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The Hook Brings You Back
17 Plays1 month ago
How do you get players interested in joining your campaign? You come up with a way to pique their interest - you hook them. Daryl, Nick, & Robert discuss memorable hooks and different ideas on how to come up with them.
GM Chris' Familiar setting for Genesys https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/284397/familiar-setting-sourcebook
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Transcript
Introduction to How We Roll Gaming Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
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 of momentous events at our tables.
00:00:12
Speaker
Every game is a new story to tell. I'm Darryl. I'm Nick. And here's Robert. And this is How We Roll.
Gamer Nation Con Preparations and Excitement
00:00:26
Speaker
Welcome back to the latest episode of the How We Roll Gaming podcast. Robert, Nick, how you guys doing? We are doing very well. I'm doing really great for a Wednesday.
00:00:38
Speaker
so We've been very busy. Yep, been very busy, ah both with, like, real-world adulting-type stuff. The worst.
00:00:49
Speaker
And prepping for Gamer Nation Con, which, as we record this, is next week. As we drop this episode, it will start tomorrow, Thursday, April, what is that, the 3rd? That would be the 3rd, yes.
00:01:06
Speaker
A bunch of us that are going, we're comparing schedules earlier. And to the only reason I have block free of about three hours on Saturday afternoon is because I'm going to the one hour Q&A with Sam Greger Stewart, the RPG director of Edge Studio.
00:01:27
Speaker
And but the block of games also starts at one o'clock. So everything will have been going for about an hour when the Q&A is done. It's great to see all of the people from the con again.
00:01:41
Speaker
ah i know that last year was Robert's first time going. Nick, it was your second time going. You will see what Stephanie and I have been saying all these years about how, no, once you go, you're family.
00:01:53
Speaker
so like i lapsed the year in mine, if I remember correctly. And they still remembered me fondly. and i was like, hi.
Delta Green Campaign Reflections
00:02:03
Speaker
Yeah, we're going to see Steve again because he's coming to our Delta Green campaign, our little one-shot campaign.
00:02:09
Speaker
He's coming to Delta Green. And because our schedules didn't align with when he had ah one of his games scheduled that several of us were ah we're interested in playing,
00:02:22
Speaker
He is kind enough that he's going to be running it as a pickup game on Saturday afternoon, specifically for our group. So Steve, we appreciate you. We love you. Shout out to the Me and Steve Talk RPGs podcast because you're doing us a solid. We love gaming with you. And thank you so much for going out of your way to accommodate our little games band of misfits being able to shenanigan together with you yes thank you very much first experience with you was with havoc brigade and that's always going to be a great high yeah that is a constant story around around the table it is it is i i love playing games with steve steve is the person who first ran delta green for me and stephanie
00:03:19
Speaker
kind of that do that that great It's kind of a fun round circle thing. Yep, it's coming full circle. that he is He's been messaging me on Discord. He is excited that he is able to get in all three parts of our Delta Green three-parter this year.
Pregenerated Characters and Player Engagement
00:03:42
Speaker
really we We get to see see the the impact that he made on you, and he gets to see the end result of that, are our collaborative effort. but
00:03:52
Speaker
And I'm just looking forward to see which character he picks. Yeah, especially considering... We had way too much fun making the pregens, and we have eight pregens for a six-seat table.
00:04:07
Speaker
We assume casualties. Yeah, we we assume casualties. but Either to sanity or to death. A little from column A, a little from column We'll get there. Yeah.
00:04:17
Speaker
Looking forward to that. Looking forward to the con. You and I have ah have a big event going on during in the con as well. Our two- Yeah, we- Our one- Our two-table.
00:04:29
Speaker
Simultaneous. Simultaneous? I just made a new word. You made a new word. Good job. Simultaneous. Alien game.
00:04:41
Speaker
Actually, how's it looking? Are you guys getting pretty balanced? Or is it still one? We've been evening out. Last I looked, I'm full and Nick is half full.
00:04:52
Speaker
I haven't looked in the last couple of days, but I will say this. I am excited because one of my favorite players from the con is signed up at my table.
00:05:03
Speaker
I have a guess as to what character she's going to pick to play. ah I call dibs on them.
Engaging Younger Players and Accessibility
00:05:11
Speaker
what What Stephanie and I... that's a of a wife i mean What Stephanie and have talked about doing is writing down the name of the Because we agree, we both agree on what character we think she's going to pick.
00:05:30
Speaker
We're talking about writing it down on a card, sealing it in an envelope, and taking it with us. And um once she picks her character, if it is that one,
00:05:44
Speaker
opening it up. Look, Freya, we guessed your character. I just have a gut feeling she is an awesome player. you we We spoke on our RPG Glory stories about one of our best players is ah younger player. It's Brian, who started in games that we were part of when he was about 12-ish and he's now about 18, Freya falls under that same category. She is ah awesome younger player.
00:06:18
Speaker
um i want to say that she's mid to late teens at this point. That's great to see that there are so many people at a younger age falling into to this. Yep. Oh, absolutely. It's been off become so more accessible with, like,
00:06:35
Speaker
Not the purchasable, but like online materials and hand-me-downs as well in physical life. but like It is an expensive hobby, but it's like to see so many people falling into the hobby.
00:06:48
Speaker
And sharing it with others, just bringing more people into it. It's really good. Yeah, well I mean, Freya and her dad have been there every year that we've been there. I don't know when they started going. ah They're both great players and kind of little side note along the lines of great seeing younger players coming into the hobby.
00:07:09
Speaker
Gamer Nation Con, we've we've talked at length about it going into the last few episodes. It's a small convention. It's 150 people max.
00:07:21
Speaker
That's what the tickets max out at is 150
00:07:26
Speaker
And so that's where that sense of community comes in and everything. But because it is a small convention, this is the 10th year, in the early years, Saturday nights, they used to have what they called Gamer Nation Con After Dark.
00:07:41
Speaker
8 o'clock, they kicked out everyone who was under 21, and adult beverages were allowed and encouraged, and it became loud and boisterous.
00:07:54
Speaker
And... Beginning last year, they eliminated GamerNationCon After Dark. And at first, people were like, oh man, is it something about the new venue? And like, no, it's not anything about the venue.
00:08:14
Speaker
It's a great problem to have in that we have people more people bringing more younger players to the con. And these younger players, they they paid the same admission price that the adult players did.
00:08:31
Speaker
They have access to the same games that everyone does. But we were locking them out of eight hours of gaming. The whole night the day.
00:08:43
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. We were locking them out of a whole night. And that's not fair. So as much as much fun as Gamer Nation Con After Dark was, Gamer Nation Con After Dark is retired.
