Role Playing Public Radio

RPPR News: We have a mirror of all of our episodes on archive.org. Catch up with our older episodes or send the link to a friend to introduce them to us.  I’ve also updated the Zombies of the World blog going behind the scenes on how I created it. Synopsis: Running a game in a timely manner is a daunting task. Many convention games fail to finish in 4 hours and a lot of players think that 6-12 hours for a single session is normal. We here at RPPR get shit done and want to help you also get shit done. How can you keep a game running without wasting a lot of time? Tom has a letter, shout outs and an anecdote from Tom’s latest Call of Cthulhu game. Shout outs: The blog of Ab3: The writer behind the Ab3 rants has his own blog with new material. Check it out! Marble Hornets DVD: One of the freakiest things I’ve seen in a long time now on DVD. Get it or Slender Man will take you. Jane’s Flighter Anthology: old flight sim. Blow up or fly Air Force One. Tenebre: Masterpiece giallo from Argento. A serial killer stalks a writer in Rome. Great soundtrack as well. The Return of Godzilla: A classic Godzilla must smash all things movie. Arkham Horror and Mansions of Madness: Must play board games for dedicated Lovecraft fans. Betrayal at House on the Hill: A new edition of this board game is out which fixes a number of errors in the first edition. Lead and Gold: Great multiplayer shooter set in the Wild West. Cheap too! The Indie Humble Bundle: Get 5 computer games for whatever price you wish to pay. Your Highness: A stoner fantasy comedy. Pineapple Express with wizards and weed. OSS Training Films: Learn how to derail trains and infiltrate enemy territory OSS style. Music: Airbrushed by Anamaguchi

Preorder my new book Zombies of the World and get a free poster and shipping! The RPPR Forums now support the iPhone and Android app Tapatalk. Post wherever and whenever you want. Go nuts! Synopsis: Every once in a while in a campaign, you need to shake things up with a big event – an epic boss fight or jaw dropping action scene that ties up a campaign or story arc. Of course, in order to make things memorable, you need to up your game as a GM. But how do you go above and beyond? Tom and I discuss ways to psyche the players up, prep for a big event and run it. Plus Tom has a letter, shout outs and anecdotes. Shout outs Operation Family Secrets: This family is nothing but secrets and lies! SECRETS AND LIES We didn’t playtest this at all: An insanely fun card game with an honest title Zombies of the World: BUY MY BOOK The Music Scene: Chillax album from Blockhead Music: My Skateboard will go on by Anamanaguchi

Immersion is a tricky element of tabletop RPGs. In order to achieve it, a GM must first design a good scenario. In this episode, Tom, special guest Caleb and I discuss how we design adventures and other related topics. The effects of a game system on immersion and how to deal with players that lose immersion in a game. Tom also has a letter and of course shout outs and anecdotes. Shout outs RPPR Community AP Podcast: If the main RPPR AP podcast isn’t enough… Elephant Men Vol 1: A sci fi noir comic series of mutated soldiers Amnesia Dark Descent: A creepy Lovecraftian horror video game. Custom dice from Ean Moody: Get awesome skull dice! Lucid Chart: Flow chart program The Brain: 80s horror film about an evil man eating brain Theories of International Politics and Zombies: Zombies are serious business Videodrome: ALL HAIL THE NEW FLESH Rebuild: A Flash Zombie post apocalyptic RTS Andrew Vachss: Incredible crime novelist and inspiration for Andrew’s Fortune Teatro Grottesco: An anthology of Thomas Ligotti short stories. Podcast Promo: Redline Theatre – radio theater podcast Other podcasts (I couldn’t find promos to play from you guys): Zero Fortitude, Drunk and Ugly and Booster Pack Song: Immersed by Allison Crowe

Jolly Blackburn is the creator of the comic Knights of the Dinner Table and one of the principal game designers behind Hackmaster and Aces & Eight. He was at Visioncon 2011 and I got to sit down with him to discuss what’s new with Kenzer Company, the tabletop rpg industry, the Old School Renaissance and of course, KODT.

Thank you RPPR listeners! The Ruins of Lemuria PDF Ransom was a success! We are hard at work behind the scenes creating many cool things for you and running games over Skype for the ransom contributors. Synopsis: Rhetoric is a divisive issue in tabletop games. Where do you draw the line between a player’s skill in speech and the PC’s ability? Tom and I discuss how rhetoric touches on game design, running a game and player vs. player conflicts. I’ve also started a superheroes campaign, using Wild Talents for the rules, and this time around we have seven players. A large group presents quite a few interesting challenges so we discuss how to run a game with a huge number of players. Shout outs Zombie Panic: Free zombie themed multiplayer FPS mod for the Source Engine The Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games: Critical analysis of RPGs By Dawn’s Early Light: Like Dr. Strangelove without the comedy. Debris volume 1 and 2: Insane montages of the most obscure and crazy  films and video footage EVER Angry Joe Show: It’s a review show. Tom likes it. Comic Jumper: Xbox live arcade game about comic books. It’s funny and pretty hard asdfmovies: funny youtube videos. The Laundry: Horror-comedy RPG based on Charles Stross’ Atrocity Archives novel series. Music: I can be persuaded by Mars

