This episode Justin and I talk about what we’ve learned from video games and how we can draw inspiration from them and learn from their pitfalls.

Hosts: Sean Nittner and Justin Evans

Length: 29:49

Show Notes
[00:28] Introduction to the show – Inspiration from video games
[00:40] Some great discussion on our boards about conflict resolution here and here.
[01:05] Format of the show, inspiration, pitfalls and some personal stories.
[01:29] RPGPodcasts.com Promo
[01:37] Justin’s thrilling adventure.
[02:52] Sean’s protest. Video games don’t have the story or role-playing that tabletop RPGs do.
[04:00] Sean’s use of images, lore, etc from World of Warcraft in his Burning Warcraft game.
[05:00] Erik Woodbury’s LARP: Peace at Arathi Basin.  Video game setting, using the strengths of a LARP.
[06:15] Comparing the guessed budget of Feng Shui and Grand Theft Auto. 
[07:34] Level design as an analog for quests.
[08:17] Set pieces in games, the main encounters.
[08:56] The boss fight.  A spotlighted encounter that required fighting with different tactics.
[10:11] How this can backfire.  Make sure the character’s matter.
[12:53] Save points. Logical places to stop a session. Ending the story on a high point.
[14:30] Mouseguard session structures encapsulates the mission goals and makes sure they are resolved by the end of the session.
[15:15] A warning: avoid the grind.  Examples of the grind in video games and then in popular role-playing game.
[18:30] Justin’s fresh can of hate.  The Keep on Shadowfell.
[20:21] Some advice from Dungeons and Dragons insider: Every encounter should be meaningful to the story and have stakes the characters care about.
[22:04] A question of scaling.  Does the opposition scale with you?
[22:57] Different systems scale in different ways.  In some systems this isn’t an issue. Examples of Burning Wheel, Dungeons and Dragons and Scion.
[25:19] Justin’s story playing Oblivion.  A Minotaur in the inn?
[26:40] Fallout 3, how scaling has changed in video games.
[27:28] Sean’s analog in a D&D game where his character DID become more powerful than the status quo.  “Oh crap, it’s Sadric!”
 

Direct download:: NC_Episode_023.mp3

I agree with you on the pitfall of Mega Man. Brant and George (from trapcast) downloaded mega man on my wii and will come over and play it for hours trading the control back and forth. They know how to beat each of the bosses using the robot masters but they keep playing the game over and over again. Maybe I just don't get video games. I'd rather play an rpg or indie table top game. I was a deprived child. Maybe I should try to play more video games.....

When I play a campaign based game with sessions I like when the session ends at a logical point - after a fight or encounter. It lets me think about what I want to do next time and think about what happened.

I got an xbox too and a nintendo DS. i run out of time in the day though. i wish i could run off no sleep or like an hour nap.