Epic Adventure

Send us Fan Mail

On this episode of You Heard it Here Last, Mike and I talk about Chaosium's contest and the upcoming Fallout TV show.

Send us Fan Mail

I can remember it like it was yesterday. October, 1976, Sunday night, 7pm.

I was already dressed for bed and I settled down in front of the TV.

“When you wish upon a star” played from the speakers and the opening credits of “The Wonderful World of Disney” played across the screen. This was a normal Sunday night for me and it is the reason I am a huge Kurt Russell fan to this day.

But this night of television was going to be very different.

This night was going to change me forever.

The music swelled and the screen was filled with stage curtains in blue, lights like waves splashed over the opening credits as the title card “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” played across the screen.

That movie started my love of Science Fiction. The next day I checked out the Jules Verne book from the library and when I finished that, I went back for more. The Journey to the Center of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon, Mysterious Island, and Around the World in Eighty Days just to name a few.

Since then, Science Fiction has been my go-to when I am reading, watching TV or films, and gaming.

The Science Fiction Genre has been described as the “Literature of Ideas” and it’s one of the most versatile and expansive genres in existence. From the fantasy landscapes of J.R,R, Tolkien, to the time travelling HG Wells, to the Ringworlds of Larry Niven and the depths of the human mind from Neil Stephenson, Sci-Fi can do it all.

On this episode Christina, Mike and I are going to talk about the Sci-Fi genre and how to bring it to life in your roleplaying games.

Christina, do you remember your first exposure to Sci-Fi?

Send us Fan Mail

This week we talk about Larian Studios announcing that they will not be making any more Baldar's Gate 3 Content and Converse jumping on board the D&D train.

Send us Fan Mail

Roll for Initiative!

To some, it’s the purpose of the entire game. To others it’s the moment of dread.

We have talked about the history of roll playing games before, growing out of the wargaming simulations of the 60’s and early 70’s.

Wargaming Simulations, you know … Combat.

So, the early roleplaying games focused heavily around combat. The game mechanics were designed to encourage and promote combat. 

Kill monsters, get experience points. 

That can be a lot of fun and many people are drawn to roleplaying games for the combat.

Decades ago, I remember our party stumbled across a group of Lizard Men escorting a Hag. Before we knew it, we were rolling for initiative. Six hours later we finally put the last monster down having lost two of our own in the process.

It was a blast, and exhausting.

But today, the roleplaying experience is much different.

Today games tend to have a heavier focus on narrative and storytelling. You are just as likely to spend six hours at a ball, dancing and drinking while trying to convince a local lord to join your cause as you are duking it out with the Lizard folk.

Combat has morphed from the reason to play the game to just another element in the game. A six-hour combat slog is just as likely to see your players headed home, bored and not interested in returning as it is to excite them.

Balancing combat with the rest of the gaming experience is critical.

On this episode Christina, Mike and I are going to talk about running combat in roleplaying games and give you some tips and tricks to keep the action flowing and make sure everyone stays involved.

Christina, while my early gaming experience was very combat heavy, yours was a little different, wasn’t it?

Send us Fan Mail

First up on You Heard It Here Last we have a very cool announcement. Modiphious games has picked up the license to create the Discworld Roleplaying game. We haven’t seen a Discworld rpg since the late 90’s with Steve Jackson Games. Christina, what do you think about Modiphious picking up Discworld?

https://www.polygon.com/tabletop-games/24084600/discworld-tabletop-rpg-board-game-modiphius

Next on our list is a new RPG news site called Rascal. Rascal is a brand-new RPG news site. It’s independent, a little alternative, and definitely rogue. Mike, have you had a chance to check this out and if so, what do you think?

https://www.rascal.news/

That’s it for this episode of You Heard It Here Last. Catch you next time.

Send us Fan Mail

“[Sam] fell and came heavily on his hands, which sank deep into sticky ooze, so that his face was brought close to the surface of the dark mere. There was a faint hiss, and a noisome smell went up, the lights flickered and danced and swirled. For a moment the water below him looked like some window, glazed with grimy glass, through which he was peering. Wrenching his hands out of the bog, he sprang back with a cry. ‘There are dead things, dead faces in the water,’ he said with horror. ‘Dead faces!’”

This excerpt is from JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. I know that’s probably obvious to most of our listeners but what likely isn’t obvious is the above passages reference. While Tolkien might have been spinning a fantastical yarn about a fantasy conflict, what he was really writing about was his experiences in World War 1 and the above passage clearly refers to the Battle of the Somme one of the deadliest battles in all of human history.

