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The Aries Podcast Pilot · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

• 0:00
  You think of a real or a social media post like a seed out there
• 0:06
  all by itself, doing its job, linked to SEO, hashtags and
• 0:11
  keywords in your post, and depending on what kind of
• 0:16
  audience you have, seeing the growth, seeing each individual
• 0:22
  post act like a way to get a client, get the word out about
• 0:31
  you. So if you're a small business
• 0:34
  out there, that's what I do and I love doing it and I'm good at
• 0:41
  it. You want to think of those
• 0:45
  personalities under your roof, the funny guy in the kitchen
• 0:48
  nobody sees in your restaurant? Film him.
• 0:52
  Show the people who's cooking their food.
• 0:55
  He'll get more people. That's the tip for today.
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  Go hiking. Military broadcast radio The
• 1:12
  station that's giving veterans a voice.
• 1:15
  Find us. On the web at NB Radio.
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  Opinions expressed in this program are those of the
• 1:22
  speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions
• 1:27
  of any entities they represent. Hello and welcome to the Aries
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  Brood podcast. My name is Lucas and I will be
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  your host this afternoon. So I'm really excited about
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  this. So Joel Hunt has really been
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  been really gracious about giving so many veterans a voice
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  here at Military Broadcast Radio.
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  And yeah, and that is that is why I am.
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  Here you are here, and this is going to be the first board game
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  ever in NBR history. It's exciting.
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  I mean, that's so cool. Look, hey, look, look at this
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  guys. Look, look at this.
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  OK, Check this out. OK, so when he displays cards,
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  he's going to show a table. Now how come on?
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  Look out HGTV, you know it's cool shit.
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  This is a great idea man. Well, thank you.
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  Thank you. And yeah.
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  And so I will be joined shortly by Bill Woods and and together
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  we're going to be getting into just some, some role-playing
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  games that that we feel like just aren't quite getting enough
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  love and role-playing games. And well, and just like the
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  board came, industry in general just has a lot of veterans, you
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  know, like veterans are everywhere.
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  And so I'm just, it's I've been blown away by going to Gen.
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  Con and seeing so many veterans. They're going to Genghis Khan,
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  which is the the largest board game convention here in
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  Colorado. And so much of the staff being
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  veterans as well. Also Tacticon, same deal.
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  Veterans everywhere, you know, and, and just seeing how
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  involved they are in the industry and yeah, and just
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  being, you know, game masters, you know, presiding over these
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  games in in some cases, fairly complex games, you know, that
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  that I think veterans like are astute at and kind of, you know,
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  breaking down for folks, you know, And so it's just been been
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  exciting just seeing that veterans involved in the board
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  game community. And you're going to probably
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  bring up a lot of beginners after you show them how to do
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  this and after you kind of break it down to the Barney style,
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  cause 90% of people aren't doing stuff because they don't know
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  how to do it. Right, right.
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  Yeah. And so, yeah, it's a, it's a lot
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  of fun. And I think that role-playing
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  games in particular are just like a great social outlet.
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  You know, they're they're they're great like social game
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  that that people, you know, can assume different identities.
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  You're you're a private. Detective, Well, you know, you
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  before you get into that, tell everybody a little bit about
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  yourself like you're a, you're an Army veteran.
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  Yes. So yeah, I was AI was a combat
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  medic in the in the United States Army from 2007, 2012 and
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  a deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan.
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  And yeah, I, you know, and with, with as much downtime as I as I
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  had, I wish I would have been able to jump into to some board
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  games. You didn't play board games.
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  In Iraq, no. And I and I and I and I should
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  have like, but, well, especially in Iraq.
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  Right, because that's all you have is spades, right?
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  Right. Spades are Uno, but nobody want
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  to play Uno with me. Jackpots.
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  Yeah, so, so yeah, I after getting out of the the military
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  in 2012, then then I went on to to film school, went to New York
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  Film Academy there in Los Angeles and so cranked out some
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  screenplays, you know, got some some movies made and, you know,
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  and just really got the creative bug and.
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  And really at that time, yeah, just really kind of like got
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  back into role-playing games and just just gaming in general.
