And the Rude Crew has talked in behind-the-scenes episodes about how they LOVE when they can go, "Oh, this is the mystery episode," "Oh, this is the haunted house episode." When they can perceive the boundaries, glean the context, it frees up the part of their brain looking for story, looking for structure, and it lets them focus on playing with/off of those tropes, let's them devote more processing power to finding jokes and delivering fun vocal performances. It gives them one less plate to spin, and they actively enjoy that.
Audience members going, "Hey, that thing you all like a lot and that makes your jobs easier and more enjoyable is Bad, Actually," would be maddening
NADDPOD has also talked about this. They've mentioned multiple times that a home game, and a game recorded for distribution are two different things. Everyone is putting on a show, and while the players could go fuck off and not go where the DM is hinting, it would make for a bad episode. There's trust between the two sides, that the DM is going to provide interesting scenarios, and that the players will take those scenarios and explore them in unique and interesting ways.
even in a home game, if i presented players with a quest hook and they just said "nah fuck it we're gonna go do something else," then one of two things is going to happen:
1. I railroad the shit out of them and introduce some kinda force that leaves them with no choice but to do the fuckin' content I've prepared
2. I let them decide what they do, but unbeknownst to them it is absolutely just the content I've prepared with some serial numbers filed off
but also i would just have a discussion with them in advance about what kind of story we want to tell or what kind of adventure we wanna do so that we all start off on the same page
And the Rude Crew has talked in behind-the-scenes episodes about how they LOVE when they can go, "Oh, this is the mystery episode," "Oh, this is the haunted house episode." When they can perceive the boundaries, glean the context, it frees up the part of their brain looking for story, looking for structure, and it lets them focus on playing with/off of those tropes, let's them devote more processing power to finding jokes and delivering fun vocal performances. It gives them one less plate to spin, and they actively enjoy that.
Audience members going, "Hey, that thing you all like a lot and that makes your jobs easier and more enjoyable is Bad, Actually," would be maddening
NADDPOD has also talked about this. They've mentioned multiple times that a home game, and a game recorded for distribution are two different things. Everyone is putting on a show, and while the players could go fuck off and not go where the DM is hinting, it would make for a bad episode. There's trust between the two sides, that the DM is going to provide interesting scenarios, and that the players will take those scenarios and explore them in unique and interesting ways.
This exactly. Most times what you're hearing if you're hearing something in an AP that sounds "railroaded" is the result of the cast (players + GM) all agreeing "this is the story we're telling, and we're going to tell that story to the best of our abilities."
The other thing is, the only times I've done what I'd consider "railroading" on-mic was pretty consciously the result of a player telling me explicitly "I'm interested in reacting to a scenario you bring to the table." 9 times out of 10, if I'm bringing something to an AP game, it's the result of a player saying "I want to explore this and do this" before play, and me rolling with it. I don't think that's an uncommon AP experience, having the players pre-emptively say stuff they'd like to see happen, even if its just broad thematic "i want to make jokes and punch monsters" kinds of suggestion--which, when it happens onscreen and the player dives right into a hook, might FEEL like railroading, but is ultimately just a prenegotiated thing.
And the Rude Crew has talked in behind-the-scenes episodes about how they LOVE when they can go, "Oh, this is the mystery episode," "Oh, this is the haunted house episode." When they can perceive the boundaries, glean the context, it frees up the part of their brain looking for story, looking for structure, and it lets them focus on playing with/off of those tropes, let's them devote more processing power to finding jokes and delivering fun vocal performances. It gives them one less plate to spin, and they actively enjoy that.
Audience members going, "Hey, that thing you all like a lot and that makes your jobs easier and more enjoyable is Bad, Actually," would be maddening
NADDPOD has also talked about this. They've mentioned multiple times that a home game, and a game recorded for distribution are two different things. Everyone is putting on a show, and while the players could go fuck off and not go where the DM is hinting, it would make for a bad episode. There's trust between the two sides, that the DM is going to provide interesting scenarios, and that the players will take those scenarios and explore them in unique and interesting ways.
even in a home game, if i presented players with a quest hook and they just said "nah fuck it we're gonna go do something else," then one of two things is going to happen:
1. I railroad the shit out of them and introduce some kinda force that leaves them with no choice but to do the fuckin' content I've prepared
2. I let them decide what they do, but unbeknownst to them it is absolutely just the content I've prepared with some serial numbers filed off
but also i would just have a discussion with them in advance about what kind of story we want to tell or what kind of adventure we wanna do so that we all start off on the same page
Generally my group never gets to that point nowadays. I've adopted the technique of doing a sort of pitch document for several different adventures I'd like to run and have the players pick the thing they are interested in interacting with. Sometimes smaller choices might lead them off into one direction or the other but I time it so that they choice gets made at the end of the session or in between.
Actual plays have actually altered the way I dm a lot. I like to talk a lot with players about what they want out of a character and that tends to mean what happens isn't like, a total surprise but instead its something everybody at the table is naturally working towards.
