The podcast Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff is created by Kenneth Hite and Robin D Laws. The podcast and the artwork on this page are embedded on this page using the public podcast feed (RSS).
Get ready for more detail on the shag carpet than ever before as the Gaming Hut looks at the love some players have for non-interactive narration of their environment.
The Crime Blotter investigates the 60s heroin trade and how it forms the linchpin of The Borellus Connection.
At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Gene Ha, the Cinema Hut wonders what can be done with the increasingly tangled continuity of the MCU.
And finally the Consulting Occultist profiles influential 19th century proto-feminist spiritualist Anna Kingsford.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
A global mythos conspiracy ensnares the player characters in The Borellus Connection, Pelgrane Press’ new Fall of DELTA Green mega-campaign by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and Kenneth Hite. Journey in the guise of federal narcotics agents to Saigon, Beirut, Prague and Bozukepe. Buy it for your GM and demand that she run it today!
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
In the Gaming Hut we imagine an F20 world where powerful undead don’t just drain levels, they sell them to the highest bidder.
The Archaeology Hut checks out the latest tests on the Well-Man, a body found at Norway’s Sverresborg Castle who matches an account from an 800 year old Norse saga.
Finally Ken’s Bookshelf chronicles our resident bibliophile’s genteel efforts to separate Powell’s Books in Portland from its wares. Making a special cameo appearance, it’s the Princeton University Press sale.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
A global mythos conspiracy ensnares the player characters in The Borellus Connection, Pelgrane Press’ new Fall of DELTA Green mega-campaign by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and Kenneth Hite. Journey in the guise of federal narcotics agents to Saigon, Beirut, Prague and Bozukepe. Buy it for your GM and demand that she run it today!
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Mark Waterhouse asks what could possibly go wrong if we let players perform their own in-world divinations.
At the behest of estimable backer Martin Rundkvist the Tradecraft Hut investigates the heroic career of Polish-born WWII British operative Krystyna Skarbek.
Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else features our talk with actual player extraordinaire Lindsey Brown, as heard on The Nature of My Game podcast.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine looks for chrono-spanners it might throw into the horror show that was the postwar repatriation of Koreans from Japan to North Korea.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
Back from the grave until they suppress it again, the Dracula Dossier PDF deal has returned to the Bundle of Holding. Grab it until November 13th, when it will once more retreat to its dusty crypt.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
That cult would never die, till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to announce Trail of Cthulhu Second Edition, coming October 1st on Backerkit. Get ready to alert your friends and anyone else you’d be willing to climb into a ghoul pit with.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Rumours, MadS, Exhuma, and the Terrrri-ffying Slowness of Baseball
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
Eephus (Film, US, Carson Lund, 2024) Two weekend baseball amateur teams meet some time around 1990 for the final game on their condemned baseball field in this disarming combination of hangout film and slow cinema. The film, as Lund has said, moves at the rhythm of baseball, not the rhythm of film narrative, gradually amping up the small-ball absurdity amidst the slowly, regretfully deflating camaraderie.—KH
Exhuma (South Korea, Jang Jae-hyun, 2024) To uncover the source of a curse on a wealthy Korean-American family, shaman Hwa-rim (Kim Go-eun) enlists down-at-heels geomancer Kim (Choi Min-sik) to examine the feng shui of the Worst Grave in Korea. Effortlessly grounded, beautifully structured story escalates through two horror stories in a row as the grave keeps giving up more horrible secrets. I loved every minute of this movie.—KH
MadS (Film, France, David Moreau, 2024) Teen hunk high on an unprovenanced drug has a roadside encounter with a distressed, injured medical experiment escapee, leading him and his girlfriends into an evening of increasingly apocalyptic terror. Composed as a single breathtaking tracking shot and revealing its horror sub-genre deep in the film, this high-energy mood piece features an astonishing physical performance from Laurie Pavy as one of the victims/monsters.—RDL
My Dear Killer (Film, Italy, Tonino Valerii, 1972) Determined police inspector (George Hilton) connects a case of decapitation by excavator to a cold case involving the kidnapping and murder of a young girl and her father. Solidly constructed mix of investigation and menace clearly exemplifies the giallo formula.—RDL
Rumours (Film, Canada/Germany, Guy Maddin & Evan Johnson & Galen Johnson, 2024) Hapless world leaders at the G7 summit face increasingly surreal challenges from mysterious isolation in the woods to reanimated bog-bodies to a giant brain. Only the middle of the movie offers melodramatic joy to the Maddin connoisseur, and one can wonder whether a film condemning the inanition and fecklessness of world leaders shouldn’t offer a direction by contrast, but strong character work by the seven core actors (plus Alicia Vikander as an EU official caught up in events) keeps the film endlessly diverting.—KH
The Spook Who Sat by the Door (Film, US, Ivan Dixon, 1973) Recruited as a token, Dan Freeman (Lawrence Cook) goes from being the first Black CIA agent to the leader of a revolutionary armed movement on the South Side of Chicago. Energetically paced with strong performances, it suffers somewhat from a budget (and possibly a vision) too small to properly indict the CIA’s blowback-prone methods while also engaging in Black Power agitprop. Freeman’s story winds up suffering the most, but Cook fascinates as the deliberately umoved mover.—KH
Tokyo Noir (Nonfiction, Jake Adelstein, 2024) Journalist reviews his investigative exploits in Japan from the publication of Tokyo Vice to the present day. Cases range from looking into corporate yakuza ties for corporate investors to exposing corruption and negligence at TEPCO, the nuclear utility responsible for the Fukushima meltdown.—RDL
Good
Grabbers (Film, Ireland, Jon Wright, 2012) An alcoholic local cop and an eager straight-arrow on temporary assignment struggle to protect an island village from tentacled alien beasties who won’t attack drunk victims. Amusing comedic creature feature might be called Tremors with added hops.—RDL
Murder in Peking (Fiction, Vincent Starrett, 1937) American dilettante Hope Johnson investigates the murder of a beautiful Danish antiquities expert during a house-party held for Western expatriates and tourists in a Peking temple. Starrett based the novel on his own experiences (sans murder) in Peking as an expat in 1936, so the local color is very good if not remotely suited to modern sensibilities. The murder mystery mostly plays fair, but is never very compelling.—KH
The Stone Tape (Television, UK, BBC, Peter Sasdy, 1972) When an electronics firm converts a derelict Victorian manor into an experimental facility, a computer intelligence expert (Jane Asher) experiences a ghost phenomenon that the team’s heedless leader (Michael Bryant) sees as an opportunity for an acoustic experiment. Writer Nigel Kneale snappily captures a cut throat corporate environment but settles for a pro forma ghost story conclusion.—RDL
Okay
Abigail (Film, US, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett, 2024) Criminal team including perceptive infiltrator (Melissa Barrera) and scowling leader (Dan Stevens) kidnap a young girl and stash her at a weird house, only to discover that she’s a centuries-old vampire who has selected them as prey. More time studying Alien and Carpenter’s The Thing might have helped the screenwriters construct the sorts of suspenseful obstacles the “trapped in an enclosed space with a monster” template requires.—RDL
In the Gaming Hut we discuss the challenge of revised edition design. When you encounter an element you wouldn’t build into a new system, how do you decide whether to replace it, or to respect the legacy and leave it in?
The Horror Hut gets reflective as beloved Patreon backer Bart Mallio asks for a terrifying look at mirrors.
A new spinoff podcast threatens to break out when Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else features a chat with board gam designer Quinn Brander, designer of Rebuilding Seattle and the upcoming Rebuilding Chicago.
Finally the Consulting Occultist surveys the works of early astrologer Gan De, who catalogued the stars during China’s Warring States period.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
That cult would never die, till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to announce Trail of Cthulhu Second Edition, coming October 1st on Backerkit. Get ready to alert your friends and anyone else you’d be willing to climb into a ghoul pit with.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
In the Gaming Hut beloved backer Ryan McClelland argues that the Sailor is a fine Occupation that ought to be in Trail of Cthulhu 2nd Edition (now on Backerkit) and urges us to rebut him by listing even more such Occupations.
With the 1930s still in mind, the Crime Blotter pulls the dossier on the Barker-Karpis bank robbery and kidnapping gang.
Ripped from the Headlines covers a recent incident of rogue mountain sheep cloning in Montana.
Finally, in Ken’s Time Machine, our hero ponders intervention in the Kalmar Crusade.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
That cult would never die, till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to announce Trail of Cthulhu Second Edition, coming October 1st on Backerkit. Get ready to alert your friends and anyone else you’d be willing to climb into a ghoul pit with.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
It’s time to rattle some paper in the Gaming Hut as we discuss character sheet design.
After that, a deluge, as the Archaeology Hut, at the behest of beloved Patreon backer Niclas Matikainen, studies the sunken city of Rungholt.
Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else features game designer and military consultant for media and gaming properties Anthony Joyce-Rivera.
Finally, as suggested by estimable backer the Molten Sulfur Blog, the Eliptony Hut looks at 19th century medical educator, grave robber, arsenal keeper and spiritualist Joseph Nash McDowell.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
That cult would never die, till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to announce Trail of Cthulhu Second Edition, coming October 1st on Backerkit. Get ready to alert your friends and anyone else you’d be willing to climb into a ghoul pit with.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
That cult would never die, till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to announce Trail of Cthulhu Second Edition, coming October 1st on Backerkit. Get ready to alert your friends and anyone else you’d be willing to climb into a ghoul pit with.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
In the Gaming Hut we look at the changes Ken did and didn’t make in character creation for Trail of Cthulhu 2nd Edition.
The Cinema Hut highlight’s Robin’s fantasy, horror and SF discoveries from the 3rd Annual Robin and Valerie International Film Festival.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else we chat with Taylor Navarro, designer of self-published games Chefs de Partie and Not Yet: A Romantic Duet and freelancer extraordinaire.
Finally the assignment for Ken’s Time Machine is to get Czech democratic politician Jan Masaryk out of the country before his 1948 murder.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
That cult would never die, till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to announce Trail of Cthulhu Second Edition, coming October 1st on Backerkit. Get ready to alert your friends and anyone else you’d be willing to climb into a ghoul pit with.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Recorded live in a seminar room in the good Marriott at Gen Con, Ken and Robin talk the secret US-UK intergalactic financial war, chicken roasting secrets, our Indianapolis drinks of choice, a 1966 UFO incident and how to real-life investigate the real-life cult in your real-life hometown.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
That cult would never die, till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to announce Trail of Cthulhu Second Edition, coming October 1st on Backerkit. Get ready to alert your friends and anyone else you’d be willing to climb into a ghoul pit with.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
This week the Gaming Hut populates the town of Locust Grove Oklahoma with gamemaster characters for a Trail of Cthulhu game.
Beloved Patreon backer Andrew Bates convenes the History Hut for the story behind Kentucky’s very specific, dare we say duel shy, oath of office.
Completing our three-part Horror Hut miniseries on reality horror, estimable backer Greg tasks us to devise an alternate scare figure to replace the King in Yellow.
And finally the Eliptony Hut looks into Alaska’s phantom city hoax.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
That cult would never die, till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to announce Trail of Cthulhu Second Edition, coming October 1st on Backerkit. Get ready to alert your friends and anyone else you’d be willing to climb into a ghoul pit with.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
In the Gaming Hut we look at ways to tell whether your group will thrive in a sandbox game.
Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else features our chat with fast-rising board game designer Clarence Simpson, whose credits include The Wolves, AMessage from the Stars, Chomp, and Merchants of Magick.
Part two of our Horror Hut look at reality horror, as spurred by beloved backer Greg, tackles scenario design for this mind-tripping sub-genre.
Finally the Consulting Occultist cracks the code on pioneering steganographer Johannes Trithemius.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
That cult would never die, till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to announce Trail of Cthulhu Second Edition, coming October 1st on Backerkit. Get ready to alert your friends and anyone else you’d be willing to climb into a ghoul pit with.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Episode 614: Elves Falling in Love with Guitarists
At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Ian Carlsen, the Gaming Hut looks at ways to prepare for a technothriller game.
The moment we learned of an increasingly ascendant Brazilian narco gang called the Bonde da Kabbalah, you know it was time to reach for the Crime Blotter.
A three-part Horror Hut mini-series on reality horror, requested by estimable backer Greg, starts off with a 101 of literary and filmic sources.
