GamingPerspectives

Jolene was looking at TTRPG topics and came across a Reddit Post where a user was asking why people consider playing TTRPGs a "niche" hobby.  The original poster was quite surprised that people thought that TTRPGs are not that popular. There were quite a few replies to that post and most were proposing that TTRPGs are not that big of a deal in the hobby sphere.       A number of TTRPG players in the U.S. that was quoted quite often was 50 million people in the U.S. play or have played TTRPGs.  Saul wondered where this 50 million stat came from.  So Saul went down the numbers rabbit hole.  He found an article about number of players in the U.S.   Then, Saul considered the number of participants of other hobbies in the U.S.       The result is this episode about whether TTRPGs are a Big Deal or still a Niche hobby.     Thank you for listening!  Website Art by Jim Foster Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones Music by Keith Heimericks, Song Popularity Used under the Creative Commons license 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/  

      Saul and Jolene went to a game convention over Labor Day weekend.  Their first game there was a RPG called Troika.  Saul had seen this rpg mentioned quite a bit in various posts.  From "Best Ever Indie Game", to "Most Underrated RPG" and many other lists.   Even though Saul had bought the PDF of Troika he had not yet looked at the rules, but had been very interested in what the buzz was about this RPG.         So Saul and Jolene played Troika for the very first time.  It wasn't the "usual" Troika, the GM was using a setting about the world consisting of only a huge bridge.  We had 7 players in the game and though we didn't know anything about the rules this RPG is pretty light so it was very easy to pick up.       After Saul and Jolene discussed this game, they decided to do an  episode of Troika. Website Art by Jim Foster Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones   Music by Gypsy Summer, Song Wild Horses  Used under the Creative Commons License 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

      Saul and Jolene went to a couple conventions in late August and Early September.  In late August they went to Galaxycon in San Jose.  It takes place in downtown San Jose at the McEnery Center.  It is the largest convention center in the South Bay.  Saul was really impressed with all the guest speaker, panels, activities that were available at Galaxycon.  This was Jolenes and Sauls first time attending a Galaxycon.  Both came away impressed with the con and it was a very fun experience for the both of them.      Pacifcon is over Labor Day weekend and Saul and Jolene went on a Saturday once again.   Saul and Jolene met up with old friends and made new ones  playing an RPG called Troika and Boardgames.   Pacificon strengths are War Games and Miniature Games.  They also have full days of boardgames, organized play, and Protospiel.  A nice little con over Labor Day weekend.         Thank you all for listening.   Website Art by Jim Foster Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones    No music for this episode.  

A listener, Phil, asked about how easy would it be for a video gamer to become a TTRPG gamer. At first glance it would be a no brainer that those that played video game on a conole or PC would move to playing TTRPGs.  Saul and Jolene talked about some of those differences and what similarities that video games have to TTPRGs.        There are 3.42 Billion video gamers compared to 50 million TTRPGs.     Thank you all for listening.   Website Art by Jim Foster Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones Music by MINDJAMM3R, song Change Used under the Creative Commons license 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/  

    Many times there seems a point in an RPG when the players should either not fight an encounter.   Why do players not consider the tactic of running away.  Saul and Jolene discussed this topic.  Saul admitted that he ran a lot of D&D and Pathfinder and the rules are set up for the GM to match the encounter to the level of the players.  This comes from the rules to published adventures and modules that are tailored to a specific number of PCs and certain levels.     Saul and Jolene decided this would be a good topic for an episode.    Thank you for listening.    If you have any comments or topics for Saul and Jolene to cover you can email them at:    gamingperspectives.com@gmail.com Website Art by Jim Foster Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones Music by Trevor Horton,  song Runaway,  Off the album Heaven and Earth  Used under the Creative Commons License 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

     Saul was reading and thinking about long campaigns and what it took to keep them going for extended period of time.  Saul ran two D&D to Pathfinder Campaigns from 2001 to 2009.  Then he started running campaigns for his 6 year old son and his friends.  Saul ran another 2 campaigns starting with Pathfinder to D&D 5th edition which concluded right before the pandemic.  What kept these 4 different campaigns going for an average of 4 and a half years each?         The answer to that question is Style.  Each player in those 4 groups by chance or work approached the campaigns with a similar style.  What kind of Styles are there?  There is probably more than anyone could discuss but Saul group players in to a few rather general groups.  He discussed it with Jolene and they recorded a podcast episode about it.        This one runs a bit longer than usual.     Thanks for listening. Website Art by Jim Foster Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones Music by Shu Dee Low, song is Style off  the album De Musiques. Used under the Creative Commons license 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/  

         Jolene was reading about a GM who was running D&D 5th edition had players trying to do combat actions before the GM had called for Initiative.  She asked Saul about this and asked if it happened in his D&D or any other RPGs he had GMed.  After a brief discussion they decided to do an episode on this subject.      As usual Saul got a little distracted from the subject and expanded the scope of the discussion.  Saul did keep it about combat before the GM calls for any kind of initiative roll in any RPG that ran as a GM or he played.   If you have any questions or subjects you want Saul and Jolene to discuss please email: gamingperspectives.com@gmail.com   If you like our podcast please leave a positive review however you listen to the podcast.   As Always thanks for listening      Website Art by Jim Foster    Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones    Music by 4 South, song Start  Used under the Creative Commons license 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/            

