Episode 529: More Cryptids Than It Can Consume Domestically
Jan 06, 2023
Show notes
We start by whittling some polyhedrals in the Gaming Hut, as beloved Patreon backer Derrick Yates asks us to sketch out an Appalachian cryptid campaign.
In The Business of Gaming we discuss another reason the books you’re waiting for are late, the great freelancer / creator crash-out of 2022.
Then another long dormant segment returns, as Ken and Robin Recycle Audio from the Dragonmeet Horror Roleplaying Masterclass.
Finally alien ears perk up in the Eliptony Hut as we profile UFO gadfly Gray Barker.
Rejoice, fans of Atlas Games and Ken and Robin. Atlas Games is running its most Ken and Robiny promotion ever. Atlas publishes books from both of us and for a limited time only you can get 20% off those books with the promo code KENANDROBIN23 at the Atlas Games store: https://atlas-games.com/product_tables/.
Track down foul sorcerers in a corrupt city, clamber through underground ruins and investigate the intrigues of your decadent rivals in Swords of the Serpentine, the GUMSHOE game of swords, sorcery and mystery, now available from Pelgrane Press.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Delta Green Iconoclasts, a campaign of horrors modern and ancient, brings a team of Agents to a scene of horrors all too real: Mosul in 2016, held by the self-styled Islamic State in a reign of depraved brutality. From a small base at the Kirkuk airfield, the Agents must research the horrors to come and prepare for a harrowing infiltration. Terrors and new supplementary material await, now in PDF, hardback now in preorder.
Episode 528: Live at Dragonmeet
Dec 23, 2022
Show notes
After nearly three chaotic years, the universe has begun to right itself, as you can tell when this episode recorded live at Dragonmeet enters your ear canals. Ken answers the call of the nerdtrope card. Then, fortified by sticky toffee pudding and Christmas sandwiches, we talk topical villains, the cure for cursed dice, the occult nature of various drinks, and more.
Fill every stocking with social deduction. Tis in fact the season for Weird Little Elf, Atlas Games’ perfect not-boring activity for your next holiday gathering.
Track down foul sorcerers in a corrupt city, clamber through underground ruins and investigate the intrigues of your decadent rivals in Swords of the Serpentine, the GUMSHOE game of swords, sorcery and mystery, now available from Pelgrane Press.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Delta Green Iconoclasts, a campaign of horrors modern and ancient, brings a team of Agents to a scene of horrors all too real: Mosul in 2016, held by the self-styled Islamic State in a reign of depraved brutality. From a small base at the Kirkuk airfield, the Agents must research the horrors to come and prepare for a harrowing infiltration. Terrors and new supplementary material await, now in PDF, hardback now in preorder.
Episode 527: 100% Game Handoutable
Dec 16, 2022
Show notes
Our weary protagonists, fresh from Dragonmeet, stumble into the Gaming Hut. There they undergo the sort of deductive epiphany required, as per a request from beloved Patreon backer Keelan O’Hea, to bring visual “aha” moments into investigative games.
Then London’s National Gallery becomes the Culture Hut as our heroes recall their visit to its current Lucian Freud and Winslow Homer shows.
Seasoned listeners, at the mention of Dragonmeet, know what comes next: Ken’s Bookshelf finally returns to plunder Foyles and Treadwell’s.
Fill every stocking with social deduction. Tis in fact the season for Weird Little Elf, Atlas Games’ perfect not-boring activity for your next holiday gathering.
Track down foul sorcerers in a corrupt city, clamber through underground ruins and investigate the intrigues of your decadent rivals in Swords of the Serpentine, the GUMSHOE game of swords, sorcery and mystery, now available from Pelgrane Press.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Delta Green Iconoclasts, a campaign of horrors modern and ancient, brings a team of Agents to a scene of horrors all too real: Mosul in 2016, held by the self-styled Islamic State in a reign of depraved brutality. From a small base at the Kirkuk airfield, the Agents must research the horrors to come and prepare for a harrowing infiltration. Terrors and new supplementary material await, now in PDF, hardback now in preorder.
