Our fifth episode of the Play on Target podcast has gone live on the site. This episode's topic was sources of inspiration. I, and my fellow hosts, each chose three printed sources that we use for inspiration when designing campaigns/adventures/etc.
My three sources of inspiration are:
GURPS sourcebooks in general. I've never run the game, but the sourcebooks are crazy-full of flavor and atmosphere.
The Writer's Guide to Fantasy Literature. I picked this up as inspiration for fiction writing but found myself applying it to designing sessions more than anything else. It talks about common fantasy tropes, how to keep them fresh, etc.
The Atlas of Middle Earth. This one started as inspiration for running MERP 2E. However, the book is so well-done and in-depth that it works great for reference when designing your own worlds.
For the other hosts' sources, you'll have to give the episode a listen. Check it out!
Our fourth episode was released earlier this week (Wednesday, 2/13). In this episode, we discuss crowdfunding and how it ties in now with RPGs. The majority of the episode covers Kickstarter specifically, but other crowdfunding sites (such as indiegogo) are mentioned as well.
The episode covers what exactly crowdfunding is as a concept, advice on how to tell good ones from bad, when to flip the switch on your own Kickstarter if you're thinking about it and more. This is a hot button topic in the gaming world right now and each of our hosts (save myself who, at the time of recording, had literally NO experience with crowdfunding) has his own opinions on the topic.
This is my first turn in the host's chair. I greatly enjoyed it and it made sense that I should be the one tossing out the questions due to my lack of experience on the subject. Overall, this was an excellent episode and if you're thinking of looking into backing (or even starting) your own Kickstarter, I highly recommend giving it a listen.
I should note that this episode was recorded months ago and therefore many of the recent developments with RPGs and Kickstarter had not yet happened (most noticeably the Fate Core blowout from +Fred Hicks and +Evil Hat Productions, though they were mentioned in regards to another project that had done well). We do plan on revisiting this topic somewhere down the road to see how things have evolved since this episode.
Changeling Lost Vegas Session Seven: House of Cards (Redux)
+Lowell Francis ran the seventh session of his Changeling: the Lost campaign this last Monday (yes I skipped a session; I thought the sixth session wasn't recorded for some reason due to players not being there). After the motley members carve out their own little niches in the Hollow, they prepare to go visit Shark-Fingered Princess to take the job from the Autumn Court.
John W. Smith, who has NO schoolboy crush on their Autumn contact, uses his automata-crafting skills to build her a small metal seed that blooms into a rose when activated. Amber decides she needs to be able to get away in a hurry and obtains Morosa's assistance in creating a tear-away skirt for when things grow too hectic for the UFOlogist.
John pulls a fast one on Morosa and claims shotgun on the ride over to the Autumn Court, which of course is even more binding among the fae. We accept the job from Shark-Fingered Princess and go in search of Grey, the Autumn Courts late Smith. John decides our group should hit the Smith's workshop first. Unfortunately, my Smith becomes distracted on the way in by "broken" traps and repairs them all just as the group heads inside. Within the workshop, little of use is found and the group returns.
Our third episode went live today. In this episode, we discuss the top ten list (at the time of recording) of RPGGeek.com. We then each choose a game on the top ten list (or in my case #11) and discuss why we feel it belongs where it is. Lastly we all take a moment to mention a game we think deserves to be in the top ten but is not.
This is a great episode overall, although I am not overly pleased with my contribution when it came time to discuss Deadlands. It's a game I love with a lot of unique mechanics (especially for the time in which it came out) that is still popular today.
Unfortunately, I was having an off day during the day we recorded and some of my not feeling hot carried itself over into the recording. Thus, there was a bit more stumbling over words on my part then you generally catch on the other episodes. Minus that though, I feel we have released another quality episode and I recommend people give it a listen!
Changeling Lost Vegas Session Five: Bookie's Odds
Last night, +Lowell Francis ran the fifth session of his Changeling: the Lost campaign. During this session, my character (John W. Smith, aka. Nameless; a Wizened Smith) discovers a letter in a hollow made of glass and a second tarot card. The motley has more fun at Teodoro's expense (poor creepy guy), our ogress companion shatters a glass boa constrictor and the group negotiates (poorly, according to John Smith) to gain use of the Hollow for ourselves. Oh, and John gets to use his handy-dandy stabby poison-removal device on Andi. In addition, he gives an extremely helpful narrative GM hint that I am planning on stealing for my own games. If you want to follow along, it's been recorded!
Since June 2012, a group of friends from RPGGeek (rpggeek.com, like rpgs? check it out!) and myself started recording a podcast we decided to call Play on Target. It focuses on tabletop role playing games. Each episode focuses on one topic, although we have recently decided to implement a short segment in each episode devoted to talking about a particular game.
Our first episode is now live on our site (www.playontarget.com) and in it we discuss Play by Forum role playing. As the topic ties in quite well with an event going on at RPG Geek (introducing those new to role playing to the hobby via PbF), we decided to post the first episode early. Technically our "grand opening" will be January 15th and new episodes will post every other Tuesday.
I, of course, am not the sole host of Play on Target, nor am I the "primary." We have opted to take a more round robin approach to being the main host, switching it up each time. We feel that it's proving to be successful and initial feedback on the first episode seems to be supporting this. My fellow co-hosts are RPGGeek regulars +Lowell Francis, +Samuel Dillon and +Brian Cooksey. While we all met on RPGG and we will often be referring to that site, we are not the "official" podcast of RPGG.
On a different topic, I've just finished reading through my Fate Core kickstarter PDF and am currently making my way through it a second time as I prepare to take up GM duties on G+ for the first time. I'll be using this experience to get to work on my first Fate Core project, which I'll have more specifics about in a future post.
Lastly, I have submitted my first review to RPG Geek's 2013 Iron Reviewer contest. High Octane Excitement for Manly Men! (Iron Reviewer 2013 #1) is a review of an action movie-based game called Extreme Vengeance. If you're interested in a fun, fast-paced pickup game full of violence and crazy stunts, I highly recommend you read it and track down a copy of the game if you can. Now through July I will be posting a new review every two weeks. A secondary goal for myself will be turning each of these into a video review that will go up on the GeekWorld Online YouTube channel, so if you're a subscriber there, keep your eyes peeled!
Until next time when I talk a bit about my plans to turn Time Heroes into a Fate Core game, keep your geek on.
