Episode 63: Movie Genres: Thrillers

“No, we’re okay, now that we’re not murdered or anything.”
-Joy Ride

In this episode, we debut another series: movie genres. To kick it off, we discuss thrillers and what thrilling tricks we can use in our games to make them more, yup, thrilling. Lyal talks about submarine movies. Wayne talks about submarine movies. No, wait, that was Lyal talking over Wayne. Chris talks about getting a lot of “great ideas” from Lady in the Water, despite it being pretty far from thrilling and pretty far from great.

Chris podcasts from inside a can again.

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Episode 52: Slavery

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word “slavery”? “Fun”? “Engaging”? No? Well, after this episode you just might. Probably not, though.

Plus: The Lord of the Rings: The Untold Story

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Episode 47: Christmas Wish List

Lyal knew a guy who gave his girlfriend a picture of himself for Christmas. In that spirit, here’s our gift to you: an episode of us talking about what we want for Christmas. We discuss what games we’d like to receive, what games we’d like to see made and what games we’d like to actually play next. So, listen to find out what RPGs and board games you need to get this Christmas.

Merry Christmas! (We had to talk Chris out of dropping the t.)

Correction: The new expansion for the Privateer Press miniatures game Hordes is “Hordes: Domination“, not Dominion as incorrectly stated by Wayne. Let’s hope Santa puts the correct thing under his tree anyway.

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Episode 46: Campaign Confessions: Savaged Worlds Part 2

It was to be a story for the ages. Its heroes dwarfed The Iliad‘s. Its pathos rivaled Oedipus Rex. It had more earth-threatening disasters than a Roland Emmerich film. And it lasted three sessions.

In this episode, we discuss The Marius Chronicles and its premature demise. We talk about party design, “yes” GMs, “no” GMs, and the dangers of elevator pitching a game.

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Episode 36: Time for War

War. Huh. Yeah.
What is it good for?

-”War” Edwin Starr

Well, a plus-sized podcast episode for a start.
In this episode, we look at the three stages of war, the buildup, during and the aftermath, and the kinds of stories you can play in them. We also discuss how a focus on technology can make for some pretty intriguing games no matter which era you play in.

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Episode 22: Accessorizing Your Character

Idle Fashion Weekly

Turn Excalibur to ExFABulur in 7 easy steps

How to tell if they love you for you or for your power ring

HOT summer magic items that will make you the envy of your party

Plus: Choosing the right +3 sword for your face shape

In this episode, we look at how to make your equipment the stuff of legends. We also give a few underrated items some much needed attention.

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Episode 10: Losing my Religion

No guest stars this episode; we stick with the Holy Trinity of Lyal, Chris and Wayne. (Did you see what we did there?)

Rather than focus on specific faiths, myths and rituals in this episode, we look at how religion, in general, would impact your game setting. This includes the tendency to tie faith to power and the idea that “science is the new religion”. We also discuss whether it’s fair to spring setting and rule surprises on players.

We hope to revisit this topic in the future because it’s so big.

Although we talk about religion, we manage to not offend any world faiths. Chris does cost us our creationist listeners, however.

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Episode 8: The Art of Seduction

You’d think that a bunch of guys who spend their weekends playing games would have nothing to say about seduction. Well, you’d be wrong. You’d think that a bunch of (mostly) heterosexual guys coming on to each across a table would get awkward. Well, you’d be right.

In this episode, we discuss how to incorporate romance and seduction into your games.

“Interesting” was apparently Lyal’s word of the day. He has since bought a thesaurus.

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Episode 7: Campaign Confessions: Pulp!

Rocket Nazis! Airships! The Castle of Endless Stealth Rolls! Will Rex “Blade” Richards and his trusty band of sidekicks be able to stop the Nazis from unleashing their secret weapon on the world? Find out in the thrilling conclusion to “The Curse of the Atlantean ‘Thing'”!

In this episode, we discuss Hollow Earth Expedition and the Ubiquity system. We also talk about what we liked and didn’t like about Wayne’s pulp adventure.

Tom and Yujiro guest host again.

For those of you interested in trying out Hollow Earth Expedition for yourselves, you can find two free sample adventures in PDF form (Stranded in the Hollow Earth and Kidnapped in the Hollow Earth) complete with sample characters and a streamlined version of the Ubiquity rules from the Exile Games website.

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Episode 4: Campaign Confessions: Hindsight is d20/20 Part 2

In part two of the D&D 4e Campaign Confessions, we talk about what we liked and didn’t like about Chris’ Red Hands campaign. Fight! Actually, not really. Chris just quietly takes the criticism. Wayne says it’s because Chris is so easygoing. Lyal says it’s because Chris is a time bomb. You be the judge.

We touch on the use of flashbacks, what makes for a good villain, and character death.

Yujiro and Tom join us again.

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