00:08:56
Speaker
And do wish I could have been part of that, but it still seems like it doesn't matter. The fun will still be the fun. Oh, yeah. And you've got to be sober, Nick. You've got to be sober. Yes.
00:09:08
Speaker
Well, I don't have to drive you, but I have to drive myself back. That too. It's a nice problem to have that there are more of the next generation of gamers that are attending the convention and having a blast.
00:09:25
Speaker
And I'm starting to see some of them run games. that's great.
Creating Engaging RPG Story Hooks
00:09:30
Speaker
I saw smaller kids and stuff like that. And it was great that they were having fun.
00:09:36
Speaker
Yeah. heard what's fun. Maybe my, my example was a little bit, a small sample size, but the time I was there, there's always least a good couple of kids or teens around various ages. It was like,
00:09:49
Speaker
everyone But it didn't look like anyone was like having to change anything. It was just like everyone was having fun. yeah it's I think it's time we get into our topic. Our topic?
00:10:00
Speaker
We have a topic? What? That's crazy talk, Nick. But yeah, we do have a topic. When you're fishing, you bait a hook, right?
00:10:12
Speaker
By the same token, when you're starting a new RPG campaign, you need to come up with a good hook. to draw in your players. And so what sort of thing goes into coming up with a good story hook?
00:10:25
Speaker
That's what we're going to take a look at in this episode. ah Yes. This is a good jump off from our set session zero manifesto. Basically, okay, now you've got the campaign. You've got the yeah what you're going to set out.
00:10:40
Speaker
So now how do you, as a GM, actually reel your players into it now that you've explained everything? You should have that at least ironed out but before Assassin's Hero.
00:10:53
Speaker
Ideally. yeah oh and yeah It's like you don't go fishing without the fishing rod first. yeah right But it can come together during Assassin's Hero if you have multiple ideas and want to pitch it to the players.
00:11:08
Speaker
Myself, a lot of times what i I try to do, I try to come up with a high concept concept elevator pitch for the central idea of the campaign.
00:11:24
Speaker
One of the most recent ones that I started, my Star Wars Rebel Yell campaign, that comes from a couple of different places. That comes from my wife watching the Tatooine Rhapsody episode of Star Wars Visions and saying, I want to play a Hutt rock star someday.
00:11:43
Speaker
And me reading Bono's memoir and talking about how you two becoming a huge band allows him to travel the world for humanitarian reasons and gives him the the money to be able to support all of these humanitarian causes.
00:12:06
Speaker
Globally. And I got to thinking. An up and coming rock band. Can you travel. Pretty much anywhere. So what if the rebels.
00:12:18
Speaker
Engage this band. To be kind of part time. Operatives. To help them fight the empire. Because. At that point.
00:12:29
Speaker
They have a cover story. They have a cover story. And at some point. As things go on. they're going to be faced with a choice. Do we become the big famous band that we want to be?
00:12:44
Speaker
Or do we continue fighting the good fight? Which is a fun choice, especially considering the idea of punk rock against like like the punk rock movement and everything about that. It's about anti-establishment.
00:12:59
Speaker
If we make that our style, then that puts us on the... on the side that would potentially be like the empire will cancel the band. Yeah, kind of on the back end of it. Or do we go forward and try to be famous? But that also means, in sense, selling little. Selling out.
00:13:16
Speaker
Yeah. Selling out. And you eventually, if you become rich and famous, you're too high profile, potentially, continue. Exactly.
00:13:28
Speaker
Exactly. So that that's a nice little high concept pitch. Or it can be as simple as the very first Star Wars game that I ran in the Fantasy Flight now Edge system.
00:13:41
Speaker
I just characterized as, this is Star Wars Firefly. And it was just that simple. I have one that I recently started a campaign in an unconvincingable way. But I did start one in more of the simple way that you described.
00:13:58
Speaker
ah Our new Fallout. For the Fallout, RPG, not to be confused with the video popular video game. Or TV show. Or TV show. You say not to be confused, but they're all the same IP.
00:14:11
Speaker
Yeah. And they go with the content very, very biblically. Basically, after seeing how much fun we've been having with the starter game,
00:14:23
Speaker
And I've been thinking about this concept for a while, so I just dive in with the boilerplate concept that is based off of one of the games of Fallout, but the one with the least amount of rules that I have to follow religiously.
00:14:41
Speaker
Basically, you're Vault Dwellers, it's been 20-plus years after the bombs drop, and you're in West Virginia. West Virginia!
00:14:52
Speaker
Mama, take me home. Country world.
00:15:06
Speaker
just works. It just works. It's a simplistic pitch. They're the first scouts out of the vault. We did character creation. We did ah basically a Sesson Zero, half Sesson Zero.
00:15:23
Speaker
It's given like rules, concepts, here's all the stuff that you get, and then ended on the cliffhanger just as the vault opened. No, we went a little bit further, and we ended it in true and true Fallout fashion by saying, okay, we've gone out, we got all our stuff, we got our water ready to to explore the world.
00:15:41
Speaker
And we're sitting at a camper and saying, did anybody bring food?
00:15:47
Speaker
It's the concept. It's like, you can't be more bare bones of ah a Fallout plot than that. You leave the vault, you're in the wasteland. What happens next?
00:15:57
Speaker
i think and for our From our experience, or do you want to do your campaign first before our joint campaign? pain this I was going to do my first one. I'll start with The one I'm thinking about is my Cyberpunk campaign.
00:16:13
Speaker
as you All of our players know Cyberpunk. We like the concept. We like the world. Kind of about what's been put in. So I was like, okay. I Cyberpunk 2045 from Zelsorian Games just came out.
00:16:29
Speaker
Came out a little bit a while ago. So I was like, okay. We'll do one in that. But I was also like, but I know Night City's really fleshed out, but kind of been done
Innovative RPG Campaigns in Star Wars and Cyberpunk
00:16:39
Speaker
to death. So I was like, okay, I want somewhere else.
00:16:42
Speaker
It's the location. Yeah, it's the setting location. There's nothing wrong with it. I just wanted to be a little different. So I was like, okay, yeah I still want to be North America because I know North America.
00:16:55
Speaker
So I was like, where do I want to go? And I was like, well, in Cyberpunk, in true Texan fashion, Texas got got out of the Union once everything went to pot. So I was like, okay, cool.
00:17:07
Speaker
I can do it in Texas. there are They're a sovereign country in the cyberpunk world. Completely alone, and I know the attitudes, kind of a little bit of the issues in the real world that can be cyberized. So i was like, OK, I'm gonna put this in Dallas.
00:17:21
Speaker
was like And then with cyberpunk, I'll say it was a little easier to think of the hook. It's like, well, the whole story cyberpunk is basically you're just trying to survive in this world with bunch of cyberized parts, and you've got your professions, your solos. So it's like, OK.
