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RPG Glory Stories: Proud GM Moments
19 Plays1 month ago
The best feeling a GM can have is when a player makes them proud. This episode marks the first of our RPG Glory Story episodes, Daryl, Nick, and Robert share stories highlighting moments when players made us proud as GMs.
GamerNation Con X
https://tabletop.events/conventions/gamer-nation-con-x
Me & Steve Talk RPGs, episode 185: In Defence of Movie Thievery w/ Brev Tanner
https://meandsteverpg.podbean.com/e/185-in-defence-of-movie-thievery-w-brev-tanner/
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Transcript
Introduction and Apologies
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, before we dive into the episode, future Daryl here, wanting to apologize for the horrible audio on my portion of the show this time out. Drives me as crazy as it's probably going to drive you.
00:00:12
Speaker
Thanks. How We Roll Gaming is dedicated to spreading enjoyment of great role-playing games. We hope to bring you insights into games you may not have played, tips to be a better game master and player, and share stories and momentous events at our tables.
00:00:26
Speaker
Every game is a new story to tell.
Meet the Hosts of How We Roll Gaming
00:00:28
Speaker
I'm Daryl. I'm Nick. And here's Robert. And this is How We Roll.
00:00:41
Speaker
Welcome back to the How We Roll Gaming Podcast. How are you guys doing this afternoon? looks beautiful out, but it's cold. It's really cold, but hey, I'm enjoying my day off from for President's Day. I'll take it.
00:00:54
Speaker
I am too. I will gladly take it these days. Good way for us to stay inside and stay warm.
Gamer Nation Con 10 Excitement
00:01:02
Speaker
Yep. It's been an exciting couple of weeks behind the scenes for our crew.
00:01:07
Speaker
A little over a week before or a recording date, tickets for Gamer Nation Con 10 went on sale. And the convention is scheduled for the first weekend in April.
00:01:17
Speaker
I look forward to this every year. And so of the rest of us, since you've put ah but us into that into that area as well. Yeah. yeah That week.
00:01:29
Speaker
That has put our planning for the con into high gear as we're finalizing the games that we're going to run for the con. And then just yesterday, Nick and I had a great alpha session.
00:01:41
Speaker
for one of the games. We got feedback from a bunch of our players, just kind of doing a walkthrough, not an actual play, and getting feedback so that we can tweak it. And then in a couple of weeks, we have an actual play test session scheduled.
00:01:55
Speaker
We've got play tests coming up for our annual three part tag team series of of games coming up in
Games, Achievements, and Community Buzz
00:02:05
Speaker
March. And then later today, as we're recording this event submission is going to be open for the con and we will be submitting our games confirmed with Chris, the con organizer.
00:02:16
Speaker
But we are proud to be a gamer credit achievement again this year. So if you play in a game run by anyone from How We Roll Gaming, you get that achievement.
00:02:27
Speaker
And so it's kind of exciting. Yeah, an achievement and a nice little but and little badge for yourself. And gamer cred points that count towards things like, you know early registration for future cons. Woo-hoo!
00:02:40
Speaker
Except they went up this year, you said. so Yeah, Chris says that they're looking at going up to 250 points. But think about it. Every single one of us who was there last year got 100 gamer cred for the one rank.
00:02:55
Speaker
At the end. so And then whatever we got individually. Yeah, so so if you're not at the 250, you're darn close. I'm probably close. um Bye-bye.
00:03:07
Speaker
One more con and then we're good. Yep. And we keep talking about Gamer Nation Con, so let's talk about what it is a little bit.
Location and Special Guests
00:03:15
Speaker
It's a great small gaming convention that is hosted here locally in Plano, Texas, just north of Dallas proper.
00:03:25
Speaker
We already touched on this is saying that Stephanie and I introduced the two of you and the rest of the group to it. So it goes without saying that I heartily recommend it. One of the great things that I love about this con is it's all people who love games.
00:03:41
Speaker
And when I say it's small, it's about 150
00:03:46
Speaker
And once you go, you're like family. but Everyone there, they may not necessarily write remember your name off the top of their head, they're like, oh, I remember you. We had fun in this game last year.
00:03:59
Speaker
yeah i remember you. You pulled out that thing in the game that made everyone laugh. Yeah. It's a great sense of community. um This year, since it's the 10th, it's Gamer Nation Con 10 with Roman numeral 10 X.
Arkham Horror and Convention Prep
00:04:15
Speaker
So the theme is X-Files or Paranormal.
00:04:19
Speaker
And they always have a guest of honor every year. This year, it's a returning guest of honor, Sam Gregor Stewart, who was formerly the RPG director of Fantasy Flight Games and is now the RPG director of Edge Studio, who is the other Asmode imprint that took all of the role-playing games.
00:04:42
Speaker
So yeah. All of the old FFG RPGs are now Edge Studio RPGs. So he's the man behind a lot of the games that our group really loves.
00:04:54
Speaker
Star Wars, Genesis, shout out to Robert here, Legend of the Five Rings. Going to be looking to do one of those soon. And Arkham Horror. i saw him running so by I saw him running several sessions of five rings at the first Gamer Nation Con we went to, Gamer Nation Con 6.
00:05:15
Speaker
So it is not out of the question for Sam to run five rings. And for the Arkham Horror, you definitely said that the starter pack you got was like one of the best you've ever gotten before, correct? i It was packed fought well.
00:05:33
Speaker
I happen to have it right here behind me. And this isn't going to work for the well audio only version of the podcast. I'm to hold up to the camera and show that it is packed full to the rim of oh goodies for the starter game.
00:05:55
Speaker
studies Descriptions, characters. think there's even a few puzzles in there.
Logistics and Event Planning
00:06:00
Speaker
I think so. Not only is Sam going to be there, but some of our friends who are also regulars at Gamer Nation Con were contributors in a freelance capacity or an editorial capacity on Arkham Horror.
00:06:14
Speaker
So given the theme of the con, I will not be surprised if there is some Arkham Horror on the schedule. And I wouldn't mind playing some of it. I would not either.
