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, Jen, CJ, and Troll discuss their experiences with the Dresden Files RPG. All in all, we had a very positive time with this game.  We discuss our reactions to Aspects, the Fudge Dice, City and Character Creation, and how faithful the game is to the Dresdenverse.

Relevant Links

• Evil Hat
• Dresden Files RPG
• Jim Butcher
• Letter Jacket
• Perry, IA
• FUDGE
• D&D 3.5
• Urban Dictionary
• 4DFate probabilities
• Lighting Lad
• Cosmic Boy
• Shadowrun
• Twilight
• Smallville & it’s RPG
• Silverado
• Weapons of the Gods
• Ptolus
• Mutants and Masterminds
• Arcana Evolved
• Burning Empires
• Yojimbo
• Fringe
• X-files
• Eureka
• Diaspora
• Starblazer Adventures
• Flash Gordon
• Traveller
• Kurt Vonnegut
• Dean Koontz
• In A Wicked Age
• Penny for My Thoughts
• H.P. Lovecraft
• White Wolf
• LARP Episode
• Mage: The Awakening
• RPG Geek Thanks for the Nomination!

Crunchy Bits!

• Intro music from “The Wizard” by  of Idle Thumbs
• Outro Music “Magic Carpet Ride” by Steppenwolf remixed by Fatboy Slim

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The crew sits down to discuss the big issue we’ve been avoiding for the entire time this podcast has been around: Player and GM Authority. We break down the different kinds of authority and cite examples of how different games use them. Then we discuss how the traditional model of authority (most of it being in the hands of the GM) can cause problems.

Relevant Links

• Renato Ramonda (who’s name I butchered, sorry!)
• DRYH Italian
• Forge Thread about Authority
• Weapons of the Gods
• Dungeon Master’s Guide
• Gygaxian Lexicography
• Rule Zero
• Knights of the Dinner Table
• Shadowrun
• Burning Wheel
• Burning Empires
• Moldvey Basic
• The Czege Principal
• Soggy Cracker
• Polaris
• Grey Ranks
• Zombie Cinema
• Capes
• Wild Talents
• DOOM
• Marathon
• GNS
• In Nomine
• Ron Edwards Brain Damage
• Arcana Evolved
• Mutants and Masterminds
• Massive hero lists for Mutants and Masterminds
• Batman/Superman: Public Enemies
• FreeMarket
• FATE
• Spirit of the Century
• Dresden Files RPG
• Diaspora
• Starblazer Adventures
• Traveller

Crunchy Bits!

• Intro and Outro music provided by

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Our review of “Vincent Baker’s Concentrated Awesome” aka Dogs in the Vineyard. We sit down to discuss the dice mechanics, moral ambiguity, and how advancement is inextricably tied into not only changes to your character, but also the damage model. Also, Brandon’s still not over his fear of cows.

Relevant Links

• Dogs in the Vineyard
• Vincent Baker’s Blog
• Dogs in the Vineyards Forum
• Apocalypse World
• State of Deseret
• Burning Wheel
• Diagonally Through the Woods
• Mutants and Masterminds
• D&D
• Warhammer Fantasy RPG
• Mind Flayer
• Arcana Evolved
• Burning Empires
• Oregon Trail
• The Jank Cast
• Call of Cthulhu

Crunchy Bits!

• Intro Music from the soundtrack to The Proposition by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (the composer, not the comic writer)
• Outro Music “Palomino” by Tree Adams.

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Kevin, Dan, and CJ discuss how secrets can be used in a game. We discuss the different kinds of secrets: Short Term, Long Term, Open, and Closed, as well as how each can be a boon or a bane to your game.

Relevant Links

• Guy Fawkes
• Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved (referred to as “The AE Game” several times in this episode)
• D6 Star Wars
• Cold City
• Diplomacy
• The Mountain Witch
• Vincent Baker’s example of a player-generated closed secret in The Mountain Witch
• Trapcast Forum Discussion about collaborative setting creation
• Trapcast thread about secrets
• The WAAAGH!
• Dogs in the Vineyard
• Mutants and Masterminds

Crunchy Bits!

• Intro and Outro music provided by

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Our normal format is play game, review game, interview designer. But when we heard Monte Cook had posted on his blog asking about RPG related podcasts, we knew this was too good a chance to pass up. Besides, we’d played 3.0 D&D for years, followed by a full campaign of Arcana Evolved, and our final hurrah of D20 fantasy gaming was a run through Ptolus. So while we didn’t record any of that, we’re pretty sure we got the “play game” part covered pretty well.

It was a real pleasure to talk to Mr. Cook about his new foray: Dungeon-a-day.com, and we’re all very glad to see him back in the gaming industry. We discuss his masterfully diplomatic opinion on D&D 4E, what style of play he expects at his table, how he feels about player vs. player conflict, what games he’s looking forward to playing, and his use of Gygaxian Lexicography. We wish him luck on all his future endeavors!

Crunchy Bits!

• Music by Mark Morgan from the soundtrack to Planescape: Torment

Relevant Links:

• Dungeon-A-Day
• Wizards of the Coast
• Malhavoc Press
• Monte Cook’s World of Darkness
• Call of Cthulhu
• Call of Cthulhu (D20)
• Trail of Cthulhu
• Pagan Publlishing’s new Mysteries of Mesoamerica
• Burning Wheel
• Burning Empires
• Paul Tevis
• Inside The Game Designer Studio
• Bruce R. Cordell
• Stephen R. Donaldson / Thomas Covenant

Bumpers and Promos

• Spooky Outhouse Productions
• Have Games Will Travel

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