Level Up Your Gaming: Tabletop RPG Podcast

In today's episode we talk about breaking our conventional rules.  What happens if you let your players split the party?  What about an unkillable bad guy?  How can you do the opposite of our conventional advice?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.co...

In today's episode we continue our series of Let's Make A One Shot.  The game we make a one shot for comes from the prompt The Broken Door.  We describe all the details you would need to consider to pull this one shot off.  Enjoy this episode as we make a one shot using the tools we talk about. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com o...

In today's episode we talk about when you can't kill the bad guy.  Are the players incapable or are they not allowed to kill the bad guy?  What can you do instead?  How do you handle that dramatic encounter with the bad guy if the players can't kill them?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questi...

In today's episode we talk about the genre Cyberpunk.  What makes a good Cyberpunk game?  How is it different from other similar genres?  What types of stories do you tell?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us on Facebook and engage w...

In today's episode we talk about how to deal with inconsistent game schedules.  How do you handle long breaks between games?  How do you refocus and help your players after these breaks?  Is there anything you can do to prevent schedule issues?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at l...

In today's episode we continue our series of Let's Make A One Shot.  The game we make a one shot for comes from the prompt A Fistful Of Spells.  We describe all the details you would need to consider to pull this one shot off.  Enjoy this episode as we make a one shot using the tools we talk about. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.c...

In today's episode we talk about when simple games become complex.  What adds the complexity?  How can you keep the game simple?  Should you always embrace the complexity?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us on Facebook and engage wi...

In today's episode we talk about the Fantasy genre for games.  What is a fantasy game?  How can you make them special?  Does a fantasy game have to be set in a certain period?  What is high vs low fantasy?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  F...

In today's episode we talk about the Sci Fi genre for games.  What is a true sci fi game?  What about Star Wars?  How do you make a sci fi game special?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://ww...

In today's episode we continue our series of Let's Make A One Shot.  The game we make a one shot for comes from the prompt Critical Condition.  We describe all the details you would need to consider to pull this one shot off.  Enjoy this episode as we make a one shot using the tools we talk about. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.co...

In today's episode we talk about the non bad bad guy.  What is a non bad bad guy?  Why would you want a bad guy that isn't actually bad?  What are some examples of these bad guys?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us on Facebook...

In today's episode we talk about letting your players cook.  What does it mean to let your players cook?  Why should you let them cook?  What can letting your players cook do your game?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us on Facebook...

In today's episode we continue our series of Let's Make A One Shot.  The game we make a one shot for comes from the prompt Breaking Bard.  We describe all the details you would need to consider to pull this one shot off.  Enjoy this episode as we make a one shot using the tools we talk about. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or ...

In today's episode we talk about how too much detail goes wrong.  Why is too much detail difficult when telling stories?  How much detail is enough?  How can you avoid putting too much detail into your game?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or ...

In today's episode we talk about starting and incomplete game.  Why start an incomplete game?  What do you need to have to get a game started?  How can you juggle all of the issues with an incomplete game?  Won't my players just take everything off the rails?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questio...

In today's episode we continue our series of Let's Make A One Shot.  The game we make a one shot for comes from the prompt A Song For The Hollow.  We describe all the details you would need to consider to pull this one shot off.  Enjoy this episode as we make a one shot using the tools we talk about. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail...

In today's episode we talk about rewriting your game when you mess up.  Why would you want to rewrite your game after starting?  How do you adjust your game and maintain what you started with?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us on F...

In today's episode we talk about Player Agency Going Awry.  What happens when player agency goes awry?  What are the reasons why this could happen?  How do you handle this situation when everything is off the rails?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail...

In today's episode we talk about City Planning.  What goes into the design of a city?  How do you handle all those NPC's and Locations?  How do you keep everything from being so overwhelming?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us...

In today's episode we talk about the Importance Of Having A Writing Partner.  Why should you have a writing partner?  What benefits does a writing partner provide?  What if I don't have a partner who is a GM?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.c...

In today's episode we talk about Red Herrings.  What are red herrings?  Why would you use them?  How can these improve your story?  What are some pitfalls with using red herrings?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us on Facebook and e...

In today's episode we continue our series of Let's Make A One Shot.  The game we make a one shot for comes from the prompt The Silence Between.  We describe all the details you would need to consider to pull this one shot off.  Enjoy this episode as we make a one shot using the tools we talk about. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.c...

In today's episode we talk about Making Better Backstories With Plot Hooks.  How do you craft backstories with plot hooks?  What benefit does it give to the GM?  How can it make your players more dynamic?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Fo...

In today's episode we talk about Game Master Sins.  What are some of the cardinal sins for game masters?  Why are they so bad for game masters to commit?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://w...

In today's episode we help our friend DJ with his upcoming game.  We use his notes on the game to help him come up with an ending to his upcoming game.  DJ, Josh and I ping pong the ideas around to help craft some ideas for the end of his game he'll be running. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us on Facebook and engag...