Episode Archive

Descriptions on Demand in RPG’s

Descriptions on Demand in tabletop rpg’s. We’re not always comfortable, especially in a new game, when the GM gives us the talking stick and asks us to make something up on the spot about their game world. Here’s an article that references this approach: https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/44891/roleplaying-games/gm-dont-list-11-description-on-demand So… what do we think about this? From Roger Brasslett...

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Making Thieves Interesting

Making thieves in tabletop rpg’s more interesting is going beyond just picking pockets and opening locks. Inspired from a post from Grotonomu. Announcements Virtual Gamehole Con event registration and badges available now. Heroes Save Villages, charity game on August 29th at 4pm cdt on Hobbs665 Twitch channel,staring Jason Hobbs (Hobbs and Friends), Kevin Madison (Dungeon...

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Brett Takes D&D Survey

Producers of Dungeons and Dragons, Wizards of the Coast, put out a survey to better understand tabletop gamers and their preferences. Sean thinks it would be interesting to have Brett take the survey. If you have not taken the rpg survey, we encourage you to do so, but feel free to answer the questions out loud...

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Why Do Player Characters Wander Off

We talk about this all the time, the idea that player characters like to go off the map, make a choice that sends the GM scrambling for what to do – they want to get off the Sean Train and take a tour of the forested hills “Over there, that spot on the map…”  Why...

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RPG Campaign Talk

You want to run an rpg campaign. Your players roll up  characters and you do a few intro adventures but realize you don’t have anything long-term. Setting up an rpg campaign. Thanks to Tom for bringing this up. Announcements Virtual Gamehole Con event registration and badges available now. Delta Green: Music from a Darkened Room...

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Dungeon Crawls

Dungeon crawls. Confined spaces for your rpg player characters to adventure through. The concept Brett comes up with doesn’t mean it has to be a dark, dank, underground structure. Announcements Virtual Gamehole Con event registration and badges available now. Delta Green starts July 30th with session zero, tune in on Twitch.tv/gaming_and_bs at 8pm cdt Random...

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Monsters as Monsters

Sometimes, it’s ok to have monsters simply be monsters that need to be fought. Not everything the PCs go up against needs to be fraught with moral dilemmas. There are times when we treat monsters as monsters. Announcements Virtual Gamehole Con event registration and badges available now. Sean won an all inclusive copy of Burn...

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Build Your Own RPG System

The topic of GM Style has lead Brett down a potentially dangerous path – the poor bastard is thinking of building his own rpg system! *shudder* So, let’s ask ourselves – why the hell would anyone do such a thing? Announcements Chases coming to How 2 RPG please subscribe. Gamehole Virtual Con moves forward for...

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Relying on NPC’s

I’ve been thinking about PCs relying too much on NPCs. In a couple games I’ve been running/playing in, it seems like almost every time a question gets asked or a decision has to be made, the PCs say, “What does the NPC think? Does the NPC know the solution?” Basically, the PCs want to follow...

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Game Master Style

Game Master’s style, it’s not about whether a game master is good or bad. It’s about the things they do. One GM may be strict rules-as-written, another may go with the flow at the table. We all have our own style. Random Encounter Mike Watkins sends in voicemail about spell components and resources Mike Watkins...

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