Men in Gorilla Suits

Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 138: Last Seen…Playing Role Playing Games

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70s era Dungeons and Dragons rulebook - Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 138: Last Seen…Playing Role Playing GamesYou hold in your hand a rectangular device with a smooth glass screen.

Are there any buttons on it?

There appear to be, yes.

I press one.

The screen lights up with a passcode message.

I make a hacking roll.

[The Game Master mutters to self: Okay, unfamiliar device modifier -1, but universal hacking kit (electronic) +2. Simple code +1…]

Okay, you need a 13 or less.

[Player rolls 3 6-sided dice. A 9.]

You make it past the passcode block. On the screen before you are rows of icons.

I look for one that says Podcast.

You find it.

I tap the icon and subscribe to Men in Gorilla Suits.

Wise choice. Give yourself a million experience points!

Ah, role playing games. Most people, even if they’ve never played one, have heard of Dungeons and Dragons. But D&D only scratches the surface of the world of role playing games (RPGs). We take our dice bags from our belts and roll a critical hit on this episode of Men in Gorilla Suits.

* * *

We begin with the first role playing game (RPG) we ever played…and how old we were when we first played it. After that, we discuss the effect RPGs have had on us.

We knock out our favorite — and least favorite — RPGs…and why we made our choices. Want to find out the most obscure RPG we’ve played? We share that as well.

After talking about the one RPG we’d love to see that hasn’t been made yet, we talk about how RPGs have helped us as writers. On the subject of writing, find out if we’ve ever thought about writing for RPGs.

Also find out if we’ve crossed the threshold into Live Action Role Playing Games (and what we think about them). Then we go online and talk about World of Warcraft and other massively multiplayer role playing games (MMORPGs). Find out if we’ve played any…and if so, which ones. Before stepping back to our paper character sheets, we talk about how MMORPGs compare to tabletop RPGs.

And we wrap it all up talking about what the future holds for role playing games. (Somehow, Christopher totally forgot to mention Storium in this episode!)

Feel free to share your favorite RPG moments in the comments…and may all your rolls be 3s or 20s, depending what game you’re playing…

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