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Episode 607 – maybe a misunderstanding
by Dan Repperger

* (0:28) The new fiction podcast, Bite Size Tales.

* (1:43) Dan re-reads the D&D 2nd Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide. Wayne watches Secrets of Blackmoor. The inspiration D&D’s creators drew from Strategos.

* (6:38) The rather disjointed rules of early RPGs.

* (8:23) The heavy crunch of early RPGs that might be as much unearned reputation as reality.

* (13:02) Why an early RPG may have needed to describe concepts that would be misinterpreted as immutable rules.

* (16:06) Narrative examples of play.

* (19:17) Separating old games from OSR games. Conveyed interpretation and social tradition.

* (27:07) The shortcuts around setting building, and how rules may have gotten caught up in those.

Hosts: Dan, Mary, Wayne

Bonus Episode 99 – AI creativity
by Dan Repperger

* (0:36) An odd tangent on names.

* (3:39) A conversation about AI art. Some parameters we’re putting on this episode. AI art wins a fine arts competition.

* (8:08) An admittedly non-technical overview of how AI generally creates its work. Syntax versus semantics.

* (17:43) AI creations as a starting point instead of the final product. Why the lack of semantics may distinguish what inspires humans as opposed to AIs.

* (29:32) The positive impact of AI creativity, contrasted with the intellectual property and monetary concerns.

* (37:02) The human-seeded meta-thought used by AI, and the inevitability of its adoption across multiple industries.

* (47:26) After taking jobs, technology may also improve lives and push humanity forward. Automating simple tasks or “shifting them left”.

* (54:45) The financial incentive to use AI art versus the status incentive to use human art.

Hosts: Dan, Julia, Mary, Wayne

Some of the sample AI art Dan made while playing around with an app…

A man with two beards that’s holding a third beard (stupid beard hog), Jesus with hot dogs for fingers, and…OH NO! Its mini-Jesus off the ropes!

What’s that Lassie? Jesus is here? And he thinks our dogs are gnolls? And Gabriel is also a dog?

OK, so now we’ve got gnolls with underbites, some random people in the background, Jesus with John Wick levels of determination, and…what the hell is that thing in the lower-right!?

What the AI thought Gnarl should look like. I’m totally going to stat this out and use it in a fantasy game.

Episode 606 – contexting the OGL
by Dan Repperger

* (0:30) Giving a remote episode a try. We have a fix for Dan’s audio that should improve the quality on our next remote show.

* (1:42) Catching up with Brodeur and DJ, who was on episode 466 to talk about BuJoRPG.

* (4:43) Putting some parameters on the topic.

* (9:42) Does Wizards of the Coast hate you? Envy other publishers? Or just not understand the market?

* (16:36) Why people went along with the OGL to begin with. A genuine belief that some people in the mix have the best of intentions.

* (24:47) Why care at all?

* (29:23) The silent majority that may neither know nor care this is all happening.

* (36:21) Why this might be a good thing. The episode on Dan’s resentment of what D&D represents, despite his enjoyment of the game.

Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, DJ, Wayne

Episode 605 – dosing out setting
by Dan Repperger

* (0:44) Friday night chit-chat on Discord each week, starting at 8pm Central.

* (2:18) Fear the Con 2023 dates have been reserved with the hotel for June 16th and 17th of 2023, with the Wing Night on June 15th.

* (3:37) Wayne preps his players for a Savage Worlds: Alpha Flight game.

* (8:18) Learning through trial-and-error by running homebrews and setting-dense games.

* (10:42) Give your players a little homework.

* (15:04) Where will the game begin?

* (20:37) What the characters need or want.

* (24:53) Trickling out more information as the game goes on.

* (31:31) Pay careful attention to the questions your players ask.

Hosts: Dan, Julia, Mary, Wayne

Bonus Episode 98 – tired tropes
by Dan Repperger

* (0:22) The villain as the dark inverse of the hero.

* (9:20) A big CGI fight at the end that seems visually out of continuity.

