On The Shoulders Of Dwarves

### Tal Shiboli asks (1:30) [Right here:](https://www.facebook.com/groups/dwarfpodcast/permalink/879485379079046/) > I have a bit of an issue with taking notes as we play and still following what goes on at the table (yay for ADHD). Would love to get some tips on how to take quick,tidy notes during a session that's not too disruptive for my nonexistent attention span... If you think this is enough of a topic for an episode feel free to use my question and name” ### The need for notekeeping (2:30) While mere seconds may pass between one character’s turn and the next, sometimes days or weeks may transpire in the real world. Thus it is sometimes a real problem to remember what happened in the game world, what the plot is about and who the heck is count Van Messer? [How Uri remembers stuff](https://dwarves.podiant.co/how-to-remember-everything/) ### Keep track of your physical things (4:20) All character sheets, handouts, props, notes etc. ### Session summaries (5:30) During the game: Pen and paper, phone,

For the purpose of this episode, when we say “props” we mean any additional implements that you add to your game that are not an inherent part of the gaming mechanics. ### Handouts (3:07) These are basically just pieces of paper with a depiction of the information or images that the characters are exposed to. [Etchings by James McNeill Whistler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Abbott_McNeill_Whistler#Printmaking) ### Actual Props (6:08) Riddle devices like a locking puzzle box or a representation of some important in-game item. [Relics and Rarities](https://geekandsundry.com/shows/relics-rarities/) ### Apparels (9:55) ### Mood Setters (12:10) Change the lighting of the room: make the room a little bit lighter or darker than usual. You can even go as far as lighting candles or changing one of the lightbulbs to a colored bulb. Music: [TabletopAudio.com](https://tabletopaudio.com/), [SyrinScape](https://syrinscape.com/), [Melodice.org](Melodice.org) Smell: Scented candle or Incense are a dime a

### Setting the scene, the Five W’s (1:10) * Who is it about? * What happened? * When did it take place? * Where did it take place? * Why did it happen? Retro justification: How did we get here? ### Forward-thinking (7:00) Is this getting us somewhere? - Did this push the plot, or a character arc, forward? If not - Do we need this? ### Uri's tools (8:25) Guiding the plot: [Subtle railroading](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/3686b9a8d8a11c/) Engaging the players Character development Open-ended questions The Chandelier rule Feedback ### Taking the Load Off (20:00) If you feel underrepresented in the Ennies, please consider [submitting yourself as a judge](http://www.ennie-awards.com/blog/2020-ennie-judge-nominations-open/). ----- Email us at show@dwarfcast.net with questions, topic suggestions, and comments on this episode, and check out [our Facebook group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/dwarfpodcast) [We have a Patreon page](https://www.patreon.com/dwarfcast), in case you'd like to support us i

**Note: **We say the word "indie" a lot in this episode, and bring up mostly indie-adjcant games, but that's only a force of habit; this advice works just as well for big names and big companies. [The chart that is not recommended](http://inkwellideas.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/rpgchart1.gif) ### What makes a system good (or bad) (2:30) ### Ask yourself (6:55) Use these questions to guide yourself, or to help others guide you. * What is the genre of game you enjoy the most? * What is the level of “power” you wish to have? * How much time will the GM and player be willing to invest in learning a new system? * What did you play before? What parts did you enjoy? Which part didn’t you enjoy? ### Best practices to trying new things (15:05) [Legacy free quick start](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/242387/Legacy-Life-Among-the-Ruins-2nd-Edition-Quickstart--NonCompliant?affiliate_id=29668) ([and another one!](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/217102/Titanomachy-Legacy-2nd-Edition-Quickstart?affil

**What is a genre?** A category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content. **What is a mash-up?** Something created by combining elements from two or more sources. ### Combine a new genre into your existing game (6:05) ### How to understand the components and characteristics of a genre (9:00) The improv game “Genres”. Immersing yourself in the genre. Understanding the trope, archetypes and set expectations of the genre. ### How to do it right (15:35) Why only two? Because beyond that the experience is muddled. Taking the main tropes, mixing some, creating things, then going back to justify them. Go into [TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/) and study this. Be focused on the specific sub-genre, and what makes it spark. Use the aesthetics of both. What are the default plots and subject matter? Default types of antagonists? Take one of the genres as the basic one, and then put the other one on top of it. For example, the setting is one genre,

