Welcome to Episode 17 of ‘What Is Roleplay?!
This episode we are joined by Aviv Or and Eran Aviram to discuss teaching games
Aviv & Eran's work 'The Crystal Heart' and how it uniquely teaches readers to roleplay, specifically to play the
Savage Worlds RPG
Their use of narrative to explain how to play, based on the assumption that the reader has no prior knowledge
The time and effort they have put in to developing the ability to teach games through the graphic medium, such as the use of humour, and colour (to indicate who's turn it is)
The importance of aesthetics and atmosphere when teaching someone a game - open the rulebook on a fun page with graphics, use colour dice, create a comfortable environment. Know your audience - what will this person enjoy, what will draw them into the game?
Pick the right game - something that is colourful and well set out will help you learn the game and teach it to others
Set up a specific scenario for your new players, so they have a basic understanding & something to work with: 'Let's play a fantasy adventure where we will be rescuing a princess from a fearsome dragon'. Then as you explain the rules they will be able to refer back to the scenario
Being a good player means taking part in the shared social contract - agreeing as a group what your desired outcome is and then not doing things that negatively impact on that …
Welcome to Episode 16 of ‘What Is Roleplay?!
This episode we are joined by John Dodd to discuss dungeons
The intrigue of The Dungeon - why would someone build this, what was it for, how did it get here? You're not supposed to be there!
Maps as promises - they guarantee excitement, adventure and maybe treasure
Mega-dungeons - Architecturally impossible structures that might prove impossible to explore in one lifetime
The joys of having almost too much space and level of detail to explore
The beauty of sci-fi and fantasy allowing you to bend the realms of what is reasonable to create impossible mega-structures
Dungeons are a nightmare - you're in the dark with no idea what you are doing or where you are going. Perfect fodder for an adventure.
Key Things A Dungeon Needs:
Light - Yet there is an absence of it and the dungeon doesn't want you to have it! The contrast of light & dark. Dark as a representation of the unknown.
Treasure - If someone has gone to all the trouble of building a dungeon there must something interesting down there! A great evil? A King's ransom? Why is it there? There has to be something that draws people in to the dungeon, where they know they shouldn't be
What Now? - So you have a reason to be there and you've used light to find the treasure. But you've got to wonder what now? Something or someone has taken over this Dungeon, as they're …
Welcome to Episode 15 of ‘What Is Roleplay?!
This episode we are joined by Côme Martin to discuss diceless rpg
Chris & Côme discuss many different Roleplaying Games that don't use dice & explore the spectrum of games from completely controlled by fate, to the other end of the spectrum where the only narrative input in the game is the things your saying to one another around the table.
The mechanics of dice use and how they can be replaced with other items such as a pack of cards
The ways that a deck of cards can be broken into different groupings for use in roleplay. Côme prefers cards to dice as it gives you a wider range of options
The option that cards give you for editing - you can change the deck by writing on the cards as you go through them so that they next time you use that card it has a different effect.
Using pick up sticks, Jenga, runestones, Tarot cards or tokens as help prompts as part of roleplay instead of dice.
Diceless roleplay gives the players and the Games Master (GM) a little more power over outcomes, rather than being ruled by chance.
Games play without any prompts & GM-less play - the joys of improvisation.
Worldbuilding and lore writing - how diceless play can make for really interesting world building experiences
Actual Play: Christof & Martin star in a spring time coming of age adventure set in the Viking era. Magic …
Welcome to Episode 14 of ‘What Is Roleplay?!
This episode we are joined by Johan Nohr to discuss design
Everyone can draw - as adults we stop being creative because we fool ourselves into thinking that we cannot do it.
How the independent games scene allows people to explore new ways of designing and laying out games that go against the safe mainstream game publishing norms
How good graphic design helps to communicate the feel of the game and draws the player in
The beauty of getting something hand drawn or hand made in the era of digital design
Over the top art-punk designs that skew all design norms vs minimalism and the use of white space
How tactility helps improve the player's experience of role playing games - use of techniques such as foiling, embossing, gloss vs matt papers and printing on the book ribbons.
The differences between screen readers & printed books. The problem with PDFs being set up as if they were books when they could be better designed for onscreen use. The plus' of digital versions when it comes to accessibility.
