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The Shrieker Podcast 010: Freeman Faust

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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The Shrieker Podcast 009: Nicholas Hopkins

After making things awkward with baby chickens, Nicholas Hopkins returns to The Shrieker to talk to us about the development of his first game.

Cyclopean Stars is a lovecraftian (not to be confused with cthulhuian) Powered by the Apocalypse game. Nick felt driven to write this game because other games in the genre just don’t do what he wants. Call of Cthulhu, the first mythos game, introduced a sanity mechanic to RPGs. Trail of Cthulhu, using the Gumshoe system, created a more flexible investigation system. Tremulustries really hard to emulate Call of Cthulhu, which was a misstep in Nick’s estimation. In Cyclopean Stars Nick wants to make a modern, narrative driven, long term game that is low prep (with a procedurally generated mysteries) that lets players quickly get wrapped up in a messy, corrupting world where you can’t help but get isolated from your past live. Nick’s game is still pretty early in it’s development but he’s hoping to playtest it as much as possible at Origins. You can follow or get involved in the development of Cyclopean Stars on the game’s G+ community.

This month you can download a Lovecraft inspired Apocalypse World style front, ready to drop squamulous horrors into your game.

The Free RPG Society: Quill is a pay-what-you-want, solo RPG based on letter writing. It’s fun but might not actually be an RPG. Look for a full a review on the Geeks Rising blog.

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The Shrieker Podcast 008: Josh Van Laningham

After plugging the new Shrieker Facebook and G+ groups, Josh Van Laningham talks to us about his work as an Art Director and Graphic Designer at Level 99 Games.

Level 99 produces 2 player head-to-head board games influenced by fighting video games. As a graphic designer, Josh takes all the art and game elements and assembles them into beautiful, usable, informative rule books, boxes and other items. He started work first on Mystic Empyrean, Level 99’s only RPG, which is now out of print but has a demo still available on DriveThruRPG. His favorite game is Sellswords, a card drafting, tile placement game. Their games are available directly from the Level 99 website and locally at the Empire Board Game Library.

This month you can download The Shrieker, a playable character for Level 99’s BattleCon. Unleash fungoid might to bring down your enemies!

The Free RPG Society: I got to try out Nighttime Guardians, the game we talked about last month. The good news is that the game’s cute setting and simple mechanics are just as charming in play as I expected. Unfortunately it has some serious balance issues that need to be addressed. Look for a full a review on the Geeks Rising blog.

Rate and Review our show on itunes, join our Facebook  and G+ communities, comment on our website, or email me. We’d love to hear from you.