We were set to talk about art in role-playing games, but had to call an audible. Sean got shot at, Brett played some games, and we field some great Random Encounters.

Brett wants to talk about one of the few modules he actually runs. It’s the Temple of Elemental Evil. A 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons module by Gary Gygax and Frank Mentzer. But like many of our shows the topic morphs a bit into module design.

From Peter – Tabletop terrain. I’m not sure if you gents have tackled this topic yet. Referring to maps, Dwarven Forge, 3D printing, Hirst Arts and so on. I’m currently creating 3D terrain using Hirst Arts molds. Extremely slow process but very stunning. So…. How do we deal with terrain in our games?

Care and feeding as well as combat – how do we use mounts and vehicles in our role-playing games?

How prepared are you for your games? Hopefully your better prepared than Brett is for this podcast… but let’s say you need to run an rpg, like right now, and you’ve done no prep.  How would you do it?

Dragonlance, it was an idea by Tracy and Laura Hickman that became a D&D game at TSR. It ultimately went on to be adventure modules, books and even a movie.

Metagaming, we covered it. This is more meta terms the game master may use in a game. An example, “That’s a side quest, it’s not part of the main plot.”

“Your PC falls 120′ and suffers 60 points of damage”. No problem, I still have 60 left. Sometimes it’s a small thing that throws us off, and sometimes it’s something bigger. What are the boundaries/levels of “Suspension of Disbelief” that we’ll put up with and where does it break, and ruin a game for us? 

A while back Brett brought up the idea of running home games more like convention games – asking why we don’t do that. We’re going to revisit this topic but with a slightly different angle that I think should be more useful: Using the con game magic to bring back the wonder in your home...

Ok, so what is a small role-playing game group? What games might be played and what do you have to keep in mind when you’re playing with a small group of players.