GMS Magazine Podcast

This review was initially writen by Endzeitgeist. You can find lots more like this at endzeitgeist.com and gmsmagazine.com This review was initially writen by Endzeitgeist. You can find lots more like this at endzeitgeist.com and gmsmagazine.com With all the Conspiracies, the intrigue, the danger, it’s hard to know what exactly is and isn’t on your side. When every shadow from the back alleys of B...

Although tabletop gaming is a pretty inclusive and welcoming environment, there are still pockets of straight people who insist on erasing anyone who does not identify as heterosexual from games and even the hobby. This podcast is for you, Dear Some Straight Gamer. Like pretty much the rest of the world, this one is made specifically for you.  Hopefully you will learn something.

This podcast has been produced for www.gmsmagazine.com Help us by becoming a Patreon: https://goo.gl/EpSluL   After a long break and a change in co-host, the RPG Room Podcast is back to talk all things related to RPGs, from design to controversies. In this episode, we talk about the future of the podcast, a bit about online issues and ask you, our listener, what you would like to see and hear from...

This is a podcast review narrated by Paco García Jaén and originally writen by Endzeitgeist. Rally draconic might to your cause with the Dragon Companion Handbook! From the designer who brought you the Pact Magic Unbound series and Guidance, the Dragon companion Handbook gives even low-level characters the resources they need to use dragons as effective cohorts and companions. Within the Dragon Co...

This is a podcast review narrated by Paco García Jaén. The original review was written by Endzeitgeist. You can find the written review in endzeitgeist.com and in gmsmagazine.com Please suppor Endzeiteist's Patreon campaign. You can buy this product at Drivethrurpg. A 5E Mini-Dungeon for 4-6 Characters of Level 1 The Aura of Profit takes place in an underground lair that serves as an alchemical la...

This is a podcast review narrated by Paco García Jaén. The original review was written by Endzeitgeist. You can find the written review in endzeitgeist.com and in gmsmagazine.com Please suppor Endzeiteist's Patreon campaign. You can buy this product at Drivethrurpg. A 5E Mini-Dungeon for 4-6 Characters of Levels 6-7 Many years ago Tibor, a wizard with an overwhelming desire for knowledge of the pl...

This is a review podcast episode. The review was first written by Endzeitgeist and narrated by Paco Garcia Jaen Please support Endzeitgeist's work by visiting his website or sponsoring his Patreon. You can find more reviews also in gmsmagazine.com To purchase the Grimoire of Lost Souls, please visit DriveThruRPG Remember you can follow us on Twitter and Google+!

This is a review podcast episode. The review was first written by Endzeitgeist and narrated by Paco Garcia Jaen Please support Endzeitgeist's work by visiting his website or sponsoring his Patreon. You can find more reviews also in gmsmagazine.com To purchase the Grimoire of Lost Souls, please visit DriveThruRPG Remember you can follow us on Twitter and Google+!

Working with an IP can be a very challenging topic. To take something that has already been created and transform it into an RPG that does it justice is a tricky exercise that requires a deep knowledge of both the original IP and the RPG design process. Dave Chapman is one guy who knows a lot about that, since he was one of the responsible people to create Cubicle 7’s Dr. Who Roleplaying Game. He...

Chaosium, a company that has been going on for longer than most, has brought some of the most emblematic and beloved franchises to the RPG world. Glorantha, RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu… all of them prolific lines that have been supported by many thousands in many languages over many years. And yet, the company has also gone through some very rough times in the last few years. So much so that a lot...

James Bond RPG came out a very long time ago and, even though no longer published or popular, it is a very relevant game today. It is interesting that some games that have been out of print for a long time can, and indeed have some ideas that a vast amount of more modern games could learn from. Perhaps having ideas was easier all those years ago. Or simply the industry was more audacious than toda...

In an attempt to break our record for the weirdest episode, Jim and I attempt to discuss what games have been good for the industry. A few weeks ago we chatted about what games were bad for the industry and a good number of them came up. Today we try to do the opposite with some very varying results… Also we spent a while watching some ski tyre jumping from Japan. That was really, really weird… ht...

