GamingPerspectives

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene Bonus Episode: The Sean Nittner And BigBadCon

     Today we have Sean Nittner the person that puts on BigBadCon in the Bay Area.  We wanted to get Sean to talk to us because BigBadCon is not a typical game con.   It has a different heart that other cons.  They all have their own character and BigBadCon is known for the great RPGs and LARPs.   In the last few years they have added  Boardgames, and Panels to BigBadCon.  Though most of the people that attend are from the San Francisco Bay Area there are quite a few that come from all over the U.S. to attend BigBadCon.
     We really appreciate Sean taking time from his busy schedule to talk to us about BigBadCon from it roots to its future.  
    Though the Kickstarter is over you can still buy tickets starting in early July.  
    Here is the link the conventions website: https://www.bigbadcon.com/
    BigBadCon takes place from October 10th-13th at the Marriot in Walnut Creek, California.
   Here is the link to the Hotel block:  https://www.marriott.com/event-reservations/reservation-link.mi?id=1555698790823&key=GRP&app=resvlink
   If you want to go to a great RPG con that runs many small press and independent rpg games BigBadCon should be on your list of cons to attend every year.
   As always thanks for listening and all we ask is that you share our podcast with your family and friends.

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene Episode 52: Traveller RPG

     In this Episode Saul and Jolene talk about one of the oldest RPG's Traveller.  Traveller is a science fiction rpg that continues to be published to this day.  First published in 1977 Traveller consisted of a small format box set, similar to the box set of Original D&D.  The box set contained 3 little black books which split the rules into Book 1 Characters and Combat, Book 2 Starships, Book 3 Worlds and Adventures.  Saul talks why he didn't like Traveller, but now feels he may have been overly critical of the game. 
    Yea!! We have made it to 52 regular episodes making this our one year mark of Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene.  Thank you all for listening and all we ask is that you share our podcast with your family and friends. 
    Thanks for all of you that take the time to download and listen to our podcast.
     

Gaming Perspectives With Saul and Jolene Episode 51: Story Over Rules

     Well, we are almost at Episode 52, which makes it a year of our podcasts.  We missed a week due to going to Kublacon over Memorial Day weekend. But we did publish two bonus episodes that we recorded at Kublacon on Friday and Saturday of the con.  We had a great time and were very busy the whole weekend.
      So in this episode Saul and Jolene talk about Rules As Written(RAW) over Story.  No game is all of one or the other in Roleplaying games.  At times a GM will have to make a decision that may or may not follow the rules as written.  Sometimes it is done due to a mistake, trying to keep the narrative going, or many other reasons.  Saul and Jolene give examples of why people like to have run games RAW.  
       Saul and Jolene discuss the idea of the GM telling the players of his game his expectations of the game that they will be running.  This will help alleviate any problems that could arise from players expecting a different game than the one the GM is intending to run.
    As always thank you all for listening and all we ask of you is that you share our podcast with friends and family in order to get our podcast to as many people as possible.  
    No music due to the podcast computer dying and being stubborn about being brought back to life.  
    
 
 
      

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene Bonus Episode: Live at Kublacon Saturday

     This Bonus Episode was recorded on Saturday at Kublacon.  A little tired we got to our spot at 9am and began recording shortly there after.  Here is some notes about this show.
    At 1 minute  Kevin a Lifetime Kublacon badge holder joins us right away.                                 We talk to him from a variety of topics.  Thursday night                                       Kubla, playing online, RPGs in prison, kids affecting your                                   gaming.
     21:00           Our friend's son joins us, 15 year old Alan M.  Gives us his                                   first Kublacon memory and it includes a hot tub.  Games he                               has played and what he likes about Kublacon.
     43:30          Steve DeWinter joins us and tells us what he has been doing                              and what he has been working on.  Steve is a very busy man.                               We talk about his name change, Ashland Oregon, and the 40                              novels he has written.
     51:30           Just Do It and Steve's Wizard of Oz novel.
      55:30         Steve's game Starship Hero  Starship-hero.com
      1:00:00      Screen Writer format.
      1:06:00      Movie maker and Radio Drama creator.
      1:08:00      Narrative Adventure Story App, living next to Levi Stadium.
      1:23:00       Jolene is tired and hungry but we are joined by our friend                                   Bay to help us sign off for the day.  The game Sol Bay talked
                           about by Ryan Spangler is available from                                                                   Elephantlaboratories.com
       As always thanks for listening and please share with your friends and family.
       
     

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene Bonus Episode: Live from KublaCon Friday

     First of all I want to apologize for the lateness of this episode.  Technical difficulties prevented us from post these right after recording.  And even before we left for Kublacon our podcast computer died.  What I thought was a bad or corrupted boot file was worse.  So it taken a bit longer to get these episodes published.  
      We also recorded longer than our normal 30 minutes and the episodes area about an hour and a half long. 
    So I will be including a bit more detailed show notes.
   1-13 minutes Saul and Jolene talk about what games they  have been playing.
   14  Lifetime pass and Hyatt Regency discussion.
   21  Game of Thrones
   22  Ron Smith co creator of Wizardz Bluff talks about the game he is                     demoing at Kubla.  Can check out the game at Wizardzbluff.com 
    24  Back to Game of Thrones rant by Saul
    26:40  Steve and the Conan Boardgame Kickstarter and mandatory 
                  Kickstarter discussion.
     31:00    Flea Markets and Garage Sales finds.
     40:00    Empire of the Petal Thrones discussion
      48:40   Sean Nittner Comes by and talk about Big Bad Con.  How it                                started and what it has become.   Sean also talks about running                          Agon, Blades in the Dark and Ride or Die.  BigBadCon.com
       1:00:10  Theresa of Temple Gate Games sits and talks about her                                           "Exhibitor" badge and what she is doing at KublaCon.  Their                                products can be seen at Templegategames.com
        1:20:00   We sign off for the day.
 
