That's How We Roll

That's How We Roll: Season 2, Episode 7 - Confidence Games With Harry

roll@evilhat.com — Fri, 2 Apr 2010 16:36:00 GMT

Chris visits Fred in Maryland. We talk about Jeni's Ice Creams, The Dresden Files RPG, distribution, The Leverage RPG, Happy Birthday Robot, and the role confidence plays in marketing your games.

That's How We Roll: Season 2, Episode 6 - Catching Up With The Ass Tax

roll@evilhat.com — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:21:00 GMT

[1h 2m 5s] Fred and Chris catch up on the last three months, including the impending release of the Dresden Files RPG at Origins 2010 and Chris's impotent rage about not getting to order Jeni's Ice Creams for delivery. Then on to talk about how they won't be picking up on last episode's cliffhanger and instead focusing talking about VSCA's approach to publishing with Diaspora (the good and the bad) and Games Workshop's surprising attitude towards its fans.

That's How We Roll: Season 2, Epsiode 5 - Worth The Effort

roll@evilhat.com — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:36:00 GMT

Fred and Chris talk about:

- Is it worth the effort to sell RPGs, as a retailer?
- Not Attending GenCon
- The Ennies Results
- Dominion and the Diana Jones Award
- Should NDAs exist?
- Disclosure vs. Surprise

Comments welcome!

That's How We Roll: Season 2, Epsiode 4 - Abridged Transparency

roll@evilhat.com — Tue, 4 Aug 2009 18:01:00 GMT

In this abruptly shortened episode, Fred and Chris talk about Transparency. There would have been another half hour of material here, but unfortunately the recording software on each end of the call screwed up (differently), making the rest of the episode hard to listen to. We'll be publishing some "deleted scenes" elsewhere, away from the podcast's main feed, for those made of tough enough stuff to listen to our mangled blatherings.

Sadly, this means you missed out on our cliffhanger for the next episode, so we'll give it to you here: Fred asks Chris the question, "Are RPGs worth it, for a gaming retail store?"

That's How We Roll: Season 2, Epsiode 3 - Origins and Awards

roll@evilhat.com — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:32:00 GMT

Fred and Chris talk about Origins, the Origins Awards, and the Ennies. (Also, Battletech, and other typical ramblings.)

EDIT: We missed some "this needs editing" bits towards the end there, sorry! We've uploaded a new version of the show, so if you heard the "bad" one, you can pull down the revised copy now-ish.

[Show notes pending volunteer effort!]

That's How We Roll: Season 2, Episode 2 - Practical Mind Control

roll@evilhat.com — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:04:00 GMT

Now featuring much, much improved audio. If you hated the audio in episode 1, don't worry -- it's all better now.

0:oo - 1:30 Chris and Fred giving some intro thoughts

1:30 - 2:50 Fred talks some about layout for Hero 6th edition

2:50 - 9:00 Fred talks about the birth of his child

9:00 - 15:00 Chris and Fred get a bit meta

16:30 - 1:10:00 The talk turns to communication with the gaming community

Fred's early history in customer service

Chris' orginization of the Endgame Mini-cons

The three D's of building community

Game evangelists

How to disseminate information

How community impacts sales for retailers and game companies

Ways lack of communication has hurt game companies

A small bit of DFRPG talk

The use of forums in building community

The power of responding positively to negative reviews

Mind control through synergy

Mean what you are saying to your community

Compartmentalize the negative and accentuate the positive

1:10:00 Another cliffhanger for this week - "Transparency"

Follow Chris and Fred on Twitter: @chrishanrahan or @EndGameOakland; and @fredhicks

Call the voicemail at 1-301-637-7HAT (7428)

or Email roll [at] evilhat [dot] com

Music by Finn Kish

Show annotation provided by J. B. Mannon of At The Table.

That's How We Roll: Season 2, Episode 1 - The Digital Delve

roll@evilhat.com — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:53:00 GMT

PLEASE NOTE: The audio on this episode is CRAP. Don't judge the podcast by the audio quality here. It improves significantly with episode 2.

