Episodes

  • One Shot Wonders
    Feb 21 2024

    One Shot games are a great way to introduce new players to the world of table top roleplaying! they're also fantastic for trying out new systems and new ideas! This week Playing The Roll talks about the benefits of planning and running one session games, and how they can be a great learning tool for GMs and players alike. In The Challenge, our hosts each come up with their own unique one shot games!

    Playing The Roll is and table top RPG podcast dedicated to building better players and better games! Three long time Game Masters talk about the how's and why's of roleplaying, and challenge each other to come up with unique scenarios, characters, and settings. Whether you play Dungeons and Dragons, World of Darkness, Pathfinder, or another of the hundreds of great RPGs out there, tune in to Playing The Roll for tips, tricks, and whole lot of fun!

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    1 hr and 39 mins
  • Flaws are Fun
    Feb 6 2024

    Character flaws are the secret sauce that make for well rounded and memorable role playing experiences. It adds to the drama and excitement of a game when character's Achilles heel comes into play. This episode is devoted to exploring the narrative opportunities in flaws, and how to best incorporate them into your characters. In this week's challenge our hosts are on a Redemption Arc! They must create characters with flaws that led to a fall from grace and set them up for a fresh campaign.

    Dungeons & Dragons, Vampire the masquerade, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, and a hundred more besides. Whatever roleplaying universe you like to play or run games in, the desire is always there to become a better player or run a better game. Welcome to Playing The Roll. A show dedicated to exploring the art of roleplaying in hopes of building better players and better games. Join Nathan Stone, a long time Game Master, and his friends Dary Robinson, and Dylan Campbell who also happen to be long time Game masters as they talk about everything that goes into making great games, the things you should never do, and how to take your gaming experience to the next level. Each episode ends with a challenge, a call out to us, and to you, to work our roleplaying muscles by designing a character, NPC or location within a certain theme, and of course we share the results on the show. We hope you’ll join our quest to become better players and run better games, here on Playing The Roll.

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    1 hr and 47 mins
  • Off The Rails
    Jan 25 2024

    Sometimes things get weird at the RPG table. Sometimes things get out of control. It happens to everyone eventually, a game gets out of hand and loses sight of the original plot and goals that the players and GM started out with. This week we're talking about why and how games get out of hand, and how to get them back on track. Then in The Challenge part of the show our hosts have to create fantasy characters with secret identities!

    Dungeons & Dragons, Vampire the masquerade, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, and a hundred more besides. Whatever roleplaying universe you like to play or run games in, the desire is always there to become a better player or run a better game. Welcome to Playing The Roll. A show dedicated to exploring the art of roleplaying in hopes of building better players and better games. Join Nathan Stone, a long time Game Master, and his friends Dary Robinson, and Dylan Campbell who also happen to be long time Game masters as they talk about everything that goes into making great games, the things you should never do, and how to take your gaming experience to the next level. Each episode ends with a challenge, a call out to us, and to you, to work our roleplaying muscles by designing a character, NPC or location within a certain theme, and of course we share the results on the show. They hope you'll join their quest to become better players and run better games, here on Playing The Roll.

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    1 hr and 32 mins
  • Only The Good Die Young
    Jan 10 2024

    All good things come to an end. Monsters, heroes, and sometimes whole campaigns die before their time. This week on PTR we're talking about the death of games and characters. Like grave robbers we're cracking open the caskets of dead games to figure out why games die early, and what can be done to avoid such a hideous fate! Even this week's challenge is death themed. We've got to come up with an in game location that has been touched by the energies of death! It's a grim start to the new year!

    Dungeons & Dragons, Vampire the masquerade, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, and a hundred more besides. Whatever roleplaying universe you like to play or run games in, the desire is always there to become a better player or run a better game. Welcome to Playing The Roll. A show dedicated to exploring the art of roleplaying in hopes of building better players and better games. Join Nathan Stone, a long time Game Master, and his friends Dary Robinson, and Dylan Campbell who also happen to be long time Game masters as they talk about everything that goes into making great games, the things you should never do, and how to take your gaming experience to the next level. Each episode ends with a challenge, a call out to us, and to you, to work our roleplaying muscles by designing a character, NPC or location within a certain theme, and of course we share the results on the show. We hope you’ll join our quest to become better players and run better games, here on Playing The Roll.

