GM Advice – Page 2 – Casting Shadows Podcast

Episode 38: On Layers and Conceptions of RPG Play

Summary

Published: July 15, 2023

This is another one of Runeslinger’s Reflections from the Road episodes, now replete and complete with rain and hydroplaning!

No Callers were hurt or drowned in the making of this episode. Thanks to Spencer/FreeThrall and Jason for their messages! Visit Keep off the Borderlands and the Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast for more of those fine gentlemen. References to Roleplay Rescue abound in this episode. Seek it out to learn why! You can interact on these and other gaming topics by sending a voice message via SpeakPipe or sending me a recording via e-mail or Discord. Contact me by e-mail at runescastshadows at gmail dot com

Ubiquity Roleplaying Games Discord

#RPGaDay2023 is on its way. Check the Autocratik blog by David Chapman or my Casting Shadows blog for all the details! Also, check out this fantastic warm-up contest by Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast as we wait for August to arrive!

RELEVANT LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:

Spencer’s podcast – Keep Off the Borderlands

Che Webster’s site – Roleplay Rescue

Jason Connerley’s Podcast – Nerds RPG Variety Cast

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Episode 37: On Real and Imagined Sand – RPG Sandboxes

Summary

Published: July 8, 2023

Blame it on the rain. Yeah. Yeah.

With listener calls to spice things up, this reflection from the road by Runeslinger delves into the seemingly forgotten history of why RPGs refer to sandbox play, how that is not on a spectrum with Railroading, and shows how Grimaud’s Crowbar teams up with Chekhov’s Gun, as the kilometers fly by~

Guest voices appearing in this episode were Jason Connerly of the Nerds RPG Variety Cast, and Joe Richter of the Hindsightless podcast. Reference was made to Che Webster’s Roleplay Rescue podcast and Jason Hobbs’ Random Screed podcast.

RELEVANT LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:

For more on my corollary to Chekhov’s Gun obscurely titled Grimaud’s Crowbar please follow this link to my Casting Shadows blog:

Grimaud’s Crowbar

You can interact on these and other gaming topics by sending a voice message via ⁠SpeakPipe⁠ or contact me by e-mail at runescastshadows at gmail dot com

Joe Richer’s podcast – Hindsightless

Che Webster’s blog – Roleplay Rescue

Jason Hobbs’ – Random Screed Podcast.

Jason Connerley’s Podcast – Nerds RPG Variety Cast

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Episode 36: On Editing Games, Morrow Project, Hobbs and Layers~

Summary

Published: June 28, 2023

Blame both Jasons, Connerley and Hobbs, for the different topics about the range of possible play experiences covered in this new season’s first reflection from the road.

You can interact on these and other gaming topics by sending a voice message via ⁠SpeakPipe⁠ or contact me by e-mail at runescastshadows at gmail dot com

RELEVANT LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:

Levels of Play Episode from Jason Hobbs’ – Random Screed Podcast.

Jason Connerley’s Podcast – Nerds RPG Variety Cast

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Episode 31: On Temporal Techniques and Devouring Minds

Summary

Spinning off from an episode of the Cerebrevore Podcast on the topic of time travel in RPGs for which I was a panel guest, this episode looks at the notion of metagaming, player skill, and messing with the presentation of time – without resorting to brute force techniques such as the railroad or the quantum ogre.

Relevant Links:

Cerebrevore Podcast – Time Travel in RPGs Parts 1 to 4

1) Concepts of Time part 1

2) Concepts of Time part 2

3) Time Travel Methods in RPGs

4) RPG Time Travel Panel

Phantom Thoughts Podcast

1) Episode 9: Call-ins, Player Skill, Metagaming, System Mastery

2) Episode 10: Call-ins and more on Metagaming

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Episode 30: On Skills and Improvement in BRP

Summary

Following on from the previous episode on (My) relationship with Call of Cthulhu, we take two short listener calls from Menion (aka Rob) of the Confessions of a Wee Tim’rous Bushi podcast, who is currently diving deeply into Runequest: Glorantha, and Jason (aka the other Jason) of the Nerd’s RPG Variety cast, who continues doubling down on the variety these days with his refreshing breadth of gamer-relevant topics, and stretch them out for almost an hour. Can you survive this gauntlet of game talk?

Relevant Links:

Confessions of a Wee Tim’rous Bushi

Interview on Substandard Roleplaying

GM Mastermind Episode – Story? Story. Story!

⁠Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast

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Episode 25: Alien, Encouragement, and Immersion ~ Oh My!

Summary

Please join me as I navigate three very different topics with the help of some kind callers. This episode features calls from hosts of The GMologist Presents, Hindsightless, Spikepit, and Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast podcasts. Karl, Joe, Colin, and Jason were kind enough to listen to one or more episodes of this podcast and have called in to give depth and meaning to the conversation. Links to those shows are below.

Topic One: Difference between Cinematic and Campaign Modes in Free League’s Alien RPG

Topic Two: RPGaDay Call-ins

Topic Three: Immersion, call-ins, and commentary

LINKS:

Casting Shadows blog

Runeslinger’s YouTube Channel

PODCASTS mentioned or calling in to this episode:

Spikepit

Hindsightless

Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast

The GMologist Presents

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Episode 24: Shipmans, Skorkowskys, and Nerds ~ Oh my!

Summary

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:

Alien Actual Play

Third Floor Wars

Modern Mythos

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Episode 22: Musical Cues in Preparation for Improvisation

Summary

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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