Mythic Magazine Podcast 1.1 - A Chat With Trevor Devall

I loved this! Man Trevor is such a treat. This made me think of a piece of advice I often give in screen writing- don’t have babies. If you’re first starting out, don’t feel too committed to a story. Just try one. When you care less about your ‘baby’, you’re not afraid to experiment, you’re not afraid to let it a little tarnish while you get used to things. It gives you permission to learn, instead of playing on the defensive to protect a world/idea/story that is very important to you. Roll up a world from scratch. Consider it a test environment. Feel free to twist it! Break it! You’ll be rewarded when you finally come around to that story that’s close to you.

I will let you know. I have a little more practicing to do but I'm getting close!

I haven't seen that one. Once you dive into it, and if you feel the inspiration to do so, I'd love to hear how it ran for you with solo play.

Thanks, Tana, for listing some systems. I've been doing 5E so far but I purchased the mega tome Player's Manual for Das Schwarze Auge (The Dark Eye). Have you tried that one? It's a bit more crunchier than 5E.

Thank you Kevin, I'm glad you like them! When it comes to the best RPGs to solo with, there's a lot of different opinions about that. Personally, I enjoy playing solo with any system, even very crunchy ones. However, I am also the kind of player where I am fine ignoring rules, winging it, or having Mythic take over from the RPG at times, so I rarely play exactly as the RPG intends. If you want to play an RPG exactly as written, then there probably are some games that work better in solo than others. When it comes to systems that are most compatible with Mythic in this sense, there are games that I often hear mentioned. Savage Worlds is one of them. It came out the same year Mythic did, and from the beginning people have been frequently pairing the two games. In fact, the first Mythic online fan site was actually all about using Mythic with SW. Another system that pairs well is Fate, which has a design philosophy that clicks well with Mythic. Both of those games have one thing in common: the rules are all about making good narrative experiences. Since Mythic focuses on generating narrative, it makes sense they would play well together. However, again, it's all a matter of taste. Some of my favorite solo experiences were playing Call of Cthulhu. I've had lots of really good D&D experiences, and I never felt I had a problem even when I played exactly as the RPG was intended.

This was so great to listen to. I've been watching Me, Myself, and Die for some time now (I need to watch the latest episode to season 4 now!) and been using Mythic for a while as I expand into the variations more. One thing that would be awesome to learn more about is which systems do you and Trevor think are best, or better, for solo roleplaying. He mentioned D&D 5E isn't the best as well as Dominion, which he used in MM&D Season 3. What systems are better? I'm looking forward to listening to the other podcasts. Thanks, Tana, for recording and sharing these!

Finally got around to listening to this. This was a fantastic episode! I need to go back and watch Me Myself and Die! I saw a few episodes and really enjoyed it, just never finished it.

Excellent interview. 10 out of 10. Thanks so much, Tana! Vinnie

I literally got in this patreon to be able to listen to this interview and I ended up finding out that I had been buying the magazines when I could be here, participating more and STILL getting the magazines! So yeah, I'm here to stay!

Really enjoyed this interview! I discovered Mythic through 'Me, Myself, & Die' so this was really interesting.

This was a lot of fun! Some of the things you guys talked about were very encouraging, as well as the reminder to not take interpretations so literally all the time, which is something I struggle with. I love solo roleplaying, but I often struggle with interpretations. I'm trying to get looser about it though!

This was delightful and very instructive, just as I knew it would be! Both of you are a giant gift to this community. Listening to Trevor talk about his railroading phase and finding D&D age 7 in the 70s like me, I suddenly realised something obvious. Back then (the 70s and 80s and into the late 90s) DMs (and players) couldn't watch one another (except at conventions and other rarities). We learned from experience (the hard way) and from reading magazine articles (of which there were few). Watching one another play (Critical Role, all the podcasts, Trevor) is such a concrete way to learn such an abstract set of skills. Back then we were all alone in our journey and could not really learn from one another. And now I am sounding like an old old man and should probably stop, but how things have changed - for the better! Now it's not just HUGELY popular and that we get to share our thoughts easily like here, we get even to watch one another do this mysterious thing. I feel like we are really getting to the creative spirit at the heart of all these games, penetrating deep into the workshop thanks to solo and the internet. Thank you both so much for being such an inspirational part of this discovery.

Oustanding. I had no problems with the audio. This should be a "How to SoloPlay" class 101. Also, I nice article idea might be what makes a system good, or bad, for use in solo play. A list of systems might also be nice.

Ohhh, want so much to listen to it, I hope to get it on the weekend! (btw, initially read it as a chat with Terror ...)

This was great! Hearing you two talk about keeping the tension and how to ask questions and what questions to ask was insightful. Also keeping a focus on what the Character wants and what they are willing to do to get it really sticks out for me.

I like how you discussed rising chaos with increasing tension, 😎 cool stuff.

What a great conversation! Thanks so much for sharing it with us!

I think it’s the first and only time I’ve listened to an interview in which I’ve interviewed everyone involved myself. That was a very nice discussion, Tana. And lovely podcast, I hope we get more episodes of it!

This was awesome. And I did not mind Tana's audio at all.

This was a joy to listen to.