Typical table top roleplaying leans heavily into the war and military genre, but over the years that DNA has been lost and today’s gamers miss some tremendous opportunities to bring to life amazing games by going back to the roots of roleplaying and really diving into those military and war tropes.

On this episode Mike and I are going talk about the military genre and ways to bring those roleplaying ideas into your games.

Mike, I know you are a massive Tolkien fan. Were you aware of the huge influence of World War 1 on his writings when you started reading Tolkien?

Typical War Tropes to add to your games.

1. Battle Scenes and Action:  Describe the bigger battles, what’s going on across the battlefield. Sweeping descriptions between rounds.
2. Historical Context: Strive to accurately depict the historical context, settings, and details of these wars. Draw from real world battles for your fantasy fights.
3. Character Portrayals: For an NPC death to be meaningful you have to get to know him first so that when a player puts their hand in a pile of goo that was once their comrades face it will mean something.
4. Camaraderie and Relationships: Down time should be special and allow for building relationships with NPCs and other players. Loners don’t last in war.
5. Anti-War Themes: There are great opportunities to dive into things like conscientious objectors and pacifists. Showing the horrors of war can make for great roleplaying opportunities.
6. Leadership and Command: You can play the hapless soldier forced to take orders or even the commanding general sending troops to their deaths. There is a lot of leeway here.
7. Home Front and Civilian Perspectives: focus on the experiences of civilians affected by war, including the challenges of living in war-torn areas, dealing with displacement, and the emotional toll on families. Down time at the village should reflect how a community runs during conflict. Business as usual can be very jarring to a solder or adventure fresh from the battle.
8. Post-War Consequences: Some war movies delve into the aftermath of conflict, depicting the challenges of rebuilding societies, addressing trauma, and reconciling the effects of war on a personal and societal level. Reconstruction era was one of the most contentious and heartbreaking times in American history. Tremendous opportunities in a long campaign.
9. Visual Realism: War movies often strive for visual realism, using detailed sets, accurate uniforms, weapons, and equipment to provide an authentic portrayal of the historical period and conflict. Do your research.
10. Patriotism and National Identity: Some war films highlight themes of patriotism, sacrifice, and national identity, exploring how individuals come together to defend their countries during times of crisis. The key is to always give them something to fight for.

Send us Fan Mail

On this episode of you heard it here last we have a couple of tidbits to discuss.

First, foundry VTT has officially partnered with Wizards of the Coast to offer D&D 5e. That’s interesting? Mike, you are a big Foundry fan…thoughts?

https://foundryvtt.com/article/dungeons-dragons-arrives/

The next piece of news is the canceling of Joe Mangenellos live action Dragon Lance series. He has been teasing it for over a year, but now it’s officially dead with Hasbros sale of dots One Entertainment arm to Lionsgate. Christina, were you a fan of Dragonlance?

https://www.polygon.com/24066458/dragonlance-tv-show-dead-joe-manganiello-margaret-weis

Send us Fan Mail

S2 EA How to Manage your GM

“Dude, I am so sorry you gotta work for that guy. He is the worst.”

“It’s not that bad. Actually, we get along really well, and he’s the first boss who’s ever actually listened to my suggestions.”

I think we have all found ourselves at one time or another dealing with a boss or manager that for some reason things just didn’t click. We will often blame them and fail to see that it takes two to tango.

When you dig into it, usually the issues are combinations of personalities, motivations, communication styles, and sometimes luck.

Now we roleplay for fun, so we never find ourselves sitting down at a gaming table and quickly realizing that for some reason we just aren’t working well with the GM?

Sorry, I should have given you the sarcasm alert.

We have all found ourselves at a gaming table where we struggled getting along with other players and occasionally the GM. I have found this is especially likely when we are already friends with the GM.

Learning how to manage your game master is a critical skill for good gaming tables and it’s not nearly as difficult as you might think. Practicing good communication skills and a few of these simple tricks can go a long way to greatly improving your game sessions.

Christina, have you ever had to manage one of your GMs?

