By CWR
Reviews, Rants, and Old School Gaming
-- Description -- I had the distinct privilege over Father's Day weekend to meet up with Lungfungus - author of Actual Dungeon Mastering and the Melancholies & Mirth blog - to have a beer and chat about gaming until my wife...
-- Description -- Do you time your players' actions in combat? You should! And here are three reasons why - from my table to yours, direct through the earbuds. Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/ Want to get in on the conversation,...
-- Description -- Ghouls - the iconic paralyzers and low-level party enders: capable of wrecking shop even on a mid level party! Or... are they? I revisit the rules as worded and cross reference them to concepts in Chainmail, revealing that...
-- Description -- Call in show - listeners debate the fine points of adversarial play, as well as toss in some tokens for how prep influences their games - or vice versa: how their games have influenced their prep. Then -...
-- Description -- Talking about prepping for your game. How much is too much? How much is too little? And how much can you learn from the mistakes of someone who has gone entirely off the deep end before? Like what you're...
-- Description -- Having spent some time figuring out adversarial referees - what would then make a player an adversarial player? Exploring some experiences, ideas, and behaviors that may - or may not - make a player into an enemy instead...
-- Description -- "I've been playing for 45 years and we never played that way back in the day!" A common refrain for long-timers trying to discourage playstyles differing from their own, I explore the possibility that the arguer might be remembering...
-- Description -- Happy Thanksgiving! Catch up and call in episode: talking about mercenaries, advancement, but mostly - maps, tokens, and VTTs. Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/ Want to get in on the conversation, yourself? Send in a voicemail on SpeakPipe: https://www.speakpipe.com/WhisperingGMPodcast ...or...
-- Description -- User feedback focused on the use of maps - in the campaign, in the dungeon, in real life, and in virtual - as well as the implications of maps and all of the above on hirelings and henchmen....
-- Description -- Listener feedback exploring character advancement - first, talking a bit about gold for XP, classic D&D;, and how procedural generation facilitates OSR dungeon design and frees your mind to make more interesting experiences; and then, moving into alternative...
-- Description -- Vanishing Tower Jay is back to defend his honor! Spar once more with the metaphorical mapper: where he makes his case once more for maps as communication tools - not as physical artifacts! Like what you're hearing? Visit the...
-- Description -- There has always been a divide between Role Players and Roll Players - but what about Role Players and Players of a Role? This episode delves in to what "role playing" meant - or would have meant...
-- Description -- A call from the Pink Phantom posits a true conundrum. Does gold for XP create a creative railroad for player interaction? Listen on to hear my defense of Gold for XP as the ultimate de-railer. Then, some call...
-- Description -- Exposition on the importance of gold for experience, and a quick glance into the method behind the madness. Simply put: Gold for XP is the Best Way to Be. Then some miscellaneous user calls - pacing, mapping, and adversarial preparation! Like...
-- Description -- Further discussion as requested and as recieved in prior episodes: what's more important - crunch or flow? Some insights and experiences from listeners. Part two of call-in/response. Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/ Want to get in on...
-- Description -- Stirred up some interest with the mapping episode! Y'all called in, so the conversation continues! Part one of three podcast episodes: so if you hear someone sounding like it's not their first call; it's probably because it's not!...
-- Description -- New topic, new name, same spirit! Talking gaming, there is a perpetual debate between how many rules you need or how much crunch you prefer - but are we asking the wrong question? Do we actually care...
-- Description -- Finishing up the feedback from the call backlog - the last of the OctOSR and some new calls between then and now. Generating more questions than we answer, but that'll keep the conversation going! Like what you're hearing?...
-- Description -- What is the difference between building a character and building a character? What do your players expect out of you - out of your game - and how does it impact how you run? Several callers with...
-- Description -- In a back and forth, conversational style exchange with author and artist Jeshields, we tackle adversarial play - ranging from DM to Player interacts to, more importantly, Player to Player and Human to Human. Also spicing things up with...
-- Description -- Mapping! An essential part of the OSR experience - by request, how do I - as a referee or game master - how do I describe rooms and hallways in an in-person or Theater of the Mind game...
