Podcasts about vancian

DMs Rob and Matt review MCDM's psionic system and psion class, The Talent. Long splat book short: it's pretty good. And it bodes well for the RPG system MCDM will be kickstarting in a couple months. While certain aspects of the class certainly stressed (strained?) us out, MCDM may have designed a better magic system for 5e than D&D's traditional Vancian casting.  Listen to the full episode on our Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/DungeonMasterOfNone 

Multi-genre author, Matt Hughes joins us to talk about his career, his works of SFF in a Vancian groove, and his current projects. Be sure to check out his Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4687520

One way to interpret Vancian magic in OD&D - Also, perhaps a new way to place traps Beta of Unchained Heroes : ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/posts/unchained-heroes-84405646⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Links My new podcast - Monsters and Treasure:  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://anchor.fm/monsters-and-treasure⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join my Discord Server: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/pDyA2jYvSx ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support me on Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/banditskeep⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ My Blog: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://banditskeep.wordpress.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Send me a message via Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/daniel-norton⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Calls from : Jason of The Nerd's RPG Variety Cast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://anchor.fm/jason376⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Micheal ChicagoWiz Blog: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://chgowiz-games.blogspot.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Micheal The Dungeon Master's Handbook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thedungeonmastershandbook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ More stuff to check out: My YouTube Channel: ⁠http://www.banditskeep.com⁠ My new Actual Play: OD&D with Chainmail - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLWlyyPUNLSxVSJUJ5hxyqKMDZnE5LQ9M⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Cerebrevore Podcast (Chainmail):⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://anchor.fm/cerebrevore/episodes/S1E22-Chainmail-Part-Deux-e1s51d2

DCC Dying Earth: it's every bit as beautiful and faithful to the source material as we'd hoped, but…is it as daunting as the core book? Since DCC fans have come to Spellburn for the low-down on rules for the past decade, we'll discuss some of the chewier Dying Earth rules with Judge Will Keller, one […]

Today we talk about different approaches to magic in role playing games --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/wobbliesandwizards/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wobbliesandwizards/support

In an episode that's been a long time coming, Langdon and Eden tackle Vancian fantasy, the Dying Earth sub-genre, and how these might be subverted to tell both radical and conservative stories. Works covered (beyond the obvious Tales of the Dying Earth by Jack Vance) include Adventure Time, D&D, Gor, The Dancers at the End of Time, Book of the New Sun, and more! Music played: Duel - Children of the Fire https://duel3.bandcamp.com/track/children-of-the-fire

Not every player is OK playing RPGs by the rules as they're written. Some can't even get through character creation without asking the DM to make some kind of mechanical adjustment. This may seem like an easy situation – do it my way or play with someone else – but it's not always that simple. Sometimes the change may look harmless. Other times it's a house rule you want to play with. And in rare occasions, it can become a battle of wills between the DM and a player constantly trying to twist rules to fit what they want to do, often without even asking first. How do you handle those situations? Clearly, the players are invested enough in the game to be thinking about how things could be better, but they can also cause massive power imbalances, an expectation that every player can bend the rules, and an overall broken game vibe. Those very questions came up for a couple of our readers this week. Listen in as Thorin, Tony and Dave help these D&D 5E DMs figure out how to handle a player who wants to play a wizard without memorizing spells and a veteran who misinterprets the rules for his own benefit, much to the DM's frustration. 2:00 2 listener questions about players bending rules 4:00 The RAW to Rule of Cool Spectrum: How firm are the rules in your game? 8:00 Does removing D&D's weird Vancian magic system break the Wizard class? 11:00 Called shots: How RAW and Rule of Cool change the game and beg the question, “Why can't I”? 14:00 When bending the rules isn't innocent and makes that PC better than everyone else 24:00 Negotiating with a player who wanted to bend the rules 28:00 If you're going to let a player bend the rules, tie it to an item or boon that you can take away if it goes wrong 34:00 Making PC deities: Some of our adventures with homebrew power and abilities 37:00 How we handle players who want to bend the rules that we may or may not agree with 48:00 Handling a player who keeps misrepresenting the rules in their favor 58:00 Final thoughts

