Ep 6 - Homebrew Vs. Modules

I won't bore you with an overly-verbose description for this one. I'll only use this opportunity to say THANK YOU for accompanying us on this grand journey, and we hope that your next session is the best one yet.

-Ivan & Steve

Do your players (or yourself as a player) behave differently when your PCs enter a city, village, or township? Today we're discussing some of the unique challenges of playing in a city setting.

We go in-depth on how specific game times associated with city play differ from a traditional gaming model which heavily incorporates the TTRPG pillar of exploration. We run down several methods for keeping the action moving, avoiding boredom, and maintaining canon.

We also cover the idea of player pragmatism, and the unique phenomenon of behavioral shifts caused by a change of locale.

Our Website: https://icastspells.com
Our Twitter: @passive_podcast
Our Email: passiveaggropod@protonmail.com

Show Breakdown:

• 0:00: Intro
• 0:30: TTRPG News
• 08:35: How some adventure types lend themselves to city settings.
• 09:30: Adapting the TTRPG pillar of exploration for intuitive city play.
• 11:50: Making a locale robust without getting stuck in the trap of endless prep.
• 20:15: Lore is great for reinforcing a city's character.
• 22:43: Maintaining canon.
• 26:32: Cities provide much more immediate consequence for questionable behavior.
• 31:58: How to avoid alienating certain player types while in different locales.
• 36:48: Pragmatism, character integrity, and how locale can influence the behavioral shifts of players.
• 44:07: Ways to regain tone after out-of-character conversations short circuit encounters.
• 49:44: Avoiding getting into a boring string of fetch quests.
• 54:33: Outro

To have the problem of finishing a campaign milestone and have your players still wanting more, even though the story is over, is a much better problem to have than your players being bored because there is no end in sight.

How many campaigns have you been a part of that have languished and died because of a lack of payoff. Is your gaming group losing steam? Are you scrambling to wrap up story arcs? We address these challenges and more as we discuss how we think many stories are better for having an ending.

Our Website: https://icastspells.com
Our Twitter: @passive_podcast
Our Email: passiveaggropod@protonmail.com

Show Breakdown:

• 0:00: Intro
• 02:40: TTRPG News
• 16:19: Main Topic
• 18:32: Personal examples of TTRPG campaigns that suffered from having shaky conclusions.
• 22:30: Consider playing your TTRPG campaign in chapters.
• 27:23: How unclear campaign goals can affect pacing.
• 29:20: The fantasy of the never-ending campaign can stand in the way of good games.
• 32:03: How many times have you as a GM/DM had to scramble to tie up a campaign?
• 33:42: Examples of TTRPG systems that nudge players toward campaign conclusions.
• 35:39: Foregoing a game's natural conclusion can prevent you from trying other things that you might find you enjoy.
• 37:52: Framing the conclusion of your game.
• 45:40: Outro
• 47:31: Absolute Mayhem

Do you ever run entire sessions without a combat encounter? This week we analyze how varying level of combat work in your TTRPG games. We discuss engaging the players in a way that simulates the thrill of combat but in social and exploration encounters. We also talk about the message of "might makes right" and how realism can affect players' enthusiasm or aversion to in-game violence.

Mad Jack Churchill: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

Our Website: https://icastspells.com
Our Twitter: @passive_podcast
Our Email: passiveaggropod@protonmail.com

Show Breakdown:

• 0:00: Intro
• 0:44: TTRPG News
• 13:41: Main Topic
• 14:32: How much combat should I be including in my TTRPG sessions?
• 25:49: Making non-combat encounters feel like combat.
• 28:05: Giving individual players a chance to shine.
• 31:53: Putting just as much prep energy into exploration and social encounters as you would stat blocks.
• 34:00: Giving the players the tools to define the terms of their own fun.
• 39:43: The message of "might makes right" in games.
• 46:13: Outro

The incredible and prolific TTRPG designer, Alex Clippinger has joined us this week to give us an inside look into Cubicle 7's new project, Broken Weave, drop some game design knowledge, and talk through some of the benefits and pitfalls of adapting Dungeons & Dragons: Fifth Edition. This was a fantastic conversation covering several topics including points of focus for growing as a designer, expectations we bring to the table, burgeoning out into playing non-D&D systems, and much more.

