Brilliant Gameologists Forum
Show Stuff => The Meta Show => : Josh January 23, 2008, 05:02:02 AM
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We are constantly looking for ideas to turn into episodes. For example we have an upcoming episode on “Grit,” an idea from this board.
Other upcoming topics are:
Sex and Romance in Game
Food and Gaming
Music and Gaming
What are some topics you would like to see?
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The one shot vs. long term campaign. (Or One Night Stand vs. Long Term Relationships.)
Let's face it, in a one shot game players don't have to worry about keeping their characters around or safe. Nor do they have to worry about continuity. For not so random example, the DM has the characters hired to recover an item that will lead to more quests, but the players do the douchebag thing and destroy said item if it's a one shot game. A long term game they might not smash the item to bits.
Then again... I could be wrong about that.
Putting it together:
It's easy to say "Yeah, I like games with combat, but another player likes more roleplaying", so how DOES a DM achieve that balance?
Playing with everything:
A show about using "pure" D&D (Or whatever game), vs using third party supplements and/or using totally unrelated material. (Running Forgotten Realms with Gurps rules.)
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Oh.... On a somewhat related note; a suggestion for the podcast.
It would be a good idea if you had a couple of breaks during the show. Drop in 30 second to 1 minute features every 20 minutes of show. People's attention spans aren't long, and you can get really creative with some "bonus" segments that don't necessarily have to relate to the show. It would be unexpected and fun.
Off the top of my head:
Josh's Douchebag of the week. (Eh, maybe not.)
Pick that Nit. (Yeah, stolen from you guys. But you should do it. A one minute rant about something.)
Game in 60 seconds (One minute review - not discussion, but a review of either an RPG, or board game or video game that you like.)
Fake Commercials (Produce off the wall ads and/or PSAs)
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Awesome ideas Peaboo. I LOVE the analogy to one-night stand vs. long term relationship.
And what group would EVER just smash the treasure?? Man, what douchebags!
;)
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I understand that you are currently trying out new systems. Something I'd like to hear would be a playtest recording of each of these. Hearing how other people find a game from a play session as opposed to just reading the book give myself (and I suspect others) a greater appreciation of how the game works out of the box and what issues people find when running/playing it.
Plus listening to other peoples gaming sessions is always fun. :) Since I started playing Heroic Cthulhu as a regular I have a very limited amount of games to listen to. :(
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A huge problem with that would be the recording. As it stands we are having issues with getting the podcast sound quality up, getting everyone around the table would be even harder.
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I'm using a cheap audio-technica ATR 97 mic http://tinyurl.com/6mp2hw that one of the fans bought for me (you might be able to find them cheaper than the one I did) and, with going through the steps I do http://tinyurl.com/58d3a9 it turns out OK - it's not wonderful, but OK. (Yes, I've done it with all live groups as well - but that is something to discuss - what works, what doesn't) via skype if you are curious.
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I've been thinking about this more and more.
I think I have a player, a grognard like myself (25 years plus playing), a min/max'r (not that there is anything wrong with it), a "play-to-win-story teller" type that may very well have bought a campaign source book, not just to have it, but to know it. It produces the worse kind of feelings in me and the bile rises from my gut at the thought.
And while this is nothing new, I have prejudices, as a grognard and as "always the GM, rarely the player" that this is cheating of the worse form in RPG gaming. And while this prejudice of mine has made me a better GM that can ad lib and stitch a story together, I'm saddened, because the campaign is one that I would like to sincerely run, out-of-the-box.
So, I have some great threads that will steer the party into the plot, I just don't want the railroad to be so obvious. Me thinks this is going to require a "scrape off the serial numbers" approach, and yet, what are the experiences of other GMs like the BGs in this situation?
Pondering spikes in character mortality rates has never been so tempting a statistic worthy of closer study.
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Oo!! The one we are recording this week may actually address that! We're recording the episode "Settings and Scope" and how to work with a setting that there is a lot of information already produced, but I think this is a natural subtopic for the show. It definitely led to our decision to do this topic- that annoys the crap out of us too!
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Perhaps one on the hassles of DMPCs, and how to get your players so that they don't want to just kill him and take his stuff? NPCs in general have a tough time staying alive sometimes when they have loot to take or talk at all.
