Role Playing Public Radio

News: Check out the newest Story Bundle! My book, Zombies of the World, is one of the bonus ebooks you can get if you pay the average of $8 or more. The bundle also features F. Paul Wilson and other great authors! I also wrote up a detailed post-mortem of my recent Call of Cthulhu one shot based on the indie video game, Hotline Miami. Synopsis: I asked Tom what he wanted to do an episode on and he chose the Palladium game system. So here we are. After going over our history with the system, we go over the game, from its mechanics to the setting of Rifts. It’s not pretty, but hopefully entertaining. Tom’s letter is about Rifts of course, and we have shout outs, a listener letter, and an anecdote. Shout outs: Story Bundle: Buy these ebooks! They make great Christmas gifts SSSSSSS: A 1970s horror movie about people being turned into giant snakes because of reasons. The Drift: New SG-1 Stargate novel. Interesting plot, characterization, and excellent attention to detail. A Monster in Paris: CGI animated film about a monster (in Paris). Miskatonic River Press and Punktown Kickstarter: Get Lovecraftian games and fiction! HP Lovecraft books Skyrim mod: Reading Lovecraft books in real life get you down? There’s got to be a better way! Dead Pixels: A new indie game on Steam about shooting zombies, so you know I dig it. Legend of Grimrock: Indie CRPG modeled after old school games like Eye of the Beholder. Clever puzzles and fun combat. Song: Multidimensional Consciousness by the Flavor Foundation

News: Base Raiders, the new RPPR Kickstarter is nearing completion. Help us meet a few more stretch goals!  Contribute now! Learn more at the Base Raiders website. Synopsis: Combat is the heart and soul of many RPGs but running exciting combat is harder to pull of than it seems. It often descends into tedious “I hit you you” dice rolling contests or incoherent arguments over stunting and other combat rules. How do you balance those extremes? Tom and I discuss how we keep fights interesting in a game and what players can do their part. Instead of a letter from Tom, we read two listener letters, plus shout outs and an anecdote! Shout outs: Hotline Miami: Brutal, fast-paced combat and great music. Game of the Year 2012! The Curse and Curse 2: Crazy 1980s horror movies with good special effects Miami Connection: The best movie of the 198s0. Cocaine ninjas and Dragon Sound! Drive: Brilliant neo-noir thriller about a driver who makes some poor life decisions. Kicking It: Want to run a successful Kickstarter? Monte Cook has some good advice. Godzilla the Half Century War: a Godzilla story about the poor saps in the tanks shooting at Godzilla. Invasive Procedures: You’ve listened to the actual play. Now run it for your group! Zombie Cinema: Fun little storytelling game of player conflicts and zombies. Music: Le Combat by David Cyr

News: Check out the new RPPR Kickstarter for Base Raiders, a standalone RPG about superpowered dungeon crawling! Synopsis: This seminar with Dennis Detwiller, Kenneth Hite, Shane Ivey and Greg Stolze is about historical superhero games. Arc Dream has two games along those lines: Godlike and the Progenitor setting for Wild Talents, so they have some background in the topic. If you’ve ever wanted to run an alternate history game, even without superheroes, this panel would be a must listen!

News: Support RPPR by contributing to the Base Raiders Kickstarter.Get at least the PDF and you’ll gain access to 10 preview RPPR Actual Play episodes upon the conclusion of the campaign. RPPR friend Cody Walker has his own Kickstarter up for Noir City. Help bring his comic to life! Synopsis: It wouldn’t be October without at least one horror themed episode of RPPR. Tom and I discuss what makes a horror story set in the here and now unique (2012). Isolation is no longer geographic thanks to smartphones with GPS but it is still possible to isolate players in different ways. Furthermore, we have new trends in horror storytelling, like the emergence of the creepypasta subgenre. Marble Hornets and the SCP Wiki are great material for your next horror game. Of course the real horror comes from real life. Aside from isolation, we have a growing panopticon, the ongoing global economic crisis, the rise of fascism, and online stalking/bullying. This makes the year of the Mayan Apocalypse a great place for a horror story. Plus Tom reads a letter and we have shout outs an anecdote. Read the SCP Wiki. The image on the left is from SCP 701. Shout outs: Seven Psychopaths: A brilliant film by Martin McDonagh about love and psycopaths. The Revenant: A hilariously awesome horror-comedy about an undead guy and his best friend. The Kerberos Club FATE edition: Victorian era superheroes with the FATE rule set. Metagamers Anonymous: A new gaming podcast that just interviewed me! Carpe GM Gamecast: Another new gaming podcast that interviewed me! Ultraviolet: A BBC miniseries about secret agents hunting vampires. Song: Crush from the Hotline Miami Soundtrack.

