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New Site! Jan 17, 2011

Show notes

Hey listener(s)(?),

Our cheap asses have finally got a proper website – go check it out here: www.selfcriticalhits.com.

New episodes will be posted there from now on.

Seriously, what are you still doing here? Go!

Cheers,

Self-Critical Hits

Episode 008 – Nerd Stereotypes and the Future of RPG Podcasting Jan 03, 2011

Show notes

In this episode we kindasorta get around to discussing prevailing nerd stereotypes and their validity, or lack thereof, given the progressive nerdening of society at large. In keeping in the spirit of this topic, method actor-style, casual misogyny is the order of the day. But Caleb does go off on a momentary feminist tear about some b-grade horror movies so, you know, symmetry.

We also address a comment made by Mr. Clyde Rhoer, of Theory from the Closet, on the twitters regarding the relative homogeneity of RPG podcasts, which leads to plotting of Vaudeville and, as improbably as not, mention of a fursuit. We discuss briefly the British sketch comedy tradition of having just one woman on the cast who plays all roles, but somehow overlook the fact that this is something Python et al have in common with a significant number of RPG podcasts.

Was it scripted? Listen for the answer next time!

Download Self-Critical Hits Episode 008 – Nerd Stereotypes and the Future of RPG Podcasting

Hosts: Jason, David, Kaycee, Caleb, Miles

Notes & Links:

Another shout out to the de facto bar of the show, the Highline
X-men arcade for XBLA – infinite quarters today!
Black Swan (again), Showgirls, and the inevitable(?) youtube mashup
TV we watch on Netflix because it’s the future now: Parks and Recreation, The IT Crowd
Movies that Caleb dropped the science on: Jenifer and Zombie Strippers
Conan media we condemn: the remake, the MMO, the other Xbox game. Please note, the man that they have cast as Conan is best known for his roles in Stargate Atlantis and Baywatch. Note also that Conan is NOT aquatic in any way. CONDEMN!
Conan media we allow: the 1990’s cartoon
Dwarf Fortress and Minecraft…if you have the patience to learn them, these games are brilliant.
The Wet Spot. That is all.
Movies we anticipate: The Rite, Thor, Spider-man reboot
The games: Marvel FASERIP, Old Villains and Vigilantes, Action Castle, World of Synnibar and FATAL (I’m not linking to that last one and nobody can make me!)

Episode 007 – Campaign Prep (or not) Dec 21, 2010

Show notes

In this episode we talk about campaign prep – how each of us approaches it, and how that’s changed/is changing still. We touch on how to work specific themes into games, where and how we draw inspiration from media, and why we prepare games the way we do.

Also covered is the unique terror of GMing a boring game, David’s hard hustle to justify a tommy gun for his Call of Cthulhu character, and the power of a creatively rigorous gaming group to force you to be character focused.

UPDATE: Sorry to those who tried in vain to grab the episode right away last night…there were some issues with the file I posted originally. These have been fixed for the most part, but throughout the first 20 minutes or so there’s some uncool background noise that crept into the recording. Rookie mistake, won’t happen again. -Miles

Download Self-Critical Hits Episode 007 – Campaign Prep (or not)

Hosts: Jason, Caleb, Miles, David

Notes & Links:

The not-so-horrible Black Swan, and the earnestly horrible Swanmay
The good scary: Burrowers and Ravenous
The set piece for the climactic battle in your western game: Natural Fort in Wyoming
Insurance against committing the wrong-tech-for-the-era GMing faux pas: the important inventions by decade wikipedia page
Fear the Boot…if you don’t know, now you know. They are kind of the OGs of this RPG podcasting thing
Hamlet’s Hit Points, an awesome book, by all accounts. An excellent gift for yourself
The Obsidian Portal page for Jason’s Call of Cthulhu campaign, Balm in Gilead
For your health: the Copulating Blues and R. Crumb Draws the Blues
Ryan Macklin’s blog post that was mentioned: Adventure Games and the Myth of the Arc
A hero is you!
Because we’ve still got the post-apocalypse on the brain in a big way: Fallout: New Vegas; Hardware; The Road; Apocalypse Nerd.
For those with them iPhones: Papa Sangre, the video-less video game Jason mentioned
The Games: Apocalypse World; D&D 3.x, 4, Forgotten Realms; Call of Cthulhu; Burning Wheel; d20 Star Wars; Battlestar Galactica RPG; Shadowrun; Vampire; Gamma World

Episode 006 – Mojave Wateland Blues Dec 07, 2010

Show notes

Here’s the much anticipated (by us…) Fallout: New Vegas wank-cast. Fond reminiscences of our wasteland days (and nights! Ha-cha-cha!) abound, mixed up with the usual stimulating discussion on a broad range of topics.