Episode 68 Streamed Live Tuesday December28, 2021 Call ins & Emails from the Outlands None Silent Josh Presents: Weird Frontiers: https://www.enworld.org/threads/weird-frontiers-takes-dcc-west.684619 New Dragonlance Novel: https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2021/12/dd-theres-a-new-dragonlance-trilogy-in-the-works-for-2022.html Main Topic: Pros and Cons of Spellcasting Systems Main Types 1. Vancian: fire and forget Dungeons and Dragons 2. Sub-category of Vancian such as spell slots limited but adjustable: Arcana Evolved 3. Spell Points: Savage Worlds 4. Stat Drain: Cypher System 5. Spell check system: Dungeon Crawl Classics Consequences for Spell Casting 1. DnD: hit while casting lose spell or can't move during round that you cast. 3.x: AOO's 2. Price for power: CoC and DCC spell check and bad fail means bad news…sucked through a portal, grow four tentacles, etc. 3. 5e practically no way for spells to fail other than if they are counter-spelled. 4. Loss of abilities: Draining Stats (Cypher System), backlash (Savage Worlds) or physical damage or stunned (Shadowrun), etc. What are pros and cons of each system? Which systems to spellcasters seem the most powerful or the least powerful? Segment #3: Gaming Goals for 2022 A year end discussion of what plans Biggus Geekus has including plans for podcast/livestream, gaming, Mudsword, Joe: 1) Play more games 2) Run some games 3) Get to writing more rules and setting for Mudsword Randy: 1.) Play the crap out of Mudsword 2.) Have a working pdf ready to publish on DriveThru in time for Christmas purchase for 2022. Shameless Plug Time: If you would like to support our show, please visit the many places you can find us on the inter-webs: Website: www.biggusgeekuspodcast.com click on support for ways to give us your money Twitter: @biggusgeekus Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/biggusgeekuspodcast MeWe: www.mewe.com/i/biggusgeekuspodcast (new!) Odysee: https://odysee.com/@biggusgeekus:3 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyVze8TfIB16j0PdmE4lOJg Email: thegeeks@biggusgeekuspodcast.com Share this show with your friends and let us know if there is another way that you listen or watch that we could support better. Please Subscribe, Like, share and rate us in all the places that you find us. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/biggusgeekus/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/biggusgeekus/support

We talk a bit about magic systems in Role-Playing Games with an emphasis no the Vancian Magic system that is used by Dungeons & Dragons that was inspired by the works of Jack Vance. We talk a bit about other magic systems as well and look at ones we do like. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/wobbliesandwizards/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wobbliesandwizards/support

Reaching into you for 113 episodes and counting!

Hey mailbag. It's been a long time since, well you know, since we've spent a whole episode reaching into you to see what we can find. Well don't worry baby, we're back. And today, it's all about you! Stuff referenced in this episode! A Discordance with Dzyvatz (from Scott Swift & Purple Pirate) DCC Dying […]

This would usually be a skip week, but the world is still being a jerk, so we made you a bonus, entirely unedited, and almost entirely off-topic episode. This time, we talked about wizards. Topics, roughly: Fantasy wizards Space wizards Beards and wizards and gender Vancian spellcasting Wizard taxonomy The Baal Shem Book learnin' Towers and Discworld wizards Dragonlance wizards Tolkien wizards Iceman with a wizard beard Which animals make the best wizards Magic: the Gathering Our wizardy D&D characters

We take a sidestep into the history of magic in Dungeons & Dragons *and* the history of magic itself (both historically and philosophically). We talk about possible ways to change the flavor of magic in your campaigns, to better represent the kind of magic you want to see in your games. We touch on hermetic traditions, chaos magic, zodiacs, how our ancestors used magic, when it fell out of favor in Rome, how it was used for good, how it was used for evil, and much, much more. References: Vancean/Vancian magic https://dungeonsdragons.fandom.com/wiki/Vancian_magic_system Sanderson's First Law of Magic https://www.brandonsanderson.com/sandersons-first-law/ Chinese Zodiac https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_zodiac The Once and Future King https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/5/18/15649214/once-and-future-king-th-white-king-arthur The Mists of Avalon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mists_of_Avalon More about Cold Reading https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Cold_reading Astral (tabletop remote gaming) https://www.astraltabletop.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/game-mastery/message

A couple calls from Daniel of Bandit’s Keep prompts a look at unarmed combat in classic versions of D&D (AD&D, B/X, & S&W) plus a tangent on the merits of spontaneous casting vs. Vancian fire and forget magic.

