Roleplay Rescue

This episode is a pitch for building a tiny roleplay habit using 30-minute sessions and one-on-one play with the rules behind the GM’s screen. The idea, taken from solo play, is to gather more often for shorter periods. In busy lives, dropping online to play for 30 minutes is much easier to schedule. This is viable because RPGs work best on the accumulation of play over many sessions. One-on-one p...

The most important game mechanism is, of course, the Game Master of a roleplaying game. Roleplaying games are all about making choices as-if you are your character and then seeing what happens as a consequence. This week the Angry GM gave me a long-overdue kick up the butt when I read an article on his blog. This episode is a response to that kick up the butt. Big thanks to the Angry GM for his bo...

What happens if we lean in hard to the Roleplay in roleplaying game? What if we take away the elements which distract from the enjoyment of being in-character, as-character, in a fantastic world? The first move is to start caring more about the fantastic Otherworld. The second is to push for greater Rules Opacity. Thanks to Jason Wiebe for calling in once again.  Game on! Roleplay Rescue Deta...

Why do I spend so much of my time drifting from game to game, system to system, and between diverse imaginary worlds? Why do I find it hard to settle on a game and make it come alive? Am I doomed to roam for the remainder of my life never quite experiencing the games I want to enjoy? I’ve been adrift in the hobby for a long, long time. And then something clicked. That click was a simple question:...

I love to hear from listeners and, while email and social media messages are great, the best moments are when people call in with a voice message. This episode collects four listener calls which I have been wanting to respond to for a few weeks, plus a bonus-length call-in from Patron Carl D. These date back over the period from the 7th September until the 19th October 2024 and cover thoughts on a...

Chris Casciano is a medieval fantasy illustrator and author from Syracuse, New York. He has illustrated for novels, tv shows, and numerous games such as Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, and Game of Thrones. His personal art series, “The Iron Cast,” is a world of medieval knights and environments painted with a combination of realism, abstract shapes and textures. Chris has also written and illust...

On April 2nd 2004, Pyramid Magazine published an article entitled, “Designer's Notes: GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition” by Sean Punch. Twenty years from that article in 2004, GURPS - the Generic Universal Role-Playing System - is still with us. Contrary to popular opinion, it’s not a dead game. GURPS Fourth Edition might be out of fashion but it’s truly a standard in the RPG community.  Last e...

In February 1986, a free newsletter began to be posted out to customers from Steve Jackson Games: Roleplayer. Now available again from Warehouse 23, in the summer of 2024 I got curious to discover what insights this old newsletter might hold about the development of GURPS. What I found was a portal back to 1986 which began to inspire me towards play in directions both old and, strangely, new. Than...

This is a special bonus episode to celebrate the forthcoming Reaver Sword and Sorcery Roleplaying Game by Raven God Games. Because Reaver is on Kickstarter right now until 7th October 2024, I couldn’t wait to share this conversation with the game’s designer. Joe Salvador is a freelance cartographer, writer and game designer hailing from Ohio, USA who has been involved with role-playing games for m...

My guest, Arlen Walker, is the host of Live From Pellam’s Wasteland which you can find both as a podcast and on YouTube in video form. In this, the last of my holiday chats with gaming friends, Arlen raises the question of how to deal with dragons in our roleplaying campaigns. Big thanks up front to Arlen for coming on to the show. As ever, it was a fascinating conversation which I hope you’ll fin...

Today’s chat is with Menion, aka Rob, the creator and host of Confessions of a Wee Tim'rous Bushi, a podcast that hails from Japan. This one follows on from Rob’s call-in at the top of the show as we pick up his points in response to Episode 3 and wrestle together to make sense of the elusive intangibility of the fantasy Otherworld. Big thank you in advance to Rob for hopping online (back in Augus...

Jason Connerley is the voice behind the Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast podcast and a regular caller to several shows, including this one. We’ve gamed a few times over the years and always seem to enjoy ourselves. As I began the summer break, I was grateful for Jason being willing to have a chat about something he was curious about… and it ended up that he interviewed me. Big thanks up front to Jason for...

Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Jon McNally has been a listener and Patron for some time now and regularly calls in. His thoughts and questions are always provocative for me in a positive manner, inviting reflection and deeper consideration. The call at the top of the show is the one message that I held off on including in Episode 3 and wanted to tackle in a separate show. So, here we are… and...