* (16:06) Zombies and Lovecraft.

* (20:37) The freedom to like or dislike, and how little that says about you as a person.

* (23:33) Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare, and Disney.

* (26:59) Let’s not be too reductive.

* (34:26) Maybe we’ve just been around too long and seen too many stories.

* (37:15) Elves with short hair.

Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Wayne

Bonus Episode 97 – manis, pedis, and fandoms
by Dan Repperger

* (0:24) Brodeur recommends a manicure and pedicure to Dan.

* (5:58) Dan, Wayne, and their muscle tension.

* (11:24) A straight-razor shave and the thrill of death.

* (15:56) Fandoms that (at least temporarily) put people off from the product they love.

* (28:08) On anime.

* (31:37) The need to be inviting within gaming, since it’s a social hobby.

* (37:56) Gratuitous violence and opinion as identity.

Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Julia, Wayne

Episode 604 – crapping on an ending
by Dan Repperger

* (0:28) Brodeur flees to Oregon.

* (4:08) Failure comes to East Texas University.

* (7:26) Dividing the blame between the players and Game Master.

* (11:40) Player silence and passivity.

* (17:30) Things lost for lack of time.

* (19:34) Substance use, depression, and the option of just narrating the ending.

* (26:32) Was there a post-mortem with the players? Not judging a whole campaign by its ending.

* (30:09) If the players don’t know how to answer, ask a more specific question.

Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Wayne

Episode 603 – ending without a boss fight
by Dan Repperger

* (0:33) Wayne gives a shoutout to Gaming with Gage + Friends (but not Brodeur).

* (1:53) Wayne ends a D&D campaign without a boss fight.

* (3:11) The mutual theft of ideas between video games and tabletop roleplaying games.

* (8:00) Considering all the ways a story can end.

* (13:18) Another example from a D&D game.

* (21:06) Post-campaign, no-boss epilogues. Player freedom in shaping the ending.

* (28:02) Redefining the game in a character-centric way.

* (32:33) Allowing other solutions to small problems and other endings to the game.

Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Julia, Wayne

Episode 602 – personalizing a module
by Dan Repperger

* (0:29) Brodeur’s post-Gen-Con review. (I know, we’re right on top of the latest news.) A shoutout to Imagining Games, Acheron Books, and RogueOperative.

* (8:02) Customizing modules for your players and characters.

* (11:48) Modules as a framework, not a full script.

* (18:26) Know the module well enough that you can deconstruct it into its components.

* (24:37) An imaginary scenario using a well-known story as a module, adjusted to an obviously unique character.

* (36:44) How the whole context of a pre-written scenario can be changed by just swapping proper nouns.

* (42:32) Separating story-writing from story-telling.

* (43:31) Some great example modules include Chris Hussey’s The Wolverines Take the Highway to the Danger Zone for Savage Worlds and Gooey Cube’s Red Star Rising campaign for D&D 5th edition.

Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Mary, Wayne

Episode 601 – leveraging PC backgrounds
by Dan Repperger

* (0:29) A listener, James, gets us talking about integrating player-character backstories into your game. It starts with the players giving you something to work with.

* (3:01) Sitting for too long on too much information, or mining the backstory abusively.

* (7:43) Finding the possible connections between backstories.

* (11:08) Let’s do it live! Dan sets up a D&D game with Wayne as his player. Building story by eliminating coincidences and undefined areas.

* (19:22) Wayne sets up a Skies of Glass game with Brodeur as his player. Remembering that NPCs have their own lives that still go on, even when the PC isn’t around.

* (30:02) What’s the “therefore” there for? Continuing thoughts that seemed otherwise complete.

* (31:42) Integrating character backgrounds into a story that’s already written. Even the most fleshed-out plot still has gaps that can be filled with player-made content.

* (37:59) Too little, too much, or no background at all.

* (42:35) Punting Mary’s insight, because it deserves its own episode.

* (44:32) Paying attention to backgrounds for what should be important in your game, because it’s important to that player.

Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Mary, Wayne

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