Episode 10 - A Deadboys Christmas

Hello, everybody.

It's been quite a long time since we've been able to get anything out to you. Well, hopefully this episode is worth the wait. And naturally, since we're releasing this episode the day after Christmas, we thought it would be fitting to celebrate in the way only Deadboys celebrate: by talking about death.



Death takes many forms in a game, whether players assume it'll happen (as in Call of Cthulhu) or build themselves into a tank that's all but invincible. Regardless, if George R. R. Martin has taught us anything, it's that characters die. In this episode, you'll get our thoughts on the subject as it relates to role-playing games and other kinds of fiction. Please feel free to comment below, or send us an email at coalitiondeadboys@gmail.com. You can also tweet at us, find us on Facebook or on Google+. We're accessible through any of those outlets, so feel free to get in touch with us. Please feel free to start a comment thread below, as either Matt or I will answer it as soon as possible.

Thanks for your patience in this one. Sorry it took so long to come out.

Carry on, citizens!

Well, at Least We've Got Options.

So here's the deal.

Remember how the technology gods struck us down last time? Well, they're at it again. And this time, they're just being cruel.

The same thing happened with this recording as happened with the last one. Something went wrong in the interface between our audio input software and Audacity. This made it skip. I've gotten in contact with everyone I can to try solving this problem, but so far, I haven't found anything that will fix the problem once the recording is already saved. So while we do have a recording, we don't have a good recording. I tried patching it up, but spending an hour stitching up a single minute of the podcast isn't really a doable venture.

That being said, we have two options. I can either upload and publish the MP3 file as it is now (bad sound quality, no music, etc.) and you can hear our discussion about the Coalition States, their impact on North America and general philosophies and so on. On the other hand, if you're satisfied with just a rundown of what we talked about, I can write out a basic transcript of the episode for you to read. Either way is fine with me.

Leave your comments below, or you can send us an email at coalitiondeadboys@gmail.com, find us on Twitter at @CSDeadboys or on Facebook at facebook.com/CoalitionDeadboys. These are the four easiest ways to contact us, so please leave feedback so I know what you want me to do with Episode 9.

However, I have good news. The developer of our input software was kind enough to let me use a beta of the newest version of his product, and it lets us streamline the recording process significantly. And since it's all in a single program, it shouldn't have any interfacing issues. There's hope for the future!

Again, please leave comments and feedback so we can know what you'd like us to do.

Format and Schedule Moving Forward

Hello, Citizens!

Matt and I have discussed the issue, and our schedules haven't been all that kind to us this week. Therefore, we will not be recording this week (which has already passed anyway), or next week (November 28). Ideally, we'll be able to sit down and record again on December 5 and I'll be able to release the episode a week later so you can have more current news and analysis than you've been getting. I have to apologize for that. I was not getting you the episode quickly enough that we could give you the most up-to-date information Palladium had available. But I'm planning on changing that from now on.

In other news, I have a question. I know everyone who responded to the poll on Google+ thought a Google Hangout or some other sort of get together would be a good idea, so I thought I would ask another question. Do you like the update frequency as it stands, or would you like to see more (or less) content? We can write two or three quick updates each week, one each week including weeks we release an episode, or just on the weeks we don't release an episode. Or we can just keep the status quo. If you have a preference, please leave a comment below and let us know. Otherwise, I'm just going to do it whenever I want, and that might get a little annoying for people out there.

Again, leave a comment and let us know how we're doing, and let us know how often you'd like us to pop up in your RSS feeds.

Carry on, citizens.

The Wrath of the Technology Gods...Again

Hello, citizens.

Through events entirely outside my control (software/hardware failure), Episode 9 will probably not be coming out this week. I'm still holding onto hope I can figure out a solution that will fix everything, but it doesn't look promising. Essentially, I'd have to go through the file second-by-second, and fix it at an even smaller scale. When you're looking at an hour or so, we'd be waiting until next summer.