In this episode we talk about the oldest mummies in the world are NOT in Egypt. An Egyptian painting of a goose may be that of an extinct species. Edvard Munch wrote on his "The Scream" painting. Vancian beads are found in Alaska dating back decades before Christopher Columbus.   Other things we talked about were twisting my angle, how to pronounce Munch properly, podcast plagiarism, our upcoming B/W shot, a painting panel product that I hate, posting art on patreon and Tik Tok, fisher cats, Google suing Australia and copyrighted music, podcast plagiarism and more.   The PaintingLoft Podcast is about the "Dark Art" community. Exhibitions, Artists, Techniques, Ideas, Scandals & Crimes and all the things worth talking about in the realm the two host participate in.   Jessica Perner and Scott Holloway are both artists exhibiting their work globally in the field of art that doesn't truly have a title but is widely accepted as "Dark Art".  

Episode 22 Recorded on Wednesday February 3, 2021 The Gaming NEWS: Rob Kuntz, TLB Games and Legends of Roleplaying Additional Info Free Sunken City Map Package Immersion and Roleplaying Zinequest 3 Call Ins We really appreciate the praise! Red Dice Diaries- John Alan Large comments on episode 20 and about the OSR Hobbs & Friends of the OSR - Jason Hobbs [Low Fantasy Gaming] comments on episode 21: Railroad vs Sandbox Min-Topic - OSR Redux Re-cap and re-hash our discussion on 3D with E.Tenkar and G. Halstrom on the Dungeons, Dragons , & Discourse livestream last week. General thoughts on the 4-man Livestream: good fun and even better company the OSR is a welcoming DIY community in the best sense Negatives to OSR games(maybe): Vancian magic, Low Level Play Another Mini- Topic: The +1 [Newbie Player Advice] …First Timer Vs General newbie Tl;dr don't overdo it A Cabin Con Moment Old guard; OSR in the house! Building A Better Gaming World OSR is in the future. Shameless Plug Time: If you would like to support our show, please check out our website at: www.biggusgeekuspodcast.com/support Any contribution is much appreciated, and we thank you for your consideration. Please share the podcast with your friends. Its available most places you can get your podcasts. If you have an app that's unsupported, let us know! Our email is questions@biggusgeekuspodcast.com feel free to send any questions or comments to us. We would also like to encourage you to check out a few podcasts that we like: Red Dice Diaries (with John Alan Large and his wife Hannah) Radio Grognard (with Glen Halstrom) The Tale of the Manticore (a unique dramatized quasi-actual play) Tavern Chat (with Eric Tenkar) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/biggusgeekus/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/biggusgeekus/support

Episode 10: Magic systems and Making Magic Magical This is Episode 10 and the date is Thursday November 12, 2020. We had a special guest to our podcast, our good friend, fellow CabinCon attendee, and CEO of Pointy Hat Games: Patrick Demo! Pointy Hat Games can be found here. After our usual intro and recent gaming catch-up, Joe waxed poetic about HackMaster! The Gaming NEWS: 1) Beginner Box for PF2 2) RPG Dice Accessories Folding Tower 3) Starfinder Bundle of Holding 4) The Terminator Quick Start Rules out next month 5) Wizkid announces 2-D miniatures for 5E 6) Black Friday DnD 5e Gift Set reduced 25% 7) Wrath of the Immortals free to download from Drivethrurpg 8) Goodman Games Castle Amber reincarnated 9) Aliens Destroyer of Worlds HC 10) Starfall: DnD 5e adventure 11) Alternity by sasquatch Games 12) Heroes of the Cypher System The Main Topic Part 1: Magic Systems: How we Grade Them (Good/bad/Ugly) Various Types for of magic systems for RPGs were discussed with Vancian getting the lowest grade and Hybrid with spell points being the most popular. Part II. Making Magic Magical How does the setting evoke a magical feel. We discussed some ways rules can help and well as evocative descriptions. A Cabin Con Moment We ruminated about size and how the last one was better that some previous cons. Building A Better Gaming World How magic interacts with the world is vital. We discuss what we would like if we had our druthers… 1.) Please like, share and/or review our podcast on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Sticher, etc. 2.) If you'd like to support out show then please check out our website www.biggusgeekuspodcast.com/support where we have various ways for you to help keep the podcast going. Any support is appreciated and we thank you for your consideration. 3.) Questions can be sent to: questions@biggusgeekuspodcast.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/biggusgeekus/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/biggusgeekus/support

Dan & Paul get nitty-gritty about the classic D&D Wizards class; on the history, Vancian spells, spellbooks, expanding spell rosters, how they fit into a party, what kinds of players the attract, and more!