Finally Time Incorporated’s soft spot for libraries calls for Ken’s Time Machine to intervene in the case of key Mexican literary figure Juana Inés de la Cruz, who had to appease the Church by selling off her 4,000 volume collection.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
A global mythos conspiracy ensnares the player characters in The Borellus Connection, Pelgrane Press’ new Fall of DELTA Green mega-campaign by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and Kenneth Hite. Journey in the guise of federal narcotics agents to Saigon, Beirut, Prague and Bozukepe. Buy it for your GM and demand that she run it today!
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
In the Gaming Hut we toss our ideas into beloved Patreon backer Shon Richards’ Bookhounds of TimeWatch series concept.
One of our favorite industry stalwarts, Peter Adkison, joins us in Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else to talk Gen Con TV, his world of Chaldea project, and the state of Gen Con.
The Borellus Connection, the new mega-campaign for The Fall of DELTA GREEN gets the Among My Many Hats treatment from its story designer, our own Kenneth Hite.
Finally the Eliptony Hut peers into the story of astronomer George Ellery Hale and his relationship with an entity that has passed into lore as an elf adviser.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
A global mythos conspiracy ensnares the player characters in The Borellus Connection, Pelgrane Press’ new Fall of DELTA Green mega-campaign by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and Kenneth Hite. Journey in the guise of federal narcotics agents to Saigon, Beirut, Prague and Bozukepe. Buy it for your GM and demand that she run it today!
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Your intrepid gaming reporters return from Gen Con 2024 to talk awards, tabletop industry trends and scuttlebutt and maybe a restaurant recommendation or two.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Lauberfen asks us to seek mythic inspiration for gaming scenarios.
Estimable backer Derek Upham beckons us to the Tradecraft Hut for our take on the theory that infamous pirate Henry Every might have had a second covert career as a spy.
The Mythology Hut investigates the shamir, the enigmatic device or rock-eating worm credited with carving Solomon’s temple.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine heads back into history to restore the original name of the dollar.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Toonspew asks us if it’s time to stop worrying and love the total party kill.
Estimable backer Hyperlexic urges us to shoo costumed devils out of the History Hut by looking at the scandal-brushed career of Los Angeles evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson.
Ripped From the Headlines tackles the recent theft of Roland’s legendary sword Durandal from a rocky cliff in the French commune of Rocamadour.
Finally, from Kabbalah in your DNA to polar reversal, the Eliptony Hut surveys the theorizing of self-described visionary Gregg Braden.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Beloved Patreon backer Philip Masters invites a pack of bumblers into the Gaming Hut as he asks how one might run a series based around realistic incompetence in high places.
Creep softly up to the Crime Blotter for the tale of prolific UK burglar Flannelfoot, aka Henry Vickers.
The Cinema Hut doesn’t have trouble getting started, but many sequels do, and we explain why.
Finally at the behest of silver-stringed backer Jon Biscoe, the Consulting Occultist looks at two magical tomes mentioned in Manly Wade Wellman’s Silver John Stories, the Grand Albert and the Long-Lost Friend.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
13th Age is ready to escalate! The second edition of the fast-moving, easy-playing encapsulation of the fantasy roleplaying hits Kickstarter on May 7th. Manifest your One Unique Thing and get updates on the campaign by sharing your email address with Pelgrane Press here.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Gape in wonder at the Gaming Hut as beloved Patreon backer Steve Hammond asks how one might emulate the awe of the Jurassic Park dinosaur reveal scene at the gaming table.
Well-traveled backers Ed Sizemore and Rafael Pabst journey to the Cartography Hut for the story of fictive medieval travel writer John Mandeville.
The Monster Hut digs into the graveyard-dwelling Luison of Paraguay, Argentina and environs, whose many versions merge indigenous Guarani myth with European werewolf lore.
Finally our chrononaut’s superiors at Time Incorporated assign him a juicy, fine-grained Ken’s Time Machine quest—to keep the vanished Ansault pear in cultivation.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
13th Age is ready to escalate! The second edition of the fast-moving, easy-playing encapsulation of the fantasy roleplaying hits Kickstarter on May 7th. Manifest your One Unique Thing and get updates on the campaign by sharing your email address with Pelgrane Press here.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
[REPOST] Episode 606: Very Real Threat of Dialogue
Due to a posting error the week previous, some pod apps ignored this episode as already read and did not download it. Apologies to those receiving the file a second time.
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Ross Ireland asks gamemasters tips to use when the player characters receive an imaginary tome chock-full of information.
The sun casts a burning eye on the Horror Hut when estimable backer Keelan O’Hea asks how to flip the switch and make daytime the scariest part of the day.
Finally Ken’s Bookshelf shares the vicarious joys of our resident bibliophile’s recent raid on the used shops of Austin, Texas.
Due to a posting error the week previous some podcast apps have skipped downloading this episode as already read. Reposting for the benefit of those who have been unable to access it. Apologies to those receiving the file a second time.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
13th Age is ready to escalate! The second edition of the fast-moving, easy-playing encapsulation of the fantasy roleplaying hits Kickstarter on May 7th. Manifest your One Unique Thing and get updates on the campaign by sharing your email address with Pelgrane Press here.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Ross Ireland asks gamemasters tips to use when the player characters receive an imaginary tome chock-full of information.
The sun casts a burning eye on the Horror Hut when estimable backer Keelan O’Hea asks how to flip the switch and make daytime the scariest part of the day.
Finally Ken’s Bookshelf shares the vicarious joys of our resident bibliophile’s recent raid on the used shops of Austin, Texas.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
13th Age is ready to escalate! The second edition of the fast-moving, easy-playing encapsulation of the fantasy roleplaying hits Kickstarter on May 7th. Manifest your One Unique Thing and get updates on the campaign by sharing your email address with Pelgrane Press here.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Episode 605: Astrophysicists Not Acronym Physicists
Beloved Patreon backer Noel Warford summons us to the Gaming Hut,asking how to coax more independence from one’s players.
Estimable backer Kevin Nault pries open the door to the Archaeology Hut to hear the very colorful story, or stories, surrounding the discovery of the Nag Hammadi manuscripts.
The discovery of a planet with a fluffy, cotton candy texture prompts Fun with Science and the riffing of an appropriate space opera scenario.
Finally wondering backer Eric Parks notes that reports of shadow aliens near a Florida mall warrant an excursion into the Eliptony Hut.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
13th Age is ready to escalate! The second edition of the fast-moving, easy-playing encapsulation of the fantasy roleplaying hits Kickstarter on May 7th. Manifest your One Unique Thing and get updates on the campaign by sharing your email address with Pelgrane Press here.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Ryan McClelland asks for tips on incorporating 1890s anarchists into The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
After many previous passing mentions, writer, explorer, scenester and cannibal William Seabrook finally becomes the subject of his own History Hut segment.
Without the paper bag and cardboard box the grocery industry would not be what it is today. The Food Hut reveals the creation myths behind these undersung heroes of the packaging universe.
Finally the Consulting Occultist looks at 1920s celebrity astrologer Evangeline Adams, who doled out stock market tips, gave readings to moguls, movie stars and a monarch, and predicted her own death.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
13th Age is ready to escalate! The second edition of the fast-moving, easy-playing encapsulation of the fantasy roleplaying hits Kickstarter on May 7th. Manifest your One Unique Thing and get updates on the campaign by sharing your email address with Pelgrane Press here.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
13th Age is ready to escalate! The second edition of the fast-moving, easy-playing encapsulation of the fantasy roleplaying hits Kickstarter on May 7th. Manifest your One Unique Thing and get updates on the campaign by sharing your email address with Pelgrane Press here.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
In the Gaming Hut, Ken turns the tables on Robin by springing a concept for a game on him. Eavesdrop on the process as they riff on Ley Brothers.
The Crime Blotter reaches back into America’s history of 19th century violence to cover the assassination of Kentucky governor William Goebel.
In Ask Ken and Robin beloved Patreon backer Walter Manbeck asks Robin what a one player, one GM action movie game inspired by The Beekeeper and its retribution-seeking cinematic relatives might look like.
Finally the Eliptony Hut looks at some old UFO tropes packaged in very new streaming-age bottles: Blue Avians, the trademarked, documentary-approving contactee aliens.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
13th Age is ready to escalate! The second edition of the fast-moving, easy-playing encapsulation of the fantasy roleplaying hits Kickstarter on May 7th. Manifest your One Unique Thing and get updates on the campaign by sharing your email address with Pelgrane Press here.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
In the Gaming Hut we examine the fine but crucial distinction between fun obstacles and dilemmas your players will read as punishments.
The Horror Hut looks at a classic and misunderstood trio of classic characters, the so-called Brides of Dracula.
In the Cinema Hut we break down the visual grammar of shot composition.
Finally, the Consulting Occultist, surprised to find that he has yet to cover Nostradamus after more than a decade of episodes, proceeds to do just that.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
13th Age is ready to escalate! The second edition of the fast-moving, easy-playing encapsulation of the fantasy roleplaying hits Kickstarter on May 7th. Manifest your One Unique Thing and get updates on the campaign by sharing your email address with Pelgrane Press here.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Numbers come and numbers go but when the podcast odometer clicks over to 600 Ken and Robin listeners know what to expect: the thunderous return of LIGHTNING ROUND!!!
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
13th Age is ready to escalate! The second edition of the fast-moving, easy-playing encapsulation of the fantasy roleplaying hits Kickstarter on May 7th. Manifest your One Unique Thing and get updates on the campaign by sharing your email address with Pelgrane Press here.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Bob Grider asks how to create mystery hooks for sovereign citizens in The Yellow King: This Is Normal Now. With dire inevitability this leads to a discussion of pan-conspiratorialist Romana Didulo, aka the Queen of Canada.
Estimable backer Paul Douglas seeks the Tradecraft Hut take on the death of White Helmets founder James le Mesurier.
Cherished backer Andrew Blasenak alerts the Horror Hut to a new impending Philadelphia museum, VAMPA, which stands for Vampire Art Museum and Paranormal Activity.
Finally sponsor supreme Cat Tobin asks what Ken’s Time Machine might do to improve vegetarian cuisine.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
13th Age is ready to escalate! The second edition of the fast-moving, easy-playing encapsulation of the fantasy roleplaying hits Kickstarter on May 7th. Manifest your One Unique Thing and get updates on the campaign by sharing your email address with Pelgrane Press here.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Episode 598: Do We Really Want That Horse In Here?
Picking up where a previous Gaming Hut left off, beloved Patreon backer Gene Ha asks about scenarios where one of the PCs is a mole working against the rest of the group.
In Ask Ken and Robin, estimable backer Martin Rundkvist asks how Ken’s planned relocation of Swords of the Serpentine to Venice is going to work.
The Voyager space probe has been fixed after sending gibberish data back to Earth for five months. But what, formidable backer Bob Koester asks in Fun With Science, if it wasn’t gibberish?
Finally the Eliptony Hut takes on the serpentine quality of previous segments with a look at the 1894 lindworm sightings in Erviken, Norway.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
13th Age is ready to escalate! The second edition of the fast-moving, easy-playing encapsulation of the fantasy roleplaying is now Kickstarting. Manifest your One Unique Thing and get updates on the campaign by sharing your email address with Pelgrane Press here.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
In the Gaming Hut we talk about our visit to Shadowcon in Barcelona, courtesy of our beloved pals at Shadowlands, who have just published a stunning edition of the Dracula Dossier in the Spanish language.
Travel Advisory covers our exploration of the less nerdy reaches of our new favorite city, with an obligatory selection of small plates in the Food Hut.
Ken didn’t come home with a pile of Spanish books, but if it’s a trip we have to look at some new acquisitions. So Ken’s Bookshelf finally reveals the second half of his Potomac region plunder.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
13th Age is ready to escalate! The second edition of the fast-moving, easy-playing encapsulation of the fantasy roleplaying hits Kickstarter on May 7th. Manifest your One Unique Thing and get updates on the campaign by sharing your email address with Pelgrane Press here.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
If you love heroic fast-paced fantasy roleplaying action and incredible deals, Pelgrane Press has two iconic bargains for you. Until May 7th, date of the impending 13th Age Kickstarter, get the core book for 50% at the Pelgrane web store. Or grab the brief return of the stunnning 13th Age Bundle of Holding PDF deal.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Jason Thompson asks if the group dynamic known as the Tyranny of Structurelessness applies to GM-less roleplaying games.
