The RPG Haven Podcast

[running time 62:13] Ryan and I interview Brad Murray, C.W. (Toph) Marshall and Tim Dyke, 3 of the 4 creators of the ENnie-award winning, FATE-based, hard sci-fi RPG Diaspora. It’s a lively a conversation indeed! The interview went long and we touch on many interesting topics. These guys having interesting and intelligent things to say about self-publishing, the future of text distribution, their game design methods, their gaming history, products they are working on, the gaming community, their relationship with Evil Hat and the paperback version of Diaspora that is going into distribution. They also share for the first time the well-kept secret of the first Diaspora PDF! The VSCA (whose initials are also revealed for the first time!) keep rigorous records of their playtesting and design process, from the early days of their SotC/Traveller Hack Spirit of the Far Future to their current projects, which are manifold. You can find them all here. You can download the file directly by right-clicking here.

(running time 55:11) We’re breaking our regular first of the month release schedule with this episode to release this interesting and informative interview with 2010 ENnies Judge Jay Peters while the voting process is still going on. Jay speaks with us at length about the process of being a judge, what is was like to work with the other judges, the amount of work involved and how the organization is run. We think you will find it informative and interesting and is a big step towards the continued improved transparency of the ENnies awards process. Now if you haven’t done so already, please go and vote! Vote for next year’s judges here (and we have to give a plug for Jay Peters of course!). Vote for the awards here. You can directly download the episode here.

(Running time 56:23) Ryan and I present a long interview this month with game designer Josh Roby. We discuss at length and breadth the upcoming Smallville RPG, some of Josh’s past games (Sons of Liberty, Full Light Full Steam and Agora) and his current ongoing fiction project, Rooksbridge. We touch on a lot of interesting subjects and ideas in gaming. Episode length is 57 minutes and 32 seconds, all of which is the interview. It was so long and informative that we didn’t do any intro discussion or preamble. I think it speaks for itself. If you are a fan of Smallville, Josh Roby, Margaret Weis Productions or interested in some of the production and design issues around licensed games, you’ll find this episode enjoyable. Come on over to this thread on the RPG Haven to discuss all the interesting ideas that came up in this episode. You can find the actual .mp3 file here. Links: Smallville the RPG Tag scenes Kallisti Press (Josh’s website) Rooksbridge Masterplan episode where Josh and Ryan talk about epic games (Josh’s game Agora comes up here) part 1 Masterplan epic episode Part 2 Happy Canada Day, people!

No guests, no interviews this month. Just Ryan and WalkerP taking on the theme of genre emulation. What is it and what are the different techniques and tools that RPGs use to emulate genres? We will continue this discussion over at the forum, so please feel free to participate. (running time 46:38 – you can download the file directly here.) Below are the games we talk about in our discussion: Trappings Deadlands: Reloaded Dust Devils (out of print) Aces & Eights (check out this website for an excellent example of genre trappings!) Character Generation Barbarians of Lemuria Solomon Kane Pirates of the Spanish Main Spirit of the Century Tone of Generic Games Legends of Steel: Savage Worlds edition GURPS Risus Oriental Adventures Structural and Mechanical Genre Emulation Cartoon Action Hour: Season 2 Slasher Flick Beat to Quarters Leverage: The Quickstart Job

(running time: 55:01) This month WalkerP interviews Luke Crane on the new game FreeMarket, designed by Luke and Jared Sorenson. We begin by updating each other on our own gaming and talking about Jared and Luke’s design history and approaches. Ryan goes into some detail on his experiences with Jared’s game Lacuna. Download the podcast directly here. We’ve started a thread on the RPG Haven to talk about FreeMarket and any other issues that came up in this episode. Links: Roludo Lacuna FreeMarket Some pictures from the game proofs (graphics look awesome!)

(duration: 1:00:32.  You can download the file directly from this link) This month, Ryan interviews game designer Neil Gow, creator of Napoleonic-era RPGs Duty & Honour and Beat to Quarters.   In the first half-hour, Ryan takes the time to break down for WalkerP the mechanics of character generation and conflicts as well as some of the historical context for the games. Both of Neil’s games and their supplements can be purchased in print form directly from his website, omnihedron.co.uk.   His shipping rates from the UK (at least to Canada) are extremely competitive, actually the best I’ve ever seen to the point where I suspect he is taking a loss on them.  So take advantage!  They can also be purchased in pdf form from the Omnihedron Games page at rpg.now. Also, this month we are participating in the Free RPG Blog‘s 60-second Guerilla  Podcast.  Rob Lang, the owner of this wonderful resource, is sending out 10 60-second mini-reviews of free RPG’s to various podcasts and The RPG Haven Podcast was very happy to be chosen among them.   Listen early in the podcast for the mini-review.  I won’t give away which game it is, but it definitely intrigued me.  See if you can find all 10 out there in the podcast-o-sphere!  And definitely add The Free RPG Blog to your regular gaming blogs to visit.  It’s a real treasure chest of great free games and gaming resources.