Public defense attorney Freeman Faust joins us to talk about something we have all dealt with, whether we’ve thought about it or not: Social Contract. The agreements, whether explicit or implicit, define what behaviors are expected and acceptable in a group of any size. When these contracts are breached, when expectations do not line up, people tend to get upset. By talking together and clearly establishing a contract before playing, the group will hopefully be able endure for longer and keep players happier. Episode #156 of the Misdirected Mark Podcast does a good job of breaking down a gaming social contract into the logistics of getting a group together and the campaign framework, which guides the story and playstyle of the game.

For your downloading pleasure, Freeman drafted an actual social contract, containing many of the topics that your tables social contract might include that you can force your players to sign. Remember, it’s not legally binding unless you have it stamped by a notary.

The Free RPG Society: Rewind: Temporal Tales is a pay-what-you-want RPG that handles time looping stories like Groundhogs Day. It’s written primarily for one player and one GM and works very well for that. It also has suggesting for using an oracle mechanic for solo play, though I didn’t find that very satisfying. Look for a full a review on the Geeks Rising blog.

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Taylor Frank chats with us about his zines, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and their intersection, his DCC fan-zine, Dungeon Lord.

Zines, abbreviated from magazine, are small, independently created pieces of literature that allow for small side cultures to have a presence and a voice. In many ways they can serve the same function as a blog but there is still something special about a physical object. The first tabletop RPGs fit the description of Zines in a lot of ways. As the hobby developed zines continued to distribute fan-made content before that could be done via Internet. Now the Internet can be a valuable zine distribution tool.

Dungeon Crawl Classics originated in the Old School Renaissance which endeavors preserve and expand the experience of some of the first games. The first OSR games were the retroclone game like OSRIC that tried to stay very true to the earliest games. DCC doesn't stay as tethered to the past, instead trying to keep the charm of old games while providing a fresh, contemporary play experience. DCC has fostered a very active fan base that creates shares a great deal of content for the game including zines and software. DCC’s publisher, Goodman Games, supports fan creations in ways that few other company's do.

While some other DCC zines focus on developing a specific setting, Dungeon Lord collects any sort of entertaining materials including maps, character classes, poetry and art inspired by DCC. Taylor also creates single page zines that support charities. They can be found at his website and rpgnow.com. Submissions for For Dungeon Lord can be sent to deathmachinepress@gmail.com

This month we have a d50 random table, full of magical and mundane rings, created for you mostly by Taylor Frank.

The Free RPG Society: Lasers and Feeling is a single page game based on fiction like Star Trek (and a song by The Doubleclicks). It's fast, easy and has a very clever mechanic that allows the players to inform the GM on the complications they want to see. The One Shot Podcast has played it a couple of times with fantastic results that you can listen to here.

The Name of God Kickstarter is a game by Italian designer Alessandro Piroddi. It’s a short-form story-driven GM-less game using a deck of custom cards. The kickstarter has already doubled it’s modest funding goal and is now tearing through push goals that involve new cards by notable female designers. Check it out.

Rate and Review our show on iTunes, comment on our website, or email me at shriekerpodcast@gmail.com. We’d love to hear from you.