There was a post on Reddit about how RPGers read rulebooks for new RPGs before they ran a session.  The answers at first were vey like minded.  People stating that they read the rulebook completely.  From reading it once to reading the rulebook from cover to cover multple times.        Saul was a bit shocked at reading these posts since he had never read a RPG Rulebook that way.  As Saul read more he found posts more aligned with his style of reading a rulebook.  If you consider jumping from section to section.   Jolene and Saul discussed this topic and decided it was a good one for an episode.      We are well into the Holiday Season and we would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Everyone!  

        Thank you all for Listening      Web Art by Jim Foster      Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones

    Music by Tobin James,  song Rules of the Road     Available from Tribeofnoise.com    Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0     https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

     Saul was reading Reddit posts and came across a post about players playing themselves too much in RPGs.  There was quite a bit of a discussion and most respondents said they didn't play themselves at all because they didn't want to play their boring lives.

     Saul on the other hand thought that he had for most of his RPG life had played himself or an aspect of his personality in the game.  Usually a one dimensional character.  As Saul got older he started to branch out and play characters that were totally different than himself.

       Thank you all for listening as we start to close out 2024 and head into the New Year!

     Web Art by Jim Foster      Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones

    Music by Claudio Souza Mattes, song Adapt Yourself, off the album Rewind      Available from Tribeofnoise.com

     Used Under the Creative Commons License 4.0      https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

     There have been times that a certain player at your table took charge of the table or maybe was the leader at the table.  Heck back in the ole Days, there was a player who was, "the Caller".  It was their job to talk to the GM and tell the GM what the players were doing.  It was a way to speed up game play.  Saul once played in a game where they took this idea to heart and only The Caller would talk to the GM. The Caller could even countermand what the player had told the Caller what they wanted to do.  Needless to say Saul never went back to the game club.         Games these days have become more collaborative, there is more player agency.  There is also the idea of making sure all players get in on the fun.  Making sure all players have input in the game at your table.  This has been called sharing the Spotlight.  Where every player and their character gets a chance to shine.  But what if a player is taking more than their share of the Spotlight.        Saul and Jolene discussed why this happens and what can be done about it after reading a reddit post by a new GM having this problem.  After a lengthy discussion, Saul and Jolene decided to do an episode on Stealing the Spotlight.       

    Thank you all for Listening      Web Art by Jim Foster      Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones

    Music by Tanay Jackson, song In the SpotLight,  off the album Tanay     Available from Tribeofnoise.com     Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0     https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In this episode, Saul and Jolene finish up the three fantasy rpg alternatives to D&D 5th Edition.  In this third installment is on Low Fantasy Gaming Deluxe by Pick Pocket Press.       Like the other two FRPGs discussed Low Fantasy Gaming takes a different path than D&D 5th Edition.   Low Fantasy Gaming is a darker, gritter,  and a lower magic fantasy roleplaying game.        Saul and Jolene discuss how they achieve the goals of being different from D&D.  From lower power levels, less magic, a deadlier game and many other factors that make Low Fantasy Gaming a different experience than D&D 5th edition. Even though this is the most D&D like game it makes substantial changes to the rules that it does not play like D&D but it base rules is very familiar to those that have played any incarnation of D&D since it's inception.       As Always we would like to Thank You all for listening.       Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones    

    Music by Edna Poli, song Fantasy Girl (instrumental)     Available from Tribeofnoise.com

    In this Episode we are fortunate to interview Kuba creator of Touched by the Gods RPG.  Its a fantasy RPG using Free League's Year Zero Engine.       The Art is amazing and Year Zero engine is one of Saul's favorite systems as it can handle such wide variety of genre's and type of RPGs.  From mutant apocalypse to space opera to space horror the Year Zero system is fairly simple and flexible.      Touched by the Gods is being crowd funded on Kickstarter right now.  You can find it by clicking the link below.      Touched by the Gods looks to be an amazing take on Fantasy Roleplaying Games with a unique background using the Year Zero Engine.  

