RPG Action, Reaction, and Interaction~
Sections include notes on my guest appearance on Roundtable Roulette with host Craig Shipman and fellow guest Seth Skorkowsky, thoughts about the next RPGaDay (2022), more on our ongoing but sometimes interrupted Alien Campaign, and a special focus on the once-again recent and always interesting topic: immersion thanks to an interesting series of observations and call-ins appearing on the Nerds’ RPG Variety Cast.
Additional Links:
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Joe of Hindsightless and Karl of the GMologist Presents were kind enough to leave voice messages to which I could respond in part of this episode and then seque into talk about two favorite techniques for RPGs: troupes of characters and games spanning generations of such characters~
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Music can be a useful tool when playing an RPG, but in my experience, I have found it to be even more useful in preparation for play. In this episode, I survey some of the ways I have found to aid my preparation for improvisation with music and playlists. We also touch on, thanks to the interest of The GMologist Presents and Hindsightless podcasts, the use of the incredible Operation: Mindcrime in these pursuits.
At the bottom of this page, I have placed a BONUS EPISODE where we go into specifics about the use of Mindcrime in play in my World of Darkness days~
Part 1 – Context of using music for Improvisation and Example 1: character playlists
Part 2 – Example 2: Using Operation: Mindcrime by Queensryche on the metalevel for preparation and reference in play
Part 3 – Using variations, covers, and remakes and Example 3: Tom Waits songs to inspire an NPC
Further Example Playlists:
Tom Waits: Delta Green – tRUST
Icecream Man – God’s Away on Business – Murder in the Red Barn – What’s he Building? – 16 shells from a 30.06
Tragically Hip: Delta Green – Seasons of Deepening Dismay
She Didn’t Know – 38 Years Old – Little Bones – Locked in the Trunk of a Car – Nautical Disaster
Various Artists (re: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds)
Dimensional Shambles – Red Right Hand covers, variations, and remakes
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Originally Published: February 23, 2022 at 8:27 PM
The blame for this episode rests squarely on the shoulders of Jason of the Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast. If you have not yet given him your thoughts on this matter, please do so now:
Contest Link
Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast Voice Mail link to Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast
Links from this Episode:
System 1 System Details Campaign Recap Actual Play Series
System 2 System Details Numerous Actual Play Series (some with annotations)
System 3 Actual Play Series (with annotations)
Additional Links:
The Written Blog: Casting Shadows
The tie-in post for this episode: Three Favored Systems? A Contest~
The YouTube Channel: Runeslinger
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This Actual Play session was run as an interlude during our time playing the ‘What Comes Home to Roost‘ campaign as Colonial Marines for Free League’s Alien RPG. It was also around the time that I started putting together the 7-part series of blog posts and podcast episodes on preparation for improvisation that comprise Episodes 13-19 on this site.
This session demonstrates a different example of the use of improvisation toward a specific genre and player-experience goal for atmosphere and context, but unlike our goals for Alien, this is high adventure pulp heroics in an implausible sword and planet setting of super-science and derring-do. Some of the techniques are similar, some are identical, and some are divergent from what we have discussed in the series so far.
This session uses one of our favorite systems (Ubiquity) to support a setting of my own invention. This was our second foray into my version of Venus that never was, but should have been. I hope that you enjoy it~
If you would like to watch this on YouTube rather than just listen to it, the link is:
Sky Riders and the Silent Outpost
If you would like the watch the original session:
Sky Riders and the Mist Pirates of Venus
If you would like to listen to the podcast version of the first session, with its commentary on our play, that is Episode 6 of this podcast.
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Part 7: Alienating the Alien… What are some of the elements of Free League’s Alien RPG that I find most useful? This episode looks at three: Abstract processing for Detailed outcomes, Conversational Gamespeak, and Layered Consequences.
This series of blog, vlog, and pod episodes will explore Alien the Roleplaying Game by Free League from the perspective of preparation for horror and improvisation within the framework of Campaign Mode for Colonial Marines.
Read the blog post for this episode!
Additional Links: Alien the Roleplaying Game – Rules and Actual Play
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Part 6: Introducing the Alien… In this installment of the preparation for improvisation series using Free League’s Alien RPG, we give a brief overview of the campaign so far and look at the process of ongoing assessment and analysis of play which makes it easier to shift and react to how play is really going, rather than how we might want it to go.
This series of blog, vlog, and pod episodes will explore Alien the Roleplaying Game by Free League from the perspective of preparation for horror and improvisation within the framework of Campaign Mode for Colonial Marines.
Read the blog post for this episode!
Additional Links: Alien the Roleplaying Game – Rules and Actual Play
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Part 5: Playing the Alien… On our first session, spontaneous improvisation within an understood framework of in-game and meta goals, and getting going even if not feeling 100% ready.
This series of blog, vlog, and pod episodes will explore Alien the Roleplaying Game by Free League from the perspective of preparation for horror and improvisation within the framework of Campaign Mode for Colonial Marines.
Read the blog post for this episode!
Additional Links: Alien the Roleplaying Game – Rules and Actual Play
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Part 4: Framing the Alien… On conceptualizing the process of preparation in the context of who the characters are, what the approach to play is, and how those things intersect with the setting and its genre.
This series of blog, vlog, and pod episodes will explore Alien the Roleplaying Game by Free League from the perspective of preparation for horror and improvisation within the framework of Campaign Mode for Colonial Marines.
Read the blog post for this episode!
Links: Alien the Roleplaying Game – Rules and Actual Play
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Part 3: Hearing the Alien… On description and how it can be approached as a skill for horror gaming. This series of blog, vlog, and pod episodes will explore Alien the Roleplaying Game by Free League from the perspective of preparation for horror and improvisation within the framework of Campaign Mode for Colonial Marines.
Read the blog post for this episode!
Additional Links:
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Send in a voice message via Speakpipe!
Casting Shadows Podcast