Two-Headed Game Master

Bring a snack, grab a drink, and find a seat…really thought I’d find a rhyme there… oh well, we talk a lot about the playing aspects of the hobby which is all fine and dandy but there is more. The real world stimuli of eating, drinking, and/or pantomiming can bring the imaginary to life.  www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

You ever wonder what happens to the paths not traveled? TTRPGs, like a DVD boxset, have scenes that didn’t make it into the theatrical cut. But unlike a DVD boxset, TTRPGs don’t have a special features disk where deleted scenes are stored. Not to fear, we can tell you where to stick ‘em! (not somewhere gross, jeez) www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

Hope you are in the mood for gripes and grumbles! Because this episode is about the state of video game RPGs today. We pull it back a little though, to discuss changing tastes and how it is not a bad thing. Just a tad of social commentary mixed it. www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

Happy Halloween! This year on the 2HGM spoopy oneshot: A mystery space station floats cold and silent in an unusual orbit. Scans indicate a collision with a small asteroid, but could it be as simple as that? Join an independent salvage crew as they try to unravel the mystery and fight to get out with their lives…and hopefully some loot! www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

It’s been too long since we did a little introspection, six weeks or so I think. When you count it out like that it kinda seems like we like talking about ourselves, don’t it? It is our podcast so who is going to stop us, nobody that’s who! We thought it was a good idea to dissect what we get out of playing TTRPGs and why we keep doing it.  www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Savi...

Tired of your dusty old TTRPG system, why not try a new one eh? We’ve already talked about what we consider when we browse the vast RPG shelf at your local games store, or maybe online (that is allowed too…maybe even Drivetru RPG *ahem* Afterlife) huh? Oh yeah, this episode is about tips and tricks to jump into a new TTRPG system www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

Introducing a friend, or a complete rando, to the wonderful world of TTRPGs can be intimidating, but for $19.99 our 4 step program can make it a breeze! …wait, this episode is free? EVERY EPISODE IS FREE!?! Then how are you paying me? You’re NOT paying me?! …Sheeeit… www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

Show of hands, who thought 100 episodes was going to be the end of it? Well ding ding, that is the sound of round two. We are resetting and going again by talking about what we learned about TTRPGs by making our very own. You may have heard of it, a little game called Afterlife: Apocalypse Fantasy Role-Playing.  www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

We made it to 100!!! (confetti drops) Now technically, we have released 127 episodes but exactly 27 are bonus live play episodes so those don’t count. Our fantastic friend Brian puts the screws to the Two-Headed Game Master with his own spicy questions and some questions from our loyal patrons. We had such a good time that I’m not sure we actually answered any of the questions.   www.2HGM.com Musi...

Today, or whenever you are listening to this, we discuss our GM styles in relation to our session prep styles. Hopefully we explain our styles well enough that you can pick little learning nuggets out, because we accidentally forgot to do that for you…(double shrug)   www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

We have threatened it for years and the dreaded day is here. We get all in the guts of the Drama Cards used in TORG, a very cool TTRPG mechanic. They have a lot of good stuff to pull out for your own games, we did get a little too excited so we might not have done a fantastic job of highlighting the lessons. (shrug) www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

We discuss a common game mechanic of giving the player a better chance of succeeding with a roll. By giving the player extra bonus dice, or a re-roll, the GM can help tell the player what they are doing is cool. Confused? Better listen to the whole episode.  www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

We have been doing this podcast for long enough that we are really good at picking out things that need improvement, good news right? Not really, we have trained our brains to focus on the negative which has kinda zapped the joy out of our beloved hobby. Don’t worry though because there is nothing that can be done…wait you said there is “NOT nothing” that can be done, well double negatives are alw...

Now that our heart rates have come back down and we’ve let the experience solidify in our minds, we can finally discuss our play through of the Quarry. Just what you wanted, another hour and a half on top of the 8 hour play through…  Catch the full stream here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2130467581 www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

From movies, to books, to TTRPGs, wrapping up a story in a satisfying way can be a bit tricky. TTRPG campaigns can sometimes go on for years, finally ending it might seem daunting, but don’t worry we have some TNT for you. (not the explosive, we don’t want the ATF bothering us again) www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

*Old man voice* Back in my day… Video games and TTRPG were once extremely different but after decades of coexisting, the lines have blurred. They have taught each other lessons over the years. Join the discussion about how the two mediums have imitated one another.  www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

You might be thinking that “lore” is the same thing as “canon”, but you know our pedantic asses will prove you wrong. Now we might not have nailed the terminology, but we are fairly confident there are two different concepts that need different terms.  We also apply it to popular TTRPGs or whatever… www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

Is it worse to believe everything is a lie or nothing is? Wait, that is not the James Earl Jones quote… Ha I was deceiving you the whole time. Anyways, we discuss what we think is a common fallacy in roleplaying, a player asking if an NPC is lying. Although it is possible that NPCs can lie, in the RL people don’t go around asking if every person asking for help is lying. In a roleplaying game, lie...

Creating supplemental rules for your TTRPG can be a way to help simulate a unique idea or situation, and it can be fun to attach a system of rolls to something. However, if you are like us it can be easy to go off book for every little thing and before you know it character sheets are covered in sticky notes. Then GMs and Players alike have trouble remembering how the novel mechanics for that cool...

What does food and being cold have in common? If you were waiting for a punchline, keep waiting. Answer: they are RPG resources. Different game systems put emphasis on different resources but keeping track of them can be challenging. Today’s episode is brought to you by the fun police, if keeping track of a resource isn’t fun -> don’t do it. There I just saved you an hour of your time… www.2HGM...

Loop there it is, loop there it is! (record scratches) Welcome to a hard science episode where we talk expertly about brain chemistry. Just kidding we’re idiots, but we do talk about human’s love of watching numbers increase only to be reset to zero after reaching a certain point. (another record scratch…opps bricked it)   www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

We were thinking about language in our tabletop games, and language in society, and were like huh that is kinda weird ain’t it. Language is of course extremely important in society, but we don’t know if it is as important in TTRPG. www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

Around and around it goes, looking for its nose…END OF RHYME! Speaking of things that go around and around, how about them players? No, we are not calling your players promiscuous. What if your players could come in and out from one session to the next, that’d be pretty cool right.  www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

The sequel to our previous episode about asynchronous text adventuring. Sicko Zone is back, it is bigger, badder, and even more sicker than ever! We have learned new lessons and spread our sickness to more people. Catch the sickness now! www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours

We are thinking outside the box playing a little game of what if. Join us as we ponder a Djinn’s proposition, you are no longer constrained by the trials and tribulations of scheduling roleplaying sessions. However, you have to pick if you will be a GM or a player for the rest of eternity. NO SWITCHING!  www.2HGM.com Music: Pondhillow's Finest, The Burning Saviours