    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cosycoven/touched-by-the-gods-role-playing-game

   As Always Thanks for Listening.        Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones

     In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss three games that are good for those new to RPGs.  Jolene noticed a number of things of the games that Saul chose for Beginning RPG players.        First of all they are all six-sided dice based.  Even all the systems are very different they all share the plain ole' D6.  Jolene like most gamers love those polyhedrel dice.         This episode is quite full of digressions from the old style telephone booths to the first in home computers.       Jolene asks why I did not choose D&D 5th edition since it is so popular and many new players might be interested in the most popular RPG in the world.  Saul decided to go against the grain and chose some old, new, and newer rpgs.  

  As Always thanks for listening.  

  Web Art by Jim Foster   Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones

  Music by Simplified, song Shall We Begin, off the album Brighter Days.   Available from Tribeofnoise.com

    In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss why Magic Users are popular in RPGs and what magic systems there are and which ones Saul really likes.

  Web Art by Jim Foster

   Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones

   Music by Deephi Magic, song Magic Ride, from the album Imagination Serie

     Saul and Jolene continue their discussion of Fantasy Role-Playing games that are not D&D.  This week's game is Symbaroum a game by Free League publishing.   Like Warhammer Fantasy, this game is darker and grittier than Dungeon and Dragons 5th Edition.  But unlike Warhammer Fantasy the rules are much lighter and easier to learn and play.          The discussion does cover the idea that because D&D 5th is so extremely popular that Free League has published a D&D 5th edtion of Symbaroum and the One Ring.  Saul and Jolene discuss why they would make 5th edtions of their game.  Thanks For Listening  Web Art by Jim Foster  Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones       Music by Klawie, song Out Pacing the Grim Reaper, from the album About Love and War.

     Saul and Jolene have been asked and seen many posts on social media about alternatives to D&D.  Saul decided to stay in the Fantasy Genre and chose a couple of games that are in the same genre but come at Fantasy from a totally different perspective.        This was supposed to be a single episode discussing a couple of what Saul considers very good examples of being Fantasy RPGs but as far removed from D&D as possible in rules and setting.  The first to be discussed is Warhammer Fantasy RPG.   Saul discusses how Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying game is different from the very popular D&D 5th edition.        From the Grim world setting which is very different from most setting in D&D to the very deadly system which pairs very well with the world of Warhammer.  The rules are not only deadly but a bit more crunchy/complicated than D&D 5th edtion.   The system makes the players play in a different style.  Combat is always brutal should be a last resort and often ends with brutal consequences even for the victor.       This was supposed to be a single episode featuring two alternative Fantasy RPGs to D&D.  Unfortunately we only discussed Warhammer so this must be a two episode topic.     As Always Thank You All for Listening.

   Web page art by Jim Foster    Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones.       Music by Janelle Avery, song Hammer it All, off the album My Songs.     Available from Tribeofnoise.com

     In this episode Saul tries to give advice from a query on FB.  The post asked advice on how to deal with two players in their group of four players that always go beyond the limitations the GM wanted in their RPG campaign.  From using races and classes from books the were not on the GM's list, to porting characters from long dead campaigns from several edition past.        Saul and Jolene give it their best shot at dealing with these players who seem committed to upsetting the GM's concept of their campaign or aloof to the parameters that the GM put in place.      As always thanks for listening and please share our podcast.

   Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones    Web Art by Jim Foster      

Music by Chris Spring, song Limitations, off the album The Universe is Flat  Available from Tribeofnoise.com

    In this episode Saul and Jolene talk about the SRD's (System Reference Document) that are being published by some game publishers of their in house RPG Systems.  Saul has been wondering about this happening with a couple of publishers.      Specifically Modiphius with their 2D20 system and Free League with their Year Zero Engine.  Each of these publishers have made several RPG rules using a version of their in house systems.  Saul has GM'ed or played in several of each publishers games.  Conan, Mutant Chronicles, Star Trek Adventures, John Carter of Mars for Modphius and  Coriolis, Tales From the Loop and Alien.      The problem Saul saw was that every incarnation of the system was different, sometimes just a bit other were quite a bit different.  So a SRD solves that problem of having one set of rules for the house system.       Saul and Jolene both meander a bit and go off topic but they finally get back to SRDs and why they feel each publisher putting out an SRD of their house systems as a good thing.    Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones     Web Art by Jim Foster    Music by Denni A.  song Summer Days, off the album Indys.    Available from Tribeofnoise.com

