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In: Field Recording
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Recorded by Ross Payton

I was one of the little dots you see here on the National Mall on Jan 20 2009. I brought my H2 digital recorder (which I use to record all of the RPPR actual play sessions) and recorded president Obama’s Inauguration speech as an experiment in field recording. Unfortunately in my haste to get to the Mall that morning I did not pack enough batteries to record everything. This is in stereo and I made use of the surround sound recording feature of the H2.

This has nothing to do with RPGs or gaming but I thought you might want to hear what it sounded like on that day. I’ll have session 4 of the New World campaign up tomorrow.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:16 — 32.0MB)

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In: Actual Play
With: 6 Comments

Tides of Doom, part of In Search of Adventure
Run at Visioncon.

Synopsis: The village of Crafthaven has awoken an ancient evil buried underneath. Can the brave heroes stop the cult from completing its ritual? Oh, and this dungeon isn’t just filled with Lovecraftian monsters. It corrupts all who spend time in it. Even the poor halfling paladin who becomes a freakish hunchback by the end of the adventure. Find out if good prevails before the Tides of Doom drown them all…

I wrote the adventure for Goodman Games and ran it for some friends at a local gaming con,  hence the people wandering in at random intervals. As an after hours game, this is a more relaxed and casual game than usual. Also, this is a classic hack and slash dungeon crawl, filled with combat and traps. Very little social interaction compared to the new world campaign.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:12:01 — 142.9MB)

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In: Podcast Episode
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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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