In this episode of the Purple Worm podcast we talk about Vancian Magic in D&D and possible alternatives. Our RSS feed is: https://anchor.fm/s/f74b65c/podcast/rss Check out our individual podcasts: - Pete @ Dragons are real: https://anchor.fm/dragonsarereal - Dave @ dpercentile: https://anchor.fm/dave-aldridge - Colin @ spikepit: https://anchor.fm/spikepit - John @ Red Dice Diaries: https://anchor.fm/the-red-dice-diaries If you want to get in touch leave a voicemail on the anchor app or email us at purplewormpodcast@gmail.com, if we can't answer your voicemail on this podcast we'll do our best to address it in one of our individual casts. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/purple-worm/message

I talk about clerical spontaneous casting in Vancian magic systems. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/radio-grognard/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/radio-grognard/support

It's time to open your spellbooks and gather your component couch because this episode of Worldbuild With Us is all about Magic. Rob and Chris talk all about Godpacts the magic that flows throughout the world. We also talk rituals and how magic functions, and the problems with Vancian style magic. Links: https://brandonsanderson.com/sandersons-first-law/Have any questions or want to get involved with the podcast? You can email us at:WorldbuildWithUs@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @LetsWorldBuildIntro theme: "Half Mystery"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Returning to the macro-scales of planar reality, this week we explore the Contour realm of dreams: Somnus.Talking points: Debt-free is the new bride-to-be, Carter's Mary Sue, Vancian magic, Monsters, Inc in a jungle, dream doublethink, elven meringue, Monet's XKCD era, Transfusia, and continent dreams.Referenced episodesThe Avireal, the dream-legends of elves: ep. 15Wild magic, defiance of dreams: ep. 46House Banners, fabric of angelic destinies: ep. 48Shem, god-template of the corporeal vessel: ep. 58Mystics, practitioner of the unbreathable mind-heights: ep. 60Other ReferencesVancian Magic (http://bit.ly/2ykDrOc)———Want to learn more about Halûme? Explore the world here, or by visiting our homepage at thelorekeepers.com and clicking on "Visit World"! Note that it may not render properly on your browser. If so, try using Chrome.Questions or ideas? Email us at lorekeeperspodcast@gmail.comWebsite: thelorekeepers.comTwitter: @thelorekeepers

The Mailbag of Holding (Type III) returns! DMs Rob and Matt answer your questions on Dungeon Mastering and more.   Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice Jurassic 5 - Freedom Cake - Wheels

Why I don't like Vancian Magic and a hack for magic use in Swords & Wizardry Light. We also talk about why Crit Hit is an18 and older event

This week, Buddy & Mango discuss the ups and downs of Vancian Magic before going off on a tangent about how certain spells can break campaigns with certain themes. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Want to watch us play D&D, and occasionally video games? Check us out at twitch.tv/somederpsplaygames Replays! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_nUkst1COpd4cCiUkmPh1g Want to tell us something? email us at podcast@somederpsplaygames.com Like our facebook page too! https://www.facebook.com/SomeDerpsPlayGames/ Rate us on iTunes! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/some-derps-talk-about-games/id1048899720 Follow us on Twitter! SDPG: https://twitter.com/somederps Buddy: https://twitter.com/thatbuddysola Mango: https://twitter.com/theonetruemango Intro and Outro courtesy of https://twitter.com/VinceRolin