In this Episode Saul and Jolene discuss finding your GM Groove, which to Saul means GMing a session, an adventure or a campaign where the players and GM have a great time.  Now there is nothing that will guarantee a game going really well but Saul has a list of things that can make it more likely.        Jolene is a bit confused by Saul's archaic terms but she broke it down for those not around in the 60' and 70's.  These tips range from easy, GMing more games to a bit more work like working on your improvisation skill.    

   As always Thank You all for listening.      

   Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones    Web Page Art by Jim Foster    Music by Tom Principato, song Bo Bo's Groove, off the album Raising the Roof

   Available from Tribeofnoise.com

        In early July Saul was contacted by Christina from RPG Stories  on the Gaming Perspectives Facebook account.  Working with Christina we were able to get an interview with Agis Angelomatis.         In this Bonus Episode Saul and Jolene interview Agis of RPG Stories, to learn what they have been working on to change your online TTRPGs experience .  RPG Stories is a 3D Virtual Table Top for TTRPGs.     Please take a look at the RPG stories website and check out their Kickstarter page and hit the notify button as it helps their KS analytics      Saul and Jolene really like doing interviews because it shows how most gamers just love this hobby and want to share that love of the hobby with everyone.      As always thanks for listening and please share our podcast with Family and Friends.    Here is the link to RPG Stories web site.  rpgstories.net               Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones     Web Art by Jim Foster   

        Saul and Jolene recieved an email from a listener Morgan who had some suggestion for episode topics.  Thanks Morgan!  One of the topics was Time Travel RPGs.  Saul and Jolene thought it was a good topic and discussed several TV shows that had time travel episodes or where about time travel.   They came up with way too many shows to discuss, so Saul picked his top 4 shows.         Then the discussion began about what if any RPGs were about time travel.  Saul looked on RPG.net and was surprised at the number of RPGs published in this genre.  Saul played in one time travel game called Time Watch by Kevin Kulp.  Saul and Jolene had to discuss Jolene's favorite shows, Star Trek and Dr. Who both of which have RPGs.     Thank you all for Listening      Web Art by Jim Foster      Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones

    Music by Julian Child's Band, song Time Machine,  off the album Opus     Available from Tribeofnoise.com    Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss how different RPGs make you "roll" up a character.  They also discuss how they prepare to make their characters even before making any kind of dice roll or character creation decisions.  In some RPGs character creation can be quick or a long process but there are always choices that players make when making a character.

    Thank you all for listening,

    Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones

     Web Art by Jim Foster

     Music by Komihu, song You, Yourself and the Main Character, from the album Its Time for Adventure.

   Available form Freemusicarchive.com

     For this episode Saul and Jolene talk about Episodic and Long Arc campaigns.  How they are different and what to expect from choosing to run a campaign in either style        Saul has mostly run campaigns in the episodic style.  Though lately, within the last 10 years has run the long arc campaigns.    A couple where he came up with his own storyline and another rather famous published campaign.      While Saul really is torn to which he likes better but he finally decides which he likes better.    

      As always thanks for listening.

     Episode art by Michael Shean-Jones

       Hosting Page art  by Jim Foster

 RPGs go out of print for many reasons.  Is it a good idea to buy an RPG that will be going "Out Of Print"?  Saul and Jolene discuss the idea of buying RPG books that will be going out of print.  There are many reasons that a gamer might want to play RPGs that will no longer be printed.  Saul comes up with 3 different reasons why someone would buy a game that will no longer be supported and Jolene picks which one is Saul. 

      As always thanks for listening.

      Episode art by Michael Shean-Jones

      Hosting Page art  by Jim Foster

      Music by Faces of Madness,  song Rusted Memories of a Hero,  

      from the album Rusted Memories.

