Nov. 12, 2021

Emotions

This episode I'm joined by Mike "The Birdman" Dodd from This Week in Geek to discuss all about how TTRPGs make us feel. Part of the Game Master's job is to elicit emotions from their players, so we discuss a few ways this can be achieved in your system of choice. Often this will take the form of some classic tropes such as "victory, but at a cost", however it really depends on what you want them to feel at that specific time. Sometimes it's excitement, others is shock or even horror. The tools you use, and when you use them, will have a huge impact on how your players feel. We move on to discussing how a critical component of engaging players is selling "the world", and one easy way to do this is through pop culture and established settings. It's much easier for players to feel immersed in Star Wars or Ghostbusters than it is "My Generic Fantasy Setting A".  Ultimately, emotional response and immersion are correlated, so anything you can do to increase the latter only has a positive effect on the former.

Note: This was an accidental duplicate of the original "Emotion" topic back in Season 1. Go check it out for a different perspective! I have no idea how this slipped me by!

  • 03:55 - Eliciting Emotions
  • 23:29 - Emotive Feedback Loop
  • 40:06 - Benefits of Pop Culture in Campaign Setting
  • 53:44 - Portraying Character Emotions

Find Mike 'The Birdman' on:

Find me on:

References:

Intro Music: 'Local Forecast' by Kevin MacLeod
Intermission Music: 'Chill' by Kevin MacLeod
Outro Music: 'Local Forecast - Elevator' by Kevin MacLeod

Mike “The Birdman” Profile Photo

Mike “The Birdman”

Executive producer / Host / Indigenous & disabled advocate

Host of This week in geek and frequent collaborator with other shows such as Nerd to the third power and Geekcast radio network.

Podcasting and broadcasting since 2007 at thisweekingeek.net

Has appeared on international radio / television such as Kevin Smith’s “Comic book men” and radio stations across Canada and the US.