00:06:26
Speaker
Tickets are still on sale. You don't have to be local to go if you're listening to this and you're far away but are interested. You can check them out at the website tabletop.events slash conventions slash gamer dash nation dashcon dash dash X. And there's going to be a link in the show notes.
00:06:47
Speaker
but And then Chris also helps arrange if you are coming from a state, he arranges a hotel where you can link and get a reservation. Yeah, the link to the hotel block is still not up. The hotel hasn't sent Chris the link yet.
00:07:01
Speaker
He just said this morning, as we're recording this, that but he's just waiting to get that back from them and has reached out to them again and will post it as soon as he has it.
00:07:13
Speaker
So yeah, there is a hotel block that's in the neighborhood of $100 a night. ah night The hotel is about a mile from the venue. The venue is awesome for convention like this, for a grouping like this.
00:07:28
Speaker
It's called Dallas Games Marathon. It's literally 10 minutes from my house. And it's set up. There's a huge room full of tables for gaming.
00:07:39
Speaker
Then there are some smaller rooms off to the side. And there are shelves filled with every single board your card game known to man. yeah That is very much not a hyperbole. No, that is very much true.
00:07:52
Speaker
they They do actually have an inventory list of all of the games in their library that's available on their Discord. And i know I know Nick's doing this, but you don't have to sign up for ah scheduled games.
00:08:06
Speaker
Because a lot of people come in with their stuff and do pickup games. You can do a pickup game you can do a pickup game of something that's in the board game library.
Unique Events and Game Submissions
00:08:14
Speaker
You can bring in your own and do a pickup game. You can do a pickup game of an RPG.
00:08:18
Speaker
Whatever you want to do. So we are, this is our second year as a as a group hosting quite a few games at Gamer Nation Con. Stephanie has a few as well.
00:08:32
Speaker
She is returning the popular Leonard Maltin game. that she played last year that was inspired by the game of the same name on the movie defenders podcast and spoiler alert.
00:08:47
Speaker
she reached out to the movie defenders to just get feedback on her game description for this year. And they liked it so much that they responded back that they are going to sponsor her Leonard Maltin game session and are sending one of the famous movie defenders blankets to give away to the winner. Oh, wow. That's really good. It's a big deal. Yeah. And then of course, for those of you who like to,
00:09:15
Speaker
hurt yourself and others. I'm sure someone will bring an Uno No Mercy see deck and you can play into the night because I know last convention that lasted until closing, which was like 2 a.m.
00:09:28
Speaker
Yes, we we played Uno No Mercy on Saturday night. Saturday night goes to 2 a.m. I don't remember what time we started, but we had a 12 to 15 person Uno No Mercy game that kept going until Chris came by and said, we're turning off the lights.
00:09:49
Speaker
Get out. That's when you know it's a good game. Yes. Gamer Nation Con, lots of fun. We're looking forward to it. We will be doing a Gamer Nation Con 10 in review episode, our episode after the con.
00:10:05
Speaker
And i I need to confirm, but we did have an offer for a special guest host for that episode, too. And we will be very welcoming if he chooses
RPG Glory Stories Introduction
00:10:18
Speaker
he or she chooses to come.
00:10:19
Speaker
That is correct. I don't want to jinx it by saying that it's a done deal until I am able to confirm. But they offered, and I told them, you be careful what you offer where I can screenshot you saying Today, our podcast, what we're going to be talking about is RPG glory stories.
00:10:43
Speaker
Now there's plenty of venues out there that tell tales of RPG horror stories. be Really fun and entertaining to read or hear about. I watch Crispy's Taverns, RPG Glory Stories every episode.
00:10:58
Speaker
But we want to switch things up a bit. And we want to feature those moments at the table that you remember because of how awesome they were. And so for our first RPG Glory Stories episode, we're looking at times that players made us very proud GMs.
00:11:16
Speaker
Players did something that really stood out to us. They showed tremendous skill or ability, or they just went for it and made us proud.
00:11:30
Speaker
Yeah, those times where they just did it, and not only did the players get excited, but we, the GMs, got excited. We were like, yes, yes, let's make it happen. This is why we do this.
00:11:42
Speaker
And s seeing a little bit of Nick's broken face every once in a while never hurts. Yes. Wait, you weren't there last week, Robert. Maybe not in person, but I was there over the over the audio. Oh, that's right. And you sent a picture. I saw it. Yeah, it it was Xander who wasn't there at all.
00:12:01
Speaker
That's right. Yeah, it's been a while since we broke you, Nick. It has been. would would Would that be a proud GM moment, or would that be a... get the bleep out of my house moment.
00:12:14
Speaker
Oh, it's... Very much it can just go either way, but either way, I'm somewhat impressed. It was one of those,
Memorable RPG Moment: Brian's Maturity
00:12:22
Speaker
why didn't I think they would do this moment? but If there are no objections, I'll dive in first with my RPG glory story.
00:12:33
Speaker
Go ahead. Take it away. ah little bit of background is required here. One of our players... and shout out to Brian. I was just talking to him online yesterday.
00:12:44
Speaker
One of our players, Brian, was younger than most of us. When Nick and I first encountered him, he was, let's see, I'm just backtracking ages, he probably would have been around 12, give or take.
00:13:01
Speaker
And yeah we he was a a good player then, but he was also... I hesitate to say immature because that's not what I'm trying to say.
00:13:12
Speaker
But he was 12. So it was he was thinking like a 12-year-old in terms of what he wanted to do. Yeah, it could have been frustrating um to other people at the table, but you he was 12.
00:13:29
Speaker
He played in... He came into another one of the games that I was running from home and was very much... His character was very... And this time I know the right word for the character because immature is not right, but his character was very impulsive.
00:13:50
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good word. yeah And his character was intentionally impulsive. This wasn't... player younger than the rest just doing something stupid just because they didn't know any better.
00:14:05
Speaker
He was playing the character. The character was impulsive because the character had e personal agenda. ah his His character thought that she was the daughter of a famous pirate, and it was a Star Wars game.
