Quote from: BedrockBrendan;462188I like the topic for number 4.

How do you go about selecting a game?  Was our description of our group's process helpful at all?

Quote from: joewolz;462319How do you go about selecting a game?  Was our description of our group's process helpful at all?

Yes. I thought it was helpful because it was a conversation with people you play the game with, and I think seeing how others approach these things is useful. I don't know who the GM was speaking, but he was quite good at conveying how he matched the game to his group.

Our group cycles through games frequently. So we might play 4-6 sessions of savage worlds, then switch GMs and systems. This gives us a lot of room to try out new games (knowing we can stop if it isn't any fun). Normally we choose one that people have expressed interest in. And of course we always find time to run games we ourselves have designed.

However this isn't always the case. I really wanted to run a ravenloft campaign that felt like my old game in the early 90s. I've played it with 3E plenty, and while I like 3E I just found that system never quite hit the same note with Ravenloft. So I ran it with 2E. At first it was kind of a joke. Most of us hadn't thought about THAC0 in years. But once we got past our initial prejudice against the system we cut our teeth on, we found it worked pretty well for what we were trying to do.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;462364Our group cycles through games frequently. So we might play 4-6 sessions of savage worlds, then switch GMs and systems. This gives us a lot of room to try out new games (knowing we can stop if it isn't any fun). Normally we choose one that people have expressed interest in. And of course we always find time to run games we ourselves have designed.

I was the one speaking.  Thank you for the kind words, I think matching game to group is pretty important.

How do you decide it's time to switch games?  Do you have a set ending, or simply switch at whim?

Here we go again, with aplomb.  In http://2gms1mic.com/2011/06/07/episode-five-pleading-the-fifth/">this episode, we reveal the our screw-ups as GMs.  We've all been there, right?  Like any craft, GMing is perfected through making egregious errors.  Want to share your screw ups with us?  Tell us about it on http://www.facebook.com/pages/2-GMs-1-Mic/188716477838999">Facebook, or mailto:2gms1mic@gmail.com">email us!  Anything we recieve in email might get mentioned on the show, so if we don't reply immediately, it's because we want to address the question in an episode.

Great stuff guys!

Quote from: joewolz;462613How do you decide it's time to switch games?  Do you have a set ending, or simply switch at whim?

We usually kind of aim for an ending but it depends on the game. Fantasy games can go on for a while, but we haven't done too many lately. I find, at least in my group, most of the modern genre games tend to reach a natural conclusion on their own. So when one winds down, we look toward starting another, but also expect to pick up the previous game again at some point.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;462637We usually kind of aim for an ending but it depends on the game. Fantasy games can go on for a while, but we haven't done too many lately. I find, at least in my group, most of the modern genre games tend to reach a natural conclusion on their own. So when one winds down, we look toward starting another, but also expect to pick up the previous game again at some point.

When we're close to an ending, we also start anticipating the next game.  My group mostly plays fantasy games, mainly because a couple of the players don't enjoy modern settings...which is why I want to pitch Dresden Files one of these times.

Quote from: joewolz;462657When we're close to an ending, we also start anticipating the next game.  My group mostly plays fantasy games, mainly because a couple of the players don't enjoy modern settings...which is why I want to pitch Dresden Files one of these times.

I'm a fan of the Dresden novels. Do you have the rule books yet? I am hesitant to buy them until I've heard more feedback from people.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;462677I'm a fan of the Dresden novels. Do you have the rule books yet? I am hesitant to buy them until I've heard more feedback from people.

I do have the rulebooks, and they are beautiful.  There is art and descriptions in the second book for each iconic character.  My wife wanted to read the short story (by Jim Butcher) in the "Our World" book, so she can say she's read everything.

I think the RPG books give you enough information to play or run the game without knowing a damn thing about the novel series.

I emailed you the Great Crested Toad Badger details

Oh and system wise I have played pretty much all the big ones and a few indies and come to the conclusion that the best system is d6 based with a simple core dice mechanic. B&C and Xpress obviously are the ones I have most experiance with but I can't wait to try out Hellcats and Hockeysticks!

Quote from: Ian Warner;462681B&C and Xpress obviously are the ones I have most experiance with but I can't wait to try out Hellcats and Hockeysticks!

What's B&C?

Beer and Crisps.

It runs Urban Faerie, Invaderz and all of the History Farce Games including Tough Justice.

Quote from: Ian Warner;463053Beer and Crisps.

It runs Urban Faerie, Invaderz and all of the History Farce Games including Tough Justice.

I've heard of it (via Tough Justice) but had never seen it as an acronym.

Yeah most of the time I write it out in full but since I've been moving away from abreviating in my work on the net I'm more lazy.

Six is here...and it's a doozy! *In this episode, we discuss Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering by Robin D. Laws. We are both proponents of the advice in this book, and we hope you like our review of the book itself as well as our deeper discussion on the ramifications of its advice.