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    1 hr and 20 mins
  • Wondrous World Building
    Dec 6 2023

    World building is a vital component of any RPG. On this episode we discuss how we like to approach world building, how players and game masters should world build together, and how starting small is often the best way to build big detailed worlds!

    This week's challenge is: New Person Creation (NPC). Our hosts are tasked with coming up with an important NPC for nautical themed game who will act as a mentor to the players, but will eventually lead the players into danger!

    Whatever roleplaying universe you like to play or run games in, the desire is always there to become a better player or run a better game. Welcome to Playing The Roll. A show dedicated to exploring the art of roleplaying in hopes of building better players and better games. Join three long time Game masters as they talk about everything that goes into making great games, the things you should never do, and how to take your gaming experience to the next level. There’s plenty of stories to tell along the way of great gaming moments, disasters averted, or just plain old disasters! Each episode ends with a challenge, a call out to the hosts, and to you, to work your roleplaying muscles by designing a character, NPC or location within a certain theme. We hope you’ll join our quest to become better players and run better games, here on Playing The Roll.

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    1 hr and 16 mins
  • One Page RPG Reviews: Adventure Skeletons and Goat Crashers
    Nov 29 2023

    Adventure Skeletons and Goat Crashers are wonderful One Page RPGs by Grant Howitt. In this solo episode, Nathan reviews these two strange and (frankly) adorable RPGs, and makes his own Adventure Skeleton and Party Goat characters.

    Welcome to Playing The Roll! the show that explores tabletop roleplaying from both sides of the DM screen. Join Dylan, Nathan, and Darcy; three long time role players and game masters as they explore the ins and outs of RPGs and discuss the strategies and philosophies that go into being a great player and running great games. They'll challenge themselves and you each episode to design interesting new characters, NPCs, and locations, and grow your role playing muscles! Whether you play Dungeons and Dragons, World of Darkness, Pathfinder, or one of the hundreds of other great role playing games out there, Playing the Roll is your show to celebrate all things RPGs!

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    37 mins
  • Making Great Characters
    Nov 22 2023

    We're talking character creation from both sides of the table. There's an art to making good characters and the rules are the same whether you're playing Dungeons and Dragons, Call of Cthulhu or pretty much any other system you can name. We'll talk about the red and green flags of building a character, appropriate backstories, and the secret sauce that is collaborative character design!

    This week's challenge is called Dope Tropes! Our hosts must design a character that uses a classic fantasy trope (The chosen one, former villain, etc), but with a twist to make the character more interesting or more relatable.

    Whatever roleplaying universe you like to play or run games in, the desire is always there to become a better player or run a better game. Welcome to Playing The Roll. A show dedicated to exploring the art of roleplaying in hopes of building better players and better games. Join three long time Game masters as they talk about everything that goes into making great games, the things you should never do, and how to take your gaming experience to the next level. There’s plenty of stories to tell along the way of great gaming moments, disasters averted, or just plain old disasters! Each episode ends with a challenge, a call out to the hosts, and to you, to work your roleplaying muscles by designing a character, NPC or location within a certain theme. We hope you’ll join our quest to become better players and run better games, here on Playing The Roll.

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    1 hr and 16 mins
  • The Foundations of Great Games
    Nov 8 2023

    In the first episode of Playing the Roll our hosts discuss the best ways to plan a successful TTRPG campaign from scratch, including who to invite, scheduling, setting expectations, and the other foundational decisions that set you up for success when running a game! In our inaugural Challenge, our hosts must create a fresh faced adventurer who's just beginning their Hero's (or Villain's) Journey!

    Welcome to Playing The Roll! the show that explores tabletop roleplaying from both sides of the DM screen. Join Dylan, Nathan, and Darcy; three long time role players and game masters as they explore the ins and outs of RPGs and discuss the strategies and philosophies that go into being a great player and running great games. They'll challenge themselves and you each episode to design interesting new characters, NPCs, and locations, and grow your role playing muscles! Whether you play Dungeons and Dragons, World of Darkness, Pathfinder, or one of the hundreds of other great role playing games out there, Playing the Roll is your show to celebrate all things RPGs!

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    1 hr and 15 mins