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  I don't know, I think it was like like after, I don't know
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  about like you, but like right after the military, you almost
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  feel like it's just like a new lease on life and you just got
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  to got to it's it's like a reset, you know, of who you are
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  almost, you know, and, and that you're trying to kind of like,
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  you know, get back to just some some creative roots, you know,
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  and and so I think that like role-playing games and just one,
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  just gaming in general. I mean, it's just like great
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  safe, you know, way of kind of connecting with people again,
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  connecting with, you know, communities again and just
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  having some fun with with people because as as much as I enjoyed
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  having fun, you know, like with the, you know, with my with my
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  brothers in arms. Yeah, you know, yeah, at at
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  yeah, you do have to, you know, like recognize that, you know,
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  like civilians, you know, like, you know, are out there and
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  among us and, you know, and and so, you know, and got to get
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  reconnected, you know, like into that community and, you know,
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  and games are just like a really fun way of just kind of kind of
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  getting back into it. So I have had the the pleasure
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  of running games with lurking fears at Gen.
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  Con. We basically like run like all
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  of the game rooms in for free league, Shadow dark, so so
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  Arcane Library, Chaosium, so many great brands in the the
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  role-playing game, you know, industry.
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  And I've I've just, yeah, really, really kind of, you
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  know, just been just just diving in and figuring out my place in,
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  you know, and all that. So and so much of the games that
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  that we will be talking about and then and also that will be
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  playing like into the future then will be some of these great
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  games so. So basically what your what what
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  your show is consistent of is you're going to review some of
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  these board games. Oh, yeah, OK.
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  All right. So today, so today we are going
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  to be going over whispers in the walls.
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  Now, if you go to Canberra too, there so whispers in the walls
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  I'm and I'm cheating a little bit because while this isn't
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  necessarily like a, a solo RPG, what it is is like a it's a, as
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  it calls itself a solo horror journaling game.
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  And it's a, it's, it's like a great way of just kind of like
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  running into writing prompts that you wouldn't have thought
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  of otherwise. And you're a private
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  investigator, that is, that is kind of investigating a crime,
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  investigating a murder. But, you know, I mean,
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  ultimately, you know, you're all by yourself.
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  You can make it about only whatever you'd like, but what
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  you run into isn't necessarily, you know, like in your complete
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  control. So and all you need is a deck of
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  cards and a piece of paper and a pencil.
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  And it's it's a fantastic game that just really, you know,
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  challenges you as a person, you know, to like, you know, well,
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  you know, what exactly what exactly am I going to do if I'm
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  in a room that just starts, I don't know, you know, bleeding,
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  you know, and, you know, and you start, you know, hearing, you
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  know, like a wild noises. These are it's, it's really,
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  it's, it's a, it's a great game that just that just challenges,
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  challenges what you're willing to write about and, you know,
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  and what you personally, you know, I don't know, I want to
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  talk about. So at the end of it, you know,
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  like you really kind of wind up like with a, a really cool short
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  story basically. So, but yeah, it's, it's
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  fantastic and I highly recommend it.
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  And then we are. And So what lies beneath is
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  another one that we getting into a bit.
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  And what lies beneath is actually like a a role-playing
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  game. And it very much is like very
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  much like the choose your own adventures, those choose your
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  own adventure books. Did you ever read those as a
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  kid? I I did, I did.
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  I was going to say before we get too far into it, you know,
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  we'll, we'll take a a music break but continue your thought.
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  Yeah, it's, it is. It's just a, a great take, you
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  know, like on role-playing games that that you can play by
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  yourself. So, but yeah, more on that very,
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  very soon. Yeah, we'll probably have to
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  redo the music bag because I I'm, I'm not feeling it.
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  I know you're not feeling it either, but it is that time.
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  We're going to go on break. Like I said, this was the first
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  time that we've ever did something like this, so it's
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  kind of cool. Stick with us.
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  Don't go away, folks. We got some great music on the
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  way. And then, Scott, it's named Bill
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  Bill. Bill will join us.
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  So whatever you do, stay with us.
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  They'll go away. You're listening to the Aries
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  podcast right here on NPR, letting our veterans voices be
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  heard. The station where our veterans
• 21:45
  voices are heard MBR talk. Hey, thanks.
• 21:50
  For tuning. In welcome are those of the
• 21:53
  speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions
• 21:58
  of any entities they represent. Find.
• 22:00
  This on the web at NB radio dot US.
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  Hello. And we're back.
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  So yeah, so we are going to while we are still waiting on
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  Bill to arrive. Yeah, so.
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  So I don't know, you know, and if all right, so be thinking
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  about like what some of your favorite games are, because
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  that's what we're going to be getting into is some of our
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  favorite games and some of my personal favorites.
