Shadowscast – episode 1
This blog will be incorporating video posts for RPG material into the normal flow of things from now on. I am planning on releasing no more than 1 per month, but the initial episodes will have an experimental nature which may include alterations of schedule, format, and content.
Initial Intentions
The video posts will cover material less-suited to pure text such as product reviews, discussion about games and game topics, discussion about enhancing immersive game play without letting the drama go to your head, and using Seoul and Korea as a setting for games.
Volume 1, Episode 1
A little of everything
The first installment of the Shadowscast video blog contains two segments, both shot in Seoul at a massive department store and executive apartments complex called Times Square, known as one of the earliest and most ambitious attempts at entertailling (entertainment + retail) in the nation to date. Topics for the first episode are organizing a new game group, and returning to GMing after a long hiatus. Future episodes will look at the use of Android apps at the game table, gaming in public places, and some great RPG books.
Casting Shadows 
When I moved to LA in early 2000, I found myself in a similar situation. I went online as well to find a group; the goal was to play as soon as possible at someone’s table.
Once a group was found something seemed off. At first I thought it was because I had always DMed and maybe I was just not used to being a player. However, after careful examination it was really how the system encouraged a different style of play than I preferred.
While the new people I met were great, since D&D 3E just came out, 3E was what they were interested in playing. After a few sessions I let the group know that the system was not for me.
It was easy to find other players, but it was difficult to find a group that fit what I wanted during the height of the d20 era.
As an aside, although it was not the focus of the first segment, you make the quick comment about busy lives and still gaming. I love this, although I can not at the moment articulate why it rang so true to me.
I feel momentum is important. Hobbies all seem to require work and preparation of some kind, to varying degrees, and it gets easy to let them slide because ‘we are too busy’ but then… end up burning 10 or more hours per week watching reruns or lame clips on YouTube. It’s easy to give in to the undertow and join the ranks of the pacified, but why?
Thanks for watching the clip and for taking the time to leave a real comment.
What sort of group did you find after this, and what did you wind up playing with them?
I found a small group of players online after that. We used WebRPG to play. If you are not familiar with WebRPG it was a free program created in java. At its bare bones it was a chat program with dice rollers and the ability to create and store everything from character sheets to adventure modules.
That of course ended when WebRPG went to a pay model in 2001. I don’t think it’s around anymore, but I see that other programs have come along to fill its shoes.
After that I went into a hibernation of sorts. It was not the same thing as “too busy to play,” but the local groups were so focused on d20 systems, it was really difficult to find a like minded group.
It was not until December 2010, when I started playing with the girls, that I dusted off all of my D&D stuff from the closet. Since none of them had ever role-played, it was easy enough to say we were going to be using AD&D 2e.
That’s a long hiatus!
Anyway, it is awesome that you’be inducted your family into gaming’s august ranks, and are sharing their explorations for the rest of us.
Agreed. I don’t think I realized how long it had been until we had this conversation.
It has definitely been an interesting year.
As for sharing, for myself, it has been very entertaining to be a part of them discovering role-playing for the first time and I thought there were a few people out there that might enjoy it as well.