The Misdirected Mark Podcast

This episode discusses ideas about how you can use the dungeon to help you tell stories reminiscent of the ones you see in movies and novels.

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One part cosmic horror, one part steam punk, and a sprinkle of SciFi. What does that get you? Listen to this installment of MMP and find out as we talk all about Genre Blending.

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Not every team of adventurers operate alone. Sometimes the heroes need a reliable group to call on again and again to help them in their missions. These recurring characters assist the party by prov…

For years we’ve been pondering this idea. The kinds of adventures that exist and their hidden pieces. The elements, the design structures, the interludes, obstacles, and moments of certain types of …

Why do we GM? There has to be a reason we put in that extra work, especially when our outside lives conspire to make things more difficult. That’s today’s topic. Why we GM and how to make sure the g…

Many RPGs pit the heroes against an adversary they can defeat by brute force or direct confrontation. However, fiction is full of enemies that are above the law or behind too many layers of protecti…

There’s an excellent action flick on Netflix called RRR. We all watched it and wanted to tell you why we liked it so much. This is normally after show content but we’re on vacation this week so we f…

Did you know we have far more neurons dedicated to visual processing than audio processing? It got us thinking. How do we use visuals to help us at the game table? What kind of visuals do we use at …

The What’s Going On document contains the NPCs, background, motivations, and events that would occur in the session, if the characters did not intervene. In this episode we talk about this document,…

Lore is the backstory to your setting. You could have zero lore or a novel worth of the stuff, but no player will care unless it comes into play within the game. But the question is how do we get pl…

Evil Organizations are a staple of action adventure stories. They’re expansive, multi-headed groups that heroes fight against again and again. The villains are many, the schemes are devious, their r…

Regardless of the game, players and GMs have a tendency to get hung up on randomizers. The D20, the dice pool, the card flip. You know. The randomizer. They’re important but they’re just one part of…

Phil, Bob, and Jerry discuss making the most of using the narrative device of flashbacks in your games. Enjoy the show, and tell us your thoughts on flashbacks at the Misdirected Mark Forums.

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Phil, Bob, and Jerry return to the Adversary Files to discuss another type of adversary for your games, the Faction. Enjoy the show, and tell us your thoughts on factions at the Misdirected Mark For…

Phil, Bob, and Jerry discuss giving and receiving feedback, why it’s important in your game, how to give it, and how to receive it. Enjoy the show, and tell us your thoughts on feedback at the Misdi…

Phil, Bob, and Jerry discuss the bad (and the good!) about “railroading” and linear plot design. Enjoy the show, and tell us your thoughts on railroading at the Misdirected Mark Forums.

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Phil, Bob, and Jerry welcome game designer and head of Gauntlet Publishing Jason Cordova to discuss tips and techniques for running mysteries in games and in particular to examine the design of Jaso…

[Content note for this episode: after the intro, Phil brings out his famous soapbox and rants about politics in the Lobby, so if you’re not into it, you can bypass the Lobby and skip to 5:18.]

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Phil, Bob, and Jerry discuss ways to create a table culture for your gaming group. Enjoy the show, and tell us your thoughts on table culture at the Misdirected Mark Forums.

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Phil, Bob, and Jerry discuss handling rewards in the game for both players and characters. Enjoy the show, and tell us about your favorite game rewards at the Misdirected Mark Forums.

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