Roleplay Rescue

It's been a busy week - first week of half-term for me, away from work - and I've been dropping diary entries daily. Some nice call-ins from some good people in here too. Thanks to Frank T, Jason, and ShandyAndy for the messages! Enjoy! Dear Diary Theme Song and all incidental music by TJ Drennan: patreon.com/TJD Contact Details: Voice Message: anchor.fm/rpgrescue/message Email: hello@rpgrescue.co...

Bit of a weird one but inspired by Simon Sinek's latest book, "The Infinite Game" (which is totally NOT about gaming), I was feeling inspired. Actually, a call-in from Paul Stoneman nudged this along and I couldn't suppress the topic any longer. Sometimes the thoughts bubble up from my unconscious and scream to be heard. Hope you find it useful. Rescue Theme Song and all incidental music by TJ Dre...

Two episodes on one week? Yes! The Dungeon Master's Diary returns with a fabulous call-in from Frank T, news on some online gaming, and my initial reaction to listening back to the Friday night session. I've also got a couple of questions for Patrons in there. Oh, and we open with something special from TJ Drennan - could it get any better? (Probably.) Dear Diary Theme Song and all incidental musi...

The Dungeon Master's Diary is born! Fans of the old GM's Journal will, I hope, be pleased to know that I aim to continue sharing my personal audio diary. I’m re-branding it as the Dungeon Master’s Diary - DM’s Diary for short - because I’m a fantasy roleplayer right now and also because I love that old terminology: I am the Dungeon Master. At least, I am around here. DM’s Diary will always be pret...

Roleplay Rescue is back! This podcast is about rediscovering your lost tabletop roleplaying game hobby. If you’re gamer who has wandered away from gaming, welcome to the community. I hope you’ll find something to help you get back to the table. If you’re an active gamer, someone who has played in the last 30 days, welcome to you too - perhaps you can support those of us who are struggling and shar...

The Patrons voted to release the two Journals during the interregnum and this is the second of those. That said, it was a long, hard, and tiring week in the run up to last weekend. It ended on a high because we finally played the first session of my new campaign, Adventurer's of Palantia, with the Friday Night Gamers. There's some deep downers in the middle of the week, however, so brace yourselve...

The Patreon Patrons have spoken! Season 4 may have ended but I didn't stop journalling. I've been quickly editing my GM Journals together and sharing them with those amazing supporters of the podcast via patreon.com/rpgrescue ... and yesterday those guys voted for me to release this episode as a bonus. It's raw, rough, and very much under-polished. It's a week or so old too. Hey ho, let me know if...

The final episode of Season 4 is here! Ten weeks of episodes comes to an end as I take a couple of weeks for a break.  Inspired by Anchorite Arneson Appreciation Month, as encouraged by the amazing Ray Otus of Plundergrounds , I've mashed all my thoughts on the topic into one rambling ramble. Many thanks to everyone for your support this season and I hope you'll keep me favourited ready for S...

This will be the last GM's Journal of Season 4. It's the penultimate episode of the series too, as I aim to release 420 next Saturday and then take a break until mid-October, when school breaks for two weeks holiday. This episode features the third instalment of call-ins regarding Sleep Deprivation. It also covers my descent into illness and is therefore not entirely positive. Still, there's plent...

After what has been a really horrid week, I've sat down and recorded Part 2 of the Simple Dungeoneering mini-series I started last week. How can we keep things simple and yet also create an experience that satisfies for a solid evening of play? Hopefully there's something in there for everyone - lots of stellar call-ins, some half-lucid thoughts from me, and the odd moment of inspiration. Enjoy! C...

It's Wednesday come early! A tighter episode focused on my attendance at The Owlbear and Wizard's Staff convention in Leamington Spa on the 21st September. This episide  contains all my usual GM Journal entries but then lurches into an audio journal of the day at OBaWS. If you just want the Owlbear stuff, that  starts at around 9 mins and 50 secs. Massive thanks to all the contributors....

What does it take to set up, from scratch, a fantasy dungeon-based roleplaying campaign? Let’s see if we can get playing a simple fantasy adventure game. How can we keep things simple and yet also create an experience that satisfies for a solid evening of play. What’s the design process that we’d need to go through? I’d like to posit using a simple set of rules that I’ve been tinkering and experim...

