What Fan Club videos would you like to see? 📼

And if you've seen any really good narrative mechanics in TTRPGs, that would be highly appreciated in general!

NoFun

I'd like to have longer context about the campaigns you've run, and the games you didn't get to make episodes around.

NoFun

In addition to fully supporting the one-shot idea, I'd love to see a video about pacing. I absolutely love how Jason Cordova handles pacing - ensuring everyone at the table gets some time in the spotlight and cutting to different scenes at optimal times to ratchet up tension. I've been trying to emulate his style, but would greatly appreciate a QQ video essay on the subject!

Seth M

This is something I've been grappling with, as well! As a pretty new GM I'm starting to think I need to disabuse myself of the notion that "one-shot" is equal to "one session." I recently ran There is a Goblin Loose on Icarus Station (a fantastically hilarious module btw) to introduce folks to Mothership at a bday party. Despite my major goal of keeping it to one session we still had to effectively cut it short, leading to a bit more of a fizzle on the ending than I'd hoped. I've certainly got some lessons learned from that experience, but I wholeheartedly agree that I'd love to see Quinns' take on the subject.

Seth M

I'm super interested in OSR discussion. In your podcast with Mothership creator you mentioned, that they are good, but slightly stuck in the past. I'd love to hear more on this point. Maybe some entry points as well. Like is Mothership or Mausritter OSR or not. I'm so confused.

Pavel

Wow, this is such a good suggestion for a topic, yeah. In my practice every time I got to run a one-shot, it always ends up a 2-3 shot. Even Alice is Missing (which I ran twice) I had to split into prep session and play session.

Pavel

How to effectively run One Shots.

lostapiarist

Love your work Quinns. Here's my two cents (1) I'd love to hear stories from your previous experiences running RPGs: an epic battle scene you'll never forget, a campaign that went to hell and changed how you played games, a moment that made you fall in love with the hobby. Just the kind of stories you'd tell around a campfire. (2) Your take on the history of TTRPGs, from ideas that changed the design to innovations that are taking the field in new directions. (3) Things we want to see more of: a grab-bag of ideas to inspire designers to come up with new games, more about love, establishing a family with aliens, delving deep into a joint psyche, stuff that isn't a great game yet but it should be.

Buster

Heya, what I would like to see is Things You have Learned that Has Helped You Enjoy the Hobby More. There is so much GM advice out there that I feel it leads to the perspective that the GM is the "servant" of the players, and I think that is bad for everyone and leads to burnout. I think GMs need to be reminded to, and how to, have fun. Love your work!

Lojaan

I might be late for this post, apologies, I just became a patreon. Now my suggestion: one of the ancillary pleasures I enjoy of the hobby is the books. There are some gorgeous books, well edited, well written and with amazing ilustrations. Some big hardcovers which are a pleasure to hold, or some small zines made with a lot of love. Why don't you take the game apart for a second and tell us about the rpg books you like, which one was a pleasure to read, which one was the more evocative or the more fun; even when the game or the rules were not well explain or not well implemented.

Fernando Barajas

I'd love a discussion on "gamifying" rpg mechanics, things like push your luck, or players wagering resources, ect.

daniel schmitt

I’d be interested in “tips for running RPGs on a VTT.” Not a review of the VTTs out there, but more generalized pointers for what can work well in a VTT space or which games are particularly well suited / supported by the major VTTs.

murphzero

Love love love the reviews so far. The dice rolling and player creation tips I'm totally going to incorporate - there's always ways to improve my GM skills. I'd love to hear about how to wrangle playing with remote players - the pandemic saw us go online, and now I have a player that joins in remote from another city, and once in a while some of the locals do, so I have a mixed table. My biggest challenge is maps that work for everyone. As for reviews, I definitely want to see Mothership, and would love to see Monster of the Week or another game using the Powered by the Apocalypse system.

Roger Leroux

My advice: play blades (or one of the forged in the dark games) as a one shot to get a sense of it. Intentionally tell the players that it’s one shot only and they’ll make new characters for your next campaign so you don’t have the pressure to make it so good that it works for a whole campaign. You’ll learn more from that one session that a ton of videos. Also the game only really makes sense after you’ve played it

chris

Would love to see more campaign round ups for sure. Somewhat related - I’d love to see one of the rpgs that you review being ‘one page rpgs’ in general - play 7-10 of them as one shots and review the general concept, give examples of ones you liked, things that went well, etc.

chris

I would definitely be interested in fight encounter and enemy prep. I'm new to ttrpgs and have no idea what to hit my players with. I don't want a ball pit but also don't want the only fight encounter I've prepared to be a nightmare gauntlet from hell.

Jacob LaBruzzo

I love this idea! And for future behind-the-scenes patron videos, how about one on how you conceive of a campaign for a game? Or your favorite pre-written adventure for any system?

