GamingPerspectives

When you are playing in a RPG, whether it is online or an in person game,  keeping the player engaged in the game can be  at times hard.   Saul and Jolene over the years have noticed that some people find it hard to pay attention to the game during a session.  Things that make people tune out of the game are many, from cell phones, side conversation, kids, significant other, boredom, the list goes...

      Reading Reddit posts Saul cam across a post about a problem that they had when they joined a new group with an on going campaign.   The Poster was upset at a number of things that happened when he first started playing.  They sought help with dealing with their problems since joining.  Saul thought about things that could minimize problems like this Original Poster had.   He talked to Jolene...

     Saul was reading "RPG Reddit" posts and came across a person who described themselves as a 5th edition D&D player.  In this post they wanted to know about games that were more "lethal" than D&D.  They mentioned that D&D was too easy to survive.      Saul mentioned it to Jolene.  Saul went into his collection and found some RPG systems that were to his mind more deadly than D&D...

     In this Episode Saul was reading a blog where they discussed the Three Different Pillars of D&D.  Saul went on to read other sources from other bloggers to Reddit posts about this idea of what makes a good D&D Game.       Saul starting thinking about how some games or genres don't rely on these Three Pillars for running great sessions or adventures. He discussed it quickly with Jolene...

Jolene was looking at TTRPG topics and came across a Reddit Post where a user was asking why people consider playing TTRPGs a "niche" hobby.  The original poster was quite surprised that people thought that TTRPGs are not that popular. There were quite a few replies to that post and most were proposing that TTRPGs are not that big of a deal in the hobby sphere.       A number of TTRPG players in t...

      Saul and Jolene went to a game convention over Labor Day weekend.  Their first game there was a RPG called Troika.  Saul had seen this rpg mentioned quite a bit in various posts.  From "Best Ever Indie Game", to "Most Underrated RPG" and many other lists.   Even though Saul had bought the PDF of Troika he had not yet looked at the rules, but had been very interested in what the buzz was abou...

      Saul and Jolene went to a couple conventions in late August and Early September.  In late August they went to Galaxycon in San Jose.  It takes place in downtown San Jose at the McEnery Center.  It is the largest convention center in the South Bay.  Saul was really impressed with all the guest speaker, panels, activities that were available at Galaxycon.  This was Jolenes and Sauls first time...

A listener, Phil, asked about how easy would it be for a video gamer to become a TTRPG gamer. At first glance it would be a no brainer that those that played video game on a conole or PC would move to playing TTRPGs.  Saul and Jolene talked about some of those differences and what similarities that video games have to TTPRGs.        There are 3.42 Billion video gamers compared to 50 million TTRPGs...

    Many times there seems a point in an RPG when the players should either not fight an encounter.   Why do players not consider the tactic of running away.  Saul and Jolene discussed this topic.  Saul admitted that he ran a lot of D&D and Pathfinder and the rules are set up for the GM to match the encounter to the level of the players.  This comes from the rules to published adventures and m...

     Saul was reading and thinking about long campaigns and what it took to keep them going for extended period of time.  Saul ran two D&D to Pathfinder Campaigns from 2001 to 2009.  Then he started running campaigns for his 6 year old son and his friends.  Saul ran another 2 campaigns starting with Pathfinder to D&D 5th edition which concluded right before the pandemic.  What kept these 4...

         Jolene was reading about a GM who was running D&D 5th edition had players trying to do combat actions before the GM had called for Initiative.  She asked Saul about this and asked if it happened in his D&D or any other RPGs he had GMed.  After a brief discussion they decided to do an episode on this subject.      As usual Saul got a little distracted from the subject and expanded...

     Saul was looking at Reddit posts and came across a GM that was lamenting that his players had not learned their characters abilities after 10 sessions of D&D 5th edition.   The GM didn't go into too much detail, for example age of players, experience of players, etc.  Saul noticed the large number of negative reaction to the players but those offered no real help abou this GM's plight.  ...

