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Tim Huckelbery and Sam Stewart, two RPG design big-wig's at Fantasy Flight Games behind both the 40k RPG's and Star Wars RPG's, join Craig and Russ in the third chair.

Up first: What's it like designing RPG's and how do you keep the different games feeling unique? And later the team dives into specific RPG mechanics in Mulling Mechics. Which do we like best for what?

All that and our other not-too-horrible segments including:
- Total Fan Girl
- Do You Ever Notice
- News
- Listener Resolutions
- & More

Link to episode:
http://www.thed6generation.com//d6g-ep-122-rpg-dev-life-mulling-rpg-mechanics

Please let us know what you thought of the show.

Great episode ! Love hearing from the developers . You guys have to do a Star Wars: edge of the empire primer .

I'm trying, Matt! But SOMEBODY'S all wrapped up in IKRPG lately!

I just downloaded the episode, so I haven't given it a listen yet.

But, now that the Kickstarter is over, I hope you guys can line up a big Wild West Exodus episode. It'd be awesome to have Craig, Romeo, Alessio (I know that could be trickier, but you've done it before), et al on discussing the new game, and universe.

 MattRendar wrote:
Great episode ! Love hearing from the developers . You guys have to do a Star Wars: edge of the empire primer .

I've no doubt this will be an "RPG Heavy" content year for the show. So many good ones.


WWX: I'm sure we'll be all over it once it comes out. I can't wait to talk about games once we've got the final rules and figs.

Awesome ! Can't wait to hear about them both . I have a question about the Star Wars rpg . Is fantasy flight going to a book about playing imperial characters ? I know , boo hiss boo ! but they did the bad guy thing in black crusade . Come on you know it be fun hunting down terriost rebel scum as a sand trooper !

Hey D6Gers, just wanted to say what a great episode this is. I've always been a fan of your Mulling Mechanics and to have not one, but two guests for the Third Chair was a real treat.

Also, I wanted to chime in about battle mats and miniatures in role playing games. I come down on the opposite of the debate from most of the people on your podcast. I play some minis games, but not nearly as much as anyone on the show, and I'm primarily a board game player. I don't particularly like have a battle mat with miniatures. I much prefer a more abstract combat mechanic in my role playing games.

For me, it really comes down to what I want to do in my rpg. Having a more realistic battle mechanic involving a mat and figures requires completely different skills and decision making processes than playing a more abstract role playing game. When my friends and I sit down to roleplay, that's what we primarily want to do. If we wanted to play a miniature tactics game, we'd play Descent, Warhammer/40K, Warmachine/Hordes, or even Infinity.

Personally, when I'm playing a roleplaying game, I want to concentrate on the game, and not on the nitty gritty details of combat, flanking, whether I'm 5 hexes away from the troll or 6. Also, the more complex the combat mechanic, the longer each combat encounter takes. While this may be fine for some groups, in ours, while we like combat and fighting, we don't want it to be the focus of the entire game, so a more abstract combat mechanic suits us better.

Just wanted to put in the other side of the debate.

Keep up the great work!

I was a little disappointed that Sam and Tim didn't really give me the impression of being tremendously up to speed on RPG mechanics, even within FFG's own product line. I know Tim of old, and know that he's a really smart, well-informed guy who knows games inside and out, so I can only assume that he was starstruck by being on the D6G.

Not that I didn't enjoy the discussion, which was only ever going to be able to scratch the surface of a huge topic, and it did range across a nice selection of games, but it did seem that most of the talking was by Russ and Craig.

Speaking of Craig - I wanted to reassure him that his experience of Infinity is very common. People who first encounter the "Rambo", as it's known (investing loads of orders into a single miniature that goes on an unstoppable killing spree), often assume that it must mean that the game is broken. Once you've recognized that it is possible, though, you can start to anticipate the possibility of it occurring, which delivers a much more structured, tactical deployment. It's a bit like the first encounter with an AD3 mini that drops behind your lines or pops out from your deployment edge and massacres your back-field. As soon as you know it's possible you quickly learn to watch your backs, to use cover in all directions and to pay careful attention to your ZC.

Infinity is a game that repays increased familiarity with the rules exponentially and the more you get to grips with the game and the more you learn that the battlefield is a dynamic and surprising place (and not just "my side attacks your side", like many other games) you find it becomes an intensely exciting and fun game. I know I'm not alone amongst serving and former military personnel who think it is the most realistic representation of urban CQB out there (werewolves, killer robots and ninjas notwithstanding).

"Don't quit" is the TL;DR message. The more you play, the more you will enjoy it.

R.

Thanks for the kind words, guys!

As for the future of the Star Wars RPG . . . I'm very new to that particular team, and so not much of the scuttlebutt has made its way to me yet. I haven't heard anything about an "Empire" specific supplement or book, however.

Thanks for the other side of the coin, Jabrams! We've gotten a lot of mail, as well, from folks who are in your camp. It's something I'd really like to try sometime, but apparently just not how the locals roll

And thanks, also, R. When the adrenaline cooled, I watched the table and realized how smarter placement and facing would have stopped the Rambo-Ninja, and everything you say here makes total sense. That's a lot to think about, however . . .

Thanks again, guys!

~Craig

For those of you who heard this episode and the shout outs for Alchmist Academy at the start of Total Fan Girl and Did ya ever Notice here is a direct link the the kickstarter project, so please support and spread the word.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/munji/alchemist-academy