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  The Bloody Inn in So the Bloody Inn is a is a board game that
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  you are a a greedy family of innkeepers and and Speaking of
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  gritty innkeepers, No, no. So yeah, Bill, welcome to the
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  show. So yeah, how are you, Bill?
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  No, no, no. It's it's great.
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  And so, but yeah. So yeah.
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  You should be good Bill do a radio check real quick. 123I.
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  Think yeah, bring closer to the mic.
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  So Oh. Yeah.
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  So, yeah. How have you been doing?
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  It's it's been a been a while since I've zipped out a chance.
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  Yeah, so, but yeah, so, yeah, we've been just talking about,
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  you know, just board games in general and just kind of like
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  how I feel like everywhere that I, that I go, you know, like a
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  conventions and such that veterans are just like involved
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  in almost like every, you know, like facet, you know, so like I,
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  I'm finding like at like everywhere in life.
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  Yeah, yeah, my yeah, much like, much like life, you know, and.
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  And so it's just been been really encouraging, you know, to
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  just kind of see like at like at Genghis Khan, much of the staff,
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  you know, like, you know, being, being veterans and, and yeah.
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  And, and yeah, yeah. You yourself, you, you were a
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  veteran. I remember when I, when I, when
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  I initially like reached out and I was like, hey, Bill, do you
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  know, you know anybody you know who might be a, a veteran?
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  And you're like me and, and I, and I had, and I had no idea.
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  So yeah, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
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  Turn goes, we're looking at only six years, 92 to 97, electronic
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  warfare, aviation, Third Armored Cavalry Regiment, air Cav.
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  And you know, here I am after that.
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  So it's been a number of years and you know, growing up playing
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  Dungeons and Dragons and board games in the tumultuous 80s, and
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  now I get to own part of the store so.
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  Fantastic. So yeah, I my, I may or may not
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  have have mentioned this, but yeah, Bill Woods is the the
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  owner of Enchanted Grounds. Like.
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  One of there's two of us. I'm, I'm not the one that
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  started it, but I, I did get to, to join and it's been great.
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  So fantastic. Gets me, you know, keeps me
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  connected to a ton of different games, keep my pulse on the
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  industry. And of course, I think Denver is
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  a great area for games in general.
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  We have so many gamers and I'm more so than any place I've been
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  in the country. And.
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  Then of course, a great many of us are veterans as well because
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  Denver just has so many different military installations
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  in the area. And I think many of us, like
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  myself, originally from southwestern Virginia.
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  I miss my Appalachians, but I love my Rockies.
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  Thanks. Yeah.
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  So, yeah. So how how did your did your how
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  were you led to the to like getting involved in the in the
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  gaming industry or in in the in game, in in general or?
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  So I mean, from, from a young age, you know, playing games
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  and, and being involved and then after joining the army, I just
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  happened to be, you know, whether lucky enough or however
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  that I was involved in a unit that also had a lot of gamers in
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  it. And then after leaving the army
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  and because I work in the IT field, then there's tons of US
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  gamers in the IT field as well. And did a lot of my work
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  remotely, did a lot of work out of Enchanted Grounds.
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  And one of the things that you know, I need to do my work
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  remotely is a network. And my business partner at
• 28:33
  Enchanted Grounds is a bit of a Luddite.
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  And so eventually as I started to stick in my nose into his
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  electronics and then found myself growing in my involvement
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  from there and eventually got asked to join on as a partner.
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  So did some my investment there and then into the gaming
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  industry beyond just being a gamer at that point being a a
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  co-owner of a board game cafe, of course put me right in the
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  crosshairs or rather put the gaming industry right in my
• 29:02
  crosshairs that's. That's great, you know, and so
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  like, like I really felt so when I got out of the the military in
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  2012, then then I, I really kind of like found that it was or I
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  kind of felt like it was like, I don't know, like a reset into
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  like kind of like, you know, you know, getting more social with
• 29:31
  folks and, and, and whatnot. And, and to me, like, like I had
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  been out of role-playing games for a while, probably like not
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  since like early college. And and so so then, you know,
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  like when I got out of the military, you know, then I know
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  role-playing games, you know, just kind of like almost was
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  kind of like, you know, it helped me kind of like get back,
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  you know, like in socially involved with folks, you know, a
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  a bit. I know.
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  Did you find that like, you know, games like kind of help,
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  you know, I don't know, just anybody even just become like
• 30:09
  more social, you know, and just. Well, certainly the social
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  aspect of gaming, you know, and, and being a, a, a nerdy kid, you
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  know, you rely on that social aspect and that becomes a way to
• 30:20
  connect with people. And of course, you know, now it
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  is much more accepted socially to be a gamer.
