CJ, Troll, and Kevin attempt (with some difficulty) to define tone, how it affects play at the table, and different systems that use a variety of tricks to reinforce their tone.

Relevant Links

• Paul of the Podgecast
• Weapons of the Gods
• Joss
• Don’t Rest Your Head
• Dogs in the Vineyard
• Vincent Baker
• In A Wicked Age
• Our Interview with Vincent about DitV and IAWA
• Apocalypse World
• Dungeon World
• Dread
• Lady Blackbird
• Planescape
• Dresden Files
• Fiasco
• HOL
• Shock: Human Contact
• Luke Crane
• Burning Wheel
• RPG.net Thread about Author’s Tone
• John Wick
• Houses of the Blooded
• Paranoia
• Rolemaster
• Grey Ranks
• FATAL
• Kill Puppies for Satan
• Ars Magica
• Dudes of Legend
• Hackmaster
• Baldur’s Gate
• SSI
• Shadow Run
• China Mielville
• Arcanum
• Call of Cthulhu
• RPGA
• World of Darkness
• GURPS
• GNS
• Arcana Evolved
• Burning Empires
• Mouse Guard
• Millennium’s End
• Rifts
• Captain Indigo

Crunchy Bits!

• Intro and Outro music by 

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A while ago Kevin stumbled across Chris Chinn’s “Deeper in the Game” blog and quickly became a fan. Chris discusses a lot of interesting topics and puts a lot of thought into each post. One entry in particular caught his attention: The Same Page Tool. This was a tool RPG gamers can use before playing a game to make sure everyone is on the same page for what they expect out of this game, with these people. Kevin, Jen, and Troll had just been in a Mutants and Masterminds game with a new GM, and it became very obvious after just one session that we were not all on the same page. We go through the Same Page Tool question by question and discuss the implications of each question, using the aborted M&M game as an example of how it could help.

Relevant Links

• Deeper in the Game/Same Page Tool
• Mutants and Masterminds
• Tom Moldvay
• Competitive D&D
• Our Apocalypse World Coverage
• White Wolf
• Paranoia
• Weapons of the Gods
• Neverwinter Nights
• Gary Gygax
• Burning Wheel
• Deadlands
• Progress Quest
• “Stay A While, and Listen!”
• Zombie Cinema
• Traveller
• 3:16
• Arcana Evolved
• Mouse Guard
• GURPS
• Rifts
• Burning Empires

Crunchy Bits

• Intro and Outro music by 

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Kevin and Troll sit down with D. Vincent Baker to discuss some of the nitty gritty of Apocalypse World. We talk a fair bit about the philosophy behind Moves, and the inspirations for Apocalypse World. A small note on the audio quality: Vincent’s microphone seems a bit unreliable, so some parts of the interview were very quiet. Kevin tried to amplify and salvage it as best he could, but the result might be a bit annoying in some parts. Apologies for that. It might be best to listen to this interview w/ headphones.

Relevant Links

• Apocalypse World
• Vincent’s Blog
• Ars Magica
• Forgotten Realms
• Shieldmeet
• Otherkind
• Emily Care Boss
• Meguey Baker
• Shadowrun
• Prime Time Adventures
• Dogs in the Vineyard
• Paranoia
• Kill Puppies for Satan
• Cormac McCarthey
• Elmore Leonard
• John Harper’s Blog Post about Seize By Force
• Shreyas Sampat
• John Harper’s Blog Post about Authority in Custom Moves
• Battle Babe Example 1 (Doomsday)
• (Steel Dawn)
• Battle Babe Example 3 (The Road Warrior)
• Firefly
• Original Apocalypse World Cover
• PAX
• GenCon
• Christian Kelly
• Sight for Sore Eyes Charity
• Human Contact
• Monster Hearts
• Sage Latorra
• Tony Dowler
• Dungeon World
• Clyde’s Interview with Vincent (GenCon 2010)
• Storming the Wizards Tower
• The Dragon Killer
• Round-table with Joshua, Vincent, and Rob
• Mars Colony
• Graham Walmsley

Crunchy Bits

• Intro “The Day the World Went Away” by Nine Inch Nails
• Outro “Livin’ on the Edge” by Aerosmith

Podcast: |

Kevin, Jen, CJ, and Troll gather around to discuss the ins and outs of D. Vincent Baker’s Apocalypse World. There were a wide variety of opinions about Apocalypse World, and we spend some time discussing the particulars of the GM style of AW and how the tone of the text affects some people’s enjoyment of the game. Overall, we really enjoyed Apocalypse World.

Relevant Links

• Apocalypse World
• Vincent Baker’s Blog
• Mad Max
• Waterworld
• Fallout
• Gamma World
• Mutants and Masterminds
• Campaign Cartographer
• The Caller
• ““
• Chaos Rising
• Mark Singer
• The Beastmaster
• D&D Hack for AW
• Parkour Hack for AW
• Human Contact
• Elizabeth Sampat
• Sight for Sore Eyes Charity
• DLC
• Dragon Age
• Mass Effect 2
• Planescape

Crunchy Bits!

• Intro “The Day The World Went Away” by Nine Inch Nails
• Outro “The Earth Died Screaming” by Tom Waits

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Kevin sits down with Ryan Macklin, John Wick, and Eddy Webb to discuss the pros and cons of drifting the rules in RPG’s. It’s a good discussion, and fair warning, the last 10 minutes or so are actually a tangent on the realities of being an internet microcelebrity, and how people act vastly differently to said celebrities when they meet them in person rather than how they talk about them on internet forums. Still  a pretty interesting conversation, but if you’re here just to hear about drifting, you might wanna skip the last 10 minutes.

