GamingPerspectives

Episode 255: Why Some RPGs Successful and Others Not, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

     Saul was looking at the Dragon Bane RPG boxset that was a gift from this brother Felipe.   He was looking at Low Fantasy Gaming and wondered why Dragon Bane was more successful.   They both very similar products.  Both were a D20 based Fantasy RPG, both are simple rules and yet there seems to be a disparity of how each was recieved by the RPG buying community.    Saul asked Jolene about this topic and she went to the internet and found various reasons why Dragon Bane was seemingly more popular than Low Fantasy Gaming.    Thank You All for Listening.
     Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones      Music by Keith Heirmericks, song Popularity.    Available from Tribeofnoise.com    Used under the Creative Commons License 3.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode.en

Episode 254: Making Players Learn the Rules, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

 
          One of the many plights of GMs of RPGs is the dreaded getting the players to learn a new game.  Due to Saul's seeking to find that perfect RPG or just likes the "new shiny."   Due to this affliction Saul tries to share this affliction with all his players.  In some of Saul's groups the players groaned everytime they heard Saul had bought a new game.  In other groups his players were curiosious about some of the games in Saul's extensive RPG library.      In both groups the playes learned the game to various degrees of expertise.  Saul and Jolene were talking about how, you as a GM, you can make players learn the rules.  Looking at the various degrees of success in Saul's gaming experience, Jolene decided it would make a good subject for an episode.    Thank you All for listening.
    Web Art by Jim Foster    Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones
    Music by Music Matters, song Learn to Play    Available from Tribeofnoise.com    Used under the Creative Commons License 4.0     https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode.en

Episode 253: The Long and Short Rest, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

    This week Saul and Jolene discuss the Long and Short rest from D&D 5th edtion.  Jolene had asked Saul what he thought about how these affected the game.  Jolene was not prepared for Saul's the long winded tirade about the topic.    At some point Jolene stopped Saul and told him it would make a good episode for the podcast.  Saul quickly got his GP notebook and starting scratching his thoughts about the Long and Short rest.        In short, Saul realized and not right away that he didsn't D&D's 5th edtion rules on the Long and Short rest.  Listen to Saul's reasons and Jolene's thoughts on the subject.  Will the next version of D&D have Long and Short rests??  Saul doesn't think so.     Thank you all for listening.  We really appreciate all those that download and listen to our little podcast.    Web Art by Jim Foster    Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones     Music by Max Miecchi, song Restless, off the album New Day    Available from Tribeofnoise.com    Used under the Creative Commons License 3.0

Episode 252:Omitting Rules in Rpgs, Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene

    Many times players and GM's ignore, change or get a rule wrong.  Sometime by accident, other times on purpose because  they don't like that rule.  Known as "House Rules", "Home Rules", and many other names changing and omitting rules is done all the time.   There are some type of rules that usually go out the window, whether you play the "Best Selling RPG" or the smallest "Indie RPG ruleset", rules get ignored.     Saul and Jolene had a conversation of some rules that are ignored at their RPG table.  Rules from D&D 5 Edition to Shadowrun rules just get changed for many reasons.  Saul and Jolene discuss those rules and the reasons those rules are often ignored or changed.    Thanks for Listening    Web Art by Jim Foster    Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones      music by Kathleen Martin, song Rules of Engagement off the album Rules of Engagement.   Available from Freemusicarchive.com   Used using the Creative Commons License 3.0    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/legalcode

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/