00:14:24
Speaker
His character thought she was the daughter of a famous pirate. And she was trying to get her would-be mother's attention.
00:14:37
Speaker
So whenever they had the opportunity in one of their missions, she would do something big and bold and leave some kind of marker behind to try to get her mother's attention.
00:14:54
Speaker
Basically notice just me, mommy. Yeah. Very much. Very much. And it was in character. Did it throw curveballs to the rest of the group that they did didn't want or need as their characters because it was drawing heat that they didn't want?
00:15:13
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. like But it was how the character was built. So Flash forward a little bit, he's joined one of the games that Nick and I co-run and brings his own personal brand of chaos to it.
00:15:34
Speaker
And we love it for the most part, except he might need to be tutored on interrogation scenes. But we won't go there. Yeah, that's later.
00:15:45
Speaker
he's he is dead. developed over the years, you know, now he's college age. He has developed into one of my favorite players to watch. Because he he doesn't get a chance to join us as much anymore because college.
00:16:02
Speaker
But he brings a very unique approach to all of his characters and his game sessions. And i i love to see it. I love to see the interaction Because he's almost always a great wild card up against yeah everyone else.
00:16:22
Speaker
That's a great way of saying it. He's always a joy to play with. I've only played in like two games with him, but he's a treat. he He is. And you he's only in college a little up the highway, so I'm trying to get him to join us in person a little more. And I sent him the link to Gamer Nation Con, so maybe we'll see him there.
Star Wars RPG Highlights
00:16:42
Speaker
i would i would If I had the extra money, I would buy his ticket to watch him spread his chaos to other GMs. tickets That would be so i would be quite sight.
00:16:54
Speaker
And we actually know he would actually go if we paid for his ticket. Yes. A couple of years ago, after many years of trying to come up with a good hook,
00:17:08
Speaker
for star wars campaign limited duration based on les miserables i've been trying to come up with it for years and i finally had the hook something finally gave me the right hook so i started this campaign now the hook was the characters the pcs are on coruscant right after the fall of the empire and return of the jedi And as the Empire is trying to clamp down, that provided the perfect Les Mis kind of setting.
00:17:43
Speaker
You have the people in the lower levels of Coruscant who are pushing back against the Empire. The Empire knows that it's lost the war that they're trying to hold on to Coruscant.
00:17:56
Speaker
And also by this time, we have all three books in the Aftermath trilogy of books. a lot of which has information about what's going on on Coruscant.
00:18:07
Speaker
So i'm able to pepper events here and there from the Aftermath trilogy that the characters intersected with briefly. There's the background of the campaign.
00:18:19
Speaker
So Brian's character is an old Clone Wars era separatist commando droid. He has no compunctions about taking life.
00:18:31
Speaker
And his mission parameters are fairly narrow, and he will... anyone who's doing wrong, he will not tolerate, we'll say.
00:18:44
Speaker
Yes. So, we're on the second the first full session. It's session one. We had a little prolog prologue in session zero.
00:18:57
Speaker
quick plug for next episodes session zero manifesto episode uh but little prologue at the end of session zero we've got we're in session one we're about halfway through and all of the characters are in the underworld of coruscant they're in the below levels yeah this bar owned by one of our other players stephanie right and so Seeking a few pieces of information, the group splits into two smaller parties to head off into other parts of the underlevels.
00:19:35
Speaker
Of course, not i don't even remember what you were all going after. ah We were going after after some information about this professor. Yes, because we had just come from the celebration parade that then got shut down by the Empire, because, of course, we're celebrating on the Capitol, so even though the Emperor's dead, they're still...
00:19:54
Speaker
It's still the heart of the Empire, so of course they shut that down. Then we got there and we needed to find this professor, and I believe I, Betsy,
00:20:06
Speaker
and think... Yeah, I was there. Yeah, you were there too, Nick. We went with Brian's character down to lower levels to chase a lead, basically. Yeah, so you get up, you're looking around. i have all of you roll perception checks.
00:20:20
Speaker
You all fail. hu what I have going on in my head, you as you got off the lift onto this level, there's a group of young street urchins who picked your pockets.
00:20:37
Speaker
You know, common um um hazard and lower level. Yeah. yeah And so, Brian's character rolls perception. b Brian succeeds.
00:20:51
Speaker
And Brian shoots at the kids. With a sniper rifle. With a sniper rifle. rifle With very much intent to end the children.
00:21:03
Speaker
Very much so. And he rolls quite well. And he one-shot murders these three or four children.
00:21:16
Speaker
Yes, and it's like one of those... this was a movie, it'd be one of those shock scenes where the droid just... so And we're like, whoa, what the heck? And so, understandably so.
00:21:30
Speaker
killing, we didn't really ah for it. Yeah. And everything else plays out for the two groups. You get back to the bar and a huge, huge argument breaks out.
00:21:45
Speaker
In character. In character, yes. We want to specify that, in character. character. In character. To be fair, it sounded like some of the players were getting a little heated, too. It was hard to tell. I trying to figure out what to do with this.
00:22:00
Speaker
Yeah, and so... And I had to let my character... My character in the game was ah pacifist, because he was a snake person called a sluisi, but he was a pacifist, eventually turned into a kleptomaniac, so that was fun to play, but he was definitely like...
00:22:17
Speaker
No, that i didn't you went a little too far you would went a little too far, Mr. Murder Droid. You don't kill kids even if they pick your pocket. And they didn't because you have no pockets. And so all of the players are basically dogpiling on Brian's droid.
00:22:35
Speaker
Like, we're going to put a restraining bolt on you, which as the GM, I'm sitting back and I'm like, okay, okay. Restraining Bolt potentially removes player agency. I don't like this.
00:22:48
Speaker
The rest of the players seem to be ganging up, and they are going to force the Restraining Bolt on him if he doesn't accept it. Multiple elements like this are going on, and I'm sitting there thinking, Great, this is session one, and I already have PvP.
00:23:08
Speaker
And Brian did say his droid had grenades and he would fight if they tried. So i I start to feel like, okay, I need to step in here as GM and defuse this situation a little bit.