00:17:37
Speaker
So everyone will make a character who's basically at the bottom of the ladder um the solo and the solo field, in the solo world. They're like, you don't have a reputation. You don't got anything. You're just people who woke up or through their life decided, OK, I'm going to be a cyberpunk. I'm going to be an edge runner.
00:17:57
Speaker
So I'm like, OK. And you can say whether you've lived in Dallas before or you got dropped off the bus in Dallas. And you all know this one this one person, this one contact who knows all of you.
00:18:13
Speaker
In some way or another, you can imagine you can decide how you know him. And he's like, okay, I know you're looking to make a name for yourself. So I know a guy who wants to put together a team, kind of see, make a new scene in the solo world.
00:18:27
Speaker
And that's how they all met. And then they met my contact and got the job. Yeah. But it also works for like a simple fact that it's a simple, your setup is simple, but the the stuff that you set up for the campaign, mostly the world building for like building up Dallas ah in the cyberpunk world.
00:18:47
Speaker
Yeah, that the world building was very fun because I, I found this map online somewhere where it divided the city Dallas into a bunch these colored districts. So i was like, oh, that's perfect. And now I just get to make up what the districts are, what's happening, what gangs there are, what people there are.
00:19:02
Speaker
And it was just been so much fun. And then creating the gigs and, least as far as I'm aware, you guys have been liking my gigs. Oh, which is loving. And also, the the fun part was also just a peek behind the curtain for like the Cyberpunk character creation. and It creates so many opportunities for the GM.
00:19:20
Speaker
with Oh, very much so there Their way of rolling friends, enemies, and love interests, it's like, okay, you're just giving me stuff to work with. Just giving me everything. I could have to even have with two characters, that me and ah Dante's character.
00:19:36
Speaker
and Dante's one of our players. We rolled similar stuff, so we just said, like, okay, we know the same person, but different ways. Yeah, you know the same person, different ways.
00:19:49
Speaker
She's technically your enemy, but it's going to be different for both of you. Is his ex my, like, rival? Your sworn enemy who took your sister. like the just Fun situations like that can happen with like certain systems.
00:20:05
Speaker
Yeah, I think both you and I, and you and Daryl, for both of our co-campaigns, you really thought through this hook that we were going to use. Yeah. And you guys started first, so you guys can explain yours first.
00:20:17
Speaker
We had the benefit in that one of that hook was written 30, 40 years ago by West End Games, and we just adapted it.
00:20:30
Speaker
We adapted it. it It's the the Far Orbit project. the The conceit of it is, ah or do you want to do do the trailer bits? Well, the conceit of it is that you are crew members of a former Imperial ship that the captain mutinied and went rogue and has offered the ship services to the Rebel Alliance as privateers.
00:20:57
Speaker
Simple enough hook, but there's an ah additional hook in there in that every player... plays three characters. They play what I tend to call the command level characters.
00:21:15
Speaker
They're more advanced. They aren't necessarily part of the actual command crew, but they're further up in the hierarchy of the ship.
00:21:26
Speaker
they More competent. The effect changes is more on the upper level, like where the ship goes, what missions they take. They're the people who can actually just go up to the captain and talk to him, and he'll listen. Yeah.
00:21:40
Speaker
Right. And then there i there's what I call the, I borrow a Star Trek term, the away team characters, or what Far Orbit calls the boarding party members, where they're mid-level in terms of experience.
00:22:01
Speaker
Mostly fighting, but should be able to have a mix of, like, interacting and scales. They're the ones who get into the mix when the action happens most often.
00:22:13
Speaker
And then there's what I call, again, borrowing from Star Trek, the lower decks characters, the maintenance crew, that the support staff, that kind of thing.
00:22:26
Speaker
So everyone has a single character on each of those levels. and which character they play in a given session, or sometimes even a given scene, is determined by the nature of the scene.
00:22:39
Speaker
We haven't done one yet, but there could be an entire lower-dex session. Yes, it does require more experienced players, because they have to be able to juggle the three characters.
00:22:51
Speaker
to to be Because it is, and that's why we did, it was one of the few games that we opened up only to our mostly experienced group. Or encourage people that were willing to try this.
00:23:04
Speaker
And then there's the one that the two of you run. Yes. And ours, we've alluded to it before, but we just...
Collaborative Campaign Approaches
00:23:12
Speaker
Nick and I, I was going to Nick's for an alien campaign. Nobody else showed up, so we just decided to sit down in the playroom and shoot the breeze, and we just looked at something and noticed a pattern, and then that sprung up to like, wait, this is this.
00:23:29
Speaker
This could happen. but Wait. Oh, I think we have a campaign. Like, yeah honestly, there was no intention to make a campaign that day.
00:23:41
Speaker
But it just sort of, were discussing things, and then he mentioned something. It's like, oh yeah, that's, wait, where is that, and what relation to place? And then we opened some book, and then was like, brain blast.
00:23:55
Speaker
What if he did this, or connected this to that, and this is why this person is doing this, or this and that? And we were just yes. basically, we started out high concept, but we didn't want to reveal the concept, which is why we're still kind of cagey about even talking about the full, like, development.
00:24:12
Speaker
Yeah, we've only finished Act 1. We got plenty more stuff to go through before we can start spilling the beans. But what I immediately told was like, you don't want to know the full hand that we're playing.
00:24:24
Speaker
We need a hook. Yes. And so we decided, we're going We're setting this after after the Battle of Mexico, basically. goal The whole kit and caboodle is done.
00:24:38
Speaker
Albedine's dead. So we were like, okay. So what does a galaxy that's only known war for good 50-some years do? And we're like, okay. and also There's all this. We looked into the great unknown.
00:24:51
Speaker
Yeah, we were like, okay. There's still a lot of unknown stuff. Let's take a page from the High Republic. Hyperspace Explorers trying to just chart out that unknown region finally, now that there's just a rest period where nobody's trying to kill each other at high level. it's it's It's exciting.
00:25:09
Speaker
something that people knew, just knew. yeah and we use that to expose our hook in-game, which hooked our players very well.
00:25:22
Speaker
What elements do the two of you think make for a good hook? Because we we've discussed now, okay, here's some of my hooks that I've used, but what elements do you think go into making a good hook that will draw your players in?
00:25:43
Speaker
big one for me, and this is an advantage you have if you have people you know playing with you instead of just a new group, is that ah definitely... know my players and I know what they like. So I'm able to tailor the hook to both fit my world, but also draw them in. That is good.
00:26:02
Speaker
I think that's what if we, since we knew our players, Robert, most of them, we we were excited sign it for new players or not. But it's like when we we were like, okay, here's key words, key ideas that could like grab them.
