Episodes
Tuesday Apr 14, 2020
Episode 175 - Neutral Evil
Tuesday Apr 14, 2020
Tuesday Apr 14, 2020
The hosts are all here for this one, and we kick off with a discussion of our games, which are generally going quite well, and a bit about the homeschooling of Grant's kids during the pandemic lockdown.
The Patreon question this episode comes from Paige Lowe, who asks " How have your games changed as you've matured as a DM/player?" That produces about the amount of introspection and analysis as you've come to expect from us. We've actually grown quite a a lot, as it turns out.
From there we move into scripture and our main topic: neutral evil, the alignment of undiluted, undistracted, pure, banal evil. It took six episodes to get here, but we've finally found an alignment description in the 2e rules we can mostly agree with! The alignment itself isn't all that interesting, but that doesn't mean you can't use it as an effective tool for making villains with interesting narrative roles and story effects, and much like we did with Lawful Evil, we break those down into archetypes.
Scripture: Leviticus 20: 1-5, Job 21: 17-21, Luke 8: 26-31
Tuesday Mar 31, 2020
Episode 174 - True Neutral (Alignments 5)
Tuesday Mar 31, 2020
Tuesday Mar 31, 2020
We're back to our usual release schedule and episode progression this week for True Neutral.
The discussion kicks off with the obligatory nod to COVID-19 (wash your hands!) and a nod back to our "emergency bonus" episode and blog post about remote gaming. There's a bit of discussion about how that's proceeding and then we get to our Patreon question where Brian Ray asks " What improvised weapon would you most likely use to thrash a slaver?"
That's a question with a story that goes with it, but once that's told, we move into our scripture and into our main topic: True Neutral. As it turns out, there not a ton to say about an alignment that's defined by what it is not, but we do get some good discussion in around balance keepers, film noir protagonists, and the problematic way that horseshoe theory sometimes gets applied to good and evil in fantasy.
Scripture: Proverbs 15:19, 1 John 3: 17-18, Revelation 3: 15-18
Tuesday Mar 24, 2020
Bonus Episode 20 - Online Gaming
Tuesday Mar 24, 2020
Tuesday Mar 24, 2020
As promised, this is our "emergency bonus episode" about remote gaming. It's edited much more roughly than normal but as we say in the episode, turnaround was our top priority for this one. In the episode, we referenced a blog post that I posted yesterday. That is here for easy cross-referencing.
Scripture: Numbers 6:24-26 , Isaiah 40:30-31 (ESV), Galatians 6:2
Tuesday Mar 17, 2020
Episode 173 - Grant and Peter Brainstorm
Tuesday Mar 17, 2020
Tuesday Mar 17, 2020
With Jenny out due to travel, Grant and Peter return temporarily to the days when it was just the two of them on the podcast and do something they haven't done on air before, or at least for quite a while: brainstorm about one specific game, namely the campaign Peter is running on Sundays.
We kick off with a surprising amount of news. Kittens are getting fixed, an important friend of Peter's who got him involved with the local food pantry has recently passed, and both Grant and Peter have been reading a lot of Robert E. Howard lately (link goes to public domain works of Howard at Project Gutenberg). That conversation lasts longer than usual and leads into the Patreon question where Joseph Linardon asks "With a Pathfinder/D&D setting in mind, what kind of hero would you want to be? Alignment, class, goals, however y'all would want to answer, I'm sure it would be interesting however you each decide to come up with an answer ."
The main topic discussion is a fruitful and lengthy one and illustrates beautifully why GMs should bounce ideas off of one another probably significantly more than they do. Grant and Peter have both enjoyed playing in the other's games, but they have different styles, priorities, and perspectives as GMs, and that takes the conversation to some fascinating places. Note to Peter's players: feel free to listen. This is more "setting book" stuff.
Scripture: Genesis 11:1-9, Titus 2:11
Tuesday Mar 03, 2020
Episode 172 - Neutral Good (Alignments 4)
Tuesday Mar 03, 2020
Tuesday Mar 03, 2020
With Grant and Jenny back from their respective ordeals, it's time to continue our alignment series!
We start off with a quick catch-up session (thanks again Ashley and Derek for filling in!) but there's not a lot of note in our lives since the last episode we were on together (or at least, not that's relevant to the podcast).
The Patreon question this episode comes to us from Paige Lowe who asks " In an alternate reality where you found something else *instead* of RPGs, what is your creative outlet?"
That leads to some heavy thinking - and the general conclusion that we're glad to be in this timeline, hobby-wise.
From there we move into our scripture and our main topic of the Neutral Good alignment. This is the point where, in our opinion, the 2e alignment summaries really start to jump the tracks a bit. It is, however, generally pleasant to talk about good people doing good things for good reasons, which is at the core of the NG alignment. Along the way we rope in Spider-Man, the Hippocratic Oath, and the Belmont Report.
Scripture: Leviticus 9:17-18, Isaiah 1: 16-18, 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7, Galatians 5: 22-26
Wednesday Feb 19, 2020
Episode 171 - Vanquishing Evil (With Ashley Mowers and Derek White)
Wednesday Feb 19, 2020
Wednesday Feb 19, 2020
This week's episode is a little different in multiple ways. With Grant out with illness and Jenny out with bureaucracy, Peter is joined by Ashley Mowers from Min/Max and Derek White from The Dungeon Pastors (this is the first episode of drawing on a larger hosting pool like was mentioned back in November). We went through the usual check-in and random Patreon Question - this time was David Hastings asking "Which Disney princess would you want to GM a game for you? As a GM, which would you want to be one of your players?" From there, we read our scripture and launched into our main topic, which, as it turns out, is a doozy.
