The Dice Pool Podcast - LIVE Play Episode 1

By GM Hooly, in Genesys

We have posted our first episode. It’s a LIVE Play Episode using the adventure that is now available for a free download from the resource section (although it wasn’t when we recorded it).

Here are the links:

iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/the-dice-pool-podcast/id1321937642

RSS:

html://www.gmhooly.com/podcasts/rss.xml

Direct:

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dicepoolpodcast/~3/Y4MG-mvc-RY/DicePoolPodcast-LivePlay-S01E01.mp3

Edited by GM Hooly

Absolutely loved this episode and I'm definitely looking forward to future episodes! Great work!

Looking forward to listening as I bike home this evening. Enjoyed your sound bites on the order 66.

Wow, just wow! I was instantly smitten and moved, this is really really great cinema! Looking forward to episode 2 :) I wished this podcast was bi-monthly :D

Where is this adventure available?

The adventure is available as a Free Download under the Resource Section for GeneSys.

30 minutes ago, DarthDude said:

Wow, just wow! I was instantly smitten and moved, this is really really great cinema! Looking forward to episode 2 :) I wished this podcast was bi-monthly :D

Thank you very much for the praise. Its much appreciated. Episode 2 is ready to go, but you'll have to wait a week or so for that.

3 minutes ago, GM Hooly said:

The adventure is available as a Free Download under the Resource Section for GeneSys.

Thank you sir, adventure acquired. I know what I will be running tomorrow night. Friday night US time. My players are in for surprise, they normally play D&D. I am sure there will be grumbling at the table, but they are in for a treat.

My GM is considering running the free adventure as a way to get our feet wet so I stopped listening when I realized that's what it was. But a hearty congratulations on your first podcast. I look forward to listening to future ones!

3 hours ago, dlw32 said:

My GM is considering running the free adventure as a way to get our feet wet so I stopped listening when I realized that's what it was. But a hearty congratulations on your first podcast. I look forward to listening to future ones!

Your GM is thinking this might make a good homework assignment for everyone to listen to and then we do a different one-shot for our playtest. Please feel free to listen to it. I will be doing so tonight.

I firmly believe a good live play podcast makes the listeners into better players. It offers a different perspective, but it's also instructive to put yourself in a podcast player's seat and think through what YOU would have done in the same situation. This often includes yelling at your dashboard while driving (when I listen to podcasts), but more often it can be eye opening, and the best podcasts are truly entertaining.

Edited by Dragonshadow

That was great: You guys work well together! Also, you're a very patient GM!

23 hours ago, GM Hooly said:

The adventure is available as a Free Download under the Resource Section for GeneSys.

Do you have that amazing intro that describes the setting written down any where? I am not very familiar with the setting besides playing Descent and Runebound. Neither are my players so wanted to give them a run down of this setting before I run the adventure. It would be much appreciated if you have it written down.

I'm only about 45 minutes into the Podcast, but GM Hooly's explanation of the game is spot on and should be excerpted and posted on FFG's Genesys homepage.

Once the adventure gets rolling, I'm already laughing out loud at the twists the first scene has already taken, and the group's skillful use of their dice results. I'm anxious to hear more!

This is gold. I really hope you folks focus on actual play. We get enough theorycraft chatter on the forums. Not that I won't listen to that too...

Well done, Hooly!

What I most enjoy, personally, is hearing how different this module is already going from the 5 times I ran it at GenCon. Every group ended up fighting the bandits, while your group talked them down and even got them to agree to journey with you all the way to Nerekhal. First encounter is over and not a single combat check made; well done!

I'm eager to hear how the rest of the module plays out!

:D

One of the things our group does a lot of is fleshing out the narrative and give backgrounds to the NPCs who they interact with. I still find myself laughing when listening to episode 2 (which will be available soon) that expands on the relationship between the Orc PC and the Orc NPC. Stay tuned for that.

18 hours ago, Caleb Smedra said:

That was great: You guys work well together! Also, you're a very patient GM!

Thanks Caleb. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you mean by "patient". I’m very fortunate to have great players where half the time I just sit back and enjoy the show, letting them tell more of the story.

Edited by GM Hooly
9 hours ago, TrainedMunkey said:

Do you have that amazing intro that describes the setting written down any where? I am not very familiar with the setting besides playing Descent and Runebound. Neither are my players so wanted to give them a run down of this setting before I run the adventure. It would be much appreciated if you have it written down.

"Terrinoth. In the tongue of the Elder Kings, means “the Land of Steel". The name is thought to have described the mindsets and attire of its inhabitants, as well as the wealth of iron deposits still found in its rugged mountains. The Elder Kings are now gone, and Terrinoth is no longer strictly a kingdom. Instead, the region is divided amongst the Free Cities and the noble barons of the Daqan Lords.

"There are 13 Free Cities in total: Archaut, Thelsvan, Tamalir, Forge (the great Dwarven City), Greyhaven (the city of mages and scholarly learning), Vynelvale, Dawnsmoor, Nerekhall, Frostgate, Riverwatch, Arhynn and Carthridge. Each Free City is ruled by a noble baron who is for the most part independent from the rest but a council consisting of the barons of Terrinoth occasionally meets in Archaut to discuss matters that affect Terrinoth as a whole. This council is called the Council of Thirteen and is the closest thing to leadership that Terrinoth has in the absence of King Daqan.

