Andy and Chris go back to their Roll For Topic roots and roll on the old Table of Topics for this one! They (briefly) discuss the OGL and D&D and what it all means to them before diving into just what in the world a GM should do when their players have no idea what to do next.
Chris is temporarily out for this episode, which means that there’s nobody to stop Andy and guest GM Matt Wilson from venturing down all kinds of historical tangents! Join us as we try to keep our enthusiasm for the Late Antique period in check, and reflect on the GMing lessons we learned in 2022 and the games we want to run in 2023.
In the last episode, we planned a Wild West adventure and “dungeon.” Now, we force a gang of hapless players through it! Guest players John, Ben, Toby, and Brandon team up to take on the sinister Snake Oil Kid and his gang. Will things go smoothly and according to plan? Or will they veer wildly off the rails? What does your heart tell you?
Check out the wanted posters for the adventure as put together by Kyle Latino!
It’s the holidays which means it’s the return of Roll For Topic’s traditional Build-a-Dungeon/Play-a-Dungeon! This episode we design a “dungeon” with our pals, Kyle and John, from The Splatbook.
Next episode we’ll run what we came up with as an actual play. You can listen to these episodes in whatever order you’d like. Happy holidays!
This week Andy and Chris are joined by Toby to talk about encumbrance systems. Listen as they slowly convince themselves that encumbrance isn’t all bad.
This topic was added by listener, Wulf Mungus. Thanks, Wulf!
Andy and Chris recap their Halloween roleplaying experiences before tackling a tricky design challenge: can they come up with an interesting way to use cellphones as part of a roleplaying experience?
Chris and Andy are joined by guest GM Alban to discuss how you might build an entire adventure around a performance. Is that a performance by the PCs, or by the players? We discuss that, with side forays into topics like Ars Magica, finding GM inspiration in the natural world around you, and more!
Can you believe we’ve produced 100 episodes? What a wonderful ride it’s been. Join Andy and Chris for a special episode of reflection on the last four years of roleplaying and podcasting. This episode departs from our usual format and asks you to indulge Andy and Chris as they discuss what they’ve learned and where the podcast is going. (We’ll return to our usual format of GM discussions next episode, we promise!)
What makes a “good” cult in a game? They also have a few pamphlets for you to read—and if you join them in their study they’d be happy to answer any questions you might have!
Chris and Andy brainstorm a tactile system for marking the passage of time or health in an RPG! But not before Chris a ridiculous action movie, and Andy pitches a ridiculous mashup of a certain intergalactic hunter and a certain murder-mystery RPG.
