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News and promotion.

POINT 1
The next episode of The Crusading Couch is going to deal with letting go of characters and campaigns. We’ll be looking at ways of coping with character death, the right moment to end a story (be it a characters, or a campaigns), and a bunch of alternative ways of approaching these topics.

If there is anything you think we should talk about in this topic, please leave us a comment or drop us an email. Hell, if there is anything you’d like to share with us; please drop us a line. You can find our contact info on our about page.

POINT 2
We are just getting started here at [IQH] and we’d love to keep on doing it for years to come. Part of what will make that possible is sharing links to our site, passing around our posts, and helping people find our content. WITH THAT IN MIND: when we get to 100 likes on our Facebook page (or 100 subscribers on WordPress, which ever comes first) Raymond will run a one shot game where you, the Listeners, choose the setting/theme. You want robot alien noir, set in a post World War II Germany; baby, we will make that happen. So PLEASE like, comment, and most importantly SHARE our post.

Farewell from the past, I’m Raymond.

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technical difficulties.

i was meant to realse the first episode of our Arcanum Quest game today, which is an adaptation of the video game Arcanum: of steamworks and Magick Obscura. UNFORTUNATELY; there was a stuff up with the audio editing software. so i’m going to release it in a couple of weeks time.

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game mechanics and tone

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ44hVeVdEw&w=560&h=315]

the above is a video from extra credit that touches on some things kim and i have been talking about a lot lately. the idea that game systems are best suited to certain stories, and they also effect the tone of the game. something they don’t really bring up (because extra credit is more focused on video games, and game design in that industry) is the idea of informing your players of the kind of tone and game you are running, and how that actually helps you build that tone. it’s something i’d like to talk about on crusading couch in the future.

speaking of; the new episode should be up tonight.

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the crusading couch; upcoming episodes

our next episode of the crusading couch is going to be titled: “what makes a good player?” i wanted to give the listeners an opportunity to make suggestions in advance of the recording, hence this post.

well be looking at what makes a good player in the eyes of the GM, as well as the view of another player. players might look for someone that doesn’t hog the spot light, where as a GM might be more concerned about whether his players read the setting material.

another episode coming up in the future will deal with the topic of letting go of campaigns and characters. this will focus on campaigns that drag on needlessly. as well as players that port their characters across editions, campaigns, settings, and genres. we have yet to set a date for when we will record that one but it is on the short list.

the next episode(what makes a good player) will be recorded on the 12th of December, so get your suggestions in before then.

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a brief explanation of [insert quest here]

this is our first post. I’m just gonna jump right into…oh also, i will use irregular Australian spelling at times. i will make accidental errors in grammar.

i came up with the idea of make a role playing actual play blog after being inspired by Role Playing Public Radio. and so in june(i think) of 2014 i started recording the role playing games i was running. i wanted to share the stories told around the table(although my group very rarely actually gathers round a table). often the stories we weave as players of RPG’s fade into the gloom, summoned back in passing discussions of long over sessions. i know some people have blogged/written journals about their campaigns, i know one player that is trying to convert a campaign they played in into a novel of sorts; which is all great. I on the other hand, am quite lazy. i crave immediate satisfaction. which is why i have chosen this method of recording.

personally i love listening to podcasts while i play a video game or build miniatures. it helps keep me from getting bored or distracted. it also makes my day feel more…efficient? it’s not the right word but it will do. i HATE sleeping i feel like i’m wasting a gigantic chunk of time. in that same vain podcasts are a medium i can enjoy while doing something else, it doesn’t require as much focus as a tv show or book. you can get to a pretty zen like place digging coal in Minecraft while listening to people start revolutions in fantasy china.

something i haven’t yet mention is WHY i started listening to table top actual plays. i fucking LOVE role playing games. not to toot my own horn, but of all my close friends, i’m probably the biggest RPG nerd we have. and we all play RPGs pretty heavily. when i say i’m a big RPG nerd what i mean is i am super passionate about it as a hobby. not just playing the games but understanding the complexity of the storytelling aspect of it, creating complex and interesting characters, building tension, understanding mood. but also like learning about new systems and settings, i’m not keen on rules mastery i dislike mechanical power gaming and rules lawyering. i’ve found the more systems you know, the easier it is to pick up and learn new ones. by far the thing i love most about reading table top rpg books is the setting material. pride myself on my world building in games(and the odd story i’ve written) and i love reading about little community hidden in fictional cities, and the cultures within it speaks to the explorer in me, as well as the historian i suppose.

OH MY i rambled a bit there. SO i wanted to play more games than i could, my friends had fuller calendars than i did, so i started listening to others play, and filled a hole in my day. it allowed me to enjoy role playing in a different way. what I’m hoping(hopping?) to do is entertain you with role playing games. most of our games go for 4 hours, but you don’t have to listen to it all in one sitting.

our first actual play recording should go up later this week, with something being posted every week for as long as we run this site.

farewell from the past, i’m Raymond.