Role Playing Public Radio

We review Rifter #13, Palladium's own magazine about their games. We also talk about headcanon, which is the idea of making your story behind a fictional story – like the cop wizards of Payday 2. This episode is from April 2015 but making fun of Palladium is timeless! If you

In this episode, we review Darktek, a supplement for Dark Conspiracy filled with odd gear choices, and Warrens of the Ratmen, a 3E supplement about ratmen and their warrens. We also talk about the Superbowl and 50 Shades of Grey.  This episode was originally posted in March 2015 so enjoy

We're celebrating 10 years of the RPPR Patreon by releasing the first year of the After Hours podcast on the public feed! You can listen to the very first episode of After Hours here on the main feed but until now, this episode has been Patreon exclusive. We're looking at

Have you heard of galvanized square steel, the Munger dorms or Dahir Insaat? Bridget, Caleb, Fae, and I explore weird architectural stories and videos on the Internet. This is a preview of Scheduling Snafu, a new series on the RPPR Patreon, where the RPPR cast discusses weird stuff we find

Red Markets is back! Caleb has spent over a year playtesting and revising Red Markets, improving negotiation, combat, and other core mechanics for the game. He'll be posting an open beta of the game on the Hebanon Games Patreon so you can download and play it yourself. We talk about

Do you struggle with writing RPG scenarios for your home group quickly? I've been writing scenarios for the RPPR Patreon so I've had to learn how to get a good scenario out without spending a lot of time on it. I've figured out a few tips that can help you.

I interviewed the CEO of Free League Publishing, Tomas Härenstam at Gencon this year. We talk about Free League's approach to creating games, current trends in RPG design, and their upcoming second edition of the Alien RPG. Learn more about Free League Publishing on their website.

I caught up with Gareth Hanrahan at Gencon this year to talk about the Borellus Connection, a new campaign for Fall of Delta Green. Find out the secrets behind this globe hopping 1960s campaign! This interview has been mirrored on Youtube.

Do you have questions on actual play podcasts? Talk to Ross Payton (RPPR), Caleb Stokes (Dead Channels), Rob Stith, (Orpheus Protocol) and Ethan Cordray (Technical Difficulties) for all the answers you want! We talk about creating shows, running them, editing, marketing, and many other topics related to running an AP

This episode is also on Youtube with original video of Gencon 2024. Check it out! We're back from Gencon 2024! We recorded panels, played and bought new games, and a lot more. Caleb won a Gold Ennie for God's Teeth! I wanted to get out a quick summary of Gencon

Art for tabletop RPGS is not technically necessary but it does help. Chris and I discuss the role of art in RPGs and review Art by Nohr, a book by Mork Borg co-creator, Johan Nohr. We're experimenting with video with this episode, so subscribe to us on Youtube for Gencon

I have begun working on a new role playing game. It is called Labyrinths of Lost Futures, a modern day dungeon crawling hauntological fantasy. Delve into weird ruins with an enchanted gun and cellphone. Fight cryptids in a haunted trailer park. Escape a time loop based on a person's childhood

The Kickstarter for season 3 of the Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast is now live! Back it today to help us fund another full season of this podcast. The Lady in Blue, a mysterious figure of cosmic power, enlists a band of simple peasants for a strange task. They are to follow

Mega Dungeon Meandering is a deep dive into one of the best reviewed mega dungeons of all time, Stonehell: Stonehell Dungeon is a classic-style mega dungeon, filled with enough  monsters, traps, weirdness, and treasure to keep you gaming for a long,  long time. Explore over 700 rooms, encounter more than

We conclude the post mortem discussion of Impossible Landscapes, after the interruption from the previous episode. We now have a campaign index page, so you can easily find al of the episodes and other relevant bits for the campaign. Maddy as Ryan West, paramedic Thad as Marley Madelyn, FBI agent

Our actual play run of the surreal horror campaign, Impossible Landscapes, is now done. The cast and I discuss the characters, plot, and more! Find out the secrets behind the campaign and my advice for running this challenging but rewarding campaign. Maddy as Ryan West, paramedic Thad as Marley Madelyn,

We're back for another episode! I found a bottle of Blanton's bourbon and to celebrate my discovery, we recorded a new episode. Spencer even has a new food rating system! Back The Night Clerk zine! A modern horror RPG scenario from Ross Payton! We're talking about a wide range of

The Flash is a spectacularly bad movie. Caleb, Spencer, and I got together to discuss exactly WHY it was so bad. I was part of a podcast called The Mixed Six for nearly 6 years. I had a blast making it and I'm proud of the episodes we made. It

Architectural horror is a subgenre of intention. Novels like House of Leaves, movies like The Shining, the Saw series, and games like Control can all be called architectural horror, but what does that mean? Rob Stith of the Orpheus Protocol and I talk about the genre and my new scenario,

A system-less RPG scenario is designed to be able to run in any system for a particular genre. Writing one is just as challenging as writing one for a single system. I'm launching a crowdfunding campaign on Backerkit for The Night Clerk, a system-less modern horror scenario, as a zine.