     Jolene was looking at the different types of games she has played in.  Though she likes tactical combat games.  She loves Shadowrun 5th edition and D&D for example, she also likes mysteries, dramas, and crime solving.  So she asked Saul about what games do not concentrate on combat but other types of settings.        Saul thought that games that do not rely on combat for the center piece...

     Jolene was looking for some interesting topics to talk about and came across an article discussing Rotating GMs.  She looked for more articles and there were quite a few articles and discussion on how to do this type of roleplaying.      Jolene asked Saul and about it.  Saul told her he had tried it a couple of times with various degrees of success.  As they talked about it he started mention...

       Jolene was reading online and came across an article that talked about things that GMs say that players should pay attention to.  She told Saul and this and Saul thought about some things he says that conveys more than intended.  Sometimes these comments from GMs are questions, in fact most of them are and it is at this time that players should really be paying attention to what is happenin...

     Jolene was looking online at RPG topics and came across a confession by a new GM.  This novice GM was running their first campaign which they had been running with new players for nine months.  There was a point in the game were a character would have been killed but the GM pulled their punch.  The character did not suffer a death.  Even though there had been a Session Zero where the GM had d...

          A question was asked about what are some things that you found in one RPG that as a GM would Steal to use in all  other RPGs that you run.  Saul and Jolene each thought abou the topic and they each found something that they really liked that they believed could be "easily" used in a variety of RPGs.  Saul made a short list of mechanics and ideas that he would use in RPGs he would run.  ...

          A listener was thinking about some games he played with a particular GM, who took a few minutes after the game asking how the session went.  So this listener asked what would be the best way or some hints as to asking for feedback right after the session ends.         Saul and Jolene discussed how this immediate feedback would be good or bad.  As a GM that run games at Game Cons he is us...

     A listener asked what we thought were some good Non D&D published campaigns?  Saul questioned what makes a good, quality and fun campaign.  Saul's criteria was the same if it was you home campaign but in a published one it is essential that the criteria that Saul sets out is met.  There are many campaigns out that that would meet these elements so Saul picked the ones he liked the best or...

          A listener asked about a good RPG to run a Monster of the Week game.  Saul came up what criteria would make a good Monster of the Week game.  From ease of rules, types of character and other factors.            Then Saul and Jolene talked about what games would make it easy to run a Monster of the Week game.  Saul's list comes from game created in the 1990's, 2000's, 2010's and even very...

     A listener asks about getting a RPG off the Shelf of Shame and on the the table to play.   This is a problem that inflicts both RPG gamer and board gamer as both groups have this problem.  Both have games that have not hit the game table and for many a gamer this is a terrible source of frustration.  Saul has a lot of shelves that contain RPG games.  It has been a source of consternation for...

          Saul was at Kubla Autumn a new game con taking place over Veteran's Day which is celebrated here in the U.S. on November 11th.  Right when he got there he sat in a seminar the dealt with the future of boardgames. In that seminar they talked about Cozy games.  Saul immediately thought of Cozy RPGs.  Saul noticed a lot of RPGs that would fit under this genre.  He talked to Jolene about it...

     In the long time that Saul has been playing RPGs, there has been some instances where players did some weird things.  At least unexpected things that he saw as both a GM and a Player.  Saul remembers a couple instances where players acting strange may have caused problems in the session.   Jolene relates a story she read online about a player who indeed acted strange for no logical reason tha...

          In this Episode Saul and Jolene discuss why some GMs do not like running Intellectual Property games.  Those are games based on books, Tv shows, or movies.  Whether its Conan, Star Wars, Star Trek of hundreds of other RPGs that are based on others creative works some GMs shy away from running these games for specific reasons.        Saul as usual goes to the way back machine and discusse...

     Saul is slowly recovering from heart valve surgery but Jolene and Saul are back to recording episodes.  This episode comes from a Reddit post about a GM that needs to run a game with no prep for 1st time players with only a 2 hour window.  Though many answers were the names of games that people suggested Saul took a different angle.       Saul was thinking what the GM had to think about the g...