GamingPerspectives

Episode 271: D&D Turns 50, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     Dungeons and Dragons turns 50 this year.  Saul and Jolene discuss what they feel has been some of the most important changes to D&D from it's publication and how it has impacted their lives.     Thanks for Listening.
     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
      *editorial note:  Saul states that the first hardback AD&D book bought was the Monster Manual but it was the     Dungeon Master's Guide.  The one with the red effrit on the cover.      
    Music by Kathrin Klimek, song The March of the Dragon Hunters    off the album, Cinema-Masterful Flim Music- Vol 1     Available from Tribeofnoise.com   Used Under the Creative Commons License 4.0    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Episode 270: Dragonbane Review, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     Saul was given a Dragonbane Box Set in July and though he looked at it he did not delve too deeply into the rules. Fast forward to the middle of January 2024 and Saul's brother decided to run a Dragonbane game for their regular Friday Knights Night.  Jolene also plays with the Friday Knights group and after a couple of game session of Dragonbane Saul and Jolene decided to do a review of the game.       Saul had sworn off Kickstarting any Fantasy Roleplaying Game due to two factors.  One was that Saul himself realized he had too many FRPG's in his collection.  And Two, stern warning from Jolene to curb his crowdfunding habit.  That is the reason Saul did not crowd fund Dragonbane and even after he got it, he didn't look rules.   But since playing it Saul and Jolene really liked how Dragonbane was written and even more important how it played.    So Saul and Jolene decided to do an episode about it.    Thank you all for listening.     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by Chris Sebby, song The Dragon    Available from Tribeofnoise.com   Used Under the Creative Commons License 4.0      https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Episode 269: Familiars and Animal Companions in RPGs, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

Familiars and Animal Companions in RPGs.   This was a topic that Saul came up with and starting to talk to Jolene about her thoughts on the use of both in RPGs.   The first RPG discussed was of course D&D from AD&D to 5th Edition but others were discussed and how different genres could have different iterations of a Familiar or Animal Companion.      Saul and Jolene also discussed what a GM should consider when dealing with animals under the control of the PC.  Or would the GM treat the familiar as an NPC instead of another PC character.    As usual Saul digressed but Jolene really kept a tight rein on Saul and the discussion was almost all about Familiars and Animal Companions in RPGs.     Thank you all for listening.  
     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones         Music by 50 Foot Wave, song Animal from the album Free Music    Available from Freemusicarchive   Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0
  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ 
 

Episode 268: Age in RPGs, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     Aging in RPGs.  Some games have rules about them, some games ingnore age of the characters and other games, age is an intrical part of the game.    Saul and Jolene talk about age in RPGs from the very young and the very old.   How and what effects are there due to age seem reasonable and how do different RPGs handle  age in their games.   Thanks for listening, we really appreciate it.         Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by The Jody Band, song Getting Up in Years    Available from Tribeofnoise.com   Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Episode 267: New GM Advice, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     Reading from the Reddit post about RPGs, Saul came across a post by a first time GM who was looking for advice on his ideas that he has for a brand new campaign.  The new GM wanted to embed a powerful NPC with the party that would grow in power as the party grew in power.  There was quite a few responses and Saul talked about the post with Jolene.  There was quite a bit of discussion and funny stories about new GM mistakes and the current episode is the result.     Thank You All for Listening.     
    One of the books Saul could not remember was Eragon by Christopher James Paolini    The other book was the Book of Jhereg by Steven Brust     
     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Song by Varjen, Song The Big Advice, from the album Hardland EP    Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Episode 266: Side Quests, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss the use of Side Quests in a tabletop RPG.   Should you add Side Quests to your rpg campaign?  What are Side Quests?  What different types of Side Quests are there?  Are there any problems with using Side Quests?    Happy New Year to all of you.  Thanks for listening.  
    Web Art by Jim Foster    Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones       Music by John Vandergriff,  song Side Quest.    Available from FreeMusicArchive.com    Used under the Creative Commons License 4.0    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode 265: Getting Your Game to the Table, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