Josh Rose

I'd love a talk about how a "scene" works for you and your table. One of the things that I find lacking in most reviews or game-running guides is how play actually "looks". I read or hear lots of chats about how much a group got through, or accomplished, and never much about how that actually happens in play. A look at how and when you use "conversation" versus narrating what happens and what is discussed over a period of time (like, a montage versus a scene, and summarising consequences versus exploring them "in character")

daniel luck

A "First Look" kind of sort for up and coming (or just released) RPGs that seem promising - with the caveat that they are not covered by the Quinn's Guarantee of course :)

That Italian Guy

THIS ^^ I am trying to break from D&D and run a Blades in the Dark campaign, but the differences feel a tad overwhelming. A video that helped transition the DM (and players) to a new system would be helpful.

Joshua Battenfield

A video on how to best add tension to a puzzle or social encounter would be great! Something to help make non-combat encounters sing. I have a group playing D&D that I am slowly converting to try Blades in the Dark, but I worry they will miss the tactical combat as it is familiar to them. BitD needs me to create tension in my narration a lot of times, so a video on how to create tension without combat would be fun too.

Joshua Battenfield

How to end a campaign well would be a great video!

Joshua Battenfield

More direction of using theater of the mind style play would be helpful.

Craig Pressley

I would love your take on Across a Thousand Dead Worlds and even better a deep dive into the combat system that makes this game just insane fun. I think what Blackoath games has created with this is something really special and that bringing a version of it to 5E would make combat so much more interesting and not leave players around the table bored between their turn on the midst of a fight. The flexibility of a game system like this capable of being run solo, Gm-less or with a group more traditionally is pretty remarkable, especially when it can be pulled off with a single book. I would love your take on this innovative horror/Sci-fi game and the system behind it.

Craig Pressley

I would watch the hell out of all of these ideas^^ Here's one more for the pile. I've only ever DM'd DnD 5E. I would love a video about how to learn new RPG's coming from DnD (because the thought of starting a new system from scratch is daunting).

Cave Darr

Another thing Id be very interested in, is how you prep for various encounter types, combat, social, puzzle, exploration :D

Nathan Camp

I really enjoyed the section on The Wildsea and would love to see more on how you go about setting up an overarching plot and conclude campaigns. It is something I have struggled with (producing satisfying ends to campaigns or arcs). I'd LOVE to see more on how you did that with the library ship and the Book banning Theocracy that the players had to overthrow!

Nathan Camp

I would love to talk through elements that make up a ttrpg and their impact on the games. Such as how the choice of dice used can really change the realism of a game! Or the difference between singular skills ( like in 5e) vs more vague skills where the player can make a case that based on their bg they wpuld be able to do something ( like monster of the week or lancer)

Spell

I'd watch sth. like this: Where do you come from in this game genre? What was your first encounter, what games did you experience over the years, etc. Kind of like a small personal rpg-history.

Tim Düllmann

Do you have much experience with Solo RPGs? In what capacity and do you have any recommendations?

Zach076

Do you have any tips, both as a GM and also as a player, for how to encourage the quieter members of a group to engage with the other characters and with the world?

Dom Dib

I DM a campaign of Heart as a 100% newbie GM, and I want to combine two things: low-prep GM'ing with lots of improvisation, and having an (improvised) overarching story that will, in the end, bring resolution to the story for all characters. I wonder what you think about either of these topics separately, but also how to combine and balance them.

Fabian

I'm a little late here, but a video about resources that aren't RPGs that have influenced how you think about, play, and run games. For instance, a few that come to mind for me are: Impro by Keith Johnstone for in-depth thoughts about improvisational theatre; What It Is by Lynda Barry for breaking through the creative barriers of adulthood; and Games: Agency as Art for a look into the unique qualities that games offer as an art form, which I think is particularly applicable to RPGs. So yeah, not necessarily just book resources, but anything that has influenced you would be really interesting. You're doing great work here btw :)

Shaye McDonald

I'd like to see one on 'mini games' if you ever do anything like that or your opinion on just using another game entirely to simulate something specific as part of a session. Mini game meaning a set of mechanics or gameplay elements that are lifted from elsewhere and plonked into another game, or are a sui generis way of handling something that isn't well covered by the rules of the game system you're using. I think a classic dungeon crawl version of a mini-game are things like puzzle rooms and riddles that rely more on player skill - like suddenly there's a chess problem in one room, or a word game etc. I haven't done that type of thing much but things I definitely HAVE done include: using a tabletop wargame to resolve a big mass battle of armies rather than trying to make the existing game system do mass combat; using my favourite easy games like Skull, Liar's Dice or Love Letter as the games being played in a tavern when the players wanted just-hanging-out down time; using Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards for a mage duel etc.If I had aa really easy to grasp and exciting mini-game for doing chases I think I'd just drop it in any game that didn't have one.

Ash James

I’d love to see some more short form videos of you just sharing specific characters, settings or even mechanics of the ttrpgs you review and just say a little bit about why you liked it. Maybe even small anecdotes from your games and how they came up or how your players reacted.

Tom Lavery

A brief history and rough categorization of ttrpgs? A kind of "six cultures" (https://retiredadventurer.blogspot.com/2021/04/six-cultures-of-play.html?m=1), but your own take on it. That can give some framework to talk about things like how much systems matter. Also, some basic ideas for many of the topics mentioned by others in this chat, like group size or how to prepare for GMing... It varies by system, after all, so if systems can be grouped into "schools", that can serve as a starting point.