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  And but when I was growing up, you had to listen for keywords.
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  You'd be out places and, you know, over your shoulder you'd
• 30:37
  hear somebody say cobalt and you're like, oh, wait, a
• 30:39
  potential friend. OK.
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  But otherwise. And then getting out of the
• 30:45
  army, I, the, the army kind of kept me involved in gaming.
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  And once I left the army and found myself, you know, working
• 30:54
  in the IT field and I was a road warrior, I was travelling a lot.
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  So at that point is when I really fell away from the social
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  aspect of gaming 'cause I just wasn't connecting people,
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  connecting with people on a physical basis.
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  And at that time, you know, being in hotel rooms a lot with
• 31:12
  a laptop and falling into World of Warcraft and other online
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  games. And it probably wasn't until
• 31:21
  the, you know, much lamented DND 4th edition that I didn't start
• 31:27
  getting out again and playing. So, you know, for anything that
• 31:33
  anybody has to say about the 4th edition on the negative side,
• 31:37
  and certainly I have my thoughts.
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  But at the same time, it got me reconnected with people again
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  because I wasn't traveling as much.
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  And I was like, I've got to get away from the computer.
• 31:47
  And so my wife and I went out to the game stores, found groups
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  and started playing. And then from there, it just
• 31:54
  snowballed into everything. Cool, cool.
• 31:58
  Yeah, I so way back in high school, I was an avid.
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  So one of my favorite role-playing games was the
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  Aliens by by leading edge games. And and then, you know, many,
• 32:20
  many, many a moon later, so just about five years ago, you know,
• 32:24
  then then I happened upon the Alien role-playing game by by
• 32:30
  Free League. And, and then that really that
• 32:34
  that really made me want to like try role-playing games again
• 32:38
  because I was familiar with Aliens.
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  But. And, and then well, like many
• 32:44
  folks, it was perhaps like one of my favorite games of all time
• 32:48
  or one of my favorite films of all time.
• 32:51
  And, and so so then when I then, you know, gave it a whirl, you
• 32:59
  know, and, you know, grabbed like the, you know, like the the
• 33:01
  starter set, then I just loved that it was like so accessible
• 33:07
  like that. The the rules were so simple,
• 33:09
  you know, and and. I think that that's, you know,
• 33:13
  on, on many levels, the Alien role-playing game is a great
• 33:19
  property for role-playing. Often times I don't find myself
• 33:22
  drawn to IPS for role-playing games.
• 33:25
  And because there's already a story, there's already a movie,
• 33:29
  you already have your heroes. And often times the story itself
• 33:34
  is world affecting. And with Alien, you have not
• 33:40
  just a world, but an entire universe.
• 33:43
  And not everything is dependent upon the the heroes of the
• 33:48
  movie. That's just one story.
• 33:51
  And so there's plenty of play space in that world in that
• 33:55
  universe of of alien for a role-playing game where I feel
• 33:58
  like sometimes other movie properties may not have that
• 34:03
  lifespan because you already know how it turns out.
• 34:08
  And so then you're trying to play in different eras or you're
• 34:11
  trying to play on the fringes. And so, you know, even the Star
• 34:17
  Wars universe, that's AI love that role-playing game, but we
• 34:22
  kind of know that there's a focus there.
• 34:25
  And so when you're playing in that game, you kind of have to
• 34:27
  put yourself somewhere else in that environment and maybe even
• 34:33
  a completely different timeline or somewhere outside of the
• 34:38
  story you already know when you know how it goes and where it's
• 34:41
  going. So anyway, that's what I like
• 34:43
  about Alien, is that it just has so much potential because it's
• 34:48
  an entire world laid out for you that doesn't have a restriction
• 34:54
  on what you know. All has already happened.
• 34:57
  Yeah, yeah, no, I and I've so like when I played like The
• 35:10
  Walking Dead, for instance, it was it was it was almost a
• 35:14
  little too big and a little too free as far as like the like the
• 35:19
  the world goes. But because I mean like you, you
• 35:24
  really, you know, like as a game master have to kind of like set
• 35:28
  up your set up your, you know, like your, your rivals and make
• 35:34
  try to make them like really clear because the the.
• 35:47
  Pardon me. Oops.
• 35:50
  No, that's, that's one. That's one way to tell you guys
• 35:53
  that we're getting ready to go on commercial.
