Episodes
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Episode 94: Sensemaking in Classic Traveller
Bill and I spend 45 minutes or so talking about Classic Traveller. The focus of the episode is on how players make sense of clues and other information provided by the GM and how this contributes both to an adventure as well as adding detail to the imaginary world of the characters. Here is a…
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Episode 93: Classic Traveller
Welcome to the next episode! Bill and I have been playing some Classic Traveller on Roll 20 so this episode is an excerpt of play of two from a recent game. We talk about Bill's penchant for mini-games inside the game as well as the balance between quick improvisation versus more detailed...
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Episode 92: Top Secret NWO
At Total Con 35, which had an espionage focus, I ran a hack of TSR's Top Secret: New World Order. My goal was to run it in the style of TV's Mission: Impossible. I wanted to include the briefing scene, a preview of the mission, and then the mission itself. This meant the characters should start…
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Episode 91: An Encounter with Dungeon Crawl Classics
Welcome back to Virtual Play! Bill and I take a close look at an encounter in a Dungeon Crawl Classics game. It involves an encounter with undead in a bath house that has since become a tomb! It's a game I ran but Bill has some great insights into how I could have ran it better! The episode…
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Episode 90: A Virtual Play Year
Happy New Year! I hope you are all as well as can be. Thanks for sticking around for more episodes. In our inaugural podcast of 2021, Bill and I talk about gaming from the last year or so. It has been a while! But we plan to get back regularly with more excerpts from games, whether played online…
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Episode 89: Dying is Easy
Bill and I are in the last night of Metatopia 2018. We're excited about the result of our playtest of Dying is Easy. In many ways, the evolution of Dying is Easy over the past two Metatopias and particularly this weekend shows how Metatopia helps designers finish their games. Have a listen! Mel
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Episode 88: Metatopia, the Indie Scene
Bill and are continue our Metatopia special episodes with a discussion about and excerpt from a game Bill wrote called "the Indie Scene". The game will be a chapter in Bill's book on the Forge, which was an online discussion forum for RPG design, publication and play. Mel
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Metatopia Special Part 1
Bill and I are at Day 1 of Metatopia, the Game Design Festival in Morristown NJ. We briefly discuss the games we are here to playtest, including an excerpt from a moment of play in a game that inspired our thinking about the design of one of those games. The excerpt is from a game in development…
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Episode 86: Game Master, You're in a Dungeon
Welcome to Virtual Play! Bill and I discuss a GM workshop we conducted at Gencon. The format was the participants played characters in an adventuring party, with rotating GM duties. The workshops were planned by Will Hindmarch at Demystics but when Will couldn't make it, we were privileged to…
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Episode 85: What Happened in the Big Hoodoo?
We talk about Bill running his adventure for Pelgrane Press's Trail of Cthulhu, "The Big Hoodoo," where 1950s sci-fi writers like Bob Heinlein and Isaac Asimov confront a Mythos mystery in sun-drenched California. We try to figure out why the players seemed so bemused by the plethora of clues at...
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Episode 84: I'm a Dog
Or at least Bill is. In this recap of a moment play from Dungeon Crawl Classics, Bill, playing a kitsune dog spirit, attempts to get something to eat. Because that's what dogs do. The episode is approximately 28 minutes. Mel
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Episode 83: Dying is Easy
Hi! Welcome back to Virtual Play. Bill and I had a great conversation with Jim Crocker, Ben Forest and Dave Petroski at Dexcon 20 discussing a bunch of things such as comics, the retail industry, New Jersey politics and more. But for Virtual Play, we talked about "Dying is Easy" a comedy game in...
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Dexcon Special: Ben Forest on Roleplaying Games
Bill and I spent some time at the Hyatt bar talking to Ben Forest about running and playing in games. We mainly discuss the question is the role of the game-master to entertain or to be entertained? Between the three of us, we likely had four or five opinions! Please enjoy this 30 minute special...
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Origins Special: Morgan's Fate Rant #1
Here's some bonus content! At Origins, Bill talked to Morgan Ellis and other folks about Fate and Nitrate City. They agreed to let us listen in! I feel like I'm actually there at the Big Bar on 2! Morgan provides some advice on Fate gameplay, and then the conversation turns to Nitrate City. Ten...
