The Thisspiasian Tale

We started to talk about playing different species for your games and how to make it matter for your players. From how NPCs interact to how to set expectations at the table

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The Closing Tale

Episode 200, you’d think we’d talk about something profound. We talk about one of the most profound things you can actually do for your campaign. How to end it. Three hosts talk about the different kinds of endings we’ve seen and give some advice for GMs on how to make it satisfying.

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The Challenging Player Tale

The topic of difficult players came up in discussion in the Tales twitter DMs. This brought up the different sorts of ways players and GMs can not see eye to eye on ideas and drew us to this episode topic.

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The Gambler Tale

We were asked about a particular build for a character, it raised a bit of a flag for us and all hosts decided we should talk about specializations that require a bit more work by those around the table.

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The Han Tale

We have  a huge group to talk about Solo: A Star Wars Story and share our perspectives. To a person we liked the movie, but we also are the sort who can look at it and see what could be done better. Continue reading “The Han Tale”

The Difficulty Tale

Communicating difficulty in an encounter is trickier than just giving out a number of dice. The players need to know before hand how to set their expectations. We discuss how and a few things that would normally be missed. Continue reading “The Difficulty Tale”

Into The Character Tale

We talk about how to inhabit a character and create a perspective to separate two characters in a scene. We also touch on ways of acting to make a character unique in your play group as a player Continue reading “Into The Character Tale”

The Module Tale

Ben and Rissa discuss running a module and some of the pitfalls that can emerge from trying to follow too close to the text as written. Continue reading “The Module Tale”

The Steam Setting Tale

We created a steampunk setting in Genesys and look to different ideas that could come from the location we’ve created in Firemouth Outpost.

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The Genesys Vehicle Tale

Ben Rissa and David talk about vehicles in Genesys and how they’re different from Star Wars while trying to remember all the rules for both systems. Continue reading “The Genesys Vehicle Tale”

The Rissa Tale

No, we haven’t gone full Star Trek. We’re bringing on a new host and we’re interviewing her in this episode to give our listeners an idea of her style and some of the things she’s bringing to the table Continue reading “The Rissa Tale”

The Starting Player Tale

Ben and Marcus talk about some of the mechanics involved with starting characters and why somethings are more important than others at low XP amounts.

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The Tale Vs Darkside

Ben has Marcus on to talk about his Force and Destiny podcast he creates with his kids and the lessons that can be learned from there. So much of the advice can be well used for bringing in any new player. Continue reading “The Tale Vs Darkside”

The Tools Tale

Ben and David talk about preparation tools for GMs and players as well as communication and character creation. Continue reading “The Tools Tale”

Map Tales

Ben has guest Leslie on to talk about ways to use maps and things to consider when using maps in person and online for your players. Continue reading “Map Tales”

The Surprised GM Tale

Kristine and Ben talk about what they do when the players surprise them and leave them wondering what to do next. Continue reading “The Surprised GM Tale”

The Backgrounder Tale

We talk about some of the ideas and issues of starting a player character and how much background is too much, as well as how much is not near enough. Continue reading “The Backgrounder Tale”

The Villainous Tale

Ben and David talk about villains and how to present them to your players as fallible beings who can be defeated. Continue reading “The Villainous Tale”

The Absent Player Tale

We’ve all had players missing a game or having to leave the game, Kristine and Ben talk about how to make the blow softer and strategies to make it more fun for you and your group. Continue reading “The Absent Player Tale”

The Low Resource Tale

We talk about how to run an adventure with few player resources and how to make it so player ingenuity is welcome when you take their toys away. From survival to horror to investigations we talk about ways of a few things to expect and ways to make it awesome. Continue reading “The Low Resource Tale”

The Allied NPC Tale

This week we talk about NPCs why some get elevated, how to deal with the mechanics for those that do get elevated, and why some people make full PCs for an NPC. Continue reading “The Allied NPC Tale”

The Way to End Tale

We talk about how to end a session and a scene. With tips and examples of dramatic situations to leave your players in, the hosts have some deep thoughts about coming to that brick wall. Continue reading “The Way to End Tale”

The Behind the Scenes Tale

Kristine and Ben talk about the ways that you can use the in between session times to make your games better and keep engagement going when you have ideas that just need to get out. Continue reading “The Behind the Scenes Tale”

The NPC Voice Tale

This week it’s Beka and Ben talking about how to make NPCs feel like PCs quickly or in more depth when you have time. We also hear about one way that doing world building can be of great benefit for you the GM.
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The Escape Tale

David had the idea of trying to escape for a bit, but then we got talking about escaping prisons and how it’s done. We go from the classics all the way through to more modern ideas of prison breaks and talk about a few things you need to think of to make it feel earned. Continue reading “The Escape Tale”