GamingPerspectives

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene Episode Forty Six: Metagaming in RPGs

     This week Saul and Jolene talk about the four letter word in some RPG circles, Metagaming.  In this episode both Saul and Jolene give their definition of what metagaming is.   Is metagaming terrible?  It is just bad?  Or is it a legitimate way of playing rpgs?  Saul and Jolene tackle this topic though it is a very subjective one.  Give it a listen and see what is too much metagaming for Saul and what he tries to do to mitigate what he thinks is too much metagaming at his game table.
     As always thanks for listening.  Always glad to see new states and countries that download our podcast.  Canada!! England and Norway are some top downloads outside the U.S. and the latest one is Israel and a country by the initials of CW.  We had to look up what country this was and it is known as Curaçao. Its a tiny island north of South America.  Thanks to all of you  for listening we really appreciate it.  All we ask is that you share our podcast with your family and friends to get our podcast to as many ears as possible. 
    Sorry no intro music this week as we could not get to download anything from the usual site we usually use for getting our intro music.   If any listener wants to send us some of their music.  We will gladly use and and credit you.  Just email us at gamingperspective.com@gmail.com  Thanks again for listening.

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene Bonus Episode: The Alicia Hansen Interview

     In this Episode we continue the Pre-Kublacon interviews, this one is with Alicia H.   She is a long time gamer, gaming from back when she was a kid and starting RPGs when she was in Jr. High School.  Saul saw her for many years but only thought that she played boardgames since that is all that he saw her play.  But it turns out she is a RPG gamer from a young age.  So in this episode Saul finds out that Alicia isn't a Latina, plays rpgs and is running her first rpg game at a game con at Kublacon.  She is using her years of experience at working at a very popular haunted house that ran for many years here in the Bay Area.  So her first game will be a Haunted House inspired CoC game.  So listen and learn a bit about Alicia, like how to pronounce her name and many more interesting things about this Bay Area gamer and now GM at Kublacon.
     The recording got all messed up with the timing.  We did the best we could to sync up the two different tracks and for the most part we got it to work. except for a bit toward the end where we just could not figure out the two audio tracks.  It is still a great episode and we are very grateful for Alicia H. for joining us on the microphone.  
      As always we thank you all for listening and all we ask is that you share our podcast with your friends and family.
   

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene Bonus Episode Wendy-Ann and John Interview

     Another episode in our Pre-Kublacon interview series we talk to Wendy-Ann and John who are in charge of Pathfinder Society for the Bay Area.  Wendy-Ann and John do an amazing job being representatives for Paizo organized play.  They are the Venture Captains for the South Bay.  Wendy-Ann and John are the people in charge of Organized play at Kublacon.  They do an amazing job by running over a hundred tables of Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society organized play at Kublacon.   In our interview they talk about their beginning in roleplaying way back in 1975!! How they came to the U.S. and lived on the East Coast moved West to make their home here in the Bay Area and go to their first convention in 2011?? Yes.. 2011!
     How they went from playing Pathfinder Society to running three of ten the biggest Pathfinder Society events at conventions.  It is a great story.  I learned quite a bit about these two delightful people who do a tremendous amount of work and are true goodwill ambassadors of our great hobby.  I would like to thank them for talking to us and giving us insight to their lives and the running of Pathfinder Society events. 
     So if your at Kublacon and the shuffler has not been kind to you.  Check out the Pathfinder Society area where Wendy-Ann and John will do their best to get you playing Pathfinder and having fun!!  I truly thank John and Wendy-Ann for doing the interview. 
     We will be doing two episodes Live From Kublacon Recording on Saturday and Sunday. We will have extra microphones so stop by and say hi and tell us how your Kublacon is going.
     As always thanks for listening and all we ask is for you to share our podcast with your family and friends. 

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene Episode Forty Five: Knowing the Rules

     In this Episode Saul and Jolene talk about knowing the rules for a rpg game.  How important is it, how necessary is it for a GM to know the all the rules?  What about the players?  Saul and Jolene talk about their trials and tribulations of knowing the rules to rpgs they have run in the past.  They talk about running new Role Playing Games at your home game and at game conventions.  They discuss what can happen when a GM is not as knowledgeable of the rules as their players.  This could make the game pretty difficult for the GM.
   Thanks for listening and all we ask is that you pass along our podcast to your friends and family.
 
  Music by Bob Ostertag, song Right Like a Railroad, off the album Fear No Love.
    Available from FreeMusicArchive.com
 

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene Bonus Episode The Mark Schynert Interview

      When you interview someone that has been around hobby gaming longer than you been alive you never know what you going to get.  We did know we were going to get a wealth of information about local gaming conventions.  We discover why Mark is one if not the only person that GM's Arduin at Dundracon, because of his special connection to that classic rpg.  Also as the event planner for DDC,  Mark also gives us an inside peek of cons that we as attendees don't usually see.  Add a very frank conversation about all the local game cons that Mark goes to and you get an informative and at times surprising revelations.  Like what Bay Area game con has the best rpg games?  Listen to find out. 
    Join us for a great talk with Mark Schynert the "event planner" at DDC and active attendee at Kublacon and other Bay Area Cons.
    Thanks for listening and all we ask is that you share our podcast in your social networks.
 
