What if you didn’t need anything more to have the best games of your life? What if you didn’t need another product, another tool, or another set of rules? What if everything you really need to have a cracking session, whether with your friend or online, was already in reach?

Today’s episode is inspired by my recent reading of Jamie Smart’s hugely interesting book, “Clarity” - the second edition of which was published this year, ten years after the first, and which I heard about through a recent interview. Basically, this is me working out some thinking about what I read... out loud.

Big thanks to Jason from the Nerd's RPG Variety Cast for the call-in!

Game on!

"Clarity" by Jamie Smart (2023): Clarity: Clear Mind, Better Performance, Bigger Results: Amazon.co.uk: Smart, Jamie: 9780857084484: Books

OR https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clarity-Better-Performance-Bigger-Results/dp/0857084488

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What’s the deal with Rolemaster? Why did we love it back in the 1980s and does the recent release of Rolemaster Unified invigorate us to play it again?

Back in Episode 1, I declared that I was embarking on a new quest. It’s a journey into the deep past to find a new pathway towards enjoying the games I like to play in the way that I most enjoy playing them. Today, I take a trip back to 1980 and revisit the fantasy roleplaying game we played the most in that formative decade. Then I take an initial peek at the latest edition of that same game and contemplate what I might do with it.

Massive thanks to Hobbs, Jason, and Frank for the call ins.

Game on!

Rolemaster Unified: Rolemaster Core Law (RMU) - Iron Crown Enterprises | DriveThruRPG.com

OR https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/416633/Rolemaster-Core-Law-RMU

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Roleplay Rescue Theme by Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore:

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Bonus episode leaked from the Patreon to give listeners a taste of the raw and unedited horror that is the GM's Journal. A few folk have asked what the GM's Journal is all about so I thought the best way to respond would be to share one episode by way of a taster. Remember: the Journal is a very candid snapshot of my life as a gamer, is recorded throughout the week into my phone, and is nothing like the polished typical episodes. Listener discretion is advised!

This week saw the new King's Coronation over the long Bank Holiday weekend and me taking a bit of a break from some stuff... like recording podcasts.

Lots of interesting stuff to talk about, including what felt like the worst session I've run in ages which proves that I am a giant hypocrite when it comes to my GMing skills. That said, I learned from it and am focusing on the changes that matter to me.

Thanks to Jason and Brian for calling in! 

Thanks to everyone for their support!

Game on!

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Dear Diary Theme Music by TJ Drennon

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Having spent quite a few episodes now revisiting and developing my own return to a more coherent practice with roleplaying games, I thought I would make a brief pitstop and talk about the Roleplay Rescue community. 

The community is the life-blood of this podcast. Without it, I would be alone and isolated. I would possibly have stopped playing, but even if I was playing it would be alone - my home group died with the first lockdown in 2020 and has not recovered. Friends who gathered at my table are all scattered, some to other parts of the country. There’s a lot of goodwill and support for Roleplay Rescue, despite us being a small fish in a vast ocean of tabletop roleplaying games chatter and content.

Massive thanks to Justin, Jason, Barry, Frank, Menion aka Rob, and Xenoris for the call ins and messages. Please keep them coming!

Game on!

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@[email protected]

Roleplay Rescue Theme by Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore:

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Hello Rescuers! Here's a bonus! I have this vague idea that if I can produce a few episodes then I might release them on their own podcast feed, Roleplay Rescue's Solo Tales.

This episode follows on from the main Roleplay Rescue Season 12, Episode 2 entitled “Crag’s Ruin”. I began wanting to explore the roots of my own hobby by revisiting my first imaginary game-world.

This episode picks up where that one left off. Because this is a personal solo game, I’m going to be using a variety of tools and methods to create a game that I enjoy. In other words, while I am sharing the game in the hope of inspiring others to try solo play, I am also very much playing the game for my own enjoyment.

Thanks to Barry, Jason, Jonathan, and Runeslinger for the call-ins.

Thanks to Jon from Tale of the Manticore and Simon from Legend of the Bones for their inspiration.

Thanks also to Tabletop Audio for the additional music and ambient sounds:

Tabletop Audio - Ambiences and Music for Tabletop Role Playing Games

OR

https://tabletopaudio.com/

Game on!

