GroundBreakers: Recent Episodes
Ground Breakers
A podcast about worlds we love and inspire us (Sci-Fi, Fantasy, etc), how to build your own worlds for role-playing games, or generally anything else. We nerd out on the details and decisions around world building.
We apologize in advance for our technical difficulties with audio.
In this episode we breakdown music in game both tabletop and not and discuss how to best defend your village from bandits.
Thanks to plot-generator.org.us our completely unplanned episode comes full force. After the generation of a completely rediculous plot generated by the website, listen to us try to make sense of the madness.
In a tent there lived a picturesque, greasy dragon named Tristan Sparkle. Not a hot damp, pretty tent, filled with toast and a fragile smell, nor yet a beautiful, wide, grubby tent with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a dragon-tent, and that means happiness. One day, after a troubling visit from the witch Rhiannon Parker, Tristan leaves his tent and sets out in search of three chilly bananas. A quest undertaken in the company of old folk, goblins and sleepy ghosts. In the search for the witch-guarded bananas, Tristan Sparkle surprises even himself with his kindness and skill as a painter. During his travels, Tristan rescues a sausage, an heirloom belonging to Rhiannon. But when Rhiannon refuses to try rampaging, their friendship is over. However, Rhiannon is wounded at the Battle of Five Armies and the two reconcile just before Tristan engages in some serious rampaging. Tristan accepts one of the three chilly bananas and returns home to his tent a very wealthy dragon.
Part one of our 3 part series on the world of Halo.
In this episode we breakdown the universe as a whole, discussing what we love about it, the themes, and how to run a game in the world.
Stay tuned for part two where we will go deep into particular aspects of the world.
In this episode we take turns asking each other some rapid fire questions about all sorts of worldbuilding topics...and some not so worldbuilding topics. We take some time with a few answers to really dig deep into the meanings and reasoning behind our descisions.
- Best Class?
- Best Race (Ancestry)?
- Fast or slow zombies?
- What's your offices and bosses class?
- What game sets the best horror environment?
- werewolf or vamp?
- Robocop vs Dredd?
- Best max level spell?
- Is combat overrated?
- Pizza +?
- Two-hand or dual wield?
- Is game of thrones still good?
- Firs thing you notice about a new person at your table?
- Favorite creature to throw at a party?
- Martial or Magic?
- Mini or no mini?
- Best D&D snacking food?
- What do y ou order at the tavern?
- Best fantasy creature?
- What accessories can you not go without when playing d&D?
- Comedy or drama?
- Point buy or rolling?
- At the table, what is too much of a good thing?
- What class is a Pomeranian?
- Crunch rolls or no?
- What really make you angry?
- What fantasy profession would you have?
- Low fantasy or high fantasy?
- Magic or science?
- What 3 habits should everyone start to improve DMing
- Geralt or Dracula(Strahd)?
- Your a band of Kobalt thieves, what's your name?
In this episode we break down what game worlds we are running, what media we are consuming, and some of our plans for season two.
Just a quick update with us about the state of life and podcast. We breakdown what are plans are for the future (Season 2) and wrap up this season with a thanks to our listeners.
In this episode we do a quick random build of a criminal organization who specialized in the enchanted honey trade.
In this episode we get technical and deep dive into programs, resources, and tools we use to design, map, build, and engage with our players and world as well as things we have on our watch list.
Below you can find links and timestamps to all the things we mention!
