Welcome to Episode 7 of ‘What Is Roleplay?!
This episode we are joined by Marx Shepherd to discuss Life Paths
So, this episode was released a bit out of order... it's not episode 3, but actually 7! It's also worth noting that Marx no longer runs the Yes Indie'd Podcast!
We cover tables, and rolling from them!
Anime, and super super anime things.
Defining a character's development through guides mechanics.
Staying within the boundaries of genre without having to work too hard.
Links to things we discussed:
Games:
Powered by the Apocalypse
Sengoku
Treasures of the Troll King
Fuzion
Bubblegum Crisis
Traveller
Pathfinder
Mork Borg
Spire
Blades in the Dark
Books:
Play Dirty by John Wick
The Die Decides by CM Lowry
Duncton Wood by William Horwood
Podcasts:
Yes Indie’d Podcast
All my fantasy children by Jeff Stormer
More about Marx
Marx Shepherd -
@IAmPhophos
Yes Indie’d Podcast
In*Die Zine
Find their games at
marxofhighwater.itch.io
With music generously provided by:
Powerplant & Imploders.
This episode CM Lowry is talking with author and RPG designer Jay Dragon about The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Kat Valente in ‘This Book I Read...’
Topics covered include:
Having a 50% success rate when using Stranger Things to help explain to your parents the kind of work you do!
The joys and pitfalls of periodical publishing
The Fae of childhood and the fact that children are capable of greater emotional depths than we often give them credit for
The fresh, confident & unapologetic style of Valente's writing
Links to things we discussed:
Stranger Things
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
George's Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl
Radiance by Kat Valente
Yazebas Bed Breakfast by Jay Dragon
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers
Possum Creek Games
Support Creekside Community Centre on Patreon
Music by CM Lowry. Editing by Dave Emmerson
Welcome to Episode 6 of ‘What Is Roleplay?!
This episode we are joined by Chris Bissette to discuss Character Creation
What actually
is Character Creation? Deciding
who you are going to
be in a game, right?
How traditional RPGs such as Dungeons & Dragons handle character creation.
Randomly generating versus picking skills
Beginning with a background story - or finding out who your character is
through play.
Character Creation as a game in itself!
We end by creating character together live as an “actual play” demonstrating some of the cool things Chris had introduced.
Today's adventure involves creating characters in Mausritter, a game for small mice and dangerous escapades...
Links to things we discussed:
The Wretched
Loot The Room
Dungeon Crawl Classics
Spire RPG
TYRANNOSAUR INSIDE with stats from Chris Bissette
With music generously provided by:
Powerplant & Imploders.
Welcome to Episode 5 of ‘What Is Roleplay?!
This episode we are joined by James D'Amato to discuss One Shots & Campaigns
We discuss RPG One Shots and Campaigns and how the contrast as well as compliment each other.
We talk about the difficulties of scheduling campaign play sessions and how one-shots can make for much simpler, streamlined & spontaneous play.
We define some helpful terms you’ll need to know, like
One Shot (a role-play game adventure that takes place in one play session) and
Campaign (An ongoing role-play game that takes place over many game play session and can literally last for years).
The pitfalls and hilarity of live streaming campaigns using apps like Zoom.
The definition of Campaign can be very mercurial, discussing expections and safety before game play is important.
We end, as usual, with some live “actual play” using James' Luminaries, to demonstrate a one-shot & the of the concepts we've discussed.
Today's adventure involves dread, a desperate goodbye, and a player character sacrificing themselves for the greater good...
Links to things we discussed:
Beyond Cataclysm –
beyondcataclysm.co.uk
The One Shot Podcast
The Skyjacks Podcast
Ultimate RPG Guide Series
All Outta Bubblegum
Millenial Apartment Hunters
Dungeons & Dragons by Wizards of the Coast
The Eberron Setting for D&D
The Luminaries
Greetings Adventures Podcast
Yes, No, Maybe - A safety tool by CM Lowry
West Marches
Fiasco
Bully Pulpit Games
Dread
Star-Crossed
The Watch
Pheonix Star Command
The Ultimate RPG Gomeplay – by James D'Amato …
This episode CM Lowry is talking with author Rachel A Rosen about Brown Girl In The Ring by Nalo Hopkinson in ‘This Book I Read...’
Topics covered include:
Post-apocalyptic Toronto & Ontario.
'White Flight', inner city decline, 'Donut cities' and gentrification.
The Afro-Caribbean diaspora, The Jab Jab & Roti Shops.
The challenges of predicting the future back in the 1990s.
Links to things we discussed:
Rachel's
latest book Cascades can be found at BumblePuppyPress.ca.