Listen as Chris & Johan do an actual play where they design a ridiculously meta game entitled 'GamePOD', intended to be published on an editable 8-track tape
An encouragement to experiment with and enjoy roleplay and roleplaying games.
Links to things we discussed:
Games:
MÖRK BORG
Delve
Umbra
Mausritter
Old School Essentials
CY BORG
Gozr
Medieval Margin-agerie
MORK ORG
ISBN Coffee
Books, Authors & Publishers: …
Welcome to Episode 13 of ‘What Is Roleplay?!
This episode we are joined by Rugose Kohn to discuss Melee Combat
Trigger warning for violence and body horror!
Melee combat is usually gritty and visceral hand to hand combat as opposed to more removed and antiseptic approach such as aerial bombardment.
How early roleplaying games have sort of set the standard of combat as just charging in headlong and hoping for the best where as more modern systems make that approach obsolete and involve more subtilties.
Experimentation as an exciting approach to roleplaying.
How gravitating towards combat can squash creativity, whilst finding other ways to deal with the encounter can open up really interesting outcomes.
Systems that use interesting mechanics to deal with managing conflict such as Powered by The Apocalypse, Lichoma & Fiasco, which emphasise story telling rather than melee combat.
Rugose shares a fun experience of melee combat in a game of MÖRK BORG at GenCon 2022.
Chris & Rugose get into some actual play featuring a hardware store in Colorado, billy clubs, concealed hammers and a dishevelled criminal known only as Dobie. Broken arms and lost eyeballs ensue...
Links to things we discussed:
Games:
MÖRK BORG
Red Box DnD
Twilight 2000
Into The Odd
Warhammer Fantasy RPG
5e DnD
Powered By The Apocalypse
Lichoma
Lancer
Fiasco
Four Borg
Books, Authors & Publishers etc:
Stockholm Kartell
Bogfolk Co-op
Gen Con
Film
Monty Pythons
'Holy Grail'
Conan The Barbarian
Rambo
Dumb & Dumber
More about Rugose
Twitter -
@RugoseKohn
Itch …
Welcome to Episode 12 of ‘What Is Roleplay?!
Join Chris & Dave as they get very silly in an All Outta Bubblegum actual play special!
A brief explanation of the rules of
All Outta Bubblegum
A safety talk
Counting for fun
Setting the scene
Pizza delivery mishaps and corner shop catastrophes
More counting
Listen as the game unravels as we run out of bubblegum
Conclude with us that you don't always have to spend hours prepping before a fun rpg session - you can take inspiration from things around you and have a great laugh in the process
Links to things we discussed:
Games:
All Outta Bubblegum
FREE PDF Download
Movies:
They Live!
More about Us:
CM Lowry on Twitter -
@cmlowryauthor
CM Lowry's website -
All About Chris
Website -
beyondcataclysm.co.uk
Patreon -
Patreon.com/beyondcataclysm
With music generously provided by:
Powerplant & Imploders.
Welcome to Episode 11 of ‘What Is Roleplay?!
This episode we are joined by Guilherme Gontijo to discuss Design
How design is very similar across the board, and how the differences often just come down to execution?
Why does design matter?
It is more than just style or a taste aesthetic
Design is more about translating ideas on the abstract plane into visuals
Good design helps roleplay games (RPG) creators to communicate the ideas, mood and feel of a game visually
You can fit a whole lot of fun into a small amount of space with good design
The DIY ethos and how the punk spirit has influenced the Indie RPG scene
Funding the beauty in both minimalist as well as heavily illustrated RPGs such as
MÖRK BORG
The major importance of remaining faithful to ideas - starting at the essence of the idea and allowing it to inform the design. Making an alliance with the idea and not allowing outside influences to change it & allowing open ended questions to remain.
Italian '
Giallo' horror movies and their influence on Gontijo's game
Blurred Lines
Listen as CM Lowry & Gontijo live design a new game where monks fall into temptation to one of the seven deadly sins and end up in a sepia hell where everyone is in perpetual motion. The working title? 'No Rest for the Wicked!'