      Available from Tribeofnoise.com

     Saul and Jolene discuss updating old and usually out of print games in this episode.  Saul and Jolene look at three, new modern takes on some old RPGs.  The old rules are either hard to get a hold of, because they are out of print, or the rules are written in a hard to understand style. 

      Saul and Jolene discuss how  updating the rules could bring these games to a generation of players that may have never heard of these fun games.  The games discussed are Matt Kays Mutants in the Now,  Everyday Heroes and modern interpretations of D&D editions for Original to 4th edition.  

      We would like to thank all our listeners as we just passed four years of podcasting.

      Episode art by Michael Shean-Jones

      Hosting Page art  by Jim Foster

     Music by The Ghosts of Vegas, song Modern Love.

     Available from Tribeofnoise.com

      Saul when running his D&D games has never allowed Evil Characters or Assassins.  Though Saul had this rule he didn't have to enforce for 25 years as a GM.  Many GMs often have limits in their games.  GM's often restrict such things as certain races, Alignments, Classes, "broken characters"  and many other reasons in many different games.

      Saul and Jolene discuss this topic in this episode.  Is it good, bad and how is the best way to deal with players that want to play those things that are on the "No Play' list.  

      Episode art by Michael Shean-Jones

      Hosting Page art  by Jim Foster

      Music by Franco Pellegrini, song Historias

      Available from Tribeofnoise.com

  In this episode Saul and Jolene talk about describing scenes in RPGs.  Saul and Jolene discuss how some quick and simple use of descriptions can add quite a bit to your roleplaying sessions.  Not only does it help getting the players engaged but also helps keep the game from getting too stale.  

    Thank you all for listening.  We ask that you share our podcast with your friends and family.

       Episode art by Michael Shean-Jones

      Hosting Page art  by Jim Foster

      Music by Alpegon, song Insight.

     Available from Tribeofnoise.com

     Saul and Jolene received an email from a friend who was complaining about RPGs that makes things harder by changing well known game terms for ones that are more evocative for their game setting.  

     Saul and Jolene looked into the game he was complaining about and they agreed that because the creators of the RPG were trying to be really immersive, they were making it more difficult to actually learn the rules.  

     Even after looking at videos on how to play it became very evident that those in the videos were having some difficulty explaining the game's concepts.  Saul and Jolene decided this was a good topic for an episode.

    Thank you all for listening.

      Episode art by Michael Shean-Jones

      Hosting Page art  by Jim Foster

    Music by KLNDVC, song Infinite Confusion, off the album Fresh Beets.

   Available from Tribeofnoise.com

Its been a couple busy weeks since the recording of this episode.  It was recorded the week before Saul and Jolene went to Kublacon a gaming convention in Northern California.  It was a very well attended convention post Covid shutdowns.   So the getting ready for that convention delayed getting this episode edited and published.

   Jolene and Saul have mentioned Vampire many times in previous episodes of this podcast.  Jolene thought it would be a good subject to discuss on the podcast and deserved it's very own episode.  Though Saul never has played Vampire he has played Werewolf twice, which shares the same game world and system as Vampire.

    Though they have never played Vampire Saul and Jolene realize the impact that Vampire and the rest of the World of Darkness games have had in the world of RPGs.  With is gritty "Punk Gothic" themes Vampire hit the RPG world by storm.  Not only selling very well but also being very impactful to the Live Action Roleplaying scene.

     Thank you all for listening and all we ask is that you share our podcast with friends and family.

     Episode art by Michael Shean-Jones

      Hosting Page art  by Jim Foster

Music by Vitne,  song Masquerade, off the album Jupiter.

  Available from Tribeofnoise.com

Getting the players on the right track to the adventure that the GM has prepared is sometimes a bit of a problem.  Sometimes the GM's Plot Hooks are too vague, too numerous, or too obvious that the players don't follow the path to the adventure prepared.   Saul and Jolene discuss ways that could make it easier for your players to go down the right path onto the adventure.  

