Is there an analog RPG you’ve always wanted to try, but just haven’t been able to get started? Want to discover new games, or learn more about ones you already know? Join Satine Phoenix and Chad Parish as they learn a new RPG every show, with the game’s designer on hand to teach you.
Our very first workshop, Spence decided to bring in their friend and creative whirlwind, Mitchell Wallace who is one of the founders of the Penny For A Tale Twitch channel and has written for several other games since the recording of this episode. Together Mitchell and Spence make a light hearted ghost hunting game: Not Your Cousin’s Ghost Hunt. Find Mitchell Wallace online at www.pennyforatale.com and www.twitch.tv/pennyforatale. Music in this episode of Game School Workshops is Pump Sting by Kevin MacLeod https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4251-pump-sting License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Game School went to TotalCon and played Top Secret: New World Order with Merle Rassmussen, Allen Hammack, and Jayson Elliot. Top Secret is the new espionage role-playing game from Merle M. Rasmussen, creator of the first espionage role-playing game. Your mission: preserve peace and stability in a world rife with conflict, mistrust, duplicity, and shadowy organizations. You are an agent of ICON: The International Covert Operatives Network. You have been recruited from your former life, trained in the ways of tradecraft, and sent into the field to handle the missions that other agencies cannot, or will not handle. Tense negotiations, dangerous combat, thrilling car chases, tradecraft, surveillance, intrigue, and subterfuge are all at hand with the roll of the dice. http://store.tsrgames.com/top-secret-new-world-order-box-set/
Spence ran a Children of the Fall Live Play for Peter, James, and Mary. This is the audio from a live video broadcast we did earlier this year.
James, Spence, Peter Bryant, Mary Lindholm, and Steven Wollett went to TotalCon and played Andre Kruppa's game Lucid Dreams. Lucid Dreams is a d10 pool system geared toward the darker, grittier aspects of roleplaying. It has no particular setting, but is designed to handle anything from the Stone Age all the way to near-future settings. Popular settings such as the world of H.P. Lovecraft will port easily into this game system. Lucid Dreams is meant to be fast paced and focused on the story.
Prowlers & Paragons is a narration-driven, rules-light system designed to emulate four-color superhero comics. The rules, for the most part, don’t tell you what happens. Instead, they tell you who gets to describe what happens. Both the players and the gamemaster take turns narrating events in the game world. However, there are rules that help determine what characters can do and how they compare to one another. With the streamlined rules, once you know what you’re doing, you should be able to play without ever opening the book. P&P was designed to let you play stories about super heroes who save the world and beat the snot out of villains who richly deserve it. Like so much of the genre, P&P is a gleefully unapologetic exercise in heroic wish fulfillment. http://www.evilbeaglegames.com
WARNING - This is a Detention episode. As such it may not be suitable for all listeners. There are themes of domination, bondage, and slavery. Tales of Gor brings you into a striking world of science-fantasy roleplaying. Born from the Gorean Cycle (34 books) by John Norman, Tales of Gor brings you to The Counter Earth. A world of contradictions, freedom and slavery, science and fantasy, primitive violence and high technology ripe for adventure. While two great alien powers vie for control of the solar system their plans play out on two worlds, Earth and Gor. Will you take sides or simply strive to survive in a hostile world of gigantic animals, powerful city states and cunning machinations? Powered by Open D6, Tales of Gor lets you step into this long-running series of science-fantasy novels and carve your own future on the Counter-Earth. Illustrated in striking style by celebrated fetish and comic book artist Michael Manning (Spider Garden, Tranceptor) this book is also a visual treat for fans of Gor, giving his unique interpretation to Gor, its creatures and its people. https://post-mort.com/collections/roleplaying-games/products/tales-of-gor-gorean-roleplaying
Champions was one of the first role-playing games and was published by Hero Games. It was designed to simulate and function in a four-color superhero comic book world. https://www.herogames.com/
Splintered Godhood, a one-night, improvisational cooperative horror role-playing game for 4 to 5 mature players and one storyteller where each player plays a role in weaving a story of inverted and interwoven layers of reality within which each player is touched by the caress of infinity and eternity. With a divine spark infusing their Flesh, Voice, Will, and Awareness, they can build and twist the worlds around them, touching and overlapping them to form a malleable shared universe. https://www.makeyourgamelegendary.com/products-page/all-products/splintered-godhood/
This lightweight-yet-complete role-playing game is an homage to the "Easy-to-Master" black box of the first role-playing game that does everything the creator wished the original did. Overall the game has a similar feel to the original role-playing game, but there are a number of differences. Listen in while Spence and James go over this awesome game. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/5695/Awful-Good-Games/
The Deryni Adventure Game is based on the popular “Deryni” series of fantasy books by Katherine Kurtz. The novels weave a rich tapestry of romantic chivalry, medieval kings, a powerful Church, and the Deryni, a persecuted race of humans with the gift of magic. Now you can share in the magic! Create characters – human or Deryni! – and experience the Eleven Kingdoms through their marvelous adventures! Uncover intrigue in the courts of kings, defend the Deryni from persecution, explore the world, and experience all manner of medieval majesty!