The Rude Tales one-off where Branson DMed Vampire: The Masquerade and openly despised the rules system any time he had to interact with it was pretty, pretty good
The railroading accusation is especially weird against Rude Tales. There are now multiple mini-arcs that have been created so far because cast members decided to do a more narratively “interesting” thing instead of going where they were obviously intended to. What happens each time is that the characters resolve their arc, then they return to their grander mission that they’ve been working on since the beginning. I don’t think Branson could control this group even if he wanted to, and he very clearly doesn’t.
Running a game can be a lot of work, and running a game for a show is even more work. The people who can't really grasp that there's more planning involved in an actual play show than there is in an average home game are extremely obnoxious, because...yeah, they probably sat down and said, "hey, here's the arc I want my character to go on," or whatever, and that's not the same as "it's scripted!" It's scripted is one of my favorite complaints, because there's just...a fundamental misunderstanding as to how much time that would take
The Rude Tales one-off where Branson DMed Vampire: The Masquerade and openly despised the rules system any time he had to interact with it was pretty, pretty good
I mean, that's the right response to the actual White Wolf rules, to be fair
MaddocI'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother?Registered Userregular
Rolling a d20, telling Branson the number, and having him adjudicate based roughly on how high or low it feels is actually kind of the perfect "no rules" approach for how he actually runs a game.
It adds some level of randomness for him to work with but also throw that entire rulebook into the trash.
Running a game can be a lot of work, and running a game for a show is even more work. The people who can't really grasp that there's more planning involved in an actual play show than there is in an average home game are extremely obnoxious, because...yeah, they probably sat down and said, "hey, here's the arc I want my character to go on," or whatever, and that's not the same as "it's scripted!" It's scripted is one of my favorite complaints, because there's just...a fundamental misunderstanding as to how much time that would take
But also that's a pretty good way to run a home game too! Ask people where they want their characters to go, people!
+10
JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
Is it "inside of a gelatinous cube?" Because if so, I have fantastic news!
actually can we make this swap? is that a thing? Is there a website somewhere where you can trade necessary life chores in a way that optimizes for your particular phobias?
If not, there should be
to anyone reading, I will exchange a surf rescue of your small child for you calling my german bank to ask for a new 2-factor authorization letter.
My steak was cooked medium when I asked for medium rare; if you talk to this waiter for me, you got yourself a deal
actually can we make this swap? is that a thing? Is there a website somewhere where you can trade necessary life chores in a way that optimizes for your particular phobias?
If not, there should be
to anyone reading, I will exchange a surf rescue of your small child for you calling my german bank to ask for a new 2-factor authorization letter.
My steak was cooked medium when I asked for medium rare; if you talk to this waiter for me, you got yourself a deal
As long as the steak is still tender and juicy, who cares what color the center is.
actually can we make this swap? is that a thing? Is there a website somewhere where you can trade necessary life chores in a way that optimizes for your particular phobias?
If not, there should be
to anyone reading, I will exchange a surf rescue of your small child for you calling my german bank to ask for a new 2-factor authorization letter.
My steak was cooked medium when I asked for medium rare; if you talk to this waiter for me, you got yourself a deal
As long as the steak is still tender and juicy, who cares what color the center is.
Back when I lived in a compound with a bunch of friends, in exchange for various minor tasks I would field outbound phone calls for people for various things like setting up appointments, insurance, etc.
Jawing with strangers is fun for me but most of my friends loathe it
0
StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
I have one friend who comes over for board game nights sometimes and while we bemoan what we can order online and get delivered and whatever substitutions we might need and questions we have for an hour he'll just pick up his phone and call them at a moment's notice to get it immediately sorted out
+1
MayabirdPecking at the keyboardRegistered Userregular
I heard some of y'all can still feel happiness and stuff.
The latest episode was pretty good but honestly I'm way more excited about Oh These Those these days. The one off style allows for a much broader spectrum of absolute stupidity that is nutrients for me, specifically.
The latest episode with the Baron, a puppet mortician that makes terrible death puns and a 16 foot tall cat had me actually stop working and walk off for a second so I could catch my breath.
The tirade about taxidermying a large kid who fell asleep in a fire and posing him in a threatening manner so an insane man could put it in his house took two months off of my life I swear to god I was choking so hard.
The last Rude Tales had an ad for a podcast named Sonic Realms that has only had 40 episodes since 2017 and has a completely random upload schedule. Fair enough but I think it's a little late for advertising
The Ranged Touch fellas travel to Colorado to see an opera and stay in a hotel.
At about 45 minutes in they cut to footage of them drunk, but trying not to be drunk, while their tour guide tells them Stanley Hotel stories.
Ah I wasn't sure if this documentary was going to be only available to their $5/month Patreon backers or not. Cool of them to make it available to everyone!
Jason Mantzoukas and Scott Aukerman have been the two most recent guests on Newcomers. I really enjoyed the prior week too, with Caleb Hearon and Shelby Wolstein, they were very funny. But I think having actual comic readers really rounds it out nicely. They give great context and fill in some of the gaps when the Newcomers inevitably miss something. Nicole and Lauren usually end up liking the movie better because they can explain the stuff that was confusing and tell why they like a particular move while acknowledging its flaws.
