GamingPerspectives

      We are at Pacificon a Labor Day weekend gaming convention in Santa Clara California.  We were asked by Gabriel "Mondo" Vega to record our podcast from Pacificon and we gladly agreed.  As with all our bonus "live" episodes this one was not edited.  There is a lot of background noise due to the nature of recording in the middle of the convention.  Still they are a lot of fun to do and we will...

         Dresden Files is a favorite book series in Saul and Jolene's home.  There happens to be two RPGs using the Fate system to run your very own Dresden Files game.  In this episode, Saul and Jolene geek the Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher and the Urban Fantasy genre in general.       Saul discusses the many times he as run his own version of Dresden he dubs, Monterey Dresden since he uses...

     We Interviewed Stephen Price after he contacted Saul via the social networks telling us he and a group of friends were starting a new game convention in Milford MA.  that will take place next year from April 17-19th 2020.   We had a very good interview but unfortunately we lost over half of the interview.  Still we wanted to publish this interview for any and all folks near this convention. ...

     In this Episode Saul and Jolene talk about Actual Plays.  Are they good or bad for RPGs.  From the very well produced and acted ones like Critical Role to the people playing in their RPG Cave eating and drinking and talking over each other.  Saul and Jolene discuss the different views of how "Actual Plays" can hinder RPGs and the people that play them and on the other hand how people see it a...

     Gabriel Vega the Director of Convention Development and Organizer of Pacificon had some "Breaking News" and wanted to do and interview give Saul and Jolene first dibs on this News.   Gabriel has been organizing Pacificon for the last 15 years here in the SF Bay Area.  Gabriel has also started some smaller specific gaming and interest convention in the Central Valley.  Saul and Jolene have bee...

          Things that you can easily do to immerse your players at your RPG table.  Saul and Jolene discuss simple and cheap things you can do to get buy in from your players.  From special character sheets, handouts, notes  to maps, all these things and more can get your players really into the setting of the game.  Saul discusses the different things he has done to get the players ready to play...

     Romance in RPGs, Saul and Jolene talk about why this has not happened much in their games at home.  Romance can add an interesting element to any RPG games.  Jolene finds an RPG specifically about romance.  Actually a trio of rpgs by Emily Care Boss.  This was not the romance in RPGs that Saul was thinking about, Saul was thinking of more of a courtly romance or adding a love interest to a PC...

     Saul and Jolene talk about the OSR.  What is it, why are there so many different versions.  Why do people want to play this old style game.  Saul remembers his Original D&D and AD&D days.  Jolene did a bit of research in this nostalgic type of fantasy rpg style and found quite a bit of games and information.        You can Find OSRIC here :  http://www.knights-n-knaves.com/osric/index.html  ...

     In this Bonus Episode we talk to Theresa D. a game board player(Scrabble) and game Ap developer.  Saul and Jolene met Theresa at KublaCon game Convention in May and decided to talk more about her entry into board gaming and how it ties to her work at Temple Gate Games.  Of course Saul digresses and stray off topics but Jolene as always is there to wrangle him back.      We recorded this inter...

     In this episode Saul and Jolene talk an old rpg Gamma World by TSR.  It was the first RPG owned by Saul and it was Jolene's first RPG game she played way back in the early 80's.   Saul and Jolene discuss all the iterations Gamma World that were published.  From the first edition published in 1978 to 8th edition published in 2010.   Saul has copies of 4 different editions.   Saul and Jolene ta...

     Saul and Jolene talk about Ghosting in RPGs.   So what is ghosting and where does this term come from.  Saul listens to many podcasts and it was a term used on another gaming podcast called "Gaming and BS".  In it a host talks about ghosting.  Saul had never heard of the term and asked Jolene what it was about.  Saul and Jolene discussed and laughed about this subject and decided to record an...

         In this episode Saul and Jolene talk about the Barbarian class in Dungeons and Dragons.  From the first time Saul saw the optional class in 1985 in issue 63 of The Dragon magazine.  The Barbarian has become known as the quintessential "tank" in D&D.  Though Saul doesn't like the use of the term tank for the Barbarian class it really does fit.  With the high hit points, damage resistance,...

