Narrative Control – Episode 72 – The System for Your Game

Welcome back to Narrative Control, season 3. This season we’re talking about methos for finding a game that will suit your needs. It’s kind of the anti-hack episode (Episode 69) where our goal is to find you a system that will match your epectations without having to re-invent it yourself. We doing something special this year and hosting a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders

Hosts: Sean Nittner, Eric Fattig, and Lenny Balsera

Guest Caller: Soren Ludwig

Length:

Show Notes

[00:30] We’re doing good. In the holiday spirit we’re raising money for Doctors Without Borders. (see the link above)
[01:20] Sean is moving to the Bay Area! My last Davis summer.
[02:15] Fattig’s exciting story. The one not involving a donkey and three pounds of cocaine.
[03:29] Soren Ludwig’s question: How to pick out a tabletop RPG.
[03:57]Lenny’s strategy. Throw money at friends making games.
[04:44] Welcome Soren!
[05:17]The only advice you’ll ever need from Lenny. Look for the name “Leonard Balsera” on the spine of the book.
[07:07] And now we get back to the point, picking out a game (instead of hacking one)
[09:09] Don’t focus on premise when looking for a game. What we dig is more focused around systems.
[11:42] Instead figure out what do you want out of a system.
[12:30] Some examples that lead us to Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies
[13:35] Lets boil down what Soren is looking for in a game.
[14:30] Looking for discovery and mysteries leads us to Gumshoe.
[16:30] Asking the power questions of any game: Big Three and Power 19
[19:11] Highlighting “what makes it about that?” by looking at the character sheet.
[21:41] Places to find information about games. RPG.Net Reviews
[24:00] Search on Story Games Forum
[25:21]Actual play posts: Recommending The Walking Eye and Mom’s Basement and more at RPGpodcats.com
[27:00] Talking to peeps! Asking people who have played the game, immediate friends, the twitters…
[30:05] After a brief digression… is your Google-fu strong?
[31:28] Lets pimp out Josh Roby for a moment. @joshroby
[32:50] Go to cons and play lots of games… try them out. Local cons. Meet ups. Store game days.
[35:50] After games are done, talk to the GM of a game. Trust us, they want to talk.
[37:30] Online resources for playing: Online cons like AetherCon. Google Hangouts like CONcurrent
[40:46] If you’d like to be on the show, please contact us at narrativecontrol@gmail.com

Download: NC_Episode_072.mp3

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