Everyverse RPG features five methods of character generation to suit every situation and taste. It uses the same scale as used to measure Real-world IQ to provide more meaningful information at a glance. Along with tree-like skill arrays go from general to specific. Choose your own ease/realism trade-off. Giving players a single method to resolve all actions to keep everyone's nose out of the book. Players follow the same path or improve characters over several lifetimes. https://www.pardenusgaming.com/
It's time to meet the hosts of Game School. Spence and JC spend the hour interviewing each other. This one is just for the fans!
On this episode JC and Spence interview Jay Little. He is a developer and one of the lead designers of Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars: Edge of the Empire roleplaying series. https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/#/universe/star-wars
An action-heavy tabletop RPG of gunslingers, samurai, gangsters, barbarians, steampunk, and superpowers on the brink of destruction. There is a world beyond our own steeped in darkness and struggling in the aftermath of a divine war; a world where its people fight not only to survive but to amass power, riches, and honour. A place of intense, high-octane wire-fu action set against the background of desert landscapes, high speed train robberies, and mutant warriors battling it out for supremacy. Nothing is as it seems in this world, and everything is possible. We call it... High Plains Samurai. https://brokenrulergames.net/high-plains-samurai/
The following episode is a Detention episode. The game that we are reviewing has themes that may not be suitable for all listeners. The game we review in this episode is Hot Guys Making Out. As the title implies, the game has homosexual romantic themes. If these themes are not to your taste, we encourage you to tune in for our next episode. Otherwise please enjoy this exploration of a unique game mechanic using a deck of playing cards, set in 1930's Spain with our heroes Honore and Gonsalvo. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/156244/Hot-Guys-Making-Out
Victorious is a superhero steampunk RPG where heroes from the future have traveled back in time and altered the time-line. Through their influence, inadvertent or deliberate, technology has had a jump-start. A series of advancements, based on steam-driven technology, have arisen. The player characters can either be born into this era or can have arrived from the future. http://www.trolllord.com/
Cortex Prime is a highly modular analog game system that focuses on storytelling and the ability to switch out blocks of core rules like Lego bricks.
Swords and Wizardry Light combines fast play and introducing new players with nostalgia for the grizzled rpg veterans. Using pen, paper, two types of dice, and two foldable cards, the game can be played with only a few minutes of setup. It is easy to understand the mechanics and has a simple approach to the rest of traditional gaming that will have newbies playing without the confusion or frustration of a long character creation session. https://froggodgames.com/product-category/free-stuff/ http://www.tenkarstavern.com/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/849179298513223/
Children of the Fall is a post-cataclysmic game with a Lord of the Flies vibe where the players play children around their teen years. All the adults are mindless, vicious savages trying to eat them and when a child reaches adulthood at about seventeen or eighteen, they go mad too. This is a game of survival and has a level of fatalism to it that makes it far darker and scarier than games where the monsters are mostly external. Rating - PG-16 Website
James and Spence interview Andre Kruppa about his game Lucid Dreams. Lucid Dreams is a d10 pool system geared toward the darker, grittier aspects of roleplaying. It has no particular setting, but is designed to handle anything from the Stone Age all the way to near-future settings. Popular settings such as the world of H.P. Lovecraft will port easily into this game system. Lucid Dreams is meant to be fast paced and focused on the story. You can read the game review by Ernie Laurence at: http://multiverse.world/blog/2018/08/23/lucid-dreams-role-playing-engine/
Season 2 opens with two new hosts, James "Jay Cee" Carpio and Spence. They interview Jeff Talanian about his game Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea. It's an awesome OSR game that harkens back to Robert E. Howard's pulp-fiction tales.