Many RPGs use d20s for resolving combat, like D&D, 13th Age, and Lancer. Caleb and I have been playing a lot of d20 games recently and we wanted to talk about the nature of d20 combat. It's a very swingy system, where every combatant can miss in a single round,

We ran a Fate Core campaign called Cointract Island on RPPR Actual Play. Over 16 episodes, a trio of heroes explored an island overrun with genetically engineered and cybernetically enhanced creatures. In this post mortem, Bridget, Fae, Lydia, and I discuss the campaign's themes, the Fate system, and crypto bro

I talked with Greg Stolze, author of Reign, Termination Shock, co-author of Unknown Armies, and writer on many other books (and my co-host on Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast) about his new Kickstarter for Ships, a supplement for Termination Shock. We talked about the core mechanics for Termination Shock, game design, and

Delta Green is a popular horror RPG but it can be hard to understand how to get its tone or its procedural elements. Caleb, Jason, and I discuss some media to look at when trying to ‘get' the Delta Green vibe. This is a preview episode of our new series

Caleb is back discussing his progress on Red Markets. After a recent gaming retreat, Caleb developed a theory he wanted to discuss in this episode, about the obscene and the scene. The scene represents the public, socially acceptable aspects of a given object or activity. The obscene refers to the

In this episode, James Wallis, co-host of Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast and author of “Everybody Wins: Four Decades of the Greatest Board Games Ever Made,” and I talk about what RPG designers can learn from board games. We talked about the history and influence of board games, the challenges of playtesting

Wizards of the Coast has stepped on a series of rakes with a series of proposed changes to the Open Gaming License (OGL). What is the OGL and why is WOTC is trying to destroy a popular thing in the industry? Caleb and I discuss what's going on and what

Caleb and I discuss the possibility of creating a second edition of Red Markets and Base Raiders. It's a major task, so examining the pros and cons is a necessary first step. Updating the mechanics, revising the lore, and improving the information design are all big challenges, not to mention

We're back for one more round with Synnibarr 3ED. Caleb, Thad, Baz, and I dive into the GM (or Fate in the parlance of Synnibarr). We're all guests in Raven's house, so find out what his wisdom for running a RPG is. What is the ADDA model? Why are there

News: There's a horror video marathon on the RPPR Patreon Discord on Sunday October 30, starting at 3 pm CDT! Sign up for the RPPR Newsletter and get a FREE Monster PDF! Synopsis: After watching the first 7 Saw movies in the last week, I realized that game design comes

Making a player character for Synnibarr Third Edition is perhaps the most challenging part of the game. Baz, Noah, Thad, and I attempt to make a group of characters for the game and discover that do not perceive reality in the same way that Raven McCracken does. We do learn

Designing new monsters for your RPG is a time honored tradition for most GMs. I got Greg Stolze and Caleb Stokes to talk about their approaches to creating new creatures for games. Is the monster a metaphor or just a weird new enemy to fight? Get some tips on becoming

The Worldship is back! There's a new edition of the Synibarr and we're diving into it. I got a full round table of RPPR regulars to explore the Ultimate Adventurer's Guide. Baz, Caleb, Noah, and Thad and I found so many different things, it's hard to keep track of them

Like so many other things, game design has changed in the post-pandemic world. Jeff Barber, author of Blue Planet, and Caleb Stokes, author of Red Markets, and I talk about work and the industry. Jeff's been hard at work on Blue Planet: Recontact and Caleb talks more about Fae's Anatomy

The Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute (CARI) is an amazing website that categorizes popular aesthetic trends from the last 70 years in pop culture. Baz, Thad, and I browsed through the categories and used them to come up with ideas for new RPGs, campaigns for existing RPGs, D&D source books, and

The Multiverse is back! Films and TV shows featuring the concept of a multiverse are more popular than ever, even though they are old hat in tabletop RPGs. Special guest Patrick from RPX and Tech Diff podcasts and I talk about ways you can implement a multiverse in your RPG

Many RPGs use cards in their mechanics, from playing cards to Tarot to custom decks of cards. We discuss some of these games, the types of mechanics we've seen and the history of card-based games. If you enjoy this episode, back our Kickstarter for Season 2 of Ludonarrative Dissidents. This

The Terminator RPG was released as a PDF recently. A special guest, Jacqueline Bryk and I went through the game. It contains a lot of rules, including a dense system for hacking, something I hadn't seen since Shadowrun and Cyberpunk. What makes a licensed game good or bad? We talk Support Role Playing Public Radio on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/RPPR/ The post Episode 191: The Terminator RPG and Licensed Games appeared first on Role Playing Public Radio.

News: The RPPR Patreon just finished a six part podcast series on the mega dungeon Castle Greyhawk. It's a very funny and weird module and we had a lot of reviewing combing through it. Patrons at the $10 level and higher can get one on one RPG design/advice consultations in Support Role Playing Public Radio on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/RPPR/ The post Episode 190: Outcasts in RPGs appeared first on Role Playing Public Radio.

