Author: Mike Perna

Episode 122 – Battered Group Syndrome, Part 2

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As promised in Episode 120, we’re tackling “battered group syndrome” in this episode and the next! Yes, it’s a two-parter, because we had so much to say on this topic we couldn’t keep the conversation short enough for a single episode. We lead off with two quick plugs: One for Grant’s appearance on the Gameable Saturday Morning Podcast to talk about Exo Squad (Part 1, Part 2, and the horror of a Gameable AU involving Palladium’s Ninjas & Superspi […]

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Episode 121 – Battered Group Syndrome, Part 1

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As promised in Episode 120, we’re tackling “battered group syndrome” in this episode and the next! Yes, it’s a two-parter, because we had so much to say on this topic we couldn’t keep the conversation short enough for a single episode. We lead off with two quick plugs: One for Grant’s appearance on the Gameable Saturday Morning Podcast to talk about Exo Squad (Part 1, Part 2, and the horror of a Gameable AU involving Palladium’s Ninjas & Superspies); and one for

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Episode 120 – Six Clickbaity GMing Traditions We Need To Stop

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We’re back with our angriest, most rant-filled episode yet! Well, not really—but there’s a lot of passion in this episode, because we’re talking about GMing traditions the gaming community still seems to support despite being destructive, uncomfortable, and simply wrong. First, though, we’ve got a question from Patreon backer Paige Lowe about how blatantly one should steal from other media when planning a game. After that, we tackle our Scripture as usual before diving into six common behaviors we still see: Adversarial GMing; monopolizing narrative control; turning exceptional successes into failures; misunderstanding metagaming; harming characters to punish players; and creating in-game penalties for missed gaming sessions.

Also: Grant was recently on the Gameable […]

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Tale #18 – Daddy’s Little Snowflake

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You’ve probably seen it if you find yourself on any form of social media. Somebody shares their hurts, frustrations, or expectations and they get called a “snowflake.” Well – I’m here as one of those snowflakes, and I’m gonna tell you some stories from my life that remind me that… Continue reading

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Indulgent Themes

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I grew up playing trick-taking games. Hearts, Spades, or the occasional round of Rook. They got my whole family to the table, sure, but what for? I was a kid. The idea of playing cards with numbers on them bigger than the other players’ numbers was hardly a thrilling concept.… Continue reading

Bonus Episode 11 – Save Against Fear 2017 Con Report

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Jenny and her mother Shannon (of STG 10 fame!) deliver an after-action report on Save Against Fear 2017, held Oct. 13-15 in Harrisburg, PA! Everyone had a great time, and the con was exceptionally well-run and definitely worth attending next year.

Some specific shoutouts: First, to our former co-host Branden, who was in attendance and ran a fantastic Mistborn game! Also to the Harrisburg Mall for providing an excellent con space; Harrisburg University’s game design program; and of course to The Bodhana Group[…]

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Empires Over Engines

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There is a bleak beauty that runs throughout the artwork in Scythe. Artist Jakub Rozalski does an amazing job of world building in his images of hulking mechs lumbering in the distance as poor farmers toil in the fields in the foreground. It’s an alternate history where black smoke chugs… Continue reading

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Tale #17 – The Blind Man

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Not technically part of my recently concluded “Lesser Known Characters of the Bible” series – The man known only as ‘The Man Born Blind’ seemed like a good transition back to business as usual. There isn’t much to know about the guy, but there are few folks I think about more than… Continue reading

Episode 119 – Gaming Evangelism (with Gospel and Gaming)

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Peter and Jenny have two special guests this week: Jacob Toman and Michael Mendis from Gospel & Gaming! Gospel & Gaming is, in their own words, “a ministry dedicated to sharing the love and Gospel of Jesus Christ with gamers all over the world.” Jacob and Michael did a great job representing them, explaining their mission in online gaming communities and tabletop gaming communities alike.

We also addressed a question from Patreon backer Jim Nanban, who asked us about the coolest piece of RPG paraphernalia we each own. (As promised, there’s a picture of Peter’s dice bag right here in the show notes.) We also briefly plug our Discord channel, which is continuing to grow as a community. Then everyone settles in to talk about evangelism and how Gospel & Gaming approaches it—even to the point wher […]

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