Ozniras

I would be interested in a Good PvP rpg. I love that we all work together, but sometimes it would be so good to have a proper fight between each other. Burnin Wheel method is great, but maybe too complicated.

Máté Palágyi

I'd love to hear your take on TTRPGs that rework existing franchises, whether that's literature, films, or video games? With my players, I've found that it's often easier to engage and interest them in a known and beloved world, but it can also create a bit of a narrative straight jacket. I wondered whether you love/hate/have no strong feelings on these, and how you'd recommend using them?

Christopher Leffler

I’d be interested to get your take on TTRPGs powered by 5e, such as Beowulf: Age of Heroes or LOTR 5e. I’m a GM for a group that has only played dnd and I’m wondering if these would be good stepping stones to transition my group (or one player, in the case of Beowulf) away from dnd and get them excited about trying new systems.

Laurel Radzieski

Interested to hear about methods of keeping campaigns snappy and pacey as a GM. Especially with combat.

David Mason

What is your opinion about playing ttrpgs while being physically at the same "table" compared to online play? Do you try to minimize the online variant as much as possible or do you use it whenever constraints make it not possible to have a in person group? (aka players being away, local bubble not interested in playing ttrpg XYZ etc.) Do you maybe think online play also has true advantages over in person rounds? (e.g. digital ttrpg systems etc)

Sascha

How do you find people for a specific ttrpg you want to run? Do you just bounce it off your current playing group? Do you use your bubble of interested ttrpg player and spread the info there to see who might be interested? And what do you do if they are not?

Sascha

This is exactly what I'm looking for as well! Specifically if you can breakdown a teach for running RPGs for conventions or when you have people playtesting a homebrew adventure or system. Thank you in advance!

ISAWdano

I'd like to hear your take on actual play and if its influenced how people play TTRPGs. While they've been really important to the explosion of TTRPGs as of late, there hasn't been much attention to how exposure to these shows has impacted the player's perception of the games, and how they play them.

Michael

How have you helped bring new people into the hobby. Do you recommend any ttrpg gateway games for friends that have always been intrigued but too shy to dabble. Also breaking the nerdy barrier for some people I have found a peculiar issue 😂

Luke Souter

I would love to hear more about your take on gameplay loops for the different systems you look at and maybe compare them to other gameplay loops. We could hear how they differ or what content it is optimized for. Or just cross-comparing what you have reviewed so far outside of gameplay loops. I liked on Lancer you recognized who it might be for which helped me decide whether it was right for my group. The comparison would not be beneficial if all the games you reviewed were too similar.

Scott

Hello! I would like to know about Foundry-enabled RPG games. We love the platform and we're basically married to it, but we'd like to move past DnD. (Not PF2e; it doesn't gel with a few of our players unfortunately) So anyways. The best Foundry- supported TTRPGs please!

Tom Denyer

Would love to hear your thoughts on sound design as a DM. Music, effects, voices etc. Going from that, how do you feel about props such as costumes, lighting or physical objects and how do they impact a game? I feel as though prep time spent picking the music is incredibly important, as all the time im not talking and setting the stage, the music is conveying the emotions i want to convey in that scene

CraterMozz

- What are some of the most original and unique (or gimmicky) mechanics an RPG uses, to help immerse you in a physical way. I'm thinking like 10 Candles has people use candles as the timer. I love when designers kind of go off the beaten path like this to pull you in, and I'm sure you know some funny or interesting games that do this. - Games as a learning mechanism for different themes, history, or human experiences. These are incredibly tricky to run, as well as bring to the table. I'm just interested in hearing you talk more about these. Many times they are engaging, often fun, so have you played any that stand out or recommend? How have you brought those to your players? Was there any game that really resonated with people in terms of learning about the history/theme/experience the designer was trying to convey?

Brian Hughes

Two ideas: -Your history with the medium. What's your background with it, on what did you cut your teeth, what opened your eyes to the possibilities of the form, maybe a little bit of AP retelling. -Discussion on Actual Play as a form. Of course I'd happily hear your thoughts on D20 / CritRole and all those usual suspects, but also on written APs that existed on earlier internet forms. What makes for a good adaptation of TTRPGs to other media?

Eóin Dooley

What have you found helps you and your players come out of your shell? Despite my group having played for years we all get quite self conscious and some of us find it difficult to roleplay at all because they are daunted by the improv, not to even start in the vulnerability that comes with trying to be someone else for a while. Do you have any exercises, adventures, or prompts that you e found really shakes everyone out of that?

camcam9999

And when does using miniatures and battle maps for your ttrpg's become Miniatures/War game?

Jere Widenius (Kasanen)

I think a useful topic that would cover a lot of "Non-D&D" TTRPGs would be a discussion on Theater of the Mind. I feel when we use a battle mat we're not using our imaginations as much as focusing on moving pieces on a table, which is fine for tactical games like Lancer and D&D/Pathfinder. Theatre of the mind always feels more GRAND and limitless. But there's a skill to knowing what to describe, what details are worth mentioning, and how to depict a scene, especially where PCs and NPCs are. Since most people who come into the hobby expect what they've seen from D&D with figures and elaborate sets and grids.