• 35:55
  Right, so, but but yeah, they, you know, just the, the The
• 36:03
  Walking Dead. It was just, it was just very,
• 36:07
  you know, very, very open-ended, you know, and so it's just like
• 36:10
  a little hard to, you know, just kind of like find like the, the
• 36:15
  end insight, you know, like find, you know, like that to, to
• 36:19
  guide that story and but. Yeah, let's again, you've got
• 36:24
  whether it's Walking Dead, aliens, those types of games
• 36:28
  bring in a lot of personal conflict.
• 36:30
  Yeah, yeah. So which is makes for great
• 36:33
  stories, but can be difficult at times when you're looking at
• 36:39
  villain. All right.
• 36:41
  And so we're going to take a little break and then we will be
• 36:46
  coming back like with some be like a crow and maybe some a
• 36:51
  little more whispers in the walls perhaps.
• 36:54
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  Hey, thanks. For tuning.
• 38:04
  In Welcome Back are those of the speakers and do not necessarily
• 38:09
  reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.
• 38:13
  Web at MB Radio. Dot US so we're.
• 38:23
  Good. We're back.
• 38:24
  OK. So, yeah, so we we're going to
• 38:30
  just talk a bit about just some some solo RPGs that that we just
• 38:36
  kind of felt like, I don't know, haven't haven't quite, you know,
• 38:40
  gotten much love, you know, and you know, mirror or perhaps, you
• 38:45
  know, like, I don't know. As we talk about socialization
• 38:49
  now, we're going to talk about not socializing and just playing
• 38:53
  the game all on your own. But I think a lot of people
• 38:57
  don't even realize that there are solo RPGs.
• 39:00
  And I also think that as role-playing games have become
• 39:05
  more prevalent, people see more podcasts about them, more
• 39:08
  videos, it's more involved in the television they see and
• 39:12
  everything else. That's great that it's bringing
• 39:15
  a lot of new people to the hobby, but it's also scaring a
• 39:19
  lot of people into thinking that they have to be that good
• 39:24
  because they're seeing professionals play these games.
• 39:27
  Not just professional game players, but professional actors
• 39:30
  and voice over artists. And one of the most common
• 39:34
  requests that you know I get as a store owner is when are you
• 39:40
  going to have your games? When can I show up and play?
• 39:43
  And you know, my typical answer is, well, when can you show up
• 39:46
  in game master? And like, I, what, no, I, I
• 39:50
  can't game master. I just, I just want to play.
• 39:53
  And then I also find that, you know, ask talking with a lot of
• 39:58
  customers when we're selling a variety of different
• 40:00
  role-playing game books. And I asked them about their
• 40:04
  campaign or their character or what are they playing?
• 40:06
  And they're like, Oh, I don't play.
• 40:08
  I just I'm reading this because. I'm watching this podcast or
• 40:12
  listening to a podcast about it, and I wanted more information on
• 40:15
  the story, but I I don't play. I couldn't do that.
• 40:18
  And like, well, yeah, yeah, you can.
• 40:21
  And maybe a solo RPG is a good way for people to start with
• 40:24
  that so that they kind of get a feel for it.
• 40:27
  I think like anything you have to kind of practice and, you
• 40:33
  know, get your brain in gear towards these types of ideas and
• 40:39
  being able to improvise or tell a story or be creative.
• 40:45
  It's in all of us. And some people just, you know,
• 40:49
  as you begin to exercise those creative brain cells, the more
• 40:53
  you do it, the the easier it is. And so the solo RPG gives you a
• 40:59
  way to start doing that without having anyone sitting outside
• 41:04
  you to tell you your doing it wrong.
• 41:10
  And you know, and of course with role-playing games, there is no
• 41:14
  doing it wrong. You're doing it to have fun.
• 41:17
  And despite the fact that my wife used to call me a fun
• 41:22
  hater, I would tell her that in reality, I, I love fun so much
• 41:28
  that it really disturbs me when people do it wrong.
• 41:33
  So, but really not to dissuade people from, you know, the, the
• 41:38
  role-playing game. So, you know, we have be like a
• 41:41
  crow and you know, you know, the best thing to do about it is to
• 41:50
  play a crow and you can be a crow in any kind of environment
• 41:55
  where we hit that. Oh yeah, yeah, we got we're,
• 41:57
  we're getting, we got fancy. And this lets you of course, be
• 42:07
  a a bit of a special crow and enjoy whether it's a cyberpunk
• 42:13
  environment or a pirate environment.