00:23:22
Speaker
Before I can say anything, Brian was playing online. Before I could say anything, Brian's voice comes out of the laptop speaker and he's like, hey, time out, everybody.
00:23:33
Speaker
i just want to say, i understand. as a player where all of the other characters are coming from. i understand why the other players and the other characters are reacting the way they are.
00:23:53
Speaker
And I am totally fine with role-playing out the scenario and as both player and character accepting the repercussions like i'm not doing i'm not doing this to be a murder hobo and as cheap as it sounds sometimes it's what my character would have done but as a player i understand the reactions and am totally cool with my character taking his lumps for what he just did which was very mature yeah and incredibly mature
00:24:34
Speaker
was incredibly mature. he was He was still high school age at this time. He would have been about 16-ish. And I have seen grown adults be less mature.
00:24:45
Speaker
Yes. I had a moment or two where I have had a minor minor little meltdown over just when the dice don't go my way.
00:24:57
Speaker
Yeah, remember. Because cause i remember and think it was... Clone Wars. yeah It was during... Clone Wars or Green Jedi or something. And I came in just to watch and just like play the NPCs. And yeah we had you had a duel with Shay Vizsla and basically not Shay Vizsla.
00:25:14
Speaker
No, it is Shay Vizsla. And it was like, like you said, the dice were just rolling really good. it pissed me off. And, you know, after after that, I was like, okay, no,
00:25:27
Speaker
Deep breaths. Sorry, guys. That's just, you know, I freaked out a little bit because the dice just aren't going my way. And the way they're not going my way in this scene just pissed me off. Sorry. yeah Yeah.
00:25:42
Speaker
And I could see where he's coming from because a so good i I was rolling and how was he was rolling. i was basically using my turns to take away his turns because that's just how the dice were coming up. So it felt like.
00:25:54
Speaker
He wasn't getting a turn because every time I rolled, I would take away his turn. Yeah, and yeah I own it. I've seen grown adults in RPG situations like this one that Ryan and the rest of you were in.
00:26:09
Speaker
level of maturity yeah They would have gone the other side of, it's what my character would do. It's what my character would do, and now I'm going to fight all of you and anyone that I defeat, I'm going to kill.
00:26:21
Speaker
And you're taking away my agency. He was very mature also in that restraining bolt. We came up, we we as a group agreed with rules for the restraining bolt.
00:26:36
Speaker
Yeah, there'd be only one owner, which I think was Stephanie's character. Yeah. yeah She had the controller for it. And he had the ability to try to resist the restraining bolt. And we set down what the rules were for that. Mm-hmm.
00:26:49
Speaker
And of course we had to get it on him first. So yeah, we agreed to all of that before we started playing out the repercussions. The restraining bolt ended up going on him and the campaign proceeded as normal.
00:27:05
Speaker
I highlight there was never another instance like that first session again. That's what I like about Brian's chaos. He has thought out usually, you if we all have our moments, he has thought out, okay,
00:27:20
Speaker
here's multiple ways that there could be fallout to these actions that I'm about to do. I liken it to, you know, seeing the the Terminator HUD when yeah he's trying to decide what to do, when the Terminator is trying to decide what to do and what the outcomes could be.
00:27:38
Speaker
And it's like, okay, you know what? This... Action isn't going to be worth the fallout, so I'm not going to do it. But this one over here, oh, this could be fun.
00:27:49
Speaker
So let's go for it. Brian, I hope you're listening. I'm going to send you a link to this episode, but you are currently my favorite RPG glory story for proud GM moment because...
00:28:05
Speaker
To this day, i tell absolute strangers that I start talking to about RPGs, be it in person or online, I tell them about the most mature player moment that I have ever had at any of my tables.
00:28:21
Speaker
And it is you in that session one of Les Mis. So thank you very much, Brian. Hopefully you're listening after I send you the link. Yeah, and it's a great story. he basically took what could have become a horror story and turned it into a glory story, and those are the best type of stories.
00:28:37
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. It's a pretty short story. It doesn't have a lot of you moving parts to it, and the whole thing encompassed maybe 10, 15 minutes of a session 12-part campaign.
00:28:50
Speaker
in a twelve part campaign So out of all of those hours of that campaign, and we're talking about 10, 15 minutes, but it is probably the single most memorable moment of that campaign for me.
00:29:07
Speaker
Yeah. It's definitely up there.
Xander's Creative Star Wars Solutions
00:29:09
Speaker
Yes. of it is also there aren't other memorable no this it's time of Oh, there's plenty. And then ah and we made some inside jokes. We made discount Thrawn joke or general value Thrawn jokes and then some other stuff.
00:29:23
Speaker
We'll get into Stuart later, but... yeah That's my RPG glory story for today. So I am now going to toss it over to you, Robert.
00:29:34
Speaker
Yes. And this glorious story was one where I was a player and Nick was the GM. Some of it involves me, but we're mostly going to shine the spotlight on another of our players named Xander.
00:29:47
Speaker
but Fun fact, we actually have two Xanders in our group. One of them is Daryl's son, but the other is another man who is in what we called our next whisper base campaign and basically how that came about from what I heard is Nick took a starting set campaign from of rebellion star star wars called whisper base where basically your rebel inserts and you take over a secret listening post on the planet of Onderon and then usually the that ends when you take the base now Nick was like okay you got the base now
00:30:22
Speaker
So why don't we just make a campaign about it where you're using the base to do rebel stuff, basically. The big overarching thing is you're trying to free the planet of Onderon from Imperial rule, but along the way you're doing some other stuff for the Alliance from the information you're getting from the listening post.
00:30:38
Speaker
Yeah. and what And Xander's character specifically was an alien who is able to gain access to the wider galaxy, but he isn't very well versed in advanced technology.
00:30:50
Speaker
So he doesn't use energy weapons. He doesn't use fancy ships. He's very much a native. He uses yeah simple percussion weapons, traps, spikes, all that stuff.
