I (if I have any say about it) would like to have a regular RPG Talk about old-school role playing games and those belonging to the “OSR” mentality.
Let me explain:
The RPG Talk that I want to have on a regular basis, is supposed to be a voice-chat where people participate orally, with a headset or with a microphone and headphones. The advantage of talking by voice instead of writing (like here, kudos), is that you can communicate much faster and intuitively. It’s much easier and faster to delve deeply into, and work on different subjects, and to exchange experiences and information quickly, without having to worry about spelling or presentation, etc. You can just react much quicker upon things that interest you by voice than in writing.
RPG Talk is not a podcast! There are many RPG podcasts out there, and many cliques of friends are producing RPG podcasts. Such podcasts, while sometimes also discussing great and interesting topics, are exclusive: Only a certain few people are admitted, usually always the same, with perhaps one or two guests at most. That excludes the great opinions, knowledge, experience and ideas of EVERYONE else!!!
That’s not just a very antisocial and ultimately stupid thing to do, but in my mind also a very “un-OSR” thing. In my mind, OSR is about EVERYONE!!! being allowed to contribute their ideas and creativity, and not just one big hobo or a small, “elite” group of people!
[“EVERYONE!!” from “Léon: The Professional, Luc Besson”]
Remember the days when modules used to say: “Recommended for 6-8 players”? Or even “8-16”!!?
The point is, also very OSR, the more people participate in a RPG Talk, the better it gets, because more people always bring in more great ideas, more enthusiasm, and more interesting subjects and topics that they want to talk about! That makes it better for everyone! Subjects can be anything from help and advice for Dungeon- and Game Mastering problems, to discussions and interpretations of specific rules, to experiences with various game systems, etc. You name it, and if others want to talk about it as well, we will!
The procedure is simple: We start each RPG Talk with a round of introductions in which everyone introduces themselves with their (first) name, age and where he or she is from, as well as his or her background with RPGs: How he or she got started with RPGs, what game systems he or she played, or likes most, and what he or she is playing or doing currently in connection with RPGs.
After the round of introductions, we do a round to choose a topic to talk about. In this round everyone says what he or she would like to talk about most, and after everyone was heard, we decide as a group what to talk about. Then we discuss that to our heart’s content! “:-)” When everything has been said about a topic (and we don’t delve into another subjects automatically), we chose the next subject. We do another round to choose the most popular subject, and then we discuss that, etc.
If you’re new to RPG Talk, you must (ok, you should “;-)”) propose a subject that you would like to talk about. “:-)”
Only 12 people to a group. If there are more people participating than can effectively be handled by voice chat, we simply split up into two or more groups. This is probably necessary if there are more than about 10 or 12 people. This brings in something else, that’s even cooler: If you don’t like the subject being talked about, you can switch groups and listen in on the other group(s) at any time! Wouldn’t that be awesome? “:-)”
The goal is to have an RPG Talk every week or every other week.
When will this happen?
Whenever most people wish it to happen and express this wish.
Where will this happen?
On my Discord server specifically made just for love for OSR RPGs and to find other people who do: