How We Play

This month we talk about Apocalypse World, and about the role of sex and intimacy in role-playing games. Guests this week are Mike, Anna, Colin and Jake. I apologize for the audio quality of this episode -- we're working on improving our audio setup.

• Apocalypse World
• Some people juggle geese
• Dungeon World
• Feng Shui (see also Feng Shui 2)
• Group Date
• Monsterhearts

This month we played Urban Shadows, an urban fantasy game based on Apocalypse World. We discuss pickup games, large gaming groups and game-hopping with respect to Urban Shadows and in general. Many thanks to my guests: Jen and John.

Show links:

• Urban Shadows, from Magpie Games
• Atomic Robo RPG
• The Big Red Couch

This month we played The Prison, a LARP about social class and oppression. We discuss the game, and social commentary in RPGs. Many thanks to my guests: Ashleigh, Jonathon, Amelia, Anna and Mikael.

Show links:

• The Prison
• Episode 6: The Tribunal, casting
• M vs. M
• Episode 11: Microscope, world building

This month we played Under My Skin. Join us as we discuss in-game relationships: how are they formed? How are they managed? What can we learn from this game, and what other relationship-related lessons have we learned from other games? What happens when in-game relationships interact with real-world relationships? This episode's guests are Jonna Hind, Steven desJardins and Stelio Passaris.

Show links:

• Under My Skin, available as a pay-what-you-want PDF
• Emily Care Boss' other games
• Diaspora
• Apocalypse World
• Monsterhearts
• Dresden Files RPG
• Fate Core
• Music by Jason Pfaff

In this episode we discuss Microscope, and examine how it aids in the process of world-building. What does it mean to build worlds collaboratively? What other world-building exercises are there?

Show links:

• Microscope RPG, by Lame Mage Productions
• Music by Jason Pfaff

In this episode we have two discussion segments, with two sets of guests.

In the first segment we talk about novice gamers. What did new gamers expect coming into the game, and what drew them in in the first place? What learning curves exist? What pitfalls exist for GMs and experienced players when gaming with first-timers? Many thanks to Sonya and Hermina for joining me for this segment.

In the second segment we talk about playing a game with existing fictional canon. What is it like to play a game in an existing fictional universe? What are some of the challenges when you aren't familiar with the source material? Many thanks to Marcus, Courtney and Susie for returning to the show for this segment.

Show links:

• War of Ashes
• Fate Core on evihat.com
• Fate Accelerated on evilhat.com
• Fairytale LARP
• How We Play, episode 7: Pathfinder, Fantasy Grounds
• The GUMSHOE system
• The Dresden Files
• The (old) Dresden Files RPG
• World of Darkness games
• Rob Donoghue's blog

Music by Jason Pfaff, released under the CC BY-SA license.

This month we have a special episode for you. At Fan Expo Canada Dave joined five others for a panel called Finding Your RPG Style, organized by the good people at Toronto Area Gamers (TAG). From the panel description:

Every tabletop RPGs is different, and finding the one that fits your style can improve your gaming experiences. How much do you like to prepare? What type of material do you like to prepare? Should there be a Game Master? How much control over the game and the world should each player have? Our panelists will review common styles of roleplaying, and suggest games you should play to meet the needs of your RPG style.

Note: We've tried to clean up the audio as well as possible, but there is some unavoidable noise and interference. Apologies for any unintelligible bits, but this whole discussion was so much fun we couldn't leave it out.

Guests:

• Rob Deobald
• Jonathan Lavallée from Firestorm Ink (@firestormink)
• Geoff Bottone of Saturday Morning Games
• Kate, co-organizer of TAG
• Alexander Florov, co-organizer of TAG

Show links:

• Fan Expo Canada
• Toronto Area Gamers: on Meetup, on Facebook, Google Plus.
• 1000 Monkeys, 1000 Typewriters
• Avery McDaldno
• Games mentioned:
  • D&D
  • Apocalypse World
  • Dungeon World
  • Monsterhearts
  • Fiasco
  • Critical!: Go Westerly
  • Fate Core
  • Ars Magica
  • Psi*Run
  • In a Wicked Age
  • Deliria

This month we played War of Ashes, a new Fate Accelerated game in playtest. We talk about collaborative campaign and character creation: what does the collaboration bring to the game? Does it hinder the fun at all? What do we mean by character-driven plot versus event-driven?

Guests:
• Alex
• Jenn
• Marcus
• Susie
• Jake (official heckler)

Show links:
• The War of Ashes miniatures game
• WoA minis tutorial video
• The Muppet Show: Viking Muppets
• Art credits for War of Ashes:
  • Jonathan Hoffman
  • Jennifer Bach
  • David Weinman
  • Joshua Qualtieri

This episode we played a game of Pathfinder using Fantasy Grounds, a virtual tabletop. What sorts of software do you use to make your game more fun?

Guests:
• Doug Davison
• Emily
• Tara
• Torsten

Show links:
• Fantasy Grounds
• Progress Quest
• Dungeons and Dragons Tactics (PSP game)
• Language plugin for FG
• Torsten's campaign website
• Designs by Dave
• Wiki software and providers:
  • MediaWiki
  • Obsidian Portal
  • Wikia
• Storium
• Wiimote whiteboard: original project and newer version
Augmented Reality
• Structure Sensor Kickstarter
• FG Con 5 October 17-19 2014
• Fan Expo August 28-31 2014