• 42:16
  Yeah, I had saw that there was like some let there's like a
• 42:18
  western one. Yeah, there's some expansions to
• 42:22
  this for Pirate. There's an expansion for Cthulhu
• 42:27
  because everything has an expansion for Cthulhu.
• 42:30
  Right. And then within.
• 42:34
  But you don't need those within the book itself.
• 42:36
  It gives you everything you need to play a little adventure by
• 42:40
  yourself with a crow or as a crow.
• 42:43
  And you don't have to be just your run-of-the-mill crow as
• 42:46
  well. You have a variety of options in
• 42:49
  here to play different types of corbid, so you have your Magpies
• 42:58
  of course, which I'm Parcel 2 as I'm a Newcastle Premier League
• 43:03
  football fan. So if I'm going to be a crow,
• 43:07
  why not be a Magpie, right? Yeah, so, so who are The Who are
• 43:14
  the the the villains in be like a crow or?
• 43:19
  It's not so much that you're going up against potentially A
• 43:24
  villain because you're telling the story as you go.
• 43:27
  So the villain's only there if you create it.
• 43:29
  Now, the idea is you play this with an average deck of cards,
• 43:33
  so you're not rolling dice, you're drawing cards from a deck
• 43:36
  and then based upon the card that you draw, it gives you some
• 43:43
  events in your fights. So if you're having any kind of
• 43:49
  struggle, then there's a variety of things that you can do for I
• 43:55
  can see that. But you know, each card you draw
• 43:59
  is going to give you, you know, a headwind slows you down, take
• 44:02
  another turn in this hex. You also have a lot of just
• 44:08
  general conflicts to overcome. So.
• 44:13
  And of course, what good is being a crow without being able
• 44:18
  to collect the shiny? Right.
• 44:21
  So there's little, you know, other events that you can come
• 44:25
  up with. So it's not So what?
• 44:26
  You know you can add in a villain if you feel like 1's
• 44:29
  appropriate as you play, but it could simply be a matter of, you
• 44:34
  know, getting from point A to point B without dying, no?
• 44:38
  No, I got, I got AI got interrupted.
• 44:40
  I got to ask real quick. So you know, we've seen the
• 44:44
  cover of it. Like is it chapters?
• 44:46
  Like couldn't we see the pages? Is there like for, for dumb
• 44:50
  people like me, are there illustrations?
• 44:52
  I mean, I mean, I, I, I'm looking for a coloring book, so.
• 44:57
  So I do love like how minimalist.
• 45:01
  There we go. We'll we'll get, we'll show that
• 45:03
  real quick. So that they OK, so there's
• 45:05
  there's some artwork in this. Yeah, we definitely have.
• 45:09
  You know, it's not quite a comic book, but there are
• 45:12
  illustrations to kind of get those brain cells firing on what
• 45:16
  you might do. And this comes along with how to
• 45:19
  create a fantasy crow objective. So when you talk about your
• 45:23
  villains again here, you know like your objective could be to
• 45:27
  just create your own. Red Bar is watching.
• 45:31
  Or it could be to, you know, someone has stolen a thing from
• 45:35
  you and you have to travel to a location to retrieve it.
• 45:39
  So that's one of the the options.
• 45:41
  And all of these are just random based upon what card you draw
• 45:46
  and how that pops about. So and then you're just telling
• 45:51
  the story. So this is the part that
• 45:52
  intimidates a lot of people in a group role-playing game because
• 45:55
  you're looking at this and going, OK, well, somebody stolen
• 45:58
  something from me. What are they steal?
• 46:01
  And you might well, I don't know what they stole, but there's no
• 46:05
  rush because you're playing this game by yourself.
• 46:07
  You can sit and think about it. You can go have dinner, go have
• 46:10
  a cup of coffee, come back to it, and then decide that oh,
• 46:15
  they stole a prize ribbon from my debt, from my nest that's
• 46:22
  been in my family for ages or whatever.
• 46:25
  Now, in the table of condoms, does it have like the
• 46:29
  directions, you know, 'cause one thing about the military is
• 46:33
  we're notorious for having directions on everything, even.
• 46:37
  Yeah, the kind of your directions.
• 46:39
  So we have a great table of contents here, so everything is
• 46:43
  going to point out. This starts off with just
• 46:45
  introducing what is a solo role-playing game.
• 46:48
  What are you expected to do? All of us in the military want
• 46:52
  to know what our expectations are, What do we need to do to
• 46:54
  succeed? What's the mission tells you how
• 46:58
  to create your crow. It gives you basic rules on
• 47:02
  starting the game. You know how to take a turn.
