On the Shoulders of Dwarves
**Feburary 2021:** Dwarves! We're prolonging our hiatus until 2022. We hope to be able to return earlier, but things haven't changed in our lives and until the corona epidemic is over it's unlikely we'll be able to go back to any routine. We're interested in doing at least something weekly or semi-weekly, even if not a podcast - if you have any ideas, please send us! To show@dwarfcast.net
Episodes
August 2, 2020 • 28 mins
What do we mean when we say rewards beyond loot? Not just money, treasure or magic items. Let’s give a few examples and it’ll be clear.
## Non loot rewards (01:24)
Some examples:
- Land
- Titles
- Association (part of a guild/group/etc)
- House / Place to live
- Renown
- Something personal
- Narrative power
## GMs - What can we do with non treasure rewards (09:33)
Why ...
Mark as Played
July 4, 2020 • 28 mins
What is an information dump? When a large amount of information is dumped upon the players. Mostly tedious information. Here are some ways to make dumping information more interesting.
Show, don’t tell (00:26)
This is the most basic and fundamental principal. Don’t just tell things. - Effects: Think what will be the result of the information you want to say and present the results. Don’t say “there is a dragon up north”. Let the p...
Mark as Played
June 8, 2020 • 35 mins
In today's episode we talk about two very different aspects of information management.
I have good news and bad news: the bad news is that most game systems have some really iffy bits that somehow managed to get past the playtest phase or just not suited to your game and that sucks, the good news is that you don’t have to use them.
Sometimes a part of the game mechanics does not suit your game.
**There are several way...
Mark as Played
May 18, 2020 • 27 mins
What makes a player character compelling?
# Uri’s take (01:04)
What makes a player character compelling?
- They don’t snugly fit into a stereotype.
We’ve talked about avoiding stereotypes and cliches in the past ([Episode 2 - avoid character cliche](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/avoiding-character-cliches-episode-2-35aab600eb0406/)). And it’s fine to build on a stereotype, actually many RPGs railroad us to fit into so...
Mark as Played
May 4, 2020 • 37 mins
Both Eran and I have been playing a lot of the video game XCOM lately. Even though it is NOT a roleplaying game. Still, even though it is not a roleplaying game - there is a lot we can learn from it.
What is XCOM?
-------------
A series of computer games. Started in 1994 with X-COM enemy unknown and many sequels. Rebooted in 2012 with XCOM: Enemy Unknown.
Would you like to know more?
What's interesting about XCOM?
--------...
Mark as Played
April 22, 2020 • 34 mins
Disclaimer: this is a comedy episode, any and all advice must be treated as such
We are joined with our technical dwarf Aviv Icel Manoch!
## Aviv Or
- How do you handle a monster strike? I had a session once where a young black dragon simply refused to fight, just handed us a leaflet about the challenge rating struggle and encouraged us to support some new Random Encounter Union.
## Di
- How many kobolds do you think a sin...
Mark as Played
April 15, 2020 • 45 mins
A quick disclaimer: Eran LOVES running published modules, Uri… no so much.
Also, we are talking about published adventures, not published campaigns. There are some differences that we won’t get into.
## Picking an adventure (03:57)
Use the fact that other people read it:
- You can read ratings, reviews and comments. This will help you pick a good adventure.
- Some excellent sources might be: [DrivethruRPG.com](https:/...
Mark as Played
April 6, 2020 • 26 mins
In this episode we will recommend some GM-less games that are fun to play and easy to play around the table as well as online.
## Microscope (02:29)
A world building game by Ben Robbins
Easy and fun to play even with just two people.
[http://www.lamemage.com/microscope/](http://www.lamemage.com/microscope/)
[http://www.lamemage.com/store.html](http://www.lamemage.com/store.html)
You might also like to check out:
Kingdom...
Mark as Played
March 30, 2020 • 29 mins
Today's episode we will be talking about ways that the GM can make their players feel uplifted.
## How Uri uplift his players spirit (01:05):
Every once in a while I do an “uplifting session”. That is a session whose entire purpose is to make the players feel uplifted. When? After the end of an adventure for example, to let the players experience the results of their actions.
Another great time for an uplifting sess...
Mark as Played
March 23, 2020 • 33 mins
We got this short and to the point email from Peter:
Hello, I'm not saying that my players are not smart, but... How do you make your players feel smart when you're running a game?
Good question!
Uri’s suggestions (02:46)
There is a difference between making players feel smart and making players actually act smarter. This of course is also true for any other emotion that you want your players to experience.