### Why is this an important issue? (3:10) * Running a game is an experience worth experiencing. * You get the chance to learn new skills that you might not get to as a player (learning new rules, understanding pacing and plot building, improvising) * The more GM there are, the more new players there will be! * This experience will, in all likelihood, improve your gaming skills as a player. ### The fear (5:33) Being a good GM is hard, yes. But this is true for any worthwhile endeavour that you want to get good at. There is nothing mystical about being a good GM, it is just a collection of skills that you’re not used to. No one starts off as a great GM - and there is no reason your expectations from yourself will be unrealistic. ### Just do it (8:08) Do you have a cool idea for an adventure? Write it down and run it. You don’t have a cool idea? Buy a published adventure and run it. There is no one right answer - the most important thing is to find what suits what you want to do so the game will actually ha

James Graham, of [Leisure Games](https://leisuregames.com/) fame and and [d100news](https://d100news.com/), tells us of LG's top selling RPGs from 2018. Last time we had James over, we talked about the top selling RPGs of Leisure Games for 2017, on [episode 13](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/35e72b2e691a26/). ### Top Ten New RPGs (1:50) 1. Scum and Villainy 2. Dungeons & Dragons 5e Core Rulebook Giftset 3. Dungeons & Dragons 5e: Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes 4. Star Wars the Roleplaying Game 30th Anniversary Slipcase 5. Pathfinder 2e Playtest Rulebook 6. Original Adventures Reincarnated #1: Into the Borderlands 7. Dungeons & Dragons: Waterdeep - Dragon Heist 8. Fate: Horror Toolkit 9. The Glorantha Sourcebook 10. Legends of the Five Rings Core Rulebook ### Top Ten RPGs (24:10) 1. Blades in the Dark 2. Scum and Villainy 3. Dungeon World 4. Burning Wheel Gold 5. Dungeons & Dragons 5e Core Rulebook Giftset 6. Dungeons & Dragons 5e: Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes 7. Burning Wheel Codex 8.

Avishay Zarad wrote: Good afternoon! It’s hard for me to write a good background for my characters. I tend to fall into the trap of writing an overly complicated background that, in retrospective, isn’t relevant, or doesn’t come into play. When I try to avoid that - I write an overly simplistic background that is less enjoyable to me. Do you have any tips on writing a better background story for a character? Also, do you have any advice on how to better portray a character (roleplay-wise)? Much love, Avishay Further listening: Avoiding Character Cliches (episode 2), Customising the Campaign to the Players (episode 19), Personal Plotlines (episode 21) , Personalise Your Character (episode 23), Who is An Adventurer? (episode 50) , If it doesn’t come into play, it doesn’t exist (3:34) Bringing the background to the foreground (10:13) Path 1: Make it up as you go along and try to keep track. Path 2: Plan a basic outline and slowly fill in the blanks. Path 3: Plan a backstory and think of ways it will influence yo

### Yossi’s email (2:10) > Dear long-bearded dwarves, > I need you to forge me an advice, please. I have two main problems with the group I'm currently playing in as a player (Tactical D&D 5e group). > 1. Analysis paralysis - My party tends to overthink their actions, meaning before each decision fork or a door, they talk a lot in real time, plan and plan and plan... And I think - it's ok to plan but let's move on.. let's go with the adventure, we came here to experience new things and to risk our characters, didn’t we? Not to mention one of the players trying to barging with NPCs selling his gems during play time... Too bad I don't play a paladin to "kick the door" - I'm playing a druid if it’s relevant. How can I make them wake up and play? Is it also the GM’s responsibility? > 2. I'm playing D&D in my native tongue, which is Hebrew. The thing is.. two of the players are more comfortable with English, so the game always becomes a mess of half Hebrew half English. I don't have a problem wit

### Books by Drew * Spells, Sword & Stealth (1-4) * Super powered (1-4) * Fred, the vampire accountant * Forging Hephaestus * Standalone titles: Pears and Perils * Topher Nightshade vs. The Camp of the Undead Apocalypse * Second-Hand Curses Check out [www.drewhayesnovels.com](http://www.drewhayesnovels.com). And also [Authors and Dragons](https://www.authorsanddragons.com/)! ### Why is Drew here? (2:20) ### Where are you from, and what can you tell us about the RPG community there? (4:10) ### GM skills in the hand of an author (7:20) ### Worldbuilding (9:00) ### Characters (13:05) ### Authors and Dragons (19:00) [Shingles](https://www.amazon.com/Shingles-Audio-Collection/dp/B07J1SZ9Z1) ### Listener questions (24:30) * Did anything that appears in your book originated from roleplaying sessions? * Did you sell the movie rights for Super Powereds and what is your dream casting? * What is selling better: Books, Audiobooks or e-readers? * How much are you involved in the audiobooks creation process?