      Most GM that have been in the hobby for a while will have one, two or a few RPG games that have never hit the table.  Saul is no exception to this problem.   Though Saul might have quite a few more RPGs on his bookshelves than most but then again he has been playing RPGs since 1978.  Still whether it's a couple games of half you collection of RPGs that you have not played it does become a bit depressing seeing all that gaming goodness go unplayed.        Saul read a post on Reddit of a GM ranting more than asking for help about this very situation.  Gamers being the helpful short responded with some witty posts and others posted some very good advice.   Saul asked Jolene about the subject and she went to the internet to see information on ways GMs got their unplayed RPGs to the table.
      Thank You All for Listening.   Happy New Year to Everyone!     
     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by A to the G, song By New Year's Day.   Available from Tribeofnoise.com   Used under the Creative Commons License  3.0   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Episode 264: New RPGs for 2024, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

         This Episode Saul and Jolene discuss some RPGs that are making their was to being published in 2024.  Saul threw in a couple that have just been published in the last months of 2023.   These are games that have piqued the interest of Saul and Jolene.     Podcast Error: the first RPG discussed by Saul he stated was called the Lost Isle but it is called the Hidden Isle.  The link to their Kickstarter page is here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/causacreations/the-hidden-isle    Our Apologies for this mistake.
 Thank you all for listening      If you have any question or game topics which you would like Saul and Jolene to discuss  you can reach Saul or Jolene at gamingperspectives.com@gmail.com      Web Art by Jim Foster       Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones.
    The author of Shadow of the Demon Lord and Shadow of the Weird Wizard  is Robert Schwalb. Here is his website: https://schwalbentertainment.com/shadow-of-the-demon-lord/ 
    I didn't mention the author of Pendragon that is Greg Stafford. Here is Chaosium website: https://www.chaosium.com/pendragon-rpg/  
     Here is the link to the Marvel Multiverse RPG:  https://www.marvel.com/rpg    
    The Walking Dead RPG information can be found at the Free League website here: https://freeleaguepublishing.com/games/the-walking-dead-universe-roleplaying-game/        Music by Lady Jazzer, song Carol of the Bells   Available from Tribeofnoise.com   Used under the Creative Commons License 3.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ 
 

Episode 263: Beginner Miniature Games, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     A bit different in this episode Saul and Jolene talk about Miniature Wargames.   Miniature Games come in all genres, from large armies to single miniatures on a table.   Some have large books for rules others don't.  Jolene was asking about miniature games that were not Warhammer 40K and easy to play.   Saul has played more miniature games than Jolene but she has been going to conventions and has watched many miniature games and asked the players many questions about their games.  Most have been very accomodating to tell her what the games were about.       Saul and Jolene looked at miniature games which would be good for beginners or ease of entry into the miniature game hobby.    Some games were tied to Intellectual properties like Star Wars and The Walking Dead, others had their own settings and worlds.   The genres go from survival, sports, war, fantasy, science fiction and more.  The common thread among the games discussed were that they were very easy to start playing for a miniature game.      As always thanks for listening.    Web Art by Jim Foster    Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by Timbrelane, song Wargames    Available from Tribeofnoise.com    Used under the Creative Commons License 3.0    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
 
 

Episode 262: NPC Dialogue, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     Saul saw a post on Reddit about a GM who had problems Roleplaying Dialogue with the PC when they were talking for the NPCs.   The GM also wanted the players to do more RP in their sessions.   Saul realized this was a big problem for a GM that wants more RP from his players but was really intimidated by NPC dialogue.  There were quite a few help hints in the responses but other Reddit users.  Saul thought some of them were really ingenious and talked to Jolene about this as a toplic for the podcast.       Jolene agreed with Saul that this GM was in quite a Pickle.  Whether you call it  nerves, bu tterflies, or "stage fright" those things have to be overcome for a GM to be able to run a RPG session.   There are things you can do to overcome these obsticles.  As you try and learn them,  different techniques will help you run NPCs better.    Thank You All for Listening     Web Art by Jim Foster    Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by Ed Nopoli, song Speechless.   Available from Tribeofnoise.com   Used under the Creative Commons License 4.0   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/