We ended with some pretty major takeaways from this episode that were unique to Alex's experience. A huge THANK YOU to Alex for doing this interview and hopefully this won't be the last time we hear from him.

Find Alex here:
Website: https://aclippinger.carrd.co/
Twitter: @Aclippinger
DM's Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Alex%20Clippinger
DriveThru RPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/17366/Alex-Clippinger

Our Website: https://icastspells.com
Our Twitter: @passive_podcast
Our Email: passiveaggropod@protonmail.com

Show Breakdown:

• 0:00: Intro
• 03:06: A little about Alex
• 03:58: "How did you get into freelancing?"
• 05:37: "Were you a writer before you started doing TTRPG work?"
• 08:49: "How did you get into the hobby of TTRPGs in general?"
• 12:44: "How have you evolved as a designer and a writer since you first started out?"
• 17:52: "How does genre play into your design process, and how do you utilize your influences?"
• 24:47: Inside look at Broken Weave from Cubicle 7; one of Alex's newest unreleased projects
• 34:36: "In the modern trend of 5e adaptations, why do you think it's so common?"
• 38:01: "What is your interest in making 5e adaptations and how is it different from the alternatives?"
• 39:34: "Do you think underdevelopment of the D&D: 5e system is a major design pitfall?"
• 42:53: "What are you gaining and what are you sacrificing when you make the decision to adapt D&D: 5e?"
• 46:17: "Do you think that people sometimes limit themselves by trying to adapt certain game types to D&D: 5e when other systems might already d that thing better?"
• 53:38: Outro

Is your TTRPG character affiliated with anything larger than themselves or the party they roll with (heheh puns)? This week we cover TTRPG factions, guilds, and other big-picture affiliations. We discuss how they can provide scope, inform character backstory, create fascinating and useful narrative drivers for your campaigns, and much more.

Website: https://icastspells.com
Twitter: @passive_podcast
Email: passiveaggropod@protonmail.com

Show Breakdown:

• 0:00: Intro
• 01:12: TTRPG News
• 10:12 Main Topic
• 12:50: Some TTRPGs lean more heavily on factions than others
• 13:32: TTRPG factions serving as patrons
• 15:53: Forged in the Dark and juggling power between factions
• 16:58: Big factions that span entire peoples and how they can inform character backstory and disposition
• 21:14: TTRPG factions can help characters realize end-game aspirations
• 22:44: Using factions as a trump card
• 26: 18: Factions can be a way to introduce lore and legacy setting characters
• 27:17: Factions can be a great way to explain the 'start of things'
• 33:05: Watch out for misaligned goals and disparate faction affiliations within your TTRPG party
• 35:25: Outro

What would you do if your GM said "because I said so" during a session? Talking about when GMs flex their table authority 'just because.' There are two sides of the GM using unilateral decision making, and we investigate both the positive and the negative aspects of this contentious issue. We talk through deus ex machina and offer our hot takes on popularized forms of it, plus much more.

Website: https://icastspells.com
Twitter: @passive_podcast
Email: passiveaggropod@protonmail.com

Show Breakdown:

• 0:00: Intro
• 0:57: TTRPG News
• 13:00 Main Topic
• 14:43: Ways GM fiat can be used for bad.
• 23:35: On TTRPG deus ex machina.
• 33:56: Ways GM fiat can be used for good.
• 44:02: Outro

This week we talk about the ancient and honored tradition of human storytelling, its base components, what defines a great storyteller, and how all of this applies to the TTRPG experience. We discuss how examining this discipline can improve our games, and how the idea of collaborative storytelling (i.e., story building) has evolved to accommodate the modern gaming paradigm. We try to cut through the haze of  semantic arguments and getting stuck on specific language, and hope to unify some of our perspectives on this contentious topic.