     Saul was looking at Reddit posts and came across a GM that was lamenting that his players had not learned their characters abilities after 10 sessions of D&D 5th edition.   The GM didn't go into too much detail, for example age of players, experience of players, etc.  Saul noticed the large number of negative reaction to the players but those offered no real help abou this GM's plight.         Saul discussed this Reddit Post with Jolene.  She thought that just blaming the player and telling the GM to "Find Other Players" was not helpful either.  After discussing what a GM could do in that situation.  Saul and Jolene decided to record an episode for the podcast.      As Always Thanks for Listening.  Website Art by Jim Foster Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones  Music by Ed Napoli, song Learn to Live  Used under the Creative Commons License 4.0  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

     Jolene was looking at the different types of games she has played in.  Though she likes tactical combat games.  She loves Shadowrun 5th edition and D&D for example, she also likes mysteries, dramas, and crime solving.  So she asked Saul about what games do not concentrate on combat but other types of settings.        Saul thought that games that do not rely on combat for the center piece of the genre they are emulating are generally non violent.  Saul thought and looked at his RPG library and thought of the games he has run at conventions where violence was the the key to solving the problem.  Even games where violence can come easily, a realist Wild West game like Tales of the Old West, at times the players did not rely on violence to solve the problem.       They decided to record an episode on this subject.     As Always Thank You All for Listening,    Please share and leave a positive rating where ever listen to our podcast it would be greatly appreciated. Website Art by Jim Foster Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones  Used under the Creative Commons License 4.0  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

     Jolene was looking for some interesting topics to talk about and came across an article discussing Rotating GMs.  She looked for more articles and there were quite a few articles and discussion on how to do this type of roleplaying.      Jolene asked Saul and about it.  Saul told her he had tried it a couple of times with various degrees of success.  As they talked about it he started mentioning details and she remembered a couple other iterations of this idea.  From Rotating GMs with different RPGs,  to sharing the same world, to multiple tables being played at the same time.        It lead to this current episode of Gaming Perspectives with Saul and Jolene,     Thanks for Listening! Website Art by Jim Foster Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones Used under the Creative Commons license 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/  

       Jolene was reading online and came across an article that talked about things that GMs say that players should pay attention to.  She told Saul and this and Saul thought about some things he says that conveys more than intended.  Sometimes these comments from GMs are questions, in fact most of them are and it is at this time that players should really be paying attention to what is happening at the game table.          Thank you all for Listening      Web Art by Jim Foster      Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones     Music by Seven Story Fall, song Say It,  off the album Stories and Analogies     Available from Tribeofnoise.com     Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0     https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

     Jolene was looking online at RPG topics and came across a confession by a new GM.  This novice GM was running their first campaign which they had been running with new players for nine months.  There was a point in the game were a character would have been killed but the GM pulled their punch.  The character did not suffer a death.  Even though there had been a Session Zero where the GM had discussed that Death of Characters was indeed possible.        But when the time came that a character could die the GM decided that they could not do it.  Saul and Jolene discuss this topic of the GM killing off characters and reasons it should or shouldn't happen.          Thank you all for Listening      Web Art by Jim Foster      Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones     Music by Smack Rabbit, song Killer Part-Time     Available from Tribeofnoise.com     Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0      https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

          A question was asked about what are some things that you found in one RPG that as a GM would Steal to use in all  other RPGs that you run.  Saul and Jolene each thought abou the topic and they each found something that they really liked that they believed could be "easily" used in a variety of RPGs.  Saul made a short list of mechanics and ideas that he would use in RPGs he would run.     Thank you all for Listening      Web Art by Jim Foster      Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones     Music by Schizophonic, song Stolen By the Store     Available from Tribeofnoise.com      Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0     https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

          A listener was thinking about some games he played with a particular GM, who took a few minutes after the game asking how the session went.  So this listener asked what would be the best way or some hints as to asking for feedback right after the session ends.         Saul and Jolene discussed how this immediate feedback would be good or bad.  As a GM that run games at Game Cons he is usually asked to run game multiple times since the number of seat at the game are limited and convention games can fill up pretty quickly.  So in order to make his adventures better he has asked feedback from players.   Some worked and some actually worked.          Saul and Jolene talked about how right after the game could get better feedback about the game session since the game is still "fresh" in the minds of the players.  There is a problem with this immediate feedback as some players may act like a deer caught in headlights.         Saul and Jolene talk about getting the most of feedback immediately after the game and some tips and tricks to get the best feedback from players that just played in your game session.          Thank you all for Listening      Web Art by Jim Foster      Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones          Music by Incognito Souls, song Get It Together, off the album Ten From                              Within          Available from Tribeofnoise.com          Used Under the Creative Commons License 3.0              https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

     A listener asked what we thought were some good Non D&D published campaigns?  Saul questioned what makes a good, quality and fun campaign.  Saul's criteria was the same if it was you home campaign but in a published one it is essential that the criteria that Saul sets out is met.  There are many campaigns out that that would meet these elements so Saul picked the ones he liked the best or has had the most experience in playing or running the games.        Saul comes up with 3 things every campaign must meet.  Saul then discusses with Jolene,  what published campaigns meet this criteria for Saul.  Some of them should be of no surprise for those who have been in the RPG gaming hobby for a while since Saul decides to talk about some older campaigns that have been around more than 30 years.  The rest the Saul included are more contemporary.           Thank you all for Listening      Web Art by Jim Foster      Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones     Music by Willard Mellow, song The Beginning,  off the album Back to the Roots     Available from Tribeofnoise.com     Used Under the Creative Commons License 4.0     https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/