Storyjammers http://storyjammers.com A podcast about roleplaying games. Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:18:49 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License website@storyjammers.com (The Godesky Brothers) website@storyjammers.com (The Godesky Brothers) posts 1440 http://storyjammers.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/storyjammers144.jpg Storyjammers http://storyjammers.com 144 144 A podcast about roleplaying games. The Godesky Brothers, Jason and Mike, talk about roleplaying games: why we play them, what we get out of them, and how we can get more out of them. roleplaying,games,rpg,storyjamming The Godesky Brothers no no Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States Licenseroleplaying,games,rpg,storyjammingGames & Hobbies/Other Gameswebsite@storyjammers.comThe Godesky Brothershttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Subscribe with PlusmoSubscribe with The Free DictionarySubscribe with Bitty BrowserSubscribe with NewsAlloySubscribe with Live.comSubscribe with Excite MIXSubscribe with Attensa for OutlookSubscribe with WebwagSubscribe with Podcast ReadySubscribe with FlurrySubscribe with WikioSubscribe with Daily Rotation Session #17: Intimidating Games http://storyjammers.com/session017/ http://storyjammers.com/session017/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:18:49 +0000 website@storyjammers.com (The Godesky Brothers) http://storyjammers.com/?p=115 Have you ever felt intimidated or uncomfortable at the thought of playing a particular character? Or a particular game? Julia Bond Ellingboe gets that response from a lot of people, because she designed a game called Steal Away Jordan. We pestered her with that same response, yet again, but she was gracious enough to join us on the show anyway. A wonderful discussion ensued about what can intimidate us in gaming, and how and when games can tackle serious and emotionally sensitive topics.

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]]> http://storyjammers.com/session017/feed/ 0 1:13:26 Have you ever felt intimidated or uncomfortable at the thought of playing a particular character? Or a particular game? Julia Bond Ellingboe gets that response ... Have you ever felt intimidated or uncomfortable at the thought of playing a particular character? Or a particular game? Julia Bond Ellingboe gets that response from a lot of people, because she designed a game called Steal Away Jordan. We pestered her with that same response, yet again, but she was gracious enough to join us on the show anyway. A wonderful discussion ensued about what can intimidate us in gaming, and how and when games can tackle serious and emotionally sensitive topics. Links Stone Baby Games Sessions The Godesky Brothers no no Session #16: A Good GM http://storyjammers.com/session016/ http://storyjammers.com/session016/#comments Tue, 24 Aug 2010 01:36:50 +0000 website@storyjammers.com (The Godesky Brothers) http://storyjammers.com/?p=111 This week, we have a special guest: the illustrious Rob Bohl, designer of Misspent Youth. He started listening to Storyjammers, and heard our opinions on game mastering, so he asked us what we thought of the GM in his game. This seemed like a great topic of discussion, so we got on Skype and had a conversation about games where GM’s work out really well, and the proper place of GM’ing in roleplaying games.

]]> http://storyjammers.com/session016/feed/ 5 1:04:27 This week, we have a special guest: the illustrious Rob Bohl, designer of Misspent Youth. He started listening to Storyjammers, and heard our opinions on ... This week, we have a special guest: the illustrious Rob Bohl, designer of Misspent Youth. He started listening to Storyjammers, and heard our opinions on game mastering, so he asked us what we thought of the GM in his game. This seemed like a great topic of discussion, so we got on Skype and had a conversation about games where GM's work out really well, and the proper place of GM'ing in roleplaying games. Sessions The Godesky Brothers yes no Session #15: DexCon 2010 http://storyjammers.com/session015/ http://storyjammers.com/session015/#comments Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:26:37 +0000 website@storyjammers.com (The Godesky Brothers) http://storyjammers.com/?p=107 We experimented a bit with this session. OK, we really just wanted to be as cool as Stabbing Contest! I had a microphone for my iPod, and we had a long drive down I-78 on our way back home, so we recorded a session on the games we played at DexCon 2010, in Morristown, New Jersey, including Misspent Youth, Lady Blackbird, the Dresden Files, Shock:, and Jason’s own game, the Fifth World.