Satine and Chad interview John Wick about the second edition of 7th Sea and John runs them on a full adventure. This is the last show of Season 1 and the last episode with Chad and Satine. Get ready for Season 2 with your new hosts JayCee and Spence. http://7thsea.com/
Chad and Satine talk with Mike Mason about Call of Cthulu 7th edition. https://www.chaosium.com/call-of-cthulhu-rpg/
Thunder is a fantasy roleplaying game of high adventure. Take up the mantel of a Cleric or Paladin, become a mercenary Fighter or Berserker, cross the line with the law and play a Rapscallion, or dabble in the arcane and become a Mage. On this episode you'll get the full live play from GaryCon 2016, with Satine Phoenix, Chad Parrish, Mike Kafes, and Frank Sapia.
"Play as yourself, suddenly granted the incredible and unstable powers of legendary heroes!" It's Mythic Mortals, the extraordinary new game of super heroes brought to us by David Schirduan. Tune in as David guides us through a novel new approach to tabletop combat and listen as he pits Satine Phoenix against one very bullish bruiser!
The Game School crew went to GaryCon! We recorded a live episode with Steve Chenault, one of the men responsible for the creation of Castles and Crusades. Steve talked with Satine about the history of the game, explained some of the mechanics, and then ran her on a short adventure. About Castles and Crusades Castles and Crusades is a fantasy role playing game with countless possibilities. The Players Handbook allows you take up the sword and shield, the staff or bow; to arm yourself as you desires and wander upon planes of your own imagining and plunder the wealth of adventure. Designed for use with multiple players, Castles and Crusades puts you in charge of the adventure path. Included within are all the rules of play, how to get started in your very own role playing game, how to run the game and play in it. It’s easy to learn attribute-based rules system allows players to choose among 13 archetypal character classes and 7 races to create their characters. Spells, equipment, fast-paced combat rules, and all essential information needed to play a game of Castles and Crusades is in this book. TLG Portal The Portal is a subscription service that allows you to access the mountains of material published by Troll Lord Games. Through the Portal you will find everything you need to play a game of Castles & Crusades, Amazing Adventures, Tainted Lands and all the games TLG creates. Also find the World of Aihrde, Inzae, fiction, other games… in short all the material extracted from the many books, modules, digital content, and journals published by Troll Lord Games. But that’s not all. The portal will include ALL FUTURE CONTENT as well. We’ll still publish books, but you’ll have fast access here! As we release new content, we’ll upload it to the portal. The purpose is to give you quick and easy access to the many games and worlds of Troll Lord Games. The Portal will be easy to access via your phone, tablet, IPad, laptop or desktop. Links Web Site Purchase TLG Portal
Douglas Poirier takes the Game School crew through the epicness of Thunder! A new fantasy based RPG based around classic role-playing but with some new innovations and fresh concepts. Chad and Satine are joined by two guest players for the demo. Together they travel to the village of Kurnbi to investigate why no one has heard from the town in some time. When they arrive, they find the town coated in a thick and unnatural fog. What lies in the fog ahead and what is causing it? You’ll have to listen to find out. The demo adventure was actually much longer and will be continued this summer as one of the Afterschool Specials. System: Thunder: Classic Role Playing Hosts: Satine Phoenix, Chad Parish Additional Players: Mike Kafes, Frank Sapia http://www.mythwits.com https://www.instagram.com/cydneysavia/ Guest: Douglas Poirier http://www.thunderrpg.com/ https://www.facebook.com/ThunderClassicRoleplaying/ http://drivethrurpg.com/product/173460/Thunder-Classic-Role-Playing--v32
The game is afoot! Game School cracks the case of the Baker Street rpg with author, Bryce Whitacre. This is a game worthy of the great detective himself and lets you the player use your own deductive reasoning to pierce the veil of mystery and ultimately discover whodunnit! System: Baker Street Hosts: Satine Phoenix, Chad Parish Guests: Bryce Whitacre Let us introduce you to your new favorite game!
