Other podcasts

[declan]

This is the most ambitious episode I've attempted. I am exhausted but it was so much fun. I hope you can give it a listen.

 

AUTOSAVE (2) - The Global Game Jam 2016

 

 

From January 29th to January 31st 2016, thousands of teams around the world decamped to various locations, formed teams, and made video games.

 

I spent the weekend at the site in Glasgow Caledonian University, and this special episode of Checkpoints follows three teams on that site through the whole weekend. It also features never before heard interviews with Adam Saltsman, Richard Lemachand, Iain Simon and Greg Rice about their experience with Game Jams.

 

As an extra modifier for this episode, I decided to try and record, arrange and edit the show in the same time frame as the people taking part in the show. I've had to add on a few extra hours so I could add in the final day's recordings, but I've pretty much finished it. I am exhausted.

It was an amazing weekend and I saw so many brilliant and inspired games created by passionate and devoted creators.

 

The games I specifically followed were For The Village, No Code and Kecak. You can check these out at the Glasgow Game Jam page here: http://globalgamejam.org/2016/jam-sites/scottish-game-jam-glasgow

 

If you click locations at the top of that page and put in a country or city, you can also check out some of the thousands of other games made this weekend all around the globe. I'm about to check out some of the games made in Nepal.

 

What a world!

 

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[Dewar]

Hmm, sorry for not reading the thread up until now, but does anyone have any opinions on "The Adventure Zone?" I haven't listened to My Brother, My Brother and Me before, but it sounds like this might be right up my alley as a way to introduce me to those folks?

[jennegatron]

Hmm, sorry for not reading the thread up until now, but does anyone have any opinions on "The Adventure Zone?" I haven't listened to My Brother, My Brother and Me before, but it sounds like this might be right up my alley as a way to introduce me to those folks?

 

TAZ is my favorite podcast running. You will need to go back and start from the beginning as it's a very narrative campaign that Griffin is running. I would recommend finding episode 1.5 (this is a re-edit of episode 1 that takes out a bunch of the 'wait, which die to I roll again?' stuff)

 

If you enjoy strict adherence to the rules, this probably isn't the show for you, but if you like some creative story telling & a bunch of goofballs playing D&D together you might like it.

[Cordeos]

Some friends asked me for podcast recommendations so I made a spreadsheet of all the ones I currently listen to, figure I would share it here.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fVaYAJkhhZ8gAvasA0Jk6eAsh1XMFNrlbEqzzYOtTDU/edit?usp=sharing

[declan]

Checkpoints #28 is up and it is an absolute belter of an episode. Longest one yet, but it's all gold. 

 

My guest is Steven Bailey. He is stupid clever. He has a PHD in mathematics, he's likely written some of the best Video game writing you've ever read, and now as a Video game analyst he's charting the future of the industry.

 

From unbelievable stories of arcade nirvana in the Welsh valleys through a battle with drug addiction via writing for teletext, living in hospitals and the life altering properties of Guardian Heroes. This is one of the most insightful and candid conversations I've had on the show so far.

 

Steven has confessions from his time as a Video game journalist, fond memories of friendships forged in multiplayer Secret of Mana, frustration at the Witness and delight at selling Mr C off Hollyoaks a Dreamcast. Tidy!

 

WEB RSS iTunes

[Badfinger]

Hmm, sorry for not reading the thread up until now, but does anyone have any opinions on "The Adventure Zone?" I haven't listened to My Brother, My Brother and Me before, but it sounds like this might be right up my alley as a way to introduce me to those folks?

 

Oh my goodness. I'm glad someone else asked about this relatively recently. In the last two weeks or so I have fallen down a McElroy hole extremely hard. I cannot stop listening to the Adventure Zone. It's made me laugh to the point of tears, and desperately wish I had the time to actually participate in any sort of RPG. It's so, so good.

[Trip Hazard]

I got a nifty Podcast app on my phone, and have found a couple of neat podcasts. The best one so far is called Lore, and it's about mythical beasts, unexplained sightings, and other supernatural tomfoolery. The chap who researches the show and presents it has a very soothing voice, and there's some great ambient music to along with the stories. Plus, an episode is about 20 minutes long, so my attention doesn't wander like it does with so many ~2h podcasts.

[Nappi]

Yeah, The Adventure Zone is great. I started with My Brother, My Brother, and Me, then stumbled upon the

video series, and realized that I'm really into this McElroy stuff.

 

I have never played D&D, but The Adventure Zone actually got me quite intrigued about the prospect. Somehow, I suspect that it will be hard to find as entertaining a dungeon master as Griffin though?

[Gormongous]

I have never played D&D, but The Adventure Zone actually got me quite intrigued about the prospect. Somehow, I suspect that it will be hard to find as entertaining a dungeon master as Griffin though?

