Happy holidays everyone! We’re back with an episode in which we play through the dungeon that we made during the last episode. Andy is your esteemed GM for this one and we were pleased to have Aaron, Matt, and Brandon join in as players!
If you liked this two-part experiment of building and playing a dungeon, please reach out to let us know! We’re thinking about doing more in the future!
This episode is going live a few days early just in case you have upcoming holiday travel and want something to listen to. We’ll be back in early January with a “normal” episode.
Also, for the parents out there: all Roll For Topic episodes strive to be PG. No swearing, but there are discussions of violence.
Holiday Special Part 1: Live Build-a-Dungeon (with guest GM Kyle Latino)
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As a change of pace for the holidays, Andy and Chris team up with previous guest Kyle to design a dungeon one-shot on the fly! Will the end result be a masterpiece of adventure design or a hilarious trainwreck that features psychic whales, post-apocalyptic shopping malls, and something called a “hyperskeleton”? Tune in to find out.
Episode 24 - Do You Read the Block Text in Your Adventure? (special guest, Aaron)
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We’re joined by Aaron this week to talk about reading the written block text from adventures. When there’s block text in the adventure module you’re running, do you read it out loud? Verbatim, do you paraphrase, do you throw it all away because you know best?! Join us as we talk all about narrating at the table!
Episode 23 - How to Introduce Non-Gamers to Your Game
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This week it’s just Andy and Chris jabbering about how to introduce non-gamers to your game. We talk about such things as: character creation, whether players should have to read the rules cover to cover, and when and how to introduce mechanics into the game.
Episode 22 — How to Handle Doors in Dungeons (with guest Al McWilliams)
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Guest GM Al McWilliams joins Andy and Chris to talk about his Damage Dice Kickstarter, and to talk about the question that’s on every GM’s mind: How do you handle doors in dungeons?
Episode 21: What Elements from Other Media do You Bring into Your Tabletop Games? (with Audrey Huggett)
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Audrey, who was on the show back in Episode 13, came back on to talk a bit about how the AADL RPG Fest went and then to help us think about what stuff from other media (videogames, movies, books, etc.) we bring into our tabletop games. Unsurprisingly a LOT of stuff came up in this one:
Episode 20 - The Shortest Episode: Running Halloween Themed Games
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Andy is out sick this week so rather than skipping Chris decided to jump on the mic and blab about whatever struck his fancy for a few minutes, which happened to be running Halloween themed games! It’s only September; however, if you’re planning on doing something for Halloween now is the time to start prepping!
We apologize for the short episode and will be back next time with a proper length one with a guest and everything.
Episode 19 — How to Run a Convention Game (with John Corey)
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Gamemastering a roleplaying game at a convention is a much different ball game than running for your home group. Guest GM John Corey returns as we discuss the fine art of running games at conventions!
Episode 18 - 7th Sea Campaign Retrospective with Matt Wilson
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Matt, one of our first guest GMs, recently wrapped up a two-year campaign of 7th Sea, so we invited him back to reflect on what he’s learned. Also, we touch on the topic of using history to inform gaming.