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The worst pain you can feel when running a game comes from min/maxing players, the jerks who love nothing more to make unstoppable killing machines that defy the laws of man, god, common sense, physics and the damn game itself. So, how do you deal with these min/maxers? We provide a few ways to dish out the pain or rather ways to sensibly negotiate and make reasonable compromises with the player…in hell.Tom has a slightly less disturbing letter this time and of course the New World ransom is still underway! Please contribute. There’s only 10 days left.

The New World 4E D&D Campaign Primer Ransom

Shout outs:

  • Gun Show: A new daily comic by KC Green
  • Xombie: An animated zombie action horror DVD
  • The Objective: Horror movie about special forces in Afghanistan investigating a mysterious region. Great fodder for modern horror rpgs.
  • Bad For You: A George Carlin comedy special
  • Van Richten’s Guide to the Lich: Great Ravenloft supplement describing the lich. Useful for any edition of D&D as it is mostly flavor text.
  • Found Footage Festival: Hilarious and insane compilations of public access shows, commercials, exercise videos and more.

Favorite Forum Threads: Some highlights from the RPPR forums

Music: WW Z by CSHC

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:04:29 — 36.9MB)

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In: Podcast Episode
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The time of judgment is upon us. Tom and I judge a few games, a D&D mockumentary and several bad GM habits. The Assemblage of the Crystal Sphere is a indie comedy about a RPG group about to complete a 5 year campaign. Tom looks at Cthulhutech, a game of animu giant robots fighting monsters from the cthulhu mythos in the future! I talk about Paranoia XP, the newest version of the classic sci fi comedy RPG, where happiness is mandatory and commie mutant traitors lurk around every corner. We then judge a few bad GM habits, namely wasting the players’ time and hyper-adversarial GMing. Of course, there’s a new (horribly offensive) letter from Tom and a listener anecdote.

The New World Campaign Primer Ransom: For fans of the New World 4E D&D campaign, I’m starting up a ransom for the New World Campaign Primer. If the ransom is met, I will write it up and release it as a freely available PDF. Check out the page for more info on what will be contained in the Primer.

Motor Home from Hell: Buy a copy of my feature length horror comedy movie, Motor Home from Hell for only $12.50. Select Podcast Fan option when purchasing for an autographed RPPR postcard with a unique message from Tom and I or Mystery Grab Bag for an assortment of random goodies.

Shout outs:

  • Mount and Blade: A badass indie computer RPG. Archers. Mercenary swordsmen and calvary. Pillage the village and besiege the castles. That’s how you roll in Mount and Blade.
  • Silent Hunter 4: A submarine simulator that involves trigonometry. That’s a sure sign of FUN!
  • Red Rock West: A western noir movie with Dennis Hopper as a hitman with low self esteem and Nicholas Cage as a drifter looking for work. But don’t worry, Cage actually acts well! Worth a watch.


Also I have judged the old forums to be inadequate so I have created new forums. Check out these threads:

Music: The Judgment by David Cyr.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:15:14 — 43.1MB)

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Synopsis: Every gamer has their own expectations at the gaming table. Most of the time, everyone has similar enough expectations that they can all enjoy the same game but this isn’t always the case. How do you deal with people who seem to have mutually exclusive expectations of a RPG? Ultra realism or cinematic action? High fantasy or hard sci fi? We discuss how to collaborate and compromise so that the game can reach a suitable middle ground. We discuss the five hot spots where expectations are frequently violated: genre, style, violence level, maturity level and consistency in the game. Plus, a letter from Tom to Splynncryth the alien intelligence from Rifts, anecdotes and shout outs:

Shout outs:

  • Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The classic regency romance novel, with new scenes of zombie mayhem. Can Mr. Darcy find love in a zombie apocalypse?
  • Root of All Evil: A Lewis Black Comedy Central series about pop culture and evil.
  • Armored Trains: A book about the use of armored trains in war, especially WW1 and WW2, with lots of great pictures. What’s not to like?
  • Look Around You: A BBC parody of educational TV. The Water and Sulfur episodes are hilarious.
  • Lovecraft is Missing: A horror/pulp webcomic about H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos.

Music: Wagering Lights by Venn & Euler.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:02:24 — 35.7MB)

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