00:31:03
Speaker
Good old-fashioned hunting and tracking. Pretty much. He was our hunter and tracker. But that man could shoot. He was our glass cannon. He could shoot and hit anything from here to extreme range, which is the longest range you can get in personal scale in Star Wars.
00:31:20
Speaker
And he could do it every time.
Grand Admiral Capture Victory
00:31:22
Speaker
I never, there was never a check he did where I thought he could miss because he was just so loaded. But what we had to do is we went to this forest planet and it was literally the information you got from a, from, ah from the information that you got from the base. Yeah.
00:31:37
Speaker
Yeah. Because basically the empire was, the empire was basically making, if you ever seen clone wars, they were making their own version of the defoliator. So basically just flames and destroy the, all the living things.
00:31:50
Speaker
And they went to this on this forest planet, and it was a ah use an unusual forest planet because basically it's like a forest farm. All the trees were lined up in rows. There was roads going here from there to the base. It was very elaborate, very methodical.
00:32:05
Speaker
And we went in there to try and stop this virus or this weapon. Didn't have such a great landing. We actually crash landed on the planet, so that wasn't didn't start as well.
00:32:17
Speaker
But as we were making way to our base, we would notice that these Star Wars version of transports would go to and fro. And we were like, okay, we need to hijack one of these because it'll help us get into the base.
00:32:31
Speaker
So Xander did what I now dub as the Ewok method. He basically laid down ah pit trap, basically. If the thing went over it,
00:32:43
Speaker
um A wooden stick would come out, pierce one of the tires, and they would just... and get Yeah, the tree stopping, giving us time to take the take the vehicle. So he does it, lays it down. record the vehicle, the wheels are roughly double the size of the tallest player there.
00:33:01
Speaker
Yeah, i think like monster truck tires on steroids. So... And this thing has six of them. Yes. It's that one vehicle. if Yeah, it's one of those vehicles. If you ever watched Revenge of the Sith, it's that one truck looking vehicle on Kashyyyk that was rolling and shooting missiles while the Shepherds were shooting at it.
00:33:23
Speaker
That's what we hit. So Xander rolls.
00:33:28
Speaker
And I think he only got one triumph, but it was a great roll. He punctured it perfectly. It spun out, hit a tree, and everyone on the vehicle was knocked out. So we had to think, what Xander going to use his triumph for? And I don't know if it was him or Nick who decided, okay, there's someone really important on this vehicle.
00:33:51
Speaker
So we go in secure the vehicle, and we just find in one of the seats, passed out, is a human and a white military uniform apparel with gold tussles and an insignia marking him.
00:34:09
Speaker
As a Grand Admiral, which if you know Star Wars, there's only 12 of those, and they are the most important military people in the Empire. Yeah. This is basically what Thrawn was.
00:34:20
Speaker
wasn't Thrawn, but it was another one of them. Yeah. So we basically laughed because we knocked out and captured a Grand Admiral because Xander poked a tire with a sharp stick.
00:34:35
Speaker
Mm-hmm. But that was not the end of our session, because this entire session was basically a glorious story, because everything went right. and yeah so we So we secured the Admiral.
00:34:48
Speaker
Those that could wear it put on, like, Imperial Stormtrooper uniforms, because some of us were human, some of us weren't. Your glasses sneak into the base. Yep. So basically, we're doing in there, and we're driving.
00:35:01
Speaker
And I think I was... I don't know what check it was. It was either warfare or piloting. I think I was the pilot of the vehicle. So we're driving in the base, going to the garage. And Nick's like, okay, roll a check to park it, basically.
00:35:14
Speaker
And I roll it, and I get a Triumph. And we're thinking, okay, what are we going to use this Triumph for? It's a basic parking job. I don't want to say I parked the best ever.
00:35:25
Speaker
so I was like, okay, we're in a we're in an Imperial base, going to a garage, This is a military base. There's a lot of vehicles. And I was just like, OK, we're in the garage.
00:35:37
Speaker
For Triumph, I want there to be a tank. And Nick was like, OK, but I choose the tank. And what tank did you choose, Nick? I chose the modified sort of sort of juggernaut tank, which basically just the head of it on treads with a missile launcher and a bunch of lasers.
00:36:00
Speaker
And I was like, I will take it. Because I was an alien. So if I jump out and try to go sneak in this space, I'm going to be caught because, you know, Imperials don't use aliens. Except for, like, slave labor.
00:36:13
Speaker
um So while our more human character human character players went trying to find the weapon and the and anybody associated with it, I i and I think Xander as well, we were like, okay.
00:36:26
Speaker
Well, they need a distraction. so I'm like, okay, I get in the tank. with Xander, and we're just going to have a party. So I turned on the tank, went outside, and basically started wreaking havoc.
00:36:39
Speaker
The whole base is on alert, all and I'm being a great distraction with Xander. Yep. Giving our other players enough time to find the weapon and the scientist, neutralize it, get the scientist along with the Grand Admiral.
00:36:53
Speaker
We destroy the base, secure the weapon, and we fly out. on a stolen Imperial-like Ghazanti-class cruiser that can carry stuff. And we destroyed the base, got the weapon, got a Grand Admiral captive, prisoner of war, and a new tank.
00:37:14
Speaker
And then Nick was like, okay, now I got to figure out where you're taking Grand Admiral prisoner. You can keep the tank, but the Rebels are definitely going to want that Grand Admiral prisoner somewhere more secure. And that led us into another campaign later on a specific orbital prison but it was like from what Xander did all the way up to the end it was one of the most smooth sessions we've ever done literally nothing went wrong just because we had great ideas Xander and everyone else had great roles it was just one of those it was one of those moments that made for TV moments yeah and we were just like
00:38:00
Speaker
Yes.
Ice Block Campaign Finale
00:38:01
Speaker
And it all started Xander poking a tire with a sharp stick. if they Again, the absurdity of it, like, I rolled with it because, like, he could convinced me, like, well, there's plenty of larger than average sticks here on the planet. It's like, I'll give it a shot.