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Hm, that could be interesting. Our perspective is extremely different- most NPCs/ DMPC's in our games have ended up sleeping with or marrying one of the PCs.
Maybe we're just a make love not war group?
Though actually-- thinking of that... It wasn't always like that. There was a pretty major shift that came when we started playing 3.0 where we stopped working against each other and were forced to work together and that mentality carried through to other games as well, so perhaps the main topic could be a DM episode about "Getting your party to play together" with DMPC's being a subcategory off that?
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That could definetly work. Include stuff about division of loot, sharing the spotlight, resolving arguements, etc...
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I second the "getting your party to play together" idea for an episode. I'd make my entire gaming group listen to that the next time we gathered to play. :D
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Homebrews vs Published material, taking into account things like humour, RP and maybe other things might be easier to inject into homebrew.
HOw successful are D&D geeks, and if we are, do we keep playing?
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What about an ep on how outsiders view RPGs, and how to explain to them what they are? (I do not recommend the "sarcastically tell them about sacrifing goats" strategy which seems so popular)
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I think you guys could probably improve on the ideas in the DMG (4E) about how to design your game for different types of people.
You could pick up on things like which types of people are most and least likely to get along; better suggestions for involving players.
Really, I'd just like to have you guys' opinions on the ideas and solutions in the DMG.
Alternate Idea: You guys could cover what games re-create (or fail to re-create) the feel of tabletop gaming.
*Insert Sex to Masturbation joke*
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How to go about building a world...
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Elegance. In today's day of expandable game design, it's a tricky creature to keep character creation elegant. To point at the worst offender that I know, D&D 3.0 had a deluge of splatbooks that were basically mandatory to achieve parity with some classes, and which let other classes screma on ahead.
Versimillitude. This is one for GMs - how do you keep games feeling alive? How do you give players the feeling that when they aren't around, things are still happening? Then, how do you maintain that feeling without making it feel like their actions aren't important?
Wielding Cliches. It's so easy to complain about cliches, but they become cliches for a reason. Cliches are the screwdrivers and hammers of the narrative toolbox.
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The one shot vs. long term campaign. (Or One Night Stand vs. Long Term Relationships.)
I would love to see a GM-oriented episode (or part of one) devoted to how to GM differently when running one-shots vs. an ongoing week-to-week campaign.
I pretty much run just one-shot "con style" games, at Gencon and other conventions.
(I'm working my way through the episodes, I'm a BG newbie - if they cover this topic in an episode somewhere, just tell me.)
Thanks,
MilwaukeeJoe
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Elegance. In today's day of expandable game design, it's a tricky creature to keep character creation elegant. To point at the worst offender that I know, D&D 3.0 had a deluge of splatbooks that were basically mandatory to achieve parity with some classes, and which let other classes screma on ahead.
Versimillitude. This is one for GMs - how do you keep games feeling alive? How do you give players the feeling that when they aren't around, things are still happening? Then, how do you maintain that feeling without making it feel like their actions aren't important?
Wielding Cliches. It's so easy to complain about cliches, but they become cliches for a reason. Cliches are the screwdrivers and hammers of the narrative toolbox.
I love these-- especially the first and second. I could see us really delving into these issues. Thanks for the suggestions!
The one shot vs. long term campaign. (Or One Night Stand vs. Long Term Relationships.)
I would love to see a GM-oriented episode (or part of one) devoted to how to GM differently when running one-shots vs. an ongoing week-to-week campaign.
I pretty much run just one-shot "con style" games, at Gencon and other conventions.
(I'm working my way through the episodes, I'm a BG newbie - if they cover this topic in an episode somewhere, just tell me.)
Thanks,
MilwaukeeJoe
We haven't done this- we've talked about it a bit on the boards here, but I never thought of doing it as an episode. Good idea! There is a ton to be said about it as well. Thanks!
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I would love to see a GM-oriented episode (or part of one) devoted to how to GM differently when running one-shots vs. an ongoing week-to-week campaign.
I pretty much run just one-shot "con style" games, at Gencon and other conventions.
(I'm working my way through the episodes, I'm a BG newbie - if they cover this topic in an episode somewhere, just tell me.)