The topic for this episode is a question posed to us by longtime Patreon Backer Joseph Linardon as a custom reward. Thank you, Joseph, for your continued generous support and a really meaty episode topic: ”I've thought up a topic after reading Psalm 92. Is killing evil in tabletop gaming inherently bad or wrong? After reading, I feel as though that is not the case. I believe that God wants to vanquish evil; be that by converting, re-devoting, purging through death, or really whatever creative ways my small scope can't imagine.”
We tried something a little different this time and backed way off the outline. The result was a a less structured but very emotionally-honest and vulnerable episode. If you like our more theological episodes and/or a more conversational approach, this will probably be a favorite.
Scripture (in order of appearance in the episode): Genesis 6:5-6 , Genesis 19: 23-26, Psalm 92: 9-11, Proverbs 25:21-22, Matthew 5:43-48, Ezekiel 33:11, Matthew 13:24-29, Isaiah 2:4
Tuesday Feb 04, 2020
STG 170 - Pre-Game Tools (With Kimi Hughes)
Tuesday Feb 04, 2020
Tuesday Feb 04, 2020
In this episode, we welcome back Kimi from Golden Lasso Games to talk about pre-game tools. We last spoke to Kimi in our mammoth two-parter on fitness back in episode 103 part 1 and part 2, and this time she's here alone rather than part of what was (at the time) the single largest number of people on one of our episodes.
We start off with the usual check-in and move from there to our Patreon question where David Hastings asks " What is your favorite thing to cook?" We narrowly escape a second trip down the rabbit hole that is talking about chili and move from there to our scripture and into our main discussion about pre-game tools. One of the first things that comes up is that such tools are rare, and are usually repurposed full games in their own right. The concept of using games such as Microscope to build a world collaboratively before playing in it has been out there for a while, but Kimi's new project Decuma is designed to be used in that role from the ground up.
Also Referenced in this episode: Decuma Actual Play Recording, A History of the Tarot Deck, and a really extensive use of pre-game tools.
Scripture: Genesis 1:1-2, Proverbs 15:22, Philippians 2:1-4
Tuesday Jan 21, 2020
STG 169 - Old Age And Retirement
Tuesday Jan 21, 2020
Tuesday Jan 21, 2020
With the first batch of three from our ongoing alignments series concluded, we're back to normal topics for at least a few episodes. And this week, we have one that was selected - in a landslide - by our Patreon backers: Old Age and Retirement.
We start off with our usual check-in and discuss our ongoing games and Grant's newfound interest in knitting, and then move into our Patreon question where John and Ginny Swann ask us "Have you ever had to deal with any real blasphemy during a game?"
As you'd probably expect by this point, we take some time answering that, getting into some digressions along the way. While our answers basically come down to "no," there are some significant caveats to that answer. After our scripture, we launch into our main topic, discussing old age and retirement as they apply to PCs and NPCs, from the GM's side, and the player's. Along the way, we talk about our previous episode on resurrection magic, John Scalzi's Old Man's War, one of Peter's recent blog posts about injury, World Anvil, and one of Peter's favorite DM's Guild products that contains rules for heroes of different ages.
Scripture: Genesis 25:8, Proverbs 16: 31-32, Luke 2:36-38
Tuesday Jan 07, 2020
STG 168 - Lawful Evil (Alignments 3)
Tuesday Jan 07, 2020
Tuesday Jan 07, 2020
With the holidays over, we're back to our normal episode format, and in this one we wrap up the first batch of 3 from our alignment series with Lawful Evil.
We start off with a brief holiday check-in and run down some interesting gifts we received and gave. (Guess which one of us unironically gave someone a rock for Christmas!)
The Patreon question this episode comes from Chris Bissel who asks a three-part food-related question: "What do you like to put on hot dogs? What is the weirdest thing you've had on a hot dog? Where is the best hot dog you've ever tasted?"
After answering that and also digressing mightily as is our custom, we settle into our main topic: lawful evil. Lawful Evil is one of the most useful and versatile alignments for villains, and we talk about a lot of them, including Deathsronke, Bane and Lex Luthor from DC, and Thanos, Dr. Doom, and Magneto from Marvel. We didn't have a lot of disagreement this time, but it's a veritable flood of information.
Scripture: Judges 6:1-6, Matthew 27:1-8, 1 John 4:13-18
Monday Dec 23, 2019
STG Bonus 19 - "A Room with a View" (by Rev. Bob Lawrence)
Monday Dec 23, 2019
Monday Dec 23, 2019
In keeping with tradition—sort of—Grant presents a very special Christmas bonus episode: A reading of a unique sermon given on Christmas Day, 1986, by Rev. Bob Lawrence of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Greenville, SC. You can find previous sermons in this series here!
Merry Christmas, from all of us to all of you.
Music: "Er Is Een Kindeke Geboren Op Aard", by Ben DeVries.
Scripture: Isaiah 40:9-11, Luke 2:1-13