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]]> http://storyjammers.com/session015/feed/ 2 55:20 We experimented a bit with this session. OK, we really just wanted to be as cool as Stabbing Contest! I had a microphone for my ... We experimented a bit with this session. OK, we really just wanted to be as cool as Stabbing Contest! I had a microphone for my iPod, and we had a long drive down I-78 on our way back home, so we recorded a session on the games we played at DexCon 2010, in Morristown, New Jersey, including Misspent Youth, Lady Blackbird, the Dresden Files, Shock:, and Jason's own game, the Fifth World. Links The Dresden Files RPG Virtual Play Ganakagok With Great Power Primetime Adventures Alfie Kohn's Punished by Rewards Misspent Youth Trapcast Play Passionately Lady Blackbird Shock: Social Science Fiction Human Contact FASA Star Trek Otherkind Dice Dogs in the Vineyard Sessions The Godesky Brothers no no Session #14: Bringing It Home http://storyjammers.com/session014/ http://storyjammers.com/session014/#comments Mon, 21 Jun 2010 23:56:33 +0000 website@storyjammers.com (The Godesky Brothers) http://storyjammers.com/?p=98 Our short series on the Storyjammers’ Journey concludes with a look at how to “cool down”—how to bring those things from the liminal space of the storyjam back into our normal lives. Some games use retrospective questions to award experience points and other awards, while others have specific endgame mechanics.

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]]> http://storyjammers.com/session014/feed/ 0 33:48 Our short series on the Storyjammers' Journey concludes with a look at how to "cool down"—how to bring those things from the liminal space of ... Our short series on the Storyjammers' Journey concludes with a look at how to "cool down"—how to bring those things from the liminal space of the storyjam back into our normal lives. Some games use retrospective questions to award experience points and other awards, while others have specific endgame mechanics. Links Canon Puncture #97 features me talking about Ganakagok! Burning Wheel games (including Mouse Guard), FreeMarket & World of Darkness build some retrospective questions into how they assign rewards to characters at the end of each session. Penny for My Thoughts, Polaris & Ganakagok have endgame mechanics. In With Great Power, the GM comes up with the super-villain's plan, based on the heroes' strife aspects. The Sweet20 System John Wick's Blood & Honor Sessions The Godesky Brothers no no Session #13: Hunting Story http://storyjammers.com/session013/ http://storyjammers.com/session013/#comments Mon, 31 May 2010 21:27:24 +0000 website@storyjammers.com (The Godesky Brothers) http://storyjammers.com/?p=94 As our step-by-step exploration of the Storyjammers’ Journey continues, we get to the heart and soul of storyjamming, the activity that we want to get immersed in, the jam itself. Storyjamming has little to do with making up stories. In fact, most of its best techniques aim specifically to stop you from making up a story. It has to do with exploring the story already there. It has to do with hunting down a story that already exists.

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]]> http://storyjammers.com/session013/feed/ 12 43:28 As our step-by-step exploration of the Storyjammers' Journey continues, we get to the heart and soul of storyjamming, the activity that we want to get ... As our step-by-step exploration of the Storyjammers' Journey continues, we get to the heart and soul of storyjamming, the activity that we want to get immersed in, the jam itself. Storyjamming has little to do with making up stories. In fact, most of its best techniques aim specifically to stop you from making up a story. It has to do with exploring the story already there. It has to do with hunting down a story that already exists. Links Elizabeth Gilbert's TED talk A thread on Story Games about investigative games (kind of old now) The Way of the Human Being, by Calvin Luther Martin Soul Hunters: Hunting, Animism, and Personhood among the Siberian Yukaghirs, by Rane Willerslev Sessions The Godesky Brothers no no Session #12: Immersion http://storyjammers.com/session012/ http://storyjammers.com/session012/#comments Mon, 24 May 2010 10:59:33 +0000 website@storyjammers.com (The Godesky Brothers) http://storyjammers.com/?p=92 “Immersion” comes up often in discussions about RPG’s, and with good reason. Some say that it’s come to mean so many things to so many people that the term has become meaningless. We don’t think that’s necessarily true.

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]]> http://storyjammers.com/session012/feed/ 2 38:33 "Immersion" comes up often in discussions about RPG's, and with good reason. Some say that it's come to mean so many things to so many ... "Immersion" comes up often in discussions about RPG's, and with good reason. Some say that it's come to mean so many things to so many people that the term has become meaningless. We don't think that's necessarily true. Links The Turku Manifesto Stop Saying "Immersion" by Matthijs Holter Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Heroes of Hesiod The Wildlings thread on Story Games The Wildlings thread on RPG.net I was wrong—Fortune, Karma and Drama come from Jonathan Tweet, in Everway, not John Kim. See also Jonathan Walton's 2009 critique. Sessions The Godesky Brothers no no Session #11: Warming Up http://storyjammers.com/session011/ http://storyjammers.com/session011/#comments Tue, 11 May 2010 01:41:21 +0000 website@storyjammers.com (The Godesky Brothers) http://storyjammers.com/?p=90 I’m not dead yet! Sorry for that unforeseen delay, folks. We pick up right where we left off, digging into some of the things that distinguish storyjamming from other approaches to roleplaying. Today, we focus on the pre-liminal phase of the storyjammer’s journey, the warm-up games that we use to try to actively generate creative energy.

