Level Up Your Gaming: Tabletop RPG Podcast

In today's episode we talk about the session zero.  Why should I run a session zero?  What should we accomplish in this planning session?  Should we cover themes?  Should we create character concepts?  We discuss all this and more in today's episode. From our listener Chris the Session Zero tool Decuma https://goldenlassogames.com/decuma Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thou...

In today's episode we talk about using random events in your games.  How can I use random events?  What should they focus on?  How many good vs how many bad events?  How do I create modern events?  How to I avoid duplicating events?  We discuss all this and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us o...

In today's episode we talk about gaming online and using technology in your game presentation.  What are good tools to use for online gaming?  Is there a single good tool I can use?  What is the best voice/video tool I should use?  How can I bring in technology to improve our local gaming table?  We answer all these question and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, qu...

In today's episode we talk about improving your locations.  How do I make a random location more interesting?  How can I drive lore or story with my locations?  How much time should I spend on dressing up my locations?  What are some of the tools that I can use to improve my locations?  We answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions,...

In today's episode we talk about pregen characters and their motivations.  How much motivation should I give the pregens?  What motivations do they need?  How do I ensure someone will play a specific pregen for the story's success? Should I have multiple pregen options?  We answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts...

In today's episode we talk about what do do when players miss sessions.  What are my options for handling this?  What are some rules I should follow?  If I let someone play the character how do I moderate that?  We answer all these questions and more in today's episode.   Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us on Faceboo...

In today's episode we talk about why we cheat as GMs.  Why would we do this?  Why would we even talk about it?  Isn't cheating against the rules?  Is cheating always bad?  We answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.f...

In today's episode we look at our podcast over the last year.  What are our thoughts on some of our favorite episodes?  What is coming down the pipeline for the next year?  We answer all these questions and think about the podcast in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us on Facebook and engage with us a...

In today's episode we talk your next game after a long campaign.  How much time should I wait to start a new long game?  Should I roll into my next multi year game right away?  How do I find time to take a break?  How can I get others to step up to the plate and GM?  We answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at level...

In today's episode we talk about the long campaign.  How do I start a long campaign?  How do I plan the game?  How much do I need planned ahead of time?  How do I establish theme?  How do I keep track of everything?  We cover all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us on Faceb...

In today's episode we talk about the final battle and the epilogue to your story.  How do I make the final battle epic?  What makes a good epilogue?  What if I'm not a prolific writer?  Why is it important to include this in my game?  We answer all these questions and more in today's episode. There are two songs that accompany our reading of the epilogue in today's episode.  Th...

In today's episode we talk about different game concepts and group sizes.  Which concepts work better for large groups?  Which ones work better for small groups?  Is there anything I should avoid with my group? How do I handle my large or small group in different situations?  We answer all these questions and more in today's episode?  Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thought...

In today's episode we talk about our evolution as storytellers.  Where did we start telling stories?  How have we changed as storytellers?  What different things did you try?  What worked best for us and why?  We answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us on Facebook an...

In today's episode we talk about how to handle players leaving your table.  What shouldn't I do?  What are some techniques for handling this?  Can I avoid awkward moments when the player leaves in the middle of something? How do I make the parting meaningful? We discuss all these question and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupy...

In today's episode we talk about improving your side stories and encounters.  How do I make an encounter more meaningful?  How do I add flavor to my side stories?  How do I keep my players engaged?  How do I get my players to interact with deeper elements of my side story or encounter?  We answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions,...

In today's episode we talk about player agency and player choice.  What do I do when my players don't want to follow my story?  How do I handle players making different choices than I predicted?  Do I have to indulge every choice they make?  Do players actually have choice and agency?  We discuss all this and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or tho...

In today's episode we talk about creating your own monsters.  Where to I start when I create my monster?  What should it look like?  How should it act?  How much detail do I need on where it comes from?  What powers should it have?  We answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  F...

In today's episode we talk about Rules Lawyers.  How do I handle my Rules Lawyer?  Should I dismiss them outright?  When are they useful?  What if I have multiple Rules Lawyers?  How do I remedy rules disputes with them?  We answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us on...

In today's episode we talk about player backgrounds and motivations.  Should I care about player backgrounds?  What are the purpose of player backgrounds?  How do I use my players motivations? Should I build stories around my player backgrounds and motivations?  We answer all these questions and more in todays episode.  Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgami...

In today's episode we talk about tactical play vs non tactical play.  How do I do more tactical play in my game?  What are the benefits to a more tactical game?  When should I scale back the tactics?  Do I need tactical play at all?  We answer all these questions and more in today's episode.   Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or...

In today's episode we talk about putting the spotlight on your players.  How do I create moments for each of my players?  Should I focus on skills, class, or what the character likes?  How do I keep the other players from being left out? How often should I give my players these moments?  We answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions,...

In today's episode we talk about telling a mystery in a game.  How do I leave clues for my players?  What if my players miss clues?  How do I get my players to move on the evidence? What if my players go astray?  How do I help my physical characters fit into this type of game?  We answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or though...

In today's episode we talk about the one shot game.  How do I tackle running a game like this?  Why would I want to run a one shot game?  Should I use pregens or have my players make characters?  We answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us on Facebook and engage with...

In today's episode we talk about running your first game.  How do I manage my time with the players?  What type of story should I tell?  How long should the game be?  We answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or  Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.co...

In today's episode we talk about the difficult subject of what to do when players don't fit in at the table. Is this a player problem or a character choice problem?  Can this be rectified in game with a character change?  What do you do when the player is the problem? When is it time to go separate ways at the table? We answer all these question and more in today's episode. Leave us...