Role Playing Public Radio

By Ross Payton and Tom Church Synopsis: Sometimes a game just screws up because of trivial issues. Shopping for magic items, chasing red herrings, and arguing about guns. Why does this happen? How can it be fixed? We take a look at these quirks in gaming and provide a few solutions. Also, a letter from Tom and a few shout outs. We end with two gaming anecdotes, one from each of us. Find out who Ernie Hudson is and why every detail is important in sketching a map for a gun fight.

RPPR is always expanding, so we are proud to present our first Actual Play. In the future, we’ll bring you a wide variety of games. Please let us know what kind of games you want to hear. Bear in mind this recording was made in 2005 with a simple voice recorder. However is is perfectly understandable. Synopsis: Little Fears is essentially a horror game about kids for adults. It can be very dark, but this was my first game of Little Fears so I ran it middle of the road. I based it on several of the stories in Scary Stories to tell in the Dark and More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. The setting: All of the PCs lived on the same block, so their parents got together and bought a time share at a large cabin in the woods far away from home. There is no TV and no video games. One day, all of the parents left to visit the lake. They hired a babysitter, a teen named Chad who was kind of a good ole boy. Of course, they complain to Chad that they’re bored. He tells them that being bored is better than they know. You see, Sophie’s mom once ran over a cat but it survived being squashed flat. She felt bad for the animal so she brought it to the cabin and fed it. It’s still in the basement looking for its next meal… The players (all played 8 or 9 year old kids): Mikey Athletic and outgoing Jeni, future cheerleader with cellphone Stanley: Bookworm with a beagle named Atreyiu Sophie: Tall and wants to be a cop. Overall, i think everyone had fun and were appropriately creeped by the squashed cat. It was a great monster as I could simply have it brush by the PCs to scare them. Also, the rules for Little Fear work well for the game. I didn’t explain the belief rules beforehand but I did let them use it when they figured it out on their own. Some things that worked well with the game: The Squashed Cat was a great monster because it was both easy for players to visualize and it was damn useful as a GM. Whenever they went into the house, I could just have the cat brush up next to a player’s foot since it could hide under a sofa or dresser. Having it slither over a character who had fallen down, describing it great detail (you feel a leathery weight over your face and the stench of roadkill and pee overwhelms you) I think worked pretty well. The PCs never saw it in great detail, I always made it vague and uncertain. Giving the players some breathing room so they could recover a bit helped. If I had made it nonstop scary stuff then I think the players would have gotten numb. I foreshadowed several times which helped. For example, the PCs saw the headlights of their parents’ car in the distance. Then later, the headlights disappeared, just as a ghost was stalking them.

By Ross Payton and Tom Church BONUS: The notes of the successful Hunter the Reckoning campaign mentioned this episode. If you like modern horror, there are numerous plot hooks and ideas to steal from these notes. Enjoy Synopsis: Horror is a staple of role playing games, but actually making the game scary is harder than it seems. Between creating a suspenseful mood and dealing with players who don’t want to be scared, it is quite hard to make a scary game. However, we’ve done it in the past and we share some tips for those of you want to be terrified. Also, another letter from Tom and a gaming anecdote. Shout out: DM Of the Rings is a funny web comic. Read it.

Performed by Ross Payton and Tom Church Synopsis: Every gamer has been in a game that has imploded. Why do some games fall apart? We look at how bad GMing can cause a game to not only fail but implode by looking at some of the games we’ve been in. Also, a new Letter from Tom in regards to the beloved mother of evil dragons, Tiamat and Ross talks about his new webcomic project, an adaptation of the Eye of Argon.