Estimable backer Gray St. Quintin seeks the regular confines of the Architecture Hut to ask about Walter Burley Griffin, designer of Canberra and avid anthroposophist.
Fun With Science ensues when formidable backer asks what the heck was up with a rich philanthropist’s decision to take hominid fossils with him on his Virgin Galactic space flight.
Finally, Ken’s Time Machine finds out what really happened in the Roman assault on the druids of Anglesey, with possible alterations to known history on the part of our sterling chrononaut.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
If you love heroic fast-paced fantasy roleplaying action and incredible deals, Pelgrane Press has two iconic bargains for you. Until May 7th, date of the impending 13th Age Kickstarter, get the core book for 50% at the Pelgrane web store. Or grab the brief return of the stunnning 13th Age Bundle of Holding PDF deal.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
In the Gaming Hut we identify the elements of a great recurring gamemaster character.
At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Lester Ward, the Archaeology Hut mulls the ancient Egyptian fortresses that were flooded by the building of the Aswan dam.
In the Book Hut tough, wisecracking Patreon backer Adam Grotjohn seeks a 101 on hardboiled fiction.
And finally the Consulting Occultist profiles Maria de Naglowska, occult lecturer and sex magician of 20s and 30s Paris.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Elves and dragons have some emotional needs to work out as the Gaming Hut answers beloved Patreon backer Nikolaj’s request for tips on bringing elements of DramaSystem into an F20 game.
The Crime Blotter checks out the Philadelphia poison murders, a massive killing for profit scheme involving syndicate witches in the Trail of Cthulhu era.
Madrigals are sung and the underworld is descended into in the Culture Hut, as erudite backer Patrick Holmes asks for a gameable bio of 16th century composer and possible part time alchemist Claudio Monteverdi.
Move your lap blanket away from the fireplace as the Eliptony Hut takes a long overdue look at the classic Fortean subject of spontaneous human combustion.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: A Mexican Machen Adaptation, French JFK Paranoia, and Dean Martin in a Flying Saucer
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
American Fiction (Film, US, Cord Jefferson, 2023) As a scathing joke, a dyspeptic literary author (Jeffrey Wright) whose mom needs expensive care writes a novel packed with demeaning cliches of Black life, only to find an enthusiastic market for it in the white publishing world. Family drama lends emotional weight to a pointed takedown of representation’s cringey side. Witty dialogue is on a downswing in film at the moment so it’s nice to see it revived here.—RDL
I… for Icarus (Film, France, Henri Verneuil, 1979) In an alternate France, a patrician attorney general (Yves Montand) dissents from the whitewashing conclusions of a commission into a Presidential assassination, granting him the right to launch his own investigation. The medium is the conspiracy in this odd, oddly compelling McLuhanesque reconfiguration of the JFK assassination, complete with a detailed recreation of the Milgram Experiment.—RDL
The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales (Film, Mexico, Rogelio A. González, 1960) The neurotic browbeating of his pious, conniving wife (Amparo Rivelles) drives a bibulous taxidermist (Arturo de Córdova) to a desperate act. Satirical, expressionistic Grand Guignol based on Arthur Machen’s The Islington Mystery.—RDL
The Worst Ones (Film, France, Lise Akoka & Romane Gueret, 2022) Teens from a tough working class neighborhood win roles in a social issue film helmed by a middle-aged first time auteur (Johan Heldenbergh) whose grasp of boundaries isn’t as secure as he wants to think. Neorealist drama featuring intense performances from its young cast questions the ethics of its genre tradition.—RDL
Good
The Ambushers (Film, US, Henry Levin, 1967) Counter-spy Matt Helm (Dean Martin) escorts US saucer pilot Sheila Sommers (Janice Rule) into Mexico to recover her hijacked saucer and ID the hijacker. The Matt Helm movies are best enjoyed as period pieces by those who consider the Roger Moore Bond to be too grim and gritty, but Sheila has genuine agency and competence, a standout amongst the beer fights and brassiere guns. The UFO adds another nicely surreal touch to the sight of Dean Martin lounging through alleged action scenes.—KH
The Big Shot (Film, US, Lewis Seiler, 1942) Betrayed by the fancy lawyer who married his girl (Irene Manning), an ex-con with a secret conscience (Humphrey Bogart) returns to prison for an armored car heist he decided not to go through with. Bogie and Seiler give their best to a routine script.—RDL
Okay
Risen (Film, US/Spain, Kevin Reynolds, 2016) In occupied Judea, Pontius Pilate (Peter Firth) orders Roman tribune Clavius (Joseph Fiennes) to recover the body of a crucified Nazarene radical, which has vanished from its tomb. The first half of the movie is a taut, intriguing “Zero (A.D.) Dark Thirty” War on Terror parable with a touch of X-Files; the second half is Clavius’ internalizing his new faith in the (spoiler) risen Christ (Cliff Curtis), basically bringing the narrative to a dead halt. This could have been great if it were all the first half, though at the cost of many fewer copies of the Blu-Ray sold to church media rooms.—KH
In the Gaming Hut we find ways to bring players back into the action when they make sensible decisions that sideline their characters.
2Beloved Patreon backer Paul S. Enns beckons us into the Tradecraft Hut to cover the May 23rd Lake Maggiore boating accident.
In the Monster Hut we look at the blemmyae, the hungry headless folk of classical and medieval lore.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine responds to the request of estimable backer Eric Parks, who wants to know what the timeline would look like had Rhode Island’s Dorr Rebellion succeeded.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
In the Gaming Hut, Robin pitches Ken on a concept for a roleplaying game called Renfields.
The Mythology Hut looks at the enigmatic Dacian god and/or person named Zalmoxis, who might have been a sky deity. Or an earth deity. Or a physician.
In Ask Ken and Robin, beloved Patreon backer Walter Manbeck asks Robin to expand on his capsule review of the 1956 Carol Reed circus movie Trapeze as a model for efficiently executed DramaSystem scenes.
The Consulting Occultist wraps up the episode with the rundown on the 17th century English physician and mystic Robert Fludd.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
We hope you can make it to the Gaming Hut for a discussion of quorum and attendance vagaries.
In the History Hut we answer the request of beloved Patreon backer Jeromy French to flesh out a topic we have previously only alluded to—the Toronto clown-fireman riot.
Finally Ken’s Bookshelf features a mere half of our resident bibliomane’s book raid on the Potomac region.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Players say they hate linear scenarios. Seasoned convention GMs extoll the efficacy of the greased rail session. In the Gaming Hut we ask what’s up with that.
Beloved Patreon backer Monster Talk requests a Ripped from the Headlines on the now world-famous Chicago rat hole.
Finally, in keeping with our pre-Oscars tradition, we sneak into the Cinema Hut to finally reveal our respective movie top tens for 2023.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Keep your ancient documents well-hidden in the Gaming Hut, as beloved Patreon backer Brian Thomas asks us how to construct a Bookhounds of London one-shot around explorer Aurel Stein, the Great Game, and the Diamond Sutras.
When architects go wrong they wind up not in their own hut, but on the Crime Blotter, as is the case, as requested by estimable backer Derek Upham, 19th century heist mastermind George Leonidas Leslie.
In the Narrative Hut we ask ourselves if procedural crime dramas are, in the older literary meaning of the word, romances.
Finally in the Eliptony Hut we answer the call of legendary backer Jake Maas for a look at Newfoundland’s Isle of Demons.
The official CatStronauts board game is launching on Kickstarter, from Atlas Games! Designed and illustrated by Drew Brockington, this cooperative game brings 30-45 minutes of fast feline fun to 1-4 players aged 10 and up.
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Beloved Patreon backer Mark Kenney inspires us to wear our classiest outfits in the Gaming Hut as we seek ways to bring the vocabulary of clothing and fashion to tabletop narration.
The Food Hut examines an old school staple dessert ingredient and the man who popularized it in North America, with the story of Walter Tennyson Swingle and the journey of the date.
We grab a long hook and protect draw a protective circle around the Mythology Hut for a look at stories where the devil comes to claim a dead person’s skin.
Finally we give a wide berth to all fava beans and contemplate the properties of the triangle as Consulting Occultist gives us a 101 on the Pythagoreans.
Experience the world of Gloom in a new, immersive way with Unhappy Birthday at Castle Slogar. With an integrated hint and solution website, drenched in the beloved Gloom aesthetic by artist J. Scott Reeves, this puzzling gamebook kicks off Atlas’ new Enigma line. Sign up for the Kickstarter announcement!
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!
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Hector Trelane takes inspiration from Robin’s EZ One Shot system to ask if designers are finding a root language of roleplaying that points toward a less cluttered style of play.
At the behest of estimable backer Kristian Groenseth the Cartography Hut investigates the fake stop sign epidemic that struck Cranston, Rhode Island.
And finally Ken’s Bookshelf paws the spoils of our resident bibliomane’s recent raid on New York City.
Experience the world of Gloom in a new, immersive way with Unhappy Birthday at Castle Slogar. With an integrated hint and solution website, drenched in the beloved Gloom aesthetic by artist J. Scott Reeves, this puzzling gamebook kicks off Atlas’ new Enigma line. Sign up for the Kickstarter announcement!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Slow Horses, American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers
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
Air (Film, US, Ben Affleck, 2023) Basketball guru Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) pursues Michael Jordan for third-ranked shoe company Nike. What could have been a leaden produpic soars thanks to Affleck’s willingness to invest in a multi-beat story (providing many of the comic beats by playing self-involved Nike CEO Phil Knight) and to wisely give Viola Davis her head in crafting the film’s moral center, Deloris Jordan. The result is more miracle play than produpic, with Vaccaro as John the Baptist and 80s needle drops as psalms.—KH
American Fiction (Film, US, Cord Jefferson, 2023) Literary novelist Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) creates a fake “street” identity to sell a pandering novel as his mother’s (Leslie Uggams) Alzheimer’s puts stress on his family. Repeatedly blunted satire nestles uneasily in a gently sad family drama, but Wright pulls the film through on the strength of a brilliant, low-simmering performance. Cristina Dunlap’s effective cinematography deserves a nod as well.—KH
Anatomy of a Fall (Film, France, Justine Triet, 2023) Tightly wound writer (Sandra Hüller) faces a murder trial that strains her relationship with her sensitive, vision-impaired young son (Milo Machado Graner) when her resentful husband takes a fatal plunge from the top floor of their chalet-style home. Realist courtroom drama takes full advantage of the freewheeling structure of French criminal proceedings to flesh out its study of a marriage on the brink.—RDL
Fair Play (Film, US, Chloe Domont, 2023) Hedge fund analysts and surreptitious lovers Emily and Luke (Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich) hit the emotional rocks when one of them is promoted. Crackling character beats show their dog-eat-dog financial careers stripping the humanity from both; great acting from the duo prevents the melodrama from overweighting the careful verisimilitude of Domont’s Wall Street mise en scene.—KH
The Holdovers (Film, US, Alexander Payne, 2023) Bilious prep school history teacher (Paul Giamatti) bonds with a grieving cafeteria supervisor (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) and a smart, rebellious student (Dominic Sessa) when ordered to supervise the few students staying over for Christmas break. Empathy rises from misanthropy in a dramedy revolving around a trio of winning performances and a love of the American New Wave.—RDL
Slow Horses Season 3 (Television, UK, Apple+, Will Smith, 2023) A former embassy guard’s quest for justice draws River Cartwright (Jack Lowden), Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) and the other Slough House exiles into a high body count MI5 internal struggle. This season pulls the lever on the thriller switch, bringing greased-rail pacing to the serialized TV format.—RDL
The Vietri Project (Fiction, Nicola DeRobertis-Theye, 2021) As she reaches the age when she might inherit her Italian mother’s schizophrenia, a Californian former bookseller’s travels take her to Rome and a search for a mysterious bibliophile. Echoes of Eco set the stage for a quest to reconcile the protagonist’s dual, dueling national identities.—RDL
Good
Everything Goes Wrong (Film, Japan, Seijun Suzuki, 1960) Young malcontent (Tamio Kawaji) melts down over his mother’s relationship with a thoughtful but married business executive. High-strung drama positions itself as a juvenile delinquent picture in order to question the genre’s anti-youth hysteria.—RDL
Fanfare of Love (Film, France, Richard Pottier, 1935) A pair of unemployed musicians pose as women to get hired by an all-female nightclub orchestra. A fun situation farce mostly notable as the ultimate source, by way of its 1951 German remake, for Some Like It Hot.—RDL
In the Gaming Hut we look at the paradox of choice, in which players want many alternative paths yet also want to explore all of them.