At first glance John Bellairs’s The Face in the Frost is a bit of an anomaly, both in his own body of work and in Appendix N. It is the only Bellairs work cited by Gary Gygax in Appendix N, and ended up being Bellairs’s first and only fantasy novel directed at adults. Bellairs began work on The Face in the Frost in the late 1960s after reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. He created his protagonist Prospero as a reaction to the might and nobility of Gandalf, rendering Prospero and his fellow wizard Roger Bacon as more down to earth, crotchety, and occasionally downright fearful of their circumstances. The Face in the Frost was published in hardcover by Macmillan in 1969, with quirky pen-and-ink illustrations by his friend Marilyn Fitschen that reinforced the alternating whimsy and dread of the story. The book did well enough for Bellairs to turn to full-time writing, with his next work The House with a Clock in its Walls was also a dark fantasy, although set in the late 1940s. Supposedly Bellairs had difficulty selling The House with a Clock in its Walls until a publisher suggested rewriting it as a young adult (YA) book. The House with a Clock in its Walls proved to be a huge critical and sales success, so much so that Bellairs would remain best known as a YA author for the rest of his career, completing a total of 15 books for young readers. It’s interesting that The Face in the Frost did not differ dramatically in mood and tone from Bellairs’ gothic mysteries for young readers, yet it was never re-marketed as a YA work. Ace Books published The Face in the Frost in paperback in 1978, but its odd man out status as Bellairs’s only substantial adult work may have contributed to it going out out of print after Bellairs’ death in 1991. It was then only available only in specialty press editions until it was finally republished in 2014 by Open Road Media, although unfortunately without Marilyn Fitschen’s illustrations. The Ace Books paperback cover by Carl Lundgren (also the cover artist of Dragon magazine issues 50 & 68) renders Prospero as an archetypal high fantasy wizard and captures some of the eeriness but none of the whimsy of The Face in the Frost. It’s unclear when Gary Gygax first encountered The Face in the Frost, but it may have been fresh on his mind as he was writing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. In The Players Handbook Gygax explicitly states that magic-users must consult their spellbooks in order to memorize their spells, which echoes Prospero’s habit of studying his spellbook at night before the next day’s journey and adventures. In contrast the Original Dungeons & Dragons box set merely states that a given spell (slot) may only be used once a day--no mention is made of memorization or spell preparation. It appears that Gary Gygax wanted to provide a narrative and theoretical underpinning to what may have originally been a game balance decision. He found much of his answer in Jack Vance’s The Dying Earth, but The Face in the Frost may have helped to reinforce his design choice. To the dominant Vancian strain and the acknowledged influence of de Camp and Pratt’s Enchanter books may we now add The Face in the Frost as a direct influence on the AD&D magic system?

Special guest Gavin Norman (author of The Complete Vivimancer and Theorems & Thaumaturgy) joins us to discuss Jack Vance‘s The Dying Earth! Jack Vance originally wrote the loosely connected stories that comprise The Dying Earth while serving in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II. Vance’s fiction had started appearing in pulp magazines as early as 1945, and The Dying Earth marked his first book publication when it was released in digest-sized paperback in 1950 by Hillman Periodicals, best known as a comic book and magazine publisher. The Dying Earth appears not to have been particularly successful at first, as it was not reprinted even as Vance’s career went on an upswing in the late 1950s & early 1960s. Hillman ceased publishing in 1961 and Lancer Books snapped up The Dying Earth, reprinting it in paperback in 1962 with a cover by the ever-versatile Ed Emshwiller depicting the denouement of the story “Ulan Dhor”. The Dying Earth did well enough that Lancer kept it in print until they went bankrupt in 1973, by which time its reputation was such that it has remained in print to this day through a series of different publishers. No doubt the continued success of The Dying Earth led Jack Vance to revisit the setting starting in the mid 1960s. These new stories that would eventually be published as The Eyes of the Overworld (1966), followed by the post-Appendix N books Cugel’s Saga (1983) and Rhialto the Marvellous (1984). Gary Gygax wrote in issue 2 of The Excellent Prismatic Spray (2001) that he first became a fan of Jack Vance after reading The Big Planet (1957) in the pulps in the early 1950s and then was “absolutely enthralled...as no work of fantasy had done for a long time” with the publication of The Eyes of the Overworld in 1966. The Dying Earth further cemented Gygax’s love of the setting. When it came time to devise a magic system for Dungeons & Dragons, Gygax felt that a “Vancian” system of memorized spells that are expended when cast and that then must be re-learned before casting again was the best way to provide flavor and balance the magic-user against other classes. The Enchanter series by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt would provide the situational pre-conditions for spellcasting in D&D, but these spell components were often glossed-over, as Gygax laments as early as 1976 in issue 6 of The Strategic Review, the predecessor to Dragon magazine. Oddly, D&D’s publisher TSR appears never to have tried to license the Dying Earth setting even though Gary Gygax remained a huge fan of Jack Vance and actually had significant contact with him after Dungeons & Dragons took the world by storm. The first time gamers would get to officially adventure in the Dying Earth was with the publication of Pelgrane Press’ The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game in 2001. Goodman Games has since licensed the Dying Earth setting for its Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, with a target release date of late 2017.

