“Makeover”
In this episode, Chassie and Robin have an ’80s-style montage. Chloe tries riding in cars with boys. Gabe tries his hardest to get himself arrested and/or killed.
No extra disclaimer – this is a relatively tame episode.
Author Archives: Dana
IPMM 37 – Bonus Episode: Philosophy!
“Pussifism”
This episode is entirely game-unrelated; hence “bonus”. Don’t worry – Monsterhearts 8 will be up soon!
We talk about lots of different philosophy topics, starting with Solipsism and ranging through Constructivism and Empiricism to Computer Intelligence and Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics.
We also talk about “that’s what she said” jokes and forum avatars.
Finally, Dave coins a new phrase.
Filed under Discussion, Podcast
IPMM 36: Good and Evil
In this episode, we talk about moral choices in both video and tabletop games:
- How are moral choices presented?
- How does the world react to those choices?
- How are the choices ultimately rewarded?
- What makes playing a good or evil character rewarding?
- What makes for an interesting evil character?
- How should a GM treat an interesting evil character?
Filed under Discussion, Podcast
IPMM 35: Monsterhearts Episode 7
“Aftermath”
In this episode, we learn that nobody has much interest in keeping secrets. We meet Chassie’s new pack. Chloe, Brain, and Robin return to school after the… incident, and nobody really wants to deal with the army of police and grief counselors that have descended. Finally, Gabe and Marcel meet in person for the first time.
Standard Disclaimer/Trigger Warning: take of (alleged) rape, teen sex, fighting and physical abuse. Listen at your own risk.
Filed under Actual Play, Podcast
IPMM 34: Comic Sans
“Leave Justin Bieber alone!”
In this rather rambling banter episode, we cover a bunch of ground, including where the infamous Comic Sans font came from, the “new sincerity”, and how we feel about exploits in console games.
If you’d prefer to skip everything else, actual RPG discussion only happens near the end, starting at about 32 minutes. We cover player agency, mostly in the context of our Monsterhearts game. What happens when the MC takes control of a PC, even temporarily? How can you make it interesting and not unfun for the player?
Topics worthy of linking:
Filed under Discussion, Podcast
IPMM 33: Monsterhearts Episode 6
“Erotic Subtext”
Before the recording we watched a rather disturbing music video. It is not available on YouTube and I refuse to link it here, but needless to say there are teens and extreme body horror. If you’ve seen it, you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about. If you haven’t, good for you.
In this episode:
- Chassie, Robin, Gabe, and Mara return to the haunted house. It goes poorly.
- Then, Gabe and Mara have a quiet moment alone. It goes poorly.
- Then Chloe shows up. It goes… well? Whatever — YOLO!
Disclaimer: Standard content and trigger warnings apply. This is Monsterhearts, after all.
Filed under Actual Play, Podcast
IPMM 31: Monsterhearts Episode 5
“Saturday”
In this episode of Monsterhearts, Chassie and Gabe go huntin’ and things get a little heated. Gabe learns something about Chassie’s family’s past. Chloe starts doing real damage, and the rest of the gang decide they’re going to check out that haunted house again.
Disclaimer/Trigger Warning: there is a really, really uncomfortable scene involving physical assault and a false allegation of rape near the end of the episode. If this is not your cup of tea, you can stop listening around 1:06 in the audio, when Mara drops Chloe off at Brian’s house. You won’t be missing all that much.
Filed under Actual Play, Podcast
IPMM 30: The Eternal Dr. Wurmple
“In which we discuss some things that were relevant about a month ago, and some things that were relevant years ago.”
In this remarkably focused discussion, we talk about our formative years playing video games, and specifically, about the games which captured us for marathon play sessions.
This is bracketed by a couple of rants by Dave (one of which he gets to put his game dev hat back on for) and the story of possibly one of the longest-lived Pokemon of all time.
Topics covered:
- Rob Portman
- SimCity
- Catsplosion
- Civilization IV
- The Harvard University Band
- Reinforcement Schedules (variable ratio vs. variable interval)
- Star Wars: The Old Republic
- Blitzball
- Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
- Bioshock
- Master of Orion
- Myst
- The 7th Guest
- Star Control II
- Starship Titanic
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (playable browser version!)
- Wurmple
- Monster Rancher
IPMM-30-The-Eternal-Dr-Wurmple
Filed under Discussion, Podcast
IPMM 29: Monsterhearts Episode 4
“The Big Game”
In this episode, the characters deal with the aftermath of the slaughter at the haunted house and of Chloe’s party. Rumors fly and tensions heat up before the opening football game of the season.
Filed under Actual Play, Podcast