          Saul and Jolene discuss the buying of new RPGs.  Why do people continue to buy new RPGs?  If players and GMs like a particular RPG why would you buy new ones.  What makes gamers continue to guy games even as their collection grows to the point they won't be able to play all of them?  It is an interesting question which Saul and Jolene dive into.  As Jolene marvels at the number of differ...

           Today Saul and Jolene talk about Cathartic Gaming.   In previous episodes this subject has been mentioned from time to time , but we thought it deserved its own episode.  Saul gives the definition of the word cathartic and catharsis and then Saul and Jolene relate it to RPGs.  The idea that all games are cathartic in one form or another the main difference is in scale.  From simple dive...

       In this episode Saul and Jolene tackle the sensitive subject of feedback in your RPG game.  Most GM's want to get information on how their games went and what they can do to improve on their game.  The problem is, getting good feedback or constructive criticism.  Saul and Jolene discuss ways of getting good feedback and lower the chances of feedback that just upsets you as a GM.  Jolene rem...

          In this episode we interview Brandon Raasch of Bard Games.  Saul first met Brandon a few years ago when he played in his Monterey Dresden game at DunDracon, a local N. Cal, gaming convention.  Brandon was such a great player that after that Saul always said hi and talked to him at all the local cons we attend.  Saul realized Bradon is a game publisher and has a game on Kickstarter.  The...

     Today we have Sean Nittner the person that puts on BigBadCon in the Bay Area.  We wanted to get Sean to talk to us because BigBadCon is not a typical game con.   It has a different heart that other cons.  They all have their own character and BigBadCon is known for the great RPGs and LARPs.   In the last few years they have added  Boardgames, and Panels to BigBadCon.  Though most of the peopl...

     In this Episode Saul and Jolene talk about one of the oldest RPG's Traveller.  Traveller is a science fiction rpg that continues to be published to this day.  First published in 1977 Traveller consisted of a small format box set, similar to the box set of Original D&D.  The box set contained 3 little black books which split the rules into Book 1 Characters and Combat, Book 2 Starships, Book 3...

     Well, we are almost at Episode 52, which makes it a year of our podcasts.  We missed a week due to going to Kublacon over Memorial Day weekend. But we did publish two bonus episodes that we recorded at Kublacon on Friday and Saturday of the con.  We had a great time and were very busy the whole weekend.       So in this episode Saul and Jolene talk about Rules As Written(RAW) over Story.  No...

     This Bonus Episode was recorded on Saturday at Kublacon.  A little tired we got to our spot at 9am and began recording shortly there after.  Here is some notes about this show.     At 1 minute  Kevin a Lifetime Kublacon badge holder joins us right away.                                 We talk to him from a variety of topics.  Thursday night                                       Kubla, playing...

     First of all I want to apologize for the lateness of this episode.  Technical difficulties prevented us from post these right after recording.  And even before we left for Kublacon our podcast computer died.  What I thought was a bad or corrupted boot file was worse.  So it taken a bit longer to get these episodes published.         We also recorded longer than our normal 30 minutes and the e...

     What happens when your game goes a direction that you had not thought it would?  This happens to every GM.  Whether your a railroady type of GM or a more improve type sometimes your players really throw you for a loop. You don't know what to do.  Saul and Jolene discuss the idea of having one or two encounters that you can fit into almost any situation.  Something that you can slide in to hel...

    Saul and Jolene talk about Off Game Table Discussions.  What happens when you don't have enough time at the game table to Roleplay as much as you wanted during a game session?  The reasons why you don't have enough time is varied but sometimes as adults we only have a few precious hours to play.  And at times to be able to move the story forward you can't RP as much as you like.  Or there are...

     Mike Eckert, the Executive Producer, of Kublacon is back with our third interview 14 Days before Kublacon.  Saul and Jolene get a bit of his time to talk about Kublacon which is only 14 days away.  Mike is super busy getting ready to put on one of the biggest gaming conventions on the West Coast and it right here in the San Francisco Bay Area.  We have been attending Kublacon from the very be...

      Kublacon is only a couple weeks away and we have another interview with a Kublacon staff member.  This time Becky Thomas the Coordinator of Kublacon Youth Program joins us on the microphone.   Me and Jolene have known Becky since Augustin was a baby going into Kublacon's then Kids Room, where Becky was in charge.  She ran a very busy and growing population of kid gamers at Kublacon.  Now the...