Episode 526: From What Steve Did
Dec 09, 2022
Show notes
We start as per usual in the Gaming Hut, where this time beloved Patreon backer Bart Mallio asks for tips on combining The Esoterrorists with Night’s Black Agents.
Then we move onto an ever-shifting southwestern Culture Hut, as estimable backer Robert Wolfe seeks knowledge on cartoonist George Herriman’s Krazy Kat and its effect on the dreamlands.
Our scene shifts again to a tangled birch woods, as the Archaeology Hut examines the Beardmore find, a Viking hoax that fooled the Royal Ontario Museum.
Finally, at the behest of insightful backer Benjamin Rawls, the Consulting Occultist turns his gaze to Japan and its Happy Science cult.
Fill every stocking with social deduction. Tis in fact the season for Weird Little Elf, Atlas Games’ perfect not-boring activity for your next holiday gathering.
Track down foul sorcerers in a corrupt city, clamber through underground ruins and investigate the intrigues of your decadent rivals in Swords of the Serpentine, the GUMSHOE game of swords, sorcery and mystery, now available from Pelgrane Press.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Delta Green Iconoclasts, a campaign of horrors modern and ancient, brings a team of Agents to a scene of horrors all too real: Mosul in 2016, held by the self-styled Islamic State in a reign of depraved brutality. From a small base at the Kirkuk airfield, the Agents must research the horrors to come and prepare for a harrowing infiltration. Terrors and new supplementary material await, now in PDF, hardback now in preorder.
Episode 525: Neptune Reveal Party
Dec 02, 2022
Show notes
In the Gaming Hut we look at scenario text as a place to put GM advice.
At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Bret Kramer the History Hut hosts the tale of German-born eventual doctor Gottfried Knoche, who in the late 19th century took his penchant for mummification innovation to Venezuela.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Ken chats with Heather O’Neill, designer of Meeple Party and Schrödinger’s Cats.
Finally, our hero revs up Ken’s Time Machine to assist the Antemnates against Romulus, the first king of Rome.
Godsforge, Atlas Games’ fast-paced game of battling spellcasters, is now on Kickstarter. Grab wizardly first dibs on the new 2nd Edition of Godsforge, and two new expansions, Return of the Dragon Gods and Twilight of the Great Houses, from November 8 to December 8th.
Track down foul sorcerers in a corrupt city, clamber through underground ruins and investigate the intrigues of your decadent rivals in Swords of the Serpentine, the GUMSHOE game of swords, sorcery and mystery, now available from Pelgrane Press.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Delta Green Iconoclasts, a campaign of horrors modern and ancient, brings a team of Agents to a scene of horrors all too real: Mosul in 2016, held by the self-styled Islamic State in a reign of depraved brutality. From a small base at the Kirkuk airfield, the Agents must research the horrors to come and prepare for a harrowing infiltration. Terrors and new supplementary material await, now in PDF, hardback now in preorder.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Andor, Guardians Holiday Special, and Wednesday
Nov 29, 2022
Show notes
Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.
