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Go to oddfishgames.com today and check out all of the great products they have to offer.

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Season 2 Wrap

As we slide into December, literally and figuratively, it’s time to wrap up Season 2 of the Epic Adventure Podcast. Trying to get the gang together and record this time of year is tough. Family commitments, travel, work, and educational requirements take a big bite out of time and being able to just cozy up in front of your favorite holiday decorations and enjoy some downtime is very important. So, you wont hear a full episode from us until January of, sigh, 2025. 

Those numbers just keep adding up.

We have had a great time chatting about games and gaming over the last year and we look forward to another year and Season 3 of the Epic Adventure Podcast.

What to look forward to in 2025?

That’s a great question. Our list of topics grows everyday and we plan on chatting about; What to do when players don’t show, Is Roleplaying an Old or Young Hobby, How to Encourage New Players, How to run your first game, The Spy Genre, The Romance Genre, the D&D Creator Scandal, How to run Modern Games, More Business episodes, More AI episodes and of course, whatever topics you the listener would like for us to address.

Speaking of you the listener, we have a couple of ways to can reach out to us. First at the top of our show notes you can text us. That text will go into an email and we will get notified of your question or comment through our podcast host, buzzsprout. Secondly, we have a new direct email for the show. You can email the show at [email protected] We would love to hear from you and we promise to respond to all of your questions and comments.

Finally, we would like to send a rally cry to all of the small independent game designers and companies out there. We would love to talk with you about your product, design, and idea. If you own or run a small independent game company sends us an email. If you are a game designer and have a new product you are getting ready to launch, let us know. If you are looking to kickstart your new game, reach out. We want you on our show. Send us an email with your contact information and we will get in touch with you about coming on the podcast and talking about your new product. A rising tide raises all ships and want to promote and foster our hobby at every opportunity.

Well, that’s it for 2024. End of the year, and end of Season 2. Make sure you like and subscribe, share the show with your friends and help us grow this wonderful community.

We look forward to hearing from you and jumping in to 2025 with Season 3 of the Epic Adventure Podcast and remember, have an epic adventure.

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Running NPCs

“You see a long hallway made from stone, the ceiling is low and several of the supports along the walls look old and on the verge of collapse. What do you want to do?” the GM said in an ominous voice.

I looked over at Chris, “whadda ya think?”

“That’s got trap written all over it” he said.

“Yea, Lets have our NPC thief check it out and make sure it’s safe.” I looked at the GM.

He nodded his head and said “Cool” and began rolling dice…and rolling dice…and rolling dice. I started flipping through the rulebook out of boredom.

Finally, the GM spoke up. “OK, He discovered three traps and managed to disarm two of the but he failed his check on the third one. Rocks crashed down pinning him at the end of the hallway. He calls out to you in pain asking for help.”

“Oh, Wow, we got lucky there. OK, lets send our NPC barbarian to move the rocks and free the thief.”

“Great, let me make some die rolls.” The GM went back to rolling dice and I went back to flipping through the rulebook.

If that sounds familiar to you, don’t get discouraged. Non-Player Characters are important, and a necessary part of roleplaying games. We have talked about how to build them, how to create compelling NPCs and a few tips and tricks to tie them to the party, but we have never really talked about using them in a game.

If you have ever had an NPC that just magically appeared when needed, but otherwise didn’t exist, this is for you.

If you have ever had a Player come back at the end of an encounter and say, “Hey isn’t that something our NPC could have done?” then this is for you.

If you have ever gone three game sessions and forgot you had a companion traveling with you on your adventures then we are talking to you.

NPCs,

How do you run them, how do you incorporate them naturally into a party, and how do you not forget you even have them? These are all great questions and we are going to talk about that on today’s episode.

Mike, You’ve been doing this awhile, you’ve never had problems running NPCs before have you?

