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Apparently different enough from AP (Actual Play) podcasts that they will require their own discussion space, this thread is for shows where theoretically informed tabletop game people hold court on topics of interest, whether that takes the form of reviews, theorycrafting and design, game reports, or anything really, as long as it's not the very specific "People are playing a game near microphones" that defines the AP. Anyway, here's a list of some, though this is admittedly a very broad category so I'm only gonna know about RPG ones. There's a great big world of gaming shows covering things like MTG and Warhams as well. If you've got a favorite and a description, I'll put it in the list.
If anyone listens to Voxcast or Independent Characters or whatever other TTRPG type podcasts, let me know, I'm aware of them but I don't know which ones are chudcasts and don't want to make that mistake.
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Oct 13, 2020 22:43
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I don't tend to listen to non-AP roleplaying podcasts much because I'm not actually playing RPGs often at this point and so, things like advice about how to run games or discussing the state of the industry or similar is interesting but not really a high priority. That said, I really enjoy Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff because although the ostensible purpose is to provide fodder for play, in practice I get to hear about all sorts of weird and interesting stuff, cooking advice, movie recommendations, etc. And while I cannot keep up with your production schedule, I really enjoy System Mastery because y'all are funny. And there are some really weird and/or dumb RPGs out there. (And movies, and Star Wars books, and...)
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Oct 13, 2020 22:57
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Good thread OP. Last time I listened to Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, Robin (I think) was going on and on about how blueberries are a Superfood and I was influenced enough to buy blueberries for a couple months. Well that's my podcast story. Also System Mastery has done at least a couple of Actual Plays in the X-Crawl universe and I do recommend them.
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Oct 13, 2020 23:28
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RPPR Comedy and Commentary - Discussion podcast by the same people that do the Roleplay Public Radio actual play show. The Good Friends of Jackson Elias - A podcast about Call of Cthulhu, horror films, weird fiction and roleplaying games in general. The Green Box - A podcast dedicated to improving the running, playing, and supporting elements of the Delta Green role playing game.
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Oct 13, 2020 23:43
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Bonus Experience is a general RPG discussion podcast about running and writing games (and playing them!). It's good, and the hosts are very wonderful humans.
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Oct 14, 2020 01:03
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mellonbread posted:RPPR Comedy and Commentary - Discussion podcast by the same people that do the Roleplay Public Radio actual play show.
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Oct 14, 2020 01:13
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Hostile V posted:Yeah, RPPR's Game Designer Workshop was very eye-opening and a good look into the creative process of starting a system and setting from scratch and how to more or less not make a heartbreaker through actual testing and networking.
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Oct 14, 2020 17:12
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I think that's more of a failing of Strange Fate itself; listening to the playtests and old episodes on RPPR helped me get a handle on it myself but Fate Accelerated exists for a reason.
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Oct 14, 2020 19:13
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Yeah it's a legit struggle most superhero games have. Either the power creation rules are so generic they might as well not be there, or they're so intricately detailed you need a vast flowchart to do character creation.
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Oct 14, 2020 21:04
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mellonbread posted:Yeah it's a legit struggle most superhero games have. Either the power creation rules are so generic they might as well not be there, or they're so intricately detailed you need a vast flowchart to do character creation. I'm not about to cover a new game on my show but I always recommend Sentinels if you're looking for a good balance of crunch and fluff for a supers game.
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Oct 14, 2020 23:34
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Thanks for the recommendation. While you're here: which episode was the one where you couldn't stop thinking about Genesis' Land of Confusion, I intend to relisten to that one.
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Oct 14, 2020 23:52
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Hostile V posted:Thanks for the recommendation. While you're here: which episode was the one where you couldn't stop thinking about Genesis' Land of Confusion, I intend to relisten to that one. Wow no idea. That must have been a while ago. Im pretty much never not thinking about weird 80s music videos. Do you remember what sort of show it was?
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Oct 15, 2020 00:13
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theironjef posted:Wow no idea. That must have been a while ago. Im pretty much never not thinking about weird 80s music videos. Do you remember what sort of show it was?
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Oct 15, 2020 00:16
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33.3FM - An Unknown Armies podcast.theironjef posted:I'm not about to cover a new game on my show but I always recommend Sentinels if you're looking for a good balance of crunch and fluff for a supers game.
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Oct 15, 2020 06:10
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mellonbread posted:33.3FM - An Unknown Armies podcast. It's ostensibly part of the Sentinels of the Multiverse card game franchise, but the engine can be uncoupled from the background easily, and I've had no trouble using it to remake characters from all kinds of stuff. Easily remade all the characters from every supers thing I've run before from Heroes Unlimited to City of Heroes to just regular old Squirrel Girl. It's probably more storygame than crunch in order to hit that flexibility, but character creation and gameplay are both pretty satisfying.
