Posts Tagged ‘master plan’

For someone who has supposedly retired from podcasting, I have been a bit prolific lately. But first, some congratulations:

Canon Puncture hit episode 100! Woo!

The guys over at CP are pretty awesome, and watching them grow into the show they’ve become over the years has been really neat. I wish them the best of luck in enacting their master plans!

I already announced this earlier, but since we just put up the second episode, I’ll announce again!

This Just In…From Gen Con! 2010 edition is up! Pre-show #2 has been released, and we’ve got more coming this Thursday through Sunday!

Chris Hanrahan and Brian Isikoff were foolish enough to have me crash the most recent episode of 2d6 Feet in a Random Direction. We talk about the Dresden Files mini-con at Endgame, the Go Play SF Bay kick-off, ICONs, and #ShitRyanMacklinSays[1].

But, that’s all old news…

Today, August 2nd, 2010, Master Plan has returned from podfading. I give you: Master Plan #54, wherein I’ve interviewed Ken Hite about Setting Creation and Day After Ragnarok. (Right now, I’m having some DNS issues, so you can find it at http://masterplan.libsyn.com/master_plan_54_kenneth_hite_setting_creation_day_after_ragnarok)

This is the first in a series I’m doing where I’m publishing interviews from 2009 that I’ve been sitting on for months. Those who follow me in other spaces know how busy I’ve been and know how long it takes me to produce an episode that I’m happy with, so it’s been something I’ve pushed off again and again. But it felt really good to kick this out, so expect it to continue for a little bit. Whether I keep doing it after I’m out of my old material or not is up in the air.

- Ryan

[1] Which, by the way, Karen has asked that other people take part in — since she can’t be at Gen Con to chronicle me putting my foot in my mouth.

Howdy!

A lot going on here in my world. I’ve been buried under a pile of work, day-job and elsewise. But I’m taking a quick breather to tell y’all about stuff:

Podcasts

I’ve been on a few podcasts recently. Of course, there’s the most recent episode of Master Plan, where Monica Valentinelli and I talk about horror game design. It was a great conversation, and I’m happy to have teamed up with FlamesRising.com on that ep. Those guys are pretty awesome.

(As yes, that’s proof that I’m not podfading yet. Master Plan is still around!)

I was interviewed by Wolfgang Baur on the Open Design Podcast episode 006. We talk a bit about how I got started as a podcaster, making my journey as a game designer more public than most. Of course, I come from indieland, where we’re all fairly public about it — I suppose the main difference is that I turned my journey into produced show rather than something more journal-esque. (Not because I look down on journal-type stuff — I read them all the time. But producing a show is fun for me.

While at RinCon, a few of us “hijacked” an episode of The Game’s The Thing. It was fun to sit down with Don Dehm & Derek Rex from Pulp Gamer, and of course as always with Paul Tevis. We talked about the con and just had a good time doing the episode.

Neoncon

Also, I’ll be at Neoncon in Vegas this week! I’ll be speaking at GamesU, with at least two panels on my docket:

Gaming Podcasting 101 (alongside Ed Healy), Sunday 11am

Interested in getting your voice out there in the world of podcasting, but don’t know where to start? This presentation is for you! You’ll learn the basics on a variety of topics, from microphone & recording space, to audio editing (on PC and Mac), to show theory and speaking to your target audience. In addition to planned topics, there will be plenty of time to answer your questions.

and

5 Major Design Mistakes and How to Avoid Them (alongside Leonard Balsera), Sunday, 2pm

In this seminar, you’ll learn about five foundational mistakes that people make in the process of designing a roleplaying game and how to keep them out of a game during development. Whether you’re working on a project right now or are just interested in learning more about the design process, this overview will provide you with some concrete techniques and tactics to focus both the concept and execution of your design.

I’ll be attending some of the other panels, and otherwise be popping around having a good time. If you see me, feel free to say hi!

Dresden Files RPG

Oh, and we have a little announcement about the upcoming Dresden Files RPG on the official site. Enjoy!

Anyway, that’s it for now. There’s more on the horizon…but there always is. Hope to see some of you at Neoncon!

- Ryan

So, in Dragon 379, the 4/e team talks about Skill Powers — utility powers you may take if you’re trained in a particular skill, rather than just being wholly class-based. I think the idea is amazing, and I’m all for it, but I didn’t realize what it opened up until recently.

I was talking with a friend of mine, about how I’m playing in a D&D game now with my formerly-enslaved Eladrin Rogue, totally patterning after Conan. He said “hope you have fun with that in your little skirmish game.” I swore at him, and said…well, you should just take a look at the power I came up with:

The issue is now closed. You’re welcome, Internet.

Onto something more serious, freelancing life has kept me from being about to produce another Master Plan recently, but if you are interested in hearing a lot more about the reincorporation topic from Master Plan 52 (as well as a bunch of other thoughts), you can hear me on Clyde Rhoer’s Theory From the Closet 56. Two hours and twenty minutes of unedited chatter, baby!

- Ryan

Master Plan #43: Interview with Crafty Games, Part 2

Right before heading off on a bi-coastal convention adventure, Ryan serves up the second half of the interview with Crafty Games. In this half, they talk about collaborating as a team and their main hurdles in revisiting their system & making Fantasy Craft & Mastercraft — along with, naturally, their own personal master plans. Afterward, Ryan tells you that he’ll be at OrcCon and Dreamation this month, and gives a shameless plea to donate to the show.

Crafty Games:

• Fantasy Craft
• Spycraft 2.0

Running time: 21:29 / File size: 14.8M

Master Plan #42: Interview with Crafty Games, Part 1

Ryan starts 2009 off with the first of a two-part interview with Alex Flagg, Scott Gearin & Patrick Kapera from Crafty Games. They talk about their upcoming product, Fantasy Craft, and how they retooled their award-nominated Spycraft system both for streamlining the rules (for their new Mastercraft base system) and for working with a different genre. After the first part concludes, Ryan talks about a game & a content that has hit his radar, and figures it’s worth other people knowing about.

Crafty Games:

• Fantasy Craft
• Spycraft 2.0

Other mentions:

• Sexy Deadly
• Game Design Company Game Design Challenge (Story-Games.com)

Running time: 25:19 / File size: 17.4M