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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Jen and Kevin sit down and have a brief chat with Paul Tevis about their recent experience with his award winning game: A Penny For My Thoughts. Paul talks about his experience with improv, how Penny came to be, and what his future plans are.

Relevant Links

Crunchy Bits!

• Intro “Song Morning Bell/Amnesiac” by Radiohead
• Outro Song “Where is my Mind?” by the Pixies

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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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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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Regular play begins in earnest! We cover a lot of basic ground this session: The Sight, Soul Gazing, a social conflict, and a few compels. The PC’s investigate a mysteriously exploding brothel and are manipulated by seen and unseen forces!

Relevant Links

• Dresden Files RPG Homepage
• Mutants and Masterminds
• Burning Empires
• The Crusades
• Dick Cheney
• Fallout 3
• The Smithsonian
• Dolley Madison
• The Archive (spoilers!)
• ’77 Dodge Charger
• Crocodile Tears
• Schadenfreude
• ““
• Burning Wheel
• In A Wicked Age
• Phlogiston
• Futurama
• Ghostrock

Crunchy Bits

• Intro music from “The Wizard” by  of Idle Thumbs
• Outro Music “I’m Your Late Night Evening Prostitute” by Tom Waits

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After a few speedbumps we were finally able to get together with Jared Sorensen to discuss our experiences with FreeMarket. The original plan was to interview both Jared and Luke, but sadly  due to some technical difficulties Luke could not join us. Things ended up working out really well, though, as CJ and Kevin got a chance to dig pretty deep into some of their concerns and questions about FreeMarket.

Relevant Links

• FreeMarket
• Our FreeMarket Review
• Jared Sorensen
• Luke Crane
• Burning Empires
• Mutants and Masterminds
• System Matters
• Robert A. Heinlein
• Game Design is Mind Control GenCon Panel
• Beta Software / Feature Complete
• Peter Adkison
• Ron Edwards
• CHOIRS Project
• Rob Bohl
• Wikis
• Jason Morningstar
• Blade Runner
• The Coen Brothers
• Joshua Bell
• Existentialism
• Boing Boing
• Osprey VTOL
• Inside the Donut GenCon Panel
• Jared’s Events
• Inspectres Movie
• Parsley

Crunchy Bits!

• Intro Music “Inner Universe” from the Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex OST
• Outro Music “More Human Than Human (Meet Bambi in the King’s Harem Mix)” by White Zombie

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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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Here’s the 2nd half of Kevin’s interview with Ron Edwards.  In it we discuss the necessary skills and attitudes for approaching gaming, a breakdown of some of Kevin’s prior difficulties with Sorcerer, and finally some discussion on what The Forge is all about. Kevin does a fantastic job of sticking his foot in his mouth by comparing The Forge GenCon booth to a Scientology recruiting station. See how he backpedals! Awkward comparisons aside, I had a great time sitting down and talking with Ron. I look forward to seeing him again at Forge Midwest 2010!

Relevant Links

• Adept Press
• Sorcerer
• Trollbabe
• Prime Time Adventures
• Dust Devils
• The Forge
• Burning Wheel
• Planescape
• Runequest
• The Moose in the City
• In A Wicked Age
• Dogs in the Vineyard
• 7th Sea
• Over the Edge
• Riddle of Steel
• Shadow of Yesterday
• Burning Empires
• Jared Sorensen
• Inspectres
• Ars Magica
• Mike Mearls
• Ed Healy
• RPG.net
• Paul Czege
• Vaughn Bode
• Mark Bode
• Cheech Wizard
• Richard Dawkins
• Rob Bohl
• The Last Supper

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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