Vahlir

What are your thoughts about card based RPGs like The Zone, Icarus, or Alice is Missing versus big books or the real ttrpg's. Is there some reasons why the other is more rpg than the other or is it all the same?

Jere Widenius (Kasanen)

I first thought was that “system matters” more than anything else and i still do to some extent. However, I’ve learned that it’s just more important to find something that’s conducive to the players and loved ones that’s sitting at my table. I’d love to play Torchbearer 2e, but my friends all work and I have too many potential players. It’s led me investigate OSR systems and an open table format to facilitate play. I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences on the intangibles of the hobby and how you structure your table to facilitate play from players.

Barca206

I'm trying to learn how to play games powered by apocalypse. Can you give advice on how to manage rolls that are mid or low? I never could figure out what to do narratively on those rolls. Also, any help on creating NPCs would be great.

Christian Anderson

I'd be interested to hear your insight on what to do/not do during session 0 for a campaign. I always struggle with finding a solid balance with giving my players enough information about the setting and rules that they know what's going on but at the same time not overwhelming them.

Andy Hutchings

What crossover do you see between doing The Teach™ for a board game and an RPG, and what is fundamentally different.

Bryon Kershaw

Homebrewing Rules. When to do it, when not to do it.

Highflyer

If I may add my 2 cents to this. I've been running a Root RPG (PbtA) campaign for about 7 sessions now. The mechanics are great. But the thing I struggle with is that the players are more reactive instead of proactive. While I don't think this is a useful dichotomy per se, I feel as if other systems (ex. DnD 5e) encourage more reactive play. While PbtA-games flourish with more shared agency in telling the cool stories. Video #2 sort of touches on this issue, but I too would love tips on how to be a better player, and how the GM can encourage this behavior.

David

It sounds like you're already planning for things along these lines, but one of the big issues I've faced trying to get into more indie RPGs is they can be quite intimidating compared to D&D, in terms of GM prep & writing. If I wanted to run D&D, I can go and pick one of dozens of pre-written modules and work from there. These don't tend to exist for more indie RPGs - there are no official pre-written campaign frames or heists for getting used to GMing Blades. Obviously some of these games are meant to be much more improvisational than D&D, but I still wouldn't mind a big book of ideas/situations a bit more specific than the provided lore in the Blades book. So yeah, advice around GM prep and writing would be greatly appreciated. It's definitely felt like a barrier trying to learn to GM in more obscure systems.

Paul Pickering

Oh, are you a fellow Black Void player?

Karam Al Hamo

I'd love to know more about this NPC generator!

Backpack Boom Bap (Tom)

Video title: "What to do if...?" (players can't agree on a way forward, or the players split the party etc.)

Backpack Boom Bap (Tom)

I've found that if you've got players who are vaguely aware of the rules and setting Mork Borg is quite good for quick prep time. The rules are simple, characters are quick to make and the assumption from players is that their life span is short.

Backpack Boom Bap (Tom)

Generating NPCs on the fly. I know this is a very broad question and it depends on the game, but I find this to be the most difficult of tasks when GM'ing. No matter how many generic and specific NPCs I make beforehand, I find myself short on NPCs during play. Games like Muasritter have so few stats that making an NPCs is easy, but Black Void for example has full stats for NPCs. I went as far as creating an NPC generator using excel and coding, and I was still overwhelmed and underprepared. DnD folks have it easy. There's a billion sources out there for creating random everything. I admit I use some of them but it isn't ideal when stats differ. Also, don't wanna feed the DnD machine 😭

Karam Al Hamo

What kind of house rules you use, and / or what kinds of lens you use to determine these for your groups

Chris Stagno

It might be fun to also have some quick videos of specific things that happened during a session, which would hit: 1. concrete ways, from the viewpoint from a seasoned GM, on how to handle novel situations or adjusting to where the players take you, 2. more specific example/discussion on a particular game/system, 3. fun story time about the situation/session.

Kristofer Maanum

I'd be really curious to see your adjustments to Lancer's progression system.

Trever Pearman

Your favorite tips to crafting good scenarios as a GM. e.g. Prep situations not plots, creating open ended problems without solutions that have knock on effects, everything needs an NPC, how to make a suitably interesting NPC, etc. But “Quinnsified”

P0rthos

Maybe a full spectrum/transition ideas from narrative board games (e.g. Sleeping Gods) to GM-less RPGs to RPGs with GMs

João Guilherme Madeira Araújo

general encouragement for "house rules" (dislike that term) I feel is aligned with the dragon you re trying to slay.

gm_naahz

We're using the AgonRoller app, its pretty good: https://agonroller.com/

Leigh Dodds

According to the Gauntlet, "paint the scene" and "the un-scene" should be part of every TTRPG. What are some mechanics you have included in every game since you learned about them? What are some games that you wistfully imagine would be great fun, but you know for a certainty you will never get them to the table? In your opinion, why is Powered-by-the-Apocalypse so popular? You mentioned in the Lancer that other RPGs are so much simpler and easy to learn. You've also mentioned how having more crunch can help some players get into a game. Have you ever had to add crunch to a game to make it palatable? Have you considered a hot-takes/reaction video to roleplaying discourse? Eg: https://retiredadventurer.blogspot.com/2021/04/six-cultures-of-play.html https://www.bastionland.com/2018/09/the-ici-doctrine-information-choice.html https://zedecksiew.tumblr.com/post/693356847419293696/dds-obsession-with-taxonomy

