Role Playing Public Radio

We’ve received a lot of messages from listeners so we thought we discuss a few of them. This show covers a lot of topics, from our personal favorite RPGs, the indie RPG Dread , to dealing with out of control house rules and other issues. We also got our first donation, so if you like the show, help us pay for the hosting and Gencon this year. Plus Tom has some gaming New Year’s Resolut...

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is a delightful story by L. Frank Baum with an intriguing mythos. Rankin-Bass produced a claymation adaptation, which is where Katie and Jonny first discovered it. There have been a few other incarnations as well, including a Japanese anime. Jonny always thought it would serve pretty well as a fantasy RPG setting, so when Katie suggested a one-shot game based...

Synopsis: Because of the holidays, we’ve decided to take a look at the most neglected of subjects in gaming: happiness and joy. Given that the average RPG is a angst ridden world of grim and gritty darkness populated by hideous monsters and slightly less monstrous player characters where the typical encounter is a savage bloodsoaked battle to the death, what place does happiness or optimism...

There is trouble in Bethlehem…. Thousands of crows have taken roost in the woods surrounding Bethlehem, NH, mercilessly attacking anyone who tries to enter the forest. The human population is outnumbered more than ten-to-one, and the birds are growing more bold every day. Can the investigators solve the mystery behind this unnatural infestation? Can they save the town of Bethlehem from a dis...

When we role play, we almost always imagine an action scene, whether it’s kicking down dungeon doors and slitting the throats of whatever lies beyond them or kicking open vampire coffins and staking whatever lies inside them or kicking down giant metal doors with giant robot legs and stomping whatever lies beyond them. So no matter what genre you prefer, action is part of it. But how do you...

Ben Baugh aka Bailywolf on the RPG.net forums is the mind behind Monsters and Other Childish Things , a game near and dear to my heart . In this interview, we talk about game design, his other work, some of the more interesting threads on RPG.net and of course Monsters. I apologize for the poor audio quality. Skype and my internet connection hates me. I think the content of the interview makes up...

Horror deserves more than one episode, so we’re going to keep talking about it. We cover everything from foreshadowing scares to some of the best and worst horror games we’ve been in. If you want to improve on terrifying players, grab from our bag of tricks and treats. Music: More number stations from the Conet Project Shout outs: Dead Space: Insanely freaky 360 game Fatal Frame 1 : An...

As an experiment, I posted two actual plays on Oct 22. However, most of you didn’t realize that. So, I am reposting the Fear Itself Actual Play so those of you who subscribe via Itunes and other RSS podcatchers will get it. If you already downloaded the Fear Itself AP, do not download this. This Fear Itself game is a follow up, based on the aftermath of Profane Miracles using the Fear Itself...

Esoterrorists: Profane Miracles Players: Tom, Cody and Dan. Synopsis: The first Actual Play is with this published scenario from Pelgrane Press, using the Esoterrorists RPG . Jonathan Bentley, millionaire financier, has been raised from the dead at a Los Angeles charity ball by self-styled “psychic to the stars” Cassandra Madrigal. Is Bentley really alive, or in some other state? What...

Running a horror game is a tricky business. The GM has to hit the perfect tone, set the perfect mood and run a truly scary game in order to terrify players. But it can be done. With Halloween approaching, we’ve decided to share some tips on running horror games, from basic advice on timing, storytelling and writing horror scenarios to advanced material like using theatrical techniques and pr...

The Gamers is a cult classic movie celebrating role playing’s inherent weirdness. Since its premiere at Gencon in 2003, it has been quoted nearly as often as Monty Python at gaming tables around the world. The Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising premiered at Gencon 2008 and is rapidly making the rounds, raking up sales and acclaim. I spoke to him about the genesis of the movies, how they were made and...

Synopsis: Three heroes must save a village and its hidden treasure from a horde of maurading mercenaries. The heroes are mistmatched characters from comics, tv and film while the bad guys are a rogue’s gallery of villains from all over popular culture. Oh and the village is Mayberry. No, you’re not hallucinating after a night of cable tv and Mexican food. It’s the second game of...