Hailing from Portsmouth, Virginia, Christopher R. Rice is constantly writing, tinkering with, and running GURPS. A frequent writer for Steve Jackson Games, if he's not writing for GURPS, he's blogging about it. His site “Ravens N' Pennies” is well-stocked with more GURPS goodies than you could shake a stick at. This one’s about GURPS Meta-Tech, his most recent book, but it’s about so much more. Ev...

Hello Rescuers! This episode is subtitled, "Tactical combat, wargaming, and RPGs". Although inspired by Snapshot, the thoughts are broader than any one particular set of rules. Opening with a quotation from Jamison's, "Gamemastering", this episode shares some thoughts about the place of wargaming in the roleplayer’s arsenal. The words of Brian Jamison tell us to be wary of such folk, but I am in d...

This episode brings us back to the most important question in rediscovering our hobby: How do we best recapture the spirit of play and of deep engagement with these games? This episode reflects on a shift in my experience of gaming and talks about what I have been learning as I focused on running two Fellmyr games - that is two groups of players using the same world - on a regular basis over the p...

Hello Rescuers! We’re back! Sort of. As I said a few weeks ago, I am changing the pace of Roleplay Rescue from a regular podcast to being a, well, irregular podcast - in other words, although this is the first episode of the resurrected show, it may be some time (or not) before I record another. But this episode couldn’t wait. I thought about holding it back but, frankly, it was such a great conve...

Here’s the short version: I’m going to take a break - once again - from podcasting. When I do return, whether it’s in a couple of weeks, two months, or a year, I’m going to take the approach of recording when I have something I’m interested in saying. No more weekly or bi-weekly schedule, just grabbing the mic whenever ideas are worth developing.  And so this is the End. It’s also the beginni...

This is the last in a series of four conversations I’ve enjoyed with various guests over the tail end of 2023 and into January 2024. Joaquin Lippincott is the founder of RPGMatch, an application where you can register and meet other TTRPG players who like to play like you do. Following the call-in and my not-entirely positive feedback about the app in Episode 6, Seeking Face to Face, Joa...

It has been a month since I last hopped on the mic and spoke. This episode is a GM Intrusion into the flow of the season to do two things: First, I wanted to share and respond to a few call-in messages I’ve received through January and February. Second, I thought I would update you on a couple of areas in my own hobby and thought - we just played a second face-to-face session at The Dice Cup, the...

This is the third in a series of four conversations I’ve enjoyed with various friends and new acquaintances within the Roleplay Rescue community over the tail end of 2023 and into January 2024. My guest today is Bob from the SAFCO podcast.  Bob Loftin is co-host of SAFCOcast, a podcast about the Traveller roleplaying game and its derivatives. SAFCO stands for Super Adventure Friends Co., the...

This is the second in a series of four conversations I’ve enjoyed with various friends and new acquaintances within the Roleplay Rescue community over the tail end of 2023 and into January 2024. My guest today is Mr_Sandman, aka Andrew from Long Island.  Andrew is a long-time GURPS GM and the mind behind his blog, In The Sandbox, which contains lots of great advice for aspiring and new GURPS...

I got back to running a game face-to-face. More than that, it looks like this newly formed group of gamers wants to meet again in February. I don’t want to jinx it, but I’m so entirely made up about this event that I thought I’d share a few quick thoughts as an episode. Thanks right up front to all the new players in that session who absolutely made my day - James, Phil, Isa, Onur, and Adam. It wa...

This is the first in a series of four new conversations I’ve enjoyed with various friends and new acquaintances within the Roleplay Rescue community over the tail end of 2023 and into January 2024. My guest today is Daniel Jones of the Primaeval Fantasy YouTube and podcast channels, plus the Eudaimonic Geekery blog. I ask him to outline the nature of what he means by the term, “Primaeval Fantasy”...

As the New Year for 2024 arrives, where am I at with table top roleplaying games? What are my plans for the year ahead and what lessons am I carrying forward? Happy New Year! Welcome to 2024 and I wish you all the very best for the 50th anniversay of the publication of Dungeons & Dragons - that funny old boxed set that sparked this whole roleplaying games phenomenon in 1974! This episode is -...