    As usual Jolene scours the internet to find GM horror stories of Plot Hooks that just did not hook the players interest.  Even Saul is befuddled by how such obvious plot hooks could be ignored by the players.  Saul and Jolene give some tips on making plot hooks, and how to present them so your adventure doesn't have a rough start.  

   As always Thank You All for listening and please share our podcast with Friends and Family.

   Episode art by Michael Shean-Jones

   Hosting Page art  by Jim Foster

   Music by Jahzzar, song Storyteller, from the album Traveller's Guide.

   Available from Tribeofnoise.com

    In this episode Saul and Jolene talk about their favorite monsters and Jolene checks out the internet and finds tons of the "Peoples" favorite monsters.   Saul has been playing since 1978 so just in D&D alone from then to now he has fought and used a plethora of monsters in that time.

     Saul shares a couple of his favorites from the Fantasy genre that he has used as a GM and many popular ones that he has not yet used.

    Jolene talks about the favorite she has as a GM.  Jolene also shares some monsters that made many peoples favorite monster lists. 

  As Always Thank You All for listening.

   Episode art by Michael Shean-Jones

   Hosting Page art  by Jim Foster

   Music by SmackaBBrit, song Monsters Playground.

   Available from Tribeofnoise.com

     In this episode Saul and Jolene interview David Gabriel of Producer of Kublacon Conventions.  Kublacon is the SF Bay Area Largest gaming convention that takes place over Memorial Weekend.  But this year they are putting on Kublacon Fall Veteran's Weekend.  It will be the first year this event is happening.  So if you want to ease your way into a Kublacon, this is the way to do it.  The following prices have a Tabletop events fees of a couple dollars.  A Weekend Pass is 40 bucks for the whole Friday to Monday convention.  GMs only have to run a four hour game and they get a GM pass for 16 dollars and those in the Military and Veterans get for basically free plus the service feel for Tabletop Events website.        Saul and Jolene have been attending  Kublacon since 2001 the first year they put it on and it has only grown and grown from a few hundred attendees to over 3,600 attendees post Covid.  Those are some impressive numbers.  Saul and Jolene talked to David about his gaming roots and how he became involved in putting on one of the best game cons around.  With the amount of work that it takes to put on a show is this caliber and size, why put on another show?        If at all interested in attending or helping put on Kublacon Fall follow the following link to get all the information you need to volunteer or attend the show.    https://kublacon.com/      

    Thank you all for Listening    

     Web Art by Jim Foster      Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones

    Saul and Jolene had been hearing a lot about D&D 6th Edition.   Saul and Jolene checked out a lot of the latest info and right as they were recording news that WoTC was going to buy D&D Beyond for about 146 million dollars.  So it looks like WoTC might be going "All In" with digital content?  Saul and Jolene discuss what changes to 5th Edition might D&D 6th Edition have in store.  What kind of updates to the rules might there be?  The direction of some of the changes might be seen in the most recent content in the latest 5th edition books published.  

     Will 6th Edition D&D be a huge change or will it be more like a D&D 5.5 edition?  Will there be a brand new Setting for 6th Edition?  

    A lot is discussed in this episode.

   As Always thanks for listening.  

   Episode art by Michael Shean-Jones

   Hosting Page art  by Jim Foster

   Music by Naraick, song Dragonheart, off the album Induction.

   Available from Tribeofnoise.com

    In this Bonus Episode we interview Brandon Harris creator of Dice Weaver, a VTT, Market Place and Community for gamers.

     Saul and Jolene interview Brandon who decided with a bit of pushing from friends to put his ideas and products out there for the world to use.  Before talking to Brandon we thought it was about a new Virtual Tabletop he was creating but it turns out that Brandon has higher inspirations than just producing a VTT.  He wants to create a Kind Community for gamers to gather.  And that is a pretty cool idea.  

   Here are some links for more information about Dice Weaver:  https://www.diceweaver.com/

     and  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/diceweaver/diceweaver-a-virtual-tabletop-engine-with-18-00-strength 

    As Always thanks of listening.