"Since his disappearance during the Second Darkness, the people of The Free Cities whisper that King Daqan will return someday, and that he will suffer no other king to sit in his throne before he does. The superstition and legend of the Lost King forms as much a part of the character of Daqan’s former kingdom as the cult of Kellos or the Magistrates of the Common Law.

"Our story begins in north-west Terrinoth, on a road between Tamalir and Greyhaven. To the west, is Nerekhall, a city previously ravaged by the hordes of the underworld, while to the east, the Shadow Peaks watch over the northern lands as if waiting for some cataclysm to befall the people who go about their daily lives, unaware of what may soon come to pass."

I must point out that pretty much all of this bar the last paragraph is taken directly from the Terrinoth Wikia, specifically this page on Terrinoth. Something I did learn after I recorded this session was that Terrinoth is merely a continent, while the world is called Mennara.

17 hours ago, GM Hooly said:

Thanks Caleb. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you mean by "patient". I’m very fortunate to have great players where half the time I just sit back and enjoy the show, letting them tell more of the story.

Well, as I am new to RPGs, I have a limited understanding of how the storytelling and mechanics fit together. Having read the Terrinoth adventure before listening to your game, I had a feel for what the important points are and what needed to happen. I just really liked how you were in no hurry to advance the story, instead you let them work around things at their own speed, shaping the narrative in their own way. You didn't push them forward; you really just helped them with the story they were creating. I suppose in that respect, the adventure is really a set of guidelines with a few major plot points. Other than that, the story is up to the players and GM.

It really helped me see how Genesys could and likely should be played. Super cool!

Personally, I think anything done with an Aussie accent is so cool!

Great podcast looking forward to part 2

1 hour ago, Caleb Smedra said:

Well, as I am new to RPGs, I have a limited understanding of how the storytelling and mechanics fit together. Having read the Terrinoth adventure before listening to your game, I had a feel for what the important points are and what needed to happen. I just really liked how you were in no hurry to advance the story, instead you let them work around things at their own speed, shaping the narrative in their own way. You didn't push them forward; you really just helped them with the story they were creating. I suppose in that respect, the adventure is really a set of guidelines with a few major plot points. Other than that, the story is up to the players and GM.

It really helped me see how Genesys could and likely should be played. Super cool!

Personally, I think anything done with an Aussie accent is so cool!

I was definitely guilty of this at GenCon, but where Hooly has figuratively all the time in the world, I had to get the module done in 4 hours...

;)

On 7.12.2017 at 2:17 PM, GM Hooly said:

Episode 2 is ready to go, but you'll have to wait a week or so for that.

Is the week over, yet? :D

On ‎9‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 8:29 AM, DarthGM said:

Well done, Hooly!

What I most enjoy, personally, is hearing how different this module is already going from the 5 times I ran it at GenCon. Every group ended up fighting the bandits, while your group talked them down and even got them to agree to journey with you all the way to Nerekhal. First encounter is over and not a single combat check made; well done!

I'm eager to hear how the rest of the module plays out!

:D

I was listening to this as I was wandering around an LGS (it's a Sydney CBD store, for the Australians here, and absolutely not friendly) picking up some maps and minis for my upcoming fantasy Genesys game thinking that "I bet most people fight the bandits" and being really impressed that Hooly's group didn't even think to go at it as a fight. A real Australian would have thrown a telephone at them (he says, referring to the man we love to call a Kiwi when he does dumb ****).

@GM Hooly - more pls.

On 12/8/2017 at 6:03 PM, GM Hooly said:

"Terrinoth. In the tongue of the Elder Kings, means “the Land of Steel". The name is thought to have described the mindsets and attire of its inhabitants, as well as the wealth of iron deposits still found in its rugged mountains. The Elder Kings are now gone, and Terrinoth is no longer strictly a kingdom. Instead, the region is divided amongst the Free Cities and the noble barons of the Daqan Lords.

"There are 13 Free Cities in total: Archaut, Thelsvan, Tamalir, Forge (the great Dwarven City), Greyhaven (the city of mages and scholarly learning), Vynelvale, Dawnsmoor, Nerekhall, Frostgate, Riverwatch, Arhynn and Carthridge. Each Free City is ruled by a noble baron who is for the most part independent from the rest but a council consisting of the barons of Terrinoth occasionally meets in Archaut to discuss matters that affect Terrinoth as a whole. This council is called the Council of Thirteen and is the closest thing to leadership that Terrinoth has in the absence of King Daqan.

"Since his disappearance during the Second Darkness, the people of The Free Cities whisper that King Daqan will return someday, and that he will suffer no other king to sit in his throne before he does. The superstition and legend of the Lost King forms as much a part of the character of Daqan’s former kingdom as the cult of Kellos or the Magistrates of the Common Law.

"Our story begins in north-west Terrinoth, on a road between Tamalir and Greyhaven. To the west, is Nerekhall, a city previously ravaged by the hordes of the underworld, while to the east, the Shadow Peaks watch over the northern lands as if waiting for some cataclysm to befall the people who go about their daily lives, unaware of what may soon come to pass."

I must point out that pretty much all of this bar the last paragraph is taken directly from the Terrinoth Wikia, specifically this page on Terrinoth. Something I did learn after I recorded this session was that Terrinoth is merely a continent, while the world is called Mennara.

Most excellent sir and your Google Fu is much stronger than mine.

I ran the adventure Friday night, but I just had the group listen to the podcast's explanation of the game and then the above intro as you read it.