Gothridge Manor

Some of the rabbit holes I explored yesterday while prepping for my campaign. How to track it. Record events. And so on.

It's that exciting time. That time before a campaign begins. Working out the details. I love this time.

It's been a while, but I'm back with an unboxing of Knave 2. It's got more tables than a dining room furniture store.

The title pretty much covers everything. And a call in from the walker of the land, John Alan Large.

I recently ran a three session one shot using Shadowdark. I learned a lot during this brief time and never, ever, give your most precious resource to a 12 year old boy.

An episode to Jason Connelly to keep his podcast going.

Rats of Ul-Gul to be exact. A collection of Shadowdark adventures from Menagerie Press.

A quick conversation about adding local lore to your game. . Come join us on Monday night at 8pm est.

My experience of running a game with a horde of savage teenagers.

This week was the first of a series where we create an adventure with the help of a live YouTube audience.

At the end of the month I am running a ShadowDark game for a group of kids. The group is somewhere between 6 and 12 and I only have 90 minutes. Errr, no problem?

I have a thing for mothman. I'm not ashamed.

I eat lunch, sorry for the chewing noises, and talk about the writing struggles I've had.

Joe the lawyer and I've been talking about getting together to collaborate on a new YouTube show.

I unbox a copy of the newest monster collection for The Basic Fantasy RPG.

I unbox the Jason Alexander book, so you want to be a Dungeon Master and cards I recently received from a Phil Reed Kickstarter... Enjoy!

I love this topic. So much meat on the bone. I talk about how choices players choose echo for the length of a campaign.

A little bit about mine. A little bit about Rob's. And a little about ones I've backed.

What? Leave an enemy alive? Why yes. Let's talk about the benefits of allowing an enemy to walk away. It's fun. Really.

I go through the years of a random encounter table. How to get the most out of a random table.

I went to ShireCon and all I got was this lousy podcast.

Searching those mysterious hexes is a major part of old school gaming. I talk about it and then do an Unboxing of a Kickstarter with Ivy.

A reaction to the excellent Roleplay Rescue podcast where Che and Jason have a conversation about this subject. I give my view on the topic with examples that I can remember while driving home.

I opened another box. And I talk about it.

Just had a crap day, but then I had a notification my dice order came in. Will my crappy day continue our will there be dice?

We had a heated show on the Random Party Generator over at Tenkars Tavern last night. I share my take on it and how being the owner of the RPG Zine Group on Facebook, influences the future of zines.

Started a new adventure combining OSE and Shadowdark.

Jason C calls in! Apparently I can get messages. This episode I go down a non-gaming rabbit hole. I talk about how my security Work as a while taught me way more how to deal with people than college ever did. And a specific story about the time I worked security for a tarot card reader.

Don't get early accidental access to magic the gathering cards or you may get a visit from the WotC heavies.

I find it lot of great material for games delving into books about small sectors of cultures, customs, and beliefs. I find the process a lot of fun and it adds a depth to my game.

WotC had announced a new version of their DM Guide for the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons. Why not.

I meander from discussing a little about the latest dumb ass focus instead of focusing on creating 'good' content. I quick swerve into my Kickstarter. The new laptop that'll be helping me with that. The amazing ShadowDark RPG and how I plan to use it to run a game for a group of teenagers. I haven't done that in a long time. I'm looking forward to it.

This episode is a bit more personal. It is a long journey of an episode of how I tie my life lesson into gaming. But I get there.

I love spooky stuff. I love adding spooky stuff in my game. But the fantasy genre is difficult to work in supernatural elements. I hope to give a few nuggets of advice on how to work in the mystery of the supernatural.

A calmer episode about the recent interviews with Kyle Brink and my not so nice thoughts about them. My battle with the post office. And Exalted Funeral's awesomeness.

It's been a while. This episode catches up with what I've been doing. My rant on the current OGL bullshit. And I end it with one of my famous unboxings. Enjoy.

Inspired by Jason over at Nerd's RPG Variety Cast, I give examples of how evil, or perceived evil, campaigns can work. And why they can't.

Just a quick opinion of what I see coming.

I give my opinion on the newest Starter Set from Wizards of the Coast.

I grabbed two OSR products from RPG Drive thru recently. Swords of Cthulhu is a source book to assist in adding everyone's favorite cosmic horror into their game. The Redoubt of Chandra is a short adventure through an undercity with even more evil cults. Can you have enough cults? Don't answer. I know.

I'm a big fan of anything Richard LaBlanc creates. I bought and went through two zines, The Dragon Horde, and a monster collection called Creature Cache. Get your copies on Lulu Publishing.

Another topic I stole from Red Dice Diaries podcast, choosing a new top 3 Monsters!

I give a few brief tips on how to deal with problem players.

Call ins from Matt Jackson and Rob C. And i take a swing at whether dungeons need to make sense.

In campaigns I run in my Komor Forest setting I use a thing called Divine Acts. I've taken the turn undead ability and fused it with a multipurpose tool. The effects are determined by the player and GM because these are not in the ruleset. It is a freeform tool to allow clerics to get their kiss ass holiness into high gear.

I borrow and twist a topic from Rob C from the Down in the Heap podcast. He talked about why campaigns don't usually go much farther than 5th level. I say that old school GMs are afraid of high level characters.

A couple of calls about my recent undead episode from Che Webster and John Large which led me to discuss my most recent creations, zombie NPCs. Then Cody M called in about the Froghemoth episode. Which now I need to generate magic items and treasure. I go over a few if items I plan to include.

How I use high level monsters in your game. In this episode I feature the strange, but wonderful Froghemoth. It turned out to be an epic battle.