Thanks,
MilwaukeeJoe
We haven't done this- we've talked about it a bit on the boards here, but I never thought of doing it as an episode. Good idea! There is a ton to be said about it as well. Thanks!
When you do get to this episode, one question I have specifically about DMing one-shot games - how do I keep from railroading? While listening to the backlog of shows, I realize that in my desire to get the players from the start of the adventure to the final ending, that I pretty much push them through. How bad is railroading
in one-shot games?
Can it be avoided? Should it?
Thanks!
MilwaukeeJoe
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I would love to see a crossover podcast episode ironing out the disputes once and for all in a no holds barred discussion. Call it Fear the Brilliant Podge. Or My Brilliant Podge Boot is Feared. Or your Boot is in my Podge and that's just Brilliant. :D
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I would love to see a crossover podcast episode ironing out the disputes once and for all in a no holds barred discussion. Call it Fear the Brilliant Podge. Or My Brilliant Podge Boot is Feared. Or your Boot is in my Podge and that's just Brilliant. :D
I think my avian-porcine hybrids have a better chance.
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I noticed that you didn't seem too keen on the idea, but I'd certainly be interested in seeing a show that deals with clichés and D&D.
I'd like to see your opinions. (And Josh's mini-rants ;))
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I'd like an episode about the realism of a static world that revolves around the PC's, which incidentally in D&D means that the PC's become the answer to every problem by level 6.
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A few ideas:
Creating player characters the players are interested in.
Tailoring game events to what the players are interested in.
Dealing with conflicting play styles.
Being mindful of what the other people playin wiht you are interested in and playing to that.
GMless games.
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I'd like to see an GM-oriented episode about play-by-email and play-by-post gaming.
Any significant differences between email-style and pbp-style?
Which websites are best for running a game or finding new games?
Which websites are best for attracting new players?
How do you attract players, and the right ones?
How do you keep players from dropping out?
How do you handle dice rolls, combat encounters, maps?
Which systems do you feel are best oriented for this style of play? Which systems are the worst?
Thanks!
MilwaukeeJoe
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Outtakes episode?
I got the idea listening to your posting of the Geek Girls Roundtable.
You mentioned 3 hours of work on the podcast for 40 mins of content.
It would be mostly useless, but I'm willing to be it'd be absolutely hilarious.
It could be a filler episode if you need one.
Also, I'm glad to hear that the musical episode is coming out.
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I'd like to see an GM-oriented episode about play-by-email and play-by-post gaming.
Any significant differences between email-style and pbp-style?
Which websites are best for running a game or finding new games?
Which websites are best for attracting new players?
How do you attract players, and the right ones?
How do you keep players from dropping out?
How do you handle dice rolls, combat encounters, maps?
Which systems do you feel are best oriented for this style of play? Which systems are the worst?
Thanks!
MilwaukeeJoe
I am running a PbP game right now as research for this topic.
Outtakes episode?
I got the idea listening to your posting of the Geek Girls Roundtable.
You mentioned 3 hours of work on the podcast for 40 mins of content.
It would be mostly useless, but I'm willing to be it'd be absolutely hilarious.
It could be a filler episode if you need one.
Also, I'm glad to hear that the musical episode is coming out.
There are some good outtakes. Everyone should request that meg releases the episode where I go crazy on bizarre tangents.
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You have no idea the amount of stress and depression I feel about an outtakes episode. Would it be great? I'm sure- but the sheer amount of work is just... staggering. I'd have to listen to literally hundreds and hundreds of hours of recordings to put together... what, a 60 minute show? Sometimes I have thought ahead and pulled out good outtakes as I was editing as normal but that's only for a couple of shows so the majority is all hidden in a huge file.
Though you know what- this could be something that would be good for a volunteer base. Say 10 people were interested in helping- I would send the full file of one episode to each of the 10 people and they could choose their favorite outtakes and then send me the minute marker and ender for where to cut and then I could put it all together... that would be doable but would require some help for sure!
We are going to do a clip show at some point. We have some good ideas for it ;)
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Example of how you game
WoD episode (Just for you, Josh)
Computer RPG versus Table Top RPG
Review of Orpheus
Softballing DMs
Players who cry about everything
How to make your DM cry
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Though you know what- this could be something that would be good for a volunteer base. Say 10 people were interested in helping- I would send the full file of one episode to each of the 10 people and they could choose their favorite outtakes and then send me the minute marker and ender for where to cut and then I could put it all together... that would be doable but would require some help for sure!