  • 0:54 Emotional contagion
  • 1:37 William James, “What is an Emotion?” [PDF]
  • 2:55 Microexpressions
  • 3:25 Mirror neurons
  • 5:38 Lizze Buchen, “Human Laughter Echoes Chimp Chuckles,” Wired, 4 June 2009
  • 6:56 When we sit down to game, we face the challenge of building up energy.
  • 7:52 Business meetings vs. Improv scenes
  • 10:57 Warm-up game #1: Yes, and! (to build energy and get everyone into a collaborative spirit)
  • 13:35 Warm-up game #2: Firing line (to break down self-censorship)
  • 18:48 Warm-up game #3: Short, introductory readings (to get your mouth and throat used to talking)
  • 20:29 Warm-up game #4: See me (to get everyone on the same page, imaginatively)
  • 22:26 Warm-up game #5: Color, advance (to get a sense of pacing)
  • 25:32 Warm-up game #6: One word at a time (to build your attention to cues)
  • 26:45 Find the right warm-up games for the problems that your group faces
  • 27:49 Selling your group on warm-up games
  • 29:06 Once Upon a Time
  • 30:55 “Restitutor Orbis,” our Chronica Feudalis campaign set in post-Roman Britain.
  • 32:33 The Relevant Dickweed
  • We never mentioned this directly, but I learned so much of this from my friend Willem Larsen of Portland, who wrote “Warming Up and Working with Energy” (Parts 1 & 2), and “The Pedagogy of Play: Bite-Sized Pieces.”
]]> http://storyjammers.com/session011/feed/ 1 44:43 I'm not dead yet! Sorry for that unforeseen delay, folks. We pick up right where we left off, digging into some of the things that ... I'm not dead yet! Sorry for that unforeseen delay, folks. We pick up right where we left off, digging into some of the things that distinguish storyjamming from other approaches to roleplaying. Today, we focus on the pre-liminal phase of the storyjammer's journey, the warm-up games that we use to try to actively generate creative energy. 0:54 Emotional contagion 1:37 William James, "What is an Emotion?" [PDF] 2:55 Microexpressions 3:25 Mirror neurons 5:38 Lizze Buchen, "Human Laughter Echoes Chimp Chuckles," Wired, 4 June 2009 6:56 When we sit down to game, we face the challenge of building up energy. 7:52 Business meetings vs. Improv scenes 10:57 Warm-up game #1: Yes, and! (to build energy and get everyone into a collaborative spirit) 13:35 Warm-up game #2: Firing line (to break down self-censorship) 18:48 Warm-up game #3: Short, introductory readings (to get your mouth and throat used to talking) 20:29 Warm-up game #4: See me (to get everyone on the same page, imaginatively) 22:26 Warm-up game #5: Color, advance (to get a sense of pacing) 25:32 Warm-up game #6: One word at a time (to build your attention to cues) 26:45 Find the right warm-up games for the problems that your group faces 27:49 Selling your group on warm-up games 29:06 Once Upon a Time 30:55 "Restitutor Orbis," our Chronica Feudalis campaign set in post-Roman Britain. 32:33 The Relevant Dickweed We never mentioned this directly, but I learned so much of this from my friend Willem Larsen of Portland, who wrote "Warming Up and Working with Energy" (Parts 1 & 2), and "The Pedagogy of Play: Bite-Sized Pieces." Sessions The Godesky Brothers no no Session #10: The Storyjammer’s Journey http://storyjammers.com/session010/ http://storyjammers.com/session010/#comments Thu, 15 Apr 2010 02:15:58 +0000 website@storyjammers.com (The Godesky Brothers) http://storyjammers.com/?p=88 Storyjamming has some things in common with Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey,” as well as Arnold van Gennep’s rites of passage, and traditional hunting practiced by the Yukaghirs in southern Russia. Understanding what they all have in common helps us understand how to approach it, and why storyjamming provides us with something so human and so necessary.

