Panda's Talking Games

Show us how you make a good player goal! Phil and Senda talk what and why, and how a strong “why” can make even a generic or potentially boring “what” really interesting. It’s also back to one shots…

Show us how major life changes might change your gaming! Phil and Senda speak from experience on many of these. Have you experienced changes in your gaming due to changes in your life?

Check out …

Show us how you make space in your game for different kinds of “fun” when different things give energy to different folks at your table! Senda and Phil talk about “fun,” defining it for yourself, an…

Show us how you add a romantic sideplot, without sidelining your main plot! Phil and Senda talk involved players, uninvolved players, and GMs as well as spotlight sharing and setting up the proximit…

Show us how you can get a board game friend to try TTRPGs — and maybe when it’s not a good idea! Phil and Senda talk about some of the signs that your friend’s fun comes from parts of board games th…

Show us how you share your world building! One very traditional approach to facilitating games is for the GM to be in charge of all the world building, so Phil and Senda are here to talk about the s…

Show us how you embody an NPC at the table when advance prep is your stronger skill, or show us how you prep for a character when improv is where you excel! Phil and Senda talk small actions, mindse…

Show us how you mechanically handle downtime! Phil and Senda talk through Phil’s homebrew approach to downtime mechanics in Mutants in the Now, and how to create or apply something to any game you’r…

MicroRPGs, how we personally start doing game design, and contract work vs. hobby time, oh my! Phil and Senda sit down to answer a series of questions on game design and playtesting when you have li…

Show us how you tell stories in your session — structure that story! It was our 7 year podaversary and we completely forgot, so we’re taking this one to do a topic that Phil had been thinking about …

Show us how you…do a bunch of littler topics! It’s been a little while since we’ve done a topic round up! On today’s episode we talk about:

• The value of discussing game theory with people you a…

Show us how you use daydreaming as GM prep! Phil and Senda talk daydreaming, both intentional/focused and not, as well as where we do it best and when and how you might want to write it down.

Mi…

Show us how you get the old group back together! Phil went on a trip and did some game prep for a very unique and specific circumstance, and we’re going to talk about it.

Welcome to the Polygame…

Show us how you run or play a game when you’ve only dabbled in a particular IP! Phil and Senda talk being the GM or being a player when you’re not the expert in something like Star Wars, Marvel, or …

Hey friends! We ran into a crunch and needed to turn out a lower stakes episode this week, so here we present to you (drum roll please!) a chit chat! If this is your first time listening, you may wi…

Show us how much of a game you can replace before you may as well write your own! Senda and Phil chat about the Ship of Theseus syndrome of games (if you replace all the parts, is it still the same …

Show us how you get emotional investment in one shots and the beginnings of campaigns! Phil and Senda talk player and GM responsibilities and faking it til you make it, along with some other ideas t…

Show us how you handle conditions and agency! Character agency vs. player agency — is there a difference? Phil and Senda talk agency and conditions, and when conditions have the potential to infring…

Who’s an NPC? How can we categorize them? Let’s talk non-player characters (and the sometimes spectrum)!

Bamboo Lounge for Patreon backers today! Find these and more at http://patreon.com/mmp.

Show us how you run a game when you are less than enthusiastic about it…maybe? Phil and Senda talk running games as a gift or favor for folks (when you are not a professional GM), how to get onboard…