Very often we find encounters during our adventures that are, quite frankly, appalling. Truly unsatisfying either because they are too hard, too easy, the monsters don’t really matter or, simply, it makes no sense. Designing encounters is a tad harder than it might appear, so I invited Kevin Watson, from Dark Naga Adventures, to come to the podcast, since he has designed more encounters and advent...

You know, I am pretty tired of stupid, petty minded assholes who prefer to take offence of anything rather than celebrate diversity. I am sick of idiots who don’t have what it takes to feel safe and secure in their masculinity and whinge and complain endlessly when something is organise just for women or minorities. And I am fucking fed up with seeing responses that make me feel ashamed of being a...

Since it came out so many years ago, Shadowrun has been the favourite game of connoisseurs and indies alike. It has inspired millions of people to look forward to a future where magic and science can coexist, and where computers are but the landscape of the mind. Indeed it has inspired pretty much any and every game Jim Pinto has ever created based on some of his best experiences as a player and G...

In this episode we are not going to do anything with games. This is all about geeky food and cooking, because, contrary to what might appear, we geeks like to eat. A lot! I met Ilana Greenberg-Sud in Facebook and I was interested right away. She has a pretty neat store in Etsy that sells all sorts of geeky morsels for the empty stomach. Or the full one, because I think I would eat her food even if...

Justin Mason is one of those prolific RPG creators who isn’t known enough. With a great talent for map making and graphic design, he has worked on a cool ton of projects, but it seems he hasn’t worked on enough yet! For years he has honed his skills to become a skilled cartographer with a pretty immense portfolio for companies like Adventureaweek.com, Paizo, Dark Naga Adventure, AAW Games and many...

In last episode Jim and I discussed if casual gamers are actually bad for the hobby or not. With polarised opinions, Jim believes that casual gamers are a lot less needed than hardcore gamers in order to sustain the hobby, whereas I believe the more casual gamers we have, the better. Regardless of who is right or wrong on this one, he fact is that the presence of casual gamers and their numbers do...

For very many valid reasons, a lot of people like OSR games. To play in a style of games that resemble and replicate the original games from so many years ago. However, that movement has also received a lot of criticism for some people seem to be stuck in the old ways beyond those of gaming. Some posts that could be considered insensitive or out of place have given place to a reputation that would...

Casual gamers are, in my opinion, the bread and butter of any hobby. The vast majority of any hobby’s follower is a casual person who enjoys whatever it is on an ad-hoc basis. And of course the presence of casual gamers has an impact on the gaming experience. If anything because the level of commitment of a casual gamer is never going to be the same and thus they might not engage or otherwise part...

How many times have we seen the same clichés in RPGs? How many more times will we have to endure them? Truth is that clichés have a reason to exist because they make life easy for the writer or player, so it is not surprising that we see them so often. However, overuse and simplification have made those clichés to become really tired and boring. Even though they do have a place and a time, usually...

RPGs are home to too many orphan characters. Characters with no past, no grounding or no substance. Often we see people who create characters and have no background whatsoever, or want to have the “mysterious” character with no past. A character that will take as close to zero as possible effort to play because they don’t have to justify their actions or add some sort of congruence to their person...

I recently discovered the X-Card thanks to Jim. I had no idea it existed and it was a truly fantastic revelation that will grace my table from now on. For those of you who don’t know, the X-Card is an invention by John Stavropoulos that aims to stop discomfort at the table. As part of the social contract around the game, the X-Card is introduced at the very beginning as a means to seek help from e...

Having Jennel Jaquays on the show was long overdue. With so much talking about OSR and what games were like all time ago, Jim and I thought it was about time we had someone who knows *a lot* about the old days and the starts of many things. Jennel has been writing games since the mid 70s and has written some books that continue to influence creators to this day. And she has some truly amazing stor...

Dungeonology is one of those books that are not aimed at you but you still love them because it is gorgeous and, deep inside (or not so deep as the case might be) we all have a child in us. This book, published in November 2016, is a collaboration between Wizards of the Coast, Candlewick Press and Templar Press. The lore of WOTC has come together with the know-how of two very experienced publisher...