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Synopsis: We’ve been talking about adventure and campaign design lately, so we thought it would be appropriate for an episode on horror campaigns and how to run them. The pacing for a horror campaign is different because characters in these games tend to wear down through attrition. Thus, you have to take into account their reduced capabilities when designing adventures or plan for a new way to insert new player characters when the existing ones die or go mad. Furthermore, less is more when it comes to horror. A slight aberration from the mundane is often more terrifying than random tentacle monsters. Tom did not write a letter but we do have shout outs and anecdotes.

Shout outs:

Song: Forest of Fear by Bob Dean

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:18:25 — 53.9MB)

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Synopsis: Adventure design for long term campaigns is different than designing for a one shot scenario. Keeping up with the entirety of a complex ruleset is impossible for a campaign so you must determine what rules to keep track of and what to ignore. Adventures have to be geared to specific player characters. You can’t keep adding on new elements into the campaign. Instead, you must provide closure for the plot elements you do introduce. We discuss all of these topics and more. Furthermore, Tom has a new letter, shout outs and more.

Shout outs:

Song: League of Extraordinary Adventurers by Sounda

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:23:32 — 57.4MB)

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Synopsis: Adventure design is a complex topic so we’d thought we would delve into it once again. In this episode, Tom and I discuss the difference between good design choices and style choices. While good design is applicable to any genre of RPG scenario, it is possible to make choices in creating an adventure that only work under certain circumstances. The choice to emphasize one aspect of a game over another isn’t necessarily right or wrong. It’s a style choice. Hack and slash versus political intrigue? Style. Dungeon crawling versus mass battles? Style. Tom also has a new letter entailing the virtues of various cinematic firearms.

Shout outs:

Song: PonPonPon De Floor mashup (special request from Caleb)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:30:19 — 62.0MB)

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