The Archaeology Hut surveys the career of William Stukeley, the 18th century polymath whose studies of Stonehenge and Avebury made him one of the field’s foundational figures.
In the Horror Hut beloved sponsor John Kovalic wants us to retell the tale of the BBC’s lost terror series, Late Night Horror.
Finally the Eliptony Hut sets up close to Robin’s location for the weird one-off cryptid, the Cabbagetown Tunnel Monster.
Experience the world of Gloom in a new, immersive way with Unhappy Birthday at Castle Slogar. With an integrated hint and solution website, drenched in the beloved Gloom aesthetic by artist J. Scott Reeves, this puzzling gamebook kicks off Atlas’ new Enigma line. Sign up for the Kickstarter announcement!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Joshua Randall asks for help dealing with players who like to shoot down everyone else’s plans.
Fans of irony will appreciate the story of Edo firebreaks, as told in the History Hut.
Ken and Robin Recycle Audio concludes our excerpts from the Dramatic Interaction panel at Gen Con 2023. Emily Cambias and John R. Harness join Robin in examining the integration of trad gaming and personal interaction.
Then at the behest of esteemed Patreon backer Michael Cule, our chrononaut reveals what Ken’s Time Machine might have had to do with the famed 18 1/2 minute gap in the Watergate tapes.
Experience the world of Gloom in a new, immersive way with Unhappy Birthday at Castle Slogar. With an integrated hint and solution website, drenched in the beloved Gloom aesthetic by artist J. Scott Reeves, this puzzling gamebook kicks off Atlas’ new Enigma line. Sign up for the Kickstarter announcement!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
In the Gaming Hut beloved backer Ludovic Chabant asks Robin to expand on his choice for favorite RPG adventure, as seen on the Scroll for Initiative blog. Naturally Ken also makes a choice or two himself.
Estimable backer Fred Kiesche beckons us to the Architecture Hut, which has a Culture Hut inside, and possibly a strong streak of occultism, to discuss the fourth-dimensional explorations of architect and stage designer Claude Bragdon.
Ken and Robin Recycle Audio with installment two of the Dramatic Interaction panel at Gen Con, featuring Robin with Emily Cambias and John R. Harness, answering questions on the basic structure of interpersonal scenes.
Finally the Consulting Occultist meets us in the Food Hut at the behest of distinguished patron Elias Helfer, seconded by Jamie Twine, who seek the esoteric secrets of the pavlova.
Experience the world of Gloom in a new, immersive way with Unhappy Birthday at Castle Slogar. With an integrated hint and solution website, drenched in the beloved Gloom aesthetic by artist J. Scott Reeves, this puzzling gamebook kicks off Atlas’ new Enigma line. Sign up for the Kickstarter announcement!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
In the Gaming Hut beloved backer Jamie Twine seeks tips on signaling weirdness and danger in horror games not set in our recognizable world.
Esteemed backer Ginger asks for the Tradecraft Hut take on the OSINT journalism entity Bellingcat.
Ken and Robin Recycle Audio with the first part of a Dramatic Interaction panel from Gen Con, in which Robin is joined by designers Emily Cambias and John R. Harness.
Finally the Eliptony Hut reviews the case of Jean Grenier, a young misfit from a 17th century French village who went on trial after identifying himself as a werewolf.
Experience the world of Gloom in a new, immersive way with Unhappy Birthday at Castle Slogar. With an integrated hint and solution website, drenched in the beloved Gloom aesthetic by artist J. Scott Reeves, this puzzling gamebook kicks off Atlas’ new Enigma line. Sign up for the Kickstarter announcement!
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Everything unravels in the Gaming Hut when beloved Patreon backer Tennant Reed asks us to use the Watergate docudramedy Gaslit as inspiration for a heist gone wrong game.
Ken’s Bookshelf delivers a change of pace segment as Robin asks our resident bibliomane to describe the five most specialized books in his collection.
In Ripped from the Headlines estimable backer Paul Douglas asks for the real scoop on a hungry and disoriented Russian economist who got from Copenhagen to LAX without a ticket or passport.
Finally astute backer Phil Masters returns to Ken’s Time Machine with another of his brilliantly crafted queries. What role did our chrono-hero play in the 1120 White Ship sinking, which wiped out much of the English royal family?
Experience the world of Gloom in a new, immersive way with Unhappy Birthday at Castle Slogar. With an integrated hint and solution website, drenched in the beloved Gloom aesthetic by artist J. Scott Reeves, this puzzling gamebook kicks off Atlas’ new Enigma line. Sign up for the Kickstarter announcement!
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Episode 580: The Most Fun Word in the History of Metallurgy
The Gaming Hut contains a special rack for displaying fancy blades as beloved Patreon backer Stephen Dosman asks us to find the tabletop fun in Ulfberht swords.
In the Cinema Hut we look at the newest cycle of female-focused, character-driven horror films.
Estimable backer Manfred Gabriel uses his Ask Ken and Robin powers to seek advice on spending his Dracula points.
Finally the Consulting Occultist tells the wry tale of the early Georgian era astrologer Isaac Bickerstaff, who predicted the death of rival John Partridge and might not have been entirely who he seemed.
Experience the world of Gloom in a new, immersive way with Unhappy Birthday at Castle Slogar. With an integrated hint and solution website, drenched in the beloved Gloom aesthetic by artist J. Scott Reeves, this puzzling gamebook kicks off Atlas’ new Enigma line. Sign up for the Kickstarter announcement!
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Our annual live episode recorded at London’s Dragonmeet finds our audience of expert questioners in a substantive mood. Accordingly, after nerdtroping WWII and the Peloponnesian war and contemplating high end snacks, we look at the unsolved problems of gaming, solo game design, troupe play and so much more.
That puts 2023 in the rearview mirror for us. Enjoy the holiday you celebrate and rejoin us in the weird future of 2024.
Experience the world of Gloom in a new, immersive way with Unhappy Birthday at Castle Slogar. With an integrated hint and solution website, drenched in the beloved Gloom aesthetic by artist J. Scott Reeves, this puzzling gamebook kicks off Atlas’ new Enigma line. Sign up for the Kickstarter announcement!
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
The Gaming Hut explodes in a molasses fireball full of staplers, but then does something entirely sensible, as we consider ways to reframe the fumble.
The Eliptony Hut studies a locally beloved cryptid, the Loveland Ohio frogman.
Finally Ken’s Bookshelf features an unusually sleek and selective London book haul, as our hero describes treasures liberated from Treadwell’s and Foyles.
Ho ho ho, festive friends, it’s once again time to celebrate the holidays and noncompliant behavior with Weird Little Elf, the fast and easy stocking stuffer game from our garland-festooned pals at Atlas Games.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Godzilla Minus One, Poker Face, The Bear
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
The Bear Season 1 (Television, US, FX, Christopher Storer & Joanna Calo, 2022) Acclaimed young chef (Jeremy Allen White) attempts to salvage the chaotic local joint willed to him by his addict brother, clashing with a bumptious long term employee slash honorary cousin (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and acting as uneasy mentor to an up and coming new hire (Ayo Edibiri.) With the constantly clock ticking and random culinary disasters raining down, this intense, Chicago-besotted drama establishes a new sub-genre of suspense: the food thriller.—RDL
Chavela (Film, Mexico/Spain, Catherine Gund, & Daresha Kyi, 2017) Biographical arts documentary profiles Chavela Vargas, the hard-living singer who brought operatic passion to the ranchera genre and became a ladykilling icon to Mexico’s lesbian community. If you don’t know the name you may have heard her music in the films of Pedro Almodovar, who championed her late career comeback and appears here in both archival and interview sequences.—RDL
Godzilla Minus One (Film, Japan, Takashi Yamazaki, 2023) Failed kamikaze pilot Koichi (Rynosuke Kamiki) seeks to expiate his cowardice when Godzilla attacks Japan in 1947. Yamazaki grounds the human action in social integration and stifled emotion, producing a film ironically much more like a mainstream 1954 American (or Japanese) film than the nihilist cosmic-horror Pinnacle he’s homaging. The kaiju action, meanwhile, is unimpeachably excellent. —KH
The Horror Tarot (Tarot deck, Todd Alcott, 2023) Rather than the bricolage treatment of his Pulp Tarot, Alcott homages specific traditions of horror art in the suits and trumps of this full 78-card tarot. Horror film posters (Major Arcana), Famous Monsters of Filmland (Wands), EC Comics (Swords), horror paperback covers (Cups), and pulp magazine covers (Pentacles) provide the inspiration for Alcott’s lovingly uncanny designs. —KH
Moss Rose (Film, US, Gregory Ratoff, 1947) Seeing a brooding heir (Victor Mature) leaving a murder scene, a social climbing chorus girl (Peggy Cummins) offers her silence in exchange for an extended invitation to his family’s country estate. Victorian gothic suffused with a proto-Lynchian sensibility, which regards the bizarre decisions of its characters as sympathetic and normal.—RDL
Only Murders in the Building Season 3 (Television, US, Hulu, Steve Martin & John Hoffman, 2023) When the asshole star (Paul Rudd) of Oliver’s (Martin Stone) Broadway comeback gets murdered, Mabel (Selena Gomez) investigates as Oliver re-imagines the show as a musical and Charles’ (Steve Martin) life falls back apart.. Normally a season of mostly premise rejection and backsliding would annoy me, but watching Martin Short center a “backstage panic” show is almost as good as a murder mystery any day. This mystery, by the way, improves considerably on Season 2. —KH
The Perfect Game (Film, Japan, Toshio Masuda, 1958) College ne’er do wells take a darker than anticipated turn when they take advantage of a communications delay between cycling track and bookie parlor to place a fraudulent bet. Sharp-cornered noir about characters on a greased chute to moral bankruptcy.—RDL
Poker Face Season 1 (Television, US, Peacock, Rian Johnson, 2023) Casino employee with an unfailing ear for lies Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) flees a vengeful pursuer but solves murders along the way. Good-natured combination of The Fugitive and Columbo leans into its old-school TV virtues such as good lighting and concise character portraits, occasionally playing up cheap humor but at its best devising tight but meaty micro-dramas with a murderous hook. All this and a master class in “why Bullshit Detector doesn’t ruin mysteries in GUMSHOE,” too.—KH
Resurrection (Film, US, Andrew Semans, 2022) Tightly wound biotech manager (Rebecca Hall) whose stifled daughter (Grace Kaufman) is about to leave for college fears the return of a menacing figure (Tim Roth) from her past. Hall turns in a harrowing tour de force performance in a profoundly unsettling work of psychological reality horror.—RDL
Stronger Than Love (Film, Cuba/Mexico, Tuli Demicheli, 1955) Haughty young woman (Miroslava) returns from Europe, where she falls into torrid love-hate with the blunt self-made man (Jorge Mistral) who, unbeknownst to her, has saved her upper crust family from ruin. Racy, sardonic melodrama is glossy, commercial entertainment from pre-revolutionary Cuba. Check out the hot and heavy santeria-inspired nightclub dance routine.—RDL
Good
High Tension (Film, US, Allan Dwan, 1936) The brashness that makes deep sea diver Steve Reardon the best man for any telegraph cable laying job causes him to wrongfoot his relationship with the fiery pulp writer (Glenda Farrell) who fictionalizes his adventures. Eccentric blend of romcom and 30s dangerous labor movie kept aloft by charm and zippy pacing.—RDL
In the Gaming Hut we come to the aid of beloved Patreon backer Keelan O’Hea, who wants to know how to revive a campaign after a period spent on hold.
Recent reports that it is the world’s oldest pyramid surely had you wondering when we were going to discuss Indonesia’s Gunung Padang in the Archaeology Hut.
To the world’s cheers, orcas have been attacking boats near Spain and Portugal. Ripped from the Headlines has the story behind the story.
Finally, we learn which key events Ken’s Time Machine must protect to prevent the British from winning the American Revolutionary War.