00:26:19
Speaker
Definitely. that That's all good. And knowing your players like that does help in and creating a good hook because if you if you're starting a brand new group, what sounds good to you may have zero interest for the people who see what to what your but you're putting together.
00:26:43
Speaker
But if you know your group, if you're playing with a regular established group and starting a new campaign, It really helps because you're able to say, OK, I know Robert likes this and Nix likes this, and this fits with what I want to do.
00:27:00
Speaker
So here's how I can tailor that to make it appealing to my players. General hooks are a lot more difficult. Usually, that relies on either solid ideas or not to sound sell-out-y, but established brands and franchises.
00:27:20
Speaker
and there's nothing wrong with established brands because that's another useful thing when you're creating a hook. You can go into popular media and see what draws people in. I started a Star Wars meetup group before we started our How We Roll group.
00:27:35
Speaker
I get, after every single new Star Wars project, we get like 20 to 30 new people signing up. And unfortunately, they never show up.
00:27:47
Speaker
If I ever got the whole group together, but we would need a convention hall. Yeah, we could rent out the convention hall. If everyone in that group showed up, we would, what, be tenfold Gamer Nation Con?
00:28:03
Speaker
At least ten Gamer Nation Cons. But it's like, that's just how powerful the brand and franchise of Star Wars is. I, but whenever a new Star Wars project comes in, a new wave of people instantly click onto that but isn't their thing and they don't click off of it but it's that is that that is bait that that is a bait for the hook just like when we were talking about fallout uh one of our contributors in the uh in the casual nerd decast lauren has a friend that's interested in playing likes fallout and that's a hook for them
00:28:43
Speaker
And I even used an example of cross-pollination just a little bit ago. That first FFG Star Wars campaign is, it's Star Wars Firefly.
00:28:54
Speaker
And that instantly tells you two things. That tells you that it's set in Star Wars, and it tells you the kind of characters and stories to expect the campaign to cover If you're familiar with Firefly.
00:29:11
Speaker
Actually, a great example of franchise recognition was actually your Cyberpunk, Robert. Because you got yes like some of the largest numbers we got for for our first game in a while.
00:29:27
Speaker
we actually Yeah, and we actually got a new player out of that. Yeah. We got a couple of them, one of which is stuck around. but But there's there is so much interest.
00:29:38
Speaker
Because because that's it's a popular franchise. Yeah, because not owe it not only knowing people is a good advantage with the pet with the group, but also knowing how most of the systems are from popular franchises now.
00:29:52
Speaker
you've got yeah You've got your niche groups, but then Aliens, Walking Dead, Cyberpunk, D&D, which has now become very popular, Call of Cthulhu for the more aged people, all these are genres or medias that people know and are attracted to because like you said yeah once i put cyberpunk down i knew people who like cyberpunk or who've watched edge runners on netflix yeah they're gonna flock they gave on 2077 yeah they'll flock and know what type of world they can expect and i can use that as the base to build up my actual campaign to draw people in
00:30:31
Speaker
so Sometimes the debate is as easy as as like the genre. Well, not this design the genre, the franchise that you're working with. But what if you're working in trying to be unique?
00:30:44
Speaker
How do you hook someone on something new? and That is a good question. Because I have a question, considering most of what I have run in my GMing career has been in established IPs.
00:31:01
Speaker
And that's what I'm asking as well. that's I'm and'm not asking it as a gotcha question. I'm asking it as like... No, I understand. really that but Yeah, we get it. as that's Let's see if we can brainstorm a how to hook someone on something new.
00:31:17
Speaker
And I think a good thing... One caveat that they're looking for an RPG. So that we don't have the ah to bait them into that. Go ahead, Robert. You had something? well I think it a good way to bring out a hook, at least by yourself, like just it with yourself, is that you exude confidence and excitement in it.
00:31:35
Speaker
Because that excitement, that that can rub off on other people, like, okay, this dude's really excited. This place, this thing must be really fun. And just hints at their curiosities, like, maybe going once, kind of seeing how it handles isn't so bad. i I'll see what she's excited about.
00:31:53
Speaker
That's interesting. What the system's like, and maybe I'll like it too. Why not? it's all I'll lose is a few hours. The Hulk isn't narrative for our tweets or system-based. it's It's the DM. Yeah, and it's engagement. Like you say, with an elevator pitch, it doesn't matter how good the material is if you're not drawing in the person through your own mannerism, your excitement.
00:32:19
Speaker
More salesman-like. One thing that might make for a good hook in that, and I you i apply this, and I think it makes for a great element of a good hook anyway, whether you're in an original property or a licensed IP, is...
00:32:39
Speaker
a great title that catches someone's attention, a great title for the campaign. I try to do this all along. ah My Star Wars Rockstars campaign or rock band campaign is called Rebel Yell because it's right there.
00:33:00
Speaker
if i If I didn't call it that, I'm sure every everyone in the group would have slapped me. Yeah. what 100% agree with you there. Titles are always great because mine are like Ashes of an Empire with me and Nick Legacy of the Force.
00:33:16
Speaker
Cyberpunk is City of Destiny playing off Night City, City of Dreams. You're Walking Dead. My Walking Dead is Muerto Las Vegas because it's set in Vegas and Muerto is the opposite of Viva.
00:33:33
Speaker
Yep. And I'm sort of safe my titles, but for my proposed Cyberpunk, probably going to put back probably to next year, just because of how I feel. and It's fair.
00:33:46
Speaker
Going to be in London, and it's going be London Colin. Or like my Five Rings campaign that I'm thinking of doing, I'm borrowing off a little bit of Japanese history and calling it Legend of the Five Rings, the Yoshoku Jidai.
00:34:01
Speaker
oh that's... oh that's good. That's a good that's a good one. One of my favorite hook titles that I've used, and I've been thinking of relaunching this campaign since none of our regular group played in it.
00:34:17
Speaker
I think I know what it is. Oh, you know exactly what it is, I'm pretty sure. Tell what it is I can't take credit for coming up with the title. I saw it online somewhere and loved it and ran with it.
00:34:34
Speaker
Raiders of the Lost Jedi? Yes. It's like, I've thought up campaigns similar to that, but I was like, no, I can't do that. Like, I might, I have some ideas for adventures that I probably give you.
00:34:51
Speaker
it's like, I just said, like, if I ran the campaigns, like, I can't. that's you That's your baby, that Raiders of the Lost Jedi. It's yours. The title itself, coming across it, is what opened the door to me to, oh, what is this campaign about?
00:35:10
Speaker
Oh, this campaign is, it's set like your Legacy of the Force campaign, but even more so, it's set 200, 250 years after the movies.
00:35:23
Speaker
There's a whole new status quo in the galaxy. And the PCs are a group of characters who are sent out into the galaxy on behalf of a benevolent organization.
