Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Episode 16: But At What Cost?

Hoo boy, editing this episode took a lot out of me. The editing process is a bit more intensive than in previous episodes because I'm still working out using a sound gate to remove echo from my voice, though the results are awesome. I think the sound quality of this episode is probably the best we've ever had, and while editing this I was laughing out loud and having a great time editing until the wee hours of the morning. Audacity had been giving me some hiccups lately (randomly freezing, being generally slow, etc.) but nothing a couple restarts couldn't fix, right? Well, when I was done editing at 4:00 am (around my usual bedtime), I went to save the file before I exported it, and while Audacity was saving the file, it crashed. The whole thing. By the time I was able to get it back up, the "recovered file" was completely useless. (It was still there, but every minute or so there'd be a big gap of like ten seconds where the audio was completely gone.)

Now, that's not the biggest issue there could be, because I always save multiple times (and I always keep a Master File of each episode in a separate folder so there's no chance of ever deleting an entire episode). However, my last save had been almost two hours prior, so that meant that those two hours were gone. Gone, I say! So I had to edit most of the episode twice. I've never gone from feeling so good about an episode to feeling so angry towards it in such a short period of time.

But wait a minute, is this the blog where Gabe complains about his editing woes? No! This is the Inter-Party Conflict blog, where I post show notes! So in this episode we talk about mazes, cartoon paintbrushes, killing PCs and we had our first heavily rules-based question. So I hope you enjoy it! We had a great time making it until Audacity crapped the bed.

If any of you have any questions for us to discuss, any magic items for the Dragon's Hoard, or if you have any suggestions for an audio editing program that doesn't suck, e-mail us at InterPartyConflict@gmail.com!

Episode 16: No Mazes Allowed

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Questions answered this episode:

1. Have you ever used a map for a dungeon that was intentionally drawn to be a maze or labyrinth? How did you go about making it, or did you use a pre-made one?

2. Do you think the 5e wizards familiar in conjunction with the help action is too powerful particularly with an owl?

3. How do you handle character death? What's your philosophy? Have you ever killed a character and had their player quit playing because of that?

(Technically, ZeusAndHisBeard also asked Jeff how he was doing, but I'm not counting that.)


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Noteworthy links:

Bendy and the Ink Machine

A Youtube video about Owl Familiars and the Help action

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Hey everybody, it's episode 15!

Today was a great day! Not only did I get the episode up, but it's my wife's birthday, AND the anniversary of when we bought our house. Awesome stuff all around. This episode is a little bit shorter than most, but hopefully it's still a good one. We talk about custom magic items, personality vs. alignment, and I even go into a digression about characters with 18s in every stat. What more could you ask for in an episode?

The Dragon's Hoard item was submitted by my brother Ted (not the one who wrote the Mountain Witch, but the other one) and I think it's a good one. By the time this post goes up it should be in the Dragon's Hoard post (which you can find by clicking on the link in the sidebar). We've got a couple more lined up for the next couple episodes, but if you want to submit any homebrew items to us, or if you have any questions for us to discuss, send them to InterPartyConflict@gmail.com! We always need more questions, so keep 'em coming.

Enjoy the episode, and see you next week!

Episode 15: Item Creation

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Questions answered this episode:

1. What are some tips for designing custom magic items for my players?

2. Do you think a certain alignment lends itself to a certain personality?


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Noteworthy links:

Hollandspiele, my friend Tom's board game store (Also, he's got a podcast you can listen to as well!)


College of Lore, a rules-based discussion podcast from the makers of Dicey Tales

Friday, April 14, 2017

Dragon's Hoard Items

Edit: This post was transposed into a separate page (located in the sidebar up and to the right side of the blog). Click there to see a running list of all Dragon's Hoard items!

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Episode 14: New and Improved (Hopefully)

So, I've made a new development in my eternal struggle for better sound quality: I figured out how to use a Noise Gate plugin. Hopefully this will reduce the amount of echo when I speak, which has been something that's bugging me since like episode 3. I experimented a bit with this episode, and I think I'm happy with the result, though there were one or two times where it cut off something Jeff was saying right at the end. Hopefully we can find a way to fine-tune it beyond that.

In this episode we have our first intelligent item submitted to the Dragon's Hoard! And it's a doozy. If any of you out there would like to submit homebrew items for the Dragon's Hoard, or to submit questions for our discussion, please send them to InterPartyConflict@gmail.com! We really appreciate it. We also go into a lot of tangents on this episode but there's still lots of good discussion in there too.

I want to take a quick moment to mention a website run by a good friend of mine: Hollandspiele. Its proprietors, Tom and Mary, are good friends of mine and they make board games! I recommend checking them out whenever you get a chance. They also have a short podcast where they talk about their upcoming releases (among other things) so check that out too. I'll mention them in the next episode of Inter-Party Conflict but I keep forgetting to so I'm putting this here so I don't forget again.

Anyway, enjoy the episode! Leave us a review or a rating on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Youtube, or whatever. Tell your friends about us. Do it.

Episode 14: Keep It Consistent

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Questions answered this episode:

1. Are there any 5th Edition rules that don't exist that you think should exist?

2. How far should I take an (in-character) grudge?

3. How do you maintain a specific tone (serious, comedic, etc) in your games?

4. For games with variable players (like PFS, AL, or other public forum games), should they strive to be suitable for all ages, or have a contingency for when younger players do participate?

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Noteworthy links:


Order of the Stick, a great long-running webcomic you've probably heard referenced without realizing it

A great video series about running a 5e game (the particular episode I linked is about 4e and how you can use it to make your 5e game better)


Sky High, a documentary from 2005 about one kid's struggle to be accepted by his parents and his school system

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Week 13: A Lovely April Morning

Funny story: I got this episode completely edited, uploaded to Soundcloud, and I was in the process of converting the file to video to post on Youtube when I realized that the file I was converting had somehow become 70 minutes of pure silence (including the file I'd uploaded to Soundcloud). Luckily, I save multiple versions of every episode as I'm editing, so as to not have to record the whole thing over again. (My hard drive is none too happy about it, though.)

Which is good, because I am very pleased with this episode! I think we cover some important issues and we make a compelling argument. (I just hope listeners feel the same way.) In this episode we talk about all sorts of problem players, telling your players to get the lead out and sado-masochistic obsessions. Er... something like that. Also Star Trek.

If you can, hit us up on iTunes and leave us a review. Or Stitcher, or Youtube, or wherever you get your podcasts. We really appreciate it! You can also submit questions and items of your own to InterPartyConflict@gmail.com. We'll read them on the air, and even say whatever name you tell us! (Within reason. Don't tell me your name is Gabe Sucksatdeendeeyadvice, unless you can provide a photo of a valid driver's license or passport.)

Episode 13: Rather Problematic

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Questions answered this episode:

1. Would you as a DM ever use a timer to force a player to act quickly in combat? (Rather than letting them fumble to figure out what to do on their turn?)

2. Have you experimented with reskinning classes and class features to emulate new or un-updated material?

3. How do you avoid being the problem player?

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Noteworthy links:

Farscape, one of the best Science Fiction television shows of all time

Star Trek: Generations

Whirling Frenzy Barbarian variant from the 3.5 Unearthed Arcana

Twin Humanities, a Dark Souls podcast