Episodes
Thursday Jul 29, 2010
Fringeworthy: The Ed Powers Story
Thursday Jul 29, 2010
Thursday Jul 29, 2010
A promo for the soon to be released Fringeworthy novel and an offer for a free proof edition at Gencon 2010.
Sunday Jul 25, 2010
Episode 33 Adventuring in the Past: Americas
Sunday Jul 25, 2010
Sunday Jul 25, 2010
Adventuring in the 5th to 11th centuries: Americas This week John Reiher takes us on a tour of ancient americas. Mayans and Mixtecs and Mound Builders, Oh my! 1:49: Exploring the New World 5th to 11th Centuries 2:03: The Mound Builders. 2:27: The Anasazi. 3:00: The Mound Builders: What we know about them. 4:00: The Mayans: the Classic period. They lived in city states, ruled by a God king. 5:02: Combat with the Meso American peoples: Combat is for the taking of prisoners. 5:45: Your place in Mayan society. 6:00: Where to find more information about the Mayan. Wikipedia, Books, lots of them! 6:35: Mayans are not peace loving mathematician astronomers. 6:56: They developed their own writing system. 7:18: Nova: Cracking the Mayan code. 8:39: Dropping a Mellor into a Mayan society. It's a smorgasbord! 10:11: Mayan God Kings were the head of a personality cult. This may have helped lead to the collapse of their cities. 10:43: The Mayans are still living in the Yucatan today. 11:36: Missionaries converted the heathens. Christianity co-ops the local traditions. 13:23: The Mayan state was a caste system. 14:00: How to work the caste system. 14:10: Dealing with the legend of Kukulcan, Queztacoatl. Mayan religion in general. 15:19: The Mayan culture is the culture of personal sacrifice. 15:47: The Mayans were into all kinds of drugs. 16:47: Trepanning for fun and profit. 18:09: Skull shaping by the Mayan. 18:28: Corn came from Southern North America or Central America. 19:12: Trade in Mayan Society. 19:48: No beasts of burden to provide labor. Guns, Germs, and Steel – [Fringeworthy GM’s read this book!] 20:26: Mayans had a very efficient agriculture that was did in by drought. 20:52: Mixtecs and Chichimecs invaded the Yucatan. 21:45: What kind of adventure to run in the Amazon. 22:04: Massive cultures in the Amazon that were wiped out by plague. 23:23: Most fertile soil in the world: Terra preta. 23:52: They would be friendly to foreigners. 24:22: Watch your step in the Mayans cities. 25:37: No Incas, but the Tiahuanaco built massive structures in the Andes. Tiwanaku – Pre-Incan Peruvians. 25:58: Chariots of the Clods. 27:02: Ancient Astronauts exist on some worlds. 27:18: The Nasca lines are being drawn. What were they for? Paths. 28:40: Having your PCs run into a Mayan raid on another Mayan city. 29:32: The different terrains that the Mayan lived in and their roads. 31:00: Fighting folks with obsidian swords. 32:01: Gas them with CS if you have the choice. 32:44: Flying over the Mayans. 33:36: Cortez didn't play by the rules.
Sunday Jul 18, 2010
Episode 32.5 How big is BIG? Pt 2
Sunday Jul 18, 2010
Sunday Jul 18, 2010
Bruce and Blix continue their discussion of how taking the time to understand how objects of huge or micro scale can greatly affect an adventure. They continue on and add the meta discussion of how big or small to make your campaign as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSY42-QTfDM&NR=1
Sunday Jul 11, 2010
Episode 32: How big is BIG?
Sunday Jul 11, 2010
Sunday Jul 11, 2010
This week Blix and Bruce discuss how differences in scale can radically change the nature of an adventure and any solutions to problems presented in the adventure. Why this is important in a science fiction game. 01:20 – Dealing with super fast speeds in space. Astronomical Unit, Speed of Light 04:10 – Saving an entire society and dealing with large scale problems. 06:30 – Dealing with the small scale. 13:20 – The scope of the adventures and campaigns. Little game time requires a small scope. Lots of games time allows for bigger scope. 18:50 – Fringe Pirate example of story arcs. 24:20 – Running one adventure after another with no big arcs. 25:50 – Know your players. Only run scopes as big as their desires.
Sunday Jul 04, 2010
Episode 31: Adventuring in the Past - Persia and India
Sunday Jul 04, 2010
Sunday Jul 04, 2010
We explore Persia and India from the 5th to the 11th century. Hop a ride with sinbad and catch the belt of Vishnu.
This one is a little fact heavy but we have provided plenty of links to everything disscussed so you can listen without taking notes. You can look everything up from the notes page later on.
Persia 01:50 – Trade in Persia Caliphate, Sunni, Shi'ah, Caliph 03:30 – Missions 04:20 – Historically accurate – the “real” ugly dirty past vs. “movie style” pristine romantic past. Sinbad, Richard Burton, 1001 Nights, Black Plague, Islamic Golden Age 08:50 – Beware the religion bomb. See Episode 7 for more info. 10:31 – Battles and Wars 11:15 – Mellors in ancient Persia 12:00 – The effect of the crusades. India 16:00 – Dynasties of ancient India. India, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam 17:45 – The role of the caste systems. 22:00 – Cultural influences on India. Alexander the Great, Khyber Pass 24:00 – Caste conflicts within the party and “on-world”. 27:20 – How are outsiders treated during this time? 29:45 – Adventure idea #1 - Plausible Deniability. 31:30 – Adventure idea #2 – Temple of Doom. Hashshashin, Thuggees, Temple of Doom 32:15 – Crypto archeology in India. Erich von Däniken, Crypto Archeology, Hinduism in the Ice Age 33:34 – Ancient Indian treasures. 34:20 – Graphic novels featuring Indian mythology. Deepak Chopra’s India Authentic, Ramayan 3392 A.D. 35:30 – Religious aspects of Hindu - Buddhism in game play.