 

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene The Mike Garcia Interview

         Another bonus interview episode this time is with Kublacon GM Mike G.  He has been running games at local cons for many years and he is one GM that is not afraid to play new or different games.  We learn about his early intro into rpgs and why he likes to play rpgs that are a bit off the beaten path.  Mike also shares with us how his gaming con experience has changed for the better because of a different way of looking at attending gaming conventions.  This interview gives great insight into a really determined GM that wants to give players a great con experience.  Find out what game he is running and if it intrigues you, sign up and play in one of Mike Garcia's games you won't regret it.  See you at Kublacon!!!
     Here is a link to Golden Sky Stories.  Check it out at: http://starlinepublishing.com/our-games/golden-sky-stories/
 
     As Always thanks for listening and all we ask is that you share our podcast with friends and family on your social networks.
 
    
 

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene Episode 44: Shadowrun

     In this episode Saul and Jolene talk about Shadowrun 5th Edition.  Saul started running Shadowrun back in the early 1990's.  He ran a campaign that lasted a couple summers.  He loved the setting which was a mix of William Gibson's Neuromancer and the magical world of Tolkien.  Jolene discovered Shadowrun last year at a Gaming Flea market where she encountered a few Shadowrun books and asked me if I had ever heard of it.  She had bought me four or five supplements.  She was enticed by the art and the story elements of the setting.  I dugout my old 1st Edition books and set to re-reading the books. 
     I had acquired the newest edition on PDF in a charity bundle a few years before.  But I like physical books and bought one online.   This 5th edition book is massive.  I was shocked how the latest writers went against the latest trend in rpgs of making them simpler and streamlined.  Shadowrun 5th edition did not go in that direction and doubled down on the crunch in my opinion.  Even so I decided to offer the game to our group they jumped at playing and on New Years Eve of 2018 I ran my first session in over 25 years.
    It was a HUGE hit with everyone.  Even if the rules crunch was intimidating the setting and genre was much too good to resist and they wanted to play again.  We just finished another session and it looks like it will now be the game our group will play in our Saturday game.    So after you make a snack run at the local Stuffer Shack Chummer sit down with your favorite soycaff,  turn on your Augmented Reality to high(whether you use AR glasses or just connect to your cybernetic eyes) and lets talk about Shadowrun.
    As always thank all of you for listening and all we ask is that you share with your friends, family and on your social networks to get our podcast to as many listeners as possible.  Thanks again.
      We use the Shadowrun character generator Chummer 5.  It is a free resource that you can find and download for free just search for Chummer 5
     Here is a very good start to a series of videos on how to play Shadowrun 5th Edition by the charming Lauren Bond.
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvEEmCPQgy8&list=PLArPinp0lXCuTbptzAktglQi-DIVXeIiV
    Here is another series by Aaron Der Schaedel.  Not a polished as the above videos but still very informative. 
         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek_zr666sV8&list=PLArPinp0lXCuTbptzAktglQi-DIVXeIiV&index=11
 
    Music by Jan Morgenstern,  song Chasing Shadows off the album The Secret Number.
    Available at FreeMusicArchive.com

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene Episode Forty Three: A Bad GM?

     In this Episode Saul and Jolene talk about a "Bad GM".  They discuss things you should do as a player when you have this problem in a RPG.  First is identify the problem.  Then get consensus with your fellow players.  Then once the problem in confirmed then its time to be an adult, and have that kind of conversation.  This is much more complicated issue so Saul and Jolene discuss the many different aspects of this problem.  Of course Saul has to digress a couple of times to share a stories that may or may not have relevance, but as usual Jolene has the talent to bring him back on topic.  
    If you enjoy our podcast please share on your social media   This will get our podcast to as many listeners as possible.  Thanks for listening and sharing it is greatly appreciated.
     Music by Terry Malts Band, song It's Not Me.  
    Available at FreeMusicArchive.com
 
 

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene Bonus Episode The Matt Steele Interview

      Matt joins us on our 2nd Pre-Kublacon interview.  It is strange to think that over the last 35 years Saul and Matt had crossed paths many times but only really got to know each other by going to local game cons in Bay Area.   Matt shares with Saul and Jolene quite a bit of his history and how a kid from North Dakota came to the Golden State and settled in the Bay Area.  Matt is a popular GM at game conventions.   Matt tells us why Kublacon is very special to him.
    We apologize for the wonky audio but it happens sometimes when dealing with the finicky internet.  Still I think it is a very worthwhile to listen to this interview even with the less than perfect sound. 
    Thanks for listening and please share our podcast on your social networks.  
 
   Here is the link to the Kickstarter Matt mentioned.  Add Science Fantasy to your 5th Edition game: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/montecookgames/arcana-of-the-ancients-a-5e-science-fantasy-source
 
    Here is the link to Kublacon: https://www.kublacon.com/
 
 

Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene Bonus Episode The Honda Interview

     Kublacon the convention that takes place here in the Bay Area in Northern California over the Memorial Day Weekend is the biggest game con on the West Coast.  Saul and Jolene decided to ask GM, Con-attendees why they like gaming cons and Kublacon specifically.  The first one to be interviewed was Honda C., she started playing while in Jr High School but stopped in High School as her gaming friends found other "cooler" things to do.   We learn why she likes game cons and why Kublacon is such a good convention for her.  Every point she made we totally agree with.  Listen to this gamer that found gaming just a few years ago and is making up for lost time.  From what she told us, she is making up for lost gaming time.  Thanks for doing the interview Honda!
   Here is the link to Kublacon;  https://www.kublacon.com/
 
   As always thanks for listening and sharing on your social networks.