00:38:18
Speaker
And he gave it a shot. Sometimes that's all you need to do to start off with just one piece of information. can change the whole...
00:38:30
Speaker
The whole trajectory of a game. It definitely did. And we were like, okay, we got this grand animal. Everything changes now. We got to make sure we get out of here in one piece with that guy. And all that because Xander channeled his inner episode return of the Jedi Ewok method to just destroy ah vehicle with a but basically wood.
00:38:53
Speaker
and And we're like, okay. And then we said from that day on, Xander, you make all of our traps. I am not part of that campaign, but I've heard that story before, and it always sounds awesome. Oh, it was awesome. and of all the Of all the times in the game, that's the top moment, and then there are a few other top moments. Yeah, but that's a hard one. Like a prison scene, a non-scene, but that's number one in my book.
00:39:19
Speaker
I think that leads into my story pretty well. Take it away. Take it away, Nick. I was there for this one. And I want to hear the full story of this one.
00:39:30
Speaker
And spoiler alert, this one also involves Xander. Indeed. Let's start off with a little bit of background. This is what was called the Star Wars Special Missions Team, where the group basically, well, what says on the tin, they did special missions for the rebellion against the Empire.
00:39:50
Speaker
And there are many, many stories, and I will likely continue to go back to this particular campaign because it has some of the most iconic stories. Paradoxically, let's start with the end.
00:40:01
Speaker
Yeah, this particular campaign had everything about the characters all just clicked. It was one of those beautiful campaigns where even character even players that came in late, like Stephanie and I joined this campaign after it had been going on for a while, but had ideas for characters that just, once they showed up, they became integral.
00:40:27
Speaker
iconic characters. You know how when you occasionally see ah TV show and in the first episode or if a new character shows up later on they're all fully formed and you know that they have a history even if you don't spell it all out and they function as a fully formed character rather than just oh here is so-and-so's new neighbor, and they're a blank slate until the writing team starts crafting stuff on.
00:41:05
Speaker
All of these characters were fully rounded characters from the go. Here's the ones where they don't have to say, we've known each other for so long, it's just the way they're acting, you can tell. Yeah, and it just it worked out so well.
00:41:18
Speaker
But yes, instead of starting say, a middle or beginning point, we were actually starting... our first glory story for this campaign, from the end. And what I submit to the team, the story of the campaign shattering Kaboom.
00:41:34
Speaker
Now here's the full the behind the scenes. This is the final, this is the penultimate session of the campaign. The team has been tracking down the current major antagonist who goes by the by the Codename of Black Hole, head of Imperial Intelligence, has sent out various traps and deceptive plans to take down the special missions team.
00:42:01
Speaker
Always hidden behind a secret hologram that they cannot trace and always with a menacing lecture. Which we never listen to. Yes. But basically, they had found his secret base on the edge of Wild Space.
00:42:15
Speaker
It was their moment to finally... track down and have their big one-on-one final fight against this mysterious spy master and his many minions. In order to sell the idea of how desolate this was and to hint at the super weapon that he has, because it's an Imperial base, of course it's got a super weapon.
00:42:37
Speaker
I described the planet from orbit, a completely frozen, solid planet. But in front of them, coming out of hyperspace, is this large, perpendicular plane of ice that's only broken up by the site of a large capital ship stuck within the ice.
00:42:56
Speaker
started describing this vast, massive seat of ice in orbit of the planet. And what did they do, Nick? Well... Can I speak as one of the characters what we thought?
00:43:09
Speaker
from of the players? We see this. We've been dealing with Black Hole, who is this evil mastermind and manipulator. And we see this ice field in orbit.
00:43:23
Speaker
This is a trap. And we treated it as such. We investigated it from every angle in far more excruciating... Which was confusing to me, because it was like, they kept on checking sensors, they were checking visual perception, they were setting up little probe drawers, I was like... It's basically one of those scenes in... I think I remember this, like, XP to level 3, he did a skit like this, where they're like, he just says one thing, and then his entire players are going way too far in depth, and in his mind he's just like, no, that's the answer. This is not that complex. Yeah.
00:44:02
Speaker
Well, and you you also have to factor in that my character in this campaign was a member of Rebel Alliance Intelligence who was also a deep cover operative in the Empire, so was also a legitimate card-carrying member of Imperial Intelligence, and was paranoid and suspicious of everything by nature.
00:44:29
Speaker
Especially considering how every single missing since the introduction of Black Hole was like, it was him behind it the whole time. Or yet another trap. He doesn't do anything without a reason.
00:44:41
Speaker
So there's there's got to be a trap up here. buts Let's figure out how to get past this so that we don't spring the trap. But then Xander, it did confuse me. But I was like, okay, that's fine. i but I've succeeded at making Black Hole into... They may not take him seriously for his...
00:44:59
Speaker
grandiose scenery-searing villainy, but they understand that he can get it done. He's the type that would make a booby trap elaborate like this. So I let them stew on it, was like, okay, I'll just maneuver a couple things here. and Actually, Nick, I think it's also important to mention, since we're starting at the end, we went into this endgame of it by having a flash-forward.
00:45:24
Speaker
Yes. And what was that flash-forward? It was sort of a rip on the... ah So you're wondering how we got here. The Ma'am being on a planet that is now like rapidly cracking ice and ocean.
00:45:40
Speaker
It's warming, and wherere we're sitting amid ice and snow as if it was a beach. Yeah. Now, we do get to that, but here's how... That was not what was supposed to happen, but it still ended up happening.
00:45:58
Speaker
And one of the characters was conspicuously missing from the scene as they painted it. We don't want to hint that I was plotting to at least have a casualty on the team.
00:46:08
Speaker
But here's what happened. Here's where the whole thing shatters apart. Now, Xander was playing a rebellion-style sort of political and journalist, propagandist, and has sort of been Because a lot of special Missens teams, Missens, were kind of messy.
00:46:29
Speaker
And probably wouldn't make it into the new Republic history books. And as part of that, he sort of went through a start of darkness. Where he's taken out more questable morals than he had at the beginning.