-- Description -- Henchmen, Combats, Battles, and Balance! OSR and OSR-Adjacent commenters build on the OctOSR conversations surrounding several key topics which don't frequently function in the modern experience as they are written in the original books. Like what you're hearing? Visit...
-- Description -- Further responding to calls and conversations between October of 2022 and today. Couple recurring heroes mixed in with a new voice! Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/ Want to get in on the conversation? Hit me up on Anchor: https://anchor.fm/clerics-wear-ringmail/message ...or...
-- Description -- Finally an episode! Kicking off season three with responses to the massively successful OctOSR podcast and media drive from October of last year. Wide range of topics - some of which you may not even need to re-listen to...
-- Description -- Responding to a thought by Daniel at Bandit's Keep regarding plot. Then, answering a couple call ins - old and new - by James of MindWeave and Jason of Nerd's Variety Cast. -- Show Notes -- 00:00 - Intro 00:49 -...
- - Description - - Answering a prompt from a friend of the show about guilds: why you should hate them too. Disagree? Drop me a voicemail! https://anchor.fm/clerics-wear-ringmail/message Theme music by Michael Ramir C, courtesy of Mixkit.co (https://mixkit.co/). - - Show Notes - - 00:00...
OctOSR - Day Fifteen: Pick your Players
OctOSR - Day Fourteen: Suit Your Table
OctOSR - Day Thirteen: Getting Into a Game
OctOSR - Day Twelve: Prep vs Play
OctOSR - Day Eleven: Read the Rules with a Clean Slate
OctOSR - Day Ten: The Donner Party!
OctOSR - Day Nine: On Abstract Combat-Fu!
OctOSR - Day Eight: Regarding the Moose Head
OctOSR - Day Seven: Regarding the Ming Vase
OctOSR - Day Six: Cannon Fodder Henchmen?
OctOSR - Day Five: On Player Mapping
OctOSR - Day Four: Forget Game Balance
OctOSR - Day Three: Heroic, not Super Heroic
OctOSR - Day Two: Player Skill not Character Skill
OctOSR - Day One: Rulings over Rules
- - Description - - Experiencing Chainmail! I respond to some questions from a listener and community member after talking a little about #OctOSR, what I'm doing with #OctOSR, and an invitation to you, the listener, to participate. Want to get in...
- - Description - - Holy Call-Ins, Batman! Calls this week for feedback on the last couple episodes, primarily focusing on player skill, the application of player skill, player engagement, and metagaming - with a little bit of thinking outside the box...
- - Description - - Joe Richter of the Hindsightless Podcast drops a formitable challenge: define the difference between Player Skill and Metagaming - so I sit down with a formitable Dungeon Master, Rick Stump of Harbinger Games and the Don't...
- - Description - - Naval battles! How cool are naval battles and how much cooler would it be to incorporate them into your game? In response to a prompt from Rufus the Rust Monster - I talk a little about The...
- - Description - - The long-awaited (or, at least two week late) award show episode! Where we go through the callers and entrants to the Clerics Wear Ringmail Spring-Summer Transitional Convert-A-Monster Contest! Want to get in on the action? Drop me...
- - Description - - Support Aaron Koelman and family. - - Show Notes - - 00:00 - The Whole Show - - Link - - Event Announcement: https://goodman-games.com/blog/2022/06/26/support-aaron-koelman-charity-auction-on-july-8/ PayPal direct donation: Send To: [email protected] Memo: "Aaron Koelman Charity Auction"
- - Description - - In the wake of some recent collaboration with World of Weirth, I was privileged to get my hands on a copy of The Underground Architect's Dungeon Ecology - a primer for making more naturalistic ecologies in...
- - Description - - I go on a bit of a rant about immersion. Although something had gotten my goat a couple weeks ago - I made a point to let it simmer so as to present a rant that...
- - Description - - As promised, Stephen Smith of Purple Druid fame cordially joins me to talk shop and to tell us about the World of Weirth - his project based off of the Low Fantasy Gaming engine but adapted...