They didn't like Civil War, though I think Jason warmed them up a little bit. They, shockingly, loved Dr. Strange. I can't figure that one out, it seemed like one of the more dense and arcane movies. But I guess they liked his real-world start and the crazy multiverse visuals. They both said they'd even rewatch it, likely with some edibles.
It also made me realize that I would really love the "Jason and Scott talk about comics" podcast they tease occasionally. I know they'll never do it though.
Yeah but I don't think they did all the old albums.
I never listened to any of it so maybe there's something I'm missing. Or maybe they also pivot out of talking RHCP on this very episode.
They covered everything in basically one long run-on sentence at the end of the Talking Heads series
yeah at some point early on in the Talking Heads pivot I basically said "yeah you can summarize most of the interesting stuff that's happened in the history of RHCP in about two minutes" and they ended up doing exactly that
I don't even particularly dislike RHCP, they're just very adequate at doing permutations on a range of sounds that they found in the '80s and made formulaic in the early '90s
Posts
PSN: Robo_Wizard1
even in a home game, if i presented players with a quest hook and they just said "nah fuck it we're gonna go do something else," then one of two things is going to happen:
1. I railroad the shit out of them and introduce some kinda force that leaves them with no choice but to do the fuckin' content I've prepared
2. I let them decide what they do, but unbeknownst to them it is absolutely just the content I've prepared with some serial numbers filed off
but also i would just have a discussion with them in advance about what kind of story we want to tell or what kind of adventure we wanna do so that we all start off on the same page
http://www.audioentropy.com/
This exactly. Most times what you're hearing if you're hearing something in an AP that sounds "railroaded" is the result of the cast (players + GM) all agreeing "this is the story we're telling, and we're going to tell that story to the best of our abilities."
The other thing is, the only times I've done what I'd consider "railroading" on-mic was pretty consciously the result of a player telling me explicitly "I'm interested in reacting to a scenario you bring to the table." 9 times out of 10, if I'm bringing something to an AP game, it's the result of a player saying "I want to explore this and do this" before play, and me rolling with it. I don't think that's an uncommon AP experience, having the players pre-emptively say stuff they'd like to see happen, even if its just broad thematic "i want to make jokes and punch monsters" kinds of suggestion--which, when it happens onscreen and the player dives right into a hook, might FEEL like railroading, but is ultimately just a prenegotiated thing.
Generally my group never gets to that point nowadays. I've adopted the technique of doing a sort of pitch document for several different adventures I'd like to run and have the players pick the thing they are interested in interacting with. Sometimes smaller choices might lead them off into one direction or the other but I time it so that they choice gets made at the end of the session or in between.
Actual plays have actually altered the way I dm a lot. I like to talk a lot with players about what they want out of a character and that tends to mean what happens isn't like, a total surprise but instead its something everybody at the table is naturally working towards.
I mean, that's the right response to the actual White Wolf rules, to be fair
It adds some level of randomness for him to work with but also throw that entire rulebook into the trash.
But also that's a pretty good way to run a home game too! Ask people where they want their characters to go, people!
No
My steak was cooked medium when I asked for medium rare; if you talk to this waiter for me, you got yourself a deal
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
As long as the steak is still tender and juicy, who cares what color the center is.
Gamertag: PrimusD | Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
Jawing with strangers is fun for me but most of my friends loathe it
Couldn't call it the Rape of Nanking because of the podcast app restrictions. It's about the Rape of Nanking.
I think Loose Duke might be up there with Lazer Ted and Territory Jazz as one of the greatest character names in actual play history
3034-4093-8537 on Switch
The latest episode was pretty good but honestly I'm way more excited about Oh These Those these days. The one off style allows for a much broader spectrum of absolute stupidity that is nutrients for me, specifically.
The latest episode with the Baron, a puppet mortician that makes terrible death puns and a 16 foot tall cat had me actually stop working and walk off for a second so I could catch my breath.
If we're talking D20 let us not forget Chungledown Bim
3034-4093-8537 on Switch
At about 45 minutes in they cut to footage of them drunk, but trying not to be drunk, while their tour guide tells them Stanley Hotel stories.
Ah I wasn't sure if this documentary was going to be only available to their $5/month Patreon backers or not. Cool of them to make it available to everyone!
Gamertag: PrimusD | Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
I never listened to any of it so maybe there's something I'm missing. Or maybe they also pivot out of talking RHCP on this very episode.
http://www.audioentropy.com/
They covered everything in basically one long run-on sentence at the end of the Talking Heads series
They didn't like Civil War, though I think Jason warmed them up a little bit. They, shockingly, loved Dr. Strange. I can't figure that one out, it seemed like one of the more dense and arcane movies. But I guess they liked his real-world start and the crazy multiverse visuals. They both said they'd even rewatch it, likely with some edibles.
It also made me realize that I would really love the "Jason and Scott talk about comics" podcast they tease occasionally. I know they'll never do it though.
yeah at some point early on in the Talking Heads pivot I basically said "yeah you can summarize most of the interesting stuff that's happened in the history of RHCP in about two minutes" and they ended up doing exactly that
I don't even particularly dislike RHCP, they're just very adequate at doing permutations on a range of sounds that they found in the '80s and made formulaic in the early '90s