A Role Playing Games Blog
Podcasts
Ed Healy interviewed ChattyDM
0March 24, 2010
Earlier today Ed Healy tweeted about his interview with my good friend Philippe-Antoine Ménard aka ChattyDM. They not only talk about roleplaying games but also about Philippe’s teaching, politics and more. You definitely should check this out!
DMs Should Join Other Games
6I think the best thing any Dungeon Master can to do improve his or her game is to join a game. You can learn a lot from other games and gamers. I find that I learn so much about how to improve my own DM’ing skills when I play or listen to other games. I can study other DMs. Learn what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong and use that to help me improve my own game.
If your not able to join a D&D game the next best thing you can do is listen to D&D podcasts of games. Wizards of the Coasts has several podcasts with Chris Perkins, Penny Arcade, PvP, and Wil Wheton all sitting around and playing D&D. I have learned a lot just from listening to these games in my spare time and as a result my own personal game has improved quite a bit. These podcasts have become an invaluable recourse for me.
Wizards of the Coast has also released a video of a game with Chris Perkins and the writers from robot chicken. This is great because you can actually watch the game and not just listen to it. These videos and podcasts are great tools for any one who DM’s.
What gaming podcasts do you listen to and how have they improve your game?
Best & Worst of Gaming 2009 [Part 1]
4January 1, 2010
Picking up a meme started by Zachary Houghton and the other hosts of the RPG Circus podcast, I look back at the best and worst in last year’s gaming.
Best Gaming Company
That’s not an easy category at all. There are a couple of gaming companies that did well this year. But in my opinion the best gaming company this year was Paizo Publishing. I have to admit I don’t play Pathfinder myself, but I appreciate what they’ve done for their fans this year. Releasing their brand-new game for open alpha and beta testing was a bold move. And they even repeated this for the new classes etc. they developed. They also run regular contests for fans and as I’ve heard their customer support is one of the best.
Best Gaming Company, Small Press Division
Hmm, I am not sure if you can call Q-Workshop a 
“Small Press” gaming company, since they produce dice and not anything in print, BUT they are small all right! This small company from Poland produces the best-looking dice I’ve ever seen in my life. Instead of using fancy materials these dice have elaborate designs which make Q-Workshop dice really unique. I don’t know how many Euros I spend on their products last year (it was probably much too many), but let me assure you that they make perfect gifts for any roleplayer. This makes Q-Workshop my best small gaming company of 2009.
Best Sci-Fi Product
There have been quite a few great SF game releases last year and it was quite hard for me to pick a winner, but I think I choose Diaspora (Read my post on it here). The FATE powered game is not as flashy as many of it’s competitors but it’s one of the games that impressed me most in 2009. It’s incredibly well written and is probably one of the best implementations of the FATE rules I’ve read. When I have the time I will definitely try to run a short Diaspora campaign in 2010 and even if not, I might use the cluster generation rules to create solar systems, etc. for my Ad Astra game.
Best Fantasy Product
For me the best fantasy product last year was Green Ronin’s Dragon Age RPG. Based on the successful Dragon Age: Origins video game it combines a fresh new setting with rules-light game mechanics reminiscent of old-school games. The boxed set will probably come out in early 2010, but when you preorder the box, you get the PDF version for free. In my opinion it’s a great game to introduce new people into the hobby, but even veteran players may enjoy a Dragon Age campaign. My girlfriend is very excited about that game, too, because she enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins tremendously, so I will have to run that in 2010, too. 
This concludes part 1 of my “Best & Worst of 2009” series. Stay tuned for more!
You shouldn’t miss RPG Circus episode 11!
4November 19, 2009
That’s what almost happened to me. When someone recently mentioned the latest RPG Circus (iTunes Store Link) episode, I was surprised that I haven’t listened to it. Usually I check it out on the day it gets released. And this time my blog and I actually got mentioned by Jeff during the interview! Alas he still doesn’t know the name of my blog.
So, why should you listen to episode 11 (or any episode) of RPG Circus? For one RPG Circus is actually the greatest show in gaming! I am not kidding you. I have listened to several podcasts and RPG Circus is definitely my favorite show. Another reason is probably that the hosts are all members of our RPG Bloggers Network, so they often talk about topics that were raised in the community. The latest episode is actually something special because it features a long interview with the guys from Crafty Games. Especially if you are interested in Spycraft or Fantasy Craft, you shouldn’t miss RPG Circus episode #11!
Disclaimer: I don’t get paid to regularly praise RPG Circus! I just enjoy the show and I feel the need to share my love for that show with you guys!
RPG Circus Halloween episode is out!
0October 30, 2009
This time the RPG Circus hosts talk about two of my favorite topics: Horror RPGs and Mood Music in RPGs.
Episode 10 also features Phil Ménard aka the ChattyDM as guest again. So, you really shouldn’t miss this episode!
Happy Halloween!
RPG Circus Episode 6
4September 7, 2009
The latest episode of RPG Circus has been released a few days ago, but I just now managed to listen to it. As always I enjoyed it very much and a highlight of this show was definitely the interview with Michael Shorten about old-school gaming. You probably noticed that I jumped the old-school bandwagon a few weeks back and it was very interesting to listen to Michael tell us about his definition of what is old-school, about a few games out there and the situation with TARGA. I was a bit disappointed though that neither Jeff nor Michael remembered that I posted several articles (including an interview with the designer and a review) about X-plorers when they mentioned that game on the show. I think an angry audio commentary is in order!
But aside from that, RPG Circus Episode 6 is highly recommended to all gamers out there. Keep up the good work, guys!
My new favorite podcast
10July 22, 2009
A few days back I learned about RPG Circus. RPG Circus is a pretty new podcast hosted by three of my favorite RPG Bloggers: Jeff Uurtamo from The Bone Scroll, Mark Meredith from The Dice Monkey and Zachary Houghton from RPGBlog 2. As usual I was totally oblivious to the existence of that podcast until someone mentioned that Philippe Ménard aka ChattyDM was on the latest show.
So I started iTunes, searched for RPG Circus (iTunes Store link) and subscribed to the show, so that I could listen to it on my commute to work. And I have admit that I very much enjoyed the show. Alas episode 1 had some technical issues (Jeff’s voice was much to low and there was some hissing sound when he talked) but both the format and the actual content was just great.
Most of the other podcasts that I listen to, don’t feature any news. RPG Circus does and it’s pretty cool to listen to these three guys talking about what is right now happening in the industry or the RPG blogosphere with special focus on our own RPG Bloggers Network.
The main portion of the show is a three ring act. Each of those rings is run by one of the hosts and covers one topic. In episode 1 for example the three topics were:
- We talk about Robertson Games’s proposal of a new gaming term, “Neoclassical” and how it may or not may not apply to gaming.
- We review the reaction of FreeRPG Day at Mark’s local game store.
- We ponder Palladium Books.
What I liked very much is that the show does much like three guys chatting about roleplaying games instead of a prescripted thing. I very much enjoyed listening to Jeff, Mark and Zach talk and more than once wished I could join the fun.
In Episode 3 of RPG Circus Phil Ménard joined the fray and talked about landing your first writing gig for the RPG industry. I hope this is not the last time they invited a guest to the show. Actually everyone can participate by sending in questions or comments as audio file or by calling them under 1-888-643-6322 and leave a voice mail message.
My advice: if you have just enough time to listen to just one RPG podcast, make sure it’s RPG Circus!
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