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If you are a fan of our Actual Play episodes, head over to the brand new RPPR Actual Play Podcast. It will feature a new AP episode every single week! We’ve already got over 11 hours of Call of Cthulhu ready for download. Don’t forget to comment on the episodes or post about them in our forums if you enjoy them.

As you might have realized, it’s been a while since we’ve done an episode. I’ve had to move, get the Goblin Hulk PDF out and set up the new podcast feed. Fortunately, the Goblin Hulk has already gotten some good reviews, so if you haven’t, be sure to check it out.  But all is now well so we can go back to the basics: gaming advice, shout outs and Tom bitching about the announcer voice. In this episode, we focus on improving a game by talking about NPCs who aren’t enemies or quest-givers. Many GMs forget to include this type of NPC, thinking of only the bare essentials in their game, but a great game needs NPCs who just do their own thing.  I also go over some game design advice as described by Jordan Mechner which relates to the discussion. We also have several anecdotes, a rant about the POS movie 2012 and more!

Shout outs:

Music: The Quest by David Cyr
Promo: Swing and A Miss Podcast.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:22:01 — 75.1MB)

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Pacing is vital to form of storytelling, yet it seems to be overlooked in role playing games. After running a dozen games at Gencon and Dragoncon this year, I realized how important a proper pace is for a RPG. Tom and I discuss the importance of pacing, how to improve pacing in a game and what kind of mistakes a GM should avoid when running a game. Plus, a new letter from Tom, anecdotes and a favorite forum thread.

If you’re a fan of RPPR’s Actual Plays, please consider donating to the AP Feed ransom. 🙂

Please note that the Goblin Hulk is being delayed but it will come out. Check out a preview of the cover in this RPPR forums thread. Also check out the best question ever asked in our forums.

Shout-Outs

  • Alpha-Omega: The Encountered – crazy post-apocalyptic monsters. Great art and plenty of adventure fodder for sci-fi and horror games.
  • The Devil’s Tomb: a bad horror movie, a shameful path. Also: Henry Rollins.
  • Kerberos Club and This Favored Land – Awesome historical superhero campaign settings for Wild Talents but enough material for use with any superhero games.
  • Dead Man’s Shoes: UK thriller about a former SAS soldier terrorizing small town drug dealers. Fairly grim.
  • Shark Tank: A reality TV show about haggling and bargaining. Watch it to better roleplay your next negotiation scene.
  • Hoarders: This is the true face of insanity. Tragic, creepy and horrifying

Music: War Against the Robots by Ben Base.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:30 — 58.2MB)

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We’re back from Gencon and we’ve gathered our thoughts. It was an exhausting, exhilarating and expensive four days but well worth it. We cover everything from the trip to Indy, hotels, to the actual games we played or ran and our purchases. Tom tried out a few official games while I ran seven games, including an after hours Call of Cthulhu game. Of course the big news is that we played in a 2 part, 12 hour WW1 CoC scenario run by Adam Scott Glancy of Pagan Publishing. It was suitably epic. On top of that, we have some tips for all you con-goers including a few of my hints on running games at a con.

Shout-Outs

Eclipse Phase: Transhumanist Sci-Fi Horror Rpg. Very awesome, very pretty and well worth a look.
Mecha & Manga: Mutants and Masterminds Animu setting book. If you want school girl ninjas and giant robots in M&M, try this.
Shotgun Diaries: John Wick’s zombie survival horror rules-lite rpg. No link because there’s no website for the game.
Shard: High-concept fantasy furry rpg.
Zombie Cinema: A story game about zombies, sold in a VHS box. Very cool.
Hills Rise Wild: Pagan Publishing’s Cthulhu Mythos board game.
Mysteries of Mesoamerica: A Call of Cthulhu 1920s sourcebook for central america and has 4 scenarios.
Hobocon: A documentary about some gamers trying to survive Gencon with no cash and no plan.
Dragon Magazine Annual 2009: A collection of some of WOTC’s best stuff from Dragon magazine. Great material on kobolds and more
Grim Wars: A new setting for Wild Talents written by Greg Stolze and Ken Hite.
Damnation City: A nWoD sourcebook for cities – building your own, pulling the strings and so on.
America the Audiobook: Hilarious audiobook from the Daily Show.
I’m America and So Can You: Another funny audiobook, this one from Stephen Colbert.

Music: Untitled song from Click Clack Kaboom.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:23:14 — 47.7MB)

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