Roll For Topic

Does it matter in your D&D game if the weather outside is bright and balmy or cold and rainy? Are there ways to incorporate changing weather into a TTRPG that don’t just boil down to the occasional die roll penalty? Chris and Andy discuss, and Chris describes his experience with Bully Pulpit Games’ The Skeletons.

Andy and Chris talk about the lives our PCs lead outside of the adventuring life. They also inadvertently pitch a very fun sounding game where you play a bunch of teachers.

Have you played in games where your character’s age had a big impact, mechanically or narratively? Chris and Andy discuss why it matters if your D&D character is 18 or 65 years old, and how exploring those nuances might make your game more interesting.

What do you do when one of your players comes to the table with a PC that has a horse, mount, or another game feature that radically changes tactical situations? Chris and Andy discuss ways you can approach mounts in a way that doesn’t cheat the player of their mount, but which also doesn’t hurt … Continue reading "Episode 164 – How Do You Handle Player Mounts and Horses?"

Andy and Chris talk about the things we used to love and then get into the the discussion of handing out documents/clues/puzzles at the table.

What elements go into a good game focused on wilderness survival and exploration? Chris and Andy discuss, but not before a few detours to talk about Stephen King’s Dark Tower series and The Wizard of Oz.

What does religious faith look like in your games? Do you encourage your players to make religious faith a key part of their PCs, whether or not their character class is mechanically built around it? Andy and Chris discuss–but not before a few detours into the Dune setting, Tolkien (again), and more.

Is tabletop roleplaying “just” an escapist diversion? How and why do we approach a hobby like gaming when news and politics and life in general are so heavy and overwhelming? Chris and Andy talk about the value of creative action in times of stress.

Andy and Chris recap the build-a-dungeon/play-a-dungeon and then talk about their gaming plans for 2025. Andy wonders aloud about whether to “just” play D&D or to keep chasing his white whales.

It’s our annual holiday tradition–a TTRPG actual play in which we run the roleplaying scenario that we designed in the last episode! Join Chris and he GMs a motley band of heroes try to save Christmas. The game system we’re using is Caltrop Core (https://caltropcore.com/), adapted for this holiday-cheer-filled scenario!

It’s that time of year again! Join Chris and Andy with special guests, John Corey and Kyle Latino, as they build a dungeon live on air! This is part 1 of 2. In the next episode Chris will run the dungeon for a bunch of lovely folks.

Andy and Chris talk about the feelings they have about different methods of getting a random number. Rolling a die is great; drawing a chit from a bag is bad.

Andy and Chris talk about Baldur’s Gate 3 for too long and then Chris surprises everyone by having done a small amount of research before they discuss money in games.

Have you thought about running an epic RPG campaign–perhaps a complex published campaign like Curse of Strahd or Masks of Nyarlathotep–but find yourself unsure how to start preparing? In this episode, Andy talks with Matt Wilson, a GM who has run several large, complex campaigns to learn some tips and tricks for preparing to run … Continue reading "Episode 154 – How Do You Prepare to Run an Epic Campaign? (with Matt Wilson)"

Andy and Chris talk about running games on holidays and what exactly makes it so compelling. They also talk about the upcoming D&D DMG, Alien tie-in novels, and The Left Hand of Darkness.

Have you ever used a mini-game in a tabletop RPG–a game that steps completely outside the official rules of your RPG to resolve a particular situation? We discuss Chris’ experimental one-shot in which he tried out some fun mini-games. Also discussed: Chris’ experience reading The Silmarillion.

Recorded live at the fourth annual Roll for Topic Con! Follow along as the audience takes our annual roleplaying trivia quiz, and plays a brand new game called Diamond Heist.

What does the criminal underworld in your setting look like, and how do the players interact with it? Andy and Chris discuss the topic of crime in RPG settings, along with their plans to run some one-shots at the upcoming RfT Con.

Andy and Chris talk about going to the dentist and also about using languages at the table. Chris makes a reference to a 29 year old movie and Andy makes a reference to a 23 year old tv show.

Is character alignment a central part of your D&D (and D&D-alike) games, or is it something you change or ignore? Chris and Andy discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the classic alignment chart, and the ways it’s useful at the table.

Andy and Chris talk about Gen Con, Roll for Topic Con, and what makes cons so special!

Have you used a minigame within your RPG to handle a specific scene or sequence? Chris and Andy brainstorm a bit about a jousting minigame for Chris’ upcoming convention game, with discursions into game playtesting, Battletech, and the upcoming RfT Con 2024.

Guest host John Corey fills in for Chris this week, bringing his expertise in low-prep GMing! John and Andy discuss what they’ve been reading about the early days of the gaming hobby and then go on to talk about how you can move from high-prep GMing to lower-prep, improv-style GMing.

Do you meticulously track the light radius of each torch? Do you handwave it away? Something in between? Inspired by Andy’s recent trip to Mammoth Caves, Andy and Chris talk about the challenges and rewards of taking lighting seriously in your dungeon crawls.

Your setting is full of interesting history and fascinating detail. How do you convey that to your players at the table with boring or overwhelming them? Chris and Andy discuss, but not before they talk about what the movie Furiosa can teach us about good RPG action scenes. Show notes:

Andy and Chris talk for a while about books and then talk about their own personal Mt. Rushmore’s of RPG Creatives:

Do any of your players struggle to grasp the rules of the game you’re all playing? How can GMs help them? Andy and Chris discuss, along with discursions into the weirdness of everyday life and Andy’s recent GMing for a group of sixth graders.