• 47:04
  So even before it doesn't just throw you and say draw card and
• 47:07
  do stuff. You have rules.
• 47:10
  And of course we, we like our rules.
• 47:13
  I, I think that certainly from a, a military aspect and those
• 47:19
  of us with other certain gifts realize that the could, could be
• 47:27
  a specialized test to tell you whether or not you also need to
• 47:30
  take an ADHD test. And then, you know, basic
• 47:35
  training is just an ADHD year's dream because it's, it's only
• 47:41
  mildly irritating to us because, you know, our, our brain is just
• 47:45
  everything that's going on in basic training.
• 47:47
  Our brain is just like, thank you, drill Sergeant, can I have
• 47:50
  more? And you know, all of that, you
• 47:55
  know, rebuilding, restructuring, coming back goes right into the
• 47:59
  rule set of this. And you know, we love our
• 48:01
  publishing logic diagrams. So that's exactly what you get
• 48:07
  to this. I don't think there's any.
• 48:09
  If you look at this, this isn't even a very thick book.
• 48:11
  So it's not like you're looking at a game that is the size of
• 48:16
  the dictionary and you're thinking, I'm never going to be
• 48:18
  able to play this because I couldn't even read for that
• 48:21
  long, much less right. Right.
• 48:25
  It's so approachable, you know, all of all of these, the solo
• 48:28
  RPGs are just gap, so accessible, so easy to read.
• 48:33
  And I, I love them, Yeah. That's good.
• 48:38
  So our our chapter 3 is the rules and those rules last all
• 48:44
  of 123456789 pages. 9 pages of rules out of this book and
• 48:54
  everything else is just prompts on what happens when you draw a
• 48:58
  party. All right.
• 48:59
  Well then with that then we will.
• 49:03
  We're going to put a little break and then get into some
• 49:06
  little games that are of course, in the parfait cool.
• 52:57
  The station where our veterans voices are heard MBR talk.
• 53:00
  Hey, thanks. For tuning.
• 53:05
  In welcome are those of the speakers and do not necessarily
• 53:09
  reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.
• 53:13
  Find. This on the web at MB Radio.
• 53:15
  Dot U web right and we're back and yeah, I had mentioned like a
• 53:26
  little earlier whispers in the walls now and I was cheating a
• 53:33
  little bit and you know, being that it is a journaling game and
• 53:36
  not so much like a an RPG and a but.
• 53:43
  But what I what I did want to to mention about whispering in
• 53:50
  whispers in the walls is it very much is reminiscent like of be
• 53:56
  like a crow in the fact that you need a deck of cards to play and
• 54:02
  and so. Everything like throughout the
• 54:10
  the the book, you know, be it the the walls, the ceiling or
• 54:15
  the next room is all is all like arrived at by the next card that
• 54:23
  you that you draw. And so has just a whole lot in
• 54:30
  common with the be like a crow in that way and.
• 54:35
  Be Like a Crow has a. They also have a deck of cards
• 54:38
  that are themed for Be Like a Crow and I thought that I
• 54:41
  brought them with me. I was trying to to dig those out
• 54:43
  and I failed. So no, that's that's fantastic.
• 54:48
  And also one of my favorite solos that I have ran into
• 54:56
  recently is What Lies Beneath and What Lies Beneath.
• 55:00
  You just need 2D6SO26 sided dice to to play this game.
• 55:07
  It is a solo dungeon crawler and it is, it's very choose your own
• 55:13
  adventure kind of. And I, I love that everything is
• 55:18
  like really very contained, you know, So it's just like, you
• 55:21
  know, if you succeed, go to this page.
• 55:23
  If you fail, go to this page, you know, and and and what's
• 55:31
  what's cool is that you can even play it so random.
• 55:36
  And as I imagined, you probably could like with be like a crow
• 55:39
  as well that there are six classes.
• 55:44
  So you could almost play it, you know, like very randomly of a
• 55:48
  rule 1D6. Oh, I'm, I'm a Bard, you know,
• 55:51
  like this and or I'm going to be a warrior or what have you.
• 55:57
  So a little more guided than you know, you're you're you're
• 56:01
  reading paragraphs and and you know, like you said, more like a
• 56:04
  choose your own adventure or a witch way book and.
• 56:08
  Yeah. Which can be helpful for people
• 56:10
  that are maybe a little afraid of a coming up with too many
• 56:15
  ideas on their own, at least initially.
• 56:18
  I think, yeah, everybody's got it in them.
