Ethan, Nathan, Jeremy, Becca, and Chris were treated to a game run by the fine guys at Terra/Sol Games, Mike Cross and Chris Stevens. Terra/Sol Games is, of course, the publishers of Twilight Sector, a setting for Mongoose Publishing’s Traveller.
“You are all employees of Currie Pharmaceuticals. A large multi steller nation drug company. You are members of a field trial team in some way, researchers, security, ship crew, management. You are meeting the Mistress of Orion, one of the city sized mega ships in the setting called Dreadnoughts so you can piggyback to your jump off location a system 8 parsecs distant called Absolute Zero. In Traveller terms this ship is huge, it is about 1.2 million dtons big. These ships can traveller further faster than smaller ships like the one assigned to your team the Hunter’s Princess.
“You are on your way to a planet called Edge which is a fringer backwater world with a population of only 82,000. There Currie does a lot of it’s field trials away from the prying eyes of competitors and regulators. When you get there you are to conduct the field trials for a new psionc drug currently simply labeled Psion – C.”
We all sit down after nearly three months to record our next episode, with some reflection and reservations … which are thrown out the window with a discussion on the announcement of 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons! We talk about what we’ve been doing, and try a new thing with the show … current events! So, if you like this episode, please comment and let us know if you want more like it!
Finally, we bring things to a close in this extra long episode (making up for lost time) with a few Random Encounters!
As always, please rate and review us on iTunes, comment on posts, head over to the forums and chat with other listeners, or visit our various affiliate stores on Amazon, Noble Knight Games, and RPGNow.
Until next time!
Total running time on this episode is 152 minutes.
About D&D Player’s Option: Heroes of the Feywild
Player’s Option: Heroes of the Feywild enables players to weave elements of the Feywild into their existing and future characters, in much the same way thatPlayer’s Option: Heroes of Shadow gave players reasons to explore their characters’ dark connections to the Shadowfell.
This book contains exciting new character builds and options that are thematically rooted to the Feywild, a wild and verdant plane of arcane splendor, full of dangerous and whimsical creatures. Characters who trace their origins or backgrounds to the Feywild gain access to unique feats, powers, and mechanics. The book explores what makes fey-themed characters so fun and distinct.
Star Wars: The Old Republic, abbreviated as TOR or SWTOR, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based in the Star Warsuniverse. Developed by BioWare Austin and a supplemental team at BioWare Edmonton, the game was first announced on October 21, 2008, at an invitation-only press event. The video game was released for the Microsoft Windows platform on December 20, 2011 in North America and part of Europe. Early access to the game began one week before release, on December 13, 2011, for those who had pre-ordered the game online; access opened in “waves” based on pre-order date.
Although BioWare has not disclosed development costs, industry leaders and financial analysts have estimated it to be between $125 million and $200 million. If accurate, this would make it the most expensive video game ever developed.
Planescape: Torment is primarily story-driven; combat is given less prominence than in most contemporary role-playing games. The protagonist, known as The Nameless One, is an immortal who has lived many lives but has forgotten all about them, even forgetting his own name. The game focuses on his journey throughout the city of Sigil and other planes to reclaim his memories of these previous lives. Several characters in the game may join The Nameless One on his journey, and most of these characters have encountered him in the past.
The game was not a significant commercial success but received widespread critical praise and has since become a cult classic. It was lauded for its immersive dialogue, for the dark and relatively obscure Planescape setting, and for the protagonist’s unique persona, which shirked many characteristics of traditional role-playing games. It was considered by many video game journalists to be the best role-playing game (RPG) of 1999, and continues to receive attention long after its release.
Buy Planescape Torment from Amazon.com or (more reasonably, and with much more stability) download it from GOG!
About Sentinels of the Multiverse
Sentinels of the Multiverse is a cooperative card game in which 3 to 5 players control a team of super powered heroes battling a dastardly villain. Sentinels of the Multiverse, or SotM, provides players with an innovative, streamlined game play experience that is easy to learn but requires strategic, team-based thinking. The game comes with ten different heroes, allowing players to build myriad hero teams and find new ways to challenge the villains. There are four different villains, each with unique mechanics and challenges, and four dynamic environments in which the battles take place. This flexibility adds enormous replay value and ensures that no two SotM games will play the same.
Your mission, Martians, is to swoop down on the pathetic denizens of the primitive planet “Earth”, and to scoop up as many of the inhabitants as you can manage. We are interested in samples of the Chicken, Cow, and Human populations, so that we can determine which of them is actually in charge. The Earthlings might manage to put up a feeble defense, but surely nothing that a small taste of your Death Rays can’t handle. Make Mars proud… be the first Martian to fill your abduction quota!
Cards Against Humanity is a party game for horrible people.
Unlike most of the party games you’ve played before, Cards Against Humanity is as despicable and awkward as you and your friends.