Recommended
Andor Season 1 (Television, US, Disney+, Tony Gilroy, 2022) After a fatal run-in with security guards on the industrial world of Ferrix, small-time criminal Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) accepts recruitment for a one-time heist mission from a mysterious rebel operative (Stellan Skarsgård.) Ensemble drama hoards the space opera thrills in favor of the question: what if all the spear-carriers in the Star Wars universe were fleshed-out people working through complicated inner conflicts?—RDL
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (Television, US, Disney+, James Gunn, 2022) To give Peter Quill (Christopher Pratt) the perfect Christmas, Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) go to Earth to get him the perfect present, legendary hero Kevin Bacon (Kevin Bacon.) Goofy, affectionate Yuletide comedy rehabilitates the concept of the Star Wars Holiday special, showcasing the comedy duo of Bautista and Klementieff.—RDL
Hangmen Also Die! (Film, US, Fritz Lang, 1943) After killing “Hangman” Heydrich, Dr. Svoboda (Brian Donlevy) takes refuge with a chance-met girl (Anna Lee), endangering her professor father (Walter Brennan) when the Nazis take hostages to smoke him out. After a slow start, Lang ratchets up the tension in a weird echo of M as the Nazis hunt Svoboda and the Resistance frames a patsy. Story (and uncredited scripting) by Bertolt Brecht! –KH
Lost Bullet 2 (Film, France, Guillaume Pierret, 2022) Ace mechanic Lino (Alban Lenoir) obsessively hunts the killer of his brother and mentor as his ex Julie (Stefie Celma) unwillingly covers for her fellow cops. Both fights and car chases improve in this sequel, which is more than reason enough to watch it. Morgan Dalibert’s cinematography captures the open road of light and speed beautifully. –KH
Wednesday Season 1 (Television, US, Netflix, 2022) Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) resolves to rebel against her new school, the exclusive academy for supernatural outcasts her parents Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Gomez (Luis Guzman) attended, but finds an extracurricular interest in mystery-solving when a series of killings threatens the community. Clever import of an existing property into the Veronica Mars formula. Much depends on Ortega’s amazing ability to convey the vulnerability of her hard-nut, selfish character through the eyes alone.—RDL
Episode 524: Let’s Just Dump It in the West
Nov 25, 2022
Show notes
In the Gaming Hut we mull a peculiar property of RPGs as narrative, the expectation that a scenario will set up more plot elements than it actually pays off.
At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Jurie Horneman, the Cartography Hut gets out a map to look at the 50 square mile legal loophole known as Yellowstone’s Zone of Death.
Then the Tradecraft Hut delves into recent headlines suggesting that the Chinese government has set up clandestine police stations throughout the world, including three of them in Robin’s Toronto stomping grounds.
Finally we finally get around to a segment we assumed we had done long ago, venturing into the Eliptony Hut to celebrate that most illustrious of cryptids, Mothman.
Godsforge, Atlas Games’ fast-paced game of battling spellcasters, is now on Kickstarter. Grab wizardly first dibs on the new 2nd Edition of Godsforge, and two new expansions, Return of the Dragon Gods and Twilight of the Great Houses, from November 8 to December 8th.
Track down foul sorcerers in a corrupt city, clamber through underground ruins and investigate the intrigues of your decadent rivals in Swords of the Serpentine, the GUMSHOE game of swords, sorcery and mystery, now available from Pelgrane Press.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Delta Green Iconoclasts, a campaign of horrors modern and ancient, brings a team of Agents to a scene of horrors all too real: Mosul in 2016, held by the self-styled Islamic State in a reign of depraved brutality. From a small base at the Kirkuk airfield, the Agents must research the horrors to come and prepare for a harrowing infiltration. Terrors and new supplementary material await, now in PDF, hardback now in preorder.
Episode 523: Never Seen With a Windsock
Nov 18, 2022
Show notes
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Elias Helfer asks us how to start researching real-world places we intend to use in our games.
The Archaeology Hut dusts off a request from estimable backer Steve Dempsey for a profile of innovative site diggers Tessa and Mortimer Wheeler.
At the behest of regal backer Paul Douglas the Mythology Hut checks of the theory of Iranian influence on Arthurian legend.
Finally the Consulting Occultist reaches into his tarot collection for HEXEN 2.0, making this also a Culture Hut installment about its creator, contemporary artist Suzanne Treister.
Godsforge, Atlas Games’ fast-paced game of battling spellcasters, is now on Kickstarter. Grab wizardly first dibs on the new 2nd Edition of Godsforge, and two new expansions, Return of the Dragon Gods and Twilight of the Great Houses, from November 8 to December 8th.
