GamingPerspectives

     Though Saul and Jolene touched on the subject before Saul thought that a whole episode detailing Solo RPGs would be worth while.        With the Pandemic still raging across the world, though there is light at the end of the tunnel, some people are not able to play with their normal group and for one reason or another do not want or cannot play RPGs online.  And they want to still get that RP...

     In this Episode Saul and Jolene talk about making a good RPG Villain.   They discuss only a few tips of many ways you can make a villain in your RPG stand out and not be a cliche.  Saul offers two examples from games that he has run.  One was a convention game which was played in an 8 hour session at a local game con, the other is from a long running home D&D game.      Each example showcases...

    In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss how damage is determined in RPGs.  Though there are many implementations of how damage is determined, Saul believes there are really only two ways damage is dealt with in RPGs.  Static and Random.       As usual Saul goes meandering off topic but this time Jolene was a bit at fault for his digression.  Saul and Jolene discuss what they like and dislike a...

  If you play any games you need to learn the rules, and RPGs are no different.  Most likely you play or are interested in a new game that is published and you have to Learn New RPG Rules.  Saul and Jolene in this episode discuss learning the rules of new RPGs, or RPGs that are new to you.    If you are learning a new, recently published game then, according to Saul, you are in luck since we are i...

    In this episode Saul and Jolene talk about the reasons to look at and buy a new edition of a RPG.   Some reasons for a new edition are fixing errors as simple as typos, rule contradictions, or a reworking of a task resolution system to make the game run smoother are good reasons for a new edition.  Do the rule changes till does it warrant buying a new edition?  Listen and find out what Saul an...

     In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss armor in RPGs.  Saul and Jolene discuss the most popular ways armor is represented in RPGs.  From D&D's Armor Class to Traveller's ablative armor.  Each way armor is handled is a mix if how easy one wants to express the use of armor in a RPG against how realistic the game wants to represent armor.    Games discussed are D&D in all its iterations, Travel...

     In this episode Saul and Jolene talk about Light RPGs.  Saul defines what he means by "light" RPGs and gives examples of what he considers light RPGs.  Saul and Jolene discuss RPGs from Tales From the Loop to the one page RPG called Lazers and Feeling.     As Always Thanks for Listening. All we ask is that you share our podcast.      Music by The Curtains and Their Terrifying Story, song Say...

     In this episode Saul and Jolene talk about the term "crunchy" in RPGs.  Saul, again, goes way back to the beginning when he first started playing roleplaying games, and the first game he played was Original D&D.   Saul does this to explain why he thinks the roots of OD&D being where crunch comes from.  How OD&D set the standard of how a RPG should look and who played RPGs back in the late 70'...

      In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss the Liminal RPG by Paul Mitchener.  It is a modern urban fantasy RPG set in England.  Saul received a free PDF from Modiphius and it garnered enough of an interest that Saul bought a physical copy of the rules.  Saul ran the game twice in two days over a weekend and the game was well liked by the players in two different groups.       Saul and Jolene c...

     In this episode Saul and Jolene talk about GMing Styles.  Saul and Jolene discuss how your GMing style impacts the games that you run from type of adventure to actual the RPG that you like to run.  Your GMing style not only determines the adventures and RPG game you run but the players that you run games for.       Some players may not want to play in certain types of games and your GMing Sty...

      In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss playing more than one character in a RPG.  Saul begins the discussion with playing back in the ole days of D&D where people would "play" a character of a player that could not make the session.  Saul admits they really didn't RP those characters but just went through the mechanics of playing the missing players character.         From there Saul talks...

        Part two of New RPGs for 2021.  Well new RPGs that Saul is really looking forward to in 2021.  In a more quick shotgun style of listing games, Saul rattles through more RPGs that are slated to be published via Kickstarter, pre-order or traditional publishing.       As Always, thanks for listening and all we ask is that you share our podcast.     Music by Nathan Brumley, song Games That Pla...