Andrew Crowe

How to invite your friends to a night or nights of playing a ttrpg. Alternatively, how to get buy-in and deliver on expectations. It feels like I have to compete with board games, card games, mmorpgs, you get what it says on the tin, where ttrpgs are very much open-ended and susceptible to disappoinment

chromelette

Not that you asked me, but you find people who can commit to a relatively regular cadence (whatever it is) and establish a quorum minimum for playing (lower than the number of players in the group) and then stick to it. One of my groups has 3 players - so if we have 2, we run. If I had a group of 5 I'd run with 3. Keeping the regular cadence matters, and if the same people can't make it time after time, it's time to recognize that maybe this particular game isn't working out for them.

Wyverary

Diceless games like Nobilis (2ed) or ones like Wanderhome, based on the Belonging outside belongings rules originally developed by Avery Alder of Monsterhearts and Quiet Year.

Wyverary

There's so many tips on how to be a better GM on the Internet, Id love if you have advice on how to be a better player

Iris

We actually took turns GM’ing a new island each week (while the GM’s character remained on the boat). It really helped keep everyone engaged and it felt made for one island per session. Of course, that may not work for every group! We also happened to play it online using Roll20, which can be janky but has some fun custom dice rolling built in.

Jason Price

Maybe an episode on fanzines and zines in general?

Irgendwaslanges

A Quinndix 🤣

Joe Boyle

A kind of Quinns Appendix N :P

Irgendwaslanges

I'll add to this... What RPGs close that gap between GM and Player? Games like Brindlewood Bay (and Carved in Brindlewood games in general) or Trophy (Gold or Dark) expect a lot from players: they should be pitching Devil's Bargains, putting down their greatest fears and more that contributes to the narrative.

Abrahm Simons

We've just started playing Agon once a month, just done first session. I think it's great! Any tips on running it?

Leigh Dodds

Just to make sure : This is a joke, please don't do this to yourself

Philip Kristoffersen

How to get started as a new GM. Most of the time the advice boils down to “just do it, you’re more capable than you know.” What I actually want are some concrete things that I should prepare as a new GM for session 1 of the game.

Andrew Nielsen

A top 100 TTRPGs of all time....

Philip Kristoffersen

"Help! Not all my players showed up but I still want to run something! What are some fun mini/zero prep games I can run?" How to write and deliver evocative pithy descriptions of NPCs/areas, etc. Improv games to warm up the table - and how to use them Also: just a deep-dive in the strange overlap between acting and GMing/playing an RPG - and how can players/GMs take some high level acting tips to step up their roleplay

Slick Rick

Best TTRPG to start for people coming from boardgames, and are not yet ready for a full non-structured/improvised experience. I know you spoke a bit about this in the latest video, but mostly as a criticism for overly complex games, so I would love to know if you have any actual recommendations.

Bernardo Aguiar

I'm very much into Clark's idea here. As a player, RPGs can be *gasp* boring compared to the rush of GMing. In GMing you are always on, your brain constantly whirring and clicking and spitting out outputs. As a player, it can be slooooowwwww. And I want every trick in the book to get my players as engaged as I am.

Slick Rick

Building off this answer Quinns: I'd love a video or treatisie on how to find the 'ending' - whether it be for a session or a game. How do you build toward it? How do you know it's time to cut? Maybe this could be wrapped up into a larger video on pacing a session and some games that build good pace into them.

Slick Rick

We needed back to back comments from Clarks. So I'll add to these wonderful suggestions... Generally, tips and tricks on holding players' attention. The rolling dice in a bowl tip was great. System and lots of things are factors here, but how to help keep everyone off their phones and engaged in the action, is what I'm curious to hear from you about.

Clark Olson-Smith

I was going to suggest something very similar to your first two! As an aside, my group had an incredible time with Agon and would love to see that covered some time. I think it’s quite underrated.

Jason Price

What about a video on the different play-styles/cultures out there and their value (or lack there of). I'm not sure if Shut Up and Sit Down tackled Eurogame vs Ameritrash but a Quinn's Quest on OSR, Traditional or Storygames, etc. and the value they might have at the table could be interesting. Another might be a look at mechanics in a broad sense - mechanics with a war-gaming root and how they affect play at the table vs mechanics that influence narrative and create a structure to that narrative and how they affect play at the table.

Abrahm Simons

Mini-reviews of games you've already played that you don't plan to do full reviews of. When to tell your players no.

Clark Nichols

I think it would be great to hear about your personal favourites in your collection also. I love browsing TTRPG books at shops or friends houses and love to hear why people love the systems they use!

Egg Noodles

I like this idea a lot, I know I have more games in my collection that will never hit the table but still love to read them for ideas! With a smaller RPG scene where I am learning what people are excited about in bigger gaming centers is amazing!

