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GWJ Conference Call Episode 697

Luna: The Shadow Dust (PC), Darth Vader Immortal (Oculus VR), Sundered (PC), Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem (PC), There’s This Girl (Android).

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Amanda, Karla, and Michael Zenke are joined by Chris O'Regan from Cane & Rinse to talk about tabletop gaming and how to get into groups.

To contact us, email [email protected]! Send us your thoughts on the show, pressing issues you want to talk about or whatever else is on your mind.

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00:02:00 Darth Vader Immortal (VR)
00:07:31 Luna: The Shadow Dust
00:12:44 Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem
00:20:40 There’s This Girl (mobile)
00:22:02 Sundered: Eldritch Edition
00:26:07 Getting Into Tabletop Groups
01:09:06 Your Emails

It's a shame most of the big organised RPG groups seem to stop at Edinburgh without going further north - there's bugger all this far into the Highlands, let alone anything that's explicitly queer/women friendly.

I've been toying with the idea of trying to start my own LGBTQ+ TTRPG club here but...honestly i kinda want someone ELSE to do it so i could just focus on running games. (of course, the latter has been a trial as well, because my attempts at organising just one women & Enby D&D group has been a failure so far).

At least I have my (usually) bi-weekly online game with euro goodjers and weekly meatspace group*, but i need MORE dammit!

*but i'm only a player in that group which is...fine. But i'm a DM at heart I think.

Oh, also, if people are looking for a cool way to hook people on RPG's (that aren't D&D and don't have a ton of rules to learn) then look up QUEST. I got my kickstarter copy a couple of weeks back and it's just lovely. It's ridiculously easy to learn.

Here's the character sheet...

IMAGE(https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a03659a18b27dcf1b480a1a/1579136060986-XBHMLFVI7LGKIFZ0HINI/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kJXzUXKlhc5bb8UJZ51qC8oUqsxRUqqbr1mOJYKfIPR7LoDQ9mXPOjoJoqy81S2I8PaoYXhp6HxIwZIk7-Mi3Tsic-L2IOPH3Dwrhl-Ne3Z2v2ggJ3DKfg9vfxjO_3GaA-6sOmobiD4LXCnfL-X7jgAKMshLAGzx4R3EDFOm1kBS/charprof.PNG?format=500w)

I'm going to say up front: please excuse the long post.

I'm one of the founding hosts of a long-running (coming up on 8 years this summer) TTRPG podcast called Saving the Game. We are faith-based as you can probably tell from the name, but it's not a proselytizing tool - we originally set out to build bridges between the Church and the gaming community (as in, "get rid of the ongoing mistrust and hostility, particularly from the side of the church"), and have expanded from there. As a note of reassurance to those who might already be a little on edge: a lot of the guests I list below are not people of the same faith background as us.

In any case, we have done quite a lot of content that's germane to what you talked about on the episode over the years and I figured I'd share it.

Therapeutic/Skill Building Gaming:

We've talked to Jack Berkenstock twice. Jack is the director of an organization called The Bodhana Group that uses TTRPGs as a therapeutic tool, and his organization has even published a resource on DriveThru RPG toward those ends:

We first spoke with Jack way back in episode 25: http://stgcast.org/episode-25-therapeutic-roleplaying-with-jack-berkenstock/

And again in episode 116: http://stgcast.org/episode-116/

We've also spoken to Adam Davis and Adam Johns of Wheelhouse Workshop/Game to Grow about their approach to using gaming as a therapeutic tool. That was in episode 115: http://stgcast.org/episode-115-rpgs-in-social-skills-therapy-with-adam-davis-and-adam-johns/ (These folks are also working on Critical Core, a purpose-built game to help kids on the autism spectrum.)

I also did a blog post on a character I found especially enriching to play: http://stgcast.org/goodbye-old-friend/

Finally, here's the link to Wizards, Warriors, and Wellness, the Bodhana Group's Therapeutic gaming resource: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/268200/Wizards-Warriors-and-Wellness--The-Therapeutic-Application-of-Role-Playing-Games

Safety Techniques and Psychology:

We have also talked twice with Dr. Sarah Lynne Bowman, who is another wonderful, warm person and is also one of the world's leading researchers in the psychological side of RPGS. We first spoke to her back in episode 111 about the general psychology of play: http://stgcast.org/episode-111-larp-and-the-psychology-of-play-with-dr-sarah-lynne-bowman/

We recently had her back in episode 162 to talk about safety techniques such as the X-card (but also Lines & Veils, Script Change, Consent Checklists, and so on): http://stgcast.org/episode-162-safety-and-bleed-with-dr-sarah-lynne-bowman/