Octavia Butler, scifi author and black power movement commentator.
Kim Stanley Robinson's
Red Mars Trilogy.
NK Jemisin's
Broken Earth Trilogy.
The New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson.
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice.
Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline.
End of the World Running Club by Adrian Walker
BumblePuppy Press
NightBeatsEU.ca
Music & Editing by CM Lowry
This episode CM Lowry is talking with author Adrian Tchaikovsky about The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake, in the second episode of our Beyond Cataclysm podcast – ‘This Book I Read...’
Why this classic 1950s fantasy trilogy absolutely deserves a read.
A discussion of the role of
ruin in narrative.
Tolkien vs Peake
Anti-heroes; when finding yourself rooting for the evil bad guy is problematic.
"Place" as a character itself in the narrative.
Links to things we discussed:
Adrian's latest book
"Ogres" was released by Rebellion Books in 2022 –
rebellionpublishing.com/product/ogres/
CM Lowry can be found at
allaboutchris.org and @cmlowryau thor on twitter, facebook & instagram.
MÖRK BORG RPG can be found at
morkborg.com
The BBC 1984 Radio adaptation:
https://audiodrama.fandom.com/wiki/Gormenghast_(1984)
The BBC Gormenghast TV show:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gormenghast_(TV_serial)
Read
The Etched City by KJ Bishop if you want a follow-up book in a similar vein.
Music & Editing by CM Lowry
The second half of our 'What is Roleplay?" special episode...
In the concluding part, CM Lowry loses his voice, but talks to many interesting designers at the UK Games Expo to teach you how to enjoy RPG at games conventions.
The hodge-podge of cool people we chatted to includes...
Ben from
The Party RPG
Brian at
Stout Stoat Press - try typing that ten times quickly
Anna from
Blackwell Games
Nick Spence, author of Gangs of Titan City
Grant Howitt from
Rowan, Rook & Decard
Tom Brewster from
Shut Up & Sit Down
Chris Birch, head honcho at
Modiphius Entertainment
Panny & Aled from
Leyline Press
And
JOHAN NOHR, who I definitely gushed all over, designer of
MÖRK BORG!
Links to cool stuff we saw:
The Party RPG
Apawthecaria
Delve (Buy it in the BC webstore!)
Umbra (check it in our store!)
Gangs of Titan City
Heart
Spire
Dodo
2d20 RPGs
Agents of Dune
Salvage Union
MÖRK BORG
Cy_Borg
With music generously provided by:
Powerplant & Imploders.
Transcript
[00:00:04.090] - Dave
Beyond Cataclysm presents for your listening pleasure what is roleplay? Welcome to What Is Roleplay, a podcast from Beyond Cataclysm exploring the very basics of roleplay, roleplaying games and what it means to be part of this awesome hobby. We'll be exploring the nuts and bolts of how to play roleplay. Even if you know literally nothing about roleplay games currently, this podcast is always at a level that assumes no prior knowledge. …
A special episode of ‘What is Roleplay?!
In this episode CM Lowry wanders around the UK Games Expo to pick up tips on how to enjoy RPG at (and generally survive) these massive games conventions.
We chat to lots of awesome people about games, roleplay and the weird world of gaming cons, including:
Chris Samson of
Magpie Games - and mostly getting distracted by their amazing dice rings from
Crit Success!
Anna Molla from
Mottokrosh Machinations and the beautiful Hypertellurians game!
Matt Sanders representing the awesome
Soul Muppet publishers!
Zachary Cox, whose claim to fame is being the "&" in
Rowan, Rook & Decard.
Cat Evans, from fellow micropublisher
Ex Stasis Games!
Links to cool stuff we saw:
Root RPG
Zombie World RPG
Hypertellurians
Mini B/X
Cantrip
Brave Zenith
Manse
Apparition
With music generously provided by:
Powerplant & Imploders.
Transcript:
[00:00:03.890] - Dave
Beyond Cataclysm presents for your listening pleasure 'What is roleplay?'
[00:00:15.410] - Dave
Welcome to What is roleplay? A podcast from Beyond Cataclysm that explores the very basics of roleplay, roleplaying games and what it means to be part of this awesome hobby. We'll be exploring the nuts and bolts of how to play roleplay - even if you know literally nothing about roleplay games currently, this podcast is always aimed at a level that assumes no prior knowledge. This is the first of two special episodes recorded LIVE at a gaming expo by CM Lowry that we have dubbed Surviving …
This episode we are joined by CJ Eggett to discuss DEATH!!!
How the threat of death or overcoming death is the driving force in most roleplay games.
How loss, madness and other missing pieces are analogues for death