Egg Noodles

You briefly mentioned a former love of Shadowrun when you did you SU&SD video discussing Spire and it'd be interesting to hear your thoughts on it and other games you had been previously interested in. (It's for entirely selfish reasons as Shadowrun was the first game to give me the RPG bug.)

Backpack Boom Bap (Tom)

So many great ideas here! I really appreciated your riff on tactical games at the end of your latest public vid. I'd love to hear more about how you choose games for yourself and your table(s?), what games clearly aren't a fit, and why. Also really curious about your take on campaign development, especially this medium-length runs (9 sessions, 16) you've done for the games you're reviewing.

klaxon

What do you do when you run out of inspiration for a campaign and what do you do if the players take over your campaign (and not in the good way)? We'd been running a game which I'd planned out and one of the players took a completely different path which we'd all expected and it basically fell apart.

Backpack Boom Bap (Tom)

I would love to hear about your best rpg sessions that stick in your memory, maybe contrasted with sessions that didn't work and a conversation about why and what you learned.

Robert Haynes

Had a long running Vampire Dark Ages campaign fizzle out because as a GM I ran out of interest in running it and wanted to do something different because I was bored.

Backpack Boom Bap (Tom)

I find that a lot of that pressure can end up being put on the GM ('you read the book and tell us all about it'.)

Backpack Boom Bap (Tom)

Back in the day, my roleplaying group was a lot smaller than what it currently is and as fans of the White Wolf selection of games, I always wondered whether we missed out whenever we played without the number of 'roles' suggested in Werewolf or Kindred of the East.

Backpack Boom Bap (Tom)

Like how you weren't a fan of the actual sailing mechanic on Wildsea but that didn't stop you from playing the game. I think quite a few games get let down by one mechanic GMs or Players don't like and it'd be nice to know how you work around it.

Backpack Boom Bap (Tom)

Stuff you learned playing one game that you found useful to apply to another. Ranging from, like, lifting mechanics wholesale to simple tips and tricks

Gregory Morrison

Shining a light on modules and campaign books! Your blog post on big campaigns recently was great and I'd love to see review videos on those types of RPG products (Nyarlathotep, Impossible Landscapes, Eyes of the Stone Thief et al.). :)

Simon Lammgård

"Doing the teach" - How do you teach players the rules in a TTRPG? "TTRPG Doodads" - You probably need dice.. maybe friends.. but what else? "How to convince boardgamers to try TTRPGs" - Tips for introducing the hobby to new players, and making sure they have a great time.

Philip Kristoffersen

Tons of great suggestions here already and I'm interested to see where they lead. To toss another on the pile, there was a contrast in the Lancer video between the way lore was presented there and the way lore was presented in Wildsea and I think it would be helpful to have some elaboration on lore creation, delivery and, maybe I'll say distillation? That is, aside from making lore because the GM likes making lore, how do we make it in a way that facilitates/influences actual gameplay? How do we effectively convey lore to players so they can use it? Whether we've created the lore or not, how do we use it to make stories or plots or encounters or NPCs?

Daniel Fowler

One more: how to acquire lots of things to use as tokens that won't break the bank but will still look cool

John Willcox-Beney

The Dos and Don'ts of NPC Voices 24 Alternatives To Miniatures How to Write The Perfect Table (the rolling kind not the wood kind) Dice Through The Ages How To Craft The Perfect Silly Little Guy Scheduling For Dummies How To Spot A Good Kickstarter

John Willcox-Beney

Hey Quinns! Given that you often comment on parts of game systems that you aren't particularly keen on compared to the rest of the system, perhaps you could offer up a series of house rules and/or modifications to games. This could be very broad in scope or get as nitty gritty as you please. This would dovetail nicely into how to communicate rules modifications to your players and even how to cooperatively design house rules WITH them. AND THEN this topic could even lead into more grandiose segments on game design methods and philosophies. Topics like this are great since their applicability can be universal even if the examples you provide are from one system or another. | Maybe segments on how to evoke certain themes or emotions in different game types? Wonder, horror, mystery, existential befuddlement, list goes on.

Kyle Cook

A bit niche perhaps, but a thing I’ve been thinking a bit about is roleplaying and memory. There are some games and some moments that just linger in my mind, and some games are constantly referred to by me and my friends who participated in them. Some games turn into stories and legends so that other people get jealous for not having participated. Other games don’t. Sometimes that’s just because they’re not as memorable, but I suspect that what separates the games (and moments) that live on from those that don’t is something more than whether the experience itself was good. Obviously, the quality of the roleplaying etc. matters, but what we end up remembering is influenced by a host of factors. For example, I suspect that IRL games tend to be remembered more strongly than online games, simply because more senses are involved in anchoring the, especially smell and touch. The physicality of IRL games is probably a help in itself in the same way that physical books facilitate memory in a way that e-books don’t. Some of my strongest memories form games are those that involve music or sound, but only those where there was a specific piece of music that matched emotional tone of the scene. Physical props, and visuals are also great. A key feature of my number one remembered game was a map of the city the players had created drawn and updated by one of the players. Memory is also a key factor and reason for the pre and postgame rituals I routinely use: recapping and stars and wishes (the stars part). This is also a big reason why I always try to have a postmortem session after a finished campaign.

