Did you used to play roleplaying games back in the day, delving dungeons with funny dice in hand? Why’d you stop? Find out how to reclaim your RPG hobby as a wo...
As the year turns from 2024 into 2025, I decided to invite Grail Knight Patron and regular caller Jason Wiebe to come and have a chat on air. The topic was broadly, “Becoming a Game Master” and based on the notion that Wiebe has been struggling his way to the GM’s chair over many years and finally feels he has a handle on what it all entails. For my part, I was curious to find out what he had to say.Jason is a long-time listener and Patron to Roleplay Rescue. Hailing from Montreal, Canada, he’s someone I’ve played with a fair bit over the past year or so and we’ve become solid friends. We hopped on to Zoom just prior to playing a game in Fellmyr and I simply pressed “Record”. Jason agreed to share the resulting conversation uncut. Here’s hoping it’s as interesting and enlightening for you as it was for me - we certainly exchanged a few emerging ideas that I didn’t expect. As it turns out, Wiebe had a whole list of ideas about being a great GM.Thanks to Wiebe for coming on the show!Game on!Roleplay Rescue Details:Voice Message:speakpipe.com/roleplayrescuePatreon:patreon.com/rpgrescue Email:[email protected] Bluesky Social:https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.socialMeWe:https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescueRoleplay Rescue Theme by Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore:https://taleofthemanticore.podbean.com/Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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1:08:32
Tiny Roleplay with Frank T
This episode is a pitch for building a tiny roleplay habit using 30-minute sessions and one-on-one play with the rules behind the GM’s screen. The idea, taken from solo play, is to gather more often for shorter periods. In busy lives, dropping online to play for 30 minutes is much easier to schedule. This is viable because RPGs work best on the accumulation of play over many sessions. One-on-one places the player’s focus on just their own character’s perspective. If we blend this with the desire for Otherworld-immersion, we can marry the character and player perspective in a powerful manner. Rules opacity is also easier for the GM to handle because there is only one PC sheet.Big thanks to Frank T for running this Tiny Roleplay experiment and allowing me to share the session recordings.Game on!Roleplay Rescue Details:Voice Message:speakpipe.com/roleplayrescuePatreon:patreon.com/rpgrescue Email:[email protected] Bluesky Social:https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.socialMeWe:https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescueRoleplay Rescue Theme by Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore:https://taleofthemanticore.podbean.com/Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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33:40
The Most Important Game Mechanism
The most important game mechanism is, of course, the Game Master of a roleplaying game. Roleplaying games are all about making choices as-if you are your character and then seeing what happens as a consequence. This week the Angry GM gave me a long-overdue kick up the butt when I read an article on his blog. This episode is a response to that kick up the butt. Big thanks to the Angry GM for his book and blog - I hope he won't mind the extensive quotation from them. Thanks to Frank T for calling in! Game on!The Angry GM's article: A Campaign Manager’s Guide to Selfishness | The Angry GMOR https://theangrygm.com/a-campaign-managers-guide-to-selfishness/The Angry GM's book in his Shop:https://angry.games/shop/ols/products/game-angry-how-to-rpg-the-angry-wayRoleplay Rescue Details:Voice Message:speakpipe.com/roleplayrescuePatreon:patreon.com/rpgrescue Email:[email protected] Bluesky Social:https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.socialMeWe:https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescueRoleplay Rescue Theme by Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore:https://taleofthemanticore.podbean.com/Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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19:31
Towards Full Rules Opacity
What happens if we lean in hard to the Roleplay in roleplaying game? What if we take away the elements which distract from the enjoyment of being in-character, as-character, in a fantastic world? The first move is to start caring more about the fantastic Otherworld. The second is to push for greater Rules Opacity.Thanks to Jason Wiebe for calling in once again. Game on!Roleplay Rescue Details:Voice Message:speakpipe.com/roleplayrescuePatreon:patreon.com/rpgrescue Email:[email protected] Bluesky Social:https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.socialMeWe:https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescueRoleplay Rescue Theme by Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore:https://taleofthemanticore.podbean.com/Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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33:58
Recovering Purpose and Agency
Why do I spend so much of my time drifting from game to game, system to system, and between diverse imaginary worlds? Why do I find it hard to settle on a game and make it come alive? Am I doomed to roam for the remainder of my life never quite experiencing the games I want to enjoy?I’ve been adrift in the hobby for a long, long time. And then something clicked. That click was a simple question: What’s it for? The answer is simple: the RPGs that I want to play are first and foremost vehicles for agency. But, as with all answers to the basic question, “What’s it for?” there is a need to ask that question at the second level too: what’s this particular game - the campaign I am currently cooking up - what’s that for? And that is the question that I need to start asking when I build my next RPG experience for my players.Thanks to Jason Wiebe for calling in once again. Game on!Roleplay Rescue Details:Voice Message:speakpipe.com/roleplayrescuePatreon:patreon.com/rpgrescue Email:[email protected] Bluesky Social:https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.socialMeWe:https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescueRoleplay Rescue Theme by Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore:https://taleofthemanticore.podbean.com/Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Did you used to play roleplaying games back in the day, delving dungeons with funny dice in hand? Why’d you stop? Find out how to reclaim your RPG hobby as a working adult. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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