GamingPerspectives

    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...

    *SPECIAL NOTE* Saul and Jolene would like apologize for the lack of epidodes for the past Month.   This was due to Saul having to have heart valve replacement surgery.  Saul is recovering and Jolene is taking care of him.  Saul and Jolene would like to thank all the listeners for their support of their podcast.           The latest episode concerns Starter Box Sets.  What a good starter set sh...

When you are creating an adventure or a complete RPG for public consumption one thing you really need as a creator is Feedback.  From one shot adventures, longer adventures, campaigns you need feedback to hone your creation to make it as best as it can be.   Good Feedback is essential to making your creation to be as successful as it can be.  With self publishing become a large part of TTRPGs, you...

     Saul was reading a Reddit and came across a post asking if people used maps or visual aids in their roleplaying games.  The poster also stated that they only used a while board and magnitized tokens in his sessions.  The OP then asked if you do use maps or visual aids how integral are they to your game.        Saul and Jolene have played and ran games where lots of maps or visual aids were us...

Saul read an article about a couple of RPGs that had elimnated the Iconic Mechanic of Rolling to Hit.  Saul mentioned the idea to Jolene.  Jolene had a lot of questions about the whole idea and how it would work.   Jolene's questions were why, how and would it be fun?         It was a good discussion so they decided to do an episode on the subject.  The big game on the list is a new game coming ou...

     Hey there Listeners,  Happy New Year!  Saul and Jolene were reminicing some of the more memorable times of their games. Jolene mentioned the times that they came across some very powerful creatures, Dragons were high on the list from game of D&D to Shadowrun.  Other powerful beings were giants, demigods and gods.  Saul and Jolene discussed what made those moment memorable and how and why...

It is the New Year and as we look forward to 2025 EN Publishing asks what New RPGs we are looking forward to the New Year.  Saul choose his top three and discusses some of the games that made the list.  Saul noticed quite a few games are getting a 2nd edition and other are being resurrected from the way back machine and are getting a new edition thanks in no small part due to Kickstarter and other...

There was a post on Reddit about how RPGers read rulebooks for new RPGs before they ran a session.  The answers at first were vey like minded.  People stating that they read the rulebook completely.  From reading it once to reading the rulebook from cover to cover multple times.        Saul was a bit shocked at reading these posts since he had never read a RPG Rulebook that way.  As Saul read more...

     Saul was reading Reddit posts and came across a post about players playing themselves too much in RPGs.  There was quite a bit of a discussion and most respondents said they didn't play themselves at all because they didn't want to play their boring lives.      Saul on the other hand thought that he had for most of his RPG life had played himself or an aspect of his personality in the game. ...