Dice of Doom

In this gripping episode of the DoDcast we discuss our first impressions of Eclipse Phase, debate what to do when good rules go bad (or, in Paul's case, what the hell to do when you stuff up) and we look at polarising roleplaying games into left and right. This last topic is a revisit of an idea that I originally posted a while back in an attempt to help us better understand our players and the games that we play.

We also take the time to thank our loyal readers/listeners for their kind generosity in shopping at Amazon through our link. Thanks guys for allowing us to purchase Pathfinder, Traveller, Basic Roleplaying and Hackmaster.

In this episode of the Dice of Doom podcast we review Dragon Warriors through hopefully not particularly rose coloured glasses. We discuss the question "Total Party Kills:Who's to blame?" and what's more, identify exactly who it is. We also, as part of Play a New RPG Month, are offering you the chance to win your Character a set of Steak Knives in game*. That's right, we will write the rules, compose a short note to your GM and email you a certificate of authenticity that we scribble up if you let us know what your group is playing for the month of October

In this episode of the Dice of Doom podcast we review Spirit of the Century, talking about our experiences with stunts and aspects. We also discuss our first impressions of playing Dragon Warriors which is a flashback from our gaming past. As part of our discussion on Dragon Warriors we get sidetracked (egads! who would have seen that coming!) and we spend quite a bit of time discussing how rules describe combat, should they describe combat? and whether it's up to the players to look after that aspect of the game or not.

There is a lot going on in this podcast, so instead of writing my usual introductory blurb on this one, I thought I would do a list instead.

* We issue commands to Play a New RPG for the month of October

* We discuss using riddles and puzzles in your game and whether or not they are a useful tool in your GMing belt

* We debate another question from reader Disemvowel where he asks us what our perfect system would be in terms of individual mechanics from various systems

* We answer questions from Samaldanach about whether or not randomness is useful in a roleplaying game and a related question from Beefgriller about randomness and dice mechanics in roleplaying games

There are references to an article we wrote a while back on polarising roleplaying game between left and right style systems (much as we do political ideologies) which you may find useful to read before listening (if you haven't read it already).

In this episode of the podcast Dwayne regales us with stories of how a game he was running got off the rails (literally), and we talk about ways to get things back on track (bear with us, the intro takes a little while on this one...). We also answer a question posed to us by reader Disemvowel. He asks us "Could a GM control the HPs of the players in a game to promote better roleplaying." We also summarise our thoughts on the recent, and very controversial, guest posts on the role of the GM (at least until we get distracted by something else that is...).

In this action packed episode of the podcast we discuss ways in which to deal with a bad GM (mostly by talking about what NOT to do…), the differences we've experienced in running short term games as part of our gaming experiment vs the normal long term games that are usually played and we answer questions about gaming accessories and dice from Donny on our Facebook page and Symatt on Twitter.

This week we discuss our first impressions of Spirit of the Century and walk through some of the steps required to build a pulp character in the game, as well as the possibilities of adding the Aspects system to other gaming styles. We also answer a listener question from Symatt, namely, "Which do you prefer, an established campaign setting like Eberron, or one that you make yourself."

In this episode of the Dice of Doom podcast we conduct our first Q & A, taking four questions from listeners and readers. The questions we discuss are:

Question 1: If a player cheats on a dice roll should a big deal be made of it, or should it ignored - asked by Symatt

Question 2: What can you do to deal with difficult players who have bottomless pockets and backpacks and who refuse to fail any dice check - asked by Andy Horton

Question 3: Do you restrict a player's ability to purchase certain items based on their level, or if they have the money, do you just let them buy it - asked by IvPalmer (note, the discussion on this topic inspired the Monty Haul post)

Question 4: How can a GM encourage players to be more descriptive in their play? - asked by Symatt

In this episode of the podcast we review the venerable and iconic game GURPS (Generic Universal Roleplaying System). We also, in a first, include a conversation had about the game at the conclusion of the final session with the entire gaming group where we go through and rate the game on Character Generation, Combat System, Rules (other than combat) and Overall Fun.

We also answer a listener question from the guys at Roving Band of Misfits. They ask, "Can you discuss the idea of having two different RPG groups playing the same adventure with opposing goals."

Just a note about the roundtable conversation: Due to the nature of how it was recorded, this portion of the podcast does not have the same level of production values that we usually keep to in our podcast. We felt some people would find it interesting, so we have included it as it offers the opinions of our entire gaming group, rather than just those of the podcasters.

As we have just gone past the halfway point for our Grand Gaming Experiment we look at our ratings for the first six games, what criteria we used, and how they fared. We also discuss how to develop more rich and useful character motivations and backgrounds to guide their actions throughout the campaign. We look at making meaningful decisions about character background and also making sure that it fits with the general direction of the GM's campaign and the other players around the gaming table.