273 – The House Rule Tale

When Ben is looking for help coming up with tag team rules for a fight in a game he turns to Rissa for advice and a second set of eyes. We then take a look at a few of our own house rules that we’ve had to create.

Things we’ve talked about in the episode:

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 2, Episode 7a – “1+3+3b”

Illyn, Barawyn, Billie, and Vastrano are asleep after an exhausting day of gladiator matches and train heists, so when the Sky on Fire is boarded by an intruder it’s up to Vreebo, K-1, K-3, and 3b to investigate.

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272 – The Saber Tale

We were given a prompt on our discord server, and got talking about using sabers and the force in Star Wars adventures and how to make getting a lightsaber into something momentous for the characters and players.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 2, Episode 7 – “Standing Room Only”

Barawyn faces off with a mysterious Mirialan while the rest of the crew free the people of Redlake.

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271 – The Empire Strikes Back Tale

Rissa and Ben take a look at The Empire Strikes Back to see what stories that they get inspired to tell by the movie and little corners that create new avenues for adventures for you to use.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 2, Episode 6 – “A Pretty Reasonable Wookiee”

The assault on Rusty Reach continues! While most of the crew battle slavers, Captain Barawyn begins her cunning plan.

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270 – A Tale of Building

We talk of setting and communicating difficulty to not overpower your characters, and to make sure that your players understand the difficulties that are presented to them. From a single patrol to a gang that’s chasing after the party we have ideas on how to make sure no one is taken by surprise.

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269 – The Lawless Tale

Law enforcement through out the galaxy has different textures that your players can feel. We start off talking about what to do with players who seem to be a law unto their own, not paying Stormtroopers any mind. Then we move to the outer rim and find ways to make a one ronto town feel alive with the sheriff. Finally we move through the detentes of the underworld and through using the Force in the dark times.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 2, Episode 5 – “A Rescue at Rusty Reach”

With a promising lead on the whereabouts of Flutterplume’s family, the crew head to the slaver compound of Rusty Reach.

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268 – The Side Quest Tale

We talk about making obligation and character side quests simple and and achievable along side the main plots. From keeping the ideas contained, to getting the players involved we have ideas on how to make character quests awesome for you and your players.

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Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 2, Episode 4 – “The Speeder Gambit”

Now allied with the masked fighter Flutterplume, the crew of the Sky on Fire find themselves on a mission to rescue the citizens of Redlake, but first they’ll have to contend with a pair of Savrips harassing a family of scavengers.

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267 – The New Hope Tale

We start our series on taking inspiration from the Star Wars movies and seeing what stories we want to tell in the cracks, and what giant plots and galaxy changing things we see as coming from the text of the movies.

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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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