Haste - The Official Obsidian Portal Podcast

| Episode 99 | Announcements No announcements this week, aside from our kick ass Baldur’s Cheer, Baldur’s Gate holiday contest we’ve got going on. Aside from that, it’s time to get on with the show! Now, back to 30(ish) minutes or … #LINK#

| Episode 98 | Announcements Tonight we’re joined by Kickstarter backer Highcove, he’s here to talk with us about his blog DM’ing With Charisma, and I Podcast Magic Missle, as well as all things gaming so tune in! Also, a very … #LINK#

| Episode 97 | Announcements Tonight we’re joined by Shane Tyree to talk to him about his Kickstarter, The Writhing Dark. Jump in and join us as we discuss Cthulhu, Dungeon White Space, and “that thing Mike Mearls said this week”. … #LINK#

| Episode 96 | Announcements We’re back, sorry for podfading! We’ve got a regular recording schedule now so rest assured you’ll be hearing from us on the weekly again. There’s still some time to caption the d20Monkey comic too, so get … #LINK#

| Episode 95 | Announcements The Vanguard program is coming, full blog post explaining the details soon. There’s a Halloween caption contest that you should all be rushing to get funny on, and finally – the Reforging launch will be this … #LINK#

| Episode 94 | Announcements None, on with the show! This one’s a juicy one! Topics  Reaper Bones Kickstarter II Reaper has done it again with another Bones Miniatures Kickstarter, this one funded…in 2minutes. Should you back it? Are we backing … #LINK#

| Episode 93 | Announcements A big and many thanks to all who voted for us in the ENnies this year and to those whom came out to hang out with us at Gencon – it was a blast! Also, be … #LINK#

| Episode 92 | Announcements We are back from Gencon and are happy to announce that we’ve won yet another Silver ENnie for Best Podcast! This episode is simply an audio capture from our How Technology Is Changing RPGs panel from … #LINK#

| Episode 91 | Announcements ENnies voting is over, Gencon hotels are booked, and we’re looking forward to the con. Be sure to stop by our Kickstarter backer party if you’ve got time Friday night, we’d love to meet as many … #LINK#

| Episode 90 | Announcements The Excellence In Innovation Award finalists are up, check them out! Now, onto the show! Topics  Red Aegis Red Aegis is an age-spanning RPG currently being Kickstarted that you should check out. You’ll control an entire house/clan/dynasty and … #LINK#

| Episode 89 | Announcements The Excellence In Innovation Award nominations have come to an end, stay tuned for an update on our finalists for the year! And now, on with the show! Topics  What Movie Is Your Game? A recent discussion came up that prompts us to ask you, what movie is your game like? We don't necessarily mean plot as much as we mean the overall ethos of the game itself. Micah and I give some examples and want to know what movie/show your game is. Pay What You Want...Forever? Recently Troll In the Corner tried going "pay what you want" for all of its materials and has decided to keep it that way. Micah and I discuss the premise a bit and wonder if it will work in the long run? Gives us your two cents! Planning Your Game Once again, a great article from Gnome Stew on prepping for your games. How to do it better and certain pitfalls many GMs fall into when prepping. Heed their advice and be sure to tell us all of your faux-pas in game prep, as well as you best tips too! Tip Corner Debating starting up a new ongoing campaign and can't decide which genre/system to pick? Run some trial one shots with your group to figure out what to jump into for the long haul! Twitter Poll @Photostyle asks: Any advice on how to develop spontaneity for GMs who aren't good at on-the-fly GMing? Listen to find out! Music Credits | Intro: "Prelude" | Outro: "Stande Alone" | by LukHash |

| Episode 88 | Announcements The Excellence In Innovation Awards are going on once again, be sure to cast your votes! Also, sorry for the delay in episodes - we've been pretty busy over here! Topics  Mini Painting Advice Painting miniatures can be daunting, especially after a huge thing like the Reaper Miniatures kickstarter, check out this article on how to get the job done and not freak out about having tons of unpainted minis laying around. D&DNext Cosmology Unveiled In a recent Legends & Lore article, Mike Mearls pulled the covers off of D&D Next's cosmology. Some interesting stuff in here, especially about Spelljammer. Be sure to check it out and let us know what you think! Advice For...(gasp) Players! It's not that often that we see articles that aim to actually help players, and to top it off - this one is actually really good. Be sure to check it out and discuss with us your own tips for players old and new, did they miss anything in this article? Disagree? Enlighten us! Tip Corner Tip: A user Carlos from Brazil wrote us to provide a tip for the infamous "Two NPC's talking to one another dilemma" with the following: 1.) Ask 1 or 2 players to do the roleplaying of the NPCs (with a quick briefing) themselves - fun and get the table engaged or 2.) I do a written dialog and again ask 1 or 2 players to read it. Twitter Poll We are asking you! How many of you refer to gaming in general as "D&D" regardless of what system you play? Listen to find out! Music Credits | Intro: "Prelude" | Outro: "Stande Alone" | by LukHash |