RPPR Episode 01 Written and voiced by Ross Payton and Tom Church Our first episode of second edition RPPRm with a wrapup of Gencon and two new segments for the show: Letters from Tom and Gaming Stories. At Gencon, we played in a Call of Cthulhu game run by Scott Glancy of Pagan Publishing, saw the sights, attended some great workshops like How to Write Adventures that Don’t Suck and loaded up on great new games.In the second segment, Tom writes to a very special friend by the name of Cthulhu which connects to our final segment, gaming stories. Find out how bad things can get in a Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign when a player character decides to murder a cultist in downtown London during the middle of the day.

RPPR has an exciting line up of new shows this spring, such as the Elitist Fuck and GM & DM. Get the preview and send us your feedback. Written by Tom Church and performed by the RPPR staff.

My pallet desires pie but what kind of pie? The patriotic fervor of apple? The esoteric revelations of blueberry? Perhaps the October dream that is pumpkin? Or perhaps the culinary dichotomy known as rhubarb? Ab3 tries playing Palladium’s darling rpg, Rifts, at a local Denny’s. Of course, between El Disgusto’s obsession with ninjas and Blobert’s Smith’s lurid descriptions of transexual singing post apocalyptic nurses, Ab3 is in more than he bargained for. Take a seat at the table for The Bad Rifts Project.The Bad Rifts Project was originally posted on RPG.net and used with permission of the author. Written by AlBruno the 3rd Performed by RPPR Edited by Chris Farmer Ab3 – Chris Farmer Weasly Crusher – Aaron Carstein Blobert Smith – Ross Payton El Disgusto – Tom Church Deviant Boy – Patrick Seth Williams Police Officer – David Norman Collateral Darren – Jason Ariciu Sam the Waitress – Karee Kimple Police Officer – David Norman

Perhaps the oldest form of communication on the Internet, flame wars are an integral part of the great conversation. We’ve reenacted a particularly common flame war archetype, gamers bitching about what era of Call of Cthulhu is best and furries. Performed by the RPPR staff

It’s the hottest new sitcom to hit the airwaves! Beholder, a horrible monster from the underdark, has moved to the big city. What kind of whacky misadventures can this lovable scamp get into? Written & Mixed by Chris Farmer Performed by the RPPR regulars Some sound effects from Freesound. Samples used from Freesound August 13, 2006 By Incarnadine (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=36298) evil_incantation.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=16119) By djgriffin (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=45941) kumi2with mantra.aif (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=20289) By LG (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=36188) Telephone.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=17405) --------------------------------------- August 16, 2006 By Heigh-hoo (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=21830) sudden_thunder.aif (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=21733) By hgavin (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=44964) Whoosh.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=14910) --------------------------------------- August 18, 2006 By Koops (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=29508) Keys_Jangle_01.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=17874) --------------------------------------- August 30, 2006 By FreqMan (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=92661) kissy sounds.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=19953) By cognito perceptu (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=57789) hammering 2.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=17012) --------------------------------------- January 6, 2007 By Erdie (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=118241) Rubbing-metal01.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=27980) sword02.ogg (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=27856) sword01.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=27826) --------------------------------------- January 7, 2007 By acclivity (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=37876) Cheer.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=22952) --------------------------------------- January 8, 2007 By inferno (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=71614) smalllas.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=18397) hvyelec.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=18381) By thanvannispen (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=13258) male_Thijs_loud_scream.aiff (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=9432) --------------------------------------- January 9, 2007 By freesound (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=173513) Mantra_Umm_ses2.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=25297) By linako (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=63088) eating_cabbage.aif (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=17477) By Koops (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=29508) Sick_In_Toilet_01.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=13652)

GM and DM deal with some common and uncommon problems. They teach both players and gamemasters how to stand up for themselves during the game. But more importantly, they also bring to light a rare but important problem, Reality Displacement Syndrome or RDS. When a game lasts too long a player can confuse the game with reality. Listen in to find out how to cure this dangerous malady.Written by Tom Church Produced by Ross Payton GM: Ross Payton DM: Tom Church Caller 1: Karee Kimple Caller 2: Patrick Seth Williams Caller 3: Chris Farmer