Speaking of safety techniques, in addition to the X-card, which is something I firmly believe every table should use, here's a couple others:

First, Monte Cook Games (makers of Numenera, Predation, No Thank You, Evil!, and a ton of other amazing games) put out a consent checklist document for free a short while ago. It's free and it's only about a dozen pages, so it's a quick read, but it does a great job of presenting safety techniques and providing some to use all in a single document: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/288535/Consent-in-Gaming

Second, Brie Beau Sheldon's Script Change is a cool resource if you like the X-card, but want some additional granularity: https://briebeau.itch.io/script-change

Our recent episode with Kimi Hughes also got into some useful talk about safety techniques: http://stgcast.org/episode-170-pre-game-tools-with-kimi-hughes/

Resources for GMing:

I'll lead with a post I did that collects a bunch of useful GMing tools: http://stgcast.org/i-want-to-gm/

Also, a more recent one based on lessons from the game I'm currently running: http://stgcast.org/random-tidbits-gming-tricks/

And one on the various useful GMing tools out there (whether that's their explicit purpose or not) and how to use them: http://stgcast.org/buried-in-tools/

We also did an episode debriefing after a member of our group GMed for the first time: http://stgcast.org/episode-158-breaking-down-a-gms-first-game-with-krissi-woodward/

Thanks for the amazing info dump there Timespike, very useful! I shall have to delve into some of it myself.

With respect to the faith aspect of your output, I have friends who are Christians as well as other faiths and we get on perfectly fine. This is anchored around the concept of mutual respect and affection as the last thing any of us want to have barriers appear based on religious beliefs. The only time it ever comes up is in jest, when I mutter something like 'why listen to me though? I'm just a foul heathen'.

Another point to raise is being cautious not to hurt people's feelings so when dealing with religious beliefs in TTRPGs. Take Wrath and Glory for example, a game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe that deals with zealotry and has a culture that is similar to the Catholic Church in the middle ages. My position as an atheist could have me using the setting as a platform to attack religion. But I see sense that not only is that not in keeping with the core theme of the game, but it's just plain rude! People come to play games and forget the real world for a while. They don't want to be lectured by the likes of me on the impact religious zealotry can have on the state of a culture. It's also not very funny, which is also the cornerstone of Wrath and Glory.

I hope whatever you dig into is useful! We're a niche of a niche, but I'm pretty happy with what we've created, especially in the last 4 years or so.

The gang has had a very different experience than me when it comes to random D&D strangers. I'm glad everyone here has had great experiences, but in my experience, it's a real mixed bag. A random pickup group at your local gaming store is kind of like a random pickup group in whatever online video game you're into. You're running the gamut from "seems cool but stinky" to "vocal white supremacist", which is a bit broad for my tastes. In r/rpgs, the general opinion when this comes up is that the pickup groups at local games stores are filled with a lot of people who were kicked out of games that knew them better.

I've personally had much better experiences recruiting from online communities with people with similar interests/outlooks (hint hint).

Really, really enjoyed this week's episode, it spoke to me on so many levels. First off, I was thrilled to hear Chris O'Reagan's voice, because I was a long time fan of Cane & Rinse (I just stopped listening, because the episodes got too big for my schedule, or maybe the other way around, my schedule shrank and couldn't accomodate it anymore). Not just that, but his experience was relatable, with me living in Paris and all (small apartments, having the metro, having that "third space"). I love his humor and was so glad to have him on. So amazing. Wish I was going to PAX East.

I always wanted to play DnD, and wanted to join a group in high school, but the guys basically said "no girls allowed." So kinda forgot (gave up) on the whole thing for about... 17 years? Until GWJ. When Maqusan ran a Edge of the Empire game for couple of us, which was just so much fun (much love to Higgledy's wookie to my smuggler and MrDeVil's deliciously devious droid). And life being what it is, that morphed into our current Forgotten Realms 5e DnD that Pyxistyx is now DM'ing for us, and what an amazingly patient and creative DM she is. Much love to her for putting up with our shenanigans. That has been going on via Skype/Discord and a mix of ROll20 and DnDBeyond for a while and was a great first stepping stone for me, being on the spectrum and all. Anyhow, I had so much fun, I start talking about it with my meatspace friends, and lo and behold, I'm now DM'ing myself for my meatspace friends and some friends of friends since October (we've done 11 sessions). We lucked out, and the dynamic has been really great. I've had a rare few "stop checking Facebook" moments, but aside from that, it's been really great.

About one of the emails, I believe there used to be a tabletop game of the year thing in the forums, but I'm not sure what happened to it. I definitely didn't feel competent enough to run anything of that caliber.

