Randy, a.k.a. Armando Penblade, tells you to roll a d20 against the orc’s THACO. Oh, wait, no he doesn’t because he’s found something better than Dungeons & Dragons.
It is hair care products, isn’t it.
Haha! Where is the like button!
Because it’s super-fuckin’ vital that you all see it, the music Tom graciously put at the top and bottom of the show, and the only song ridiculous enough to rest alongside the crazy sci-fantasy comedy world of Spaceward, Ho!, I present Gloryhammer’s “Rise of the Chaos Wizards”:
Aside from that, huge thanks to Tom for putting together an incredibly easy and pleasant interview experience. He totally said he’d bully me for being a giant RPG-playing nerd, but then went and revealed that he, himself, has a SECRET PAST as a role-player. @tomchick, next time we get a Skype-based game going on Roll20.net here on QT3, you’ve gotta come play–at least one session!
Anyway, I hope y’all enjoy it, and if you do have any questions about Fate, Spaceward, Ho!, Abirsta (the crazy fashion designers and airships campaign I mentioned), or any of the other stuff I talked about, feel free to ask away.
(Just a quick-shout out to my own unloved thread, but one of the very coolest things I’ve ever done for a game is contained here:
so go give that weird-ass shit a listen for me :-D )
P.S. - Sorry to Socrates for fucking up your name and getting you confused with that pitiful hack Plato.
Excellent podcast!
WTF Armando!? Why does no one sound the way I thought they would. Aren’t you like 16 or something? You sound like a 40 year old, but in a good way, you sexy beast!
Also, re: @wumpus: LIKE
I’m off to start a campaign to get NPR to pick up the ArmandoPenblade RPG hour, be back later.
This podcast was a revelation. By which I mean, we learned that recently there was a Tom and (likely) Bruce visit and breakfast meeting in central NC, but the opportunity for a Qt3 meetup was tragically squandered. You have seen Armando’s cooking, right?
Have Tom tell you what happened when we went out for breakfast in Pittsboro.
Re podcast: great stuff, Randy/Armando!
Yeah, I had actually meant to go back and ask him where they were and where they ate, but things just moved so fast… Doh!
Whoops my bad, he DID tell you the Muslim president story! I must have gotten distracted at the beginning and missed it. Anyway, despite that local “flavor,” Virlie’s Grill in Pittsboro is a straight-up place for a straight-up breakfast. And unlike Vin Rouge or other fancy-pants Triangle places, it will cost you like $4.
Hold up. Just hold up a minute, dammit.
It’s THAC0 not THACO.
I’m 30, baby! Rawr!
And only 40 minutes away from my apartment. . . hmmmmmm :). And yeah, that story rang sadly true for me :(
Because it wouldn’t be a thread about RPGs without nerd-pedantry ;-)
Only about halfway through but great podcast so far! Need to work your into local radio with your voice - sounded really natural.
Thanks, @sillhouette! If anyone in the RTP area’s interested, I’ll personally recommend the upcoming Gamer’s Gambit: Adventures in the 21st Century event on Jan 28. My table is currently full, but if you RSVP and send me a PM, I’ll up the limit just special for you, fellow Qt3er :-D
Other links of usefulness:
And a direct pay-what-you-want link:
Great podcast. And hats off to you and your group for your game’s longevity! I don’t think I’ve ever had a group last more than a month before petering off.
I Fate is a little too loose for me. Unfortunately I’m pretty picky so sticking the balance between system detail and being able to improvise and keep the story moving is hard for me. Like Tom I like stories to emerge from the system so I will usually look to complicated board games. My favorites there being things like High Frontier or Here I Stand.
As far as Dungeons and Dragons go I think fifth edition DnD is actually pretty good. I never had a huge problem with four although I did also have those Pathfinder books. Of course I’m not too interested in pathfinder and fourth edition anymore and would be ok with divorcing myself of both of those systems.
All that being said I do have Fate Core, Systems Toolkit, and two “worlds” books and I am inclined every now and then to take a look at it again. The Cortex system is nice if you want a touch more system while staying a largely abstract.
Tom Mc
Feel like a bit of a thread-hog, sorry :(
Thanks! I’m really lucky to game with some long-running groups!
Spaceward, Ho! kicked off in October of 2014. My Dying Lands of Laria Pathfinder campaign ran from June of 2013 until February 2016 (hint: the lands went and died). And the crew that I play the Abirsta campaign I’ve mentioned for has been gaming together in various systems and settings, since October of 2013.
RTR, I think, is a big part of that; these guys are serious, dedicated, passionate gamers. Their “Miskatonic Society” Call of Cthulhu SOP (semi organized play; the three-month-long “seasons” I mentioned they run for ~15-25 gamers at a time) is entering its fourth season starting tonight (well, assuming it doesn’t get snowed out). There are folks here who’ve been gaming together for decades. It feels really awesome to be a part of that.
You might like some of the weightier implementations, like the awesome Mindjammer, which is just 600+ pages of crunchy hard scifi goodness powered by Fate, but at the end of the day, I totally accept that the system’s not for everyone. And as much as I might enjoy ragging on D&D/PF, there’s just nothing quite like building a badass Level 10+ Pathfinder character with all the bells and whistles. It’s fun, but a different kind of fun. One where I think I prefer playing, rather than running.
That Fellowship of the Bling AAR I mentioned is a really fascinating look at how randomization and system-rules can generate fascinating story, though, so you might dig that, @Tom_Mc! I played up the random map element a lot, but the main thing is that it’s run on a pretty pure interpretation of the system rules, so there’s reaction rolls, randomized HP, all that stuff, and all rolls are done “in the open” as I recall–no fudging (this is also how I prefer to GM, truth be told). Watching the very talented GM there twist and spin to turn that insane experience into a compelling storyline is really, really fun.
Absolutely agreed, and if I can, it’s the only version of D&D I’ll ever play again. Probably. Well, okay, I do have a fondness for B/X and BECMI-based OSR (Old-School Renaissance–games that recreate and modernize the oldest versions of D&D) titles. And I’ve got like $300 worth of Pathfinder shit that I’d hate see go to waste forever.
But mostly 5th Ed!
Just finished listening to @ArmandoPenblade and @tomchick on this podcast and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Now that I’ve heard your voice, Randy, I’m confident that you would be an outstanding radio announcer if you ever want another career change. :)
You might like some of the weightier implementations, like the awesome Mindjammer, which is just 600+ pages of crunchy hard scifi goodness powered by Fate, but at the end of the day, I totally accept that the system’s not for everyone.
I actually had Mindjammer on my Christmas list. What you just described is good news for me.
You also mention OSR games, my current favorite there is Stars Without Number. A good amount of systems frameworks while being incredibly open ended. And I’ve always got a soft spot for Traveller, I think mostly because of the character creation system and little to do with the game itself.
The RPGs I did get over Christmas included Mouse Guard, haven’t read much there yet, and Delta Green. I like this new version of Delta Green and look forward to the big core book whenever they can get that thing out in the world.
Tom Mc
