RPPR Episode 166: Cool Villain Ideas
Cool villains are hard to pull off in RPGs, mainly because players tend to kill them as soon as possible. Aron, Tom, and I got together to talk about how to make villains more memorable in games. Perhaps they can’t be killed easily or come back after death (thanks raise dead spells!) or killing them won’t stop the plan. I also talk about some ideas for future Base Raiders projects!
Shout Outs
- Advanced Death Saves: A comic anthology themed around tabletop RPGs.
- Spinnortality: A cyberpunk corporation simulator. Buy the planet.
- Night in the Woods: A brilliant game about life, friendship, and existential dread. Great soundtrack too!
- The Messenger: A retro homage to Ninja Gaiden.
- Behind the Curve: A Netflix documentary about the Flat Earth movement.
Music: Boss Fight, Title, and End from Night in the Woods OST Volume 3
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:20:01 — 55.2MB)
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RPPR Episode 165: The Importance of Gear in RPGs
Many RPG campaigns inevitably have at least one session that’s more about shopping for new items and gear. Some players love it and others hate it. How important are items and associated game mechanics for them? Caleb, Jay B, and I discuss the differing philosophies of items in various RPGs, from Phoenix Command’s detailed rules to Fiasco’s non-existent rules for items. We also discuss an upcoming gear book for Red Markets, plus shout outs and anecdotes.
News: Party Fowl is out! If you haven’t already got a copy of the best duck-themed social gathering board game of 2019, then get yours today! Also, I am going to Australia next month, but RPPR will still be going strong. I will be posting about my trip on Twitter and Instagram.
Shout Outs
- Kingdom: A show about a zombie outbreak in medieval Korea.
- The Order: A show about secret society of mages fight werewolves on a college campus.
- The Umbrella Academy: A show based on the comic. Wes Anderson meets the X-Men.
- Devotion: A great horror video game about a family in Taiwan in the 80s.
- The BSA Red Markets campaign: Playtesting mass combat rules for Red Markets.
- Call to Adventure: a new board game by Brotherwise Games. Review forthcoming!
- Velvet Buzzsaw and Blurred Lines: A movie and a documentary about the art world.
Music: Automated Refrains by Dan Terminus
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:22:30 — 56.9MB)
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RPPR Episode 164: Railroading Off the Cliff
News: We have a new series on the RPPR Patreon called Mashup Mayhem. We take different things and mash them together to make RPGs. Our latest episode merges the AvP franchise with the Cthulhu mythos.
In tabletop RPG industry news, a game designer, Zak Smith, has been accused of sexual assault and abuse by four women, including his former partner, Mandy Morbid. I believe them. He has been banned from Gen Con. Please do not buy any of his books. Much more information can be found here.
Synopsis: Railroading is a problem for the table. Whether it’s the GM railroading the players or a player railroading the rest of the table by refusing to engage with the premise, it makes the game not as fun as it could be. Bill, David, and I join with special guest Rob from the Orpheus Protocol to talk about railroading. Be sure to check out the same page tool and the X card.
Shout Outs
- Sleeping Giants: a sci-fi novel about the discovery of a giant alien robot.
- Oddity Archive: A cool Youtube channel of weird obscure videos.
- Godzilla – Planet Eater: Holy shit, this was great. Worth watching the whole trilogy just for this one part.
- The Faceless: a neat board game coming out soon.
- Gloomhaven and Gloomhaven Helper: Legacy dungeon crawling co-op board game and a very useful app for it
- Game Angry: a book of GMing advice by the Angry GM
- Masked Singer: David likes it!
- Grim Dawn: It’s like Diablo 2 but different.
Song: Breakway by Starfarer
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:06:57 — 46.2MB)
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