Mike Watkins sends in voicemail about spell components and resources

Mike Hess comments on All About the Resources

I did not see a new thread for the “All About Resources Part 2” so I will share my comments here.

Brett’s comment after reading Edwin’s remarks in Random Encounter on both of you helping new GM’s and Players was dead on with me. Going back almost a year ago when I first contacted the podcast, and in the last year I have gone through A LOT of the past episodes and all of the current ones. One of the recommendations that has been given many times in your podcast is to keep it simple. Like Edwin said KISS, as well its best to focus on one thing at a time and improve than have a crappy game because you overdid it on things you did not know how to do. I have been taking your advice from an episode many moons ago about playing in games to learn what you like and how to play will help you GM. I have found this to be wise council. To everyone listening thank you for your comments and ideas, there are plenty of us out there that just want to start and getting to hear from you all makes this easier. 

Also @sean enjoy that Onewheel they are a lot of fun. After you get your “One good Crash” out of the way it’s smooth sailing. Just don’t look up on YouTube Onewheel crashes, it’s not healthy. 

Thanks again to both of you and looking forward to the future!

-Mike Hess

Roger B comments on tension in rpg’s

I think you mentioned such things, at least in the next episode, but Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd edition (of all things) has a tension tracker that I’m thinking about using in my 1e game. Even if nothing is said about mounting tension, watching the tracker tick up and not necessarily knowing why can cause a little anxiety.

A good link on how to use trackers: https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2009/9/18/tale-telling-tools/

Keep in mind you could use anything as simple as a d10. As long as the players see it, see you rolling it up or down in accordance with their actions or the amount of time they take to do something, and see something big happen when you reach either end of the count.

Phil comments on tension and his Mothership game

Last night I ramped up the pressure in my Mothership campaign. Threw the kitchen sink at them as they battled transgenic reptilian humanoids, and crazed androids devoted to their A.I. computer god which had locked them into the derelict colony ship they’re exploring for salvage. And that’s not even the half of it.

Everyone is stressed right out, they’re hitting stim packs trying to bring themselves down. One of the players experienced a panic check and failed. Lead to a psychotic episode where they attacked another PC with the vibechete. Things are spiraling out of control for the group.

The best part is the tension created by the game mechanics is causing them to make hasty choices in game that will lead to further consequences down the road.

It is glorious. I haven’t had this much fun running an rpg in a long time and the best part is the players are loving every minute of it. The level of excitement they express after every session is awesome.