Ho ho ho, festive friends, it’s once again time to celebrate the holidays and noncompliant behavior with Weird Little Elf, the fast and easy stocking stuffer game from our garland-festooned pals at Atlas Games.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: High School Fight Club, Twisted Apparitions, and the Plot Against Hitler
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
Bottoms (Film, US, Emma Seligmann, 2023) Anarchy reigns when gay but nonetheless unpopular high school besties (Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri) looking for a pretext to talk to their crushes set up a self defense club. Outrageous teen comedy escalates to a truly bonkers conclusion. I hope someone is writing more comedies around Edebiri‘s brilliant minor key comic timing.—RDL
Finders Keepers: A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession (Nonfiction, Craig Childs, 2010) Profiling archaeologists, curators, collectors, dealers and plunderers, Childs considers the surprisingly complex question of where artifacts belong, who ought to possess them, and whether they should be left in the ground. A compelling voice gives narrative direction to a topic that in most other hands would be as dusty as a roadside pot sherd.—RDL
Hôtel du Nord (Film, France, Marcel Carné, 1938) Passionate young woman (Renée) checks into a modest hotel to complete a suicide pact with her boyfriend (Jean-Pierre Aumont) but is then drawn into the community of its residents and staff. Lyrical ensemble drama pits romantic fatalism against the joys of living.—RDL
Huesera: the Bone Woman (Film, Mexico, Michelle Garza Cervera, 2023) Pregnant furniture maker with a wild past (Natalia Solián) spirals into despair when she is plagued by apparitions of horrifically twisted female bodies. Unnerving character-driven horror draws on the fear of motherhood.—RDL
The Pez Outlaw (Film, US, Amy and Brian Storkel, 2022) Documentary retells the story of Steve Glew, who in the 90s became a thorn in the side to the American branch of the Pez candy dispenser empire with gray market imports of back-doored product from Eastern European factories. Wry caper elements float over darker hints of the mental health implications of obsessive collector culture.—RDL
The Possessed (Film, Italy, Luigi Bazzoni & Franco Rossellini, 1965) Novelist checking into an off-season hotel discovers that the maid he yearns for died under mysterious circumstances. Dreams and imaginings stand in for clues in this austere, arty mystery.—RDL
Valkyrie (Film, US/Germany, Bryan Singer, 2008) Col. Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) joins a plot against Hitler and takes it over by force of personality. By emphasizing the larger conspiracy around the bomb plot, Singer turns the story into a high-tension political thriller while uncomfortably highlighting the need for ruthlessness even for the best of ends. Terence Stamp and Bill Nighy superbly play Generals Beck and Olbricht as model and foil to Cruise, respectively. —KH
In the Gaming Hut we ask ourselves whether designers should include optional rules they don’t actually recommend using.
The History Hut takes on the smell of rocket fuel as beloved backer Fred Kiesche asks for the real made-up story behind the US anti-satellite weapons of Program 437.
Estimable backer Shane Cubis bids us to the Culture Hut to profile Peggy Guggenheim, peripatetic collector, dealer and patron of the surrealist and abstract expressionist movements.
At the behest of applaudable backer Ben Brighoff, the Eliptony Hut looks at the Sullivanians, the Upper West Side movement that for decades twisted psychotherapy into a vehicle for abusive cult control.
Ho ho ho, festive friends, it’s once again time to celebrate the holidays and noncompliant behavior with Weird Little Elf, the fast and easy stocking stuffer game from our garland-festooned pals at Atlas Games.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Alexander Arebalo wants to know how to make a building more of a character than a setting in a scenario.
Glittering backer Josh King checks the Crime Blotter for the story of Civil War gold that one treasure hunter accuses the FBI of stealing right from under his nose.
Legendary Patreon backer Joshua Hillerup beckons us to the Monster Hut to review the particulars of the Irish sorcerer-dwarf and/or vampire, the abhartach.
Finally the Consulting Occultist tells us about turn of the century Swiss medium, automatic writer and vicarious Mars visitor Hélène Smith.
Ho ho ho, festive friends, it’s once again time to celebrate the holidays and noncompliant behavior with Weird Little Elf, the fast and easy stocking stuffer game from our garland-festooned pals at Atlas Games.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
In the Gaming Hut show you how to remind players that their characters are the experts.
The Tradecraft Hut profiles American novelist, journalist and Soviet spy Martha Dodd.
Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else finds us chatting with designer and theorist John R. Harness.
Finally at the behest of beloved Patreon backer Patrick Holmes, Ken’s Time Machine sets the dial for prehistoric. Our chrono-hero looks into the hominid population bottleneck, which came close to ending the homo sapiens story before it began.
Atlas Games turns an amazing math discovery into a fascinating puzzle for all ages with InFUNity Tiles. Bring this improbably polygon, made from recycled plastic , into your life by joining the current Kickstarter.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Atlas Games turns an amazing math discovery into a fascinating puzzle for all ages with InFUNity Tiles. Bring this improbably polygon, made from recycled plastic , into your life by joining the current Kickstarter.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Atlas Games turns an amazing math discovery into a fascinating puzzle for all ages with InFUNity Tiles. Bring this improbably polygon, made from recycled plastic , into your life by joining the current Kickstarter.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Satanists, Demon Contagion, and a Science Vampire
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
El Vampiro Negro (Film, Argentina, Román Viñoly Barreto, 1953) Publicity-fearing nightclub singer (Olga Zubarry) runs afoul of a severe prosecutor (Roberto Escalado) when she declines to assist his hunt for a compulsive child killer (Nathán Pinzón.) Remake of M relegates the killer’s story to a subplot in a film noir tale of shaded morality packed with arresting expressionist imagery.—RDL
Ready or Not (Film, US, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett, 2019) Woman (Samara Weaving) marries into a wealthy family of board game manufacturers, little suspecting that a wedding night tradition gives her a one in thirty chance of being hunted down for Satanic sacrifice. Weaving strikes the requisite balance between resourceful and terrified in this tongue-in-cheek single-location pursuit thriller.—RDL
Roald Dahl Quartet (Films, US, Wes Anderson, 2023) Anderson films four Dahl short stories (“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” “The Swan,” “The Rat Catcher,” and “Poison”) as literal expressions of story telling, the cast (including Ralph Fiennes as Dahl, Benedict Cumberbatch as Henry Sugar, etc.) narrating the stories right through the fourth wall as the effects and stagehands switch out backdrops, props, etc. Somehow the combination of the completely literal and categorically abstract works, and evokes the same ironic flavor of humor as Dahl’s text. —KH
Thirst (Film, South Korea/US, Park Chan-wook, 2009) Turned into a vampire by an experimental vaccine, priest Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho) re-enters the life of his childhood sweetheart Tae-ju (Kim Ok-bin) to bad effect. A slowly accelerating burn punctuated by compelling combos of image and music, Thirst is a great vampire film and the weirdest adaptation of an Emile Zola novel you’re ever likely to see. —KH
When Evil Lurks (Film, Argentina, Demián Rugna, 2023) Two brothers who work a farm in a remote area trigger a demonic plague when they help to dump a possessed individual on the site of a rural road. Existentially and viscerally disturbing blend of the contagion and possession sub-genres superimposes cosmic indifference over the spooky Christianity associated with the latter. Its depiction of a pervasive supernatural menace that society has uneasily adjusted to puts it on the film inspiration list for The Yellow King Roleplaying Game: This is Normal Now.—RDL
Good
Blue Hour: The Disappearance of Nick Brandreth (Film, US, Dan Bowhers, 2023) Documentary filmmaker Olivia Brandreth (Morgan DeTogne) investigates the disappearance of her photographer father (Nick Brandreth). Found-footage mockumentary can’t seal the deal with the ending and only occasionally hits the uncanny it endlessly invokes, but Bowhers deserves credit for taking a big conceptual swing. —KH
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Film, US, John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein, 2023) Not-entirely-useless bard (Chris Pine) and strong female barbarian (Michelle Rodriguez) break out of prison and seek revenge on their weaselly rogue ex-comrade (Hugh Grant, once more absolutely masticating a villain part). Delightful Forgotten Realms tourism, a zippy fantasy heist, and legitimately funny and clever bits make this easily the best D&D movie, which is not a high bar. It would have been even better if any of its story or character beats had come as a remote surprise of any kind. —KH
Spectral (Film, US, Nic Mathieu, 2016) DARPA weapons researcher (James Badge Dale) embeds with a special forces unit fighting a revanchist insurgency in Moldova to investigate killer skeleton ghosts. If it had a modicum of characterization and an authoritative visual style, this novel mash-up of the war and SF horror genres would rate minor classic status.—RDL
Okay
The Great Magician (Film, Hong Kong, Derek Yee, 2011) Stage magician (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) arrives in 1920s Beijing to save his fiancee from an insecure warlord (Lau Ching Wan.) Leung and Lau give a masterclass in the profundity of movie star action to a colorful comedy that isn’t particularly looking to accommodate emotional depth.—RDL
The Gaming Hut stands inconveniently close to a weapons and armor store as beloved Patreon backer Urchin Prince asks for advice on handling shopping-obsessed players.
At the request of arborially concerned backer Evan Hughes, Ripped from the Headlines finds the esoteric truth behind the felling of the iconic, titular tree at Sycamore Gap.
Speaking of shopping, Ken’s Bookshelf allows us to vicariously enjoy our hero’s latest effort to deplete the book purveyors of Oregon.
Join the Cat Eyes detective agency, where every night is a purrfectly spooooky Halloween mystery, with Kitty Noir, the city sourcebook for Magical Kitties Save the Day from Atlas Games.
Stock up for your Halloween games with a Pelgrane Press super sale on its top GUMSHOE horror titles. The promo code SCARY23 at the Pelgrane online store gets you 20% off on Trail of Cthulhu products, Yellow King Roleplaying Game products, Esoterrorists products and Fear Itself products until November 1st.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Our first all-request episode in many moons kicks off with a Gaming Hut question from beloved Patreon backer Derrick Yates, on running horror when you don’t love gory movies.
Then compelling backer Richard Schwerdtfeger beckons us to the Command Hut for the peculiar, cameo-filled WWII battle at Castle Itter.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine accepts a mission assigned by parrothead-adjacent backer Michael Fox, who seeks a glimpse at the timeline where Elvis Presley recorded Margaritaville.
Join the Cat Eyes detective agency, where every night is a purrfectly spooooky Halloween mystery, with Kitty Noir, the city sourcebook for Magical Kitties Save the Day from Atlas Games.
Stock up for your Halloween games with a Pelgrane Press super sale on its top GUMSHOE horror titles. The promo code SCARY23 at the Pelgrane online store gets you 20% off on Trail of Cthulhu products, Yellow King Roleplaying Game products, Esoterrorists products and Fear Itself products until November 1st.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Alien Invaders, Outback Noir, and a Curse-Breaking Conspiracy
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
Full Circle (Television, US, HBO Max, Ed Solomon & Steven Soderbergh, 2023) To undo a family curse, a Guyanese crime boss (CCH Pounder) orders the kidnapping of a rich couple’s (Claire Danes, Timothy Olyphant) son, enmeshing a rogue postal inspector (Zazie Beetz) and many others in a series of dangerous errors and surprising revelations. Chaos theory ensemble crime drama shot by Soderbergh with a subtly destabilizing immediacy.—RDL
Limbo (Film, Australia, Ivan Sen, 2023) Police investigator Travis Hurley (Simon Baker) arrives at the titular opal-mining outback town to investigate the 20-year-old cold case of an Aboriginal girl’s abduction. Baker’s superb performance and the stark black-and-white cinematography (also by Sen) knit together this elliptical bricolage of noir, Western, policier, and social comment film genres into a powerful whole that does the job of cinema better than virtually anything you will see this year.—KH
No One Will Save You (Film, US, Brian Duffield, 2023) Lonely Etsy seller (Kaitlyn Dever) fights back when sinister gray UFO occupants invade her rural home. Nearly dialogue-free exercise in pure cinema cleverly weaves together disparate alien terror tropes.—RDL
Reptile (Film, US, Grant Singer, 2023) Homicide detective (Benicio del Toro) uncovers a conspiracy while investigating the murder of a callow realtor’s (Justin Timberlake) fiancee. Del Toro steps into a welcome leading role as a pitiless roving camera and ominous soundtrack lend neo-gothic dread to a small town policier.—RDL
Good
Evil Dead Rise (Film, US, Lee Cronin, 2023) In a largely deserted apartment building, a guitar tech (Lily Sullivan) defends her nieces and nephew from their demonically possessed mother (Alyssa Sutherland.) Earns points for moving the franchise to a new urban locale and for exploring deeper characterization, though the horror remits too often in the middle, and the fear of motherhood theme doesn’t really integrate with the gothic teleology of the Evil Dead universe.—RDL
Okay
Foremost by Night (Film, Spain/Portugal/France, Victor Iriarte, 2023) Court reporter Vera (Lola Dueñas) penetrates a baby-snatching conspiracy to find her stolen son Egoz (Manuel Egozkue) and his adoptive mother Cora (Ana Torrent). This film could be Exhibit A in McKee’s “no voiceovers” thesis. Three or four very promising premises founder on the complete absence of conflict, leaving what little drama remains for the actors to emote. That game acting and some intriguingly oblique symbology keep this inert exercise barely at Okay. —KH
Thirteen Women (Film, US, George Archainbaud, 1932) Young widowed socialite (Irene Dunne) and her former finishing school classmates receive messages of doom from an astrologer, which come true thanks to the hypnotic powers of their embittered nemesis (Myrna Loy.) Somewhat perfunctory thriller novel adaptation offers the chance to see Loy in one of her early villain roles. CW: Orientalism.