It's all demons and wizards on this episode of Incantations. First we talk about the Red Sun and Invisible Sun's demons, then we move on to discuss Vancian Magic in D&D. If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element Incantations Show Notes The Red Sun The Red Sun -- (link) Vancian Magic in D&D Dying Earth -- (link) About Incantations We can be contacted via email at incantationspodcast@gmail.com. You can also get in touch with us on the Invisible Sun G+ community. Music in the episode was drawn from the song "Beyond" by Wes Otis and Plate Mail Games. It is available at DriveThruRPG. Invisible Sun is the intellectual property of Monte Cook Games. Subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | RSS

Donate to The Permaculture Podcast Online: via PayPal Venmo: @permaculturepodcast Enjoy this episode? Become a Patron. This episode is a conversation with Jason Godesky, creator of The Fifth World Role Playing Game, recorded in-person several weeks ago at the Save Against Fear convention, but I start our conversation with an introduction to all this, so go ahead and give it a listen. You can find out more about Jason and the game at TheFifthWorld.com. If you would like to know more about Save Against Fear, the gaming convention where this was recorded, the website is SaveAgainstFear.com. The Bodhana Group, which organized the event and uses the funds raised each year to assist the children and families impacted by childhood trauma, is at thebodhanagroup.org. As you may have noticed in our closing we ran out of time in our session, and did not get to address all the listener questions. I emailed those to Jason, who kindly responded. Q1: "Composting toilets?” Jason: “Do you mean to ask if I have one? No. I think that reusing what's already built usually beats building something new; that, combined with my bioregional commitments, led me to go in with my brother to buy the house that we grew up in. It's a fairly traditional suburban setting, and I haven't made much headway with repurposing much of it yet. Or do you mean to ask what I think of composting toilets? My opinion on them is the same as herb spirals, hugelkultur, and just about all of the other “cool” permaculture techniques: they're great — in the right context. There's several kinds of design that figure prominently in my life, especially web design, game design, and permaculture design. Across them all, I've become convinced that design itself comes down to really thinking through what you want to accomplish here, in this specific context, and picking the principles and techniques that focus on those goals. In each of those fields, I see people who look for the short-cut of just picking from the pre-approved list of “best practices,” but no matter how many other people have employed a thing successfully elsewhere, no one has ever applied it in your specific circumstances before. So, to bring all of that back down to earth for a moment, I love composting toilets, and they'll probably fit in well with most permaculture designs, but the world has never seen a truly one-size-fits-all solution, and probably never will. Not even composting toilets.” Q2: "Wow! I love RPGing. It looks like a magic free world? Is there any technology above stone age? What mechanic is used (D20, 3d6, fate)? Will it be available on drive thru RPG? Will it ever be print? Is it in beta and can my group help test?” Jason:“The Fifth World takes place in our world, four hundred years from now, so it has all of the magic that our world has. I take that to mean a great deal of magic, though none of the Vancian fireballs that a wizard from Dungeons & Dragons would recognize. In “Becoming Animal,” David Abram writes of his apprenticeship to a Nepalese magician who taught him how to shapeshift — a long regimen of training his awareness that involved nothing supernatural, and yet ended in astonishing magic. I wonder about the ways that magicians could use altered states of consciousness to heighten “thin-slicing” (as Malcolm Gladwell called it) to go through mystical experiences that synthesize vast amounts of data, allowing them to make better decisions, which they would experience as mystical journeys and encounters (and really, what makes my neurological explanation any more real than their first-hand experience?). Hunter-gatherers learn the calls of different animals well enough to mimic them and to understand the responses they get in return, so that we can really only deny the conclusion that they speak with animals out of spite. It seems less false to me to call such things “magic” than to call them anything else. I think that an interruption to our industrial infrastructure would not leave much room for re-starting it. The first time around, we could find sources of metal near the surface. We used those up as we made tools to dig deeper for more. Similarly, we used fuel that we could find easily to build machines that could dig deeper to get more. We've used up the sources of metal and fuel that we can obtain easily from the surface. We dig deeper for them because we can no longer find them more easily. So if we interrupt that process, we won't find the metals or fuels we need to get to the depths where now find metals and fuels. It will take geological ages to push them back up to the surface. That restriction definitely limits the kinds of technology available in the Fifth World. I wouldn't call it stone age, exactly. For example, you can't find much flint easily now, either, but you can find plenty of broken glass, and you can knap that into knives, spearheads, and arrowheads quite effectively, so rather that stone, they use colored glass from discarded bottles. Mostly, though, I prefer to focus on their priorities. As a society, we generally believe that technology improves our lives and will ultimately save us from our problems, so we have become excellent at producing technology, and have neglected the techniques for building social bonds and deep relationships. In the Fifth World, people generally believe that social bonds and deep relationships will improve their lives and ultimately save them from their problems, so they spend as much time and energy focused on that as we spend focused on technology. The game has its own rules. I firmly believe that good game design means focusing on a game's specific purpose. Rolling dice, for instance, works really well in a game that keeps revolving around the question, “Can I do it?” When you have the dice in your hand, you wonder what will come up, if you can roll high enough to overcome the obstacle. For an animist game like the Fifth World, though, this doesn't help, because whether or not you can overcome someone (and generally someone, rather than something) doesn't usually matter nearly as much as whether or not you can connect with that person. That led me to using a deck of cards. Each time you draw a card, you don't ask, “Can I do it?” but “What will I discover?” This, I think, makes cards a great way to focus on exploration. In this case, I tried to use that to focus on exploring both physical space and social space. The Fifth World doesn't have a game master (GM), like many other RPGs do. Instead, the players share the roles that a GM would normally fill. Each player ha a number of awareness points, which they use to ask questions. They choose one of the other players to answer the question, and as we answer these questions, we begin to discover the Fifth World together. This has an interesting side effect: NPC's can seem to have personalities and minds all their own. We all build off of what we've already established together, but we might have different ideas of what follows naturally from any given point, so the same NPC can potentially surprise everyone at the table at one point or another. The Fifth World presents an open source game with an open source setting. That means that the most canonical version will always exist online at thefifthworld.com/rpg. That said, I recognize how much it can help to have a book in your hand. That also gets into my business plan, and how I hope to sustain this so I can afford to put more time into it. I want to present a free PDF packet with everything in it. I'm also hoping to produce a scout book [https://www.scoutbooks.com/], aiming at a price point of $10 or less, and possibly expansions published in the same manner. Since it uses cards, I'm working on putting a custom card set on DriveThruCards. I'd like to create a better set with custom artwork for each card, but I don't have enough art for that yet. I'd also like to make a more elaborate art book, in the style of Dinotopia by James Gurney or Gnomes by Will Huygen and Rien Poortvliet. Both of those, however, will require a great deal more art. I have a Patreon set up if you'd like to help me with that at https://patreon.com/jefgodesky. The game still sits in a public beta phase, so I'd love it if you could playtest it and send me your thoughts. You can find the full rules and the link to the feedback form at https://thefifthworld.com/wiki/rpg” If you have more questions for Jason about the game, feel free to let me know because I look forward to recording another interview with him in the future, as well as a live-play of The Fifth World so you can hear what the experience of collaborative storytelling is like. If you have any questions for me, or there is a way I can assist you on your path, let me know. Email: The Permaculture Podcast After having this conversation with Jason, as well as many others off-the-record throughout the weekend, I left with a lot to process about what it means to have culture, to live in community, to tell stories, to create myths that last generations. So I'd like to play with this idea and have created a game of creative storytelling and invite everyone listening to participate. Head over to Facebook.com/thepermaculturepodcast and, since I don't know when you listen to this, look for a post from September 30, 2015 that begins, “A game for us to play together...” and read through the comments so that your reply adds a new sentence to the story. Just one. Then let someone else respond before adding another. We'll see where this goes and what a community of permaculture practitioners can create. Though my idea of myth making comes from the tabletop and games, Jen Mendez, a show sponsor, and her collaborative partner Dr. David Blumenkrantz examine how to apply this idea of myth making to children and communities so that together we can change the story and transform the future. Join them for their virtual campfire sessions by going to permiekids.com/oursharedstory. From here, next week is the first of the round table conversations recorded at The Riverside Project outside of Charles Town, West Virginia. My next interview is with Dillon Cruz on Monday, October 5 to continue the series on Faith and Earth Care. Tuesday, October 6 Sandor Katz joins me to discuss fermentation. Email or call me if you have any questions for either of them. Until the next time spend each day creating the world you want to live through your stories and your actions by taking care of Earth, your self and each other.