In this Episode Saul and Jolene talk about RPGs where combat is not a main aspect of the game.   In two of the RPGs discussed combat is very unlikely and in another combat is frowned upon.   The games discussed are Monster Hearts 2,  Prime Time Stories and Golden Sky Stories.  Each bring unique visions of what an RPG is about and combat is not one of them.

   Thank you all for listening.

  Music by Fabio Aratari, song Over the Sky, from the album Over the Sky

  Available from Tribeofnoise.com

     This question came from a Facebook post.  We had done an episode early in the pandemic about how to keep playing during the Covid-19 Lockdown.  But after a year and a half since those orders were given here in California and later throughout the United States it is a valid question that was quite introspective. 

    Thanks for listening 

     Episode art by Michael Shean-Jones

     Hosting Page art  by Jim Foster

    Music by Jammer Rango, song Recovery Mode.

    Available from Tribeofnoise.com

     Playtesting should be part of any publication project especially RPGs.   RPGs need to be able to "work".  Whether the game is a tactical simulation or a more storytelling variety the rules have to be playable.

     In this episode Saul and Jolene talk about Playtesting.  Why its important, how it is conducted and their experience playtesting a few RPGs before they were published.

    Thank you all for listening.

     Episode art by Michael Shean-Jones

     Hosting Page art  by Jim Foster

     Music by Jim Gaven, song Call Me Anytime You Want, off the album Forever in Love.

    Available from Tribeofnoise.com 

     There are many new players joining the ranks of ole D&D players.  Though Saul and Jolene love and think 5th edition D&D is a great game they believe that those that love and play D&D should try other RPGs.   As usual Saul tends to meander in the discussion Jolene in this episode seems to get distracted by Saul's meandering and goes along for the ride.

    Thanks for listening everyone.  

   Music by Ron Gelinas, song Over the Horizon.

  Available from Tribeofnoise.com

     One of Saul's and Jolene's favorite shows was Firefly.   Shortly after the movie Serenity was out there was a RPG game based on the movie called Serenity.   This RPG use a system first seen in the Sovereign Stone RPG.  It was adapted and used to run the Serenity RPG.  The publisher's of the Serenity RPG went on to published other RPGs based on popular IPs of that time. Each of those RPGs used version of what was dubbed the Cortex RPG system.

     The Cortex system has changed and the most recent version published in 2021 was Cortex Prime.

   Saul and Jolene discuss the various RPGs that used a variety of Cortex systems.  

    Thank you all for Listening!

    Music by Nazarevox, song Serenity, off the album Solitude.

    Available from Tribeofnoise.com

     Saul and Jolene were at Dundracon and were asked to do an episode about kids and gaming.  We did an episode about three years ago but decided that our son is now 18 and share a parents perspective on how gaming has influenced and shaped our son to become the adult he is today.  

     Saul and Jolene go over the positive influences of gaming, especially if kids are introduced to games at a very young age.  Saul and Jolene also discuss the lasting impact of gaming with your children,  you just might get an adult with a love of gaming.

   Thank you all for listening.

  Music by Burn Down the Charade, song Brilliant Kids,  off the album Revelations and Revolutions.

   Available from Tribeofnoise.com

     Every gamer has that moment when they need to find a new gaming group.  Whether it is because your just moved to a new city, the last group fell apart, or just want to experience a different vibe,  you as a gamer are looking for a group.   Saul talks about the old days when there weren't many avenues that gamers had to find a group.   But today gamers have this new fangled thing called the internet that can help you find and reach a large amount of players.

    Saul and Jolene talk about old and new ways that gamers can find a new gaming group.  Thank you all for listening.

   Music by The New Monitors, song The Group.

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

   Available from Freemusicarchive.org

     Making your RPGs Flow Better is the result of a question posed on Facebook.  Saul and Jolene talked discussed it and decided to do an episode on it.  What can make your game run better at the table.  Make your game run smoother and faster.  Saul and Jolene talk about things the GM can do the accomplish a smoother and faster running game session.

   As always, thank you all for listening.

   Music by T. M. Purple, song Flow, off the album When the Music Fades.

