“Memento mori.” (Remember you will die.)
-the famous phrase whispered in the ear of a victorious general during a triumph
“Shut the f**k up.”
-the less famous response
With hanami (cherry blossom viewing) still fresh in their minds, Wayne and Lyal discuss festivals and the questions you need to ask yourself when including them in your game. We also discuss Savage Rifts (guitar riff), the game that threatens to break the Internet.
In this episode, we pick the five RPGs every role player should have on his or her shelf, including which edition to have. These aren’t our five favourite games or the five most popular games of all time. Nope. These are five games whose mere possession will contribute to your overall gaming experience.
These are the criteria we used. Play along at home.
Innovative
Impact
Representative of a specific type of a game
Widespread
Paid us to mention them (Kidding. No company took us up on our offer.)
In a world with jumbo shrimp, deafening silences, and open secrets, we get that some people want realistic magic. In this episode, we discuss magic and realism. While we can’t say that you’ll be able to make the magic in your game realistic after listening to the episode, we can promise that you’ll be able to have it make sense.
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).
“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.”
Bad boys, bad boys whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when an unarmed man comes towards you?
Bad boys, bad boys whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when protesters complain about you?
Media now give you no break
Citizens now give you no break
Not soldier man give you no break (Just guns and APCs)
Not even the DOJ now give you no breaks
– New theme to Cops
In this installment of Creature Features, we discuss the police and how to play them as protagonists and antagonists.
In a world where restraint has died, rifts crisscross the Earth, opening portals to other dimensions. Glitter Boys (not what you think), Cyber-Knights (what you think), Juicers (if you think “post-apocalyptic Lance Armstrong”, then what you think), and vagabonds (what you think – seriously) battle the evil Coalition, demons, and vampires. Are you ready for infinite possibilities, limited only by your imagination?™ (Yep. Palladium trademarked that.)
In this episode, Lyal and Chris provide an introduction to the game where anything goes and everyone is armoured like a tank: Rifts.
I’m gonna pop some tags,
Only got twenty dollars in my pocket.
I – I – I’m leaving, looking to come ba-ack.
The book was fifty dollars.
“Game Shop” – Idlemore & Red Lewis
In this episode, we discuss what makes a good game store, based on some observations we made during some recent trips to North America, and what could entice people away from online retailers.
Game stores in your area:
Toronto
401 Games
Ottawa
Fandom II
The Comic Book Shoppe
Los Angeles
The War House
Philadelphia
Atomic City Comics
Schaumburg
Gamer’s World
The D&D image discussed in the introduction.
Well, hello again. Meet the Idle Red Hands for the second time. Even after two years, their stories on how they got started in gaming remain the same. From the drug-infested, Magic-playing ghettos of Philly to the cheese-eating, cheese-wearing wasteland of Wisconsin to the nuclear-fearing, sparkly-scarf-loving ground zero of West Germany, these three gamers found and fell in love with the hobby.
Listen for the answers to these questions:
Is Heroquest is an RPG?
Who was the “inspiration” for the Punisher?
How many stolen D&D products has Chris bought?
