S03E02 – Subsystems, Minigames and Mechanics

Today’s episode is about the small portable parts of RPGs – mechanics (the individual rules that can be separated out), the subsystems (expansions to existing mechanics within a game) and the minigames (games within a game). Understanding what they are and what the overall effect of them together is an important step if you have ambitions of customizing or developing your own game.

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S03E01 – Player Archetypes

Today on Save Vs. Rant, we’re going to talk about the kinds of people who play RPGs. No, this isn’t a dissection of gaming culture (although we may yet rant about that), but a discussion of the different motivations people have for playing RPGs. We also touch briefly on the classification of RPGs and Tabletop Games in general, but that’s yet another topic for a future podcast.

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S02E24 – Fortress of the Stone Giants

Continuing our ongoing examination of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path by Paizo Publishing, the next installment for us to examine is Fortress of the Stone Giants, a combination civic defense / dungeon crawl adventure. Join us as we continue our discussion of what works, what doesn’t, what was improved in the anniversary edition and, most importantly in our estimation, what we can all learn from this masterful series of adventures.

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S02E22 – The Skinsaw Murders

Today on Save Vs. Rant, we are continuing our look at the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path with Part 2: The Skinsaw Murders. Gruesome murders, a haunted house and a vicious cult. Join us as we delve deeper into this adventure path!

Note: There is some content in this module that may be disturbing for some listeners at around the 11:34 mark. We give a content warning before discussing this material, and skipping forward about a minute at that time will allow you to avoid all discussion of the particulars of this content.

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S02E21 – Burnt Offerings

Today on Save Vs. Rant, we’re discussing the first module of Rise of the Runelords, the first adventure in Pathfinder’s Adventure Path series set in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Setting. Why would we review an Adventure Path from 2007 (re-released in 2012)? Not only because of the insight it gives us into the mentality professional game designers creating memorable adventures, but also as a retrospective on Paizo Publishing’s masterful Adventure Path series!

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