Castle Greyhawk (module WG7) might be the worst official D&D module of all time. A massive dungeon of 12 levels, each written by a different author, sounds like a great hack and slash module, but Castle Greyhawk has a twist. It's supposed to be…funny. Puns, pop culture references and other Support Role Playing Public Radio on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/RPPR/ The post After Hours: AD&D WG7 Castle Greyhawk – Part 1 appeared first on Role Playing Public Radio.

The public domain expanded this year and Caleb and I dive into it to find gameable material. Anyone can use these books, images, or music, for whatever project they can imagine. I found a list of characters from pulp fiction magazines with such interesting heroes like the vigilante Crimson Clown, Support Role Playing Public Radio on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/RPPR/ The post Episode 189: Plundering the Public Domain appeared first on Role Playing Public Radio.

Quake 1 is an incredibly influential video game, not just to other video games, but to tabletop RPGs as well. We played Slipgate: Chokepoint recently. Now that we've re-played Quake 1 and a RPG inspired by it, Chris and I discuss the thematic and mechanical differences in translating pixels to Support Role Playing Public Radio on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/RPPR/ The post Pixel 2 Paper: Quake 1 Part 2 – Slipgate Chokepoint Post-Mortem appeared first on Role Playing Public Radio.

A new crew of smugglers start taking jobs in Duskvol. They call themselves the Blind Eyes and specialize in the weird and the occult. As the gang grows in power, they learn of an invisible war for control over the city between supernatural beings and ruthless factions and an incredibly Support Role Playing Public Radio on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/RPPR/ The post Episode-188: The Blind Eyes – A Blades in the Dark campaign post-mortem appeared first on Role Playing Public Radio.

My friend Chris (the voice of Ab3 in our early radio plays and a cool guy on Twitter) had an idea for a new series on RPPR. Tabletop RPGs have influenced video games since their creation. Video games have influenced tabletop RPGs for a while as well. In Pixel 2 Support Role Playing Public Radio on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/RPPR/ The post Pixel 2 Paper: Quake 1 Part 1 – Retrospective appeared first on Role Playing Public Radio.

A cluster of enclaves in Missouri faces annihilation at the hands of a massive horde of the undead. Their only hope is to prepare for war, a job for their preeminent taker crew, the D4s. The crew uses an armored vehicle to take the largest scores of valuable goods they Support Role Playing Public Radio on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/RPPR/ The post Episode 187: Red Markets – Cooper County War campaign post-mortem appeared first on Role Playing Public Radio.

News: Check out Cody's Kickstarter, Lose Your Own Paradise, a multiple choice adventure novel! Cody's back and we're examining an interesting Ravenloft scenario, The Created. It's about an evil puppet trying to murder all the adults in a village. Only a group of heroic adventurers can stop it! Cody and Support Role Playing Public Radio on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/RPPR/ The post RPPR After Hours Bonus Episode: The Created appeared first on Role Playing Public Radio.

Sponsor: Check out the Chew RPG Kickstarter! After running a two part game with the new Forged in the Dark RPG, Chew, I wanted to talk to Pete Petrusha about the game. I liked how Chew ran differently than Blades as it focuses on investigating crimes instead of pulling off Support Role Playing Public Radio on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/RPPR/ The post Interview with Pete Petrusha on Chew the RPG appeared first on Role Playing Public Radio.

News: Please fill out the RPPR Survey so I can improve the quality of the RPPR Patreon. Thanks! Synopsis: Thad and I both have ideas for scenarios. I got an idea for an investigative scenario (probably Delta Green) after I watched a series called Fear City. It focuses on the Support Role Playing Public Radio on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/RPPR/ The post Episode 186: Wiretapping and Labor Organizing – Scenario Workshop appeared first on Role Playing Public Radio.

NOTE: This is a preview of our most recent After Hours episode. If you want to listen to the full episode, subscribe to the RPPR Patreon for only $2 a month! There's one Palladium RPG we've barely mentioned and it's now time to dissect it. Ninjas and Superspies is a Support Role Playing Public Radio on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/RPPR/ The post Preview of After Hours Episode 74: Ninjas and Superspies Part 1 appeared first on Role Playing Public Radio.

News: We're remastering classic actual play episodes of RPPR! If you want to listen to Lady Gaga 2.0 with improved audio quality, download the episode here. If you want to pick which classic episodes are edited, back the RPPR Patreon before September 6. We're running a special offer and I'll Support Role Playing Public Radio on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/RPPR/ The post Episode 185: Long Term Gaming Groups appeared first on Role Playing Public Radio.

We have another preview episode of After Hours from the RPPR Patreon! If you enjoy this episode, consider backing us to help support this podcast. Episodes 70 ,71, and 72 continue our descent into Inferno. Synopsis: We're going to Hell! Judge's Guild put out a module called Inferno in 1980, Support Role Playing Public Radio on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/RPPR/ The post After Hours: Judge's Guild: Inferno – Part 1 appeared first on Role Playing Public Radio.