Roleplay Rescue

What happens if we drop the script and the expectation that this is going to be a thought-provoking analysis of some aspect of roleplaying?What happens if we lean into improvisation and see where things end up going?What if I just riff off the call-ins and other seemingly-random thoughts that pop into my head?Wouldn’t that just be a descent into the raw and unedited mess of the GM’s Journal?Or would it be me becoming unshackled?Big thanks to Jason Wiebe and Carl D for the call-ins!Game on!Roleplay Rescue Details:Voice Message:speakpipe.com/roleplayrescuePatreon:patreon.com/rpgrescue Email:roleplayrescue@pm.meBlogroleplayrescue.com Bluesky Social:https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.socialMeWe:https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescueLogo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/

What happens if we lean back into the roots of our hobby - which for me is largely the 1980s - and realise that the kind of roleplaying we enjoy the most is in fact the Old-School variety?But instead of landing back in the realm of Dungeons & Dragons, what if we find the kind of system that emphasises the roleplay is actually found in the emergence of a game designed to encourage just that: roleplay?In 1985, Steve Jackson Games published the combat system from their forthcoming roleplaying game system and they named it, “Man-to-Man”. A year later in 1986, they published the full game system as it then existed. It’s name was GURPS - the Generic Universal Role-Playing System. 40 years later, GURPS is still around… and so is that earlier incarnation. And it turns out that it’s a far more accessible and playable role-playing system than I ever imagined.Thanks to Steve Jackson Games for continuing to keep GURPS Third Edition in print:Amazon POD: amazon.co.uk/GURPS-Basic-Set-Third-Revised/dp/1556348266/Warehouse23 PDF: warehouse23.com/products/gurps-basic-set-third-edition-revisedBig thanks to Spencer and Evil Jeff for calling in with their experiences and thoughts!Game on!Roleplay Rescue Details:Voice Message:speakpipe.com/roleplayrescuePatreon:patreon.com/rpgrescue Email:roleplayrescue@pm.meBlogroleplayrescue.com Bluesky Social:https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.socialMeWe:https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescueLogo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/

If roleplaying games are really about roleplay then how come so much of our time at the table is spent doing all sorts of other things that aren’t roleplay?Is there a way in which we can craft our play experience to put the roleplay back into the roleplaying game while still remaining a collaborative game?There comes a time when many a roleplaying gamer realises that they are unsatisfied with the way in which the game is being played. I’ve been in this place for longer than I can remember, and I have attempted to resolve this in many unsatisfactory ways. No one else’s game rules have ever quite worked for me – although there are a couple of sets that get close – but more fundamentally it turns out that the problem has been methodological. As I start the fifteenth season of Roleplay Rescue, I want to focus on how to get more of what I want: roleplay with friends in an imaginative Otherworld.Big thanks to Spencer and Barry for taking the time to record their messages!Roleplay Rescue Details:Voice Message:speakpipe.com/roleplayrescuePatreon:patreon.com/rpgrescue Email:roleplayrescue@pm.meBlogroleplayrescue.com Bluesky Social:https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.socialMeWe:https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescueLogo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/

This episode emerged from a Zoom call I shared with today’s guest which he was gracious enough to allow me to record and share. The episode is as simple as that: a recorded chat in which we catch up and then start to talk about Dungeoneer, also known as the Advanced Fighting Fantasy RPG from 1989.My conversation is with Simon Williams, a British artist and illustrator as well as being the creator of the Legend of The Bones podcast, a hybrid Solo Old School Dungeons and Dragons actual play and dark fantasy audio drama. Simon opens the conversation with a bold claim - the one you heard at the top of the show - and we explore the idea of using the Fighting Fantasy rules for developing our own Otherworld-immersed games.Big thanks to Simon for coming on the show and letting me share it largely unedited. I hope you find his enthusiasm as infectious as I did.Game on!Legend of the Bones podcast: Legend of the Bones Podcast — Apple Podcasts OR https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/legend-of-the-bones/id1622036301Legend of the Bones | Podcast on Spotify OR https://open.spotify.com/show/2HIuUxGzBtQLdGgPWRwjkg?si=0e438637d0854b09&nd=1&dlsi=57a5f90b55a148d1Legend of the Bones website: Legend of the Bones OR https://legendofthebones.blogspot.com/Roleplay Rescue Details:Voice Message:speakpipe.com/roleplayrescuePatreon:patreon.com/rpgrescue Email:roleplayrescue@pm.meBlogroleplayrescue.com Bluesky Social:https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.socialMeWe:https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescueRoleplay Rescue Theme by Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore:https://taleofthemanticore.podbean.com/Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/

This episode emerged from a Zoom call I shared with today’s guest which he was gracious enough to allow me to record and share. The episode is as simple as that: a recorded chat in which we catch up and then start to talk about a question I raised: what would you do if you had a new player to add to your existing roleplaying group?My conversation is with Johnn Four, the founder of RoleplayingTips.com which began as a GM tips newsletter back in the late 1990s. Johnn is perhaps best known for the 5 Room Dungeon, even though throughout the years, Johnn has published a GM advice column in Dragon Magazine, several books about how to improve your GMing, and continues to write on the topic of running better games. Big thanks to Johnn for allowing me to share this largely unedited conversation!Game on!Role Playing Tips for Tabletop Game Masters: roleplayingtips.com/ OR https://www.roleplayingtips.com/Roleplay Rescue Details:Voice Message:speakpipe.com/roleplayrescuePatreon:patreon.com/rpgrescue Email:roleplayrescue@pm.meBlogroleplayrescue.com Bluesky Social:https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.socialMeWe:https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescueRoleplay Rescue Theme by Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore:https://taleofthemanticore.podbean.com/Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/

Back at the beginning of 2025, I decided that I wanted to double-down on my mastery of GURPS as the roleplaying game system that I actually consistently enjoy. Alongside that I decided that I wanted to take on the challenge of developing my own science-fiction space-based game. This would involve creating a sector of space and working out the basis for different approaches to SF play within it. With a month of anxious dithering behind me, I found inspiration while sitting with the face-to-face group prior to continuing our current Cthulhu investigation: one of the players expressed, not for the first time, a desire to play something SF. Given my realisation that I have transitioned towards a more improvisational style at the table, I determined that it would be fun to create a framework within which we might play.This episode is drawn from the play notes that I made one Sunday in February 2025, which were then posted on the Roleplay Rescue blog at roleplayrescue.com. Why share them here? Well, firstly they turned out to be a truly enlightening series of notes for me as a potential science-fiction GM, unlocking many of the doors to playing SF that I had experienced being closed tight ever since my earliest experiences with Traveller in the late 1970s and early 1980s.Big thanks to Carl D and Brian for taking the time to record some messages.Game on!New Frontiers Map:https://roleplayrescue.com/2025/02/06/new-frontiers-part-v/Roleplay Rescue Details:Voice Message:speakpipe.com/roleplayrescuePatreon:patreon.com/rpgrescue Email:roleplayrescue@pm.meBlogroleplayrescue.com Bluesky Social:https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.socialMeWe:https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescueRoleplay Rescue Theme by Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore:https://taleofthemanticore.podbean.com/Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/