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Episode 82: Nitrate City
Welcome back! In this episode, Bill and I talk about Nitrate City, a World of Adventure for Fate. Bill co-wrote the game with Doselle Young--Doselle provided the vision, Bill provided the mechanics! We've taken excerpts for a couple of games from Origins. Bill ran one and Nick Hopkins ran the…
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Episode 81: Fall of Magic
In this episode, Bill and I discuss the game "Fall of Magic". It's described as a roleplaying game of profound fantasy. I was attracted to it by the thematic link to Larry Niven's short story, "The Magic Goes Away" as well by the neat visual element within the game where gameplay is aided by...
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Episode 80: With Great Power
In this episode, Bill and I get to talk about a game we have been excited about for a while. Michael Miller has revised "With Great Power" his superhero roleplaying game. Superheroes are one of our favorite genres. And low prep games are increasingly my preference. With Great Power lives at that...
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Episode 79: GM advice with D&D 5th Edition excerpts
Bill wanted to call this episode "Mel And Bill fix Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition," but I think the game mastering advice we talk about in the show applies to any game. There is nothing D&D specific about the ideas we discuss. The excerpts are from D&D but they could easily have been from many...
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Episode 78: Andromeda and the Fate Space Toolkit
Lots of changes here at Virtual Play! Bill and I are going to be trying shorter shows with greater frequency. Thanks to a household move, we are a lot closer now so we'll give it our best shot. Today's show is about a Fate based game Bill is working on called Andromeda, as well as an upcoming...
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Episode 77: Games from Gencon
Welcome back to Virtual Play! In this episode Bill and I talk about some GM techniques using Torchbearer and Night's Black Agents for excerpts. The games are a handful of games we played or ran at Gencon--I should say that either Bill ran or I played, since he ran a lot of games but I only…
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Episode 76: Origins and Dexcon Recap (part 1)
Hi, Welcome to a longer than usual episode of Virtual Play, clocking in at approximately 75 minutes. Bill and I talk about games from Origins and Dexcon, as well as some local games. The main lesson for me from listening to the games is to think about the effect of the game's mechanics on the…
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Episode 75: Camp Nerdly 2015
Bill and I are once again joined by Hannah to talk about games from Camp Nerdly. This show contains excerpts from Star Wars d6, Little Wizards, a Hellboy themed RPG, Night's Black Agents and Action Park, a parsely style game. Duration is just under an hour. Thanks for listening! Mel
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Episode 74: Cards for conflict resolution in Fate Core and God-King
Bill and I talk about some of our recent experiences with games using cards for conflict resolution. I recently played God-KIng, a game by Daniel Cruz Chan, that uses a normal deck of playing cards in places of dice for conflict resolution. Basically, in each conflict, players are dealt four…
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Episode 73: Immersion and Traveller
Hi, In this episode Bill and I are joined by Ben Forest to talk about immersion in roleplaying games. We'll use a couple of excerpts from Traveller games. Ben ran one of the games; in the other the GM was Adam D. Unsurprisingly, our conclusion on immersion is that it means different things to...
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Episode 72: Dungeon World at Dreamation
Bill and I had a great time at the Dreamation RPG convention last week in Morristown. I was able to play or run seven games and all of them were a blast. This show is about a Dungeon World adventure I ran. Bill pointed out that he runs split parties differently than I do, and I think his method…
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Episode 71: Timewatch
At Gencon, Bill played in a game of Timewatch ran by Kevin Kulp, the game's author! Timewatch is a new game being released by Pelgrane Press. In Timewatch, the player characters are part of an organization whose mission is to preserve the legitimate time stream of history. Kevin ran an adventure...
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Episode 70: Night's Black Agents
Welcome back! In this episode, Bill and I talk about the game of Night's Black Agents he ran at Gencon 2014. The adventure was named "the Lazarus Sanction" and it involved the agents reconnecting with an asset from the past located in the Transcaucas region. We discuss some GMing techniques and...