Points:

1. Show up ready to play (be on time, have equipment {pen, paper, dice, character sheet})
2. Know the basic rules (you don’t have to know them all, just the basics like dice mechanics)
3. Know the rules that apply to your character (very important in crunchy games)
4. Introduce yourself to other players, Don’t make the GM do all the social work.
5. Let the Good Job’s flow. Congratulate other players and the GM on good ideas and challenges
6. Don’t be sneaky. (Explain your complicated plan to the GM including the overall goals)
7. Don’t argue at the table. (Never argue at the table. Argue after the game session in private)
8. Support the GM Decisions and encourage the other players to support the decisions as well.
9. Take Notes!
10. Remember Rule 0 (The GM has final say)
11. Help the GM look up rules, but don’t read them out loud, use page numbers.
12. Pay attention to how the GM communicates. Don’t interrupt a speech!
13. Provide feedback (remember constructive criticism, always end on a positive)
14. Share the costs (books, snacks, software, etc)

Send us Fan Mail

You Heard it Here Last

[Insert Intro]

Recently D&D Beyond released 2023 Unrolled: A Look Back at a Year of Adventure this article breaks down the stats from users of D&D Beyond in 2023. The results are interesting especially if you enjoy data. Mike and I love data.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1648-2023-unrolled-a-look-back-at-a-year-of-adventure#Species

Here are a few that jumped out at me. Average Age of Character Created = 28, Most Popular Species = Human (beating the elf by almost 200K), and the Most Popular Class = Fighter.

Let’s just say I would have lost the bet. This really surprised me. What about you Mike?

[Kick to Mike]

Wrapping up something Christina and I talked about a couple of weeks ago. Evil Genius Games settled their lawsuit with Netflix. But we are still not getting a Rebel Moon TTRPG. 

https://www.enworld.org/threads/evil-genius-games-and-netflix-settle-rebel-moon-ttrpg-lawsuit.702261/

The following is a joint statement prepared by us and Netflix relating to the recently resolved litigation between us.
 
 “The parties are pleased that they were able to amicably resolve this dispute. Netflix thanks Evil Genius for their hard work and professionalism.”
 
 We will not be releasing a Rebel Moon game, but stay tuned for more amazing Cinematic Adventures and an upcoming sci-fi project. And thank you again for your amazing support!

What’s that mean Mike?

Send us Fan Mail

Pacing

My player characters entered the room and the Evil Wizard rose from the throne.

“How dare you interrupt my plans” he snarled.

Everyone roll for initiative.

This was supposed to be the crowning battle in the adventure. An incredible, nail-biting conflict where anything could happen.

It turned into a 6-hour slog and by the end, half of the players had bailed for a variety of reasons.

Or should I say one reason.

They got bored.

A challenge game masters face is keeping the game interesting, moving forward, and keeping players involved. It is more commonly referred by its movie and novel counterpart.

Pacing.

Narrative pacingis the speed at which a story unfolds. Pacing can be thought of as the tempo of a narrative. Narrative pacing may result in a story being called slow or fast-paced.

Just because a story is slow doesn’t mean it’s bad and just because a story is fast doesn’t mean it’s good. So, when we talk about good pacing you have to keep it in context.

Is the game designed to be an Action Adventure? If so, it better move along quickly.

Is the game designed as an Exploration story? We can take our time.

Is the game a Thriller with lots of roleplaying? Well then, turtles are going to win that race.

Since pacing is such a huge challenge for game masters Christina and I are going to talk about it’s importance and give you some tips and tricks to make sure your games a paced properly.

Christina have you ever had problems with pacing in one of your adventures?

Pacing Tips:

1.      Pacing should match the game style. Action = Fast Paced, Combat = Fast Paced, Thriller = slow paced, Investigation = slow paced, Horror = slow paced.

2.      Pacing is subjective and based on feeling. So use your body language to trick the players.

3.      Character interaction slows things down. Encourage that when appropriate and discourage when you need the pace to pick up.

4.      Know your session length and watch the clock. Each game session should have a bit of action, a bit of suspense, and a bit of character interaction.

5.      Watch your players. If they look bored, they are bored. Pick up the pace.

6.      Clocks are great for picking up the pace.

7.      Social events are perfect for slowing things down.

8.      Don’t be afraid to ditch the rules. Rules heavy games kill pace. Specifically Initiative. Initiative is the death of pace.

9.      Avoid 3rd act resolutions for every side plot. Resolutions bring the game to a halt and then you have to ramp up tension and momentum again. 

10.  The short and long rest mechanic in D&D is the worst thing to ever happen to a roleplaying game. The greatest pacing killer of all time.

11.  When the roleplaying gets repetitive it’s time to shake things up. 

12.  If you are running an action-oriented game then cut to the next scene quickly. Describe in less then a minute how the players have moved from one scene to the next and then turn it on again.

13.  In fast paced games avoid description and use tropes. In slow paced games like thriller and horror take the time to set the scene including in depth descriptions. Use all of the senses.

14.  All games should build throughout the episode. End on a high point, never a low point or it will feel like the game has fizzled out. We want them eager to come back next week and play. This is why the cliffhanger was developed.

15.  When creating an adventure make sure that each scene propels the plot in some way.