News: Base Raiders, the new RPPR Kickstarter is now online. Contribute now! Learn more at the Base Raiders website. Take the Zombie Survival Quiz at Zombies of the World Former RPPR regular Cody Walker has his own Kickstarter up for Noir City, a comic book. Check it out! The RPPR crew is just terrible at Artemis Spaceship Simulator. Watch! Synopsis: The newest RPPR Project, Base Raiders, is about dungeon crawling in a world of superheroes. But many players find that type of game boring. Dungeons are usually thought of as endless stone corridors, populated with traps and monsters but a dungeon can be so much more. You can use them in practically any genre, even modern ones. Tom and I discuss how modern ruins and abandoned places can be made into exciting dungeons for your games and what makes an evocative dungeon versus a boring one. We even design a modern dungeon on the fly for your use. Hopefully this episode will give you a new perspective on dungeons. Tom has a letter of course, and I talk about my experiences playtesting the new Dungeons and Dragons system. Shout outs: American Royal BBQ Fest: A celebration of KC style barbeque. New Tales of the Yellow Sign: A great new anthology of Carcosa-themed short stories from Robin Laws. Like, Totally: A standup comedy special from Dylan Moran Lucifer: A truly great comic about the Morningstar. A must read. Costume Quest: Fun Halloween-themed RPG from Double Fine. FTL: Spaceship based Roguelike. Very addicting. Music: The Descent by Kevin MacLeod

At Gencon this year, I was part of a panel with Kenneth Hite, Dennis Detwiller, and George Vasilakos to discuss zombies in gaming. We talked about many topics, from favorite films, to the symbolism of zombies and how to use them in games. If you’re a zombie fan, you should give it a listen! In other news, check out the new Zombie Survival and Risk Analysis Quiz on Zombies of the World. Find out how well you would do in a zombie attack!

Sponsor: For the latest news covering the entire tabletop role-playing industry, turn to Roleplayers Chronicle at roleplayerschronicle.com! Synopsis: This was our best Gencon ever and we have a lot to show for it. We won best podcast at the Ennies this year! A very special thanks goes out to every fan that voted for us. This podcast wouldn’t be anything without the support of our fans. Thanks!  I also shot some video at Gencon this year, a special four part series called The Oregon Trail Question. All four episodes are online now and feature the following game designers and writers: Part 1: Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy from Pagan Publishing, and Jack Graham. Part 2: Bob Arens, Tim Shaw, Brandon Aren and Wayne Smith. Part 3: Kenneth Hite, Robin Laws, Shane Ivey, and Seth Larson. Part 4: Steve Long, Jim Pinto, Brian Jelke, and Jolly Blackburn. Tom, Aaron, and I discuss the highlights of Gencon for us this year including new games we tried, events we attended and what loot we got from the trip. Plus, Tom has a letter and we have anecdotes of course. Shout outs: Law of the Geek: An Ennie nominated podcast – fascinating legal analysis and discussion related to geek related topics. Haste: The official Obsidian Portal podcast and Ennie nominated podcast. Jennisodes: Interview focused gaming podcast and Ennie nominated podcast. Iron GM:  The podcast of the Iron GM competition and Ennie nominated podcast. Claybourne: Excellent radio drama featuring mystery and the supernatural from New Zealand. Free download! Night’s Black Agents: The new vampire/spy thriller RPG from Kenneth Hite and Pelgrane Press. Shadows of Esteren: The French medieval horror fantasy RPG, now available in English! Fantasycraft: A new fantasy d20 RPG derived from Spycraft. Mistborn Adventure Game: RPG based on the best selling series of novels by Brandon Sanderson. Rimward: The new Eclipse Phase source book for the outer solar system. Panic Station: A new sci-fi themed Mafia style tile game. Invasive Procedures: A Fear Itself adventure set in a hospital haunted by nightmarish horrors. Mountains of Madness: a fine graphic novel adaptation of the HP Lovecraft story. Hollowpoint: A new indie RPG about hyper-violent badasses. Strange Aeons II: A Call of Cthulhu scenario anthology set in atypical times and places. John Adams: HBO mini series about the founding father. Song: Take a guess