00:35:39
Speaker
Quote, unquote, likely. No, not quote, unquote. a genuinely benevolent organization. Oh, wow. that's it that That is actually a status quo change. Is that a charity? No, it's a university. ah Okay, fair enough.
00:35:53
Speaker
The University of New Alderaan, as a matter of fact. o That that is a nice thing. Nice. nice But they're sent out into the galaxy on behalf of this university to locate and retrieve artifacts that are related to the Jedi and the Force as a whole.
00:36:13
Speaker
They're sent out to find locations and artifacts and bring them back to increase the knowledge of basically mythical beings. Yes, there are Jedi at large in the galaxy at this point in time, but their origins and their past are so shrouded in mystery that the university is looking to bring that more into the four so that a the galaxy at mar is more comfortable with yeah and also part of that the for part of that hook as a concept is you get to it's implies that you get to see like familiar locales or new locales as well to learn or like ancient ruins with all these mystical understandings or you do it like know i know it's called raiders of the lost jedi
00:37:08
Speaker
But have you had a villain yet? Go Kalima, Kalima. I did not get to that point when I was running it because one of the reasons I want to relaunch it is that well the dread scheduling demon killed the campaign.
00:37:24
Speaker
your Schedule gets another one. Yep. But I want to relaunch it. And I've had an idea since I ran my limited... well since I ran my one limited campaign, which also is a high concept hook.
00:37:39
Speaker
Since I ran my limited campaign, I thought, hey, you know what? Raiders of the Lost Jedi might work better in a similar form. Because one of the problems that I had with it is I had this great high concept. It was a great hook.
00:37:52
Speaker
The players loved it. I had some villains in there. i had an idea for where the villains were wanting to go. But it's like, OK, a lot of the sessions given the premise, run the risk of being very samey?
00:38:10
Speaker
Honestly, that kind of brings up the fact that like and maybe a separate episode for us should be about like campaign thinking. Absolutely. Because not all campaigns are campaigns, ongoing living campaigns, and some are meant to be smaller, tighter campaigns.
00:38:32
Speaker
Yeah, that's why we have the different things, like There's continuing campaign, one-shots, and then limited campaigns. Yeah. Like, I plan on starting a limited campaign in a couple months, which is one that some players have played before.
00:38:48
Speaker
I'm doing Dark Forces again. Yeah, and then, like i because it it spoke in a previous episode of the time yeah and like i spoke in a previous episode, my Ashes of an Empire campaign started out as a sandbox, but like,
00:39:03
Speaker
Daryl, I found a point where I was like, okay, I don't really know where to go with this, so that's why I put on hiatus, both to do Legend of the Five Rings, but also to rethink, okay, I need to transform this back into a limited campaign.
00:39:15
Speaker
And luckily, our last session before the hiatus gives me a good place to run it with. Or you could find locations, ways to adapt it back into a sandbox, but that just depends on how things go. Yes, and on Daryl's point, if he ever wants to since he wants to do Raiders the Lost Jedi again, the media has given you a lot more locations and a lot more material to work with.
00:39:38
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. the ah Especially with the High Republic era. High Republic, the the Cal Kestis series, all that stuff. Oh, yeah. there's so I have so much more to work with now. and i mean Although it's very, very obvious, as soon as i saw agor as soon as I saw, well, Aphra's dead. Aphra's 200 years dead, Nick.
00:40:04
Speaker
But not her great, great, great, great great clone. Yes. Since seeing one of the few things that I really took out of Rise of Skywalker saying, ooh, I can work with that, is Luke and Leia's sabers on Tatooine.
00:40:22
Speaker
Yeah. That stuff. That fits in with the theme of the villains that they would have to be, or that they would be fighting.
00:40:34
Speaker
Presuming that I carry the same villains over into this new version. and Which I probably would. But I have like new goals for them that I can work with.
00:40:45
Speaker
And the players, I now have new paths that I can take them on that the canon has given me to get them there.
00:40:57
Speaker
All I can say is i bring in you bring in Kalima guy and I'm in.
Managing Campaign Expectations
00:41:01
Speaker
on But also on top of the fact of how you bait campaigns, you should be honest when you feel like, are these ongoing campaigns or are these limited campaigns? There is a difference. upfront with that.
00:41:17
Speaker
And I absolutely did that with my other with my limited campaign, which another high concept elevator pitch hook, which was Star Wars Les Miserables. I had been trying for years to figure out how to do a Les Mis inspired Star Wars game.
00:41:39
Speaker
And I feel like I threw a wrench into the things. It was still glorious. hi I had been trying to figure out a way to do it, and I just couldn't.
00:41:52
Speaker
i I was trying to figure out the hook because, OK, Star Wars Les Mis, great. There's a high concept that can work as a hook. But I didn't have anything else to go with it. I didn't have a story hook.
00:42:06
Speaker
I had a title hook. And I don't remember what it was. that It's concept. Behind that is like saying like Star Wars Les Mis. It's like, that's a concept. But suddenly, it occurred to me one day, oh this story starts on Coruscant right at the end of Return of the Jedi. It's the big scene at the end.
00:42:29
Speaker
It's the cheering scene, like, yeah, he's dead. It's the cheering scene that, thanks to the ancillary media, the Aftermath novels, you know leads it directly into the Empire cracking down.
00:42:49
Speaker
So that is that's the moment in, if you know the musical or the movie version of the musical, where Or history, because Les Mises is actually about the French Revolution.
00:43:02
Speaker
Well, specifically the scene that i I'm talking specifically a scene where that's do you hear the people sing where the students are like, yeah, we're we're the resistance, we're we're the revolution, and then the Paris police and military crack down on them.
00:43:25
Speaker
Cannons and troops and is the part one It's the part where everyone's like, forgets oh wait, that's what happens next. It's like, okay, he may be dead, but it doesn't mean his empire's gone.
00:43:39
Speaker
so and That gave me the hook, and that's when I knew that I could do it. But I also knew, okay, if this is Star Wars Les Mis, this is not an ongoing campaign.
00:43:52
Speaker
This isn't an open-ended campaign. This has an end point. Same thing with My limited campaign that I'm going to do later later this year, ah Dark Forces, it's based off of an old, old video game from the PC era.
00:44:08
Speaker
One of the earliest Star Wars game video games. To use actual footage and licensed material. But the idea is simple. It's like, you Rebel Agents.
00:44:21
Speaker
You are trying to stop this new Imperial project. That's the bits. that That's the thing. And if we're getting back... You more learn about what the project is, you gather allies and stuff like that, but and beat it, but it's like, just like a video game, you are going to go through quote-unquote levels, missions, and it will end with you succeeding, or not.