00:46:40
Speaker
But he does say, like, can I make a scan of the planet itself? I'm like, sir. He makes the role successful. nothing there's no no there's ah There's no discernible life on this planet.
00:46:53
Speaker
And then he sits back. And he starts thinking. Which is always dangerous. I'm sure Nick was like, oh no, what is he doing? My assumption was he's going to try to open fire with their small sort of Corvette recipients and just sort of try and find where Black Hole's base is.
00:47:14
Speaker
They're like, but that's not going to work because it's a deep underwater complex of a heavy ceiling. but But no, I see him pull out the books and looking at ah so The scale of the ship.
00:47:26
Speaker
And he's asking me more questions as as the rest of the team is scanning, and he's checking on what their checks are. As the players, we haven't quite picked up on what he has in mind yet.
00:47:37
Speaker
And he started giving you he starts telling you to make additional checks. And I was like, okay. But we can tell you as GMs, if players start doing checks and asking you specific questions, you better be ready for what they're about to do.
00:47:53
Speaker
Yes. Before he asks me one final question. So this plane of ice, is this attached to anything? To his answer, more appropriately, the wrecked ship is attached to it.
00:48:06
Speaker
It's just free-floating in space. To his heathen, and I forget the exact phrasing, because I think my brain exploded. Yeah, because with that answer, you sealed your fate.
00:48:18
Speaker
Yes, Daryl. What does our esteemed friend Xander come up with his big brain in that moment? he comes up with, well, we know where his base is because we know where the transmission is coming from because you just told us that we were able to fix on that location.
00:48:39
Speaker
That we know that the orbital bombardment won't work because we know where his base is. So this she this giant field of ice is large enough that yes, it will start to melt on entry into the atmosphere, but it's large enough that it and the ship within will retain most of its mass.
00:49:04
Speaker
So um we're just going to push it into the gravity well so that it falls down onto the base and destroys the base. And with that, the record's scratched.
00:49:17
Speaker
Yes. like It was at that moment I knew the campaign was over. Like, in my head, i was still, like, I was, like, i was flipping through things. I was, like, doodling out something from behind, but, like, i inside, I was sweaty, because I was, like... And meanwhile, our our characters all use our talents and skills and such to help make this a reality.
00:49:45
Speaker
Yeah, so I did, to like, okay... but of my fundamental things, and we mentioned it in first time DMing, never always say yes, but it will be difficult. Now, I don't recall, Nick, did I use the slightly broken counter espionage? Yes, it was the signature ability. Yes, signature ability. I was drawing a blank on that term.
00:50:11
Speaker
Did i use that to kind of help make this a reality too? You did. So for those unaware... And then you removed my... ah You explained the ability. For those unaware, the signature ability counter espionage in the Star Wars RPG effectively allows the character that has this special ability to defeat the plan of an enemy operative with just a single role.
00:50:43
Speaker
And that enemy doesn't even have to be present The balancing part of that is the player has to explain to the GM what actions they are taking to foil the enemy's plan.
00:51:02
Speaker
It does say enemy agent, and since it is a spy signature ability, the idea is you're defeating the plan of another spy agent.
00:51:17
Speaker
Well, that's kind of all Black Hole is. Yeah, it's more spy than the spy commander. So if you even if you try to limit what you can do with this signature ability by saying, no, it has to be against you know another intelligence asset or spy operative kind of person, that's all Black Hole is.
00:51:40
Speaker
That's what he's been established as. So you can't even... We've written it. didn It applies to Black Hole. don't even remember what I came up with, but I came up with something that I think we all workshopped it as a group.
00:51:58
Speaker
And the GM does have final approval and denial of it. work Because again, you didn't know what Black Hole's plan was. So I remember it being sort of nondescript, but a script enough.
00:52:13
Speaker
it was like It would kit anything from like calling reinforcements to a to a sort of secret escape pod. And so we workshopped out what I was doing as my character, and we had it pretty ironclad. We had it pretty airtight, so there was no room for Nick to really say no.
00:52:36
Speaker
And I succeeded in the role. Because I could also easily have, like, In coming up of this as the end game, I made certain that there was no means of, like, he's not going to escape this plan.
00:52:48
Speaker
He's that confident in the base and the plan. So he was hoist on his own petard. Basically, like a spy, his ego was his own downfall. And with a couple more checks, they whipped their ship's smaller mass, but because this thing is in the vacuum of space...
00:53:07
Speaker
It doesn't take that much. This giant slab of ice that then crosses into to the planet, deep into the ocean, blowing up the base and its geothermal control over the planet.
00:53:24
Speaker
Without having to go through the gauntlet of troops and defenses and everything that Black Hole had in his base to get to him, We defeated Black Hole and destroyed his Cobra weather machine.
00:53:39
Speaker
By f throwing a giant ice block at it. And on that day, Nick learned the downfalls of making a very comprehensible set piece. Yes.
00:53:50
Speaker
What I intended to be just a subtle foreshadowing and sort of cool set piece. Like seeing the giant statues and the Lord of the Rings or stuff like that. It literally became the instrument of my downfall as well as my villain's downfall.
00:54:08
Speaker
And Daryl, if you can remember, how did Nick look when you designed this plan? Nick looked sad. i still feel sorry. ah There is an element of sadness, but it's also an element of brilliance to it.
00:54:25
Speaker
You didn't take what I assumed you guys would see is just what most of players would see as just cool set dressing, usually, for mood. and so You managed to figure out how to work that into this the structure of the narrative.
00:54:41
Speaker
You took it something that I introduced in the narrative, and then you used it in the narrative against me. To this day, i am simultaneously still proud of Xander coming up with that, us helping make it work, and accomplishing it But also, I feel bad because I know that you put a lot of prep into that finale session, and we just said, drop a big ice cube on it and we win.
00:55:14
Speaker
Again, probably in the moment, yes, there was sadness. But there's also in that moment, I didn't freak out. I didn't explode because i was like, damn, that's clever. Like, I couldn't help but be like...
