Tabletop Shop Talk

Hey y’all!

So I’ve started a new blog for the podcast. You can find it at http://partyofonepodcast.tumblr.com/. A lot of the stuff I post there--prep work for new episodes, inspiration images, that kind of stuff--will be stuff I used to post onto this blog. I’d change the name of this blog, but because it’s a Secondary Tumblr and not a Primary, it lacks some of the social interaction features I want. So I’m making a new blog.

I don’t know that I’ll post here much moving forward (but I hadn’t posted here in awhile anyway, so that’s probably not surprising for you?)--I might still sometimes, but I dunno. But I’m going to leave TTS up, and probably link to it in the future. I like a lot of the stuff on here, the September of Short Adventure Archives in particular. I love this blog, and I’m proud of it, and you are all cool friends with good taste and I like you.

SO I DID A THING.

I started an RPG podcast, focused on single-player games, and the first episode is live!

Go listen to me play a Luchariffic game of Fate Accelerated with Noah Houlihan of the Plus Two Comedy Podcast.

It'd be for 2-4 players. One player would be Creative. They'd come up with a series of matches, results, times, and storyline beats to address/advance during the show. The other players would be the commentary team (a mix of play-by-play, color, and guest commentators), and have to collaboratively commentate this fictional wrestling event.

Creative would be the only one with a match list in front of them, so they'd be "directing" the show remotely, telling players when things occur (in the same way that, say, Vince McMahon directs commentary from the headsets on RAW).

Then--to simulate the chaos in the ring, and also different commentators sitting in on different creative meetings--there'd be Chaos Cards. Each player writes down a random event--a set of moves, an unexpected twist, something going wrong, etc.--on an index card. Once per minute Creative draws a card and reads it aloud. So every commentator knows SOME of the things that will occur, but not ALL of them. So there's always someone prepared, & someone surprised. The idea here is to reflect JR & Jerry Lawler's style of commentary--where one person knew the storylines and one person was completely surprised.

No? Just me?

I can’t speak to its awesomeness or lack thereof, but you may want to investigate [Sprit of 77](drivethrurpg.com/product…)

I forgot about Spirit of ‘77! I saw the KickStarter awhile back. I haven’t checked out the rules yet either, but it was definitely written with that kind of movie in mind, so it might be just what I was looking for. And it’s Driven By The Apocalypse, so I’m already partial to it, based on Dungeon World.

Also, the supplement, Wide World of ‘77, apparently includes a Story called “The Nature Boy,” and a specialty role called “King of the Ring,” which, yeah, alright, let’s do this.

is there an RPG out there that simulates, for lack of a better word, 70s trucker flicks? Smoky and the Bandit, Hooper, Convoy, Cannonball Run, etc.?

Those three things are almost always what I want in a game, so you're in luck! I would really recommend one of two games--coincidentally, probably my two favorite RPGs.

Dungeon World - Dungeon World fits all three criteria to a tee. It's very lightweight by design. Everything you need to know as a player is listed in your playbook, almost everything is based on the same mechanic (2d6+Stat, 10+ is a success, 7-9 is a partial success, and something happens on a 6-, not necessarily a failure). It doesn't use minis, grids, or anything like that, making it a great online game. And it is PACKED with some of the best DMing advice you'll find--I learned a ton from it, as someone who had DMed for years before reading it. Seriously, I'd recommend reading it whether or not you end up playing (which is easy, since the whole thing was released under Creative Commons) just for its DMing advice.

Fate Core (or Fate Accelerated) - My favorite RPG of all time, full stop. Fate Accelerated is a little easier to teach than Fate Core, since the rulebook is 40 pages, but they're both really great reads (I like Evil Hat's description of the two as "FAE gives you the rules in as little space/time as possible. Fate Core takes more time to read, but it gives you the why BEHIND the rules). A little tougher to do over Skype, because of how Aspects work (it helps to see them laid out in front of you--which you could easily do via Google Hangouts or Roll20), but it's still really lightweight, and intuitive, and easy to pick up as a DM (like Dungeon World, it's all built on the same set of mechanics--an idea they call the Fate Fractal, or Bronze Rule.) Fate is also available as a (really-nicely laid out) SRD, and is also a Pay What You Want PDF. Added bonus, Fate has, as my brother once described it, "the best character generation [he] ever took part in."

Those are my two initial recommendations. I'd say look those over, see if they feel "right" to you. If not, let me know what turns up your nose at them, and I can probably throw out some other recommendations.

And if so, I wish you happy gaming!

a D&D campaign made up entirely of simpsons references

invasions from the Land of Wind and Ghosts

The Realm of the Mole People