The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is a delightful story by L. Frank Baum with an intriguing mythos. Rankin-Bass produced a claymation adaptation, which is where Katie and Jonny first discovered it. There have been a few other incarnations as well, including a Japanese anime.

Jonny always thought it would serve pretty well as a fantasy RPG setting, so when Katie suggested a one-shot game based on it, he heartily agreed. There will be two “adventuring parties” if you will- the immortals of the forest of Burzee, and the children of the laughing valley of Hohaho. Katie will act as a storyteller for the children, and Jonny for the immortals. The two groups will have separate adventures leading up to a unified finale. We will have pre-generated characters. We’ll be using the Reign system, which is based on the One-Roll Engine.

(Note from Ross: I was a player in this game but I forgot the names of all of the players. If you were there, post in the comments and I’ll update it.)

 

 RPPR Actual Play: The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus [285:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted by Ross at 5:33pm
Tags: christmas, fantasy, ore, reign, santa claus
3 Comments »

Synopsis: Because of the holidays, we’ve decided to take a look at the most neglected of subjects in gaming: happiness and joy. Given that the average RPG is a angst ridden world of grim and gritty darkness populated by hideous monsters and slightly less monstrous player characters where the typical encounter is a savage bloodsoaked battle to the death, what place does happiness or optimism have? Using examples from our own games, we talk about how adding even a lone bright spot in a game can add great value and provide awesome emotional payoffs for the players.

Shout Outs:

The Adventure of Lucky Pip and the Incomparable Ithamar Conchie: a $1 game of storytelling and fortune cookies.
Left 4 Dead: I like zombies. They are kawaii :3
The Majesty of Colors: A brilliant little flash game about a giant sea monster.
Night of the Cephalopods! An awesome and free PC game about evil octopi and procedural Lovecraftian narration.

 

 RPPR Episode 25: Save vs. Warm Fuzzies [55:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted by Ross at 5:02pm
Tags: advice, christmas, happiness, joy, procedural content
9 Comments »

There is trouble in Bethlehem….

Thousands of crows have taken roost in the woods surrounding Bethlehem, NH, mercilessly attacking anyone who tries to enter the forest. The human population is outnumbered more than ten-to-one, and the birds are growing more bold every day. Can the investigators solve the mystery behind this unnatural infestation? Can they save the town of Bethlehem from a disaster of biblical proportions?

Murder of Crows contains everything a Call of Cthulhu group needs for an evening’s worth of Mythos-inspired fun, including pregenerated characters. It is the first in an innovative new series of Call of Cthulhu scenarios and supplements from Super Genius Games.

This scenario was recorded at ShaunCon, so it’s a bit noisy. Fortunately our Zoom H2 recorder managed to get most of the voices of the players fialry well.

Keeper: Jon Hook

Buy the scenario at RPG Now

 

 RPPR Actual Play: Call of Cthulhu - A Murder of Crows: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted by Ross at 6:34pm
Tags: Actual Play, call of cthulhu, horror
6 Comments »

When we role play, we almost always imagine an action scene, whether it’s kicking down dungeon doors and slitting the throats of whatever lies beyond them or kicking open vampire coffins and staking whatever lies inside them or kicking down giant metal doors with giant robot legs and stomping whatever lies beyond them. So no matter what genre you prefer, action is part of it. But how do you run a great scene or fight or base an entire scenario or campaign in an action adventure genre? Of course there’s also a letter from Tom, an anecdote from our listener Captain Scraps and some shout outs:

• Fallout 3: A most worthy post apocalypse interactive saga. Play the damn game already.
• The Something Awful Traditional Games Discussion Forum: lotsa good discussions here.
• Punisher vidya game: Punisher shoots bad guys. Virtually!
• Shauncon: We went there. It was neat.

Music: Various by The Inkspots courtesy of Archive.org. These are public domain. Horray!

 

 RPPR Episode 24: GO GO GO! Action Movie Cliches and You [59:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted by Ross at 1:48am
Tags: action, advice, combat, fallout 3
3 Comments »

Ben Baugh aka Bailywolf on the RPG.net forums is the mind behind Monsters and Other Childish Things, a game near and dear to my heart. In this interview, we talk about game design, his other work, some of the more interesting threads on RPG.net and of course Monsters.

I apologize for the poor audio quality. Skype and my internet connection hates me. I think the content of the interview makes up for it though.

 

 Standard Podcast [56:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted by Ross at 12:36am
Tags: game design, monsters and other childish things, ore, writing
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Horror deserves more than one episode, so we’re going to keep talking about it. We cover everything from foreshadowing scares to some of the best and worst horror games we’ve been in. If you want to improve on terrifying players, grab from our bag of tricks and treats.

Music: More number stations from the Conet Project

Shout outs:
Dead Space: Insanely freaky 360 game
Fatal Frame 1: Another freaky survival horror video game
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
Book of Unremitting Horror

 

 RPPR Episode 23: Halloween Tricks and Treats [70:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted by Ross at 12:17am
Tags: advice, campaign, horror, number stations
9 Comments »

As an experiment, I posted two actual plays on Oct 22. However, most of you didn’t realize that. So, I am reposting the Fear Itself Actual Play so those of you who subscribe via Itunes and other RSS podcatchers will get it. If you already downloaded the Fear Itself AP, do not download this.

This Fear Itself game is a follow up, based on the aftermath of Profane Miracles using the Fear Itself RPG. A new drug appears in the LA ghettos, one that transforms innocent humans into ravenous monsters. Two normal residents, a priest and a loner try to survive the horrors of the streets and the things the lurk in the shadows.

If either game interests you, take a look at the Pelgrane Press GUMSHOE website for more info.

 

 RPPR Actual Play: Fear Itself [165:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted by Ross at 5:00pm
Tags: fear itself, gumshoe, horror
8 Comments »