[1hr 6min] Season 2 kicks off with a "digital delve" into the topic of D&D Insider, PDFs, conventions, and some retail store community basics. Our sound on this was a little wonky -- a combination of Skype and the tendency of Fred's laptop fan to randomly scream at "heavy whirr" levels in the background.

All timestamps very approximate.

1 min - Fred and Chris talk about WOTC's decision to take their PDFs off the market.

7 min - Fred talks about the Evil Hat PDF philosophy

13 min - Fred finally gets to the Evil Hat PDF Guarantee

18 min - Catalyst games is trying to get PDFs and retailers working together too

19 min - A bad economy is an opportunity. It's time to innovate.

20 min - Loop back around to D&D again: how has D&D Insider (DDI) affected the picture?

31 min - Wrap-up on the PDF/DDI topic. Send us your thoughts!

32 min - Chris is going to Origins, but Fred isn't. He has a good excuse.

34 min - IPR isn't going either

38 min - Let's give the Forge booth its props: it wasn't easy

40 min - What's the future of Origins?

41 min - Dreamation/Dexcon: East Coast awesome, but not really a big con

42 min - Actual predictions about Origins get made; then we sing its praises

49 min - Wrap-up on the predictioneering

51 min - Let's talk about mini-cons: Good Omens is coming to Endgame in July

53 min - Endgame's minicons in general

54 min - So let's talk about mini-con how-to's for retailers...

55 min - ... only not, because we need to talk about community-building first.

59 min - "A clean, well-lit place to play"

61 min - Going beyond the physical

62 min - The trap of distribution. It's not the one you're thinking of.

64 min - It's all about communication ... and it looks like mind control will be the topic of the next show.

65 min - Cliffhanger wrap-up!

Season 2 Episode 000: A Prelude - Time for a Reroll

roll@evilhat.com — Fri, 5 Jun 2009 19:27:00 GMT

Fred Hicks and Chris Hanrahan sit down to discuss the reinvention of That's How We Roll in the coming months. With season 2 of THWR on the horizon, it's time for a reroll.

THWR: Out of Town 003: House of Hanrahan Part 2

Mon, 1 Sep 2008 04:00:00 GMT

[36min 37sec] Fred Hicks and Chris Hanrahan (of Endgame in Oakland, CA and the 2d6 Feet in a Random Direction podcast) sit down for a conversation just a week or two before GenCon, to talk about Evil Hat, what they play, and the nature of the publisher-retailer relationship, among other things.

Part 2 of this conversation veers off of Evil Hat specifics (mostly), taking a walk through all number of topics, including a shared love of the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

THWR: Out of Town 002: House of Hanrahan Part 1

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:33:00 GMT

[46min 7sec] Fred Hicks and Chris Hanrahan (of Endgame in Oakland, CA and the 2d6 Feet in a Random Direction podcast) sit down for a conversation just a week or two before GenCon, to talk about Evil Hat, what they play, and the nature of the publisher-retailer relationship, among other things.

Part 1 of this conversation focuses mostly on Evil Hat things -- though in the House of Hanrahan, things do tend to get a bit random here and there...

THWR: Out of Town 001: Endings, with Paul Tevis

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:51:00 GMT

[Approx 23 minutes] This podcast marks the start of another category of episodes for That's How We Roll, titled Out of Town, featuring conversations we have on the road with the cool folks we know who aren't necessarily a part of Evil Hat.

On this episode, we sit down at Origins 2008 with "Have Games, Will Travel" podcaster Paul Tevis to talk about the value of ending things.

THWR: Under the Hat 004: The Mayor of Las Vegas, Part 2

Fri, 16 May 2008 01:13:00 GMT

[32min 44sec] This finishes up the conversation with Lenny from our chat at the GAMA Trade Show 2008 in April. In this episode, you'll hear more conversation about the Dresden Files RPG, as well as a discussion about differing perspectives on Vincent Baker's In a Wicked Age.