In this episode Game School delves into the one of the classics of tabletop games, Runequest and it's newest edition with Lawrence Whitaker. The 6th edition remains true to the feel of classic fantasy while adding a few new surprises to keep it fresh for your table.
This is part two of the Pathfinder episode. Linda Zayas-Palmer runs Satine, Chad, Kyle, and Peter trough a sample adventure in one of the many lands of Pathfinder. This is 38 minutes of a two hour session. The rest of this adventure will e released this summer as part of the After School Specials.
Join the Game School crew, along with guest host and actor, Kyle Vogt, as they talk with Paizo’s James L. Sutter and Linda Zaya-Palmer, all about Pathfinder! James is a co-creator of the Pathfinder roleplaying game as well as the executive editor for Paizo Publishing. Linda is a 5-star Pathfinder Society GM and a developer at Paizo. As this episode ran long, this is going to be a two-parter with this episode featuring James and Linda explaining the system and telling great behind the scenes stories regarding the genesis of Pathfinder. Part Two will be released next week and feature our live play segment to run about 20 minutes. But because we did a full on game session you can hear the dice roll in totality by tuning into the soon to be released After School Special featuring host, Satine Phoenix. Whether your new to the system or a Pathfinder Society veteran, this episode has something for everyone! And don’t miss our regularly scheduled episode next week when the crew sit down with the Design Mechanism’s own Lawrence Whitaker, author of the sixth edition of RuneQuest. System: Pathfinder Hosts: Satine Phoenix, Chad Parish, and Kyle Vogt Guests: James L. Sutter and Linda Zayas-Palmer Duration: 01:04:54
This is Part 2 of a special two part episode on how to produce a gaming podcast. Recorded at GaryconVIII, the panel is hosted by Game School, The Dead Games Society, Drink Spin Run, Gaming and BS, Game School, Cube of Death and the Mythwits podcast, with special guest, Jayson Elliott of TSR Games and former host of Roll For Initiative. If you liked this episode and want to check out some of the other podcasts represented, check out these links… http://gamingandbs.com/ http://www.drinkspinrun.com/ http://studio187.com/mythwits/about/ http://cubeofdeath.tsrpn.com/ http://gameschool.tsrpn.com/ http://rfipodcast.com/show/ And of course, the TSR Podcast Network as well as Garycon itself! http://garycon.com/ http://tsrpn.com/ Also, I just wanted to say thanks to our great audience members and if you like painting miniatures then check out The Dale Wardens! http://thedalewardens.blogspot.com/
This is part 1 of a special two part episode on how to produce a gaming podcast. Recorded at GaryconVIII, this panel is hosted by Game School, the Dead Games Society, Drink Spin Run, Gaming and BS, Game School, Cube of Death and the Mythwits podcast. And joining the panel as a special guest, Jayson Elliott of TSR Games and former host of Roll For Initiative. If you enjoy this episode don’t forget to tune into Part 2! And check out some of the other podcasts represented… http://gamingandbs.com/ http://www.drinkspinrun.com/ http://studio187.com/mythwits/about/ http://cubeofdeath.tsrpn.com/ http://gameschool.tsrpn.com/ http://rfipodcast.com/show/ And of course, the TSR Podcast Network as well as Garycon itself! http://garycon.com/ http://tsrpn.com/ Also, I just wanted to say thanks to our great audience members and if you like painting miniatures then check out The Dale Wardens! http://thedalewardens.blogspot.com/
Game School chats with Lou Agresta about The Razor Coast campaign setting for use with Paizo Publishing's Pathfinder! It's a setting with a new flavor, where hidden islands harbor deadly rogues and otherworldly gods. So grab yourself a bottle of rum and lash yourself in as Satine learns what it is to be a pirate navigating on strange seas.
