Skills in RPGs – Episode 174

February 18, 2020 • 4 Comments

News: We are working on a new podcast called Night Clerk Radio, where we review vaporwave, dark ambient, and other haunted genres of music. Our website is live with a trailer. We plan to launch soon!

Synopsis: Skills in RPGs are an important element but many games don’t get them right. Many games have too many skills while others have no skills at all. Caleb and I talk about good and bad skill systems in RPGs and how it has changed over the years. Caleb also brings up real life skills, like rhetoric, versus their in-game equivalents.

Shout Outs

Red Thread: A book about mazes and labyrinths. Excellent if meandering.
The Testaments: A sequel to the Handmaid’s Tale
Pagan Autogeny: An indie video game about exploring a dead MMO.
Oblivion Song: A comic about rescuing people from alien hellscapes
Japanese Video Game Obscurities: A book about weird video games
How To: The XKCD creator explains how to do various tasks
Medical Police: A sequel series to Children’s Hospital. Very funny!

Song: Harps and Dreams by Indreba

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:06:17 — 60.9MB)

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What is a Mega Game at PAX South 2020

January 22, 2020 • 1 Comment

News: The RPPR Patreon has a special offer. Back at the $10 level by February 3 and get RPPR B-Sides Volume 5! This new volume contains 20 actual play episodes featuring Zweihander, Red Markets, Delta Green, and some unique games in development! Learn all the details in this post.

Synopsis: What is a Mega Game? Mega Games are a mash-up of Traditional Roleplaying Games, Board Games, and LARP, with a bit of war-gaming thrown in to spice things up. They are large scale activities played in one session over several hours, involving as few as twenty and as many as hundreds of different players.

This panel was recorded at PAX South 2020 and hosted by Dallas Mega Games.

Panelists below the fold.

RPPR Episode 173: Alien RPG Breakdown

December 17, 2019 • 4 Comments

News: Birk and I are working on a new podcast called Night Clerk Radio. We have a Twitter account set up to make future announcements. We plan to launch it early next year. Stay tuned!

Synopsis: Alien the Role Playing Game is out, based on the long-standing franchise. So how does it stack up? Birk and I have read through the rules and I’ve run a scenario (Chariot of the Gods, soon to be on RPPR Actual Play) so we have some thoughts on it. Find out what we have to say about it and whether its’ worth playing.

Music: Selections from the Music d20 Patreon.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:49 — 41.3MB)

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