 

Well... It depends. Different gamemasters are good at different things. Personally, as much as I love the McElroys and The Adventure Zone, I find Griffin not to be very good at empowering his players to play their characters in interesting ways. It's really easy to tell the various points at which, during episodes four and five, Griffin transitions from the premade adventure to his own work, because suddenly the players are getting told to go places and do stuff, with the alternative being Griffin saying, "Okay, nothing happens until you do it." He's just got this amazing fantasy novel laid out in his notes and his players are going to act it out for him. It's still a lot of fun to listen to it all go down, but I cringe at all the times that Griffin says "no," even when his players are coming from a place of strong roleplaying, because he doesn't want to go off his rails. That's something with which I've personally struggled as a GM and it bugs me that Griffin's not even trying a lot of the time.

 

Also, Griffin keeps talking about cheese like it's an invention about which a neo-medieval society wouldn't know and man that drives me crazy as a historian.

[Badfinger]

Well... It depends. Different gamemasters are good at different things. Personally, as much as I love the McElroys and The Adventure Zone, I find Griffin not to be very good at empowering his players to play their characters in interesting ways. It's really easy to tell the various points at which, during episodes four and five, Griffin transitions from the premade adventure to his own work, because suddenly the players are getting told to go places and do stuff, with the alternative being Griffin saying, "Okay, nothing happens until you do it." He's just got this amazing fantasy novel laid out in his notes and his players are going to act it out for him. It's still a lot of fun to listen to it all go down, but I cringe at all the times that Griffin says "no," even when his players are coming from a place of strong roleplaying, because he doesn't want to go off his rails. That's something with which I've personally struggled as a GM and it bugs me that Griffin's not even trying a lot of the time.

 

Also, Griffin keeps talking about cheese like it's am invention about which a neo-medieval society wouldn't know and man that drives me crazy as a historian.

 

The whole Mexican food thing is fucking hilarious. The concept of what's essentially a tortilla is as old as farming and cooking, it's pure storytelling hilarity.

 

I don't disagree with you that being led down rails isn't the most funnerest way to roleplay, but at the same time Justin (to the point I am in the podcast) definitely is not in this for the flavor and is playing sort of like a puzzle game. "Ok I'm already there. Can we get to adventuring now?" Some of that is probably deference to him and streamlining the show for podcast form, because Griffin is certainly capable of improvising right off the dome.

[tberton]

If people are looking for another roleplaying podcast, which is less humour-focused than TAZ (but still funny), I can't recommend Friends at the Table enough. The GM is Austin Walker of Giant Bomb and he's fantastic. In the first season they played Dungeon World, exploring a post-post-apocalyptic fantasy setting. Now they're playing The Sprawl (having transitioned from TechNoir) and essentially procedurally creating a really rad cyberpunk mecha anime. There are giant robots who are gods, evil corporations, goofy hackers and a pop star turned mercenary. It's fucking great.

 

I haven't listened to TAZ, but Austin is the exact opposite of the type of GM Gormongous seems to be describing. He's extremely good at letting his players lead the way in the storytelling while giving them a framework and obstacles to keep things interesting. To illustrate with an example, half of the Dungeon World game sprouted from an offhanded comment by one of the players that the pirate attacking them should be an undead pirate, given that one of them had previously killed a pirate king. Austin ran with it and the group ended up exploring an undead town instead of doing whatever he had originally planned.

[jennegatron]

I love love love Austin Walker but bounced off Friends at the Table hard. Griffin definitely has a specific story he wants to tell, and I'm mostly interested in hearing that story and going for a ride with the boys & papa mcelroy.

[tberton]

Ah, see, I'm way more interested in the process of the GM, the players and the game conspiring to create a story that none of them could have predicted at the outset.

[Twig]

I like both. I also listen to Dungeons & Doritos, which definitely leans toward the goofy side of things, as the name suggests. The GM has plans, but he lets the players deviate if that's what they choose to do. They use a system the GM is actively working on as they play, so it's sorta interesting to hear it evolve. (They did start on Dungeons & Dragons version whatever.) They do a lot of post-processing on the audio, adding special sound effects and music and junk. It also gets a bit raunchy sometimes. And... probably offensive, if I'm honest, though I think they've gotten better over time.

[Badfinger]

Ah, see, I'm way more interested in the process of the GM, the players and the game conspiring to create a story that none of them could have predicted at the outset.

 

I'm with you, but that's probably not a podcast I could get my girlfriend to listen to with me. This is a silly thing occasionally punctuated by dice rolls to see if pants fall down. Thank you for bringing it to my attention, I might check it out at some point! Definitely what I'm in it for right now is Griffin's Goofers  with additional McElroy backup.

[Mawd]

I'm a big fan of DnD is For Nerds which is even goofier than TAZ. It's a bunch of Australias from the Sans Pants Radio crew coming together to bumble about in vain self interested ways while routinely foiling their DM. I'm not sure if it starts off that strong so I'd recommend trying out some of the shorter mid season spin offs they've had as they gear up for their season 2 adventure.

I'm bad at selling this kind of thing but srsly it's a lot of fun. I haven't found anything too uncomfortable with them and they're a different brand of goof than TAZ.

