Episode 23 - Metahumans Rising and Other Strangeness

Greetings, subjects!

And yes, you read that right. The Coalition has reorganized slightly, and you've all lost your citizenship. the best way to get it back is to back the Metahumans Rising Kickstarter, as it's the fastest and lets the CS know your information. Or we could get it the old-fashioned way. But that involves a lot more bullets, so it's better for all of us if you go look at the Kickstarter.

But today, you're in for a treat. We have with us the creator of said project, and he answers questions and gives insight into what makes Metahumans Rising such a great and unique game. (Spoilers: the mechanics are different than most games out there!) There are a lot of reasons to be interested in this game, and we were pleased to have him on the show.



After letting Dave get back to his normal life, the three of us (again, you read that right. Jeff and Matt are joined today by Matt's player, Lee) discuss different systems that we'd be interested in playing, the various reasons we'd like to play them, etc. In all, I think this is our best episode yet, and I hope you enjoy it!

Also, by way of housekeeping, we're planning on using this episode as this week's release, and resuming two weeks from Friday. That means you can look for a new episode on or very close to July 31.

Carry on, Subjects!

Short Hiatus and a Kickstarter Project

Hello, everybody.

Well, since today is Saturday, you probably guessed that something's a little off this week. Without getting too bogged down in specifics, let me just say that we weren't able to record an episode for you this week. :( However, we're planning on being back next week, and we're in the process of putting together an interview with the creator of Metahumans Rising, a project that's been on Kickstarter now for a couple weeks.

That's the other thing I wanted to mention in this week's blog--Metahumans Rising can provide players with a lot of similar experiences as Heroes Unlimited and its expansions, but it uses a different system. It focuses on the Bronze Age of comic books, and encourages players to experiment and flesh out their character's backstory with a mechanic called Willpower. This allows characters to do things they couldn't normally do, much like Force/Destiny Points do in FFG's Star Wars game. Another thing that Metahumans Rising offers is what the creator calls a "complete incomplete setting." The world is complete in that it has places and features like North America, full cities, corporations and organizations, but the world is also incomplete because it needs players and characters to function. At the GM's discretion, organizations, people, corporations and anything else can be changed or overlooked to serve the story, and therefore the world can be as broad or as focused as you and your group would like.

Personally, one of the things I look forward to seeing the most out of this game is the character creation aspect. I do like the fact that in Heroes Unlimited there's no beefcake guy out there with a big S on his chest that swoops in all the time. Fortunately, Metahumans Rising looks like it vies for a more balanced approach between external and internal conflict--something the very best comics are able to master beautifully.

If I haven't linked to it enough already, you can go to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/housedok/metahumans-rising to pledge support for this project. It's going to be great.

Anyway, that's really all there is this week. As far as Kevin's weekly update, I'm going to assume he was on a caffeine high when he wrote it, since he says he was up until 3:00 A.M. finishing work on Robotech: Expeditionary Forces. That's work ethic right there. However, he also wanted to spread the word about the deadline extension for Christmas in July Grab Bags, now running through Monday. I personally haven't gotten one of these (funding issues), but have been assured that they are AMAZING to get. Therefore, I would encourage each and every one of you that has the chance to take a long, hard look into picking one (or two) of these up.

That's about all I have to say. Carry on, citizens.

Episode 22 - The Players of Atrophy

Greetings!

Today, we're back to our standard--just Jeff and Matt on this one, but we actually did a good job of it!



There were a lot of S.D.C. items this week, but the weekly update came out after we recorded, so we weren't able to analyze that. We also address listener mail before launching into the topic of conversation for the week.

The topic this week is simple, but it's one that not a lot of GMs want to discuss: players who aren't causing enough disruption to get themselves kicked out of the game, but enough of a ruckus to slow and stop the game in progress. Matt cites three specific archetypes he's seen, and we discuss the pros and cons of having each kind of player in your game, as well as some actual-play stories we remember from back in the day.

Anyway, that's it for this week. I hope the delay of a couple hours wasn't too onerous for you, fair listener.

Carry on, citizens.

Episode 21 - In Which We All Meet at Space-Arby's

Greetings, Citizens!

And is this the normal font? It looks weird this time around for some reason...



Anyway, we have a very special treat for you today, and not just for the simple fact that the episode is about half the length of a normal one. This week, we have two, count 'em, two guests to discuss the creation process of a RPG. If you've never really considered what goes into a system or setting, this will be a big eye-opener.