       As always thanks for listening and please share with your friends and family.  
 
 
    

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene Episode Fifty: Emergency Encounters

     What happens when your game goes a direction that you had not thought it would?  This happens to every GM.  Whether your a railroady type of GM or a more improve type sometimes your players really throw you for a loop. You don't know what to do.  Saul and Jolene discuss the idea of having one or two encounters that you can fit into almost any situation.  Something that you can slide in to help get the players back on track or just to tide you over until the next session where you can figure out what to do next in your campaign.  Though we talk about D&D this could fit into almost any RPG you play from Traveller, Numenera, Deadlands or whatever your playing this could help keep you sane.  
     We are coming up on Episode 52 which is our one year anniversary of starting our podcast.  We are thinking of doing something special.  So stay tuned.
   As always thanks for listening and all we ask is that you share with your family and friends.
 

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene Episode Forty-Nine: Off Game Table Discussions

    Saul and Jolene talk about Off Game Table Discussions.  What happens when you don't have enough time at the game table to Roleplay as much as you wanted during a game session?  The reasons why you don't have enough time is varied but sometimes as adults we only have a few precious hours to play.  And at times to be able to move the story forward you can't RP as much as you like.  Or there are elements about your character that you don't want to hog up all the time talking about your character motivations, insecurities or passions.  The answer is to take those kind of discussions off the "Game Table" and discuss it in chat, email or over a voice chat application or program such as Discord.
     Saul and Jolene talk about how they have used this to enrich their roleplaying games without taking valuable face to face or even online gaming sessions.  This can be used by both GMs and players to give or get more detail about the world, characters or events in the game.   
   As always thanks for listening and please share with your friends and family.
 
    Music by Damiano Baldoni, song Celtic Warrior off the album Lost Destiny.
  Available from FreeMusicArchive.com
 
 

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene Bonus Episode Mike Eckert 14 Day til Kublacon

     Mike Eckert, the Executive Producer, of Kublacon is back with our third interview 14 Days before Kublacon.  Saul and Jolene get a bit of his time to talk about Kublacon which is only 14 days away.  Mike is super busy getting ready to put on one of the biggest gaming conventions on the West Coast and it right here in the San Francisco Bay Area.  We have been attending Kublacon from the very beginning and it was Augustin's ,Saul and Jolene's son, first game convention at the tender age of 6 months.  Augustin does not know a Memorial Day Weekend without Kubla, as we lovingly call it.  
     So we wrangled some free minutes of Mike's time away from Kubla work and he chatted with us about his escapades in the last year attending numerous gaming conventions across the U.S.  and using that knowledge to make changes to certain elements of how Kublacon does certain things.  As always with a larger gaming con in a high populated area, rooms, parking and overall Kubla experience at the fore front of Mike's mind.  Using what he learned from numerous other cons and feedback of 18 years of previous Kublacons convinced Mike and his Kublacon Staff to make some small changes.  As with all our interview episodes this is minimally edited and a bit longer than our usual episodes but we do enjoy doing them. 
      As always thank you all for listening and all we ask is that you please share our podcast with your family and friends.
    For more info on Kublacon go to   https://www.kublacon.com/
    You can still buy a badge and pre-register for games before you get to the con.  Pre-game registration closes on May 15th!
 
   
     

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene The Becky T. Interview

      Kublacon is only a couple weeks away and we have another interview with a Kublacon staff member.  This time Becky Thomas the Coordinator of Kublacon Youth Program joins us on the microphone.   Me and Jolene have known Becky since Augustin was a baby going into Kublacon's then Kids Room, where Becky was in charge.  She ran a very busy and growing population of kid gamers at Kublacon.  Now the Kid's Room is split into two separate rooms one for younger children and teens.  It has been amazing to see the program that Becky runs grow from a good sized room of 40-50 kids to hundreds.   Saul and Jolene find out what an awesome gamer, teacher, storyteller and true pillar of the gamer community Becky has been for over 30 years.  
    As always thank you all for listening and all we ask is that you share our podcast with friends and family.
     Becky Thomas runs the Roleplay Workshop for more info go to  https://roleplayworkshop.com/
    On Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RoleplayWorkshop/
     On Instagram https://www.instagram.com/roleplayworkshop/
   Becky is also running her Abantey Game at Kublacon in the Teen room on Friday from 6pm to Midnight. Sign up at the Teen Room.
 
 
 

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene Episode 48: All Things Dice

     Ever gamer has a special relationship with dice.  And table top gamers are no different or possibly more fervent with their dice.  Usually they can never have enough or couple always use another set.  Saul and Jolene talk about their dice.  Are all superstitious?  Probably.  They go on to discuss dice trays and dice towers, and it seems that most gamers have strong opinions as to whether they like these dice accessories.  Saul and Jolene give some reasons why dice trays and towers might be good to have at your table. 
    As Always thanks for listening and all we ask is that you share our podcast with family and friends.