We had a blast at Gencon 2012 and we have a ton of new material for you, starting with this interview with Kenneth Hite about his new game, Night’s Black Agents. It’s a horror/spy thriller game that Mr. Hite designed more or less to give players an excuse to slay the undead while being total badass secret agents. It’s based on the GUMSHOE game engine but has new rules appropriate for the spy thriller genre. It’s out now, so if you think you might want to try the game out, check it out here.

Sponsor: For the latest news covering the entire tabletop role-playing industry, turn to Roleplayers Chronicle at roleplayerschronicle.com! Synopsis: We’ve talked a lot about campaign structure in the past but in this episode we discuss a new way to think about your campaigns. Namely, how to make a character-focused campaign as opposed to a sandbox or central plot focused game. We use long standing TV series to illustrate the differences and use our own personal experiences to provide helpful advice about it. We also have special guest, Thad from the AP podcast, show up. No letter from Tom, but we do have three letters from listeners and shout outs! Shout outs: Soundless Mountain: Well-made demake of Silent Hill 2 Adventure Time: We’re spirits of inquiry and BLOODLUST! Juan of the Dead: This is the best zombie movie of 2012, at least so far. Cuban zombie comedy masterpiece! Artemis Spaceship Simulator: We’re going to play it for real and record it for you! Rimward: The newest Eclipse Phase sourcebook, focusing on the outer solar system. Apocalypse Codex: The newest Laundry novel from Charles Stross. Cthulhu plus computers! The League: Hilarious comedy series about fantasy football. Twilight Imperium: Insanely long and complex sci-fi conquest board game that is generally awesome. Roll20: New virtual tabletop system that looks pretty cool. Music: Hyrule’s Angel The Sleeping Beauty – Zelda cover by Game Over

News: Check out the new Raillery episodes, where the RPPR crew dusts off the Xbox version of the Warriors for hobo gang fights on the rooftops of 1970s New York. Not to be missed! Also make sure you subscribe to the blog at Hebanon Games for access to the scenarios from the No Security Kickstarter. Synopsis: Role playing games cannot simulate everything perfectly nor should they. Yet when a particular campaign or scenario visits a conflict not well handled by the rules, what should happen? How fair is it to run a game where the rules are ill-defined at best? Is it better to run a well-polished but simple game or a complex yet clunky game? Tom and I try to strike a balance between plot and polish. We also have a unique letter from Tom and a letter from a listener, plus shout outs of course. Shout outs: Lone Survivor: Awesome survival horror computer game, with a unique plot and soundtrack. DayZ: The super popular zombie apocalypse survival multiplayer mod Superbrothers Swords and Sworcery EP: Indie retro-style adventure computer game for iOS and Steam Breath of Death: A tongue-in-cheek RPG from the creator of Cthulhu Saves the World Nimona: Funny new webcomic about a supervillain’s new sidekick Alpha Flag: Intriguing mystery webcomic of a man trying to recover his mind. Dadtucks: What if the D&D cartoon was played out as a RPG scenario? Godel’s Deliveries: See RPPR regular Thad hock pizzas in a dystopian plague-ravaged world! Aliens vs Predators CCG: Play as human, alien or predator in this dead but fun card game. Music: The Plot by the White Rabbits.