Will Schar of the All Roads Tavern podcast won the first Night at the Opera Delta Green scenario writing contest and I agreed to critique the winner of that contest. I asked Adam Scott Glancy of Pagan Publishing to join in the critique, so we both read the scenario A Soft White Damn. It’s an interesting piece, exploring a small town with many dark secrets. We had an interesting conversation about scenario writing, setting, and pacing.

News: Our resident Shadowrun GM, Bridget, has launched her own Patreon. Check it out to support a new game designer. We also put together a LARP version of Puppetland and put it on Youtube. Aaron is streaming on Twitch for Raillery so subscribe to find out when he’ll play next.

Synopsis: After running The Reign of Terror for Call of Cthulhu 7th edition, I started thinking about how historical settings should be used in RPGs. Bridget, who ran several Fate games set in medieval Japan, and Thad, who is Thad, come in to discuss the topic. We also have shout outs and an anecdote!

Shout Outs

Song: Ride Again by Quine

This is our newest RPPR Patreon bonus podcast series, Don’t Cross the Stream! In each episode, cast members like Caleb, Bridget, and Thad review and break down a title currently available streaming on Netflix. We then figure out how gameify it – either by creating new mechanics or random tables or creating entirely new mini-games. We also write up one of our ideas into a PDF you can use!  If you like it, please back the RPPR Patreon to access all of the episodes and PDFs today!

Song: Right Place, Right Time by Willbe.

Aaron spoke with Kyle Carty about the recent Savage Tokusatsu Kickstarter recently. They discuss the genre, the new mechanics for the game and a lot more. If this interview interests you, check out the Kickstarter today! There’s also a free test drive of the rules now on DrivethruRPG.

<span style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" data-mce-type="bookmark" class="mce_SELRES_start">?</span><span style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" data-mce-type="bookmark" class="mce_SELRES_start">?</span><span style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" data-mce-type="bookmark" class="mce_SELRES_start">?</span><span style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" data-mce-type="bookmark" class="mce_SELRES_start">?</span><span style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" data-mce-type="bookmark" class="mce_SELRES_start">?</span>Sponsor: BPB Games is running a Kickstarter for their latest project, Savage Tokusatsu, a supplement for Savage Worlds that lets you use transforming heroes, kaiju, giant robots, and more! RPPR’s Aaron is working on this project, so be sure to check it out!

News: We have a new show for the RPPR Patreon! Don’t Cross the Stream looks at a title on a streaming site and analyzes it for its gameable material. We have 3 episodes online as of this episode. Check it out!

Synopsis: I have mentioned the Picaresque genre/style several times over the years on RPPR but I recently realized we haven’t done a full episode on it. In short, it’s about sympathetic outsiders who dabble in criminality, with no real overarching plot. Sounds like more than a few RPG campaigns I’ve been in. Bill and I talk about the genre, how it can be used as inspiration for RPG players and GMs, and more. We also have shout outs and an anecdote!

Shout Outs

Song: Evening Tide by Kulpa

Even though Red Markets is out, Caleb is still hard at work designing new games and fulfilling stretch goals. He gives an update about Party Fowl, a new card game currently in development. Meanwhile I have made a few breakthroughs while working on Ruin. I now have concrete ideas on how a game should work and have made progress on character generation rules. Hopefully I will have playtest rules at Gen Con this year!

News: I am going on vacation later this month, but don’t worry! There will be a lot of podcasts this month. We also have a new system for scheduling online games for the RPPR Patreon using our Discord server.

Synopsis: There is an annual contest on the Delta Green email list for writing short scenarios. The Shotgun Scenario contest forces contestants to write the best possible DG scenario under 1500 words. It’s gone on since 2005 and last year had some great entries. Dan, David, Tom, and I read a bunch of them to discuss what we liked about them. We also have shout outs and anecdotes!

Shout Outs

Song: Tracks from the Upwind EP by 2mello

Aaron, Tom, and I traveled down to Texas for PAX South 2018 and we had a blast! I finally got to play True Dungeon and we tried out multiple games that weekend like:

We also listened to a bunch of great podcasts like:

Song: Spirits Seeking by 2mello

We’ve all been there: After hours of meticulously planning an epic campaign, our players kill the quest NPC and run off after the first shiny thing they see. The cure for this problem may be easier than you think. With your help we’ll create a world from scratch, and then we’ll crowdsource some story hooks with the audience to create a whole campaign of our own. You can steal this adventure and use it in your own game, or steal the techniques and keep your players chomping at the bit. (The map referred to in the panel is included in this post. Click on it to see a larger version)

This panel was held at PAX South 2018.

Panelists: Adam Davis [Executive Director, Game to Grow], Adam Johns [Executive Director, Game to Grow]

News: Patreon is keeping the current fee structure. If you canceled your patronage to RPPR because of the proposed changed, fear no more! Everything will be the same.

Synopsis: Labyrinths and mazes may seem similar but they diverge in one important aspect. A labyrinth has only one path to its goal (linear) while a maze features multiple paths to multiple destinations (nonlinear). Bill and I talk about designing linear and nonlinear scenarios and their place in creating great campaigns. We also have shout outs and anecdotes!

Shout Outs

Song: Old Haunts by 2 Mello