Ainar Miyata

Honestly I'd love to just see a video where you talk about some of your personal favorite RPGs. As someone who still only has about 5 or so RPG systems under their belts (mostly crunchy, combat heavy systems), it'd be super useful to know what systems clicked with you, what makes them good, and what they're good at doing.

Callie Kern

Quinns

I don't have much experience with this, but I could suggest a bonus episode on house rules! My group/gm usually play pretty vanilla, so I personally would be interested to see if you have any tips on making house rules for a game where the gm may be hesitant to stray from the rulebook or if you find that you have modifications you tend to make across different campaigns and ttrpgs. Great work on the show!!! ❤️

Clean Beans

I'd like to maybe hear more about group sizes and how that affects different games & how viable they are, and perhaps ways to handle larger groups or adapt material to them. We've ended up with a relatively large group of 6 people over the years, and with 5 players it's definitely a more difficult job for the GM. In addition, we've found that some games just don't really work that well - I ran a Blades in the Dark campaign for a while, and while it was great, it became clear that it was not really suited to 5 players. Corralling a partially player-authored experience seems much more suited to smaller player numbers, whereas more mechanically oriented works seem to scale more easily, because everyone can find something to do in that kind of framework. When trying to respect player authorship and freedom, beyond a certain number it just seems to start clashing more, and you either end up with a lot of long winded debate, or some players simply checking out and letting a subset of the group do most of that. Maybe it's a "too many cooks" kind of problem. I'm wondering if it's just going to be a general problem for other more modern free-form semi-player-authored games, and I'm sometimes struggling to tell whether opinions on games I see/read are applicable or not, because maybe they worked really well at a group of 4 but just wouldn't with 6. Might not be something you've encountered though - but just in case you have some thoughts on it, I'd love to hear them. Maybe we're just doing it wrong!

Steve Streeting

Quinns

This might be a tall order but games that explore and can embrace the fun and experience gained from failure, Disco Elysium style. Much like there is a recognised issue with and general disdain for hitpoints, I want to see experience points placed under the spotlight, chiefly due to the tired and almost absurd notion that experience is only awarded for success, never for failure. The very act of surviving and gaining actual experience from an encounter is forsaken and instead players are instiled with the desire to kill every monster in the room - anything less means less precious exps. The idea that games only reward success is something I feel is inherited from videogames with their fixed storytelling. Your party gets wiped from a boss? That's a gameover, chum. Yet in TTRPGs there is no 'game over' if you fail to beat the lich and your characters barely maneged to escape still with their lives. The story and game carry on, yet the players feel like failures - why is that? Challenging encounters see GMs with the stressful task of finely tuning the balance of an encounter for the sake of fairness - an errant slip on this tightrope resulting in party failure typically results in resentment and acrimony between players and GM. Failure exists and should have consequences within the story, not just be an easy pass for the players. However systems that don't allow games to focus on tragedy in storytelling are doing a disservice to GMs and players in precluding the storytelling that can come from bitter defeat, hardship and loss. Consequences for the characters - not the players, who aren't made to feel like their efforts and time have been squandered.

Alex Kay

I would like to see some suggestions on games that were made for people who have never played TTRPGs. Up to a few years ago, I could always suggest C7s Lone Wolf Adventure Game to people who wanted to get into the hobby, as it was designed from the ground up for people who had never played or GM'ed a game before. But since that's now out of print, I'm kind of at a loss as to what I could recommend these days.

Osmina Deveraux

That's very fair, yeah. Indie designers deserve the exposure so having that be a main channel thing would work much better. I'm reticent to call what I have in mind a "preview" because that has a sponsored context in the video game space, but something along the line of dissecting what's there without the depth or experience of running the game. More speculative in order to highlight interesting mechanics or settings.

Domen Kozelj

👍 At the moment I exclusively run games for two small children so I usually wing it entirely and/or straight up steal from books, TV or film they don't know yet. But as they get older I may need to be more prepared and creative...

Jon

Quinns

Quinns

Quinns

I can fully understand why this one might be too complex to do, but I'd love a post-campaign discussion of the games you've reviewed. Basically a little (maybe podcast?) discussion between you and some of your players about the campaign you just finished, what they liked about the system, and some of the crazy things that happened in the stories you told together As for video topics: - Techniques for helping shy/less performative players get into roleplaying - Visual aids and boards vs theatre of the mind - When to break the game's rules, and when not to - Safety tools - The GM as player - how to make sure you're having fun too!

Kai Lancaster

What methods have you found effective for keeping up with new/interesting games? Maybe more of a blog post, but I'd love to hear about newsletters you follow, people online that give good recs, etc.

Elias Mulhall

Seconding this one. 'The Teach' when it comes to RPGs is a serious challenge; convincing my playgroup we should try something that's going to involve everyone learning about a whole new system and setting as opposed to just running a fantasy game using some version of D&D is a tough sell.

Robert Hanton

Quinns

Quinns

Quinns

Oh yeah, these are great suggestions. Bleed and Post game-rituals (and pre-game rituals, such as recapping/previously on) I'd especially like to see covered.