CONTRIBUTE  TO THE RUINS OF LEMURIA KICKSTARTER TO GET 10 PREVIEW AP EPISODES OR A SEAT A SKYPE GAME RUN BY ROSS PAYTON! Synopsis: Chase scenes are an underutilized element in many games. A staple of action stories but RPGs focus on social scenes and combat. This is because it’s hard for a GM to make a chase scene actually exciting. Special guest RJ joins us as we discuss ways to make a boring chase scene into an epic one. Tom does not have a letter, but we do have many special holiday shout outs and a few anecdotes. Forum Shout Outs: My Rifts Experiment: Palladium offers a grab bag of random products. I promise to run a game based on what they give me. Junk Mail Novel: Spam is like poetry, man. Ruins of Lemuria Kickstarter: Learn what kind of games I’ll run over Skype and if you have any questions about the PDF then ask them here. Holiday Shout Outs below the fold Song: Chase Scene Through DNA Wormholes by Rubber Band Banjo Fear The Boot: Thanks for mentioning us and glad you enjoy the APs! Octopus Pie: A print collection of a funny and well drawn web comic The Blob (remake): Kids die in it so it must be good! Angel Heart: A noir/horror film featuring incredible atmosphere and a young Mickey Rourke. A must see. Airplane Special Edition: The comedy classic THAT ALL MUST WATCH. And don’t call me Shirley. Slugfest Games: Makers of fun and cheap games like Kung Fu Fighting. Delta Force: Chuck Norris kills terrorists and saves America from evil. Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema – South African crime epic with some great twists Brian Regan: Hilarious stand up comic now on tour with all new material. Dragon Age Ultimate Edition: I LIKE VIDEO GAMES AND THIS ONE IS BEST Eclipse Phase Sunward and GM Screen: Brain candy for sci fi fans – fun even if you don’t play EP. Hero Lab: Great character creation software for a variety of systems. Pricey though. Near Dark: The best vampire movie to come out of the 1980s. A Song of Ice and Fire RPG: Based on the acclaimed novels. Undercover Brother: Blaxplotiation parody and a good one at that. Chessex Pound of Dice: Enough dice to murder someone! A Dirty World: The best new game (new to us) for the RPPR crew of 2010.

Synopsis: In fiction, revealing too much information right away is a sign of bad storytelling. In role playing games, it’s often essential for a good session. Game masters have to realize that what they think the players should know is often not enough for the players to actually understand what’s going on. We discuss the importance of information and how to make sure that everyone know what’s going on. Tom has a letter and we have shout outs and an anecdote. Shout outs Rise Again – a zombie novel with evil mercenaries Police Squad – a funny as hell TV comedy The Unwritten – A meta-fantasy epic comic from Vertigo Gamma World – Gonzo sci fi role playing game The Walking Dead – an amazing TV show about surviving a zombie apocalypse Forum Shout outs Order66 Tribute: A very special tribute for a very special forums member Pick the Best of RPPR: Help us pick the very best RPPR material for Youtube Pirates and Cthulhu: a winning combination! Music: The Information Age by Anthony Fiaumano

Halloween is right around the corner so we are once again talking about running terrifying games. RPGs can’t really provide shocks like film or TV, but it’s still possible to run a truly scary game by keeping a few principles in mind. Specifically, a GM should focus on presenting ambigious information, giving players some but not total control and characterizing NPCs and monsters well. Tom finally has a letter and some shout outs and a reader letter. Shout outs: Night of the Hunter: A brilliant and terrifying film blending film noir and fairy tales. Robert Mitchum’s preacher is legendary as the villain. Virus: A 1980 Japanese post apocalyptic sci-fi film. Sonny Chiba’s in it! Hard to find though. Four Dragons: A new Stargate novel written by Diana Botsford. Smother Brothers’ Comedy Hour: Comedy in an era of censorship. Funny stuff. Salvage: A British horror film with great acting and very gameable material. Ghost Stories: a horror-comedy anime series. Music: Danse Macabre by David Kempers

Morality and alignment are two of the trickiest issues in tabletop RPGs. Every player has their own perspective, beliefs and biases and they frequently come out during play. How do you deal with conflicts over moral dilemmas? We go over several possible reasons why this occurs and how to resolve it. Tom forgot his letter at work, but we do have several shout outs and anecdotes: Minecraft: A highly addicting computer game of building and violent death, still in alpha but worth the $13 The Daily Show: Earth. A book about Earth by the writers of the Daily Show. It’s funny, I am guessing. A Dirty World: Excellent film noir inspired RPG by Greg Stolze. Brian Regan: Epitome of Hyperbole. A comedy DVD from the stand up comic. Rififi: A film noir classic. A jewel heist goes awry in Paris and someone must pay the price. Citizen Cohn: A film about McCarthy’s lawyer, played by James Wood. E.S. Posthumus – Makara: Cinematic music that is perfect for gaming. Point of Order: A documentary about the McCarthy trials. Ean Moody and Violet Kirk: two great artists available for commissions. Song: Fuck Your Morals by Nothing in Return

My campaign for Monsters & Other Childish Things, Road Trip is out!  Buy your copy now. Cody has a new blog, Popgun Chaos. Read his reviews and essays about comics and bask in his glory. The Get Aaron to Gencon Kickstarter was a success! Listen to Aaron’s game. If you contributed enough to get a button or DVD, bug Aaron about it. Episode Synopsis: The newest campaign setting for Dungeons and Dragons, Dark Sun, is out and we’ve already started the new RPPR campaign. Cody reviews the book and we discuss the book’s new rules and background information. We also talk about some of the other new games we picked up at Gencon this year. Plus, a new letter from Tom, anecdotes and shout outs: Shout Outs Operation Endgame: The Office meets Battle Royale. Hilarious and violent, a winning combination! Childrens Hospital: A funny new show on Adult Swim Rubicon: A great conspiracy show on AMC. Brand new so catch up with it now. I, Zombie: A new zombie comic published by Vertigo. Great art and writing so far. Emerald Warriors: Green Lanterns fight crime. Cosmically. Or something. Visions of Suffering: a heart warming tale of gore and fear. Also, Russian. Talking with the Gods: documentary about crazy man and comic writer Grant Morrison. Wednesday Comics: Retro themed comics from the best writers and artists. Music: Dark Sun by The Curtains and Their Terrifying Story