Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 2, Episode 3 – “A Solid Connection”

Join us for the fight of the night: The Cold Shoulder vs. The Anvil!

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266 – The Expensive Tale

We talk about the stages of an adventuring party, from the poverty of starting to gaining the experience and equipment to be awesome. Ideas about how to handle the frustrations and lack of equipment abound in this episode.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 2, Episode 2 – “The Cold Shoulder”

In order to gain Illo Vandin’s favor, the crew are to stop the professional fighter Flutterplume from winning the title match. This means familiar ground for Billie and Vastrano as gambling and gladiatorial combat intersect at the team’s next destination: The Loaded Savrip.

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265 – The Consequences Tale

There are times when players seem to not recognize when their actions should have consequences for their characters. We give advice on how to tie their actions explicitly back to the character actions and in how to make it more interesting when a die result means it’s complicated.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 2, Episode 1 – “Swimming with Sharks”

The Sky on Fire arrives at the scrap filled planet of Ord Mantell, hot on the Pirate Queen’s trail. What adventures, troubles, and biscuit flavors will our heroes find on this new world?

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264 – Tales of the Early Years

Every GM will have issues they have to overcome, there isn’t a set path to learning and being good at it. Rissa and Ben have had to learn along the way from their own mistakes. We share some of the weird things that have happened and how we can learn from them.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Intermission Episode 4 – “Employee Reviews”

En Route to Ord Mantell, Captain Barawyn prepares for the most important time of the year: employee reviews.

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263 – The Structured Tale

We started to talk about how to build in the flexibility to deal with your players improvising at the table in the scenes you’re creating. Plus how to shape the fun in a way to not curtail the players exuberance while keeping your own fun as a core part of the game.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 2, Session 0

Ben, Kristine, Brandon, Leslie, and Wren discuss the crew’s Obligations and together decide how they have grown, changed, or decreased over the course of Act 1.

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262 – The Tale of Vergences

Adam from Force Majure asked about vergences and how to use them to guide the story and adventure. We have several ideas on how to make things even more out there for Star Wars and how we’re able to focus on making it fun and meaningful for the players.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Intermission Episode 3 – “The Cards We Are Dealt”

The bounty fulfilled this should be the part where our heroes rest. Instead Barawyn, Kaav, Billie, and Vastrano find themselves brought before Venlana and the ire of the Zann Consortium to answer for the decoy Pirate Queen.

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261 – The Three Plot Tale

We go back to the list of RPG plots and gain ideas for you and us to use. From a fish out of water, to diplomacy, and racing in between we have ideas on engaging plots and some nifty places to find ideas.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Discussion Episode 2

Join Ben, Kristine, Leslie, Brandon, and Wren as the cast of Heroes of the Hydian Way discuss the events of “Trouble Brewing” and “Mask of the Pirate Queen”, their characters, and answers your questions in part 2 of this discussion.

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260 – Setting The Hook Tale

We talk about story hooks and trying to set the ones you as a GM want, while still being okay with the changes your players will inadvertently want. Growing beyond the plots we have and maturing into the stories of the whole table.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Discussion Episode 1

Join Ben, Kristine, Leslie, Brandon, and Wren as the cast of Heroes of the Hydian Way discuss the events of “Trouble Brewing” and “Mask of the Pirate Queen”, their characters, and answers your questions in part 1 of this discussion.

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259 – A Blockade Run Tale

Rissa was posed a question about how to get players to run blockades, we both have ideas and advice on how to make the seemingly impossible into challenges your players won’t balk to see.

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Vuren Afa and the Smuggler’s Moon Part 2 – “Always Get the Good Stuff on Camera”

With newly acquired hateblockers on and a Gonk sized briefcase in tow, Vuren and his new crew: the thoughtful academic Mody, the stoic and protective Ree Dak, and the ever filming Lorenzo return to the streets of Nar Shadaa. Their goal: arrive safely back at the Queen of Air and Darkness with their cargo before the Imperials, Vuren’s new fanbase, or the speeder rental company can find them.

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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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