It’s been a while since I’ve talked about the podcasts I listen to, partly because for much of the late summer and early fall I really wasn’t listening to many of them (save the Order 66 podcast, which I’ve listened to slavishly since realizing my Star wars campaign was really going to happen). That’s changed over the last few weeks as I’ve made an effort to queue up and listen to a summer’s worth of podcasts.
Canon Puncture #50: Reflections, Changes and Luke Crane
Mick Bradley joins the cast, the crew talks about their favorite episodes, and there’s an interview with Burning Wheel creator Luke Crane from GenCon 2008. Luke talks about the Magic Burner, the latest Burning Wheel supplement, which introduces a bunch of new magic systems. What I like most about what he describes is that magic in Burning Wheel has a cost; not a casually dismissed cost like spell components that no one uses, but a real, tangible cost that can affect your character … and perhaps bring about unwelcome changes should he/she fail.
Atomic Array #007: Thousand Suns
Since kicking off our Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic campaign I’ve been thinking about picking up one or two other science fiction RPGs to serve as inspiration and possible adventure fodder for the RPGs. One of the games I’ve wanted to check out ever since seeing their ad in Kobold Quarterly is Thousand Suns, an old school “galactic empire”-style science fantasy game in the vein of Isaac Asimov or Poul Anderson.
In Episode #7, the guys at Atomic Array interview James Maliszewski of Rogue Games, the designer of Thousand Suns. After listening I want it even more, if only for the bibliography. This book sounds like it was inspired by the same sort of science fiction I loved as a kid, and I think I could dedicate my entire Summer 2009 reading list to the novels listed in it’s bibliography.
All Games Considered #80: Alpha Omega
Yeah, I’m way behind on my AGC, but I’ve wanted to listen to this one for a while — it’s a review of the post-apocalyptic RPG Alpha Omega (which I’m hoping to review for Nuketown one of these days myself). It turns out the game is very crunchy, say on a level with D&D 3.5 or GURPS, but at the same time is very consistent across its subsystems. It further peeked my curiosity.
Order 66 #39 – Knights of the Old Errata
GM Chris and GM Dave run down the Big Damn Errata update for Star Wars: Saga Edition. They go over the big changes to force powers, skills and a few feats; well worth listening to for anyone trying to get a handle on how the game has changed since this October 2008 update.