Posted by David Larkins at
03:47am on
03 October 2014
Excellent episode as always, good sirs! Thanks for the mention, and for discussing your thoughts on actual-plays. If I may offer some thoughts in response...
I had to laugh when the topic of character creation episodes came up because I feel much the same way, and usually skip them if they appear in an A-P feed. Of the five "campaign" (that is, non-one-shot) recordings I've posted on my blog, only two have character creation episodes available, and those were conscious decisions to post them.
For the Deadlands game, I decided to post the character creation session because it included a lot of conceptualizing on the part of the players in terms of their characters' place in the setting, so I felt like there was some useful information there.
For the Pendragon A-P, it was part of my plan to help "sell" the game to listeners. Sadly, Pendragon seems to be a game that lots of people have maybe heard of but few play. So one of my goals for this A-P is to serve as a sort of ambassador for the game, and have the recordings stand as a bit of a tutorial of the various elements of the system, and that starts with character creation. I've been gratified that a good number (around a half-dozen) of our listeners have let me know through comments or emails that the A-P has allowed them to get a grasp of the mechanics and inspired them to "finally" start up their own campaigns.
As for the sorts of people who listen to them, I've heard from folks who have long commutes, folks who like to have something to listen to at their boring jobs, or folks who are going through a dry spell in their gaming and want to get a fix somehow. And, as I mentioned in my comment on last month's episode, they're a great way to take a system or a published scenario for a spin and see how it sounds in play, which is one of the main reasons I listen. I wish there were more GURPS A-Ps out there, as I always love to hear how other people run that system in particular (hint, hint).
Lastly, you asked for recommendations of good A-Ps. Apart from the YSDC crowd, I can't really think of any that I can consistently listen to and enjoy. I find A-Ps to be pretty hit and miss, for the most part. Usually it's an issue with accents or group dynamics or the GM's style that put me off. I've had Peaches and Hot Sauce recommended to me, but have yet to check it out so I can't personally vouch for it, but I thought I should give it a mention:
http://peachesandhotsauce.com/category/podcasts/one-shot
At the end of the day, recorded actual-plays are such a weird little niche of a niche. But I do get something out of them, even though I'm often frustrated by them. And hey, perhaps over time they'll grow in popularity and standards of professionalism will emerge that will make them more listenable for a general gaming-nerd audience. After all, "replays" are huge in Japan...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_role-playing_game#Replays