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Oct 15, 2020 06:24
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If you for some reason like Pathfinder, Trailblazer Academy covers pretty much every single aspect of 1.0 as well as some good commentary on the process of being a good player and GM. It was very helpful to me. They really embraced the Apple Podcasts seasons system…and are the platonic example as to why doing that is an awful idea, and have nothing remotely resembling a schedule they meet. So if organization and consistency is important to you this is not for you but there is some really good content here if you can engage with it. They have recently started Pathfinder 2.0
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Oct 20, 2020 08:06
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I am toying (pending recruitment of a cohost) with the idea of starting an RPG history podcast, where each episode we take a "big picture" view of some topic in gaming in terms of how the subject in question has developed over a span of years (how has self-publishing changed over time, how have edition wars changed over time, how did the history of this RPG company end up affecting the games it produced, etc.). Would welcome a) advice and b) suggestions for topics people might be interested in hearing about.
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Oct 27, 2020 23:48
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I would like that. One topic I'd be interested in is covering what it took for a normal person to get a game published through the years. I'd also like to compare and contrast the mechanics-light games of the 90s vs the mechanics-light games of current times, because they seem like completely different animals.
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Oct 27, 2020 23:56
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Warthur posted:I am toying (pending recruitment of a cohost) with the idea of starting an RPG history podcast, where each episode we take a "big picture" view of some topic in gaming in terms of how the subject in question has developed over a span of years (how has self-publishing changed over time, how have edition wars changed over time, how did the history of this RPG company end up affecting the games it produced, etc.). Would welcome a) advice and b) suggestions for topics people might be interested in hearing about. Early RPGs featured open-ended world creation systems that allowed the DM to create the bulk of the content. Things like dungeon stocking procedures and hex map tables in the early D&D editions, or system and planet creation rules in Traveler. These were later sidelined by premade adventures and setting books, almost by mutual consent between consumers and publishers. DMs wanted content they could run without creating everything themselves, and RPG developers could make money selling modules. And now we're seeing a revival of books that provide a toolkit for world building. Games like Veins of the Earth and Esoteric Enterprises with procedural rules for the DM to make the simulated map and dungeon, but also indie games like Unknown Armies 3 and Apocalypselikes which have system for the DM and players to make the setting together.
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Oct 28, 2020 00:32
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Warthur posted:I am toying (pending recruitment of a cohost) with the idea of starting an RPG history podcast, where each episode we take a "big picture" view of some topic in gaming in terms of how the subject in question has developed over a span of years (how has self-publishing changed over time, how have edition wars changed over time, how did the history of this RPG company end up affecting the games it produced, etc.). Would welcome a) advice and b) suggestions for topics people might be interested in hearing about. Sounds neat. We touch on that from episode to episode, but it's a good idea for a series of deep dives for sure.
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Oct 28, 2020 01:13
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I want to hear about the history of Cyber Punk and games.theironjef posted:Sounds neat. We touch on that from episode to episode, but it's a good idea for a series of deep dives for sure. Most of the stuff I know of the evolution of games is from System Mastery, actually. Which I guess is kind of like learning the history of cinema via MST3k…which is also did until I went to college I guess. Rick fucked around with this message at 01:33 on Oct 28, 2020 |
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Oct 28, 2020 01:27
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Rick posted:I would like that. One topic I'd be interested in is covering what it took for a normal person to get a game published through the years. I'd also like to compare and contrast the mechanics-light games of the 90s vs the mechanics-light games of current times, because they seem like completely different animals. mellonbread posted:Early RPGs featured open-ended world creation systems that allowed the DM to create the bulk of the content. Things like dungeon stocking procedures and hex map tables in the early D&D editions, or system and planet creation rules in Traveler. These were later sidelined by premade adventures and setting books, almost by mutual consent between consumers and publishers. DMs wanted content they could run without creating everything themselves, and RPG developers could make money selling modules. Rick posted:I want to hear about the history of Cyber Punk and games.
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Oct 28, 2020 02:32
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Fear of a Black Dragon, a podcast from the Gauntlet network that takes a look at old adventure modules (mostly D&D/OSR, but ventures sometimes into stuff like Warhams Fantasy and Cyberpunk 2020) and gives funny commentary and advice on how to use these modules for more modern indie systems.
Gatto Grigio fucked around with this message at 22:56 on Oct 28, 2020 |
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Oct 28, 2020 02:42
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midwifecrisis posted:Bonus Experience is a general RPG discussion podcast about running and writing games (and playing them!). It's good, and the hosts are very wonderful humans. Legally required to second the nod to Bonus Experience; the ladies are funny and informative.
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Oct 28, 2020 04:43
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I remember listening to Happy Jack's back when I was first getting into non-D&D RPGs around 8 years ago. They were a fun podcast, but seemed behind the times in some ways. Cool to hear they are still going - have they started to move with the times more or is Savage Worlds still their go-to for everything?