The Gaming Hut completes its series on scenario structures, as inspired by Robin’s recent Adventure Crucible chapbook for the Kraken, with the intrigue scenario.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, we chat with Ajit George, who looks back on his work as developer of the acclaimed Journeys Through the Radiant City adventure anthology for Dungeons & Dragons.
At the behest of beloved Patreon backer John Scheib, Crime Blotter seeks the numismatic and/or occult significance of a Philadelphia dime heist.
Finally the Eliptony Hut rips a topic from the headlines, profiling UFOlogist Jaime Maussan, who recently presented so-called alien mummies to a Mexican congressional hearing.
Join the Cat Eyes detective agency, where every night is a purrfectly spooooky Halloween mystery, with Kitty Noir, the city sourcebook for Magical Kitties Save the Day from Atlas Games.
Stock up for your Halloween games with a Pelgrane Press super sale on its top GUMSHOE horror titles. The promo code SCARY23 at the Pelgrane online store gets you 20% off on Trail of Cthulhu products, Yellow King Roleplaying Game products, Esoterrorists products and Fear Itself products until November 1st.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Join the Cat Eyes detective agency, where every night is a purrfectly spooooky Halloween mystery, with Kitty Noir, the city sourcebook for Magical Kitties Save the Day from Atlas Games.
Stock up for your Halloween games with a Pelgrane Press super sale on its top GUMSHOE horror titles. The promo code SCARY23 at the Pelgrane online store gets you 20% off on Trail of Cthulhu products, Yellow King Roleplaying Game products, Esoterrorists products and Fear Itself products until November 1st.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
The Gaming Hut continues its look at scenario structures, as found in Robin’s new Adventure Crucible chapbook, with the chain of fights.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Eric Prister from The Nature of My Game Podcast provides tips on GMing for an actual play podcast. Stay tuned after this episode’s credits for a special bonus teaser from the first episode of NoMG’s epic run of Robin’s upcoming Cassilda’s Song mega-campaign for The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
Among My Many Hats gives Robin a chance to talk about Six Ages: Lights Going Out, A-Sharp and Killfox’s mobile game of clan management, set in the fantastic world of Glorantha at a time when Chaos is destroying the world.
Finally at the behest of beloved Patreon backer Bruce Miller, Ken’s Time Machine lands dangerously close to the Delft arsenal explosion.
You are a great mage, battling for the last reservoir of the magical element Etherium. You’ll craft creations and cast spells to defeat your rivals, leaving you as master of the Godsforge! The new 2nd Edition of Godsforge is available now from Atlas Games, plus two new expansions: Return of the Dragon Gods and Twilight of the Great Houses.
Even Death Can Die, the breathlessly-awaited scenario book for Cthulhu Confidential, is now in print at an eldritch game store near you, or in the Pelgrane web store. Thrill to three hardboiled Lovecraftian adventures apiece from stalwart investigators Langston Wright, Vivian Sinclair, and Dex Raymond, all for one player and one GM.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
In the Gaming Hut, we look at the second of the scenario structures Robin breaks down in his new Adventure Crucible chapbook, the mystery.
Beloved Patreon backer Joshua Randall beckons us into the Cartography Hut as he seeks places on Earth with the widest variety of F20 friendly biomes.
Then Charles Picard puts up multiple screens in a geodesic Culture Hut to ask about Charles and Ray Eames’ film “Glimpses of the USA”, as seen in Moscow in 1959.
Finally the Eliptony Hut looks at the dangerous tale of the Fenn treasure.
You are a great mage, battling for the last reservoir of the magical element Etherium. You’ll craft creations and cast spells to defeat your rivals, leaving you as master of the Godsforge! The new 2nd Edition of Godsforge is available now from Atlas Games, plus two new expansions: Return of the Dragon Gods and Twilight of the Great Houses.
Even Death Can Die, the breathlessly-awaited scenario book for Cthulhu Confidential, is now in print at an eldritch game store near you, or in the Pelgrane web store. Thrill to three hardboiled Lovecraftian adventures apiece from stalwart investigators Langston Wright, Vivian Sinclair, and Dex Raymond, all for one player and one GM.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Ken and Robin were together once more for a live show at Gen Con, and here it is, with the mystical confluence of Elvis, Ben Franklin, and zombies, plus harissa, fancy liquor labeling, our nemeses, why Robin would never have Ken assassinated, Schrodinger’s frogs, and what the hamsters and guinea pigs are really up to.
You are a great mage, battling for the last reservoir of the magical element Etherium. You’ll craft creations and cast spells to defeat your rivals, leaving you as master of the Godsforge! The new 2nd Edition of Godsforge is available now from Atlas Games, plus two new expansions: Return of the Dragon Gods and Twilight of the Great Houses.
Even Death Can Die, the breathlessly-awaited scenario book for Cthulhu Confidential, is now in print at an eldritch game store near you, or in the Pelgrane web store. Thrill to three hardboiled Lovecraftian adventures apiece from stalwart investigators Langston Wright, Vivian Sinclair, and Dex Raymond, all for one player and one GM.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
The Gaming Hut hosts part one in a series breaking down the various scenario structures, as inspired by Robin’s new Kraken chapbook, Adventure Crucible. We start with a look at the dungeon and other area-based scenarios, finding its hidden and not-so hidden strengths.
An anonymous patron beckons us into the History Hut for a look at Albert Einstein’s world travels from 1922 to 1923, with many stops including Japan and Jerusalem.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, we speak with writer and designer Emily Cambias.
Finally the Consulting Occultist looks at self-styled shaman Durek Verrett, provider of woo-woo to the stars and fiancée of Norwegian princess Martha Louise.
Waggle your tiny clawed arms in delight! The 5E edition of Planegea, Atlas Games’ setting of primordial fantasy wonder, has arrived. Whether you’re a saurian or shimmering, dreamwalking elf, you’ll want to grab the campaign setting book, as well as accessories like the GM screen, adventures, soundtrack, and deluxe boxed edition while that meteor remains safely in the sky above.
Even Death Can Die, the breathlessly-awaited scenario book for Cthulhu Confidential, is now in print at an eldritch game store near you, or in the Pelgrane web store. Thrill to three hardboiled Lovecraftian adventures apiece from stalwart investigators Langston Wright, Vivian Sinclair, and Dex Raymond, all for one player and one GM.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Among My Many Hats looks at Robin’s new Adventure Crucible Kraken chapbook, in which he breaks down the structures of various scenario types to help you design them better. Get in PDF from DriveThruRPG or in physical form from All Rolled Up.
Beloved Patreon backer Matthew Preston beckons us into the Archaeology Hut to ask why the tombs recently excavated at Exeter Cathedral had no deceased bishops in them.
The Cinema Hut Science Fiction Film Essentials series reaches its epic conclusion with the titles of the late teens.
Finally, estimable backer Johan Tor, upon hearing that our chrono-hero once shook Lech Walesa’s hand, wonders how Ken’s Time Machine was involved.
Waggle your tiny clawed arms in delight! The 5E edition of Planegea, Atlas Games’ setting of primordial fantasy wonder, has arrived. Whether you’re a saurian or shimmering, dreamwalking elf, you’ll want to grab the campaign setting book, as well as accessories like the GM screen, adventures, soundtrack, and deluxe boxed edition while that meteor remains safely in the sky above.
Even Death Can Die, the breathlessly-awaited scenario book for Cthulhu Confidential, is now in print at an eldritch game store near you, or in the Pelgrane web store. Thrill to three hardboiled Lovecraftian adventures apiece from stalwart investigators Langston Wright, Vivian Sinclair, and Dex Raymond, all for one player and one GM.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
In the Gaming Hut, we propose ways to respond to the characters’ failures of stealth without killing story momentum.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, both of us chat with author Howard Andrew Jones about the state of sword and sorcery and his new novel, Lord of a Shattered Land.
In Ask Ken and Robin, beloved Patreon backer Snivgrits requests that we riff a police procedural featuring Wendy Darling from Peter Pan.
Finally the Consulting Occultist looks at the alchemical side of pioneering scientist and mathematician Isaac Newton.
Waggle your tiny clawed arms in delight! The 5E edition of Planegea, Atlas Games’ setting of primordial fantasy wonder, has arrived. Whether you’re a saurian or shimmering, dreamwalking elf, you’ll want to grab the campaign setting book, as well as accessories like the GM screen, adventures, soundtrack, and deluxe boxed edition while that meteor remains safely in the sky above.
Even Death Can Die, the breathlessly-awaited scenario book for Cthulhu Confidential, is now in print at an eldritch game store near you, or in the Pelgrane web store. Thrill to three hardboiled Lovecraftian adventures apiece from stalwart investigators Langston Wright, Vivian Sinclair, and Dex Raymond, all for one player and one GM.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
For the first time since the Great Unpleasantness, not only Ken but also Robin made it to Gen Con. Picking up a tradition where it left off, we devote the episode to recapping our experience there. From the new stuff at the Pelgrane booth, from the flow of the show to the state of the industry, with maybe a note or two about Indianapolis food, we are here to report.
Waggle your tiny clawed arms in delight! The 5E edition of Planegea, Atlas Games’ setting of primordial fantasy wonder, has arrived. Whether you’re a saurian or shimmering, dreamwalking elf, you’ll want to grab the campaign setting book, as well as accessories like the GM screen, adventures, soundtrack, and deluxe boxed edition while that meteor remains safely in the sky above.
Even Death Can Die, the breathlessly-awaited scenario book for Cthulhu Confidential, is now in print at an eldritch game store near you, or in the Pelgrane web store. Thrill to three hardboiled Lovecraftian adventures apiece from stalwart investigators Langston Wright, Vivian Sinclair, and Dex Raymond, all for one player and one GM.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
The episode we record together in Indianapolis before Gen Con is back, starting with a Gaming Hut look at using the vagaries of attendance to guide your plot developments.
In the Food Hut we look at new additions to our list of techniques, grocery lists, and home bars.
Our Cinema Hut Science Fiction Essential Series reaches the Riff Interregnum, otherwise known as the present day, when this podcast was already in production.
Finally the Eliptony Hut lets you well actually an upcoming film by giving you the real fake story of Gef the Mongoose.
Waggle your tiny clawed arms in delight! The 5E edition of Planegea, Atlas Games’ setting of primordial fantasy wonder, has arrived. Whether you’re a saurian or shimmering, dreamwalking elf, you’ll want to grab the campaign setting book, as well as accessories like the GM screen, adventures, soundtrack, and deluxe boxed edition while that meteor remains safely in the sky above.
Even Death Can Die, the breathlessly-awaited scenario book for Cthulhu Confidential, is now in print at an eldritch game store near you, or in the Pelgrane web store. Thrill to three hardboiled Lovecraftian adventures apiece from stalwart investigators Langston Wright, Vivian Sinclair, and Dex Raymond, all for one player and one GM.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Lauberfen asks for tips on achieving balance with F20 magic items. How do GMs find the sweet spot between a boring +1 sword and a full MacGuffin?
The Book Hut looks at the career of SF, fantasy and crime writer Avram Davidson, in the centenary of his birth.
The Cinema Hut Science Fiction Essentials series grows ever closer to our recognizable present day as we head from the twenty-oughts into the twenty-tens.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine hurtles toward some deep CanCon as intrepid backer Laurel Halbany puts our chronohero on the case of the dollar coin that almost was.