00:44:48
Speaker
Yes, and going back on the hook, another thing that's inspired me to create my hooks is actually, because I'm a little bit of history buff, I study history a little bit or listen to history.
00:45:00
Speaker
Because when I was thinking of my Ashes of an Empire campaign, kind of what Daryl said in Les Miserables, like maybe the head dies, but it doesn't mean that the empire is immediately gone, because I thought a lot about the Roman Empire.
00:45:13
Speaker
It fractured, cracked, but it still took hundreds of years for it to finally just fully be gone. Same thing with an empire. The Emperor Palpatine may be dead, but that doesn't mean his cronies, his holdings, his hold on the core worlds, industrial worlds, corporate sector. No, that's going to fade overnight.
00:45:33
Speaker
It's going to be a slog in through it. So you were basically just people trying to live through this tumultuous time in the period where the balance of power is shifting, but it hasn't fully shifted yet onto to the New Republic side.
00:45:48
Speaker
It is true, yeah. Or another fun thing is you can intrigue your players with a concept rather than the world. Because I remember, forget which episode it was, but we talked about like good campaign stars, and we brought up the idea that we're going to implement in the future of we're going to pick a campaign and we're going to run it, but it'll be all three of us.
Creative Storytelling in Delta Green
00:46:09
Speaker
And we don't have a set out campaign end. It's I end on a cliffhanger, then Daryl does whatever he wants with it. Then once he's done, Nick does whatever he wants with it. We're kind were hard of playing that out with our Delta Green.
00:46:24
Speaker
Technically, it's my Delta Green campaign with you two as well involved in it. I started out it. i would say that's a little different because we're basically what happens in the interim, but your overstretch campaign is still yours, fully yours.
00:46:40
Speaker
yeah but It's a similar sort of... It's not a full like... round, I would call it like a round robin, like we're going one person to the next person. Yeah, this would be more of a round robin.
00:46:54
Speaker
Yeah, we're we're going full DC challenge with what we were talking about before. But it's like, it's as close as we have right now, which was also something I didn't initially plan until I was talking with you guys after the first session. It's like, I have the campaign I'm running for Delta Green for my players.
00:47:15
Speaker
is a very long drawn out campaign by... It's like one of the big three that... The publisher has printed, I think, at least three like overarching campaigns that they've done in Delta Green, and Nick is using one of them.
00:47:31
Speaker
What I wanted to... I followed the writer for years, and since I've been wanting to run it, was like, well, there's a 15-year span between Adventure 1 and Adventure 2.
00:47:43
Speaker
And it happens in 15 years. And we need to fill those gaps. I decided I'll let you guys fill that gap. I have plans for if things happen.
00:47:55
Speaker
Specifically if they go insane. was like, I'm trusting them to do that so that once we get back into the main campaign, it would be a bit more streamlined out of that.
00:48:07
Speaker
I didn't intend for that. Yeah, we didn't intend for that, but it's also Delta Green is based in the real world, like we still follow real world principles. We just have cosmic horror in there as well. So we have the certain new time drama. So things are going to evolve. Technology, people, events, politics, all that stuff is going to evolve with us.
00:48:27
Speaker
And I was like, I was literally considered like, I can't just do this with like a oh couple roles and a few like interview style. Like, like what happened with you in 15 years, like 15 years but a lot of time.
00:48:43
Speaker
He's like, well, let me tell you. And Robert and I both had ideas for Delta Green games, but not necessarily enough to constitute a campaign.
00:48:56
Speaker
But it's easy enough to adapt those into, for want of a better term, Monster of the Week episodes. yeah A framework. I'm trying a little bit of making mine, Monster the Week, but still they're in part of like a smaller over-operating overarching subplot but it'd still be something like I could run it as a scenario but I think it would work better than this because not only do you have the overarching plot of Nick's campaign but there's Monster of the Weeks with you and then this subplot with me I'm also making sure I'm halfway to try and tie those things in I'm paying attention to tech tie all of it into the overarching campaign
00:49:39
Speaker
but like that thing within fun idea think I think that our games, Robert, in that campaign, working with established characters that are growing throughout all of this helps with player buy-in.
00:49:55
Speaker
Yes, very much. Because we we don't have to launch a new campaign. It's like, oh, well, this is part of the existing campaign. That character that you already love to play in Delta Green, they're in this story.
00:50:08
Speaker
They're still going on. Yeah, because you think you do one thing and Delta Green's done with you. No. You're in it for life now. it's Absolutely. It's just regular. like, you're on one mission.
00:50:22
Speaker
Here's some more missions. But guess what? That's not part, the the whole missing arc is is my arc. It's like, honestly, really? and So when we do that proper round robin in the future, i think we can have a lot of fun with that.
00:50:38
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. Because I plan my installment or installments, depending on how we do it in that. I'm going to go full bat-esque crazy like DC Challenge did.
00:50:52
Speaker
Yeah, and we're going to do our sub, I'm going to do my subplot, and then Daryl and I are going to team up for a certain event that happens in the 15 years. That too, yeah. And I have an idea for you know, Y2K.
00:51:07
Speaker
And again, like, for whenever anyone goes mad, I know exactly what to do with them. Even if they die, i have plans for them. Yeah, and I remember after we finished the first part of the actual overarching campaign, you did your one-shot.
00:51:21
Speaker
And you decided to go a little bit with creepypasta on us, and it was very fun. Oh, yeah, I just wanted to give like a classic. like The campaign I'm running is way more... like if you could be like It's hard to say like Delta Green, high concept, but it's Delta Green, high concept. Yeah, it's more existentialism rather than there's a monster, go kill it, or survive it.
00:51:47
Speaker
So when I ended my part of it, I added on a quick Gulp Man, Slender Man conflict. and it was And it was really fun. We had some great character moments, and I just love how you subverted expectations to where it was like, no, these aren't really smart cultists. These are just idiots who got a book and did it wrong.
00:52:09
Speaker
That came from like one of my first runs. It's like, wait, what if they just edgy gulps at my high school, and they just like, summoned a demon and were like, oh no!
00:52:22
Speaker
Yeah, because Delta Green is always about, there's always these underlining groups, these sorcerers who have studied, these secret organizations. You just went, no. No, these are just idiot hillbillies that found a book.
00:52:36
Speaker
They found a book and were like, oh, we did that? Oh no! And our characters are like, you idiot! I remember my character basically had a Yosemite Sam moment in our campaign. We were just Then I got this wiped out by the Slender Man.
00:52:55
Speaker
What, if anything, else do we have to add to make a good hook? I think we should probably go like in a circle. like What we think is the best hook concept that we have on our mind right now?