Choose the next person imitative 8:59
Physical Tools:
- Dry Erase Grid Tiles 22:44
- Trace Mat 22:55
- DIY Initative Tracker 19:26
- D&D 5E DM Screen 14:36
- Reaper Minis 5:40
- Condition Tokens 4:43
- Citadel Painting Handles 3:03
- Poster Tack 3:48
- Heroscape 25:22
- Paper Mini examples 06:00
Digital Mapmaking / Hosting: Timestamp
- owlbear.rodeo 44:54
- TheCraftDice 45:45
- FoundryVTT 46:34
- Tabletop Simulator 47:30
- Roll20
- Wonderdraft 27:35
- Dungeondraft 28:00
Youtube Resources:
- Classic_DM 23:46
- Wylock Crafting 26:11
General Online Resources:
- Pathfinder SRD
- D&D Beyond 36:00
- Realmworks 33:00
- Drivethrurpg 44:16
- The Homebrewery 43:42
- DMs Guild 42:53
- Onepagedungeon 40:42
- Donjon 40:00
- Reddit D&D resource list
- Suggestions for free mapping assets
Ambiance
- Phillips Hue 12:12
- Reddit D&D Playlists Compilation
Misc.
- Malifaux 9:50
Today we cover FF6's world and characters! We also cover how to play a game in this world!
A great villain (BBEG) is just as important as any hero. No one even becomes a hero without facing a true adversary. There are several ways to build a big bad and make them relatable and hate-able.
In this extended two part episode we spend about 45 minutes discussing the nuances of designing, playing, and understanding villains, before jumping into a Q&A between Game Masters and Player on what is and is not great in a game.
Some highlights include:
- Our favorite existing villains
- What makes a villain great (or horrible)
- How you build them into your world
- The importance of communication with players on the front side
- Please god give feedback...actionable feedback
- The Skeleton Conundrum (47min)
- How all game masters are all cheaty cheat faces
- And much, much more...
Our guest Jordyn's webseries 'Impractical Magic'
Groundbreakers Facebook
Matt:
Twitch Facebook
Edward:
Twitch Facebook
Andrew:
In this episode the three of us and a few special guests dive into the nuances of realism in a tabletop game. Short answer, there is not answer!
If you any feedback for the cast or the episode, we would love to hear it!
Here are some links to things we mentioned in the cast:
Our guest Jordyn's webseries 'Impractical Magic'
The Mountain Meme
Some of the Podcasts mentioned:
- Dice, Camera, Action
- Critical Role
D&D Modules:
- Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica
- Curse of Strahd
Shows:
- Supernatural episode: 'A Heroes Journey'
Groundbreakers Facebook
Matt:
- Twitch
Edward:
- Twitch
Andrew:
Come with me and you be in a world of pure frustration! Take a look and you'll see your destruction! Today we take a big look at the world of DarkSouls!
In this episode we get into the weeds with worlds with great magic systems, the importance of the rules for magic, and what is considered magic anyway?
- Dresden Files
- Mass Effect
- Final Fantasy 3
- Warmachine
- The Magicians
Plagues, Disease, Parasites! In this episode we find ourselves self-quarantined in our respective homes because of the looming Corona-virus spread, which seems like a great time to break down viruses in worldbuilding. The episode was thrown together remotely, recorded, and edited with a 24 hours turnaround. We apologize in advance for the occasional drop in quality, dogs/children in the background, etc. There are not specific show notes at this time, but here is where you can find us: Groundbreakers:
https://www.facebook.com/GroundBreakersRPG/
Matt:
https://www.twitch.tv/captnfipps/videos https://www.facebook.com/captnfipps/
Edward:
https://www.twitch.tv/sgtbaconpants/videos https://www.facebook.com/Sgtbaconpants-108411557349024/
In this episode we talk briefly about the importance of starting small and building from there. Mostly a light comic relief episode where we build out a random village from scratch, but we do touch on some important topics.
Here are some highlights:
- 14:50: Old Ned
- 15:50: The Importance of NPCs in your world
- 21:00: Enter Player Hooks
- 21:30: Morale Choices
- 23:00: Mammal Bird/Chicken People
- 27:30 1/8th Orc
- 28:20 Dramatax (Spikey Venom Fish)
- 29:00: Fantasy Viagra
- 29:40: Naming Conventions...or lack thereof.
- 33:00 - Bainken (Chickens)
- 33:11: Godliness and your world
- 37:00: Grahmdel is born!
This is a quick 9 minute chat (RAW) of us explaining our goals and ideas for what the GroundBreakers Podcast is about and what our plans are.