Episode 13 - Interviews and Prep. (Luckiest. Episode. Ever.)

Dear Listeners,

Please find linked Episode 13 - Interviews and Prep (39MB, 42:24min) for your listening pleasure.

In this episode, I interrogate Liz about the workshop - "Improv for Gamers" - that she will be running at 9.30am and 1.30pm on Saturday 22 November as part of Blue Moon Con. Liz and I chat about what we (as gamers and GMs) do when we are preparing to get back into a game after an extended absence (or just in between monthly games). Finally, ArmyDan tells us everything we need to know to register and participate in Blue Moon Con.

I hope you enjoy this episode, which is, as you will see, the luckiest episode ever.

love and hugs,
emmajeans


Links:
Info/Registration for BlueMoonCon
About Improv
Book: Play Unsafe
Improv Olympic
Book: Truth in Comedy
Who grabbed Liz's butt?
Kiwi English Pronunciation = doubleplus schwa
The Copland Building
The Copland Building (googlemap)

Contact Dan!:
email ArmyDan
ArmyDan's RPG Meetup profile
The Con Website

Music credits:
Terence Janssen
Never Alone by Michael Mellender
Yellow Lasers by MC Frontalot

Episode 13 on its way...

For all you who thought we'd never return, we're back. Or at least we will be soon.
Episode 13 has been recorded, edited, and I have passed it on to Emma's capable hands.

It's a good 'un, I promise. Chock full of useful information (for those in the Canberra area) and new, exciting features like fresh, new music, TWO interviews (albeit, one is with myself) and slightly less rambling than usual!

Listen for the special super bonus commercial break in which we trick our friends into becoming corporate shills for...OURSELVES! Muahahahaha!!

Stay tuned!

Word Cloud

I made this wordcloud using wordle.
The size of the words indicates the frequency with which it appears on this blog page.
Click on the image to see clearly what we're about!

Episode 12 - Survey Results and Geek Gifts

Episode 12 - Survey Results and Geek Gifts (60 min 19 sec, 55.3MB)

(This episode is Take 2 of Ep12. We like you too much to ever let you hear Take 1.)

Liz and Emma (finally) return to the webs after an extended absence (in which they endured the joys of retail).

In this episode, the results of the Gamer Group Survey are discussed, and we find out what qualities geeks of both genders look for (and try to avoid) in their gaming group and their GMs.

Inspired by their workplaces taking on a distinctively Yuletide character, Liz and Emma chat about the different types of gifts they like to give and receive on different festive occasions.


Some Links
Unanalysed Survey Results - More people have taken the survey since we analysed the data, so we thought we'd let you check it out. If you would like access to the most current raw data for non-commercial reasons, please email us at natural20podcast@blogspot.com
Jinx
Klear Gear
Think Geek
Military Simulations
Pound o Dice
Blue Moon Con
RPG Meetup

Thanks to Terence for the music...

Episode 11 - Gender, Cons and Aromas

Episode 11 - Gender, Cons, and Aromas (36 mins)

Liz and Emma catch up on the games they have been playing, the armour favoured by female characters in the D&D 4th Ed books, marriage proposals - you're doing it wrong*, and geek convention aromas. (Not the good kind. Not the smell of freshly opened miniatures and brand new source books... no. The other kind. You know the one we mean.)

Liz started a forum discussion about gender and gaming which stems from this episode. If you want to weigh in with your opinion, please go to http://www.rpgmeetup.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1243. You will need to join the forums, if you're not already a member. If there are some relevant discussions elsewhere on the webs, please leave us a comment with the URL!

Fun Fact! This episode was recorded before Liz went to work and Emma went to a job interview.

Links
Marriage proposal: Critical Fail
Survey: Gaming Group Preferences
Shmames Smurkshmop: the less fragrant alternative to RL shopping
Phase Two Comics - hooray for hosting!
RPGMeetup - Nerds in Canberra
Blue Moon Con Official Site

Thanks to Terence for the Music!

Episode 10 - Better Living through RolePlaying

Episode 10 - Better Living through Role Playing

There was recently an article on Wired.com that compared Weight Watchers with RPGs. I think it is an entirely valid comparison, and is probably one type of role playing that appeals to more women than men. Liz and I chatted about other ways in which Role Playing can make other boring but necessary parts of life more appealing to other demographics.
Also, I managed to render Liz speechless with derision and disbelief at the revelation that some people sometimes cheat in RPGs...

After the show we had a bit of a chat about how it's great that people can use Role Playing to improve their lives... but we figure it's probably equally as important that we improve our Role Playing experience by actually *having* a life.
What do you think?