Anywho, really enjoyed this week's GWJCC, can't wait to hear more like it!!

kazooka wrote:

The gang has had a very different experience than me when it comes to random D&D strangers. I'm glad everyone here has had great experiences, but in my experience, it's a real mixed bag. A random pickup group at your local gaming store is kind of like a random pickup group in whatever online video game you're into. You're running the gamut from "seems cool but stinky" to "vocal white supremacist", which is a bit broad for my tastes. In r/rpgs, the general opinion when this comes up is that the pickup groups at local games stores are filled with a lot of people who were kicked out of games that knew them better.

I've personally had much better experiences recruiting from online communities with people with similar interests/outlooks (hint hint).

Same. When I formed my Sunday group, I recruited from the Discord of my own podcast, my long-running Saturday group, and friends I'd made from doing the podcast. That's worked out quite well.

kazooka wrote:

The gang has had a very different experience than me when it comes to random D&D strangers. I'm glad everyone here has had great experiences, but in my experience, it's a real mixed bag. A random pickup group at your local gaming store is kind of like a random pickup group in whatever online video game you're into. You're running the gamut from "seems cool but stinky" to "vocal white supremacist", which is a bit broad for my tastes. In r/rpgs, the general opinion when this comes up is that the pickup groups at local games stores are filled with a lot of people who were kicked out of games that knew them better.

I've personally had much better experiences recruiting from online communities with people with similar interests/outlooks (hint hint).

My experience is similar to yours, but I grew up somewhere that isn't as friendly or charming as the part of Canada we're currently in, so that is certainly a mileage-may-vary experience.

One of my old DM's used to host drop ins at a local shop back in Vancouver, and he said the uh, signal-to-noise ratio on finding good people was sometimes difficult. Likened it to panning for gold in that you may have to sift a lot before uncovering potentially good players to pluck from the crowd and pursue as one of your own (or refer to other DM's).

I think it also really depends on the shop, how they run it, and the kind of atmosphere that shop creates and engenders in its attending players and staff.

Oh, that reminds me. Another useful tool are these essays on how to approach Trans and Non-Binary characters (and players) in your TTRPG games. It's WELL worth a read.

Michael's comments on Mansions of Madness at 1:12:20-
1. Fun to play super-high
2. Highly recommended

I saw what you did there.

Thanks for the topic this week. I wrote up a post about how frustrating and difficult it's been trying to keep a gaming group going while having multiple little kids of my own and realized I'm just making excuses. Finally got me to make arrangements, get out to a local board gaming group last night, and ended up having a great time. Thanks for the kick to get moving!

Ahh Sasu, that's so wonderful, thank you for sharing!

Spoiler:

Real talk though, what board games did you play?

THIS IS WONDERFUL, THANK YOU!!

Spoiler:

Real talk though, what board games did you play?

Spoiler:

I didn't play a huge amount, but it was exciting seeing a lot of games I've been wanting to learn & play were out and being played. I saw Root being taught to beginners (#1 on my want-to-learn) and Terra Mystica (been meaning to learn for a long time) and a half dozen other games I'd heard of and want to check out some time.

I actually played:
- Space Base + 2-3 expansions - First time I'd heard of it. It was very interesting. It's a dice rolling game where you earn currency/victory points based on the ships you have on each possible die result. It's really fun to collect a fleet with lots of synergy, especially when you get lucky and land your best result. I have to admit it dragged a bit at 5 players for the first ~1/2 of the game. However, when we each finally had our engines rolling, the ending was actually pretty exciting to see who would nab first through third places (first place was a major come-from-behind victory and I snatched second place at the last moment). I really liked the mechanics of earning something during other players' rolls, to keep you engaged throughout instead of JUST when you got to roll dice. We unlocked an ongoing campaign event that allowed you to buy additional dice to roll when OTHER players roll for additional bonuses too. The ongoing campaign was a really interesting way to slowly unlock the new mechanics in a thematic way too. Only other complaint I'd have is the decision space can get really big at times and be difficult to pre-plan your move (you don't know what die results you'll get until you roll!), so players prone to analysis paralysis might need some coaching. Overall I'd definitely play again, although maybe at 3 or 4 players.

- Ringmaster - It was getting a little late to start another meaty game, so this was a lighter filler card game. Relatively short game with limited decisions to make (start with hand of 3 then draw one, play one on your turn), but they have a lot of heft. Many cards were very powerful so it felt meaningful to save up cards or make a powerful play on a lot of turns. The art and theme were really on point here. Only complaint was the card "Three Ring Circus" is a win condition if you have 3 of them played. Wouldn't that be a nine-ring circus at that point...? (: