Sponsor: This episode of RPPR is sponsored by Mystical Throne Entertainment. You’ll find a variety of settings covering dark fantasy, historical fantasy, horror, Greek mythology, modern action, and sci-fi.
News: Sparkles the Unicorn for Base Raiders is now available! Get it on DrivethruRPG or through the Base Raiders store.
Synopsis: In many groups, most role playing happens between players and the GM, not between the players. In this episode, Tom, Aaron, Bill, and I discuss how to encourage intra-party role playing and when is too much. Bill also reviews the new 5E D&D book, Out of the Abyss, in great detail. Plus, shout outs and anecdotes
Shout Outs
- Night Mind: A Youtube channel that explains creepypasta serials like Marble Hornets
- Eureka: A comedic sci-fi series now on Netflix
- SciShow: A Youtube channel that explains science, like the 5 most dangerous chemicals and Turbo Encabulator.
- Delta Green Fiction: Check out Strange Authorities, Through A Glass Darkly, Denied to the Enemy, and Tales of Failed Anatomies. Great horror fiction!
- Turbo Kid: A retro sci-fi action film about post-apocalyptic Canada (?)
- Blunt Talk: A new comedy series starring Sir Patrick Stewart as a drug addicted fop
- Play Unsafe: A book of great advice for GMing
- Mythos Society Guide to New England: A useful book for running games in Lovecraft Country
- Arkham Archivist: A blog by Cthulhuchick
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:31:18 — 62.9MB)
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ermagerd
too many likes in this episode
certainly Kentucky Route Zero is one of the best things that has ever happened,
I leave you with a confusing comma
I’ve definitely found it hard to encourage RP between my PCs in some games. For some players, it’s just not a priority, since they’re primarily fixated on plot or mechanics which require interaction with the GM.
I feel like Caleb’s idea in Red Markets of vignettes, where one player plays their PC while another player plays their NPC dependent. Working out their relationship through improvisational conversation can be a great way to stimulate creativity and take the game’s storylines in unexpected directions.
I definitely would like to see you all play Drama System sometime.
to make a comment not interrupted by booze, Rag-Nerd-Rok and Fandible podcasts both do a fantastic job of unifying endless interPC rambling and plots that do end up happening. Ragnerdrok in particular is totally masterful at the Fiasco-style game–they’re doing Dungeon World and Better Angels games that are very Fiasco-esque, with limited GM prep and a lot of player improvisation and in-character planning.
My group has the opposite problem mostly. They tend to not advance the plot sometimes. Granted this is the consequence of teaching teenagers to rpg via our meetup group. Currently playing in a game that took 6 sessions to get to the plot.
Great review on Out of the Abyss, Bill. I also have to admit that the Pelgrane/Trail of Cthulhu adventure write-ups have spoiled me for anything less elegant.
I also don’t really understand those 3-5 year D&D campaigns and I’m playing in one right now. I definitely prefer to run shorter games to keep the themes more focused and the character arcs more reasonable.
I am very interested to hear RPPR try out DramaSystem. It’s very slick but it takes a little time to really get going – I found that it took a session or two for everyone to get the feel of their characters and their conflicts. For this reason, I haven’t figured out a great way to use it for one-shots yet; Fiasco is better for that.