258 – A Tale of Two NPCs

For Heroes Act 2 Ben needed advice on how to do an important characters voice without doing an accent. Rissa has experience with making new voices and showing off different personalities for characters. The advice given becomes useful for differentiating characters for all.

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Vuren Afa and the Smuggler’s Moon Part 1 – “Slide Casual”

After visiting the Nar Shadaa library, our gambler turned archeologist had adventure fall onto his lap…. well speeder.

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257 – The Shepard’s Tale

Ben had a question for Rissa, how do you guide the players without taking their agency away from them? How do you get the players to choose to do something that will be cool, but they have no idea how to get there?

Rissa has some ideas and Ben has a thought or two as well.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Episode 14 – “A Mask Falls”

Face to Mask with the Pirate Queen, our Heroes fight to apprehend their bounty and for their lives in the the finale of act 1.

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256 – The Android Tale

In part 2 of our Android review we talk careers, the construction of the book, the favor economy, and hacking. We loved the setup and found that it sparked each of our imaginations in making us want to explore the universe more.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Episode 13 – “Trial By Fire”

The crew has cracked the Vault, leaving the Veiled Sorority’s troops binder cuffed, sealed away, or defeated in their wake. Badly injured but determined to finish the hunt only one hurdle remains: The Pirate Queen herself.

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255 – The Beanstalk Tale

A little while back Shadow of the Beanstalk launched from FFG, we decided to do a review episode about it and even brought in noted cyberpunkfile David Pickering. We talk about the lore and why the setting and mechanics lead to interesting choices to be made and how adventured hooks drip from the book.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Episode 12 – “When Your Quarry Goes to Ground”

After a cunning and–surprisingly–Barawyn approved deception, the crew of the Sky on Fire have lied, fought and sliced their way inside the Pirate Queen’s base: The Vault. Now comes the hard part.

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254 – The Edge to Age Tale

Players grow and some want to move from the Edge of the Empire style of scum and villainy and a shade of grey for every action to something more obvious of good and bad. We have ideas on how to suggest this to your players and a few ways to nudge them into the rebellion.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Episode 11 – “A Little White Armor Lie”

The crew makes plans and hugs it out before the final assault.

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253 – The End of Thursday Tale

Ben’s Thursday night campaign is coming to an end, but he’s unsure how he should do it. Rissa has several helpful ideas on how to bring it in for an end in a satisfying fashion.

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252 – The Failing Up Tale

After a session or two when your players are having no luck with the dice it can be so disheartening, and which can lead to player resentment. We talk about how to deal with failure after failure in a story and how to make it more interesting and fun for the player.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Episode 10 – “Fortunes and Embers”

Battered and broken from their day in the jungle, Barawyn, Kaav, Billie, and Vastrano find themselves face to face with another group of four: four figures in white, laminate armor.

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251 – The Tale of Destiny

We get talking about the Destiny pool and how to keep it in play and moving between sides. From using it as a GM intrusion to an adventure to upgrading rolls and so many places in between

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Episode 9 – “Amuse-Bouche en Flambe”

The crew of The Sky on Fire versus a giant lobster. Hope you brought popcorn.

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250 – The GM Experience

We have David and Leslie on to talk about our methods of preparation, what we find needed, and how to encourage a new GM into running a second campaign.

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249 – The Period Tale

Playing in the Old Republic Era has no stats behind it, nor does the Sequel Era. We have ideas on how to still use the system to tell amazing tales and not worry about the mechanics behind everything.

Things talked about in this episode:

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Episode 8 – “Must Go Faster”

Gand down! Having made it to the jungle floor of Black Wind Crater, our Heroes press forward towards the Pirate Queen’s base with a critically injured Kaav in tow.

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248 – The Composition Tale

Translating the inspiration for a campaign into what the players hear and see is hard. We have a few ideas on how to take that comncept that evoked your desire to run the adventure into what your players are having a blast in doing.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Episode 7 – “Terminal Velocity”

As part of Barawyn’s “cunning” plan, the Heroes prepare to rappel down into the jungle of Black Wind Crater.

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247 – The Rumble Tale

An episode of Heroes makes Ben wonder about different ways of presenting encounters to the players. Rissa and Ben have some ideas on how to make sure that the players weapons aren’t always the first thing grabbed for.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Episode 6 – “The Best Laid Plans”

When someone pays attention to Kaav’s slicing efforts, the crew does the only logical thing: they start a brawl in a diner.

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246 – The Player Pet Tale

Recounting a few missteps in our own history we have a few ideas on how to make the pets of a player matter to the game and to the players in ways that aren’t always obvious.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Episode 5 – “Diners, Dives, and Destruction”

Two leads down, the crew of the Sky on Fire duck into a diner for a bite to eat and to conduct a little slicing into Sororonet.

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245 – The Growing Threat Tale

We said it was going to be a series, and we’re starting it. Threat is a tricky thing to use since it’s very easy to undervalue it, we have ideas on how to make it more vibrant and how to not try to steal the success of a roll with threat.

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