• 56:19
  But that does seem to be a barrier of entry to role-playing
• 56:23
  games for a lot of people is they just think they're not
• 56:26
  creative enough. Right.
• 56:27
  Yeah, It, it really makes the, the book a, the, the GM, you
• 56:32
  know, and, and so, and I, I love how it's written.
• 56:36
  It's a, it's written just a appropriately descriptive, you
• 56:42
  know, and, and even it goes so far as to even make some
• 56:47
  dexterity checks are actually like real dexterity games that
• 56:53
  you have to do with the dice. So like a, so like your
• 56:58
  dexterity number, you know, is how many attempts that you have
• 57:04
  at a dexterity challenge. OK.
• 57:08
  And so it's, it's A and, and some of them, you know, like are
• 57:12
  a little more clever than others about the actual challenge.
• 57:17
  And so it's, it's kind of like rolling a particular value, you
• 57:22
  know, is the challenge, you know, or, or you just want to
• 57:25
  get a like roll over a what what it calls a hit number, you know,
• 57:30
  so you're just like trying to roll over a three more whatever
• 57:34
  for a particular challenge, whatever.
• 57:36
  And, and, and so it's a, it's a, it's pretty great in, in just
• 57:42
  kind of how it articulates the world and how it articulates
• 57:44
  your challenges and. And you have a chance to
• 57:49
  succeed. You know, you always whether
• 57:50
  you're rolling the dice and and keep going.
• 57:53
  I think that when people are coming from a traditional just
• 57:58
  solo game, if you think about a game like solitaire and again
• 58:02
  you're just playing with cards. But those games always
• 58:06
  frustrated me because it's potential in many of those that
• 58:09
  you've lost before you began. However, that deck is laid out,
• 58:13
  no matter what choices you make that they're just not laid out
• 58:17
  in such a way that you can complete the game.
• 58:20
  Whereas you know, you had you add in the story element, you
• 58:24
  add in an element of chance with the dice rolling or the card
• 58:27
  draws, as well as your own ability to just decide what
• 58:31
  happens next and what's cool, then what's not.
• 58:34
  And so these are not always games about winning or losing,
• 58:39
  but just having a good time telling a story and then ending
• 58:44
  up with a result that you're happy with.
• 58:46
  And it doesn't have to be a succeed or fail.
• 58:53
  Well, and and even in the event you know that it does have a
• 58:57
  male your consequence or whatever, it's so quick to kind
• 59:02
  of get yourself back in the game, you know, I mean, and
• 59:07
  just, you know, jump into, you know, and pull up another
• 59:10
  character real quick. You're back at it and you know,
• 59:13
  so, but, but I want to thank everyone who was listening And
• 59:22
  today I, we, you know, introduce you to some, some solo RPGs that
• 59:28
  you may not have have heard of. And we look forward to, you
• 59:32
  know, playing some of these games like in the in the near
• 59:36
  future. And, and, and also let us know
• 59:40
  what you want to see played. We will be playing and doing
• 59:47
  this every Wednesday. Yeah.
• 59:48
  Do you have a preview of what you guys are going to be playing
• 59:51
  next week? I I wish no, I would.
• 59:57
  You made me think I had you're. Right you.
• 1:00:01
  Know maybe some some some board games next week instead of some
• 1:00:05
  role-playing games. Yeah, Board.
• 1:00:07
  Games, Yeah, we, you know, and by all means, you know, reach
• 1:00:13
  out to us, you know, and let us know, you know, like what you'd
• 1:00:15
  like to see and, you know, and hopefully you know, we'll be
• 1:00:18
  able to. And certainly if you're in the
• 1:00:19
  Denver area, then come to Enchanted Grounds and I'll be
• 1:00:22
  happy to tell you all about Be Like a Crow or anything else
• 1:00:25
  that your heart desires. A fantastic story that I highly.
• 1:00:28
  Recommend you don't mind my shameless plug.
• 1:00:31
  So, but yeah, so thank you and we look forward to playing with
• 1:00:39
  you guys very soon. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you
• 1:00:46
  for tuning in to Military Broadcast Radio.
• 1:00:50
  As we wrap up today's show, we want to remind you that the
• 1:00:54
  podcast of today's episode will be available right after we go
• 1:00:59
  off the air. So if you missed any part of the
• 1:01:01
  show or want to listen again, be sure to check it out.
• 1:01:07
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• 1:01:13
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• 1:01:17
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• 1:01:21
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• 1:01:25
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