Gaming on the Frontier

Episode 151: Holiday traditions pt 1

This our famous holiday episode.  First we discuss what we would bring to the holiday feast if we had no limits.  This is both an in and out of game discussion.  Everything from T-rex to the dish of the day is game. Then we hypothesize why there are so many mid winter traditions in our world.  We give examples and background if we have them.  Mid winter festivals and rituals are excellent additions to any rpg campaign (except dark sun, I suppose). We will conclude next week with a discussion of what the world would be like if Santa was really in charge of giving all the boys and girls their holiday presents. Happy Holiday for whatever reason you celebrate.  I hope it's the best one.

Episode 150: Take Back Earth Prime from Mellor part 1

This week we continue our exploration of taking back Earth Prime if taken over by an outside force.  We move into the middle campaign and sic the mellor on the Fringeworthy.  This is the first time we've really detailed how to use the mellor to destroy a planet and we were all surprised to find out that in a modern setting, it only takes about a month.  Wow. Jay Hailey returns as a host.  Welcome back Jay! Next week is our holiday episode so you will have to wait until the end or just into the new year to find out how to eradicate those pesky homocidal shapechangers.

Episode 149: Take Back Earth Prime from Pirates

We return to our episode "We Lost EarthPrime" and examine the possibility that Earth Prime could be recovered if it was taken by Fringe Pirates. We discuss the likely Fringe Pirate tactics, their long term plans, and what resources exist to mount against them to take back Earth Prime.

Episode 148: Playing the Monsters pt 2

We conclude our discussion on how to best play the inhuman aspects of monsters in games, especially Bureau 13.

Episode 146: We lost Earth!

This week we take a sober look at what losing your planet means to your campaign.  While this can be a campaign ender, it can also provide the fresh start you might be looking for. While we discuss this in the context of the interdimensional exploration game, Fringeworthy, this topic is germaine to almost any game and campaign.  What happens when the characters are cut off from all that they know and love?

Episode 141: Bureau 13 Training Missions Part 1

This week we begin our assignment of creating effective Bureau 13 training mission.  These are missions that are designed to evaluate some aspect of a Bureau 13 team's performance, perhaps to allow them to be given high security rating or more difficult missions.  The crucial aspect is that these are not "real" supernatural incidents, even though the supernatural may be part of the trapping of the mission or supernatural forces were used to in support of the scenario.  Each host was tasked with creating a bureau 13 training mission.  In this episode Trav and Blix present theirs. There will be a delay in the conclusion of this episode because next week is our 3rd year anniversary.  We have a special show for that.  The following week is a special Halloween episode.  So the 2nd part of this episode will drop the first Sunday in November.

Episode 140: Hatsumi Base FD 0-2 part 2

This week we finish our discussion of what was life like during the very early years after the discovery of the Fringe Portal in the antarctic. We discussion the construction of Hatsumi base,  political ramifications of the portal discovery,  contact with intelligent aliens, and contamination of Earth Prime and other worlds by unthinking actions of the early explorers and the Victorians.

Episode 139: Hatsumi Base FD 0 - 2 part 1

This week we return to our user questions.  What happened after the Fringe Portal was discovered in the Antarctic until the first expeditions ventured out onto the Fringepaths? Turns out it was a political hotbed.  We discuss the initial construction of access to the portal as well as possible alternatives to Hatsumi base as a starting point for your campaign. This is part one.  We will finish next week.  Please leave us comments and futher questions on our Facebook pages and especially a review at Itunes!

Episode 138: Time to Die?

This week we step back from the trenches and catch a load of shrapnel as we discuss Character Deaths:  When is it okay for a character to die.  What kind of deaths are meaningful.  What kind of campaigns support memorable character deaths.  We have Erik Spahr from the TravCast visiting this week as well.

Episode 136: Gencon 2012

Almost Dead from Gencon 2012!  We recorded this about 2AM on Saturday right after Savage Saturday Nights.  We ran 10 demos of Tri Tac Games this year, at least half using the Savage Worlds System, two using d20 Modern and even 2 using the original Tri Tac rules by Richard Tucholka, himself. This was the first time all the podcast hosts were physically in the same room together.