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Episode 69: Dexcon 2014 Recap
Hi, Welcome to Virtual Play! In this oversize episode (71 minutes) Bill and I recap the games we played at Dexcon 2014. The games are Cthulhu Dark, Trail of Cthulhu, the new game Bill is working on called 'The New World', a game by Waking Dreams Games--although I am not sure of the exact name of...
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Episode 68: Games from Camp Nerdly 2014
Welcome to Virtual Play! Bill was in Virginia last week at Camp Nerdly, along with his daughter, Hannah. They stopped by after the weekend to talk about the games they played. Among them were the games Little Wizards, Stars Without Number, and, of course, Classic Traveller. Bill noted how much…
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Episode 67: Dreamation 2014 Games
Hi! This is the first episode here at the new site! I am excited to be publishing these podcasts again after a long hiatus. Thanks to all who have been waiting for Virtual Play to resume--as I've said before--both of you! In this episode, Bill and I talk about a few of the games we played at...
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Episode 66: Trouble for Hire
While Mel is away, he’s entrusted me with keeping the Virtual Play flame burning, a task to which I have not applied myself as assiduously as I ought. But now that summer’s here and my teaching duties in the real world are not as onerous, I’ve managed to pull together an episode that discusses...
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Episode 65: Dungeon Crawl Classics
This episode of Virtual Play is a quick look at Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics. A fantasy RPG in the old-school tradition, DCC was a lot of fun to run. The recommended method to start play is to take 2-4 randomly generated 0-level characters per player into a gauntlet of some kind as an...
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Episode 64: Black Seven
I am making up for some lost ground in November with a quick turn on another show this month. I’m excited to be talking about Black Seven because I had a great time playing the game. Joe ran the game for us several weeks ago and it was a blast. Black Seven is billed as […]
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Episode 63: Tenra Bansho Zero
Welcome to Virtual Play! Today’s episode is about Tenra Bansho Zero. This is a Japanese game from 1997 that is being translated into English. I believe the English version will be available within the next six months or so. I played the game a few years ago with Andy Kitowski, who is doing the...
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Episode 62: Chronica Feudalis
In this episode of Virtual Play, Bill and I talk about the Chronica Feudalis game he is running. Set during the First Crusade, Bill’s campaign is a great opportunity to intermix history with roleplaying. The campaign has run about 4 sessions or so; I’ve had the opportunity to play one evening so…
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Episode 61: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying
Hi! Welcome to Virtual Play. This episode is a bit different than normal. Rather than playing several short excerpts intermixed with discussion, I am going to play the more or less complete actual play of a practice game Bill and I played of Marvel Heroic Roleplaying. We were getting ready for a...
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Episode 60: Cthulhu Dark at Dexcon
Bill and I are back with the final episode recounting our games from Dexcon 2012. Today’s episode is about Cthulhu Dark, a rules-light game of Lovecraftian Horror by Graham Walmsley. The adventure is titled ‘A Head of His Time’, and it involves Andrew Mellon and his family gathering the artwork...
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Episode 59: Ashen Stars and Night's Black Agents at Dexcon
Welcome to Virtual Play! In this episode, Bill and I discuss Ashen Stars and Night’s Black Agents. Bill ran both these games at Dexcon. They are both based on the Gumshoe system, by Pelgrane Press, and so share the same basic mechanics. Ashen Stars includes rules to give it a science fiction…
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Episode 58: Classic Traveller at Dexcon
As promised, this episode is a recap of the two Classic Traveller games Bill ran at Dexcon. I find these games very entertaining to listen to. They make me want to play! Both these games were essentially pick-up games, with characters and the adventure more or less determined on the fly using the...
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Episode 57: Skulduggery at Dexcon 2012
Our Dexcon wrap-up episodes continue with this look at Skulduggery. It’s an adventure pitting heroes of Mankara against a giant automaton built centuries earlier that has awoken once more to threaten the city. Bill points out a key thing about players that I have been overlooking–sometimes it’s...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Virtual Play have?
Virtual Play currently has 41 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Virtual Play about?
A Podcast of Roleplaying Games
How often does Virtual Play release new episodes?
Virtual Play has 41 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Virtual Play?
You can listen to Virtual Play on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Virtual Play?
Virtual Play is created and hosted by Mel White.
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