Website: https://icastspells.com
Twitter: @passive_podcast
Email: passiveaggropod@protonmail.com

Show Breakdown:

• 0:00: Intro
• 3:57: TTRPG News
• 4:57: GMs ARE storytellers... but so are players.
• 15:25: Base definition of storytelling and how it applies to TTRPGs.
• 19:09: The 5 tenets a good storyteller, and how these apply to the GMs role at the table.
• 28:54: Who at the table shoulders the most story responsibility is a spectrum.
• 33:33: Thought experiment #1 (actors & playwrights).
• 39:17: Thought experiment #2 (AI copywriters).
• 42:22: Improve your game by re-framing the table experience as one of collaborative story building.
• 45:17: The foundation of gaming is mutual respect. Apply this to your table roles.
• 46:19: Outro.

Part two of our special 2-part series where we give our answers (and encourage you to give yours) to the questions presented from #RPGaDay2022, an annual celebration of tabletop roleplaying games conceptualized by @autocratik which you can find at https://www.autocratik.com. In part one we answer the first 16 questions from this highly hash-tag-able social experience, and we hope you will respond with your interesting answers and anecdotes. In this episode we cover questions 17-31.

Website: https://icastspells.com
Twitter: @passive_podcast
Email: passiveaggropod@protonmail.com

Show Breakdown:

• 0:00: Intro
• 1:33: TTRPG News
• 8:49: @xerjester "What are your 4 TTRPG character archetypes?"
• 10:47: Main Topic & Recap
• 12:43: Past, present, or future? When is your favorite TTRPG set?
• 15:04: Where is your favorite place to play TTRPGs?
• 17:20: Why has your favorite TTRPG stayed with you?
• 20:01: How long do your TTRPGs last?
• 23:07: Setting Sunday: Share an intriguing detail about a game setting you enjoy.
• 26:15: Who is your current TTRPG character?
• 29:10: What situation is your TTRPG character currently in?
• 31:29: When did you starting playing this TTRPG character?
• 31:47: Where has that TTRPG character been?
• 33:25: Why does your TTRPG character do what they do?
• 35:07: How has your TTRPG character changed?
• 35:59: Who would you like to see take part in #RPGaDAY2022?
• 37:22: What should #RPGaDAY do for its 10th anniversary next year?
• 37:56: When did you first participate in #RPGaDAY?
• 39:43: Outro

A special 2-part series where we give our answers (and encourage you to give yours) to the questions presented from #RPGaDay2022, an annual celebration of tabletop roleplaying games conceptualized by @autocratik which you can find at https://www.autocratik.com. In part one we answer the first 16 questions from this highly hash-tag-able social experience, and we hope you will respond with your interesting answers and anecdotes.

Website: https://icastspells.com
Twitter: @passive_podcast
Email: passiveaggropod@protonmail.com

Show Breakdown:

• 0:00: Intro
• 0:48: TTRPG News 
• 7:16: Who would you like to introduce to RPGs?
• 13:02: What is a great introductory RPG?
• 17:15: When were you introduced to RPGs?
• 22:17: Where would you host a first game?
• 27:08: Why would a player like the game in the previous question?
• 31:23: How would you get more people paying RPGs?
• 34:38: System Sunday - Describe a cool part of a system that you love.
• 40:11: Who introduced you to RPGs?
• 43:08: What is the 2nd RPG you bought?
• 47: 45: When did/will you start GMing?
• 50:12: If you could live in a game setting, where would it be?
• 54: 32: Why did you starting RPG-ing?
• 57:31: How would you change how you started playing RPGs?
• 1:00:08: Who would you want to GM for you?
• 1:07:25: What would be your perfect game?
• 1:09:36: Outro