00:55:26
Speaker
And i understood you guys felt it too. It's like, wow, that on the one hand, you could argue that it's anticlimactic, but also it's the most pragmatic so solution and to the problem. And so it's like how sometimes you could be playing spy games, but also sometimes you just need to hit something of a big iceberg.
00:55:45
Speaker
It kind of reminds me of that of that web series on YouTube but for movies and TV shows, how it should have been today. You basically pulled how it should have ended on that campaign. Yeah. Basically, it's like, again, an element that admittedly was pretty late into my planning.
00:56:03
Speaker
And probably that's possibly where it went wrong. But if anything, it was incredible that you guys were able to take something so it not as well thought up on my end and think away as a solution that hit everything that I had prepared already on the ground.
00:56:19
Speaker
We had fun and I think all of us felt a little bad for you though, at the way we did the end run. And which also forced you have to have when we came back to the to the flash forward to the end of everything, as we're sitting on the quote unquote beach, you had to bring the character that was missing back in because as I recall you had plans not necessarily for a character death but for a character disappearance to lead into a short sequel campaign epilogue mini campaign yeah
00:57:01
Speaker
Instead, it was just, hi guys, but I'm here. Yeah, the the character came walking in with drinks, and that's why they weren't there. They were off getting more drinks for us. So it was going to be like a recap slash somewhat somber goodbye became a beach party, and the silver lining is none of that's going to have to be redacted.
00:57:23
Speaker
I mean, that image it was still amazing. And also, the fact that I was able to still work in my... week My weird, it ends on a beach with a broken, with a flying out ice planet.
00:57:33
Speaker
like i still have fond memories of that campaign and that finale. definite Again, that finale is like, I rank it personally high because it's like, considering the amount of effort I put into it, it was like such a clever way to end the story in a way that I could yeah i wouldn't have seen coming.
00:57:50
Speaker
And it really did show how much, because it did take all of your skills, all of your thinking and plotting to get that ice ball moving. But we did it. And made a beautiful story.
00:58:02
Speaker
It makes a beautiful story. And that's that's maybe the capstone of it, but it's like it's on a long series of stories. that they if you When we get through all of them, you can look back and see how like all of those stories have elements where it's like, okay, that's how we got to there.
00:58:18
Speaker
where they've come could come up with something so off the wall. I loved those characters. I would love to revisit those characters
Reflecting on RPG Creativity
00:58:25
Speaker
sometime. Yeah. ah Stephanie loves her character. from Oh yeah. And we love that. That's probably would be ah my next glory story. If I, from this campaign.
00:58:33
Speaker
Yeah. She, she wants to be on the episode where we talk about that particular glory story. Yes. I think that's a good, they these are just the start of these glory stories. They,
00:58:47
Speaker
They get bigger, better, sometimes smaller scale, sometimes just as big as as a campaign ender. And more of those pin drop moments are definitely on the way because our group is very good at making glory stories like that.
00:59:05
Speaker
You never know when they're going to happen. Sometimes they're the result of days or months long sessions planning. And sometimes it's just really good luck.
00:59:15
Speaker
And it's just It's hearing these stories that have made me both happy but anxious if I ever get Daryl, Nick, Betsy, and Stephanie, and Xander if he ever comes back in one of my campaigns at once. Because then like, I am both going to be out of fun, but I'm also going to be screwed with anything I think of.
00:59:40
Speaker
Yeah. but And we would also love to share glory stories from any of the listeners out there. This is true.
00:59:53
Speaker
So feel free to send us a an email. Send us your glory story at podcast at howwerollgaming.com.
01:00:03
Speaker
And it could be included in one of our future RPG Glory Stories episodes. Indeed. Because that's sort of what we're here to do. We're here to spread the good world word of gaming for everybody.
01:00:16
Speaker
And who knows? Your stories may give one of us an idea in a current campaign. You never know. As all good GMs, I am not above borrowing from other sources. From other GMs or movies or tv or there There was a recent episode of another great gaming podcast, Me and Steve Talk RPGs.
01:00:39
Speaker
where one of the Steves had special guest Brev from the Movie Defenders podcast that we mentioned earlier talking about, you I believe the episode title was In Defense of Movie Thievery.
01:00:54
Speaker
So good listen. goodless And everything that they were saying, I was like, yep, I do that. Yep, I do that. yeah As we say in the gaming scenario, there's no such thing as an original idea.
01:01:07
Speaker
It's just a re-scanned old idea. But I think that hits the end of our glory stories and the end of this episode. This is our quickest episode so far.
01:01:18
Speaker
Things go fast when you're having fun. Exactly. And we've only just started. Time to hit with our ah standard closing info. So check out our website at howwerollgaming.com. And on the website, you'll find links to all of our socials, information about our current campaigns,
01:01:36
Speaker
and a link to our merch store to help us keep producing the podcast. And if you have any questions you'd like us to answer, topics you'd like us to cover, or even submit your own RPG Glory story, like I said earlier, shoot us an email at podcast at howwerollgaming.com.
01:01:54
Speaker
So what do we have coming up in our next episode, guys? That would be our lovely Session Zero Manifesto. Yes. The Session Zero Manifesto.
01:02:06
Speaker
but You learn one of the most important aspects of starting a new game with people. Starting with something a little bit quick that isn't quite the first session.
01:02:18
Speaker
But yeah immensely important to the other sessions in the future.
Conclusion and Next Episode Preview
01:02:23
Speaker
Super important. i I think we kind of started to make that point clear last episode. And it will become crystal clear next up episode. yes As we issue our manifesto.
01:02:34
Speaker
Because we I will say, in all the stories we just told, every single one of them had a session zero. Yep, sure did. All right. Well, until then, we will see all of you next time.
01:02:46
Speaker
So, as always, I'm Daryl. I'm Nick. And I am Robert. And this is how we roll.
01:03:13
Speaker
This episode of the How We Roll Gaming podcast is copyright 2025, How We Roll Gaming, LLC. All games and associated intellectual properties are copyrighted their respective owners, and How We Roll Gaming makes no claim of ownership by discussing them here.