For that, they invented the podcast, the carry anywhere, listen anytime radio program. And there are podcasts about everything. You want a podcast where people discuss MacGyver's science to see if it holds up? It exists. You want a podcast that breaks down each and every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation? There's at least one of those. You want a podcast about sex techniques and health? ...yeah, some exist. Look, talk to me later, I'll give you some names.
In Podblast, I discuss podcasts I carry around on my little mp3 player, and discuss just what it is I like about them.
Or, in this case, what I don't like about them.
People who know me outside of work know of my enthusiasm for games that can be played on a tabletop. There are fun social games, like Apples To Apples that anybody can play, and are based more on what you know of the other person than simply getting something "right" or "wrong." There's board games where the board shifts every time you play, like Settlers of Catan or Carcassone, where it's never the same game twice. There are card games, dice games, guessing games, token games, and then there are the pen and paper games.
I'm talking about role-playing games. For those of you not "hip" to being a nerd, it's things like Dungeons and Dragons where a group of people gather together and construct their own epic story in another world with the help of some paper, some pencils, some dice, and overly-active imaginations.
It's also those things your preacher might've said were satanic at some point, depending on your church.
Now, tabletop games sort of rise and fall with the times. The sudden surge of funding from things like Kickstarter and the availability of online sales have made it easier for smaller companies to pitch their ideas, and the flood has also caused classic games to completely rethink their marketing and game style to accommodate changes in play since they first started.
But there's a lot of them out there, so it's kind of nice to be able to hear others try out a system or game and present their opinions of it. The guys behind the webcomic Penny Arcade did several podcasts for a then-upcoming edition of D&D, and I recommend people listen to them because they're both intense from a "will they succeed this quest" way and also pretty darn hilarious.
There's few things in the world like hearing Wil Wheaton suddenly exclaim "punch him in the *(#%."
So when I was going to learn how to play a game based on the books The Dresden Files (which I've never read, which I think counts against me somehow on some cosmic "nerdity chart"), I wanted to know a bit more about it. So I searched around, and found a podcast where they not only reviewed the game, but also played through it so you could hear how it worked. Thus, I was introduced to The Walking Eye.
This podcast seems to have a rotating cast depending upon the game being played, but a few players seem to be pretty consistent in the episodes I've listened to. One player simply goes by the moniker "Troll" which I guess is supposed to be clever, but leaves me wondering if we're supposed to picture him skulking under a bridge in a mythological kingdom or picturing him trying to make people angry on the Internet.
Then again, based on some of the episodes, I'm starting to lean more towards the latter.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The players' going through The Dresden Files did help me pick up a few game play mechanics pretty quickly, and for that, I think the podcast does its job superbly. They're able to break down important things to learn and take several episodes to lay them out in an interesting way for people to learn them. One episode might be about social skills and how to resolve a conflict without violence. Another might work on influencing the environment around you, and little tricks to get bonuses to the dice you roll. Or maybe it's just straight-up conflict for a whole episode, and you get to see how they keep track of who's doing what when and how.
However, there's a pretty big "however" coming.
I'll concede that every game group is different. Some are a bit more flexible with the rules than others. Some like to tweak their games with "house rules" if they think something is broken. However, if you're going to test out a game for readers, I'd think you should do your best to stick to the rules "as written" (unless some recent errata that everybody has access to is out there) so that nobody gets confused. Fortunately, I had a rulebook near me to consult when things puzzled me, but there were a few instances where the game suddenly left the rules and went into left field for a bit with stuff that either flew in the face of what I was reading or simply broke the rules as they were laid out.
The next group of episodes I listened to were a few of the straight review episodes, where I heard them talk about comics, other games they like, and a few interviews with developers about how to make games. Those were okay, though, again, you'd think some ground rules for a podcast would be laid out so that you don't later have to worry about if someone made a joke that was deemed inappropriate. Either that, or have better editing.
The next game I listened to was one called Monster Hearts, and I'll credit the podcast for getting me interested in this game. While I'm not really excited to ever play in a world with teenagers, vampires, werewolves, demons, and ghosts when sex is a major aspect of the rules (no, really, you get special powers for your character any time you have a specific kind of intimate moment with either a non-player character or another PC, your mileage may vary depending upon what you play as), it did introduce a mechanic on social conflict that I think is rather brilliant.
To be fair, the rules do state it's based just as much on Buffy as it is on Twilight, and I did like Buffy a lot when it was on the air, but I don't remember Sarah Michelle Gellar getting super powers every time her character hooked up with anybody.
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| Though, a lot of guys would've been happy to help these two try it until it worked. |
Where was I? Oh, right, the "however."
The last batch of episodes I listened to were their take on the newest RPG by Marvel Comics, which I'll admit, I own and I'm excited to try it one day. However (see, there it is), listening to this series has pretty much made me give up on the podcast for the foreseeable future. Why? Because if you're going to play a game, I'd expect you're excited to actually play within the rules and themes of that universe.
The first moment I knew something was off was when the players, during their second episode of playing, all decided to take characters that are willing to kill because, well, they wanted to be able to kill bad guys, I guess. Plus, one player intentionally took a character whose level of power was "Superman at his peak" while the others took on more low-key characters (Wolverine and Black Widow, to be specific).
My second eye-twitch came when said player of the ridiculously powerful character freely left the other characters behind to fend for themselves against an extremely dangerous threat so he could just zip to the main bad guy's lair to handle the villain himself. The last straw came when his solution to every problem was "fly it into space and leave it there to die" before "I punch the mountain to collapse it, cause I can do that."
Now, I've been in charge of games where there's one player who just wants to make it all about themselves. I've been in charge of games where there's a player who intentionally tries to break what you've spent a week or two putting together for everybody to play. I've been in charge of games where there's someone who just wants to *#^& around and doesn't really have their heart in it.
As the guy running the game, it's your job to get that player under control, either by outsmarting them if they try to take the adventure on a whole new path, or by sitting them down and telling them they're affecting how others enjoy the game if they're just being a jerk. If necessary, you kick that player out until they learn to play with others. This guy running this game did nothing like that, either because of inexperience with the system, the setting, or whatever, but while I do blame the player for intentionally behaving that way, some fault rests at the head of the table as well.
Plus, you know, it's super heroes. Sure, sometimes a hero has to kill a villain, but unless you're intentionally playing Punisher: The Game, you should realize that, if you're playing a team calling themselves "Avengers" maybe the solution isn't "murder everybody we meet."
Or maybe I'm just old-fashioned.
Either way, I had to stop listening partway through it because listening just wasn't fun any more. I wanted to like this group of misfit gamers shouting out in the darkness to let people know what games were good and which weren't, but I just couldn't take anything they said seriously at that point because it no longer sounded like how (I thought) a lot of people would want to (or should) play the game.
Thank you for introducing me to Monster Hearts, guys, but unless something you guys do really catches my interest, I'll probably skip downloading anything else on iTunes for a while.
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