Waggle your tiny clawed arms in delight! The 5E edition of Planegea, Atlas Games’ setting of primordial fantasy wonder, has arrived. Whether you’re a saurian or shimmering, dreamwalking elf, you’ll want to grab the campaign setting book, as well as accessories like the GM screen, adventures, soundtrack, and deluxe boxed edition while that meteor remains safely in the sky above.
Even Death Can Die, the breathlessly-awaited scenario book for Cthulhu Confidential, is now in print at an eldritch game store near you, or in the Pelgrane web store. Thrill to three hardboiled Lovecraftian adventures apiece from stalwart investigators Langston Wright, Vivian Sinclair, and Dex Raymond, all for one player and one GM.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Hector Trelane asks us to discuss the Jeepform game design movement.
A Crime Blotter investigation has us looking at Captagon, a licit pharmaceutical product that traveled from Germany to the Eastern Bloc and finally morphed into a war-fighting or party drug with a geopolitical reach throughout the Middle East.
In the Cinema Hut Science Fiction Film Essential series we look at 9/11’s impact on the genre.
And finally the Consulting Occultist regales us with tales true and folkloric concerning Ursula Southill, remembered by history as the witch and prophetess Mother Shipton.
Waggle your tiny clawed arms in delight! The 5E edition of Planegea, Atlas Games’ setting of primordial fantasy wonder, has arrived. Whether you’re a saurian or shimmering, dreamwalking elf, you’ll want to grab the campaign setting book, as well as accessories like the GM screen, adventures, soundtrack, and deluxe boxed edition while that meteor remains safely in the sky above.
Even Death Can Die, the breathlessly-awaited scenario book for Cthulhu Confidential, is now in print at an eldritch game store near you, or in the Pelgrane web store. Thrill to three hardboiled Lovecraftian adventures apiece from stalwart investigators Langston Wright, Vivian Sinclair, and Dex Raymond, all for one player and one GM.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Michael David Jr. wants to know how to fold the 19th century French interest in Ancient Egypt into The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
In the Food Hut we look at gum arabic, a ubiquitous ingredient in processed food and other products whose worldwide supply is now threatened as a side consequence of the Sudan conflict.
The Cinema Hut Science Fiction Essentials series turns a dissociated, paranoid corner into the 21st century.
Finally, it’s once more time to ask a perennial Eliptony Hut question, here posed by estimable backer Tennant Reed (and we paraphrase) “Is this latest wave of UFO hoo-hah, unlike the other ones you talked about, a thing?”
Waggle your tiny clawed arms in delight! The 5E edition of Planegea, Atlas Games’ setting of primordial fantasy wonder, has arrived. Whether you’re a saurian or shimmering, dreamwalking elf, you’ll want to grab the campaign setting book, as well as accessories like the GM screen, adventures, soundtrack, and deluxe boxed edition while that meteor remains safely in the sky above.
Even Death Can Die, the breathlessly-awaited scenario book for Cthulhu Confidential, is now in print at an eldritch game store near you, or in the Pelgrane web store. Thrill to three hardboiled Lovecraftian adventures apiece from stalwart investigators Langston Wright, Vivian Sinclair, and Dex Raymond, all for one player and one GM.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Episode 556: We Touched the Thing in Tomb of Horrors
Beloved Patreon backer and longtime GM David Rourke convenes us in the Gaming Hut to ask, is it okay if running published adventures doesn’t work for you?
Travel Advisory features a report from Ken on his recent trip to the Diversão Offline game convention in São Paulo, Brazil.
The Cinema Hut Science Fiction Essentials Series becomes ever more entangled in issues of selfhood and identity as we cover the back stretch of the 1990s.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine finds our chrono-here looking for salubrious adjustments to the Qing invasion of Korea in 1636.
Waggle your tiny clawed arms in delight! The 5E edition of Planegea, Atlas Games’ setting of primordial fantasy wonder, has arrived. Whether you’re a saurian or shimmering, dreamwalking elf, you’ll want to grab the campaign setting book, as well as accessories like the GM screen, adventures, soundtrack, and deluxe boxed edition while that meteor remains safely in the sky above.
Even Death Can Die, the breathlessly-awaited scenario book for Cthulhu Confidential, is now in print at an eldritch game store near you, or in the Pelgrane web store. Thrill to three hardboiled Lovecraftian adventures apiece from stalwart investigators Langston Wright, Vivian Sinclair, and Dex Raymond, all for one player and one GM.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Waggle your tiny clawed arms in delight! The 5E edition of Planegea, Atlas Games’ setting of primordial fantasy wonder, has arrived. Whether you’re a saurian or shimmering, dreamwalking elf, you’ll want to grab the campaign setting book, as well as accessories like the GM screen, adventures, soundtrack, and deluxe boxed edition while that meteor remains safely in the sky above.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Waggle your tiny clawed arms in delight! The 5E edition of Planegea, Atlas Games’ setting of primordial fantasy wonder, has arrived. Whether you’re a saurian or shimmering, dreamwalking elf, you’ll want to grab the campaign setting book, as well as accessories like the GM screen, adventures, soundtrack, and deluxe boxed edition while that meteor remains safely in the sky above.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Episode 553: They Get a Really Great Poem Out of It
Beloved Patreon backer Ryan McClelland ventures into our seedy, low rent Gaming Hut to ask how Sam Spade’s monkeywrenching style of investigation fits in GUMSHOE.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Somebody Else, Ken talks to Improv for Gamers author Karen Twelves.
The Cinema Hut Science Fiction Cinema Essentials series makes the turn from the 80s into the 90s, starting with a duo of cool dudes who know their way around a time machine.
Speaking of chrono-conveyances, Ken’s Time Machine heads back to the 980s to see what our hero can do about a series of devastating Vikings raids.
Waggle your tiny clawed arms in delight! The 5E edition of Planegea, Atlas Games’ setting of primordial fantasy wonder, has arrived. Whether you’re a saurian or shimmering, dreamwalking elf, you’ll want to grab the campaign setting book, as well as accessories like the GM screen, adventures, soundtrack, and deluxe boxed edition while that meteor remains safely in the sky above.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
In the Gaming Hut we suggest ways to design your player character backstory to make you a premise accepter.
Learn with Ken as Among My Many Hats discusses his upcoming online adult education course “H.P. Lovecraft: Maker of Modern Horror,” available Thursdays in July through Signum University.
The Cinema Hut Science Fiction Essentials series reaches installment 20, and the late eighties, starting in a jungle stalked by an invisible alien hunter.
Finally beloved Patreon backer Gerald Sears wants the Consulting Occultist to tell him what happened to occultism in America in the 40s and 50s.
Once Upon a Time the fairy godmothers at Atlas Games offered a special deal on their classic card game, Once Upon a Time. Until May 31st you and your magic beans can claim a free expansion with the purchase of any three Once Upon a Time products at the Atlas Games store. Use the coupon code ONCE2023.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Elias Helfer wants to hear our take on our esteemed colleague Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s take on investigative leads.
Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else finds Ken talking to tabletop roleplaying pioneer Jennell Jacquays.
Part eighteen of our increasingly epic Cinema Hut Science Fiction Film Essentials series brings us to the halcyon year of 1986.
And finally we locate the Eliptony Hut on a long, mountainous island as estimable backer Eric Parks seeks the scoop on the possible survival of the hominid H. floresiensis.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Once Upon a Time the fairy godmothers at Atlas Games offered a special deal on their classic card game, Once Upon a Time. Until May 31st you and your magic beans can claim a free expansion with the purchase of any three Once Upon a Time products at the Atlas Games store. Use the coupon code ONCE2023.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
The planet Earth has hurtled through time and space yet again to take this podcast to another milestone: our five hundred and fiftieth episode. Longtime listeners know what that means—LIGHTNING ROUND!!! questions as posed by our beloved Patreon backers. In rapid fashion we address queries about overrated foods, stingy players, satellite imagery, and so much more.
Once Upon a Time the fairy godmothers at Atlas Games offered a special deal on their classic card game, Once Upon a Time. Until May 31st you and your magic beans can claim a free expansion with the purchase of any three Once Upon a Time products at the Atlas Games store. Use the coupon code ONCE2023.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Flashbacks and cold opens fill the Gaming Hut as beloved Patreon backer Kelly Fisher asks how scenes without the player characters work as downbeats.
In the Cinema Hut Science Fiction Essentials Series, we reach installment 17, which might not get us all the way through that most speculative year, 1984.
Then our bibliomaniacal hero regales us with the fruits of his latest Austin purchasing frenzy in Ken’s Bookshelf.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Once Upon a Time the fairy godmothers at Atlas Games offered a special deal on their classic card game, Once Upon a Time. Until May 31st you and your magic beans can claim a free expansion with the purchase of any three Once Upon a Time products at the Atlas Games store. Use the coupon code ONCE2023.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Your heroes don masks and top hats in the Gaming Hut as beloved backer Daniel Fidelman asks how to use iconic French pulp villain Fantomas in The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
The Tradecraft Hut gets a little too online as we look at the tabletop implications of the Jack Teixeira spy secrets leak case.
We phone home but don’t phone it in as we continue to make steady progress through the rich trove of the early eighties in the Cinema Hut’s Science Fiction Essentials Series.
And finally Ken’s Time Machine meddles again in the Roman Empire, this time seeing what happens if our chrononaut saves the bacon of the Emperor known as Philip the Arab.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Once Upon a Time the fairy godmothers at Atlas Games offered a special deal on their classic card game, Once Upon a Time. Until May 31st you and your magic beans can claim a free expansion with the purchase of any three Once Upon a Time products at the Atlas Games store. Use the coupon code ONCE2023.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Installment fifteen of the Cinema Hut Science Fiction Essentials series takes to the beginning of the 1980s, which is veritably chockablock with classics.
Finally the Consulting Occultist meets us in the Architecture Hut for a look at the so-called Devil’s Architect, Nicholas Hawksmoor, whose reputation for the arcane might just have been burnished by some of our finest living nerdtropers.
Once Upon a Time the fairy godmothers at Atlas Games offered a special deal on their classic card game, Once Upon a Time. Until May 31st you and your magic beans can claim a free expansion with the purchase of any three Once Upon a Time products at the Atlas Games store. Use the coupon code ONCE2023.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
We enter the secret chamber of the Gaming Hut at the behest of beloved Patreon backer Ian Carlsen, who seeks guidance on a campaign built around initiation into a mystery cult.
Speaking of mysteries, the Food Hut tackles the terrifying possibility that ice cream might be good for you.
In the Cinema Hut our Science Fiction Film Essentials series reaches the densely packed turn from the 70s into the 80s.
Finally Conspiracy Corner looks at the 15 minute city and how this anodyne urban planning concept has become the latest locus of paranoid panic.
Once Upon a Time the fairy godmothers at Atlas Games offered a special deal on their classic card game, Once Upon a Time. Until May 31st you and your magic beans can claim a free expansion with the purchase of any three Once Upon a Time products at the Atlas Games store. Use the coupon code ONCE2023.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Get your spreadsheets and notebooks out because in the Gaming Hut we’re talking bluebook-heavy games.
In the Command Hut beloved Patreon backer Andrew Miller waves his saber to precipitate a discussion of the Charge of the Savoia Cavalleria at Izbushensky, and whether it was in fact history’s last significant cavalry charge.
The lucky thirteenth chapter of our Cinema Hut Science Fiction Essentials series takes us to the late 70s, starting with the lightsaber-wielding film that changed the genre forever.
Finally in the Eliptony Hut we get drunk and play with Polaroids as we retell the tale of psychic photographer Ted Serios.
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/.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
The Gaming Hut makes knowing reference to the Gaming Hut as beloved Patreon backer Joshua Hillerup asks how one might make a game that is to roleplaying what Community was to the sitcom.
Malaise gives way to corrupt hedonism as the Cinema Hut science fiction essentials series reaches the mid 70s.
In TheBusiness of Gaming we wonder what the crumbling state of social media means to guerrilla marketing for tabletop products.
Finally in Ken’s Time Machine estimable backer Neil Barnes proposes that our chrono-hero do something about replacing mere decimal mathematics with a Base-12 system.
In Sunset City, there’s always something fishy going on … and we’re not talking tuna. The magical kitties of Sunset City have their paws full of mystery. Thanks to our fine feline friends at Atlas Games, Magical Kitties Noir is headed to Kickstarter.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
In the Gaming Hut we examine the social contract of F20, specifically whether players want the GM to move the boss fight into a room convenient to session pacing.
