Author: upturnedtable

Episode 89: Curses

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“Cursed be those who disturb the rest of the Idle Red Hands. They that shall break the seal of this podcast shall meet death by a disease that no doctor can diagnose. What? You’ve invented blood tests and MRIs? Never mind.”
– Updated Curse of the Idle Red Hands

This is the episode we almost lost. Cursed? Or cursed that we recovered it? You be the judge. This episode has an Idle Red Hands first: a tool for gamemasters to use when planning curses for their game. (Which reminds me that we need to get our sample up on the forums.)

Episode 88: Creature Feature: Ghosts

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We kick off our second annual Month of Horror with a look at ghosts. We examine some common themes and discuss how to use them as antagonists and protagonists. We also discover that any reality TV show can be made better by adding ghosts.

Lyal attempts some scary breathing this episode (I guess that’s what he was doing). We’ll get him to mute the microphone next time. While Lyal’s doing this, Chris and Wayne seem to forget that this is the Month of Horror.

Episode 87: Warriors: Flying Aces

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“Forever young, I want to be forever young.
Do you really want to live forever, forever, forever?”
– “Forever Young”, Alphaville

Assail your opponent from behind, only fire at close range, and always, always keep the sun behind you. In this installment of Warriors, we talk about l’as, the star-turn, der uberkanonen, the flying ace.

Episode 86: Generalization vs. Specialization

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“More choices, more problems.”
– game designer

In this episode, we look at whether it’s best to play a jack-of-all-trades or a master of one. We also compare how to build generalists in different systems: level, point buy, and life path.

Episode 85: Magic: Divination

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This second installment of Magic is about divination and fortune-telling, but you probably already knew that. We also envision an introduction on using music to help prepare for games.

Episode 84: Pacing

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Whether you want to run a fast-paced game that leaves your players struggling to catch their breaths or a slow-paced game that squeezes every drop of feeling out of each line, this episode is for you. If you want to run a game at a medium pace, this episode isn’t for you so much.

Episode 83: Locales: Prisons

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In our second Locales episode, we look at prisons with their bars, confinement, monotony, brutality and rape. Your players will love them.
We also review, with no spoilers, Prometheus and The Avengers, and discuss how to improve your Werewolf: The Forsaken game.

Episode 82: Warriors: Condottieri

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Because our listeners demanded it: condottieri! Actually, it was only was one listener, and he really just casually mentioned it.

In this edition of Warriors, we talk about mercenaries and free companies. Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure buys everything else worth having. Live free and die hard.

Episode 81: 99 Problems with D&D Next…

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…but the picture of the gnoll ain’t one of them.

In this episode, we discuss the latest playtest material. We talk about what we like and don’t like, and Wayne makes a case for elves of colour. We also come up with a winning business strategy for Wizards of the Coast to follow for D&D Next.*

*We recorded this episode before WotC announced their plan to emphasize campaign settings and adventures, which bears a striking similarity to our strategy.

Episode 80: RPG Rookies: First Step

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RPG Rookies is a series for new GMs and players or for more experienced GMs and players who like to complain about “obvious advice”. In First Step, we discuss the questions GMs and players need to ask themselves before playing a game, including which games will help you pull. Kidding. None of them will. We also offer some advice for those intimidated by 400-page rulebooks.