Target character...
Mark as Played
March 9, 2020 • 34 mins
In this episode we will speak of the phenomenon of “GMing Anxiety”.
DIsclaimer: We are not therapists or psychologists. So, what we will do in this episode is present some issues that we encountered and how we dealt with it.
Remember: Anxiety is what we feel, not what is actually happening. It’s an emotional reaction to outside stimuli, but it does not mean it’s a *good reflection* of what’s actually going on.
# Uri’s ta...
Mark as Played
March 2, 2020 • 36 mins
# What is Fishing? (in the context of RPGs and this episode)
Taking the good stuff, form or content, and remixing/remodelling or re-whatever to use in your game.
# Why fishing from the classics?
They’re the classics for a reason.
Now we will go over some of the elements you can fish from a classic and show how it can be done. Uri will use [Shakespeare](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare)’s [Romeo and Juliet](...
Mark as Played
February 24, 2020 • 32 mins
A while back we asked our listeners what topics you want us to talk about and **Sivan Kotek** said “can you talk about new non OSR indie games”? Well, Sivan, yes, yes we can.
# Kiss Her Before the World Ends (03:23)
by **Alice Grizzle**
Alice on Itch.io: [https://itch.io/profile/tafkat](https://itch.io/profile/tafkat)
On the cover: *Your world is ending. There's no hope of saving it, and you know that. The others do...
Mark as Played
February 17, 2020 • 23 mins
How do you define a “hero” in your game?
In [episode 50 - Who is an adventurer](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/who-is-an-adventurer-episode-50-36e432309ba698/) we discussed Who is an adventurer, but we didn’t talk about what is a hero.
## The word “hero” have several different definitions
* Heroes \- famous individuals
* Heroes \- individuals doing the right thing
* Heroes \- the individuals winning the conflict
* Heroes \-...
Mark as Played
February 10, 2020 • 49 mins
We have a guest: Di, author of “[The Anatomy of the GM curse](https://gnomestew.com/the-anatomy-of-the-gm-curse)” on the Gnome Stew gaming blog.
## What is a guiding action
An action that powerfully affects the game's experience for some or all players.
## What isn’t a guiding action
It can be done consciously or reflexively, mostly by a GM, because the other players give the GM authority.
## Examples of guidin...
Mark as Played
February 4, 2020 • 25 mins
A while back Uri came across a twitter post about “Bracket Night”. The idea of a bracket night is that you select 16 items of a specific topic and divide them into brackets, pitting one against the other and have a discussion about “which is the best”. This is determined by a discussion followed by a vote.
So Uri immediately gathered 10 veteran GMs and had a bracket night to find the best monster.
You can read a [play by play...
Mark as Played
January 27, 2020 • 43 mins
Since Uri had several GMs ask him how to create a realistic political landscape in a fantasy setting. However, we are not experts in political relations. So we brought in a professional! Haggai Elkayam Shalem - a political psychologist.
## Intro to Politics (02:20)
What is politics?
## How to build a realistic political landscape (04:25)
Start with conflicting desires and then move to these basics:
- Avoid clear “Good” and “...
Mark as Played
January 20, 2020 • 29 mins
Each game involved some basic elements such as:
- System (the game mechanics)
- Setting (the world, the location, the metaphysics etc)
- Themes (the subject matter)
- Plot structure (episodial, dungeon crawling, overarching plot, sandbox)
- Nature of the characters (young, inexperienced, hardened veteren, fish out of water, professionals etc.)
Each of these elements can usually be solidified...
Mark as Played
January 13, 2020 • 26 mins
The other day Uri started a discussion in our [Facebook group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/dwarfpodcast) about suggestions for future episodes. A lot of great ideas came up, and today we’re focusing on a topic suggested by a listener named Tal Shiboli’s: The Spotlight.
Defining the Spotlight (01:22) \- When we say The Spotlight in this episode we mean that person around the table who is currently describing what is happening i...
Mark as Played
January 6, 2020 • 36 mins
# What is derailing (01:45)
Derailing is the act of going off planned session, basically when the campaign is going off tracks.
# Uri’s suggestions:
## Some examples that cause derailing (04:15)
- **The Squeaky Goblin** - The NPC that becomes the focus of everyone’s attention - usually a goblin with a squeaky voice that take the focus of the whole session.* “Sure, let's talk with Bananagar about him being a simple unin...
Mark as Played
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