No more theory — this one is actual play so you can see exactly how 2D20 works at the table in real time. James Gordon Ross is back, this time as Overseer James, running James and Chuckie through a live Fallout 2D20 demo. Tune in for the conclusion next week, and check out the video version on our Patreon for free.

Chuckie's playing Petey Redwing, vault dweller, level two, first day above ground.

James is playing Westmoreland, his loyal Mr. Handy with a flamethrower and questionable medical skills.

Mission: negotiate a trade agreement with Megaton.

Problem: zero caps, zero water, and a GM who is not going easy on them.

What Happens:

• First roll of the session is a difficulty zero Science check and Petey immediately fails it. Welcome to 2D20.
• How action points, momentum, and assists actually work when you're figuring it out in real time
• Gobtholomew the ghoul bartender, who has no interest in anyone who can't pay
• Shiloh, a caravan guard with a badly set broken arm and a lead on abandoned chems in Deathclaw territory
• Kit, a Schlocket Industries robot who steals Petey's canteen and introduces himself as "Hello, I'm Kit and you are poor"
• A bottle cap mine through a bar window, then a second one, and Westmoreland pulling off a six-success defuse

Also: Weird Candy joins the Patreon at the Gooder tier. Welcome.

Good GMs is a weekly podcast for the people who run the game. New episodes every week on YouTube and all major audio platforms. Bonus content and exclusive Actual Plays on our Patreon.

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James Gordon Ross returns to teach James and Chuckie the 2D20 system (Modiphius), using his 120-session Fallout campaign as the working example. A real toolbox episode for anyone curious about momentum-based dice systems.

✨Pro-Tips✨

• How momentum works: extra successes roll into a shared pool the whole party can spend from, so one hot roller can carry the table
• Threat: the GM's mirror currency, and why players almost never spend it to buy extra dice, even after 120 sessions of chances
• Why even a "boring" roll, like diagnosing an injury, can generate momentum and matters more than it looks on paper
• How contested rolls work versus a flat difficulty, using an arm-wrestling example to break it down
• Chuckie's go-to litmus test for sizing up any new system: how do you do a headshot?
• A quick aside on what different systems call their GM (Keeper, Overseer, Dean, Marshall) and why that title hints at the kind of game you are playing

Also in this one: a Savage Worlds East Texas University one-shot recap, a peek at Daggerheart character creation, and the usual chaos of recording live.

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James and Chuckie talk about one of the most underrated GM skills out there — making NPCs that your players actually give a damn about. Chuckie's got a gift for this stuff. The voices, the dialogue, running full conversations between characters — James has been wanting to pick his brain about it for a while, and this episode is the result.

✨Pro-Tips✨

1. Props, even imaginary ones, are Chuckie's go-to trick for snapping into a character fast. Give your NPC a tie, a pair of glasses, a way they fidget — and suddenly you've got someone to play. He tells the story of Cockroach, from his Vampire: The Masquerade campaign. Sophisticated guy. Always adjusting the tie.
2. You don't have to do the voices! Seriously. If you can't do accents, don't. Tell the table someone has a deep southern drawl and their brain fills it in for free. That's the Welcome to Night Vale trick — the audience's mind canon does the heavy lifting. The catchphrase is a prop too
3. Trust yourself. Start with motivation and let the character build in real time. If you commit to it and you're having fun with it, your players are going to want to come back.

Happy Canada Day buds, get out there and give'er!

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