THWR: Under the Hat 003: The Mayor of Las Vegas, Part 1

Mon, 5 May 2008 19:05:00 GMT

[45min 38sec] While in Las Vegas for GTS, Fred sits down with Lenny to talk about all sorts of things. In this first part, they cover what it means to be a game designer, the mayor of Las Vegas, and some of the things Lenny's been working on with the Dresden Files RPG.

THWR: Under the Hat 002: That's How We Roll 2d6 Feet in a Random Direction (GTS Wrap-Up)

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:31:00 GMT

[1hr 8min] In this episode, Fred Hicks sits down with Chris Hanrahan from 2d6 Feet in a Random Direction to talk about their impressions of the GAMA Trade Show, IPR, "the industry", selling RPGs as a retailer, and a ton of other stuff.

No show notes for the moment! In the interests of putting out something super-current, Fred's skipping that part for now. We're podcasting without a net, baby!

THWR: Under the Hat 001: Evil Hat Convocation Roundtable

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:49:00 GMT

[1hr 11min 33sec] This past Saturday, we got all of the Dresden Files RPG team -- and then some -- together in Maryland for an Evil Hat convocation (first of its kind). Once we were done discussing all company matters, we gathered in Fred's living room for a roundtable discussion about how the day went and whatever else happened to come up. Along the way we talk about some of the development of the Dresden Files RPG, other upcoming games, independent publishing, MUSHing and Amber, how exactly Chad Underkoffler does what he does, and being honest about what it is you're best for in a collaborative organization -- among other things.

If you've ever wondered what's going on "under the Hat", here's your first peek. Have a listen.

THWR: At the Table 003: Faith, Faces, & Fingerprints Setting Creation Part 3

Wed, 6 Feb 2008 22:08:00 GMT

[1hr 4min 21sec] We finish out Faith, Faces & Fingerprints setting creation with the shaving of children, a map, a discussion of magic, and much more. The setting of Donnerdam takes its full form, primed to start the game. Character creation did follow this but did not make for good radio -- lots of silent scratching on character sheets and such. So our next episode will carry a snippet of play from the first session. Stay tuned!

THWR: At the Table 002: Faith, Faces, & Fingerprints Setting Creation Part 2

Tue, 5 Feb 2008 01:47:00 GMT

[50min 59sec] We're back with the second part of the Faith, Faces, & Fingerprints setting creation session. Unlike the first recording you heard, this gets into the "main sequence", where a sort of organic "freeform round-robin" question and answer session gives everyone a chance to get their priorities for the setting baked into the details.

This worked pretty well. The idea of folks who've answered questions taking a coin that prevents them from answering further ones definitely helped to make sure everyone got a chance to contribute; but we exercised a liberal "embellishment policy" that gave room for some enthusiastic discussion of the answers that were offered.

THWR: In the Lab 001: Dreamation 2008 Escape or Die Playtest - Complete Session

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:28:00 GMT

In this debut segment of "In the Lab", Fred runs a complete game of Escape or Die! at Dreamation 2008. You may recognize podcasters Remi Treuer (of the Durham Three) and Rob Bohl (of the Independent Insurgency) as two of the player voices.

Escape or Die! is currently in playtest and has a few hurdles to cross before publication, but you should be able to get a pretty good idea of how it plays from listening to this. The idea is simple: you're in a highly lethal escape movie where the only options are, indeed, to escape or die. The catch with the game is that it's run on the clock, putting a lot of pressure on players to narrate circumstances and push their characters forward quickly before their doom catches up with them. In play, this makes the game almost a "real-time RPG", in that it lasts about as long as the movies it emulates.

Like a big dork, I turned off the recorder before I got a bunch of feedback from the folks who played -- but I got a chance later in the weekend (unrecorded) to put a few of their suggestions into practice to good effect.

THWR: At the Table 001: Faith, Faces & Fingerprints Setting Creation Pt. 1

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:00:00 GMT

(1hr 8min; 31MB) Fred sits down to kick off his Faith, Faces & Fingerprints game with Rob, Deborah, and Kim. This session focuses entirely on creating the setting of the game, starting with some setting seeds that Fred brought to the table. Part one of several