]]> http://storyjammers.com/session010/feed/ 2 48:47 Storyjamming has some things in common with Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey," as well as Arnold van Gennep's rites of passage, and traditional hunting practiced by ... Storyjamming has some things in common with Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey," as well as Arnold van Gennep's rites of passage, and traditional hunting practiced by the Yukaghirs in southern Russia. Understanding what they all have in common helps us understand how to approach it, and why storyjamming provides us with something so human and so necessary. 0:27 Joseph Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces 0:52 Mick Bradley, now on Canon Puncture 1:10 Other podcasts have dealt with the Hero's Journey, like Fear the Boot did in episode 90. 3:32 Arnold van Gennep's Rites of Passage 8:29 Tim Ingold 9:12 Science renouncing Cartesian dualism, e.g., Descartes' Error by Antonio Damasio 9:17 Rane Willerslev's Soul Hunters: Hunting, Animism, and Personhood among the Siberian Yukaghirs 12:11 Pat Murphy's short story, "In the Abode of the Snows," appears in an anthology of ecotopian fiction titled Future Primitive, edited by Kim Stanley Robinson 20:16 My new Werewolf: The Forsaken game, "Children of the Moon" 23:54 Primetime Adventures 26:31 Aspects and compels from FATE Sessions The Godesky Brothers no no Session #9: Storyjamming http://storyjammers.com/storyjammers009/ http://storyjammers.com/storyjammers009/#comments Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:47:36 +0000 website@storyjammers.com (The Godesky Brothers) http://storyjammers.com/?p=86 It’s probably about time we got around to nailing down what exactly we mean by “storyjamming.” This session introduces a short series we’ll do on what storyjamming entails. First, we need to back up a little bit and talk a bit about what we mean by “creativity.”

]]> http://storyjammers.com/storyjammers009/feed/ 14 1:00:18 It's probably about time we got around to nailing down what exactly we mean by "storyjamming." This session introduces a short series we'll do on ... It's probably about time we got around to nailing down what exactly we mean by "storyjamming." This session introduces a short series we'll do on what storyjamming entails. First, we need to back up a little bit and talk a bit about what we mean by "creativity." 02:30 Elizabeth Gilbert's TED talk on creativity 10:25 Willem Larsen from the College of Mythic Cartography 23:00 Mike's D7amp;D 4E Eberron campaign, The Sleeping Dragon 30:34 The Green Lantern/Green Arrow crossovers 36:44 The quick-witted listener will recognize that Mike just made a Penny Arcade reference. 47:56 The RPG Pundit 51:11 I read two forums regularly: the GASP forum and the Story Games forum Sessions The Godesky Brothers no no Session #8: PAX East 2010 http://storyjammers.com/session008/ http://storyjammers.com/session008/#comments Wed, 31 Mar 2010 03:31:31 +0000 website@storyjammers.com (The Godesky Brothers) http://storyjammers.com/?p=82 PAX made it to the East Coast, so we went to join the party. Each night, we recorded from our room in the Sheraton Hotel in Boston with our thoughts and experiences from that day.

]]> http://storyjammers.com/session008/feed/ 6 1:01:20 PAX made it to the East Coast, so we went to join the party. Each night, we recorded from our room in the Sheraton Hotel ... PAX made it to the East Coast, so we went to join the party. Each night, we recorded from our room in the Sheraton Hotel in Boston with our thoughts and experiences from that day. 1:25 Wil Wheaton's keynote 4:52 Jane McGonigal's TED talk on how gaming can save the world 8:45 The Compleat Strategist 8:54 Shock: Social Science Fiction 10:36 You can also hear this story from Joshua A.C. Newman's perspective in the recap he wrote for his blog. 16:08 Rooster Teeth 16:39 Mike's video of D&D on the Microsoft Surface at PAX East 17:41 Geek Chic 18:01 Dominion 18:29 I ran three demos of Mouse Guard 24:09 The "Action Castle Incident" 29:03 Masterplan 36:06 The audio quality on Sunday took a sudden nose-dive. We apologize; this can happen with on-site recording. If it doesn't bother you, we have some good disucssion in there for those willing to listen. If not, we can't blame you! 37:06 Shadows over Camelot 40:52 D&D "Save My Game!" 52:40 Burning Empires 57:29 The guys who do the Geek Nights podcast did a panel on Friday night called "Beyond Dungeons & Dragons" Sessions The Godesky Brothers no no The Godesky BrothersnonadultA podcast about roleplaying games.