We speculate on the origins of furrydom, equate the threat represented by the Twilight novels with the threat of one Ms. Sarah Palin, discover the exact means by which the apocalypse will overtake us all (not zombies), and a number of us spring out of the Anne Rice fan closet. Shit gets weird. Then we put it on the internet!

As a bonus, you can also listen to Ken dying of the consumption!

Download Self-Critical Hits Episode 006 – Mojave Wasteland Blues

Hosts: Miles, Jason, Caleb, Ken, David

Notes & Links:

The Fallout series, for which the ardor of our adoration knows no earthly bounds: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and (swoon) Part 4, New Vegas
The Friday the 13th and Exorcist movies…of which there are many
Black Swan, which got us to talking about wereswans…all unknowing of the creepy fandom that already exists for them, or of their mythological antecedents. Naturally, this will be covered more thoroughly in our Furry Studies correspondence course.
Some old PC games that helped birth Fallout: Bard’s Tale and Wasteland
Something Awful.com’s Mojave Wasteland Classifieds…because if you can’t laugh at the post-apocalypse…
Book of Eli
Vampire-y things: Buffy reboot, Anne Rice interview, Ms. Rice’s Vampires and Witches novels
Non-Vampire-y things: The Twilight series as a one-page comic
The games: GURPS, Apocalypse World, Gamma World, d20 Apocalypse

Episode 005 – The Veiny Hammer Nov 23, 2010

Show notes

This time it’s all about how to get the most roleplaying juice out of your characters – strategies for building and playing characters that help you get to the super-fulfilling and awesome RP experience. We talk about what has worked for us, and some things that have kept us from ‘getting into character’ in the past.

Also included: curmudgeonly grousing about there being TOO MANY nerdy conventions to attend in Seattle, failed visual gags, and real live conflict within the party of hosts!

Also, also: If you have anything that you’d like us to talk about, or even if you just think we’re spectacularly wrong about something, let us know in the comments! We’d love to hear from anyone and everyone who listens to this business!

Self-Critical Hits Episode 005 – The Veiny Hammer Play In New Window

Hosts: Tori, Ken, David, Jason, Miles, Pat, James

Notes & Links:

The Battlestar Galactica Exhibit at SFM/EMP in Seattle until March!
Harry Potter Exhibit at Pacific Science Center
Quidditch World Cup 2010
The LARP documentary of the week for us: Monster Camp
The LARP in question: Nero
Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt!
Splice, the BRILLIANT AWESOME GREAT EXCELLENT (I may be overstating this) sci-fi/horror movie that Ken totally hated
The Seattle cons we love: PAX Prime, GoPlay Northwest, Steamcon, Zombcon, Emerald City Comiccon, Norwescon, Sakuracon
um…Tanya’s Island
The much discussed Burning Wheel campaign: Sibling Rivalry
The Walking Eye Podcast…these guys are brilliant and wonderful. Actual play, solid interviews, great discussion. Get stoked.
The games: Fate 3.0/Spirit of the Century, Fiasco, Burning Wheel, Dogs in the Vineyard, D&D 3.x, Call of Cthulhu, old World of Darkness, Mekton, Runequest

Episode 004 – Best. Gamers. Ever. Nov 08, 2010

Show notes

Aaaaaand, we’re back…another discussion episode this week.

This time we talk in a highly subjective and biased way – you know like we do – about what we think makes a good roleplayer. What skills do ‘good’ gamers possess or cultivate?; How do we grow through gaming?; What kind of activities and play experiences promote this kind of growth? Please note that the inherent arrogance of this topic is not lost on us – but by way of mitigating it we are joined by a real live academic on this episode, so…something.

Old-people post-game sleepy-eyes threatened to derail this episode at every turn, but we soldiered on and hustled hard to keep the DEAD AIR to a minimum. As it turns out, we have a good little episode to show for it. Huzzah!

Download Self-Critical Hits Episode 004 – Best. Gamers. Ever.

Hosts: Jason, Tori, Caleb, David, Miles

Notes & Links:

The Walking Dead

You need this: the Thinkgeek Eviltron

The article about erasing fear memories from lab mice at John Hopkins

The article about regenerating boobs!

Say it with us…Ray Kurzweil

When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger

Cakearokee! Every week at the Highline in Seattle! Come and sing with Tori and James!