Most games start as an idea in the GM’s head. However, it takes some work to go from idea to having a full campaign ready to run. Tom and I discuss the process of creating a campaign and our experiences in creating and running them. If you want to make a game that lasts more than a few sessions, you should give our advice a try. Plus, a very personal letter from Tom, in which he admits that...

Jonny Nexus is one of the net’s funniest established gaming humorists. He’s behind the long standing RPG site, Critical Miss and the author of a new novel, Game Night . It’s about a group of gods who role play eternity away, using real mortals and a real universe as their campaign setting. I caught up with him at Gencon and talked about gaming, writing comedy, and the meaning of...

Character creation is the glue of role playing games. A game can’t be that good unless everyone has a player character suitable for the game. A crazed psychopath slasher appropriate for a Bunnies and Burrows campaign while a cute talking bunny isn’t going to last long in a call of cthulhu game. In this episode, Tom, special guest Cody Walker and I talk about the best and the worst play...

Trench warfare in World War 1 was horrific. Millions died from disease, chemical weapons, barbed wire, machine guns and other forms of industrialized death. However, the British tunnelers dug massive underground systems to support the soldiers and to undermine German trenches. In this scenario, a few men from the 117th tunneling company found themselves tunneling to something far more dangerous th...

We’re back from the best four days of gaming! We talk about everything from the new games premiering at Gencon to the awesome people we met to the games we played or ran. It was a blast and we look forward to next year. Some of the highlights this year include meeting Dave Arneson and getting a first edition of Blackmoor autographed, interviewing quite a few game designers and writers, playt...

Gencon is upon us! We have a brief preview of what we aim to do.  Check out the full schedule if you’re going. I’m running Monsters and Other Childish Things . We’re also part of a panel discussion on podcasting. See you there!

We’ve finally gotten around to looking at the monster RPG of the summer, the fourth edition of Dungeons and Dragons.  We cover the good, the bad and the ugly of the system. Special thanks to the Bear Swarm podcast for joining in on our first game of 4E. We also talk about Gencon, scuba diving and of course, a very entertaining letter from Tom. Song: Journey by Excellent Adventure Shout Outs:...

Every year, hundreds of adventurers die horrible deaths, all competing for treasure, glory and points to move on to the next round. This isn’t a weird reality TV series, it’s the DCC tourney at Gencon.   Adrian Pommier is the man in charge of this year’s Dungeon Crawl Classic Tournament. He’s also the co-author of the mega module Castle Whiterock and several other dungeon c...

Galactus has challenged the people of Earth to a tournament of dodgeball. Only an unlikely team of misfits stands in the way of Earth’s total destruction. Sound like the new Bruckheimer movie? Naw. It’s our Actual Play one shot using the free action RPG Wushu. The Player: Tom: A sapient raptor/actor tired of being stereotyped as a vicious man eating dinosaur Drew: Henry from the TV Sho...

“Just being in here is a humbling experience for me, because you’re looking through all these records and it’s sort of like a big pile of broken dreams…Whether you want to admit it or not, 10 years down the line you’ll be in here. So keep that in mind when you start thinking like, ‘I’m invincible and I’m the world’s best,’ or whatever. Be...

In a world..Our world…Everything is true. Every story you’ve read, every movie you’ve seen, every game you’ve played actually happened. At least those that take place in the here and now. This is the first session of a GURPS 4th edition campaign premised on taking the Alan Moore comic The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and making the concept contemporary. Anything that t...

While most of our shows so far have focused on running a great game, we thought we would give some advice for the other side of the GM Screen. In other words, the players. Of course, we talk about D&D 4th Edition, the death of Erick Wujcik , recent games we played, Raillery , my awesome new comedy video podcast and more. Tom was too lazy to write a letter, so instead we review The Happenin g a...

Ethan Haas was right, at least according to David Carter, Earl Fischl and Tom McLaughlin, the team behind Alpha Omega the new post apocalyptic science fantasy RPG from Mind Storm Labs . In the future, the world is ravaged by war and disasters while alien races wage war. Of course, dumb old humanity mistook these aliens for angels and demons thousands of years ago. Plus, there are robots. What more...