A podcast about board games, role playing games and gaming conventions! We bring on game designers, creators, players and game masters to talk about their passion.
Episodes
Wednesday Oct 28, 2020
Wednesday Oct 28, 2020
Dave and Rich along with the rest of the HSG community had a lot of fun at the first-ever Gen Con online. We go through some of the obvious differences with Gen Con being fully virtual and talk about some of the surprising aspects. Well, surprising to us. For instance, most of the players in our games were 1st time Gen Con attendees, they expected to be in contact with the GMs weeks in advance and seemed to want to keep playing games with us after the convention. Which... is so bazaar when you think about how normal conventions go. Virtual conventions seem to be an excellent place to find new people for your discord as HSG and several of our community members ran games in HSG's discord and pulled players to their own discords.
Listen on:
iTunes Google Spotify Stitcher
Other places you can connect with the HSG Squad:
Facebook @High Shelf Gaming Podcast
Twitter @highshelfgaming
Twitch /highshelfgaming
Discord Chat https://discord.gg/tMPCXgN
Monday Sep 14, 2020
Monday Sep 14, 2020
Rich and David are joined by Kratrina to talk all about player character death in tabletop RPGs. It can be fun, it can be devastating, and there are a few tips we've learned along the way to navigate those deep waters.
Kratrina has been on the show in the past covering several topics and she plays in many of our streamed Actual Plays
Listen on:
iTunes Google Spotify Stitcher
Other places you can connect with the HSG Squad:
Facebook @High Shelf Gaming Podcast
Twitter @highshelfgaming
Twitch /highshelfgaming
Discord Chat https://discord.gg/tMPCXgN
Wednesday Apr 01, 2020
Wednesday Apr 01, 2020
High Shelf Gaming has always been a remote gaming community. We have sprinkled information over the years about the tools we use for board games and roleplaying games but this episode puts it all into one place for your convenience during Covid-19 or novel coronavirus. This is unpresidented time. If you are sheltering in place or practicing social distancing - Thank you! you are a part of a global movement to help everyone in your community. Never has all of humanity done something like this on such a scale. Bravo.
Organization tools:
Discord
Calandy
Whenisgood.net
Video Chat
Discord
Facebook Messenger
Whatsapp
Google Hangouts
WebEx (free for up to 100 participants)
Zoom
Boardgames over the web
Tabletopia
Tabletop Simulator
Roleplaying game Virtual Tables
Tabletop Simulator
Astral
Roll20
Fantasy Grounds
D&D Beyond
DriveThurRPG
Extras
Play by Post guide
BASILISK STATION - A Traveller Blog (Example Play by Post game)
Cyberpunk 2020/Red fans (Discord Server)
DMs Guild.com for solo adventures
Tunnels and Trolls
Legend Keeper
Listen on:
iTunes Google Spotify Stitcher
Other places you can connect with the HSG Squad:
Facebook @High Shelf Gaming Podcast
Twitter @highshelfgaming
Twitch /highshelfgaming
Discord Chat https://discord.gg/tMPCXgN
Tuesday Mar 17, 2020
Tuesday Mar 17, 2020
High Shelf Gaming brings on Zac and David to talk about their new Kickstarter 'Knights of the Shadow Realm' which is a gigantic D&D module bringing characters from 1st to 20th level with a big story all along the way. David ran this game for his friend group and is turning the adventure into this module for you and your friends to play. It comes with the main quest and a living world of interwoven plot-hooks that change as the world progresses around the player characters.
We also take a moment to talk about Zac's D&D supplement which includes a TON of material for oceanic games, monsters, subraces, and lore all available for the GM wanting to take on the high seas.
Listen on:
iTunes Google Spotify Stitcher
Other places you can connect with the HSG Squad:
Facebook @High Shelf Gaming Podcast
Twitter @highshelfgaming
Twitch /highshelfgaming
Discord Chat https://discord.gg/tMPCXgN
Friday Feb 28, 2020
Friday Feb 28, 2020
Scott has been a fixture in the high shelf gaming community for over a year now, and he runs the RPG Zone at Pax South! This year we had the opportunity to partner with him to get some signage up, boost the RPG turnout at Pax South and provide a ton of giveaways from R. Talsorian Games, and Hot Springs Island! RPGs at Pax South grew a ton this year and are poised to go even bigger in 2021. We are so excited to be invited on this ride and hear some great insights on how PAX South differs from other PAX conventions.
Also, there was a San Antonio Spurs (basketball) game going on...
Listen on:
iTunes Google Spotify Stitcher
Other places you can connect with the HSG Squad:
Facebook @High Shelf Gaming Podcast
Twitter @highshelfgaming
Twitch /highshelfgaming
Discord Chat https://discord.gg/tMPCXgN
![HSG101: Gen Con Survival Guide: Food and Drink [Refreshed]](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog2211935/Gen_Con_Survival_-_Food_Drink_Podbean_300x300.jpg){kind=logo}
Monday Dec 30, 2019
Monday Dec 30, 2019
HSG returns to Gen Con Food and Drink in and around the convention center. We add more tips and advice from our first attempt in 2017, and make sure to talk about places that are still open! 2017's guide was great but it mentions a few places that have since closed down. Rich and David walk you through the most likely places to find food, and some tips on what you can do to get better food options with a tiny bit of effort. One point we don't say enough in the episode is stay hydrated. Gen Con's wonderful air conditioning and all the walking is going to dry you out. We recommend getting a little flat-pack water bladder just to keep your head cleared while you play in the world's best games and tournaments.