Track down foul sorcerers in a corrupt city, clamber through underground ruins and investigate the intrigues of your decadent rivals in Swords of the Serpentine, the GUMSHOE game of swords, sorcery and mystery, now available from Pelgrane Press.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Delta Green Iconoclasts, a campaign of horrors modern and ancient, brings a team of Agents to a scene of horrors all too real: Mosul in 2016, held by the self-styled Islamic State in a reign of depraved brutality. From a small base at the Kirkuk airfield, the Agents must research the horrors to come and prepare for a harrowing infiltration. Terrors and new supplementary material await, now in PDF, hardback now in preorder.
Episode 522: Pre-Rex
Nov 11, 2022
Show notes
As noted wearers of colorful shirts, we are uniquely qualified to enter a Hawaiian edition of the Gaming Hut. There we respond to the call of beloved Patreon backer Kristian Groenseth, who wants to us to fit Magnum P.I. into Trail of Cthulhu.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Ken talks with J-M and Trish deFoggi about projects incluuuuding 13th Age books and their Dark Owl publishing company.
With the remarkably preserved fossil of the nodosaur Borealopelta back in the news, estimable backer Ross Ireland wants to know whether it heralds a resurgence of Yig worship, or a plain old ordinary return of the dinosaurs. Fun With Science is here to help.
And finally Ken’s Time Machine goes to 1675, a year of war in Europe, and we find out which conflict our vaunted chrono-protagonist wishes to intervene in.
Godsforge, Atlas Games’ fast-paced game of battling spellcasters, is now on Kickstarter. Grab wizardly first dibs on the new 2nd Edition of Godsforge, and two new expansions, Return of the Dragon Gods and Twilight of the Great Houses, from November 8 to December 8th.
Track down foul sorcerers in a corrupt city, clamber through underground ruins and investigate the intrigues of your decadent rivals in Swords of the Serpentine, the GUMSHOE game of swords, sorcery and mystery, now available from Pelgrane Press.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Delta Green Iconoclasts, a campaign of horrors modern and ancient, brings a team of Agents to a scene of horrors all too real: Mosul in 2016, held by the self-styled Islamic State in a reign of depraved brutality. From a small base at the Kirkuk airfield, the Agents must research the horrors to come and prepare for a harrowing infiltration. Terrors and new supplementary material await, now in PDF, hardback now in preorder.
Episode 521: You Can’t See Atlantis for All the Cheese Curds
Nov 04, 2022
Show notes
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Neil Barnes dons his lovingly constructed Benjamin Disraeli costume to ask how to best portray historical figures at the roleplaying table.
The Cinema Hut looks at the flattening of cinematography in the streaming era, asking the question that is on all of your lips. Is Netflix the new Natalie Kalmus?
Finally a Powell’s sales clerk in Portland breathes a sigh of relief as Ken’s Bookshelf shudders with the weight of his most recent acquisition event, undertaken porely for our vicarious enjoyment.
Godsforge, Atlas Games’ fast-paced game of battling spellcasters, is now on Kickstarter. Grab wizardly first dibs on the new 2nd Edition of Godsforge, and two new expansions, Return of the Dragon Gods and Twilight of the Great Houses, from November 8 to December 8th.
Track down foul sorcerers in a corrupt city, clamber through underground ruins and investigate the intrigues of your decadent rivals in Swords of the Serpentine, the GUMSHOE game of swords, sorcery and mystery, now available from Pelgrane Press.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Delta Green Iconoclasts, a campaign of horrors modern and ancient, brings a team of Agents to a scene of horrors all too real: Mosul in 2016, held by the self-styled Islamic State in a reign of depraved brutality. From a small base at the Kirkuk airfield, the Agents must research the horrors to come and prepare for a harrowing infiltration. Terrors and new supplementary material await, now in PDF, hardback now in preorder.
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