RPG Psych

What does it mean to be "at the table" Josh and Luke talk about being present for a game and ways to stay engaged at the table and boosting engagement 

Are you or someone you know suffering from burnout?  Do you feel that sinking feeling when you reach for you campaign notes?  Fear not!  Josh and Luke are here to talk about burnout and how to manage it.  For the low, low price of...

Join Luke and Josh as they explore the challenges, opportunities, and joys of failure at your game table.  Failure need not be avoided, but embraced.

Josh and Luke ask the question "What is roleplay" and talk about the different ways you can engage in and experience roleplay 

Luke and Josh discuss the idea of the sunk cost fallacy and when to know when to fold em at your TTRPG table.

Josh and Luke take an initial look at how having insight into our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can help us as players at the game table and go over some basic tools to stop and observe ourselves.  It's time to take some steps towards the maxim "know thyself."

Luke and Josh take a different approach to the rules lawyer.  Sit back and listen as they discuss how to utilize a strong understanding of the rules as a force for good.

It's time to start chippin' in choombs, Josh and Luke discuss digital tools in our digital world and how they affect our games.  Make sure you are all chromed up as we dive into this electrifying episode of RPG Psych.

Luke and Josh dive into the idea of player driven stories in your tabletop RPGs and making your players authors in their own stories while also doing your job for you, at least a little bit.  Tune in and hear about conspiracy boards, radically accepting your player's crazy ideas, and real stories of transitioning from being an over-preparer to someone who rolls with an emerging story.

Season 2 of RPG Psych is coming!

Season 1 ends with a discussion on the motivations and values of the PCs! Get ready cause it's going to get clinical and anecdotal as Josh and Lucas dive in to this part one of PC Psychology.

Josh and Lucas turn on all the lights in the local pub to expose the ways you can use a cliche to benefit your players, turn it on its head or just riff on it. They also suggest ways of avoiding this well worn path.

Lucas and Josh set the scene with mechanics. This is how we dress the stage for our players it's also our table's social contract. How many mechanics are too many though?

Josh and Lucas talk about balance in encounters. What is it? Do you need it? If you do what are the best ways to balance a game? All this and more !

Join Luke and Josh as they explore some ideas to improve player and game master engagement.  Let's move beyond the ideas of worldbuilding and get to how we can use the players and their stories to create a world that they want to immerse themselves into.

Josh and Lucas talking about why it's so important for you to give your creative mind a break, even when you'd love to be gaming. Not only that they discuss the dreaded time management and how to find the sweet spot for you and your games.

Josh and Lucas tackle Verisimilitude. Should our games just be abstractions? How much truth is too much truth in the fantastic? Isn't that what mechanics are for? Josh and Lucas talk about the difference between feeling real and being realistic and more.

Josh and Lucas dive into accepting the world as it is and not how we wish it to be, even if it is a fantasy world. How do we equip ourselves as players and GMs to "roll" with it when things don't go our way?

What are safety tools for around the gaming table? How do we make sure that everyone feels safe with our stories and safe to share? Josh and Lucas dive into this topic, sharing tools and anecdotes, and since they play together Josh checks in on Lucas' safety at the table.

In this first episode of RPG Psych Josh and Lucas talk about what Session Zero is, what makes a good one and, why do we as players and GM's need it.