[Kick to Mike]

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Hello and welcome to You Heard it Here Last, where we talk about news, you’ve already heard.

https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2024/11/its-canon-baldurs-gate-3-brings-dd-to-the-vatican.html

This week is starting to feel a little cold in the underworld. You see Mike and I grew up during the Satanic Panic years, where D&D was seen as the gateway to hell. They even made movies about how it would drive you crazy…thanks Tom Hanks for that one.

So to hear that Larian Studies has sold 2 copies of Baldur’s Gate 3 to the Vatican is … chilling.

I mean we gotta talk about this one.

[Gang]

https://www.rascal.news/a-new-print-magazine-for-fans-of-classic-rpgs/

Secret Passages is an Old School RPG and Oldhammer print magazine that is crowdfunding right now. That’s right, you heard me an actual print magazine. This plans to be a quarterly print publication that focuses on the old rpg’s and wargames that we grew up on. A throwback. Now I love this idea, but is this useful or just nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake.

[Gang]

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My generation was one of the first to grow up in front of a TV Screen. I guess that’s not necessarily a thing to brag about, but it was true. Saturday morning cartoons were a big deal for me. I would get up early and grab a big bowl of overly sugared breakfast cereal and settle down in front of the massive console TV in our basement for about 4 hours of formative brainwashing. That means my comedy sense tends to come from Loony Tunes.

Or at least it started with Loony Tunes. Bugs Bunny make that wrong turn at Albuquerque always left me in stitches. As I grew up my comedic sense grew as well and the next bit of comedy gold that became my favorite was The Monkees. Mixing music with laughs was right up my alley. Follow that with my all time favorite, the Muppet Show (which I own on Blue-Ray by the way) and you can get a fair idea of my formative years.

In my teens I started to watch all of those comedies I wasn’t supposed to watch. Comedies like Our Man Flint, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, Caddyshack, and of course Porky’s. And of course once I reached that milestone of adult hood I became enamored with the darker comedies like Raising Arizona and The Big Labowski.

Finally lets not forget that my generation was the one that really started the Big Comedy Concerts. Richard Pryor: Live and Smoking, Eddie Murphy’s Raw, and George Carlin’s You are All Diseased. They were all funny irreverent, and outlandish.

What does this have to do with roleplaying you might ask?

In every group I have ever roleplayed with, Comedy has been important. Whether it’s just a player breaking up a tense scene, or specifically including outlandish and slapstick situations for fun. Comedy plays a roll.

In this episode Christina and I are going to talk about the Comedy Genre. About it’s important elements and how it can add to your roleplaying games.

Christina, you’ve heard about the comedy that entertained me growing up, What about you?

[Kick to Christina]

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Welcome to you heard it here last where we talk about news, you’ve already heard.

This week is going to be a little different. Ok, it’s going to be a lot different. My partners in crime are all busy I needed to get something up, but in reality, I’m just the voice and they are the brains. It makes news a little one sided.

But what I am good at, is consuming my favorite hobby.

So instead of news you’ve already heard we are going to talk about gift ideas you’ve already seen.

That’s right, it’s that time of the year were everyone is doing their own special gift buying guides for that table top gamer in your life. They are going to be filled with dice…Norse Foundry by the way, or dice towers, or the D&D Players Handbook. You know the usual.

Well, I have opted for something different.

I am going to give you a quick rundown of some gift ideas for the adult gamers in your life.

Some of these gifts I have and can recommend, others I just saw on the interwebs and went

Damn!

So, without any further ado here are a few gift ideas for the adult gamers in your life.

https://findfamiliarspirits.com/

https://tabletopbeard.com/

https://www.hammeredgametables.com/

https://www.coldsteel.com/swords/

https://www.reliks.com/

https://www.lastexittonowhere.com/

https://benshot.com/

So, there you have it some gift ideas for adult gamers for the upcoming holidays and remember, you heard it here last.

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Steve, Mike and Christina gather around the microphones and chat. No plan, no script, just chat.

And we ended up with a great episode.

We talk about what we would like to see in the gaming space, applying educational theory to gaming, and how to bring other cultures into gaming while still being sensitive.