So, we're considering two options. I think we're going to maintain our normal recording schedule, but adjust the release back a week--so, we'd record this week and release next week. Or, we may decide to continue the previous schedule and just call this a one-week hiatus. Or you can just figure that the special episode is number 9. It's up to you, really.

Anyway, let's get a little listener/reader engagement! Look at the photo below, and build it into an adventure. It doesn't matter what game setting you use (or system, for that matter), just say what system and setting, and describe how this setting shows up. How do your players come into the setting? How is it important? Comment below or tweet at us.

Carry on, citizens.

Coalition Deadboys Special Episode! Book Review

Greetings, Citizens.

The Coalition Propoganda Department Coalition States Department of Awesomeness would like to remind you that the book, Chicks Dig Gaming has been out for a little less than a week. Since its release, it's hit Amazon's #1 spot for the Gender Studies genre, which is a great accomplishment. Not just for Mad Norwegian, but for the gaming community at large.



If you haven't already, check it out. Amazon has it at a discount, but as an author, I always recommend trying to buy directly from the publisher, if possible. But hey, that's my opinion.

I have to perform a mea culpa of sorts, though. I mentioned in the recording that I didn't think there were hard copies or that you could only get them through print-on-demand, I think I was wrong. It seems the Amazon Marketplace has paperback copies available, so you can probably also get those from the publisher.

Whether you look at my Amazon review or listen to this episode, just know that although I gave it four stars, it is a great book. Some people get it into their heads that only a five-star rating is satisfactory, or that they will only read books that get five stars. Don't be one of those people. Be one of the people that contribute to the discussion by actually reading the book and leaving a review of your own.

Anyway, that's the end of my rant.

Carry on, citizens.

Episode 8 - The Order of the Pants

Hello, citizens!

First of all, let me again apologize profusely for the delays in getting this episode to you. There was a little bit of trouble with a Xiticix hive near our location, but we've naturally got the situation well in hand.



Today's episode features a very special guest: Maddie, from Matt's current campaign. And man, can she kickbox!

We also delve into two different topics for this episode, although we got the normal order confused. First, we get to the Job Fair, where we discuss the Necromancer O.C.C. Apparently, they're not all evil...

And since we have someone of the female persuasion on the podcast, Matt and I were also naturally eager to learn a little more about how to best make gaming accessible to women--and more than that, how to make it enjoyable enough that they will want to continue doing it and make it less and less a "guy thing."

Until next time, keep your dice rolling.

Carry on, citizens.

Delays, Delays

Sorry about this, but life has been quite hectic. I'm hoping to have the newest episode posted sometime today, but don't hold me to it. Regardless, this episode is well worth the wait.

~Jeff

Episode 7 - Social Contracts Players Sign

Hello, and and happy Halloween to you, human-enough subjects!

Real life seemed to try conspiring against us this time, but we showed it who was boss.



Anyway, I know I've said this before in a post, but I think this is one of our best episodes yet. Up to this point, we've been talking a lot about what a GM needs to do to engage players and things like that, but today, Matt had a great idea. What does a player need to do to fulfill their part of the social gaming contract? What is the social contract when it comes to gaming, and how does it even break? What are the effects if someone breaks it?

And somehow, we came back to talking about rules lawyers. What is it with those guys?

Anyway, we're glad to be back on track with our schedule. Sorry the Episode 6 came out so early—that was a mistake on my part, but one I'm not planning to repeat. Also, because real life played such havoc with the editing schedule, I wasn't able to include the additional feature in this episode. BUT, in lieu of that, we have a fun little section where we learn that Matt's dice really are cursed.



Sound effect provided by Raccoonimator on freesound.org.

Episode 6 - Return of the Walrus Girl

Hello again, humans and humanoid-enough subjects!

You've heard about her for a long time. If you listened to the previous episode, you've been expecting this. Now is the time. Ellen, the Walrus Girl herself, is here.