[Nappi]

Well... It depends. Different gamemasters are good at different things. Personally, as much as I love the McElroys and The Adventure Zone, I find Griffin not to be very good at empowering his players to play their characters in interesting ways. It's really easy to tell the various points at which, during episodes four and five, Griffin transitions from the premade adventure to his own work, because suddenly the players are getting told to go places and do stuff, with the alternative being Griffin saying, "Okay, nothing happens until you do it." He's just got this amazing fantasy novel laid out in his notes and his players are going to act it out for him. It's still a lot of fun to listen to it all go down, but I cringe at all the times that Griffin says "no," even when his players are coming from a place of strong roleplaying, because he doesn't want to go off his rails. That's something with which I've personally struggled as a GM and it bugs me that Griffin's not even trying a lot of the time.

 

Also, Griffin keeps talking about cheese like it's an invention about which a neo-medieval society wouldn't know and man that drives me crazy as a historian.

 

Yeah, I can definitely see that. However, the fact that Griffin is leading the players does not bother me personally, as the premade adventure is so interesting and I feel like he still gives them enough freedom to resolve the situations. For example, I'm happy that they ended up taking part in that wacky race during Petals to the Metal, something that I doubt would have happened without some heavy steering from Griffin's part.

 

I admit that I might feel differently about this had I ever played a D&D game.

 

I agree with Badfinger that the quest for Mexican food story-arc is absolutely hilarious.

[Dewar]

If people are looking for another roleplaying podcast, which is less humour-focused than TAZ (but still funny), I can't recommend Friends at the Table enough. The GM is Austin Walker of Giant Bomb and he's fantastic. In the first season they played Dungeon World, exploring a post-post-apocalyptic fantasy setting. Now they're playing The Sprawl (having transitioned from TechNoir) and essentially procedurally creating a really rad cyberpunk mecha anime. There are giant robots who are gods, evil corporations, goofy hackers and a pop star turned mercenary. It's fucking great.

 

I haven't listened to TAZ, but Austin is the exact opposite of the type of GM Gormongous seems to be describing. He's extremely good at letting his players lead the way in the storytelling while giving them a framework and obstacles to keep things interesting. To illustrate with an example, half of the Dungeon World game sprouted from an offhanded comment by one of the players that the pirate attacking them should be an undead pirate, given that one of them had previously killed a pirate king. Austin ran with it and the group ended up exploring an undead town instead of doing whatever he had originally planned.

 

Thank you for reminding me about this. I've loved watching some of the Stream Friends stuff and it's really cool that GB lets Austin continue to do these extracurricular things.

[Badfinger]

Yeah, I can definitely see that. However, the fact that Griffin is leading the players does not bother me personally, as the premade adventure is so interesting and I feel like he still gives them enough freedom to resolve the situations. For example, I'm happy that they ended up taking part in that wacky race during Petals to the Metal, something that I doubt would have happened without some heavy steering from Griffin's part.

 

I admit that I might feel differently about this had I ever played a D&D game.

 

I agree with Badfinger that the quest for Mexican food story-arc is absolutely hilarious.

 

I don't think I said, but meant to, that I love it from a storytelling perspective. I would probably be desperately frustrated if I was a player in his adventure. I need that room to breathe.

[melmer]

Yo! This is my new JAM

http://yourmomshousepodcast.com

I DIDNT WVEN KNOW WHO THIS GUY WAS A FEW WEEKS AGO. Watched his stand up on Netflix and today I find out he has a podcast with his comedian wife. I've had a lot of laughs today with this cast... whoa where did all those caps come from, ah fuck it I've gone too far I'm not re writing all that shit. Talking of shit, don't listen to the podcast whilst eating because they actually talk about shit quite a lot, they swear a lot and belch, they're just like me and my wife. Totes recommend.

Go to 38mins listen to Tom's "yeah no shit" story

[melmer]

[Mangela Lansbury]

I need to fluff up my podcast library because my commute has gotten longer, so I tried the Slate Political Gabfest again. I was again disappointed by the level of discourse on there -- they talked about a lot of legal stuff, and just didn't make very many good points, and the good points they made were poorly argued. I'll try it out for another week or two, but I got frustrated by that before and probably will again.

 

I added the Lawfare podcast to my list and it's been really good. It's a nice podcast for wonks. Jihadology is a good related podcast about terror-related subjects, as is Covert Contact by the guy who does Blogs of War. I think I'll try out the other two Lawfare podcasts -- Steptoe Cyberlaw and Rational Security -- just to go full Brookings on tech policy.

[tberton]

Yesterday I devoured the archive of Tuner, a podcast about pop music. Each week, the hosts take a pop song and break down the music theory behind what it's doing. They do a really great job of explaining stuff in laymen's terms and also staying aware of the fact that all the meaning behind any piece of music is ultimately contingent on culture, social status and history. It's a really fantastic show.

[Dewar]

That's cool. I don't understand music at all, so I might have to try it out.

[sclpls]

A friend of mine does a podcast where he and some other comedians and artists in the Bay Area discuss documentaries. Very great conversations and the nice thing is the podcast is pretty interesting to listen to regardless of whether you've seen the documentary being discussed or not.

 

https://supdocshow.tumblr.com/

https://soundcloud.com/supdocpodcast