It was just like getting together for a cup of coffee.

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Welcome to You Heard it Here Last where we talk about news, you’ve already heard.

https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2024/10/dd-gets-a-stout-and-bourbon-for-its-50th-anniversary.html

https://dragonsmilk.com/dnd/#yes

Well, it looks like D&D and roleplaying have grown up. When I started in the hobby it was for kids, but that’s just not the case anymore. Coming on November 16th of 2024 New Holland Brewing and Distilling Company in Cooperation with Wizards of the Coast will release “D20” a new limited edition bourbon barrel aged beer. The 11% stout is not for the faint of heart and comes from New Holland’s Dragons Milk line of beers. This limited edition is specifically made in cooperation with Wizard’s Dungeons and Dragons line of roleplaying games. 

But before you get to excited the adult beverages don’t stop there. They are also releasing Dragons Milk “Origin” Mead Cask. This is a bourbon whiskey finished in mead barrels. So, if the 11% beer doesn’t get you, the 100 proof whiskey might.

Christina, what do you think about this release specifically and what are your thoughts on the hobby “growing up” with these adult tie-ins.

[Kick to Christina]

Next, we go to what I would call more of an engagement article then actual news. 

https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2024/10/dd-five-great-undead-for-a-haunting-horror-adventure.html

Bell of Lost Souls staff writer J.R. Zambrano wrote a little seasonal article about 5 great undead for your Halloween horror adventures. Starting off the Lich, and then making there way through Banshee, Dullahan, flameskull, and finally Skeleton the article gives you some interesting ideas to add to your adventures. I was especially happy to see Banshee there. This often-overlooked screaming ghost can be a ton of fun to add to a campaign. And for those of you that have no idea what the Dullahan is, it’s your typical headless horseman. Another fantastic addition for this time of year. My only beef with the article, no Zombies. I mean let’s face it, they are the most popular movie monster for a reason. They are just damn fun.

Christina, Thoughts on Halloween monsters?

[kick to Christina]

And there you have it, all the news, you’ve already heard.

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A couple of weeks ago Christina and I talked about game reviews on our You Heard it Here Last show. I questioned to relevance of reviews and voiced concerns about making sure the reviews weren’t biased. Afterwards, I started questioning my approach to the topic. I felt like I came across very negative and left the listener with the feeling that you shouldn’t trust game reviews.

That wasn’t what I intended.

The more I thought about it the more I felt the topic deserved some more time and probably an insider to really get to the bottom of it. That’s when I remembered GenCon and Rob De Ville.

Rob De Ville, among many other jobs reviews games for Epic Table Games a game developer, publisher, and reviewer, Rob seemed like the perfect person to bring in and talk about game reviews.

Rob, Thanks for taking the time and talking to me.

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“The evil wizard stumbles backwards and falls to the ground. There is a sigh and then nothing. He’s dead.”

Everybody at the table cheered

“I search his body!”

“I look for chests!”

“Is there anything that looks expensive!”

The players all scramble for loot.

I flipped through the book

“Ok, let’s see, you find 200 gold pieces, 40 silver pieces, and 20 copper. There is a scroll of magic missile and a scroll of water breathing, oh and a +1 dagger.”

“That’s it?” I could tell that everyone was a little dejected, but I didn’t know why.

“There are 2 minor healing potions as well.”

“Ok”

That was it. No more excitement, they just marked them on their character sheets and moved on.

It took me a while to realize that I had completely screwed up loot. I didn’t look at it as part of the story, as a scene unto itself. Instead, it was just mechanical. Something to jot down on a character sheet. I had missed a great opportunity to improve the players, the game, and the setting.

I wasn’t the only one.

Handling loot seems like a very simple thing, but if not done right can screw up the game just as quickly as a TPK. In this episode Mike, Christina and I are going to talk about Loot and give you some ideas for your games.

Mike, what’s your favorite piece of loot you ever rewarded your players with in a game?

[Kick to Mike]

What about you Christina?

[Kick to Christina]