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Roleplay Rescue Theme by TJ Drennon

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Today I have another of my conversations with a friend within the roleplaying games community. This episode we dipped into talking about characterisation in our RPGs, especially around NPCs. My guest, Simon Williams, is a British artist and illustrator as well as being the creator of the Legend of The Bones podcast, a hybrid Solo Old School Dungeons and Dragons actual play and dark fantasy audio drama. 

Big thanks to Simon for coming back to the show!

Legend of The Bones Podcast:

https://legendofthebones.podbean.com/

Game on!

Roleplay Rescue Details:

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Roleplay Rescue Theme by Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore:

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Following the release of Episode 5 to the RPR Patreon, Patron Brian called in with a long series of seven questions about GURPS which I felt were worthy of a full episode to respond to. Not only are they truly excellent questions, they were also deeply insightful and are perhaps the kinds of questions that many listeners unfamiliar with GURPS would find interesting. I also think that, putting aside the specifics of GURPS, these are useful questions to ask of any game system.

Because the questions relate to my chat with GMShadow, Barry from Shadow of the GM podcast, I decided to invite Barry to record his own response to Brian’s message. What follows is, then, a mash-up in the following sequence: first we’ll hear Brian’s message, then we’ll hear Barry’s reply, and then I’ll tackle the seven questions in sequence and give my own answers. I hope you find this useful.

Thanks to Brian for the call-in and to Barry for replying too.

Game on!

Roleplay Rescue Details:

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Roleplay Rescue Theme by Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore:

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In Episode 5, Barry aka GMShadow chatted with me about the need for a simple introduction to GURPS. Since then, we’ve been collaborating - along with other interested folk from the RPR Discord - to create Simple Dungeon GURPS. We have a working draft of Simple Dungeon GURPS and the playtesting is underway. In this episode, I wanted to share the progress made and the basic shape of that set of methodological guidelines which leverage the GURPS rules system. 

Massive thanks to Frank for calling-in!

The Simple Dungeon GURPS Draft is here: Simple Dungeon GURPS – Roleplay Rescue’s Blog

OR

https://roleplayrescue.com/2023/03/18/simple-dungeon-gurps/

Game on!

Roleplay Rescue Details:

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Email:

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Roleplay Rescue Theme by Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore:

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Do you ever find yourself not physically starting something but instead spending inordinate amounts of time and effort reading, researching, and trying to decide where to start? If not, I envy you. It's a particular problem I have and been struggling with again. In simple terms, this is the Resistance in a pretty unsubtle form.

Thanks to Matt for the call-in at the top of the show, giving me a nudge on a topic I blogged about some weeks ago: The Fear of Starting.

This episode, I aim to share that original post and then develop some answers to the problem I was facing only a few weeks ago… but which has plagued me for the past 50 years.

It turns out that the answer may lie in a shift in thought.

Massive thanks to Matt, Jason, Frank, Jonathan, and Anthony for calling-in today!

Game on!

Find out more about "The War Of Art" and "Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants To Be" via https://stevenpressfield.com/home

OR

Steven Pressfield Online | Steven Pressfield

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Roleplay Rescue Theme by Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore:

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Following my recent conversation with GMShadow, my good friend Barry from The Shadow of the GM podcast - which you can listen to in Episode 5 - I’ve been delving back into both the Great Library of GURPS and rekindling my love of the megadungeon. This episode, I want to talk about the reasons why I’ve returned to the Dungeons of Thaarl - my own megadungeon - for a return to the classic fantasy Open Table format. 

The Alexandrian blog post, “Game Structures Part 3: Dungeoncrawl”:

https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/15140/roleplaying-games/game-structures-part-3-dungeoncrawl

Dungeons & Dragons Red Box (1983):

http://www.dmsguild.com/product/116578/DD-Basic-Set--Players-Manual-BECMI-ed-Basic

http://www.dmsguild.com/product/116619/DD-Basic-Set--DMs-Rulebook-BECMI-ed-Basic

Peter Dell’Orto’s “Dungeon Fantastic” Megadungeon Mapping Best Practices Part I:

http://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-megadungeon-mapping-best-practices.html

Big thanks to Jason for the call-in!

Roleplay Rescue Details:

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Email:

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@[email protected]

Roleplay Rescue Theme by Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore:

https://taleofthemanticore.podbean.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.