Swede Rolls

In today's episode, Martin and Christian discuss our very own RPG theory, the Burr Principle. In short, the theory tries to explain how a character can be given more life by using their traits, backgrounds and abilities to hook them to other characters in the game.

A character with several interesting hooks doesn't need much work to stick to others and through this principle we believe that playing with others will be easier and more rewarding.

Do you have an example of when one of your characters just naturally flowed with the others' characters? Is there an NPC that everyone found easy to interact with? Let us know in the comments or send us an e-mail about it!

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Check us out on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/swedefighters or on our website http://www.swederolls.com

This week we go back to an old chestnut; roleplaying difficult subjects. Chris and Martin discuss how to tackle mature, and uncomfortable, content in your game. Topics include sex work, physical and mental abuse and the like. These elements can add drama and tension to your game if handled in a mature way, but could (and should) also easily be avoided if you're not comfortable playing stuff like that.

Keep in mind that roleplaying is supposed to be an experience that -gives- you something. If you play a game and it makes you feel bad, bring it up with your GM.

But if you'd like to explore these things, for whatever reason, Martin and Chris have some advice for you how to keep it objective and how to decompress about it. As always, a well-functioning group should be able to openly decide together if this is something for them, or not.

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Check us out on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/swedefighters or on our website http://www.swederolls.com

This week, join Toby, Fredrik and Chris as they draw deep from the well of nostalgia. The topic is cRPGs, or computer RPGs, focused mostly on late 90s early 00s, the golden era (for these boys) of cRPGs. Ultima, Fallout, Baldur's Gate and Planescape are all touched upon, not to mention the Final Fantasy series and the distinction between WRPGs and JRPGs.

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Check us out on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/swedefighters or on our website http://www.swederolls.com

After last episode, Chris got a bloodied tooth for Planescape discussions and invited Idran over for a round two.

This time we're going to zoom in on five different factions of Sigil; The Bleak Cabal ("Madmen"), The Fated ("Takers"), The Mercykiller ("Red Death"), The Revolutionary League ("Anarchists") and the Society of Sensations ("Sensates").

We discuss some of the factions' histories, their core tenets and their Factols as well as trying to draw parallels to real life philosophies and exemplars of them; Including Rick & Morty!

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Check us out on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/swedefighters or on our website http://www.swederolls.com

Joining us this week is Idran, Chris' old GM, who is here to fill us in on critical Planescape lore. Planescape, the planar setting for D&D up until 3.5, is a very well-developed, heavily philosophy/ethos focused campaign setting that allows you to play... well... pretty much anything in the planar setting.

You could be from one of the Material Planes like Faerun or Dragonlance, or perhaps you're from the Outer Plane of Law, or Neutral Evil!

The point is, the planes are some of the most creative and exciting ideas in D&D history and Idran's here to lay down the groundworks of why it's so great that 5e is (more or less) going back to it.

Here is a link to Idran's wiki: http://www.rilmani.org/timaresh/Main_Page

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Check us out on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/swedefighters or on our website http://www.swederolls.com

So your latest character just died and the GM expects you to have a new one done by the next session... what do you do?

Well, we're here to help you out! We discuss character creation on the other side of the dice. We look at how your character's past, present and future can be tools for you to use to further develop your roleplaying. We discuss NPCs, morality and the way you can play an archetype without being a stereotype.

We also discuss how the game's story can matter if you roleplay in the MMORPG, and how the storyline of the game can actually limit your prospects if you're adhering to canon (which we discussed in an earlier podcast).

We also venture into popular culture phenomena discussing everything from Call of Cthulhu to Homestuck and their influence on youth culture within the next couple of years. Overall it's a hodgepodge of different themes and subjects in relations to character creation.

Finally, and perhaps more importantly, what do you want Out of Character? This can sometimes be ignored, but it is crucial for the game that you, the player, enjoy what you're playing!