*“Everything doesn’t have to be about fear. There’s room in our line of work for hope, too.” — Batgirl* **The seventh episode of Forging Ahead with Aviv Manoach, a show about tabletop roleplaying games where Aviv discusses the shenanigans of his home group and prepare their next adventures. Aviv and his group are playing Wonders: Heroes of Tomorrow, the Hebrew adaptation for Masks: a New Generation, in a world were superpowered people are a new phenomenon.** You can join live each week on [twitch.tv/iceldotme](http://www.twitch.tv/iceldotme), or subscribe to the podcast's audio on [dwarfcast.net](http://www.dwarfcast.net). I want to thank anyone that has followed the Twitch channel, we’ve passed 50 followers which is the next step into becoming a Twitch affiliate. ## Previously on… This part kind of dragged on the last couple of episodes, so moving forward I will sum up what happened in the game by the main plot points. **Amraphel** and **Seabreeze** look into the robberies; they visit a consumer electr

Epistolary Richard, aka Richard Williams. ### The Playmaker Awards (1:00) [The website](https://playmakerawards.blogspot.com/). To shine a spotlight on those whose efforts are often overlooked: not amazing designers, GMs or even players, but for those who have worked hard during the year to make the space in which other play. They might organise a convention, a gaming meetup, an online space or do any other of the admin or scutwork that enables others to play roleplaying games. ### Richard’s story (10:45) [Concrete Cow](https://www.mk-rpg.org.uk/Concrete_Cow) [London Indiemeet](https://www.meetup.com/London-Indie-RPG-Meetup-Group/) Here's Richard's [director blog](https://www.kdctheatre.com/category/spring-2016/dreaming-on-a-midsummers-night/) and [cast interviews](https://www.kdctheatre.com/category/spring-2016/dreaming-on-a-midsummers-night/page/2/) from the improvised show he did based on a game. ### Storytelling games (20:10) ### The Indie RPG Pipeline (24:05) Richard created the [Indie RPG Pipeli

### The RPG community in Australia (2:20) ### Storybreweres (4:00) [Storybrewers](https://storybrewersroleplaying.com/) [The free mini-games](https://storybrewersroleplaying.com/freegames/) ### Game design (9:00) ### Good Society (16:00) [Buy Good Society!](https://storybrewersroleplaying.com/good-society/) ### Alas For the Awful Sea (34:30) ### Next project? (47:00) Sports anime! YAY! ### Summary (49:25) ### Taking the Load Off (50:50) Eran: [Austentatious](http://www.austentatiousimpro.com/) Vee: [Girl Underground](https://girlunderground.org/) Hayley: [Alienor](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/145553/Alienor) Uri: Fate is so amazingly flexible.

### Who's Ed? (1:30) ### Era: lyres (7:30) [Now on Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/make100-era-lyres-definitive-edition) [Shades of Vengeance](https://www.shadesofvengeance.com/) ### Era: The Consortium (20:05) ### The Era community (25:20) [Facebook group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/erad10games/) [Discord server](https://discord.gg/6C4H9Cv) ### Kickstarting (30:45) ### Comics (33:50) ### UK conventions gaming community (40:30) [Contingency](http://www.con-tingency.uk/) ### Summary (50:20) What’s coming next for Era? ### Taking the Load off (54:30) Ed - [Nibiru](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1459616119/nibiru-a-science-fiction-rpg-of-lost-memories) Uri - [The ABC of D&D](https://www.bookdepository.com/ABCs-D-d-Dungeons-Dragons-Childrens-Book-Ivan-Van-Norman/9780786966660 ) and [The 123 of D&D](https://www.bookdepository.com/123s-D-d-Dungeons-Dragons-Childrens-Book-Ivan-Van-Norman/9780786966684) Eran - Had a chance to read about [Spring-heel

This episode is about creating interesting characters, it is very much relevant to GMs and players alike. ### What’s a villain (2:25) The difference between “a villain” and “the villain” and when to promote an NPC. ### Character prompts (4:25) * The villain got to where they are today somehow - how did this happen? Rags to riches? Hard work? The rise and fall? Hubris of the mighty? * The villain has their own sources of power - what is it? Is it their own abilities? Is it an organization? Is it a magical power? A specific associate? A network of spies? * The villain has contacts - who are they? * There are people that believe in them - who are they? Why do they believe in them? How did they earn their trust? * There are people who are afraid of them- what did they do? * There are people who hate them - why? * There are people who love them - who are these people? What do they love about our villain? * The villain has something that motivates them - what is it? What do they want to achieve? why? * [Mar