    Available from Tribeofnoise.com

          Saul and Jolene were discussing mystery shows and came across a reddit post.  The post was from a GM complaining about how his players are not getting all his clues that would point the PCs toward the Big Bad Guy.  The GM was lamenting how much work he had been doing on the campaign.  The GM had made maps, developed numerous NPCs, many of which had informaton that they could give the PCs only if they questions those NPCs.       Many others posted some advice about what may be going on but most of the advice feel on deaf ears as the posting GM insisted that the players were the confused ones.      Jolene and Saul started talking about his post and the GM who was really perturbed at the players who were not "figuring out" the plot of the campaign.   Saul knew exactly what was going on since he had been in the shoes of that GM.  Saul and Jolene discuss what could be done to prevent from becoming that type of GM.

    Thank you all for Listening      Web Art by Jim Foster      Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones

    Music by Solxis, song Confused Life,  off the album Dance, Dance, Dance.     Available from Tribeofnoise.com   Used Under the Creative Commons License 4.0   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

     We took the family to Dundracon's new home now in Santa Clara California.  It was a great gaming convention.  We took some new equipment and it worked really good.  The Zoom Podtrak P8 limiter really quieted down the background noise.  Problem we only have 3 microphones so two of us "shared" a microphone which really didn't work.

    We would like to talk DDC staff for giving us the space to record, Felipe and Kevin for taking time from their convention time to talk to us.

   Here is a link to the Alamo City Game Convention mentioned by Kevin, being held over Labor Day Weekend 2022.  acgamecon.net

   Thank you all for listening!

  Hey there listeners, today Saul and Jolene talk about Alignment in RPGs.  Saul thinks they are a thing of the past and the one RPG that made them famous, Dungeons and Dragons, will be getting rid of them in their 6th edition.   Saul and Jolene discuss, what are alignments, what is their purpose, did players ever use them, are alignments used by today's players?  These and many more questions are asked and discussed.

     Also are there any other game systems that have something akin to alignments?  Saul offers a couple examples.

   Thank you all for listening. 

   Music by Jim Gaven, song Alignment in the Sky.

     Available from Tribeofnoise.com

     What do you do when your Dice Go Bad.  What can you do when a player is getting really frustrated with their dice when they go through a spat of bad luck.  Saul and Jolene were talking about dice and how in a recent game of Feng Shui one of the players was rolling bad through a whole encounter.  Though Steve the Player took it in stride, he is pretty laid back and loves playing RPGs, but what if a player is really having a bad time.  

    Saul and Jolene took notes of their conversation and decided to do an episode.  

   Thanks for listening and please rate our podcast on whatever podcast catcher you use and share our podcast with your gaming friends and family.  

   Music by Num Buzz, song No Dice, off the album Useless Eaters.

  Available from Tribeofnoise.com

    The Balanced Party,  quite a few TTRPG players want to have one before they set off on their adventures.

Many Players feel that certain roles have to be covered in order to successfully adventure.   

    Saul and Jolene discuss why this idea exists and if you really do need or want a "balanced party". 

   Thank you all for listening 

  Music by Fast Astronaut, song Balance, off the album Invisible Sun.

  Available from Tribeofnoise.com

     Saul was reading some reddit posts and a user had a question about "good Modern RPG games."   Saul decided it would make an interesting episode for this podcast.  

      Saul asked Jolene and she had some very good questions about what the user meant by "Modern".  Jolene asked if it meant the 1920's or the 2020's .  She also asked if the user wanted to play a spy game, investigative, or survival game or any of other genres that could fall under the umbrella of a "Modern" game.  

    Thank you all for listening.

  Music by The Ghosts of Vegas,  song Modern Love.

   Available from Tribeofnoise.com

     Happy New Year,  yes we are well into it already.  Saul decided to share games that will be published in 2022 that he is looking forward to or are too bid to ignore.

     Thanks for listening.

      In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss what Homebrews and House Rules are in RPGs.  Saul defines each one and gives examples of each.  They are different creatures though most people might think they are the same thing.  

     As always thanks for listening.