The game is simple. Each round, one player asks a question from a Black Card, and everyone else answers with their funniest White Card.
Cards Against Humanity is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution – Noncommercial – Share Alike license – that means you can use and remix the game for free, but you can’t sell it.
Ethan, Nathan, and Jeremy were able to sit down with Christopher Badell, Adam Rebottaro, and Paul Bender, otherwise known as Greater Than Games, creators and publishers of Sentinels of the Multiverse, a cooperative superhero card game and talk game design, development, and exactly what constitutes a superhero game.
Ethan, Nathan, and Jeremy continue the cavalcade of guests with a Skype-in of Chris Dias of Dias Ex Machina Games. They talk about Amethyst in it’s current and future forms, as well as Chris’s open letter to WotC. They talk about game design, setting, and all things gaming, as per usual!
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In this episode, we sit down and talk some religion … in your game, that is. We talk about how you can use religion, both as an abstract, and as a direct motivator, including religious organizations. We touch on using religion in a fantasy setting, and in a . . . → Read More: Gamer’s Haven Episode 83 – Finding Religion
In this episode, we take another look at roleplaying and running fear, but not in the same sense as before, way back in an early episode (3 or 4 or something). We talk a bit about invoking a fear response and doing it responsibly, and a bit about fear in a game.
We take a a final look at the cooperative worldbuilding system designed by the ClanWebsite.org Dawn of Worlds, a free PDF that can be found here, and finish up the first era. We take a lot of tangents, as you can see.
This is a long episode, and you may notice it’s a video download. That’s because it’s an enhanced podcast. In this episode we take on ClanWebsite.org Dawn of Worlds world creation method, a free PDF that can be found here.
Ethan and Nathan had the chance to sit down with local miniatures game company Secret Skeleton Miniatures.
About Secret Skeleton Miniatures
Secret Skeleton Miniatures is a producer and distributor of 25mm tactical-scale metal fantasy gaming miniatures inspired by the classic era of the World’s Most Popular Role-Playing Game. We also produce and distribute a . . . → Read More: Gamer’s Haven Special Edition – An Interview with Secret Skeleton Miniatures
In this episode, we tackle creating characters in various systems, but specifically talk about D&D, Call of Cthulhu, and Mutants & Masterminds. We go into creating memorable chracters, and how to balance fluff and crunch.
In this episode, we dive into the conundrum of using politics in your fantasy game – what works, and what doesn’t work.
In the Three Parter, Jeremy reviews the Player’s Handbook 3 from Wizards, Nathan talks about what he’s been into lately, and Ethan raves on Mass Effect 2.
In this episode, we talk about running a new system. What to do, what to try, and what to avoid. Running a new system can be a multi-faceted problem, from players to GMs.
In the Three Parter, Nathan reviews Pathfinder from Paizo Publishing, Jeremy raves on Godchecker.com and Wikipedia, and Ethan shamelessly plugs his . . . → Read More: Gamer's Haven Episode 62 – Running a New System
In this episode, we talk about what the podcast is doing, what we’ve done, and what we intend to do. It’s a general status report about the show and the new website, plus some tidbits about other things going on in the Gamer’s Haven world.
In this episode, we hit the mailbag to see what our listeners are thinking about. We also talk some news, and give a brief and mysterious update on KantCon. Also, if you haven’t already guessed, we’ve moved, incorporated, and are open for business! Check out more on our “About Us” page!
In this episode, we talk about NPCs — making them, running them, and all that stuff. We’ve talked about it before, but we wanted to talk about it again …
In the Three Parter, Ethan reviews Shootin’ Ladders from Smirk & Dagger Games, Nathan rants on People in MMOs, and Jeremy talks a little about . . . → Read More: Gamer's Haven Episode 59 – NPCs Revisited
In this episode, we talk about our experiences and our impression of LARPing (Live-Action Role-Playing). We do what we can to talk about how it can influence your tabletop experience and vice versa.
In the Three Parter, Nathan reviews an old PC game, Dungeon Keeper, Jeremy talks about the VersaTool, and Ethan has a . . . → Read More: Gamer's Haven Episode 58 – LARPing
In this episode, we talk about running one shots, albeit with many tangents. In the Three Parter, Jeremy reviews some free Monster PDFs from a user at ENWorld (The Book of Distant Stars and The Book of the Dead), Nathan rants on Downloadable Content, and Ethan voices his concerns on the Doctor Who RPG . . . → Read More: Gamer's Haven Episode 57 – One Shots
In this special episode (well, Jeremy forgot we were recording, so we had to do something), Ethan, Nathan, and Becca talk about the new video game from Bioware, Dragon Age. Running time for this episode is 62 minutes. This episode is sponsored by Noble Knight Games . Please visit our sponsor and let them . . . → Read More: Gamer's Haven Special Edition – Dragon Age