I am available for those purposes. I actually am familiar with Audacity (which you use if I'm not mistaken) and could send/compile clips as well.
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I could also help. I usually have loads of free time, but little to spend it on.
I could not help you with actual editing though; I'm only barely versed in Premier.
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You have (sort of) built a framework for talking about playing the best games vs different games, etc.
I think you should finish it. Or at least get it from the level where it is now (sorta vague, nobody is really going to disagree with it) to a point where you can effectively leverage it in your show.
The best way, I think, to do this would be to do shows about the games that you like (Savage Worlds, Burning Wheel) in an organized way.
Get into the nitty gritty about why they're systems are good and the choices that they've made are better than other choices and contribute to being the "best".
Then when you talk about other games and how they're not good you can succinctly discuss the system/setting choices that have been made that you feel are maladaptive (i.e. that are inferior to the choices made by the "best systems")
Topics that I think you could reasonably pick up in the Savage Worlds show would be
1. How does the wild die (which is a 50% success vs normal difficulty) affect the probabilities in the game? Why is it better than a "normal" dice pool system with a target number(like WoD, Shadowrun, whatever).
(I assume you think it's better)
2. Savage Worlds includes a flaw system with roleplaying only flaws (you are loyal, you are patriotic, whatever). So you receive a mechanical advantage for a roleplaying disadvantage. Could talk about whether that's a good thing in general, in this case, etc.
You could talk about games that do/did that and were not successful (GURPS, WoD).
(You kinda sorta dealt with this in discussing the kobold PC in DnD2e but it's worth talking about, I think, more directly and especially in relation to a game system you like.
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I know one thing I would personally like to see would be some of your thoughts on game design. There are dozens of badly designed games out there, and dozens of good ones. The core idea would be to get at the elements that you guys consider to be either superior or inferior choices relating to game design. Some sub topics might be:
Necessary skills and abilities
Hit points vs. Damage Tracks (SW, or WoD style)
Core feel of the game. (Swashbuckling fast action in SW, Creepy horror / sins of man in WoD, Adventurous ass kickery in DnD)
Morality Scales (Alignment, Virtues and Vices, Dark Side Points)
Advantages and Disadvantages
Magic Systems / Superpower building
Maybe use specific books as an example of an element that you liked but thought could be done better.
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I know one thing I would personally like to see would be some of your thoughts on game design. There are dozens of badly designed games out there, and dozens of good ones. The core idea would be to get at the elements that you guys consider to be either superior or inferior choices relating to game design. Some sub topics might be:
Necessary skills and abilities
Hit points vs. Damage Tracks (SW, or WoD style)
Core feel of the game. (Swashbuckling fast action in SW, Creepy horror / sins of man in WoD, Adventurous ass kickery in DnD)
Morality Scales (Alignment, Virtues and Vices, Dark Side Points)
Advantages and Disadvantages
Magic Systems / Superpower building
Maybe use specific books as an example of an element that you liked but thought could be done better.
Games need none of the qualities above and could rule.
Games could have every quality above and be utter failures.
Overall a game needs a few things in order to be OK:
1) Interesting setting that is internally consistent.
2) Has the mechanics it needs to be the kind of game it wants to be.
3) Does not have unnecessary mechanics.
4) Allows for genuine creativity.
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I find 2 and 3 to be usually an either-or thing(though failing at both is not uncommon).
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Had to edit my post for clarity
I find 2 and 3 to be usually an either-or thing(though failing at both is not uncommon).
Right. That's why there are so few adequate games.
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I would like to hear some discussions on a few things.
The role of technology in table top games. Dice rolling programs, programs like D20 Pro, and over head projector set ups.
How gamers can reach out and find others to play with when in general we hide our shame.
How best to deal with the new player. Is there a better system to start off with? Is there something that hooks the new player and keeps him around rather than going home convinced that gamers are as damaged as the sterotype?
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We've spread new player info into a few episodes, but it could totally be worth dedicating a whole episode to.
The tech thing we're not experts on, but we can at least share our perspective. That would be a good topic to poll the message board and then use the podcast to almost report on the findings.