Carry on, Citizens!

Episode 20 - Palladium Open House Redux, then Bob Walks Into a Bar

Greetings again, Citizens!

It's been far too long, I know. However, I hope we'll make up for it this time because we have the Magnificent Maddie along with us!



Anyway, Matt was at the Palladium Open House; and if you were there, odds are you saw him passing out cards with our information on them. Feel free to pass those cards along, and spread the love of Palladium's games. The system may not be the most popular, but hey, they sure know how to create an immersive environment for players, right?

Finally, after an overview of the fun Maddie and Jeff missed, the conversation moved toward a slightly different track: how do you get your players together in the first place? You could have them all get together in a bar, but how cliche is that? Really! Each of us take it in turns to offer ideas as to what can be a good solution to this, but as you know, we're not the ultimate authority on things of this nature. . . . yet. Please offer feedback on g+, Facebook, Twitter, on our email address, or anywhere else you might be able to find us. Seriously, we love doing this show, but we realize it's not just for us, it's for you--so we can share our passion for these games with you.

Also, I want to do two things here. I want to apologize for the terrible sound quality. As I've mentioned many times before, the recording equipment I have is twitchy at the best of times, and downright unusable at the worst. But that also segues wonderfully into the other thing I wanted to mention, and that is a gigantic shout-out to friend of the show, Gilstam, A.K.A. Dave. I also gave you a special mention before the episode started. That's irony for you! You realize that your recording quality is far below where you'd like it to be, then UPS brings you new equipment (and a new book to burn through!

Anyway, I think I've taken enough of your time tonight. Have a relatively safe night, citizens.

Running a Little Behind, and an Announcement

Running a little behind is better than being a little running behind...

With all the action happening in the past week with Matt being at the Palladium Open House and Jeff being at his writing conference, we naturally weren't able to get an episode out. However, that doesn't mean we weren't thinking of you!

First of all, we'd like to thank all those who played in Matt's games during the Open House. Feel free to hop on here and leave feedback about your experience and tell us what you did and didn't like.

Also, we're pleased to announce that Howard Tayler's Kickstarter is finished now, as you can see from the lack of advertisement above. I hope all of you had time to at least take a look at it, if you weren't able to pitch in and support the project. It really looks like it'll be awesome.

Now, you may be wondering what else we could possibly be preparing for you. Fortunately, we have something quite exciting. As previously mentioned, Matt was able to make it out to the Open House, and was able to get at least one interview in during his time there. With whom, you ask? It's with this guy a few of us might have heard of: Kevin Siembieda. We'll post this interview as soon as we can.

Other than that, we just wanted to apologize for the slight delay in getting an episode out, but we promise that one is on its way.

Carry on!

Episode 19 - The Ears of a Roleplaying Game

Greetings, Citizens!

It's been fairly busy at Deadboys HQ, what with all the public executions normal things and all. Sorry for getting this to you a little later in the day than normal as a result, but hopefully you like it all the more!



Today, we're pleased to bring you our first Double Feature in a while. For the first topic, we discussed something that is destined to be in every roleplaying game, no matter what the topic, setting, time period or even game designer—if you guessed dice, you're wrong, and we'll invite you to the next round of executions barbecues we have. Naturally, we're talking about the NPC; which, like the ears are often some of the most overlooked parts of the body. Palladium or not, the NPC is going to be a mainstay in any RPG. In our first part of the double feature, we look at things to do and things to avoid when using an NPC. Naturally, if you have suggestions or comments or things we just forgot, please let us know on g+ or in the comments below.

Our second feature is one that we're sure every Palladium player—regardless of how long you've been playing—will love. Ever wonder how to make a workable character in about 15 minutes when the average is three to four hours? Well, Matt is willing and able to give you all the information you need to get that character cranked out. Now, instead of spending those four hours making a single character, you can toss out 16 of them.

In the meantime, behave yourselves, citizens. Take a trip over to Kickstarter and support our friend Howard Tayler. Also, if you haven't checked out his site, go over and read some Schlock Mercenary and get a feel for what it's all about.

Lastly, we're planning on beginning to release Actual Play episodes on the podcast feed next week, so if you've been looking for a place to listen to these adventures you've heard so much about, you'll soon be in luck!

Carry on, citizens.