Delivering to O.P.C. (Yeah, you know he)
Betta’ not cry, O.P.C. (Every last kiddie)
Delivering to O.P.C. (Yeah, you know she)
Betta’ watch out, O.P.C. (Every last kiddie)
-“O.P.C.” Naughty or Nice by Nature
In this installment of Creature Features, we discuss Santa Claus. Yes, Santa Claus. Trust us. Merry Christmas.
A long time ago in a country far, far away…
It is a period of scheduling war. Having missed one upload date, Chris and Lyal are forced to record without Wayne. During the week, Disney released the trailer for Episode VII, a trailer with the power to break the entire Internet. Pursued by deadlines, Chris and Lyal race to record the episode and restore regularity to the upload schedule.
Hmm. The above might read better if you imagine the Star Wars theme playing. It might not, though.
“They hold it unlawful to talk of anything which it is unlawful to do. The most disgraceful thing in the world, they think, is to tell a lie.”
–On the Customs of the Persians, Herodotus
In this installment of Warriors, we honour the Persians by only speaking the truth about their elite soldiers, the Immortals. This means that they were probably called the “Companions” instead of the “Immortals,” and that they were regular men in purple and yellow robes instead of dual katana-wielding orc ninjas. Who knew Zach Snyder took some creative liberties with them?
Take two.
In this installment of GM Corner, we look at an important but often forgotten part of preparation: post session. This is the time to get feedback from players, assess how things went, and decide what to do next, which could include the important decision of whether or not to continue with the game.
We are without Wayne this week. What we lose in gaming insight by his absence, we gain in technical savvy (i.e., knowing that you have to press the record button to record).
GM: “You see four men carrying another man on a litter”
Player: “Ok, we go and talk to him.”
GM: “He’s 8 feet tall.”
Player: “Um, I draw my-“
GM: “Hold on. He’s on fire.”
Player: “Uh, we put him out?”
GM: “He doesn’t seem to mind being on fire.”
Much like a marriage, the key to any player-GM relationship is finding ways to keep things fresh. In this episode, we discuss how to choose and create interesting adversaries for your stories.
“I know I’m human. And if you were all these things, then you’d just attack me right now, so some of you are still human. This thing doesn’t want to show itself; it wants to hide inside an imitation. It’ll fight if it has to, but it’s vulnerable out in the open. If it takes us over, then it has no more enemies, nobody left to kill it. And then it’s won.”
-MacReady, The Thing
Our month of horror has been reduced to a week, so we give you a plus-sized episode about imposters: doppelgangers, pod people, jumpers, things, etc. Wayne didn’t know that we were allowed to read or see anything for people over eighteen, so be prepared for his tour of the young adult section of the library. We also discuss John Wick’s article “Chess is not an RPG: The Illusion of Game Balance.”
“Warriors, come out to play.”
-Cyrus, The Warriors
In the second part of our 13th Age campaign confessions, we focus on the story, which was inspired by the story of the Ten Thousand and the movie The Warriors. It was a story of heroism, with the leaders of a mercenary company leading their troops to safety (well, half of them). It was a story of camaraderie, except when the leaders complained how their troops were dead weight. It was a story of sacrifice, up until the point when one of the leaders abandoned the others to save his own skin.
We’re back in first non-interview episode since early September and are forced to talk to each other. In this installment of campaign confessions, we discuss 13th Age and Lyal’s adventure. In the first part, you’ll hear our advice on when to do Icon rolls, some examples of One Unique Thing (and an example of someone phoning his in), and our impressions of the game after playing.
We also review the 13th Age Bestiary, although it came out one week after we wrapped up our game. Timing.
Wolfgang: “It’s essentially the role-playing campaign for Pathfinder that Indiana Jones would run. Not the Indiana Jones of Raiders or Last Crusades, though: the Temple of Doom Indy. But this Indy didn’t escape and save the children. He failed. He was tortured and broken. Empty and haunted, he can’t numb the pain, but he can share it. Share it with a world of demonic cults, man-eating insect folk, fifty-foot snakes and ruined cities. Oh, and dinosaurs because everyone loves dinosaurs.
Us: “…”
-unedited elevator pitch
In this episode, we interview Wolfgang Baur from Kobold Press about his latest Kickstarter campaign, Southlands: Adventures Beneath Pitiless Sun, the game Steven Spielberg would have made.