Ellen was great to bear with Matt and I as we bungled through our first guest interview, and was really good-natured about it. She not only was able to provide us with some really great insight into how a woman gets into gaming, but also gives advice about how to make gaming more accessible once the wall is down, as well as how to help make it a good experience.

Many, many thanks go out to Ellen for her time and voice (and I'm sure, the headache that followed) for being our guest on this episode. She will be the first of many, so stay tuned.

Also, a shout-out goes to Mad Norwegian Press and their upcoming book, Chicks Dig Gaming, due for release on November 11. As time goes on, we can put a more comprehensive review of it up.

Question for readers and listeners: Do you want to keep this blog solely dedicated to episode releases, or would you like to see other things as well? For example, on the weeks we don't record, would you want an analysis or discussion of M.D.C. news, or short releases to let you know what's coming up? I'm pretty sure I can create a second page under this one to put that kind of stuff if that's the preferred method.

Here's the embedded episode, but feel free to download the MP3 file, as well.



Have a great day, and carry on, citizens.

Episode 5 - The House Rule Strikes Back

Hello, human subjects!

This week's episode comes in response to an email we received a while back.

Just how do you play your games? Are you a by-the-book kind of person, or do you try to be flexible like the proverbial willow? House rules can breathe a special, unique life into a game that might have grown stale. Think about playing Monopoly: do you put $500 in the middle of the board so Free Parking helps your bottom line? Or do you read the instructions and follow everything it says?

This week, Matt and Jeff discuss their views on running games, and we've even sweetened the pot: but I don't want to give it away. Let's just say that We want everyone within the sound of our voice to choose a side, and leave comments.



In this episode, we're even more organized than we've been in the past--meaning, we included all the segments we'd hoped to: S.D.C. News, M.D.C. News, Discussion, Creature Feature and the Palladium Travel Agency (not a comment on the local PTA, though).

We also wanted to give a few shout-outs to some folks specifically. First, Pioneer Book is a local bookstore that both of us love. Although it doesn't directly deal with gaming, it's an amazing store. If you can find a recent picture of their store, you're in for a treat. Second, Blue Table Painting, which produces some of the best painted miniatures...well, anywhere. Finally, we'd like to mention Dragon's Keep. We both get a lot of our gaming material from there, and it's gotten to the point where the shelves are starting to make things a little crowded!

As always, please let us know what you think about the show. We're always eager to make the show better, but we can't do anything if we don't hear from you! You know how to get in touch with us.

Carry on, citizens.

Episode 4 - A New Hope for Published Scenarios

Greetings, citizens!

Here is the second part of our discussion covering sandbox and published campaigns. You don't have to have listened to the first part, but it helps if you have. This episode builds on those ideas, and hopefully gives you a better idea on how to build better stories in your games.

Also, since we recorded this at the same time as the first part, we didn't have a chance to discuss any M.D.C. news. However, I hope all the Kickstarter backers have gotten their Robotech Tactics boxes by now and are enjoying the figures. And you can be sure I'm looking into getting a copy of the Northern Gun 2 print that Palladium is putting out.

Anyway, that's all for now. Next time, we're going to try including a Creature Feature, a segment focusing on O.C.C.s and the news. It'll be good to be back to normal.



Thanks for listening!
Carry on, citizens.

Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sandbox

Greetings, human subjects!

Here we are again with episode 3 of the Coalition Deadboys Podcast. We hope everyone has been having a good summer, but as it starts to wind down, it just gives everyone more of a chance to play games, right?

In this episode, Jeff and Matt discuss "sandbox" campaigns--that is, games where there is little to no structure insofar as having a concrete story arc. During the recording, we did move on to discuss other things, but the conversation went so long that we're going to put the rest of the discussion out next time. So there's something to look forward to.

Aside from that, we don't have much in terms of M.D.C. News, but we do have a little S.D.C. News for everyone.

Here's the synopsis of this episode:
0:00 - Intro
0:39 - What news we have
9:35 - Discussion segment starts

Again, keep in mind that we recorded this and the next episode all at once, so we don't have a Creature Feature or any other segments for a bit. Naturally, we won't have the news next week because of the situation.