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Check us out on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/swedefighters or on our website http://www.swederolls.com

Dying in a game is par and course when it's something like Dark Souls or an MMORPG like Final Fantasy XIV. But in a Tabletop Roleplaying Game, the stakes may be higher. You've put time and effort into your character and they are, most likely, -your- character. You wrote their backstory, you rolled up their stats and you played them for all those sessions. So when Death comes a-knocking, it's perhaps even more painful than it should be.

So how do you deal with death in a RPG? And what kind of situations might give rise to that happening? Well, as per our usual answer, Session Zero might be the first step. If every player is on the same page in regards to dying then it might be easier to work it in.

Death doesn't have to be the end either. Plenty of RPG campaigns have involved trying to resurrect or otherwise bring a fallen comrade back to life. There are also plenty of built in rules for resurrection, reincarnations and, of course, undeath. Liches exist for the sole reason to live forever as undead mages after all!

Some games are even built around Death as a major factor in it. Games like Eclipse Phase or Paranoia have worked it into both the setting and mechanics in an interesting and creative way. So in many ways, PC Death, or even TPKs, can leave a huge impact on the remainder of the campaign.

A question a GM should ask themselves too is what purpose does Death serve? Unless you want to slap in the players' faces that Death comes easy and without purpose, then, like in most stories, Death plays a major part in any story. It's not a small change, it's a huge impact!

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Check us out on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/swedefighters or on our website http://www.swederolls.com

Join us as Andreja breaks down how she roleplays in Final Fantasy XIV, a game which has no official RP Server yet has some of the most vivid and deep roleplaying among MMOs today. Andreja has been part of a lore-focused roleplaying linkshell on Balmung for years now and she breaks down how the roleplaying community has grown and how it has branched depending on people’s needs and expectations. And how it doesn't take kindly to erp (erotic roleplay).

Just how do you implement the game mechanics in roleplaying? How can raiding be part of a story and how much emoting is too much emoting? How does elements like housing, gear, level and crafting work into the greater weave of a story? Fashion, after all, is one of the strongest motivator for a roleplayer and games like Final Fantasy XIV offers a lot of options for the fancy RPer. Especially gear that binds on pickup are highly sought after since doing a raid is probably the only way to get access to them.

While the mileage of the RP Quality may vary, it’s a fact that you have your own avatar in the game that acts and speaks the way you want them to. This is certainly an advantage for someone who might feel awkward or otherwise be limited in their ability to face-to-face roleplaying. It is a fact that we base a lot of our assumptions of another person on visual input so having your avatar look the way you want them to for other people really is a strong enhancement to your roleplaying.

Let’s not forget that Game creators go out of their way to implement roleplay-enhancing features in their games. Hidden areas, housing and things like that exist on some level as an enhancement to the immersion and aesthetics of the game.

One of the strangest features for MMORPGs is, however, that in a lot of ways you don’t really need a GM. The game does the mechanics for you, after all, and the role of storyteller is regularly shared between roleplayers. Collaborative storytelling is a very strong element of MMORPG RPing.

Then you have games like Eve Online, which blurs the border between Roleplaying and Real life to a strange point. A game that uses economy as a cornerstone of gameplay certainly encourages players to do things that usually goes with economy, like, say, piracy. Or long-cons.

Finally we do a little aside to talk about the importance of body language and emoting in games to reinforce the emotions behind the text you’re conveying.

So if you’re ever on Balmung and see someone from AEON or LUCKY, give’em a wave and a thumbs up!

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Check us out on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/swedefighters or on our website http://www.swederolls.com

Who here hasn't at least heard about Faerûn? Or as it's more commonly known, the Forgotten Realms? And if you've ever played World of Warcraft, you're certainly familiar with terms like Azeroth, the Sunwell or the Forsaken. And what Warhammer 40k player doesn't know that the Red ones go faster or that Horus betrayed the Emperor?