Shout outs, drinks, books, more drinks and what folks won't let us play.Our GuestsDon't existShow Notes after the jumpShow NotesShout Outs+Noah Stevens & Greg Heany for show topics!Props to +Gaming and BS! Great show, guys.DrinkSpace Rock American IPA, Shorts Brewery, Bellaire, MIUndertaker Belgian Style Dark Ale, Brewery Vivant, Grand Rapids, MISpinWCBN - 88.3 - University of Michigan's college radio stationWIDR - 89.1 - Western Michigan University's college radio stationMogwai, Rock ActionHombre Lobo's "Howls From the Veil" Lamentations of the Flame Princess playlistAncient Warlocks, "Super Wizard"Wardruna is amazing gaming musicBOLT THROWER!Botch - the hardcore band with a sense of humorReadShadow Games, Glenn CookFear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Hunter S. ThompsonThe Incal, Allejandro Jodorowski & MoebiusRunDonn might be running some White Star soonAdam & Donn are working on Nova Scream, a zine for White StarAdam's Iron Coast ACKS campaign is getting ready to use the Domains At War mass-combat systemRed Box Miniatures - classic Citadel if classic Citadel was even betterOsprey Publishing has been making wargames and they're pretty exciting. Games We Want To Play And Haven't Had The ChanceDonn really wants to play Warhammer Fantasy Role Play 1e (Adam does, too, really)Dying Earth - Vancian fantasy at its finest!Torchbearer - Adam & Donn want to play this, have no idea how to run itAdam's Top 3 4:Talislanta!Skyrealms of Jorune Empire of the Petal ThroneShout out to +James Maliszewski & his zine "The Excellent Travelling Volume"Doctor Who: Adventures In Time & Space - but Adam has some reservationsGames We Can't Get Anyone To Play With UsWraith: the Oblivion - One of Adam's favorites from the dark age that was the 90'sDonn's just pickier about the groups he plays with, they'll just trust him to run whateverThanks for joining us for this episode of Drink Spin Run. We'd love to read your comments on the show, suggestions, where exactly we can stick what and other thinly-veiled threats. Send us your thoughts at dsr@kickassistan.net. Once again, thanks for listening, you gorgeous listeners.