| Episode 87 | Announcements Be sure to check out FreeRPGDay this year if your local shop is participating, and buy something while you're there - don't be a bum! Also, if you're going to be at the Origins Game fair shoot me a tweet and we can meet up and say hey! Topics  Oh Pat Robertson... Recently Pat Robertson was caught talking about Dungeons & Dragons again, this time comparing it to anorexia, bulimia, and suicide. He also referenced it among "many other" demonic games. It's good to know that Pat keeps up to speed on the gaming industry and all of its evils. Mich and I discuss, and ask you how you'd pitch an RPG to good ol' Pat if you wanted to get his granddaughter involved. Exclusive D&DNext Adventure At Gencon WotC is selling an exclusive Genon-only mini-campaign module for D&DNext this year for the cool price of $30. Micah and I discuss selling beta rules, collectors items, and a bunch more stuff which dovetails nicely into... Fred Hicks Discusses Pay What You Want RPG Pricing Slightly re-touching on a recent episode where we discussed RPG bundles, Fred Hicks from Evil Hat has put together yet another splendidly candid blog post about these kinds of pricing models and marketing mechanisms. It's a great read and lots to think about for those of us who like to nerd out on the industry side of things. Tip Corner No tip, but we've got a Kickstarter update on the reforging process. Tune in to hear all about it! Twitter Poll @Mandarific asks: Why do most groups want to go for the dining room table to game even for games that can be just as easily played on the couch? Listen to find out! Music Credits | Intro: "Prelude" | Outro: "Stande Alone" | by LukHash |

| Episode 86 | Announcements Shout out to DM Chris from his friend Ben Kramer (@BenKramer) for successfully running a year long campaign and bringing it to conclusion. That's a hard thing to do! Topics  Gnome Stew's Odyssey on Pre-Order You can begin pre-ordering the new how to manage a campaign book from Gnome Stew! This feels like a great resources to all kinds of GMs. Is it worth $25 though? Listen to find out. D&DNext Hit Points Discussion In a recent Legends & Lore article, Mike Mearls discusses what HP means in D&D and how they fluctuate depending on the overall purpose and feel of your game and its genre. Micah and I discuss HP and our feelings on Next so far. Sly Flourish Giving Away Running Epic Tier Games Book for Free Mike Shea is letting the whole world read his helpful 4th edition guide to running epic tier games for free. Of course you don't get Jared Von Hindman's wacky artwork to go with it, but we think this is a really cool idea, as well as a great resource for those who are running (or wanting to run) epic tier D&D 4e games. Tip Corner Take a page out of George RR Martin’s book, and kill off one of your unkillable NPCs. If you’ve seen the jaw-dropping response to the latest episode of Game of Thrones, you’ll know how powerful a move like that can be! Twitter Poll @SVDPress asks: How do you rekindle the passion for gaming after literally years of barely/not playing? Listen to find out! Music Credits | Intro: "Prelude" | Outro: "Stande Alone" | by LukHash |

| Episode 85 | Announcements We bring with heavy hearts the bad news that legendary author Jack Vance has passed away. If you've played D&D in some format or another you have been touched by his work, if you were unfamiliar with him we suggest reading more about his amazing life. Also the fine folks at d20Burlesque need some help getting to cons this year, if you'd like to see one of their shows at a con you're going to or if you just appreciate half-naked nerds consider pitching in. Topics  Deadly Sins of Published Adventures A good yet infinitely-debatable post up on Stargazers world has us wondering, what do you use published adventures for? So many things with them can just go wrong or seem to over complicate things, do you idea mine them like we do? RPG Bundles for Charity Recently we've seen a few projects in the tabletop RPG space pop up that are very similar to the Humble Bundle videogame pay-what-you-want packs. Namely the Tabletop Drop and the Bundle of Holding and while these are great both in value and in cause we are wondering exactly how practical/usable they actually are. 2 Years In Retrospective Haste has been around for 2 years now, where did we come from and where are we headed? What makes you want to listen to the next episode? We really want to know! Thank you all for listening to us for this long! Tip Corner Gaming may come with huge spikes and droughts for some of us, but don’t always jump on the first chance you have to start up a group. Jumping into an ongoing campaign with near-strangers can lead to some disastrous situations. Feel everyone out first, play some one shots, invite them over for a non-RPG function to see how you mesh before “jumping into the sack” with them for a long campaign. It may save you a lot of time and headache. Twitter Poll @ForbesTay (Taylor Forbes) asks: When wanting to play multiple systems should we alternate weeks or do mini campaigns? Listen to find out! Music Credits | Intro: "Prelude" | Outro: "Stande Alone" | by LukHash |