Further call-ins on the question of sleep deprivation - some classic stuff! My week laid bare once again, the harried GM who seems to have had plenty to smile about in spite of the intensity of work. Many thanks to all the callers and to you, the listener, for tuning in. Game on! Contact Details: Voice Message: anchor.fm/rpgrescue/message Email: hello@rpgrescue.com MeWe Page: mewe.com/page/5c07783...

From the very beginning I have been trying to persuade people to start playing. Whether you are a lapsed gamer who has started to miss the good times you used to enjoy with roleplaying games, or if you are a total novice who’s simply curious, or even if you are an old Grognard who’s not currently playing - spending more time reading and thinking than actually doing - I think that inertia is the gr...

Last week's episode seems to have provoked quite a few comments on the topic of sleep deprivation in RPGs. I received something like 15 call-ins across the week, many of them on this topic alone. Thus, I've drawn the threads on sleep deprivation into a separate section - and I invite further comment if you're interested - and then run the rest of the Journal as usual, interspersed with call-ins fr...

Colin Green is the voice behind Spikepit, an OSR Anchorite podcast which many would say lies at the heart of a lively network and community. Colin’s show features call-ins from across the spectrum of gamers and champions forthright consideration of a range of useful ideas. He is as likely to ask a question from the community as he is to give a personal view, a trait which earns him deep affection...

It's time for another rambling collection of my personal Game Master Journal entries. What makes the episode are the call-ins from Jason and Free Thrall - thanks, chaps! Hope you find something of interest in among the ups and downs of my week. One word of warning: it is, as ever, a raw and largely unedited mash of audio burblings. Make of it what you will! Contact Details: Voice Message: anchor.f...

Following on from "Delving Deeper Solo", I got a bunch of call-ins and a set of very specific questions from Frank T. In response, the only reasonable thing to do was to record a follow-up episode. This week, I delve into the Mythic Roleplaying rulebook and do a review of the stuff you'll find inside. You also get my candid thoughts on various elements and why most people will probably prefer to g...

A month ago, I hopped onto MeWe and asked Gabriel Roark if he'd be up for organising another interview to discuss the ten things we'd import from Arduin into our own campaigns. Gabriel is someone who plays in Arduin and is seeking to rediscover the realm created by the legendary David Hargrave. We had a two-hour chat using Anchor and, unfortunately, the recording was a) patchy, and b) cut off too...

Having spent most of the week away on holiday with Deb, this episode is cut down in length from recent efforts. Some great call-ins and a big moment in the Roleplay Rescue story. I also wax thoughtful about wilderness adventuring and share a bit of what I've been doing in prep for the forthcoming fantasy campaign. Enjoy! Contact Details: Voice Message: anchor.fm/rpgrescue/message Email: hello@rpgr...

Over the months since I released "Getting Started Solo" (Ep204), I've been getting questions about it and the most repeated request has been for a worked example. I guess that by “worked example” people mean me sitting down and recording myself running a solo session while talking you guys through what I’m doing. Honestly, I’ve not been too sure how best to approach this but today I’m going to sta...

With around 15 minutes of call-ins and replies, this episode has grown much longer than I expected. There's a ropey section in the middle, and which I almost cut, where I was recording myself developing some solo play ideas using the Story Forge deck. Left it in because I am trying to resist the self-editing, highly-judgemental part of my personality so that my subconsciousness feels less inhibite...

This episode was totally inspired by a call-in from the mighty Pure Mongrel this morning. Picture the scene: You wake up at 4.45am, get yourself a cuppa, and then you notice that there’s a message from one of your Patrons. And, wow, it’s a doozy of a message. This started out as a recorded reply but I ditched that pretty quickly as the whole thing escalated. I hope that the episode is more than a...

Here's another Journal episode! Complaints about the noise have led to a re-editing of the opening theme. There's a bucket load of call-ins from the coolest listeners anyone could have, as well as a bundle of journal entries largely recorded while I visited my parent's home in Norwich. As ever, I hope it has something of interest to you and thanks again for taking the time to listen. Game on! Cont...

A few weeks ago, I started listening to Dave's dpercentile podcast - albeit I was VERY late to the party - and in episode 3, he spoke about the value of GMs using random table to prep. Inspired by this episode, I contacted Dave and arranged to chat more about this topic and explore the value of random tables for the returning gamer. Although there were technical problems, we managed to have a fasc...