00:53:10
Speaker
Just like what we thought up? Yeah, just at the moment, like what would be like your favorite hook that you've used? Favorite hook that I've used? I would say my favorite hook that I've ever used is actually the one we used for Legacy of the Force, Nick. We gave the scenario, we said it was going to be like this, but also in the pitch we said it we're going a different way from established Star Wars.
00:53:33
Speaker
So what you've what you're expecting out of a Star Wars campaign, we're basically going to shake the bottle. And you're going to see a different take on Star Wars.
00:53:46
Speaker
And with our players, they're very established fans of Star Wars. So they knew what... That drew them in. They're like, you're not going to go with kind of the Star Wars idea? You're going to shake it up a little, try something new?
00:53:58
Speaker
I'm game. but Especially if you, because you're kind of pretty traditional Star Wars. I'm very traditional Star Wars. Yeah, that's what they all make them up. must have We all are. But we were just like, no.
00:54:10
Speaker
Let's... Let's go a different way. Let's go down path B instead of path A. um I'll go next. ah My favorite hook was, ironically, ah we didn't mention it, but like a beginner game or starter set.
00:54:27
Speaker
Whisper Base has been a long-going campaign we've had. And I took a starter set, a box set, basically to begin an Age of Rebellion Star Wars game.
00:54:37
Speaker
And yes, Star Wars is my thing, but there's something here. there's a concept here you get a base you got like antagonists it did help that i had like players like especially uh xander you're you're xander daryl that i knew that had like a unique concept for their character but the main fact that it was like it starts out with them like taking a base and getting information and like that's opened up a whole lot of ideas like that fun. So sometimes you can just take like out of the box ideas. It's like stop at the box.
00:55:16
Speaker
You know, this box has legs. I guess that leaves me. And i think my favorite hook that I've used has got to be Raiders of the Lost
Crafting Evocative Campaign Titles
00:55:26
Speaker
Jedi, because the title alone tells you everything you need to know.
00:55:31
Speaker
It's exactly what's advertised on the tin. And then when you add in the description that you are a group that is locating... How far the future?
00:55:43
Speaker
yeah And, like, you are in a familiar universe, but not... Completely uncharted territory, and the status quo can be whatever I want it to be.
00:55:58
Speaker
But you can revisit and find past iconography. Right, and the player's existing knowledge of the property is not a detriment because they don't have to wonder, oh, has that happened yet?
00:56:16
Speaker
Because I would love to run a High Republic campaign too, but you also have that, oh wait, everything that I know about Star Wars hasn't happened yet. I do like that conceit of like, depending, especially now, post, we're getting...
00:56:32
Speaker
getting close the post-High Republic, which is a weird way of saying things. Because regardless, sake people can come into this new this revival of Raiders of the Lost Jedi and be like, Old Republic, Knights of the Old Republic, Tales of the Jedi, High Republic, Clone Wars, Rebels.
00:56:56
Speaker
The other beautiful thing about that concept for Raiders of the Lost Jedi is every part of Star Wars history, be it canon or legends, can be something that the characters heard about.
00:57:11
Speaker
Because even if you stick strictly to the canon timeline, that far in the future, they might have heard these tall tales about things that happened that are now legend.
00:57:25
Speaker
Now the legend's continuity. Or pull in legends and be like, that's actually a thing. Right. It's just it's open-ended. The title tells you the kind of flavor that you want to have for that. It evokes the right feel because we all know you want Star Wars Explained to play in your game. Oh, i would love her I would love for Alex and Molly to play in any of my games because they're awesome.
00:57:56
Speaker
It would be Alex. Alex would be know they and the one to play the game. They both play RPGs. But... But he's he he's the Indiana Jones fan.
00:58:09
Speaker
That's true. That is very true. At the same time, from hearing them talk on the show, they're more interested in doing a yeah one of the various D&D ports to Star Wars out there. Oh, ew.
00:58:29
Speaker
Ew. like did The 5e one? and And that's because they're familiar with D&D. They play D&D. i i Let's not get into that. Yeah.
00:58:42
Speaker
Because we've talked about our favorite hooks, but now I've got a question for us. oh Since we know we've we know a lot of systems, read a lot of lot of established books, what in any of those have been the the best hooks we've ever seen?
00:58:59
Speaker
Because I'll start. I actually have two from mine. but One's a little bit out there, but the first one is that it's actually one shot of Delta Green I ran. was basically, okay, your players are playing two different teams.
00:59:14
Speaker
One team that's coming to question another team about an operation that went completely FUBAR. So when you're playing that one team where everything went FUBAR, each character is saying how it went down,
00:59:30
Speaker
but in their own mind. so So when one player's rendition, the other players are acting completely different from another character's rendition. and And it's basically a big hold, here's how it went down. Rashadamon, basically.
00:59:45
Speaker
Yeah, Rashadamon. Rashadamon, yeah. The interrogation team has to figure out, okay, who do we believe, if any of them? but he i I agree. that's ah that's That's a great one-shot hook.
00:59:59
Speaker
You don't know who's telling the truth. Are you telling the truth? Are you telling the truth? its Is truth the matter of fact? You don't know. The second one hook I found, or just discovered, that I thought might be interesting is that I've been reading an audiobook about the Star Wars book that just recently came out a few months ago. Star Wars...
01:00:22
Speaker
the Mask of Fear. It's basically the Reign of the Empire. I've been listening to that, and I thought, okay, we've heard a lot about like the fomenting rebellion years, but what about the time just after the Empire in Star Wars has been formed?
01:00:37
Speaker
was like, oh, just reading the story, it'd be really cool to be like each character is a senator of a different place, and they basically a big politics game. You're playing but in that formation period of the Empire. It's like is your Is your character one of the senators that's more resistant to the Empire?
01:00:58
Speaker
Is your character more of a bootlicker or someone who actually believes in the Empire? ah like i kind of The politics of that. actually I would like to run one, but like it's so intricate and it would require like a specific type of players.
01:01:13
Speaker
i that know I could probably name like three or four that I feel that really would be into that, it's like It would definitely not be action-packed, but it would be more intrigue.
01:01:25
Speaker
Yeah, intrigue, politics, kind of trying to go that far out, but without drawing attention to yourselves. I think it probably be like a blaster fight every 10 or 17 seasons. It would be fun, but I would need the right players.
01:01:41
Speaker
like Good choices. Daryl, what do you think? So the favorite hook that I've encountered as a player, that's hard to say.
01:01:55
Speaker
i want to say it's a toss-up between two and... I have two. No offense to either of you. you Neither of you are the GM for this. They were both one-shots.
01:02:09
Speaker
The first is a couple of years ago. They're both from Gamer Nation Con. GM Chris, co-host of the Order 66 podcast. Which no one watches. and' No one listens yeah to the Order 66 podcast.