Andy and Chris were on a panel with Phil Cameron at the AADL Game Con! We talked about “How to GM like a pro”. Thanks to everyone who came out! It was a lovely time. The panel is also on youtube if you want to watch us talk instead of listen.

Andy and Chris talk about sharing the narrative at the game table. It gets surprisingly philosophical! Also, Andy and Chris will be at the 2024 AADL Game Con on Saturday April 13th! Come say hi!

What does it look like to shine the spotlight on a particular character in a TTRPG? In this episode, we talk through some player feedback about our last episode, then move on to this important GMing practice. Show notes:

Andy and Chris ponder what famous figure, past or present, would be most fun to have at the gaming table! We also check in on Andy’s Band of Blades game and Chris’ progress through The Lord of the Rings.

Join Andy and Chris as they talk about LotR and Andy’s Band of Blades game!

Andy and Chris got to game in-person with each other! They talk about the experience of playing Dialect as a world building game for a campaign.

We’ve all read books or watched movies that were difficult, but ultimately rewarding. With Andy having just finished Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun, we talk about whether that kind of challenging but satisfying-in-retrospect experience has a parallel in RPG campaigns. What kind of value do we get out of dense, difficult settings and … Continue reading "Episode 134 – The Book of the New Sun, and Challenging Game Settings"

As Andy prepares to run Stormwreck Isle, conversation turns to what makes a great D&D starter set or introductory adventure. What experiences do you think best embody D&D? Bonus content in this episode includes more discussion of The Thing, and (if you listen closely) the sound of Andy’s pet guinea pigs squeaking and chattering in … Continue reading "Episode 133 — What Makes a Great First D&D Adventure?"

How do you calculate odds and probabilities at the game table? What do we get out of random dice rolls and random tables? And how do dice probabilities work, anyway? We’re joined by mathematician and GM Toby, who talks with Chris about both the mechanics of probability and the ways we use randomness to have … Continue reading "Episode 132 — All About Randomness and Dice! (with guest GM Toby)"

It’s part 2 of our annual Build-a-Dungeon/Play-a-Dungeon specials! Jo, Abby, Liz, and Brandon come on to play through “The Mice of The Artemis” with Chris as GM. Happy holidays everyone!

It’s the holidays so that can only mean one thing: it’s time for us to build a dungeon and then play it live on air! In this year’s Build episode, Andy and Chris are joined, yet again, by John Corey and Kyle Latino of The Splatbook!

Andy and Chris talk about The Walking Dead and videogames before diving into their topic: what questions do long-term campaigns raise that RPG rulebooks do not address?

With Chris temporarily away, Andy is joined by guest co-hosts John and Tim for something we’ve never done before: opening a mystery box of gaming goodness live on the air. Tim unboxes a Christmas surprise package from Palladium Books, after which we revisit one old topic and then ponder a brand new one. Show notes

Andy and Chris take a different approach to gaming in this episode as they discuss the idea of “interesting failures”–art and experiences that don’t succeed, but that nonetheless deliver something worthwhile. After discussing Alien Resurrection, Andy’s favorite example of an interesting disaster, they move on to talk about what “interesting failure” looks like in a … Continue reading "Episode 127 – Are Your Games “Interesting Failures”?"

Andy and Chris talk about Halloween, how to make a party harder for your players, and then about how to maintain momentum when you have long gaps between game sessions.

What do you do when your players make in-game choices you weren’t expecting? Should you try to shift them back onto your planned course, or appreciate the challenge they’re throwing your way? Chris listens as Andy describes a recent adventure that went awry (albeit in a fun way) and they discuss what could have been … Continue reading "Episode 125 – When Players Do the Unexpected"

How much rules mastery do you ask of your players? Chris and Andy discuss the unique challenge that roleplaying games present, with their often-massive rules tomes and the complicated relationship between rules and roleplaying that takes place at the game table.

Our first live episode in front of a studio (con) audience! Andy runs us through his annual Roll For Topic Swap Table Quiz. Take the quiz while listening and see you how do!

Our first live episode in front of a studio (con) audience! Andy runs us through his annual Roll For Topic Swap Table Quiz. Take the quiz while listening and see you how do!

Your players probably interact with you, the GM, in character from time to time. But do they roleplay with their fellow players? What does that look like at the table?

Your players probably interact with you, the GM, in character from time to time. But do they roleplay with their fellow players? What does that look like at the table?

What makes for a good flawed player character? Chris and Andy explore what it means to be an interesting flawed or anti-hero. But before they do that, they check in on Andy’s “Masks of Nyarlathotep” campaign and talk about what makes “Masks” unique in a hobby full of great campaigns.

What makes for a good flawed player character? Chris and Andy explore what it means to be an interesting flawed or anti-hero. But before they do that, they check in on Andy’s “Masks of Nyarlathotep” campaign and talk about what makes “Masks” unique in a hobby full of great campaigns.

In a break from the usual format, Andy and Chris talk through the process of choosing the right game to run for a convention one-shot. Together, they go through the half-dozen games on Andy’s list of possibilities until they narrow down the one that will work best. On the way, they talk about spies, mechs, […]