Game School talks with Jason Keeley, co-creator of Fortune's Fool. This is an interesting game - set in an alternate renaissance Europe - that uses the tarot decks for action resolution. Satine plays an elf hired to steal a bell from a cathedral. Pantheon Press - http://www.pantheonpress.com/
Game School talks with Mark Diaz Truman, co-creator of Urban Shadows! In this episode we learn that when it comes to being supernatural, the super part is only half the story!
Game School discusses with Adventure Playgrounds founder, BJ Hensely, how to best introduce younger children into roleplaying. This one is full of sound advice on creating family friendly adventures that your kids will love!
Game School talks with Mike Olson about the ENnie award winning game Atomic Robo. Mike runs our producer, Peter Bryant through a quick scenario involving our hero, Robo saving the world once more from the forces of evil. It's straight out of the comic books with this one!
Game School talks with Jack Norris of Green Ronin about Fantasy Age! If your familiar with Wil Wheaton's exciting Dragon Age campaigns, you can't miss this one as Fantasy Age allows you to take the same rules set to build your own dynamic campaign setting. With Satine at Comic Con during the time of this recording, our producer, Peter Bryant steps in to prove that orcs can be heroes too!
This is part 2 of our special two part interview with Ivan Van Norman, creator of Outbreak: Undead.
This is part 1 of a special two part interview with game designer, Ivan Van Norman, creator of Outbreak: Undead!
Game School talks with Bruce Sheffer lead designer for Tri Tac Games - Fringeworthy. Fringeworthy is a SciFi RPG that allows players to adventure in any world or setting. It’s a pan dimensional romp through a million million worlds. A cross between Sliders and Stargate – except it came out long before either of these properties were ever dreamed of. Bruce runs Satine through an encounter on an alternate Earth to study an Aztec temple that is still active. She will be put through the mental ringer as reality itself seems to go sideways. Will she discover the secret of this place and these people or become their next victim? You’ll have to listen to find out!
Game School talks with Alexander Macris and Tavis Allison about their game Adventurer Conqueror King. ACK is a fantasy game that allows you to play in a world reminiscent of writers Howard and Fritz Leiber. Alex and Tavis run Satine and Chad through an encounter against two evil anti-heroes and their men. Will they defeat the evil? You’ll have to listen to find out.
Game School talks with James Desboroug about his game Machinations of the Space Princess. MotSP is an space game running on a version of old school D&D that allows you to play in a world reminiscent of Heavy Metal, Galaxina, and Flash Gordon. It's as stylistic, sexy, and as fun as you'd imagine. The game book is cool and play is wild and free. James runs Satine through an encounter on a backward planet to recover a bounty worth his weight in credits. Will she outwit the other bounty hunters and survive the encounter or will she become one of their captors as well? You’ll have to listen to find out
Game School talks with Steve Johnson about the game Hobomancer. Hobomancer is a fun and wacky RPG that uses QAGS 2nd Edition system. Steve runs Satine through a quick adventure through the streets of Chicago to escape the mob. Will Junkyard Merlin Griggs escape the mob and avoid the train yard bulls? You’ll have to listen to find out.
Game School talks with Brennan Taylor about the game Bulldogs!. Bulldogs! is a SciFi RPG that uses the Fate Core system. Brennan runs Satine through a quick adventure into a frontier town to rescue one of her crew mates.
Game School talks with Luke Crane about the game Torchbearer. Torchbearer is a sword and sorcery RPG with an incredible and innovative new style of game play. We are joined by our new co-host Satine Phoenix and Luke runs her through a quick adventure into an underground lair of unspeakable evil.
GameSchool talks with Shane Ivy and Allen Goodall about the game Godlike. Godlike is a street level superhero game set during WWII. Chad Parish runs this episode solo playing the super soldier Plaster as he runs up against a band of Nazis.
Chad Parish & Jay Justice talk with Jay Libby and takes a look under the hood of Dilly Green Bean Games' RPG G-Core. G-Core is a superhero RPG based off of the classic Marvel Super Hero game commonly known as FASRIP. Jay Justice goes up against a mysterious red man in her demo adventure as her character Dawn tries to save her neighborhood. We apologize for Jay Justice's sound quality. Her mic gain was likely set to high.