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Nov 24, 2020 21:10
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Jimbozig posted:I remember listening to Happy Jack's back when I was first getting into non-D&D RPGs around 8 years ago. They were a fun podcast, but seemed behind the times in some ways. Cool to hear they are still going - have they started to move with the times more or is Savage Worlds still their go-to for everything? I listen to them sporadically and I hear more stuff about Monster of the Week and Vampire, though they do refer to narrative focused games an "hippie games"
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Nov 24, 2020 21:34
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The GROGNARD RPG files is the only rpg podcast I listen to, so no idea what it is like compared to others. Its older stuff, UK-centric, they really like old White Dwarf magazine. https://thegrognardfiles.com/
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Nov 25, 2020 09:32
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The Good Friends of Jackson Elias just hit 200 Episodes. I'm a bit jaded by the endless parade of Cthulhu Mythos games out there, but their show usually brings something new to the table rather than just beating familiar dead horses.
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Jan 23, 2021 01:40
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Previous idea for a podcast fell through but I had another idea which I think would allow some of the RPG history stuff to come through and, crucially, doesn't rely on having a consistent cast from episode to episode. Loads of RPG core books have examples of play laid out like a script, right? The show concept is that each episode we'd take one of these, read through that script as a dramatic reading, and then do a discussion along the lines of: - Did the script we just read sound like a game we'd actually want to participate in, or did the designers write something which makes their own game sound awful? - What sort of style of play is this script envisioning? - Does that actually match how this game plays? And from there you could spiral into a more general discussion of the game itself. Disadvantages: any particular episode will need at least as many podcast participants as there are roles in the script. Advantages: instant material, structure feels very natural, no need to have same set of people each episode, allows for a somewhat original way to approach the games in question which means that even when discussing ground that's been gone over already, there's something original we can say about it, less daunting than the deeper-dive podcast idea because not every participant in an episode necessarily needs to have done their research (in fact it could help in some instances to have some people who are familiar with a game, so that they can discuss how the thing actually plays, and some who aren't, who can talk about what the example of play leads them to expect from the game without knowing much about how the game actually functions).
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May 25, 2021 15:23
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Warthur posted:
Or enough people who can do different enough voices. this is a neat idea though, especially since a lot of times those scripts are used to teach chargen or combat, so I like the idea of asking "ok we pretended to have a fight, is that how a fight would really play out?"
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May 25, 2021 17:35
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LeSquide posted:Legally required to second the nod to Bonus Experience; the ladies are funny and informative. you would be legally required, wouldn't you?
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May 25, 2021 18:19
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Warthur posted:- Does that actually match how this game plays? "Review of [game] by someone who has played it extensively and can point out where the assumptions in the text differ from actual play experience" is my favorite type of RPG content.
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May 25, 2021 21:50
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mellonbread posted:This is the most interesting part of the concept, but requires that each episode have someone who has played the game. Which is either going to restrict the games you can cover, or will (like the need for guest voices) also require bringing on additional hosts as subject matter experts. EDIT: Could be scope for extending this sort of thing to in-game fiction. "OK, this intro fiction clearly frames the protagonists as PC types... can we actually make PCs who can do the poo poo these characters do?"
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May 27, 2021 13:23
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I cover those (though obviously not as reenactments) on my show when they're interesting, largely finding that they tend to fall into a couple of key (not great) categories, stuff like "No apparent understanding of odds, just write the players contantly hitting weirdly difficult rolls" and "One player thinks all games and this game in particular are like, so lame, good thing the gallant other players are here to show them up."
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May 27, 2021 21:14
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Are there any podcasts delving into playing Lancer? I'd like to at least get something in my head through osmosis during my work hours. I see One Shot has two episodes about character creation, but is there something I can listen to for a whole overview of the system?
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Jun 15, 2021 20:36
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bbcisdabomb posted:Are there any podcasts delving into playing Lancer? I'd like to at least get something in my head through osmosis during my work hours. I see One Shot has two episodes about character creation, but is there something I can listen to for a whole overview of the system? It's not a podcast but 11dragonkid has a "battle report" series that I haven't actually watched yet. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOnXWQrYlGSDkEd-ENj2DUEiSEbJ0f3ym
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Jun 26, 2021 04:56
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Are Youtube videos allowed in this thread? Stuff like Tex Talks Battletech, or Seth's Call of Cthulhu series?
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Jul 2, 2021 21:17
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mellonbread posted:Are Youtube videos allowed in this thread? Stuff like Tex Talks Battletech, or Seth's Call of Cthulhu series? On the one hand I know that sort of stuff is wildly bigger than the podcasts and will rapidly overwhelm the thread, on the other hand the thread isn't moving at all anyway so who gives a poo poo. Go for it! As long as it's not narrative stuff, that goes in the other one.
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Jul 2, 2021 23:23
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I am about a month behind on System Mastery but it's nice to hear a run of games that they mostly liked, the show is still funny (some people can't be funny and review things they also like so it's nice that y'all can).
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Jul 3, 2021 07:19
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Oh thanks! I know we had a good run shortly after deciding to do the occasional newer game, stuff like Sentinels and Starcrossed. That was when we were really starting to burn up our catalog of weird old PDFs at the tail end of remote recording for the pandemic.
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Jul 3, 2021 19:21
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