The Vintage RPG Podcast

Latest Episodes:

White Plume Mountain Jul 27, 2020

Show notes

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we check out the infamous White Plume Mountain, by Lawrence Schick, one of the greatest fun house dungeons of all time, featuring a strangely seafood-centric assortment of foes, now that I am thinking about it. Anyway! We chat about how the module came to be, revel in its glorious ridiculousness and drop an interesting factoid about what Schick has been up to lately.

Orcus Jul 20, 2020

Show notes

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, instead of focusing on a particular game or book, we're looking at a specific villain, the demon prince Orcus, lord of the undead. The big guy has some interesting real world history and folklore to delve into regarding monsters in general. Then we check out how his story unfolded across the first three editions of Dungeons & Dragons, primarily in the Bloodstone modules and Monte Cook's two massive Planescape campaign books, The Great Modron March and Dead Gods.

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Before we get to all the delicious links, we mentioned a couple things in the episode that warrant the sharing of images. First, of course, is the Todd Lockwood illustration of Orcus from Dragon Magazine 42 (October, 1980).

Second, Stu couldn't quite fish the name of this engraving out of his brain in the episode, but "Satan Presiding at the Infernal Council," by John Martin (circa 1823) is the piece whose vibe reminds him of Lockwood's Orcus.

Finally, here is the "Orcus Mouth" in the Gardens of Bomarzo, or the Park of Monsters.

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Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall Jul 13, 2020

Show notes

This week, we talk to game designer Banana Chan about their latest tabletop RPG, Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall (co-written by Sen-Foong Lim and developed in collaboration between Wet Ink Games and A Game and a Curry). Players take the roles of members of a Chinese immigrant family in the 1920s. By day, you collaborate to run the family restaurant. By night, you fend off attacks by hopping vampires. Boasting an enormous number of collaborators, Jiangshi hits Kickstarter tomorrow, July 14. Get on that!

Tunnels & Trolls Jul 06, 2020

Show notes

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we look at Tunnels & Trolls, the earliest Dungeons & Dragons competitor. Designed by Ken St. Andre (Stormbringer), T&T was developed as a simpler, less expensive alternative to D&D, with a focus on solo play (solo T&T modules were the first adventure gamebooks, paving the way for series like Fighting Fantasy and Lone Wolf). Back in the day, folks said T&T was too simple to have much staying power, but the game is still with us and is an important first step towards modern attempts at streamlined rules systems.

HeartQuest Jun 29, 2020

Show notes

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we take a look at HeartQuest. Back in 1982, TSR launched a series of Dungeons & Dragons-based interactive novels called Endless Quest. Aimed at children, they were an immediate success. In 1983, they followed up with HeartQuest, which introduced romance into the formula and courted women readers. It was a dismal failure. Why? Well, for the answer to that, you'll have to listen to the podcast…

Mazes and Monsters Jun 22, 2020

Show notes

Stu and Hambone did something stupid. They watched the 1982 made-for-TV movie Mazes and Monsters, based on the Rona Jaffe novel of the same name, which is based loosely and idiotically on the totally not related to Dungeons & Dragons disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III in 1979. It is notable for being Tom Hanks' first major role, a shockingly poor understanding of RPGs, some atrocious one-liners and a decent lizard man suit. Some movies are so bad they're a blast to watch. Mazes and Monsters isn't one of them. Buckle up and get ready to feel our pain.

Petty Gods Jun 15, 2020

Show notes

Not all gods are mighty. This week we look at Petty Gods, a collection minor divinities, genii locorum and otherwise trivial powers created by the OSR community from 2010 to 2015 and collected in a massive tome in the style of the original Deities & Demigods. At turns silly and serious, there is a little bit of everything in here to spice up any flavor of dungeon crawling game. Even better, you can grab it for free in PDF or get it printed for cost through Lulu.

Back to the Future: Dice Through Time Jun 08, 2020

Show notes

Something a little different this week: we speak to Chris Leder, lead designer of Ravensburger's forthcoming game Back to the Future: Dice Through Time. Chris shares his overwhelming enthusiasm for the franchise and walks us through the novel way the game handles time travel mechanics, among other things. Pre-sale started yesterday, in stores June 21, exclusively at Target.

Shadowrun Jun 01, 2020

Show notes

Polish up your chrome, chummer: this week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we talk about Shadowrun, FASA beloved cyberpunk fantasy RPG. Within, you'll find much love for the world building and art, awe for how the game predicts a lot of modern internet stuff, lukewarm reactions to the system and inevitable comparisons to Vampire: The Masquerade, Rifts, Torg and Cyberpunk 2020. A pivotal game in the history of RPGs!

Greyhawk May 25, 2020

Show notes

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we visit Greyhawk, one of the earliest RPG campaign settings. Despite being Gary Gygax's own homebrew world, Greyhawk struggled to capture the public's imagination. We talk through the various attempts by TSR to tweak the setting, some dull, some interesting, all weirdly in the shadow of other D&D campaign settings.

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