On:
In: Podcast Episode
With: 9 Comments

Ad: Critical Miss magazine edited by Jonny Nexus.

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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On:
In: Panel discussion
With: 5 Comments

I recorded a panel discussion of Eclipse Phase designers Rob Boyle and Adam Jury as they discussed their current plans for the transhuman sci-fi horror RPG. In this discussion, they go over planned releases, their business model and the themes behind Eclipse Phase. If you’re curious about what’s in store for Firewall and the rest of transhumanity, this would be a good listen.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:23 — 22.6MB)

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On:
In: Podcast Episode
With: 12 Comments

Zombies of the World is now available in print, PDF and Kindle format!

My book, Road Trip, has been nominated for an Ennie!

Synopsis: Bildungsroman is a fancy way of describing the ‘youth to adulthood’ genre – stories like “to Kill a Mockingbird” where the character grows from a child to become an adult or closer to an adult. Role playing games are often like these stories – characters grow from being relatively weak and naive to eventually becoming epic badasses of destiny. However, many game systems do not encourage character growth – advancement is slow, ponderous and mechanically difficult. Furthermore, most campaigns are relatively short – interrupted or abandoned for myriad reasons. If you want players to grow at a faster pace, what should you do? How is mechanical growth different from role playing growth? Tom and I discuss these issues and more. Plus, instead of a letter, Tom and I read an excerpt from the infamous rpg.net review of FATAL. It’s definitely NSFW.

Shout outs

Promo: Explodey File podcast. 

Song: Growing up and Getting out by Adam Boucher.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:13:08 — 50.3MB)

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