  Music by Nathan Brumley, song Slow Brew

   available from Tribeofnoise.com

In running games that have combat one of the most difficult things as a GM to work out is how hard to make an encounter.  This is usually called balancing an encounter.  In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss the idea of the Action Economy in RPGs, and how much it can impact your combat encounters.

   Happy New Year and Thanks for listening.

   Music by The Legend of  Wolf, song Fragments of Time,  off the album Rapid Fragments.

    Available from Tribeofnoise.com

     This is a Spoiler Free Episode.

    Full disclosure Saul and Jolene are have been fans of the Wheel of Time Books since the mid 1990's, and they both love the TV show.  

     With that out of the way this episode discusses the old WOTC Wheel of Time RPG and what other systems you can use to run a Wheel of Time game.   

     Also Saul was a bit off on his estimation of the cost of the Wheel of Time RPG which is out of print.  A few months ago people were asking about $150 tops.  Now the lowest asking price is $140 bucks.  Amazon it's $420.  And the PDF is not available.  

     Here is a link to the 5th edition conversion.  It was last updated 6 years ago but playable if you want to start playing right away.

   As always thanks for listening, have a great Holiday Season Everyone!

    Music by Vlad, song Wheels Keep Turning.

   Available from Tribeofnoise.com

   Its the Holiday Season and Saul and Jolene discuss games that would make great gifts for your RPG Gamer.  It's not a definitive list, obviously but it should give you a few quick ideas as Christmas Day approaches. 

  Thanks for listening,

  Music by Darija, song Christmas Story

  Available from Tribeofnoise.com

     Saul and Jolene were talking about long campaigns.  The discussion lead to games were character played gernerations of a character.   I was thinking how many generations one could play and what RPGs make it part of their system or setting.      The first game that came to mind was Pendragon.  A friend of mine ran the Great Pendragon Campaign for some fellow gamers.  That GM runs games where "Death is On the Table" according to him.  Which to me means he is a no holds barred GM and if the dice goes against the players he does not pull any punches.  He even posted the games online.  I also talked to a player in that game that was on his 5th character due to his very heroic play style.          Jolene asked if D&D could be a generational game and I thought well I am sure it could be.  Other games had rules to play generations of a character.  Some games neither Saul or Jolene had ever heard of them but sounded interesting.  Thus this episode was born.              Thank you all for Listening      Web Art by Jim Foster      Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones

    Music Burn Down the Charade, song Lost Generation, off the album              Revelations  and Revolutions     Available from Tribeofnoise.com     Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0     https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

    In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss TPKs.  Saul has very little experience with TPKs and had for many years seen it as negative.  A sign of a terrible GM, or Players not playing very intelligently.

    Years later with one whole TPK under his belt his attitude toward TPKs has changed.  Jolene is not totally convinced that TPKs can be a good resolution to a campaign or a game.  

   Thanks for Listening.

   Music by Hansen Chat, song Party Crasher.

   Available from Tribeofnoise.com

     Saul has been noticing quite a few Kickstarters and new editions of old RPGs.   Some of them really old such as Runequest, Tunnels and Trolls and Twilight 2000.   In fact the Twilight 2000 4th edition by Free League funded extremely well. 

     In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss what could be driving the reprinting and the new editions of some very old games and why are they doing so well?

 Thanks for Listening.

  Music by Sonic Mystery, song Nostalgia

     At one point as a RPG players your going to get into a situation where you may not be playing in a game that isn't your favorite.  Whether the RPG game Shuffler at the Game Con did you wrong or your GM really wants to run a game that isn't exactly the type of game you really like you need to decide to play or make the best of it.

     In this episode Saul and Jolene discuss games where the ones they participated in were not high on their list of the type of game they usually preferred.  From your friend's house to the Game Con you might be stuck, roped, or land in a RPG that isn't "your cup of tea."  Well listen to this episode and see what Saul and Jolene have done and do in this situation.

   Thanks for listening and please share our podcast..

    Music by Cheri C. Russell, song You Played Yourself

   Available from Tribeofnoise.com