Listen to these people, if you don’t already: The Podge Cast

The game design article from the ‘Deeper in the Game’ blog

Games: Fallout: New Vegas; Mall Madness!; Burning Wheel; Call of Cthulhu; Fiasco; Dogs in the Vineyard; Burning Empires; Arkham Horror; Battlestar Galactica Board Game; Drifter’s Escape; Apocalypse World; Everyone is John RPG

Episode 003 – Fiasco! Actual Play – “Dutchy’s Town” Oct 30, 2010

Show notes

It’s actual play time this week. This is our first play through of FIASCO! by Jason Morningstar. If you haven’t heard about this game already then you may be dead, and if you haven’t played it you’re missing out. It’s GM-less, requires zero prep, and allows you and your friends to create Coen Brothers style stories out of thin air, d6’s, and magical role-playing pixie dust (this is not cocaine) (it is also not Funyon dust).

We’ll be back with another discussion episode next week!

Hosts / Players: Ken, David, Miles, Tori

Download Self-Critical Hits Episode 003 – Fiasco! AP – “Dutchy’s Town”

Notes & Links:

I got nothin’…

Episode 002 – Double-Plus Un-Good Oct 22, 2010

Show notes

In this episode we speculate in cooing, reverent tones about Fallout New Vegas, discuss the recent action on the military’s DADT policy and its impact on Batwoman, go off on a host of other tangents, and eventually talk about our experiences portraying evil characters, both as players and GMs – what’s worked for us and what hasn’t, and what evil really means in the context of different games. We run a bit long on this one, hitting an hour and change, but it’s a good conversation and worth a listen.

Download Self-Critical Hits Episode 002 – Double-Plus Un-Good

Hosts: Miles, Jason, Tori, Ken, David, and James

Notes & Links:

Fallout New Vegas
X-men: Destiny trailer
Fuckh8! Video
Lily Allen
DADT
The House of the Devil – horror movie that James talked up
New Batwoman comics!
Thomas in Love – the awesome dystopian French movie that Jason recommended
Never Let Me Go – Dystopian Japanese book/movie that Tori and Ken couldn’t say anything about…but they really liked it!
Let the Right One In – Seriously, just see this vampire movie. No one sparkles.
Battlestar exhibit at SciFi Museum in Seattle!
Scarecrow Video and Gamma Ray Games in Seattle
Watchmen…sorry, guys, spoiled the hell out of this. But, really, if you don’t know how it ends how is it you’re listening to this podcast?
The Goat or Who is Sylvia – play mentioned by Jason
Bunch of games: D&D in various editions, Burning Wheel, BSG Board Game, Talisman, Dogs in the Vineyard
The Road
Dr. Paul Farmer – Saint.
The Jank Cast

Intro music by The Outsyder at Podsafe Audio

Episode 001 – It’s Our First Time Oct 14, 2010

Show notes

Here’s our first episode. It’s a bit rough, but with lots of funny bits. We discuss the group’s experience with an old and free on the interwebs RPG called Everyone Is John, and talk about first gaming experiences. Also, SPOILER ALERT! (yes, already) We spoil the hell out of a terrible French film called “Fat Girl”.

Hosts: Miles, Jason, Tori, Ken, David, Marty, Tanya, and James

Download Self-Critical Hits Episode 001 – It’s Our First Time

Notes + Links:

Teeth the movie
Segway Accident
Lake of Fire
American History X
Sky Above Mud Below
The LARPing movie that Jason mentioned (I think), The Dungeon Masters
Utilikilts
Good Old Games (correction: they are a Polish company, not an English one)
Planescape: Torment
Earth-like ‘Goldilocks’ planet, Gliese 581 g
Crazy German movie David mentioned – 7 Dwarves
Irreversible
Fat Girl
M. Night Shyamalan Spoof
Tim Burton Pitch Meeting Spoof
Everyone is John RPG
Amber RPG
Tunnels and Trolls
D&D ‘Gold Box’ PC Games
TSR “FASERIP” Marvel Super Heroes RPG
Dark Sun
D&D 1991 Boxed Set w/ Hildebrandt Cover Painting
Rules Cyclopedia D&D
3.5 D&D
Vampire: The Masquerade
GURPS and GURPS Vampire
Burning Wheel
Burning Empires
Call of Cthulhu
Dogs in the Vineyard

Intro music by The Outsyder

It begins… Oct 13, 2010

Show notes

So, the idea is that we’re going to make this podcast. We may not do anything groundbreaking or revolutionary – we are shamelessly aping the efforts of folks like the Jank Cast, the Podge Cast, Bearswarm Podcast, etc. – but we will offer our thoughts and opinions, and they will be AWESOME and HILARIOUS.

We will talk about games – tabletop, board, video – as well as other things that grab our fancies…movies, TV, comics, music, tech…

We won’t censor ourselves, except to protect the innocent. You’ll get our unvarnished appraisals and exclamations – profanity is go!

We hope you’ll listen, and let us know what you think. Be harsh – we can take it. And, do tell us what you like, too…we please to aim.

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