Links to things we discussed:
Games:
Vaults of Vaarn
Honey Heist
Lasers & Feelings
MÖRK BORG
Blurred Lines
Books, Authors …
Welcome to Episode 10 of ‘What Is Roleplay?!
This episode we are joined by Spencer Campbell to discuss Stats
Laying out some of the basic types of stats that are used in roleplaying games
The concept of Min/Max
The good, the bad and the ugly of Stats
Focusing on skills and approaches rather than just a list of stats
Exploding dice!
How stats enable us to connect with our character and the world of the game
Links to things we discussed:
Games:
Rune
The Lumen System
The Lasers & Feelings System
End of the World
Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition
Nova
Savage Worlds
Spire
REAP
Books, Authors & Publishers:
Fantasy Flight Games
Wizards of the Coast
More about Spencer
Twitter -
@GilaRPGs
Spencer on itch -
gilarpg.itch.io
Gila RPG website -
Gila RPGs
More about Us
CM Lowry on Twitter -
@cmlowryauthor
CM Lowry's website -
All About Chris
Website -
beyondcataclysm.co.uk
Patreon -
Patreon.com/beyondcataclysm
With music generously provided by:
Powerplant & Imploders.
Welcome to Episode 9 of ‘What Is Roleplay?!
This episode we are joined by Cezar Capacle to discuss Chance & Probability
Be amazed by Cezar's amazing productivity levels - 20+ games in three years!
What on earth are "Conflict Resolution Mechanics"?
We explore mechanics within various games systems that make good use of chance and probability
Listen as Cezar's technique of 'playstorming' builds a game within the actual play section, involving a Knight, a Ford Fiesta, Glory & Chaos!
Links to things we discussed:
Games:
Push
Dungeons & Dragons
MÖRK BORG
Death in Space
Call of Cthulu
Mothership
Dread
Spectaculars
Ironsworn
Powered by the Apocalypse
Grimdark
Lucky for None
Savage Worlds
Stuck
Derelict Delvers
Books, Authors & Publishers:
Adams Media
The Die Decides by CM Lowry
Rowan, Rook & Decard
Odd Jobs: RPG Micro-settings Vol. 1 by Sasha Sienna & Jonathan Sims
MacGuffin & Co Publishers
Loot The Room
Tim Clare
The Ultimate RPG Character Backstory Guide, Expanded Genres Edition by James D’Amato
Podcasts:
Cezar Capacle on Dieku Podcast
Cezar Capacle on the Yes Indie'd Pocast
More about Cezar
Capacle Twitter -
@capacle
Capacle on itch -
capacle.itch.io
Capacle on Bento -
bento.me/capacle
More about Ud
CM Lowry on Twitter -
@cmlowryauthor
Website -
beyondcataclysm.co.uk
With music generously provided by:
Powerplant & Imploders.
Welcome to Episode 8 of ‘What Is Roleplay?!
This episode we are joined by James D'Amato to discuss Personal Play
An important, yet often undiscussed, topic - personal play encompasses anything in game play that you do on your own - things like world building, rolling dice to create a character, and writing character backstories.
The realisation that roleplaying isn't just the time we spend around a table with other people.
'Play' is something that we are encouraged to grow out of as we reach adulthood - in reality it is fun and therapeutic for adults too!
Personal play as a good option for folks who don't get to game with others as often as they'd like.
Links to things we discussed:
Games:
Dungeons & Dragons
The Traveller RPG
MÖRK BORG
We Sail Beyond
Microscope
Paranoia
Spire
In The Blue Light
Skyjacks
Illimat Boardgame
Books, Authors & Publishers:
Adams Media
The Die Decides by CM Lowry
Rowan, Rook & Decard
Odd Jobs: RPG Micro-settings Vol. 1 by Sasha Sienna & Jonathan Sims
MacGuffin & Co Publishers
Loot The Room
Tim Clare
The Ultimate RPG Character Backstory Guide, Expanded Genres Edition by James D’Amato
Podcasts:
The One Shot Podcast
The Skyjacks Podcast
Rusty Quill Podcast
More about James
James D'Amato Twitter -
@OneShotRPG
Find James' book here -
The Ultimate RPG Gameplay
With music generously provided by:
Powerplant & Imploders.
