Eyes Up: The Story Thrust

There is a concept that I’ve seen with GMs and systems that can lead to a muddied role playing experience. This is a gaping problem I’ve found with what’s become called on the podcast and elsewhere as Session Zero. Using these systems and methods we can create vibrant settings for our players to interact with and there can be a multitude of options for what story element gets spun into the narrative that moves the group forward. Continue reading “Eyes Up: The Story Thrust”

The Character Tale

We looked to character creation and how to get your own character to the table. From finding inspiration in movies to creating a character that starts as a trope and becomes your own, we give many ways to look at building a character that suits you as a player.

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The Endless Species Tale

Our episode on Endless Vigil miss the species, here they are. We talk about the very interesting species in the book and give a few ideas for characters and campaigns that jump out at us Continue reading “The Endless Species Tale”

Eyes Up: GM Focus

As a player I’ve seen many GMs get distracted by the seeming whims of a player. The plot wanders all over until the GM finally gets inspiration and starts asserting their creative direction on the narrative. It isn’t enough to come up with a setting and then thrust players together to get moving themselves, as a GM you’re at the table to provide guidance and narrative shove to the player characters. Continue reading “Eyes Up: GM Focus”

The Endless Vigil Tale

Ben and Joshua discuss Endless Vigil. From pod racers to detectives this book brings so much to the fore. The character ideas that get flung around and the possibilities that make us want to play new characters inspired by this book are overflowing in this episode Continue reading “The Endless Vigil Tale”

Eyes Up: Preparation

I’m an improvising GM. I know that this hurts my games in some ways, but I work to even these issues out. I’ll go through my preparation stages to give a few windows into how I work out what happens in a session as well as how some of my bad habits can be overcome by other methods of pre planning. Continue reading “Eyes Up: Preparation”

The Railroad Tale

Ben and David talk about railroading players, how to not do that, and how to start a cascade of bad player decisions that will be a GMs bounty after enough time has gone past.

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Eyes Up: Where the Heck are We Going?

My name is Ben, and I’m a GM. There isn’t a way on this planet that you could get me to change this.

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The Droid Tale

We look at the humble droid and how Star Wars plays with the idea of a mechanical being. From droid pcs who are looking to become more than the sum of their programming to droid tools that bridge the divide between alive and not we look to see some story possibilities in our mechanical friends. Continue reading “The Droid Tale”

Confession of a Newb GM: Heroism at the Table

When we sit down at the table we tell tales of daring do larger than we think we could normally accomplish. I saw a tweet the other day that makes me wonder how we can encourage heroics at our tables. This brings me to musing about what makes a hero. Why are characters that would normally be the epitome of heroics be so hard to play in practice? Continue reading “Confession of a Newb GM: Heroism at the Table”