As always we love feedback and more food suggestions. be sure to leave comments on Facebook or twitter, wherever the discussion is.
Lastly - we are running a giveaway! contest winners will get a bundle of goods!
We will be accepting submissions from December 23rd, 2019 through January 10th, 2020.
Contest details: To enter simply go to Facebook or Twitter and tell your friends and followers about your favorite HSG episode! Maybe tell them a bit about why you like that episode. Tag us so we see it. 1 entry per human. After January 10th we will gather all the submissions and roll a die to figure out who our two winners will be!
#1 - You will get a copy of the Cyberpunk Red Jump Start Kit! (US winners get a physical copy, international sorry but we hope the .PDFs will suffice) + Beta access to Legend Keeper a tool that helps you track your imaginary world, RPG campaign, or write your next fantasy or sci-fi novel. It effectively combines Google Maps with Wikipedia just for your projects. + something special from Rich (details in the episode).
#2 - You will also get beta access to Legend Keeper + something special from Rich (details in the episode)
Huge thank you goes to R. Talsorian Games for their continuous boosting of our show on social media and sponsoring this episode. We are all pumped for what 2020 will mean for RTG.
Also, we want to thank Legend Keeper for kicking off an ongoing sponsorship of HSG staring now with 2 give away licenses! We'll be giving away more of these in the future, we're so excited for this relationship and the success of LK.
Listen on:
iTunes Google Spotify Stitcher
Other places you can connect with the HSG Squad:
Facebook @High Shelf Gaming Podcast
Twitter @highshelfgaming
Twitch /highshelfgaming
Discord Chat https://discord.gg/tMPCXgN
Wednesday Nov 27, 2019
Wednesday Nov 27, 2019
It's that time of year again, when we think of others and imagine the best gift for them to receive during the holidays. Rich and David go all over books, games, and gaming accessories for those in your life you'd like to bring some gamer joy to. Got a friend with a new kid? got just the thing! another friend that seems to have everything they need for their RPGs? bet they don't have what we suggest in here. This was fun to record and timely to release.
Game Rundown:
Exploding Kittens
Ticket To ride
Evolution
Unlock - escape room in a box
Pandemic
Power Grid
Trains
Roll for the Galaxy
King of Tokyo
Settlers of Catan
Pirates Cove (Catan)
X-Com Board Game
Rising Sun
Agricola
Scythe
Pandemic Legacy
Gloomhaven
Listen on:
iTunes GooglePlay Spotify Stitcher
Other places you can connect with the HSG Squad:
Facebook @High Shelf Gaming Podcast
Twitter @highshelfgaming
Twitch /highshelfgaming
Discord Chat https://discord.gg/tMPCXgN
Wednesday Nov 20, 2019
Wednesday Nov 20, 2019
Our series on RPG storytelling concepts and tools continues with us diving into the murky topics of theme and structure. These tend to be tools for authors and filmmakers, but tabletop role-playing games have them too! They tend to be emergent only becoming clear after a few sessions, and not so much prescribed like they are in traditional media. Being aware of your theme can be very powerful for players and dungeon masters alike, staying true to the theme keeps a game alive, knowing how to build on or play with the theme can amplify a good game into greatness.
Story structure reminds us that all storytelling follows a structure but then we provide methods that each of us uses to create games. Rich talks about creating modules, Rob talks about creating short campaigns through a chapter approach and David talks about creating an epic campaign arch, which also contributes to world-building.
This episode was fantastic to record.
Listen on:
iTunes GooglePlay Spotify Stitcher
Other places you can connect with the HSG Squad:
Facebook @High Shelf Gaming Podcast
Twitter @highshelfgaming
Twitch /highshelfgaming
Discord Chat https://discord.gg/tMPCXgN
Thursday Oct 10, 2019
Thursday Oct 10, 2019
David and Rich are joined by Braden, creator of LegendKeeper, a world-building and campaign tracking tool. It's a unique approach to blending maps, points of interest and auto-linking wiki articles is an excellent way to build out a world for an RPG or novel. It really sings when you use it to quickly recall any information during a game. We use it here to track HSG hosted games and, even though it is in beta, the feature set is growing rapidly and is already quite useful.
You can find Legendkeeper in these places:
-
Patreon - go here to get your account, costs $5 one time.
-
Twitter @legendkeeperapp
Listen now on:
iTunes GooglePlay Spotify Stitcher
Other places you can connect with the HSG Squad:
Facebook @High Shelf Gaming Podcast
Twitter @highshelfgaming
Twitch /highshelfgaming
Discord Chat https://discord.gg/tMPCXgN
Monday Sep 30, 2019
Monday Sep 30, 2019
Rob from The Table is Yours podcast returns in our continuing series on RPG storytelling. This week we tackle the dreaded MetaGaming! Scourge of all RPGs? Well... it's not so simple. Many GMs and gamers hate when a player character acts on information and knowledge their character couldn't possibly possess. But, we permit many other forms of MetaGaming and MetaKnowledge, such as rewarding good roleplay at the table!
We dissect this topic from multiple angles and include tools and frameworks to use MetaKnowledge and MetaGaming in ways that aid the game. Hint: character success is often not the right way to use MetaKnowledge!
We'd love your feedback on this episode be sure to join the discussion with one of the many links below.
Listen now on:
iTunes GooglePlay Spotify Stitcher
Other places you can connect with the HSG Squad:
Facebook @High Shelf Gaming Podcast
Twitter @highshelfgaming
Twitch /highshelfgaming
Discord Chat https://discord.gg/tMPCXgN