Role Playing Public Radio

My Immortal is one of the most infamous fanfictions on the Internet. Cody reads the first four chapters, the opening of a goffik epic.  I can’t really add on to that. Prepare for the darkest, most dramatic saga of this generation. Or not.

In this episode, we have two guests, Cody and Aaron, to help us dispense advice for newbie game masters and share stories of our novice attempts at running a game. Plus the usual letter from Tom, an anecdote and an explanation of the phrase “There’s monsters in the school, Tom.” Promos Fear The Con: We’ll be there! Nerdbound: They run a campaign based in the New World. Shout Outs Team Conan! Show your support Sequart. Deep writing about comix. Rad Anthem: Incredibly awesome music video and the song is available as a free download. Fawlty Towers: A BBC sitcom starring John Cleese. Daybreakers: Vampiric cinematic gore and fun. Gomorra: A recent Italian gangster epic worth watching. Horribleville Volume 1: A collection of comics from KC Green. Highly recommended! The Burma Chronicles: A cartoonist spends a year in the worst dictatorship in the world. Song: Rad Anthem by Rad Omen.

During the holidays, we got together to record some classic fanfiction for your enjoyment. First off is Tom reciting Doom: Repercussions of Evil a classic story of horror and rocket missiles. Read the entire story below the fold. John Stalvern waited. The lights above him blinked and sparked out of the air. There were demons in the base. He didn’t see them, but had expected them now for years. His warnings to Cernel Joson were not listenend to and now it was too late. Far too late for now, anyway. John was a space marine for fourteen years. When he was young he watched the spaceships and he said to dad “I want to be on the ships daddy.” Dad said “No! You will BE KILL BY DEMONS” There was a time when he believed him. Then as he got oldered he stopped. But now in the space station base of the UAC he knew there were demons. “This is Joson” the radio crackered. “You must fight the demons!” So John gotted his palsma rifle and blew up the wall. “HE GOING TO KILL US” said the demons “I will shoot at him” said the cyberdemon and he fired the rocket missiles. John plasmaed at him and tried to blew him up. But then the ceiling fell and they were trapped and not able to kill. “No! I must kill the demons” he shouted The radio said “No, John. You are the demons” And then John was a zombie.

In this episode, Tom and I review 2009 in terms of gaming. The most memorable moments, games we played, games we wished we played and more. We also go over some of what we have planned for 2010 and Toms has some ‘anti-resolutions’ for New Years in his letter. Shout Outs Eclipse Phase Quick-Start Rules Dead Snow: Nazi Zombies plus college students FTW Russian versus fights – crazy cartoons of various people fighting to the death Tetris God – a funny video from college humor We got That B-Roll – as long as it isn’t too specific Song: New Year’s Resolution by Bill DeRome.

THE GUY WITH A JETPACK AND A HIGH POWERED RIFLE: When combat broke out he would zoom up into the air and start sniping. He had a kind of code against killing, he only killed villains if they fought back, or sassed him. Ab3’s first proper rant is now immortalized by RPPR! Listen to find out the worst heroes ever made in a horrible superhero campaign. This rant was originally posted on rpg.net.

If you are a fan of our Actual Play episodes, head over to the brand new RPPR Actual Play Podcast. It will feature a new AP episode every single week! We’ve already got over 11 hours of Call of Cthulhu ready for download. Don’t forget to comment on the episodes or post about them in our forums if you enjoy them. As you might have realized, it’s been a while since we’ve done an episode. I’ve had to move, get the Goblin Hulk PDF out and set up the new podcast feed. Fortunately, the Goblin Hulk has already gotten some good reviews, so if you haven’t, be sure to check it out.  But all is now well so we can go back to the basics: gaming advice, shout outs and Tom bitching about the announcer voice. In this episode, we focus on improving a game by talking about NPCs who aren’t enemies or quest-givers. Many GMs forget to include this type of NPC, thinking of only the bare essentials in their game, but a great game needs NPCs who just do their own thing.  I also go over some game design advice as described by Jordan Mechner which relates to the discussion. We also have several anecdotes, a rant about the POS movie 2012 and more! Shout outs: Creature Feature: The Greatest Show Unearthed – horror rock music that Tom approves of. Eisenhorn: A Warhammer 40k sci-fi action pulp novel trilogy. Very slick, bad-ass fiction. E-collapse: A new superhero RPG put out by Greg Stolze. Postmodern ideologies and super-science. Hobocon: If you are curious about Gencon, check this documentary about it. Interesting but flawed. Time Travel T-shirt: A very useful t-shirt. L4D2: The bestest vidya game ever. My Xbox Live gamertag is Clockworkjoe13 The Room: The bestest movie ever. WATCH IT. Black Dynamite: The most super-bad outta sight movie ever. Music: The Quest by David Cyr Promo: Swing and A Miss Podcast.

The Paragon Tier begins! A year has passed since the destruction of the thieves’ guild. The Water Barons now control Border Town, the second settlement of the colonial government. With their new power comes new challenges and new allies. A dragonborn sorcerer joins their ranks, played by Bill. What else happens? You need to listen to find out. The New World Campaign has continued on the RPPR Actual Play Podcast. Get a complete episode listing here. You can check out episode 14 here.

A group of prisoners has been shipped to a remote laboratory in Nazi Germany during the final days of World War 2. But when they arrive, their guards disappear and they are left to their own devices. The lab is deep within the wilderness and a raging snowstorm makes escape on foot impossible. What happened to the lab’s personnel and what is still inside? Find out in Tom’s second playtest of Divine Fire, a WW2 Call of Cthulhu scenario.

A group of vigilantes has learned about a secret project codenamed Long Stairs by the US military.  They’ve found the base and must plumb its depths to find the truth behind the mystery of all masks, both good and evil. What dark secrets will be uncovered? Who will be spared? Find out in the thrilling conclusion of the Age of Masks.

Pacing is vital to form of storytelling, yet it seems to be overlooked in role playing games. After running a dozen games at Gencon and Dragoncon this year, I realized how important a proper pace is for a RPG. Tom and I discuss the importance of pacing, how to improve pacing in a game and what kind of mistakes a GM should avoid when running a game. Plus, a new letter from Tom, anecdotes and a favorite forum thread. If you’re a fan of RPPR’s Actual Plays, please consider donating to the AP Feed ransom. Please note that the Goblin Hulk is being delayed but it will come out. Check out a preview of the cover in this RPPR forums thread. Also check out the best question ever asked in our forums. Shout-Outs Alpha-Omega: The Encountered – crazy post-apocalyptic monsters. Great art and plenty of adventure fodder for sci-fi and horror games. The Devil’s Tomb: a bad horror movie, a shameful path. Also: Henry Rollins. Kerberos Club and This Favored Land – Awesome historical superhero campaign settings for Wild Talents but enough material for use with any superhero games. Dead Man’s Shoes: UK thriller about a former SAS soldier terrorizing small town drug dealers. Fairly grim. Shark Tank: A reality TV show about haggling and bargaining. Watch it to better roleplay your next negotiation scene. Hoarders: This is the true face of insanity. Tragic, creepy and horrifying Music: War Against the Robots by Ben Base.