Ep 06: Worldbuilding with Eli Barraza

Thank you all for a wild first season! There have been some wonderful folks on this show, and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Such excellent advice in this season, and I hope that this season can be a fun source of assistance for anyone that's looking to start something new. You're ideas are gold, you're not silly or embarrassing, and remember to be nice to yourself!  Next season we'll dive into Applied RPGs; using TTRPGs in education, social development, and therapy. I've already begun the research for it, and it looks like it's going to be a wild ride! Did you know that there's a game that teaches you American and British Sign Language?! WHAAAAT?! I'm so excited for discussions about that and other exciting stuff out there. 

The hosts of Booklandia, Sky and Ford, join me this week for a playthrough of Monsterhearts 2e by Avery Alder. Ford has played a little bit but still considers themself a new player, and Sky has never been around this hobby at all. So special thanks to them for taking the plunge with me! I have also never run a Powered by the Apocalypse game, and romance games are not really my thing. But Romance IS Booklandia's thing, so we give it a whirl. We played a one-shot that took about 3 hours to play and about 2 hours to create characters and set up our classroom (it's a monsterhearts thing). Special note: This is not an actual play podcast, nor is it about the game Monsterhearts (or any other game). So the formatting of this episode is a little weird. The first part focuses on how we feel before playing, and voicing the things we are nervous about. The second half is immediately following the game and we discuss how it went and if/how our feelings have changed. Keep in mind that this is after only 5 hours of play! Getting into character and really getting comfortable with game mechanics and tone can sometimes take several sessions. We call out problems we had with those things, but there is no real expectation for us to have mastered them already.

Chris and I talk about his first time getting into the GM's seat. We go over the concerns he had, his goals, and tactics he used to overcome obstacles. If you're going to start running a game, listen to Chris' experience. I also talk a LOT in this episode. So sorry. I like dissecting game strategies and I couldn't help myself. Check out Chris' twitch page at https://www.twitch.tv/robodessert for some wholesome variety streaming. Honestly, the community over there is so wonderful and uplifting. If you've got the time, check him out Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from High Noon to 4pm Pacific Time. 

Aaron Catano-Saez: Vocal Coach, Musician, Twitch Streamer, and Podcaster Extraordinaire! Aaron and I spend a great morning together talking about his worldbuilding podcast, All My Fantasy Children, and his role as Cici Witwick on Skyjack's: Courier's Call. If you're anxious about playing your character, being creative, or running a compelling game, listen to what Aaron has to say here. He's got some phenomenal advice! I had such a fun time with Aaron on this one, and I think you're going to love it. Be kind to yourself! You can find Aaron on twitter @aaroncatanosaez, or you can visit www.aaroncatano-saez.com to find his website and hire him for voice over work or vocal coaching. And you can listen to his podcasts, All My Fantasy Children and Skyjacks: Courier's Call, both on the One Shot Podcast Network. 

Two winners of the Iron GM competition at Gencon, Jill and Alan, come on the show to talk about new player friendly games, advocating for yourself, running a fun game, and lightsabers! You can find more of Alan at https://sabermartialarts.life and Jill can be found at https://tokotna.com and https://www.deviantart.com/tokotas where they play an RPG through art, which is super rad! Thanks, Andre, for introducing us! 

Surrealist, artist, graphic designer, engineer, and web designer all in one creative powerhouse! Momatoes joins me to discuss their games, including their kickstarter for their latest called ARC DOOM TABLETOP RPG (go here and back it before July 1st! : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/exaltedfuneral/arc-doom-tabletop-rpg) We talk about community outreach, trusting your team with creative control, and (of course) Capybaras! We also discuss across-rpgsea.com, which is a place where Southeast Asian game designers from around the globe can post their games. It's also a hashtag on social media that you can follow to keep up with Southeast Asian game designers and their games. #rpgsea. So if you're interested in game design, or are curious how games get made, this is the episode for you!

Check this out! We got to talk to the prolific Carnelian King! I'm so stoked because they are just so thoughtful and knowledgeable. We talk about LARPs, virtual tabletops, and I also learned off mic that we share a love for the books of Mark Z. Danielewski, which, if you know, is excellent. You can find them on the socials at mischief_nerd on Twitter and Instagram. The pandemic has pushed a lot of games into virtual meeting spaces. Check this episode out as we explore what that means, and what a Virtual Tabletop (VTT) can do to help your game get even better. 

Taylor and I dive into the world of safety tools for RPGs, and tactics for speaking out if your game gets into an uncomfortable place. There are a lot of amazing safety tools out there and I can't encourage you to use them enough. A great place to start is The X-Card, Lines and Veils, Script Change, and the Consent in Gaming by Shanna Germain and Sean K. Reynolds over at Monte Cook Games. It's a great and free resource you can get here: https://www.montecookgames.com/store/product/consent-in-gaming/ Safety Tools for gaming are super liberating. Talk about your comfort zones and you won't have to stop and start as much. You can avoid bad situations before they start. This establishes a game that's fun through and through. 

Eli Barraza and I talk about Worldbuilding, Eli's background in games and how she got into the hobby, and her podcast, the amazing The Far Meridian podcast. You can find her on Twitter @elilizzielizbet. 

Our guest, Jack Heart, is a veteran GM and player of all sorts of TTRPGs (Table Top Role Playing Games) and he's here to share his thoughts on how to overcome the anxiety of all those pages of setting and rules. We also get into what it's like to play with ADD, GMing strategies to keep your players focused, and a really great Discord channel called Wanderers' Rest. Seriously, I've poked around a little bit since we recorded and that place is wonderful! What a great community of friendly gamers! Kudos to Jack Heart for moderating that channel. If you're looking for a welcoming place to talk about or learn about these games, it's great!