As constant as the Vancian “Fire & Forget” spell system is to Dungeons & Dragons, many fans over the years…

This week on Spellburn we take a look at wizard magic! Described by some as a set of rules that out-Vancian the Vancian Magic System, we’ll take you through the entire system with some live-play examples. From spellchecks to mercurial magic effects to spell corruption to patrons, we’ll find out what happens to those who […]

This week on Spellburn we take a look at wizard magic! Described by some as a set of rules that out-Vancian the Vancian Magic System, we'll take you through the entire system with some live-play examples. From spellchecks to mercurial magic effects to spell corruption to patrons, we'll find out what happens to those who […]

Episode 3 is up!Download it here: All Things Awesome Episode #3 (right click and save as)(recorded: Saturday 3/8, hosts: Schmitty, Foz, Tim, Shawn) duration: 1 hour 38 minutes, 45.0mb)We had some more technical issues on this one. The quality came through better, but whenever Shawn talks, you can hear some crackling static. It's mostly just a minor nuisance in the first hour, but then gets horrendously bad. Unfortunately it was unfixable, so for some this will only be an hour show. Eventually we'll get all this crap worked out.0:00 - 11:15: Intro, Mike and Judge are dead, more importantly, Gary Gygax is dead, our role-playing beginnings and influences: Schmitty's Raistlin, Tim's middle-school D&D, Shawn's boxes (gotta catch 'em all), the legacy of Fosberry torment, "Juvenile" vs. "Mature" D&D11:15 - 22:00: Nerd Heroes: Jeff Hannes of Inquest, FRP vs. LARP, Joss Whedon, Monte Cook stories - he has real magic power22:00 - 31:40: Gamer rituals, Tim's annual/semi-annual Evathon (Neon Genesis Evangelion marathon), camping out, geek hierarchy, dark side gamers, why do we hate things that people like?31:40 - 40:00: Flavor vs. Mechanics vs. Style in games, Tim remembers to talk into his mic, Deadlands, Doomtown and HKAT, flavor in 4th Edition40:00 - 54:45: Flavor vs. Mechanics continued: Magic vs. Legend of the Five Rings TCGs, Tim grows as a person, lack of flavor and frustrating mechanics and WoW?54:45 - 1:00:00: Researching flavor outside of games, L5R's metaplot, Tim dishonors his family, AEG gets a thumbs up1:00:00 - 1:05:50: Flavor vs. Mechanics: Video game and movie edition: Silent Hill, Crackdown, From Hell, The Matrix, Sin CityAfter our second break, Shawn's mic issues intensify significantly and he sounds like a staticy robot. You can still understand him for the most part, and everyone else comes through clearly, but it may be unlistenable in parts, as Shawn does have a lot to say about 4e. Nothing we can really do for it at this point though. We'll make sure it doesn't happen again.1:05:50 - 1:21:00: More D&D 4th Edition talk from the D&D Experience, roll vs. role playing, Robo-Shawn attacks!, striking the balance between simple and interesting, Tim's guns, the CCG-ificiation and MMO-ification of D&D, Vancian spellcasting1:21:00 - 1:38:30: The problems of high-level D&D, "quest rewards" and magic items in 4th, the chicken-standard economy, more complexity concerns, 4th Edition and OGL