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RPPR Episode 49: Morality Role Play

Ross — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 03:50:53 +0000

Morality and alignment are two of the trickiest issues in tabletop RPGs. Every player has their own perspective, beliefs and biases and they frequently come out during play. How do you deal with conflicts over moral dilemmas? We go over several possible reasons why this occurs and how to resolve it. Tom forgot his letter at work, but we do have several shout outs and anecdotes:

Minecraft: A highly addicting computer game of building and violent death, still in alpha but worth the $13
The Daily Show: Earth. A book about Earth by the writers of the Daily Show. It’s funny, I am guessing.
A Dirty World: Excellent film noir inspired RPG by Greg Stolze.
Brian Regan: Epitome of Hyperbole. A comedy DVD from the stand up comic.
Rififi: A film noir classic. A jewel heist goes awry in Paris and someone must pay the price.
Citizen Cohn: A film about McCarthy’s lawyer, played by James Wood.
E.S. Posthumus – Makara: Cinematic music that is perfect for gaming.
Point of Order: A documentary about the McCarthy trials.
Ean Moody and Violet Kirk: two great artists available for commissions.

Song: Fuck Your Morals by Nothing in Return

RPPR Episode 31: Be A Team Player

Ross — Fri, 01 May 2009 06:43:47 +0000

In this episode, Tom and I more or less interview each other about our habits as players. Find out what can truly surprise Tom in a game or what my favorite character type is. If you want to get an idea of how to improve your game, think about how you play, what works and what doesn’t work. Also, to make up for the recent lack of content, we’ve made this episode nearly 90 minutes long. Tom has an improvised Letter, plus two new anecdotes and more.

Our favorite RPPR forums threads:

One of Tom’s characters comes to life: Oh the humanity!
A Tribute to Sir Redgar Orphanbane: Find out more about the origins of the NPC adventurer from the New World Campaign
The Cody Fan Club: We have some dedicated fans…
Omegle – For All your random chat trolling: Talk to random strangers on the Internet? Why nothing could possibly go wrong!

Shout Outs

Kenzer Company: Congratulations on issue 150 of Knights of the Dinner Table!
T-Rex Cafe: A dinosaur themed restaurant in Kansas City.
Dungeon Crawl: I’ve mentioned it before, but the new version is even better. And more addicting if that’s possible.
A Wee Bit of Revolution: Craig Ferguson stand up comedy. It’s funny.
Rifftrax: The new Twilight Rifftrax is hysterical. You must watch it.
Zombietown USA: Zombies in small town America. Also dual statted for Autoduel!
Fans, Friends and Follwers: A great book with advice on how to use the Internet to build a creative career.
Friday Night Firefight: Cyberpunk combat system. No pansy roleplaying. Just hardcore 80s style combat rules.

Music: There is no I in team but there is a me by Western Civ.

RPPR Episode 06: The Bad Player

Ross — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 00:11:49 +0000

A round table discussion with Ross Payton, Tom Church, Cody Walker and Samantha Harrel.

Synopsis: Every gamer has been touched by a very special kind of player. The bad player wrecks campaigns, breaks up relationships and causes madness with their inept munchkinism, selfish attitude, and infuriating personal habits. Two guests, Sam and Cody, join us to discuss one such player, Jessica. Her paladin character refused to fight evil and her villainous character refused to be evil. Even her attempts at roleplaying wound up with her creating a Witchblade knockoff superhero with Indiana Jones as her father. Find out how the other members dealt with her. Learn from their mistakes so you can be prepared for the next bad player you meet.

Tom reads a letter to the average Call of Cthulhu player character and a few shoutouts. First, Jonathan Coulton is a great singer/songwriter who has made his music available under a creative commons license. We’ve included one of his songs, Skullcrusher Mountain, at the end. Give it a listen. Tom has a shout out for the one and only George Carlin. Finally, Cody thinks everyone needs to check out 8-bit theater, a great fantasy comedy web comic.