LINKS
Hypertext D20 SRD
Chore Wars
Weight Watchers as RPG Article

Gamer Group Preference Survey

Dear Listeners and other Gamers who wandered onto our blog from the Wide World of Webs,

For an upcoming episode, Liz and I will be talking about what makes up an ideal gaming group. Because I prefer to have *some* information at my disposal (rather than making it up as I go along), I would like to invite you to take our survey about what qualities *you* like in your regular gaming group.

You will not be identifiable from the information you provide, so please tell us what you really think.

The survey also contains some questions about your roleplaying experience and preferences and your demographic background. This includes both age and gender. Here's why.

I was reluctant to include the question of gender, because I hate it when people judge or prejudge based on my chromosomes. However, there is a lot of information and opinion going around the webs about female gamers, and/or the difference between male and female gaming styles and preferences. Similarly, other distinctions have been made between older and younger players, and more and less experienced gamers. I can agree with of the statements people make, based on my own perspective or experience, but other statements seem to be culturally or regionally specific, or in some other way ungeneralisable.
So, the question of age and gender have both been included.

The guts of the survey is a simple list of qualities found in your gaming group. Tick all the qualities you like in your group. If you usually prefer the quality, tick it. If it is rarely or only occasionally something you like, leave the box unticked. If it's 50:50, go with your instinct.

We may decide to use the data as a preliminary survey only, but that depends on the results.
The more information we can gather from gamers all over the world, the more generalisable our data will be.
So please, take the <7 minutes to take the survey, and then email the link to your gamer friends and post it on your blog or lj or facebook.
It will be up until the end of September.

That link again: http://www.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=1045629.

peace,
emmajeans

Episode 9 - Crisis of Faith

Episode 9: Crisis of Faith (~41 min)

When the game is no longer shiny, when sessions are not always fun, and when other players start to annoy you, why do you keep gaming? Do you keep on gaming? Are there any other options?

Liz asks for help with her crisis of faith, and Emma interrogates her to get to the bottom of the problem.

NB: To my darling Karen. All characters portrayed in this podcast are fictitious and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

News - ArmyDan's callout for GMs

This message was posted on RPGMeetup on Saturday 20 July 2008 by ArmyDan.

If you are from Canberra or can be in Canberra on 22 November 08, and are thinking about GMing a convention game, contact ArmyDan through the RPGMeetup forums or by the forum's PM or email facility.

The call out for GMs

Okay, Blue Moon needs GMs who can provide a commitment to running a game on the 22nd of November.

We are looking for 2 sorts of commitment...

First tier GMs -
GMs willing and able to run their game on the first and second session of the day (from about 9am through to about 4pm - two sessions of the same game). Each game is to be around 3 hours long (we are forgiving if you go over or under).

Second tier GMs -
GMs willing and able to run a one off game at the last session of the day (from about 6pm-9pm).

In both cases, GMs are expected to provide pre-generated characters for their game. (Note - In the case of Living Greyhawke, being able to provide characters for those who havent got any). As well as any other materials necessary for the running of the game (Minatures, handouts etc etc)..

The brief for the Blue Moon is "Something New". This could be a new adventure, a new games system, new characters or a new idea or concept for the game. We would like to try something new..

Please reply here, PM me, or send me an email. We would like around 8 GMs (at least intially - 4 first tier, 4 second tier) at this stage, but would gladly accept more as the registrations or expressions of interest are recieved.

Please reply with - Name of the GM, Number of players, Name of system (if any), Short blurb on the game (preferrably with the words "Something New" in the blurb).
Also it would be preferrable if you provide an idea of if the players require system knowledge (and how much), the "mood" of the game (fun, serious, dramatic, high action etc).

I would like to fill the first 8 slots by the end of July, so please reply early.
Ta,

Dan

Episode 8 - What I Did On My Holidays

Episode 8 -What I Did on My Holidays (~ 42 min)

Liz and Emma introduce a new segment. Whereas in previous episodes we have conducted episode-length interviews about our interviewee's gaming history (i.e. the First Time series of shows), in Episode 8 we have a short chat to Matt about his experiences at Phenomenon Con. This shorter interview segment will henceforth be known as "the Quickie"!
(Why start being highbrow about it now?)

We also discuss the gaming and geekery that both Liz and I immersed ourselves in since we last sat down to record together.

This episode is the first that has been entirely recorded on the new microphone, and at Liz's new house.
Please send us feedback by leaving a comment on this blog or emailing to natural20podcast@gmail.com; or, if you would like to tell the world how much you love us, leave us some feedback on iTunes!