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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 … Continue reading "Holiday Special Part 1: Live Build-a-Dungeon (with guest GM Kyle Latino)"

Call it stage fright, nervousness, or GMing anxiety, but all gamemasters must deal with it. What are some ways to minimize it? Andy and Chris discuss. Episode 25 appendix: Hotel Artemis. The Improv for Gamers book. The videogame Ion Fury. Junji Ito’s horror manga Uzumaki.

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 … Continue reading "Episode 24 – Do You Read the Block Text in Your Adventure? (special guest, Aaron)"

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. Appendix: The Adventure Zone’s MaxFunCon East Live show where they … Continue reading "Episode 23 – How to Introduce Non-Gamers to Your Game"

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 22 appendix: The Damage Dice Kickstarter project Gyld, Al’s company that makes cool gaming stuff Orcpub, a character generator for D&D … Continue reading "Episode 22 — How to Handle Doors in Dungeons (with guest Al McWilliams)"

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 … Continue reading "Episode 21: What Elements from Other Media do You Bring into Your Tabletop Games? (with Audrey Huggett)"

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! … Continue reading "Episode 20 – The Shortest Episode: Running Halloween Themed Games"

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 19 appendix: Ann Arbor District Library RPGFest U-Con Numenera Phoenix Dawn Command …which is different than Phoenix Command Dungeon … Continue reading "Episode 19 — How to Run a Convention Game (with John Corey)"

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. Episode 18 appendix: 7th Sea, second edition. 7th Sea, first edition. Eternal Lies.

As a change of pace from our usual format, we’re talking about Gencon 2019, from which Andy just returned! Chris and Andy discuss some GMing takeaways from the con. Episode 17 appendix (mostly games that Andy played at Gencon): Gencon, of course. The Mothership RPG. Band of Blades. Eclipse Phase. Cthulhutech. Delta Green. @geekteachin, who … Continue reading "Episode 17 – Reflections on Gencon 2019"