Canon means that's it's pre-established; this is the setting as it was intended by the creators. Every roleplayer and GM will sooner or later have to put themselves and what they're playing in relation to established Canon; are they following it or breaking new grounds and, if so, how much do they differ?

RPGs have a complex relationship with canon when, after all, most games these days tell the GM outright to forge new and untrodden paths; to explore their own realm of imagination unfettered by what the game designers made for them. Yet there are so many rules and limitations in your typical RPG that it's almost impossible to ignore Canon completely. And the more you learn about it, the harder it is to keep out of mind whenever the GM pulls a rabbit out of their hats and goes against what you all thought was established canon.

TV-series, movies, comics, books, everything can be said to have canon, and if it doesn't explain something well enough, Fanon will usually fill in the blanks. This can of course lead to hilarious arguments about whether or not something is proven canon (For more on this, cf. The Internet. Literally all of it.).

In this episode Max, Andreja, Toby and Chris discuss how they relate to canon in RPGs; ranging from video- and computer games (cRPG) to more traditional Pen & Paper RPGs. We discuss everything from FFXIV's Miqo'te naming conventions to the Dragonborn of Skyrim and the NPCs of Forgotten Realms.

We also touch upon why some people consider canon important, and why it's important to share a common idea of what is, and isn't canon, so that eventual conflicts can be avoided. As usual, our solution is a solid Session Zero, but even if you've already started, it might occasionally be useful to sit down as real life people and discuss these issues with each other.

Why do people Roleplay their characters in Single Player games like Skyrim? Why do we strive to create some kind of framework for our characters in games that are essentially our own, personal experiences? And why do so many homebrew RPG settings fall flat early on?

We even touch upon Homestuck, specifically the carapaces of the comic and the very narrow field of Fanapaces and roleplaying in Midnight City, the backdrop of the Homestuck Intermission.

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Check us out on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/swedefighters or on our website http://www.swederolls.com

Session Zero is a term we throw around left and right, but what is it actually?

This week on our RPG Podcast we have Martin and Daniel as guests, both weathered GMs with very different ways of storytelling and running a campaign. Together with Chris and Toby, they ruminate on what is essential for a session zero.

They touch upon many different aspects of Player and GM interaction; character creation, NPCs, player agency, character development and inter-character conflict. Your character has a flaw that you think would make for good RP? Tell your GM! Your campaign is supposed to be about some farmers leaving their old homes behind to become heroes? Tell your players!

How do you, as a group, create a cohesive narrative? Is it necessary? And how can you make it an enjoyable experience? How do you take advantage of the PC's background in building the story and how can players build their own story by learning more about the other PCs? About the NPCs? This kind of network-building helps create a strong, coherent story that helps immense the Players into the game and allows for richer and more varied plots!

A tried and tested tool for character development is a questionnaire. Martin goes into detail about how to, and how not to, write some questions to post to your players before the game properly start, as well as some advice on how to answer these questionnaires too.

Chris also goes into the surprisingly deep well of roleplaying opportunities in Deathwatch, and how even a game that is centered so much on action-focused gameplay still offers several different ways to develope your character in surprising directions.

And what would one of our podcasts be without some D&D bashing? Chris mentions the rather shallow background system for D&D (which, of course, still serve as a foundation for character development) and compares it to games like World of Darkness that counts NPCs and other forms of abstract character networks as actual resources.

There's also talk about NPC creation in general. How to build a stable of supportive characters that exist not necessarily to progress the storyline, but to add to the depths and believability of the setting as a whole.

Overall this a conversation going deeply into the Meta of RPGs. Our systems are probably not the best, and there's some banter about it, but if you're a fledgling GM looking for aide in making your first campaign, or even a seasoned Game Master looking for some fresh inspiration, this might be the Podcast for you.

We're all passionate about Roleplaying Games and we hope you feel like this at least entertained you, if it wasn't educational. If you have any suggestions or pointers, feel free to let us know in the comments below!

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Check us out on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/swedefighters or on our website http://www.swederolls.com