Ainar Miyata

I think being the DM/GM is a very personal sort of role. So much so that a big part of it is pulling inspiration from other sources (not just the core rule/source book) into your game. Either to give the world a general sort of flavor maybe, or to help in coming up with plot hooks/ideas for the story. In a few of your videos already I've heard a few mentions of book series you've read or other pieces of media that have inspired your GMing. A video (or series) where you highlight one of these and talk about how it inspired whatever particular game you were running at the time would be cool. What's more 80's/90's than a book report! Do kids still do those these days?

Joe Boyle

I like all the suggestions here. Couple more from me: * running a one-shot vs a campaign * a look at some games that might work well for "episodic" play, e.g where each session is relatively self-contained (e.g. Brindlewood Bay or Agon) but build on each other. These lend themselves well to groups that play infrequently or not everyone can play in a given week? * tips for framing scenes for GMs. I've been borrowing from film/TV when describing scenes, but wonder if there's a broader set of techniques/tropes to use like cutaways, meanwhile..., etc.

Leigh Dodds

Process for onboarding players to a new system (especially something like Lancer) would be great. I also think it is worth discussing the intended medium of a game. Pathfinder 2e is possible to be played at a physical table, but really probably should be played online on foundry, it drastically affects the experience for everyone. That sort of thing.

birdmilk

I said in the comments to the earlier video, "Now I really wanna see Quinns photographed like General Jack D. Ripper from Dr. Strangelove, ranting about ludic fascists." I'd like to emend that suggestion slightly, in that I really wanna see that as a small sketch. I'd be interested to hear your take on player pre-creations, i.e. written backstories, secrets etc. Other than that, Ainar Miyata above offered some excellent suggestions.

redddfer44

Sure thing, Quinns Quest! Happy to electronically mail in a few ideas. The future is now. -I come from a lot of play of Good Society, which gives a heap of attention towards session 0 and 'collaboration' (I really recommend looking at that game based on your 2nd Fan Club Video, it does a lot with giving players the reigns). What practices do you enjoy before the 'game' part of the roleplaying game? -Similarly, what're your post-game session rituals? How do you tend to close out your play? Do you do things along the lines of 'Stars and Wishes'? -It seems like, judging from your review of SPIRE, things can get a touch intense with player character death and extreme stakes. Have you had encounters with 'bleed'? How do you navigate that? -I find that the first few sessions as a GM are the hardest, since the player characters don't have much of a rapport yet and the players themselves might not be fully settled yet. Any tips for trying to get that roleplay boulder to the top of the metaphorical hill the players are on? -It's important to keep in mind what the 'other side' of the table enjoys seeing from you. What things can players do to help a GM keep the session smooth and fun? What do you see GMs do that you appreciate from a player's perspective? I'm excited for the next adventure to tune in on. Keep it up! Beautifully, Kevin

Kevin

I would like to see something about the different styles of ttrpg people can run, like sandbox, narrative or mystery. How they differ and how to make them work. Also, and this might be a bit too academic, but you could talk about rpg play theory, like the forge theory, about differentiating rpg games into narrative, simulation and gaming. ✌❤

Ronja Raeuber

This might be a heavy one - but tips on dealing with 'troublesome' players might be a good topic. I know many people don't play with a static group and instead run campaigns off of LFGs, which could lead to a personality clash, spotlight hogging, or worse. If you wanted to keep the vid balanced, you could also talk about how to form a TTRPG group? On another note: tips for online play! My group was online-only for a while and it was harder to keep things on-track without the face-to-face magic.

ABAKES7

Thanks :)

Ainar Miyata

Your suggestions are fantastic!

redddfer44

- How you schedule games! 😅

Manuel Costa Reis

Some topics I would be interested in off the top off my head: • Videos on rp gamenight logistics, both online and IRL. • Online vs IRL rp in general. • How to deal with player drop-outs (cancelling sessions vs playing with fewer, etc.) • GM-burnout and player-burnout. • When playstyles clash • GM-player and player-player negotiations • Saying yes and saying no • The storygames – traditional rpgs spectrum • Quinn’s roleplaying evolution

Ainar Miyata

My favorite system for years has been the Fate Core RPG by Evil Hat games. I'd love to see you do a video about it.

Moldrath

How about looking at preparing versus improvising as a GM? Finding the sweet-spot where you have enough idea of what's going on to keep steering towards interesting things but not railroading players is a common challenge I think? What *kind* of prep is most useful or effective?

Jon

I'd guess a bunch of us here are people like me who followed you on SU&SD and had their interest piqued by your enthusiasm for RPGs there but have relatively little experience with them. So I'd love any videos on how to get started with limited experience, what types of games to focus on (and what to save for later) and general newbie tips.

Tim

Could be an opportunity to talk about games you've read but won't have the time to run sessions of? That way you can do a preview without all the time overhead required to write a whole review. Can still come back to them later in a full review if circumstances change.

Domen Kozelj

Maybe something on scheduling on how to do It as a dm or player and how and why its usually such a pain in the ass?

Lukoncio

You have a brand new game - can you take us through your process to learn to the point you're ready to put it on the table? How do you get from shrink wrap to rolling dice and marking character sheets?

Craig Shipman

Something on food and drink etiquette for RPG sessions could be interesting

PrincessAndromeda