Carry on, citizens.

Episode 2 - Attack of the Martial-Artist Walrus Girl

Hello, everybody!

Once again, it's time for Matt and Jeff to discuss stuff, and the stuff this time is something for every gamer--literally.



And before you ask, no. We did not record this in a wind tunnel. Our normal recording area was being painted, and apparently they didn't want us recording in there while they were doing it. And they didn't want us recording in the main part of the library either, so we moved over to the secondary recording studio (a.k.a. the room in Jeff's house he and his wife haven't organized from when they moved in). Utah summers are pretty hot, so we had to use a fan, so it gets kinda noisy from time to time. Also, Jeff's kids tried to contribute their thoughts from the other room at various points.

But anyway, here's the basic outline of this episode:

0:00: Introduction
0:40: S.D.C. News - A report about Matt's character creation party
13:00: M.D.C. News - Miniatures, books and GenCon, oh my!
29:20: Discussion - Imagine someone isn't familiar with anything Palladium. What are three things you'd have them try to get them into it? Here are ours:

Matt:
1. Random roll tables! Especially insanities, mutations and other...stuff.
2. Contested combat rolls and the common sense rule
3. "Chromatic" alignment, or alignment that isn't like others
Bonus 1: The fact that Palladium actually puts a disclaimer for parents into books...
Bonus 2: Splugorth!!

Jeff:
1. Chromatic alignment, but with a slightly different twist
2. Creativity and cross-pollination between games
3. M.D.C. makes pretty much all non-supernatural critters explode

Hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed making it!

Until next time...carry on, citizens.

Episode 1 - The Phantom Chronology

Hello, everybody!

As promised in Episode 0, here is the continuation of the Coalition Deadboys Podcast! Sorry it's late. Today's discussion focuses on the publication history of Palladium Books, but also includes several segments we're going to be featuring every two weeks. Here is what this episode looks like:

0:00 - Introduction. Kinda need that.

0:44 - S.D.C. News, where your hosts let you know what's going on for them in games, life and all that stuff.

4:58 - M.D.C. News, where we discuss the Palladium Books update from July 17. Yeah, it would have been nice to have the update from July 26, but it came out the day after we recorded. Figures.

14:53 - Discussion. This episode's topic, as mentioned, is the publication history of Palladium Books. There's a lot of it, and there's a lot we didn't really have enough information to cover. Regardless, even Matt said he learned something new. Hopefully, you will too. And hopefully you'll enjoy our...somewhat rambling discussion.

44:51 - Creature Feature. We were running a little shorter than we'd thought, so we decided to talk about our favorite Megaversal critters of the week. Matt's choice was a Melek (sorry if I misspelled it), whereas Jeff's choice was the race of Vampires from Rifts.

57:44 - Feedback and Q&A. Matt got a few questions from Facebook since Episode 0, and we try to answer them. Also, we got some feedback about the volume of the audio, so we cranked it up for this one. Again, let us know if it's better.

Remember, we're now on iTunes, so feel free to subscribe to us there or through a podcatcher of your choice. Please remember to leave us ratings and feedback so we know how we're doing and how we can improve.

By the way, Jeff said that we'd be releasing these podcasts every other Thursday. He lied. It's probably going to be every other Friday. And Jeff says he thinks he's got the uploading thing figured out, so there won't be any delays in the future. Probably.

Carry on, citizens.

Episode 0 - Introductions and Why We're Here

After much ado (and more than a few glitches on the back-end, here it is! The Coalition Deadboys Podcast Episode 0!



This episode is mainly for the benefit of our listeners in that we want everyone to know basically what we're all about and what we want to get from the podcast. Jeff and Matt discuss why Palladium, their individual histories with the games of the Megaverse, and even go a little into character creation.

Toward the end of the episode, we discussed a little about a couple ideas for things that might end up coming down the pipeline, so stick around. Things are only going to get better from here.

Carry on, citizens.