[Class Close-up: Cleric](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/36b2cb69bbed4c/) (episode 43) ### What is a class? (1:50) A place in the world (a “job”), a role in the party, and mechanics to match. “Relationship”, the main *connection* that the class is about, what their personal conflicts usually revolve around. ### Classes as relationships (3:30) > Barbarian: Their own emotions > Bard: The audience > Cleric: The divine > Druid: Nature > Fighter: Prowess > Monk: Discipline > Paladin: Duty > Ranger: Surviva--- I mean, environment > Rogue: The situation > Sorcerer: Their lineage > Warlock: Their patron > Wizard: Power ### What can we do with this? (24:00) It simultaneously lets you see the main focus of a class while at the same time exploring ways to enhance or expand on the basic idea. * Deepen - Create a more meaningful relationship * Sideways - Create new relationships, with things that are related to the topic or surround it * Opposition Create new relationships with opposing topics/concepts *

### Eran Arbel's email (2:10) > Dear Dwarves Under the Mountain, > I thought this could be an interesting topic for an episode: Who is an adventurer? > RPG narratives, especially D&D and other popular fantasy escapades, follow a troupe of adventurers as they go about... adventuring. They usually detail what the characters did before they decided to embark on a life of "adventure" and what lead to the change in their lifestyle. Sometimes these narratives even reflect other people's attitude towards adventurers, but this is usually left in the background. > Mostly, adventurers are considered a special lot, a unique breed, and, usually, there will be only one, maybe two active groups in the story as these are our heroes -- and, maybe, their antagonists. So, if adventurers are so special, what drives them? What makes people avoid them? Why most people aren't? Why do adventurers retire? What are the assumptions inherent in an adventuring life? What is an adventurer after they capped their abilities and sav

### Work on your character (3:30) Here are a dozen development ideas that might help: 1. What is your strongest childhood memory? 2. Describe one event that you're ashamed of. 3. Who was your best friend when you were younger? 4. Describe one feature of the prettiest person you’ve ever seen. 5. Describe the worst failure you’ve had in your field of expertise. 6. Who among the party doesn’t know how you really think about them. 7. Name one attribute about you that your parent really liked. 8. Who is it that you miss the most. 9. What is something that you wish you hadn't forgotten? 10. Who would you want to hold your hand when you die. 11. What is your favourite colour and why? 12. What scares you the most? ### Work on your group (7:40) Think about improvements you can provide for your game. ### Think of something awesome (12:05) Something that someone else did during one of your last sessions. Tell them thanks! ----- Email us at show@dwarfcast.net with questions, topic suggestions, and comments on th

**The second episode of Forging Ahead with Aviv Manoach, a show about tabletop roleplaying games where Aviv discusses the shenanigans of his home group and prepare their next adventures. Aviv and his group are playing Wonders: Heroes of Tomorrow, the Hebrew adaptation for Masks: a New Generation, in a world were superpowered people are a new phenomenon.** You can join live each week on [twitch.tv/iceldotme](http://www.twitch.tv/iceldotme), or subscribe to the podcast's audio on [dwarfcast.net](http://www.dwarfcast.net). ## Previously on... Four days later, its Friday night and the team set to the Titania to infiltrate their Wonders fight club, with Amraphel acting as one of the participants. While Flying Fist and Seabreeze decide to scout the area from the roof, Oron takes a position at the entrance, looking for a weak mind he could connect with to check the club's interior. Oron spots Hexen, the woman the team encountered earlier on the week, that searches for the Tablet of Anat. He also finds some teen

The Crystal Heart webcomic can be found [here](http://www.uptofourplayers.com/) ([read from the beginning](https://www.uptofourplayers.com/comic/1-campaign-pitch/)) The Kickstarer is [right here](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1036008825/crystal-heart-a-colourful-setting-for-savage-world). ### How is Crystal Heart different? ### Why Savage Worlds? (10:30) ### How the Sysem supports the gaming experience we're aiming for (13:40) ### Kickstarter reactions and feedback (21:40) [Our Discord](https://discord.gg/mcU5VdF) ### What was the moment you realised you have something awesome? (30:55) [Odyssey](https://www.enginepublishing.com/odyssey-the-complete-game-masters-guide-to-campaign-management) ### What we are doing after this (33:35) ### Summary 37:40 [@AvivOr](https://twitter.com/AvivOr), [@nnesk](https://twitter.com/nnesk), [@UriLifshitz](https://twitter.com/UriLifshitz) ----- Email us at show@dwarfcast.net with questions, topic suggestions, and comments on this episode. [Our Facebook group]