filmreroll

Aladdin Part 2

Added 2019-05-08 09:00:10 +0000 UTC

Back with Aladdin part 2. I think this was the weekend we crammed in three different episode recordings over three day period and this was the last day, and you can tell we're a little loopy.

Jon, as always, does a fabulous job in the DM chair. It's so interesting for me, now having done this show for multiple years, watching someone else DM. Jon was the DM of the first RPG I ever played and is really the only DM I've played a significant amount of time with. But most of the time I played with him was before Film Reroll, so I didn't have perspective.

Jon's style is very different from mine, but there's a lot that we have in common. First of all, a really good memory: Extensive notes become useless at the speed you have to play for radio. Second of all, a profound interest in world-building. I think one of the traps a DM can fall in to (at least the way we do it) is trying to write a story, it's so tempting to try to pre-build scenarios but if you're actually letting your players guide the story, and letting their impulses drive it, your pre-made ideas will only get in the way. Jon and I both love imagining the world (you still have to write stories, but they're all back-stories.) Jon and I both are insane nitpickers on story details, we're the people you don't want breaking down a movie you like, because we'll ruin it with obsessive over-analysis, but that's the same machinery that allows us to track the positions and motivations of two-dozen NPC's. Basically, we're both a very specific kind of nerd that has the right configuration of obsessiveness that allows us to run this show, and actually enjoy the experience every time.

As always, a big thanks to Jon, who let me sit in one of the more relaxing chairs this time. I don't think I do anything that exhausts me more than DM'ing Film Reroll episodes.