     Happy New Years to Everyone.  In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss, well mainly Saul does, the most anticipated games for Gaming Perspectives.  Not even covering all the RPGs that are slated to be published in 2021, Saul and Jolene discuss over two podcasts the RPGs they are most interested in playing or running.      Discussed in this episode are Flames of Freedom Kickstarted in the 2nd h...

     In this episode Saul and Jolene talk about the evolution of Experience in RPGs.   Saul starts the conversation talking about how Original D&D dolled out the experience.  Using D&D as one example of how experience has changed and how it is earned in D&D.        Saul and Jolene discuss other games and how they dealt with experience.  From old games like Space Opera and Traveller to Shadowrun. ...

     In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss roleplaying a character using their stats or attributes as a framework for their RP.  Saul and Jolene also discuss how it can be difficult to roleplay a character that is for example,  smarter or more charming than the player and what they can do to overcome this obstacle.      As always, we would like to thank you for listening and all we ask is that y...

    With the current pandemic situation the only type of gaming many are facing in online gaming.  So Saul and Jolene decided to talk about what they have tried and what else is out there for gamers to get their RPG fix and stay safe.          As always thanks for listening and all we ask is that you share our podcast.       

    In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss the planning a short session adventure.  They discuss a short 4 hour 3 session game and the game con favorite the four hour session/adventure.  Running a complete adventure in either length game is much different than running a typical long running campaign style game.         Saul and Jolene go over elements need in running a short session game to a sat...

     After playing a few session of Call of Cthulhu games run but a couple different GM's, Saul and Jolene decided to talk about their experiences with CoC.  Saul goes to the way back machine to 1980's and how he felt when he first encountered a group of CoC players at the first game con, Pacificon,  he and his friends attended.        Flash forward to the present where Saul and Jolene played in s...

     Sometimes when Saul and Jolene feel extra enthusiastic they record two episodes back to back.  Problem, sometimes Saul loses the recorded episode in the hundreds of files he has on his computer for the podcast.  So back in October they recorded this episode and Saul found it after Jolene reminded him of the episode.         Picking your next RPG for your group to play?  Saul and Jolene discus...

     In this Episode Saul and Jolene discuss Dungeon Crawls.  They seem to be making a resurgence?  What about the Mega Dungeon?  Why are they popular and do Saul and Jolene like them.        Saul starts the conversation by stating that he doesn't have a lot of experience playing or running Dungeon Crawls.  Though he does have recollection of this brother's Tunnels of Terror, but it wasn't the cen...

      In this episode Saul and Jolene talk about game that do not try to simulate the real world but he world or the universe of the Cinema.  Cinematic RPGs are a fun filled genre of games that value Action over Real World Physics like the movies they try to emulate.         Discussed rather heavily is Feng Shui as Saul has run a couple of campaigns of a desperate group of good doers trying to sav...

     How do you plan your adventures.  Saul and Jolene discuss this important part of any RPG session and that is how you plan or organize your RPG adventures, whether you play D&D, Conan, Star Wars or CoC.      Saul, of course, talks about how he used to brainstorm then then commit to paper his initial ideas about an adventure.  Saul also discusses how that really didn't work for him or anybody e...

     In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of and what they liked and what they saw as problematic.  For the most part both Saul and Jolene enjoyed the game.  Saul Kickstarted the Core Book due to a recommendation by his older brother, who is a total Conan fan.        He was also the GM for the game that Saul has played in a few times and lately it was their...

     In this episode Saul and Jolene talk about Railroads and Player Agency.  It would seem the two are diametrically opposed but Railroads don't have to be the GM's draconian story where the players are there just to enjoy the ride and roll some dice.      One way for a Railroad type of game to lose sight of the tracks is to have player agency.  Where players actions and ideas impact the story. ...

        Saul and Jolene talk about PC Backstories.  From the pages long ones that creative and very imaginative players make to the two sentences that other players give their poor GMs, Saul and Jolene discuss what to do with what the players give their gm.        Saul and Jolene both agree that if a GM gets a good length backstory it gives great insight into what that particular player wants to s...