01:02:24
Speaker
We just hear about it. couple years ago, his game that he ran was And again, this dips into and established property, but it's not one that has an official RPG, but he used the Genesis system to do the last Starfighters.
01:02:44
Speaker
And was movie it was all vehicle-based. oh Oh. Yeah, i remember this. You said it was really fun and good. It was.
01:02:55
Speaker
there There were six players. And there's a modified version of the Genesis like vehicle group. There were six players that were grouped in in pairs that one was the pilot, the navigator of the gun star.
01:03:12
Speaker
The other was the star fighter, the one manning the weapons. And you had to work in tandem because it's an RPG. You can't have every everyone... having exactly the same thing.
01:03:24
Speaker
Each of us had gun stars that had specialized weapons on them. That was a lot of fun. The other one, also GM Chris, and Nick is going to lose his mind when I say this, his familiar That's what I was thinking you were going say. where i don't know what you're talking about.
01:03:46
Speaker
you play You play the animal familiars of powerful sorcerers. And that sounds vaguely familiar, but I probably wasn't there. and Sure, Nick.
01:03:57
Speaker
You jumped across the table to grab the snake as soon as you saw that you could be a snake. You jumped across the table, grabbed the character sheet, and shouted, I want to be a snake!
01:04:10
Speaker
Mm-hmm. don't know what are you're talking about. You play the animal familiars, and Being animals, you don't have high stats. You're very squishy.
01:04:22
Speaker
You're very squishy. Yes, you can speak because you're infused with magic, because you're these sorcerers familiars, but you have to navigate the world as animals.
01:04:33
Speaker
As you know a cat, a snake, a rat. you Things like that. And it was so much fun. That setting is available on DriveThruRPG as part of the Genesis Foundry program.
01:04:46
Speaker
It is well worth the price of admission. This is true. And there are pretty strong animals in there. But those are probably two of the the most memorable in recent memory that I can think of.
01:05:00
Speaker
How about you, Nick? What are you thinking? ah For me, there was a game that I played in. And think about it. It's like I played it online about three years ago.
01:05:12
Speaker
But the idea was that you were owls. It was like a D&D homebrew. Like, I think it was that that movie from Zack Snyder with the animated owls.
01:05:25
Speaker
The owls like a whole. i was going to say, I only know it as the Zack Snyder owl movie. Honestly, it was really fun. We only played for like a couple weeks.
01:05:37
Speaker
Yeah, it was during quarantine. Wait, Nick, were you cheating on us? Were you gaming with other people? And not at the con. Nick? It was only for a month.
01:05:51
Speaker
A month? They were in Europe. You don't know where she doesn't even go here Nick cheated on us. I feel so used and dirty.
01:06:03
Speaker
He was on the weekdays. Is that a cause for a divorce? Can we get some of his assets? That's not a hell of a word. Yeah, we're filing divorce proceedings.
01:06:15
Speaker
I think Texas is in that. is that a texas is a common law state one of you gets nicole and she is not gonna be easy to handle sorry if people aren't property we can't get that yeah yeah you you get to you keep nicole ah anyway i think we've i think we've tortured nick enough fine i have one more thing that probably will be within in realm During our D&D games, I implemented something that we were using in our Star Wars games.
Recurring Characters Across RPG Settings
01:06:49
Speaker
A character that we've been using using significantly, and sort of our multiversal character. Yes. Watch out, Nick. You know, Marshall Mathers could could sue you for copyright infringement once you say the name.
01:07:04
Speaker
Why do think I'm not saying the name? It just appears underneath a blinking ah light source. Usually within alleyway. Yeah, he's the cliche merchant that shows up everywhere.
01:07:18
Speaker
Yes. He is cloaked in shadow, and he's on the slender side. that That's a way of saying it. No, we don't want to be copyright striked. So we shall not say it. But there's plenty of ways to bring in like different elements, different ideas that are always coming around and everything.
01:07:36
Speaker
Heck, we added another character that he's always with now after our one of a certain campaign. I think we have covered all of the ground, guys. we We may have done it in a pretty roundabout way. We may not have had clearly defined points on how to come up with a hook. But I think we have gotten a pretty good idea of what makes for a good hook and how to help find a good hook.
01:07:59
Speaker
Yeah, we put plenty of nuggets in there. But isn't that the creative process? Exactly. I think through our roundabout, we've shown that there's no outline to making a hook.
01:08:11
Speaker
It is up to the individual. Yeah, and and the hooks can come from anywhere. I would like to say one thing. go ahead. ahead I'd like to reach out to our viewers and say, like, hey, have a hook in your mind?
01:08:24
Speaker
You want us to look at them? Just the viewers, Nick? You don't care about the podcast listeners? You only care about YouTube? Yeah, come on. All you viewers and listeners. Viewers and listeners. I know we said no one listens to the Order 66 podcast, but come on. No one listens to the Order 66 podcast.
01:08:42
Speaker
But we're not the Order 66 podcast. So don't lump us in with them. Chris would be rather cross if we tried to you know take his podcast away. If you do listen to us here on YouTube, here on podcast, give us your hooks.
01:09:00
Speaker
yeah What did you do? but What did you find enjoyable? what What hooks have you used that have worked? How have you come up with your hooks? We'd love to hear it and maybe incorporate into a future episode.
01:09:11
Speaker
And that gives me a great segue to say check out our website at howwerollgaming.com. And while you're there, you'll find links to all of our socials.
01:09:23
Speaker
You'll find information about our current campaigns and a link to our merch store. And if you have any questions that you'd like us to answer, topics you'd like us to cover, or even submit your own favorite hooks or how you come up with your hooks, shoot us an email at podcast at howwerollgaming.com, and we will be glad to hear them and possibly incorporate them into a future episode.
01:09:49
Speaker
By our next episode, Gamer Nation content will have come and gone. And we'll be there. And our next episode, we'll be taking a look back at the con,
01:10:01
Speaker
And hopefully we will have a special guest or special guests. Oh, I think we... hit they did Didn't they make a... Hopefully, Daryl, I think definitely. know i am hedging bets, but we did see at least one person say in writing...
01:10:21
Speaker
that they would be willing to participate and I would just have to hold them to it. It would be very unfortunate and very disappointing to our viewers and listeners if they weren't there next time.
01:10:33
Speaker
Yes, it would. Yes, it would. but And we'll remind them of that. Yes, we'll be reminding them of that next weekend at the cons.
01:10:44
Speaker
But in the meantime, thank you once again for listening to the How We Roll Gaming podcast. We hope to have you back again next time. And until then, as always, I'm Daryl.
01:10:58
Speaker
I'm Nick. And I'm Robert. And this is How We Roll.
01:11:06
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.