Today on Save Vs. Rant, we’re talking about some of the gems Jeremy plumbed from the rich mines of the exhibit hall. Join us, won’t you? My cat did for about the first 5 minutes of the podcast. Everything is better with cats!
S02E08 – Pathfinder Playtest
Today’s episode is all about our impressions of the Pathfinder Playtest. Since we’re both veteran Pathfinder players, we came to the playtest with a pretty strong understanding of what we felt were Pathfinder’s strengths and weaknesses, and what makes Pathfinder, Pathfinder. As such, we were both excited to see the developments.
S02E07 – Expansions
What’s a gaming group to do when you feel like your favorite games are played out? The answer may be “find a new game,” but it might also be “get an expansion!” Today’s Save Vs. Rant is about expansions – their history, what kind of expansions exist, the advantages – and disadvantages – of each, and why they may or may not be right for your gaming group.
S02E06 – Cohorts
Today’s episode is all about a specific brand of NPC ally – the cohort. For our purposes, a cohort is a character that the player has some control over, but not the level of control they may have over a player characters. They are common in some of the most popular RPGs and can be traced back to the very early days of Dungeons and Dragons. Join us as we discuss how they have been and can be used in RPGs both past and present.
S02E05 – Micro RPGs
Today’s episode is about Micro RPGs, typically defined as compact games that fit the entirety of their rules onto one or two pages. These are usually best for one-off or short campaign games, and are, in many cases, intended to be a complete story in a single session.
S02E04 – An Introduction to Worldbuilding
Today, we decided to take a detour from our road map and talk about world building – the process of creating compelling settings for your RPG. World building is a vital aspect of almost all games, with only a few abstract and classic games offering experiences devoid of flavor.
Continue reading “S02E04 – An Introduction to Worldbuilding”
S02E03 – Retelling Classic Stories
Today’s episode of Save Vs. Rant is all about novel ways of telling classic stories, be they real-world legends, existing fiction, outdated modules or other sources of inspiration.
S02E02 – A Touch of RPG
Today on Save Vs. Rant, we’re going to discuss a fairly broad category of game: those with RPG elements. These games are a sort of gateway between RPGs and pure tabletop games. What makes a game with RPG elements so interesting to the tabletop game hobby is that they act as a sort of bridge between the relatively accessible world of tabletop board and card games and the comparatively daunting world of true roleplaying games.
S02E01 – Virtual Tabletops
Welcome to the 2nd season of Save Vs. Rant! Today’s episode is all about Virtual Tabletops, and, to a lesser degree, the broader topic of gaming over the internet.
Episode 22 – Favorite RPG Rules
Today on Save Vs. Rant, we’re discussing RPG rules we really like – rules that can make good games great as well as rules that make unique game systems unforgettable.