Relevant Links

• Ryan Macklin
• John Wick
• Eddy Webb
• AEG
• White Wolf
• “Dick Fingers“
• Game Design is Mind Control
• Hoyle
• Star Wars Live Action Adventures
• Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
• Mods
• Race for the Galaxy
• Gloom
• Apocalypse World
• Mage
• Camarilla Fan Club
• FATE
• Houses of the Blooded
• GURPS
• Wilderness of Mirrors
• The Farm
• Champions
• The Wheel of Time
• Chuck Wendig
• Dudes of Legend
• Pendragon
• Spirit of the Century
• Mage Noir
• Russel Bailey
• D&D Encounters
• Thirty
• Joseph Campbell
• GDC
• Montsegur 1244
• Burning Wheel (what, you thought we’d get through an entire episode without mentioning it?)
• Eddy’s Camarilla LARP Theory
• Will Hindmarch
• 7th Sea
• RPG.net Thread about writers tone getting in the way

Crunchy Bits!

• Intro and Outro music by 

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The crew gets together for our final session of Apocalypse World. We sit down and generate a new character for Jen and integrate her into the game world. It works out pretty well, and we have a nice setup for further stories. Also, Errol’s efforts to seduce Midnight finally come to a… head?

Relevant Links

• Apocalypse World
• Vincent’s Blog
• Atomic Monstrosity (actually the Atomic Beast by Judd Karlman)
• Saffron
• The Red Rocket
• Dreamcatcher
• Mischievous (Troll was right)
• ““
• I said Abrams APC but I meant Bradley.
• ““
• Tom Clancy
• I-80 Truck Stop
• The Fountain of 1000 Chemicals
• Yiffing
• “The Errol King“

Crunchy Bits!

• Intro Song “The Day The World Went Away” by Nine Inch Nails
• Outro Song “Bad Things” by Jace Everett

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This was a tumultuous session! Corbett, the leader of Princey’s personal security, decides he’s had enough of playing second fiddle to Midnight. There are no status quos in Apocalypse World! This session proves that, as everything changes, drastically and preeminently.

Relevant Links

• Apocalypse World
• Vincent Baker’s Blog

Crunchy Bits!

• Intro Song “The Day The World Went Away” by Nine Inch Nails
• Outro Song “Blaze of Glory” by Bon Jovi

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After a nice break from the holidays we’re back with a vengeance! Things get rolling nicely this session: A Kidnapping, a Rescue, and more creepy amorous advances by Burroughs.  Enjoy!

Relevant Links

• Apocalypse World
• Vincent Baker’s Blog
• Check out our to see the pic Jen snapped of CJ during the “Exploding Teeth” discussion.

Crunchy Bits!

• Intro Song “The Day The World Went Away” by Nine Inch Nails
• Outro Song “The Horror of Our Love” by Ludo

Podcast: |

Jen and Kevin have been playing in a “warm-up” Apocalypse World game for the last couple months and its been an absolute blast. We were all very excited to show our listeners D. Vincent Baker’s new game. In the first session, we do a little bit of world creation, character creation, and a few quick scenes to get a feel for the characters. Jen may have created her most disturbing character yet! Enjoy.

Relevant Links

• Apocalypse World
• Vincent Baker’s Blog
• (more to come!)

Crunchy Bits!

• Intro Song “The Day The World Went Away” by Nine Inch Nails
• Outro Song “Whiskey, Chitlins, and Skirt” by The Gone Jackals

Podcast: |

When Ron Edwards announced posted on The Forge that the site would be entering it’s “winter phase” there was a bit of a hullabaloo about just what exactly that would mean for the site. I quickly shot Ron an email asking if he’d like to take some time to discuss what this all meant, and the general perception of The Forge on the internet as a whole. What followed was a fascinating conversation about identity politics, the economics of small-press gaming, and the difficulties of communication on the Internet. Enjoy!

Relevant Links

• Ron Edwards
• The Forge
• Winter Phase Post
• Pendragon
• Houses of the Blooded
• GNS
• Apocalypse World Forums
• Essays on The Forge
• RPG.net Thread about the Winter Phase
• The Gaming Outpost
• Greg Stolze
• Story Games Forum
• Indie Press Revolution
• Brennan Taylor
• Bliss Stage
• Universalis
• Burning Wheel
• Des Moines Social Club
• Metagaming Concepts
• Steve Jackson
• Wizard
• Champions
• GURPS
• Hero System
• White Wolf
• Lion Rampant
• Rifts
• Deadlands
• Legend of the Five Rings
• Chicagoland Games
• 3rd Coast Comics
• Games Workshop
• Diana Jones Awards
• Irish Charity Auctions
• Origins Award
• Shadowrun
• FAFSA
• Peter Atkinson
• Ryan Dancey
• The Podgecast
• Iron Tyrants
• Battletech
• Dogs in the Vineyard AP
• Burning Empires AP
• Complexity Round-Table
• Jason Morningstar
• Jonathan Tweet
• Robin D. Laws
• Over the Edge
• Naked Went the Gamer
• Kevin Siembieda
• The Meese Comission

Crunchy Bits!

• Intro and Outro music provided by 

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