Part eleven of our Cinema Hut science fiction essentials series takes us to the malaise of the early seventies.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Ken chats with Christopher Robin Negelein about his Mystery Flesh Pit National Park RPG. Look for it on Kickstarter.
Finally beloved Patreon backer Ed Sizemore beckons us into the Eliptony Hut to learn more about the Brazilian syncretic UFO sect Vale do Amanhecer.
In Sunset City, there’s always something fishy going on … and we’re not talking tuna. The magical kitties of Sunset City have their paws full of mystery. Thanks to our fine feline friends at Atlas Games, Magical Kitties Noir is headed to Kickstarter.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
We begin in the Gaming Hut as beloved Patreon backer Ludovic Chabant asks for tips on porting the single-protagonist assumptions of much genre source material to the party-driven play typical to tabletop roleplaying.
The Cinema Hut takes place in the shadow of a certain monolith as installment ten of our Science Fiction Cinema Essentials reaches the late 60s and early 70s.
We’ve talked about sidekick campaigns before. In Ask Ken and Robin, revered backer Peter Adkison points out that we haven’t talked about running one centered around noted chrononaut Kenneth Hite.
Finally, the Consulting Occultist profiles 1st century prophet Alexander of Abonoteichus, begetter of the Glykon snake cult.
In Sunset City, there’s always something fishy going on … and we’re not talking tuna. The magical kitties of Sunset City have their paws full of mystery. Thanks to our fine feline friends at Atlas Games, Magical Kitties Noir is now on Kickstarter.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
In the Gaming Hut we look at the Efficiency Paradox, where players who most effectively grapple with the choices of a scenario are the most likely to regard it as linear.
A Zillow floorplan of a Glendora CA home winds up in the Cartography Hut at the behest of beloved backer Monster Talk, who has spotted some anomalies he needs explained.
The ninth installment of the Cinema Hut Science Fiction Essentials series finds us in the mid-60s, as the genre falls into arty European hands.
On Jan 31, 1914, a meteor struck a torpedo factory in Sistersville, West Virginia, sending an exploding ball of nitroglycerin into the air. We find out what role Ken’s Time Machine played in this unlikely event.
In Sunset City, there’s always something fishy going on … and we’re not talking tuna. The magical kitties of Sunset City have their paws full of mystery. Thanks to our fine feline friends at Atlas Games, Magical Kitties Noir is headed to Kickstarter.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Things get both creepy and capey in the Gaming Hut as beloved Patreon backer Sean asks how to combine superheroes with cosmic horror.
At the behest of estimable backer Cynistrategus, Ripped From the Headlines finds the gaming potential in recent animal thefts at the Dallas Zoo.
In the Cinema Hut, part eight of our Science Fiction Cinema Essentials series reaches the 1960s as the genre moves to Europe and goes avant-garde.
Finally the Eliptony Hut expands to hide a giant sphere as formidable backer Joshua Randall asks for the true weirdness behind the strange object that washed up on Japan’s Enshu Beach.
In Sunset City, there’s always something fishy going on … and we’re not talking tuna. The magical kitties of Sunset City have their paws full of mystery. Thanks to our fine feline friends at Atlas Games, Magical Kitties Noir is headed to Kickstarter.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
In the Gaming Hut we wonder whether it is always bad for the players to figure out the mystery prior to the big reveal scene.
A relic heist comes under scrutiny in the History Hut as beloved Patreon backer Mark D. Rinna asks why black ops crusaders raided the tomb of St. Nicholas.
Installment seven of the Cinema Hut Science Fiction Essentials series finds us working methodically through the late fifties.
Then the Consulting Occultist enters the Culture Hut at the behest of sophisticated backer Jake Maas, who seeks enlightenment on the Theosophical roots of avant garde artist Yves Klein.
In Sunset City, there’s always something fishy going on … and we’re not talking tuna. The magical kitties of Sunset City have their paws full of mystery. Thanks to our fine feline friends at Atlas Games, Magical Kitties Noir is headed to Kickstarter.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
We hope you’re wearing headphones for this one because we start in the Gaming Hut with a request from beloved Patreon backer Kevin L. Nault asks us to wrap a campaign around ear-entering, disease-causing ghosts.
Then the Tradecraft Hut looks up in the sky for the truth about spy balloons.
Finally, the Cinema Hut makes way for our annual pre-Oscars tradition, in which we list our top ten films of the 2022,
In Sunset City, there’s always something fishy going on … and we’re not talking tuna. The magical kitties of Sunset City have their paws full of mystery. Thanks to our fine feline friends at Atlas Games, Magical Kitties Noir is headed to Kickstarter.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Episode 537: Bring Me the Incompetent Laggard File
We appear to be stuck in the Gaming Hut as beloved Patreon backer Walter Manbeck seeks tips on scenarios set in confined spaces.
In the Tradecraft Hut estimable backer Dan L seeks gaming inspiration from Operation Pedro Pan, a covert effort to migrate unaccompanied teens and kids to the US from early 60s Cuba.
The Cinema Hut Science Fiction Essentials series reaches the mid-1950s and some all-time classic creature features.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine travels to and interferes with the early 20th century French political scandal known as the Affair of the Cards.
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/.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Episode 535: NASA is Not in the Neck Adjustment Business
The topic may be vagueness but the analysis remains sharp as the Gaming Hut looks at open questions and unsolved mysteries in RPG setting material.
In Fun With Science, we look for plot hooks in the ChatGPT AI text generator, including the inevitable query about its Mythos implications from beloved Patreon backer Tom Abella.
The Cinema Hut reaches part four of the Science Fiction Film Essentials series, as the genre finally hits full boil in the hopeful but paranoid early 50s.
Finally, at the behest of inquiring backer Sam Rutzick, the Consulting Occultist warily goes undercover for some questionable spinal adjustment, in search of the ghostly weirdness behind chiropractic treatment.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Beloved Patreon backer Michael Gemar requests that The Business of Gaming tackle Wizards of the Coast’s latest adventures in managing the Dungeons and Dragons Open License.
We thought that would be one segment. Hear it, in real time, turn into three!
That leaves room for the Cinema Hut’s Science Fiction Film Essentials series to reach the sound era, and the 1930s, when the laboratory becomes a wellspring of gothic terror.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
In the Gaming Hut we look at what characters should do more often in horror: run!
At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Eric Saltwell, the Word Hut seeks the real truth behind Unicode ghost kanji.
In part two of our Cinema Hut Science Fiction Essentials series, we finally get to some actual movies, the precursors (and one classic) of the silent era.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine fuels itself on some high-octane introductory exposition as fiendishly clever backer Philip Masters asks our. chrononaut to come up with a fresh answer to the Schleswig-Holstein Question.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
In the Gaming Hut we remember our friend and colleague Darren Watts, prolific Champions designer and former head of Hero Games.
The Crime Blotter comes a little too close to home for comfort as Ken tells the story of his recent shooting.
We kick off a new series in the Cinema Hut, Science Fiction Cinema Essentials. Due to the porousness of the genre we train our radium oscilloscopes on some definitions and ground rules before getting started with earliest examples.
Finally another undead bloodsucker sneaks into the Eliptony Hut, this time of the relatively recent urban legend variety, as we profile the Richmond Vampire.
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.
In response to this Caity Weaver New York Times Magazine article, beloved Patreon backer Scott Wachter makes the Gaming Hut a very quiet place indeed by asking us for the scenario possibilities of anechoic chambers.
Estimable backer Ray Slakinski beckons us to the Northern Ontario location of the Horror Hut to discuss the Wilno vampire.
Speaking of horror, Ken and Robin Recycle Audio completes its highlights of the Horror Roleplaying Masterclass from Dragonmeet.
Finally the Consulting Occultist meets erudite backer Jamie Twine in a gondola for a survey of the weird and magical in Venice.
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.
Fire up your automated die rollers as the Gaming Hut goes digital to answer beloved Patreon backer Marc Kevin Hall’s request for guidance on running tabletop RPGs online.
In the History Hut, unswerving backer Jeromy French unwittingly illuminates the number one rule of Canadian history by seeking the secrets behind the assassination of Ontario newspaperman and politician George Brown.
Then Ken and Robin Recycle Audio with more answers from the Dragonmeet Horror Roleplaying Masterclass, also starring our boon compadre Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan.
Finally pitch-traversing backer Neil Barnes revs up Ken’s Time Machine to impel our hero to root the corruption out of FIFA.
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 529: More Cryptids Than It Can Consume Domestically
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
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.
In the Gaming Hut we address a query from beloved Patreon backer Steven Dosman on keeping the solutions of mysteries far enough away from characters with the competence and point spends to solve them.
The Mythos Hut obeys the command of estimable backer Joshua Randall, who seeks the eldritch secrets behind the Antarctic doom of explorer Ernest Shackleton.
The Tradecraft Hut investigates the case of Park Chae-seo, the spy dubbed Black Venus, whose undercover work dealing with North Korea embroiled him in political chicanery back home.
Finally, an attempt to outsmart the stock market is turning into an apocalyptic belief system, and Conspiracy Corner is here to cover it.
The PDF of Atlas Games’ prehistoric, dinosaur-approved 5E setting, Planegea, is ready to hurtle to your download folder like a theropod toward an sauropod. Order it now for immediate download!
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.
The Gaming Hut as always uses Skynet for your benefit, providing ways to use AI art at your roleplaying table.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Ken talks to two someones: Katarzyna “Kate” Kuczynska and Marcin “Martin” Kuczynski of Game Machinery, publisher of the Defiant Roleplaying Game.
In the Horror Hut we look at character likeability in the genre of terror and monstrosity.
Finally the Eliptony Hut tunes into stony vibrations as beloved Patreon backer Shon Richards asks us to weigh in on the geomantic claims of wacky NYC mayor Eric Adams, with a compare and contrast to Toronto and Chicago.
The PDF of Atlas Games’ prehistoric, dinosaur-approved 5E setting, Planegea, is ready to hurtle to your download folder like a theropod toward an sauropod. Order it now for immediate download!
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.
The PDF of Atlas Games’ prehistoric, dinosaur-approved 5E setting, Planegea, is ready to hurtle to your download folder like a theropod toward an sauropod. Order it now for immediate download!
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.
The first annual Robin and Valerie International Film Festival has come to an end, and just like TIFF before it, that means Robin has a list of movies to recommend to you in the Cinema Hut. The twist: this time you can find and watch them right away.
Then in The Business of Gaming we look at sudden tsunami of AI art, and the potential and pitfalls of using generated illustrations in gaming products.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine has some tsar-kicking to do as our hero introduces some late edits into Poland’s January Uprising.
The PDF of Atlas Games’ prehistoric, dinosaur-approved 5E setting, Planegea, is ready to hurtle to your download folder like a theropod toward an sauropod. Order it now for immediate download!
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.
We enter the Gaming Hut to ponder the constituency of gamers who prefer lots of crunch, but don’t actually use it when they play.
In the History Hut beloved Patreon backer Gene Ha asks if electricity-loving Benjamin Franklin was the real modern Prometheus.
The Culture Hut situates itself near a vast outdoor art work as estimable backer Tom Abella seeks as many gaming ideas as we can wring out of Michael Heiser’s “City.”
From Nevada it is a mere hop and a skip to Utah, and the Eliptony Hut, for a gander at the alleged weirdness magnet that is Skinwalker Ranch.
The PDF of Atlas Games’ prehistoric, dinosaur-approved 5E setting, Planegea, is ready to hurtle to your download folder like a theropod toward an sauropod. Order it now for immediate download!
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.
Rob Heinsoo and Gareth-Ryder Hanrahan step in for a sadly absent Robin as the annual live episode from Gen Con returns from the slumber of Pandemicland. They join Ken for a robust discussion of talking animals in the War of the First Coalition, Malort, why The King in Yellow gets restaged all the time, dealing with player absence in our chaotic times, steak rareness, guest stars at the gaming table, and the Ferris Wheel made of Ararat timbers.
The PDF of Atlas Games’ prehistoric, dinosaur-approved 5E setting, Planegea, is ready to hurtle to your download folder like a theropod toward an sauropod. Order it now for immediate download!
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.
In the Gaming Hut we look at a largely foregone phenomenon in tabletop, the roleplaying tournament.
At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Dan L, the Tradecraft Hut examines Project Coast, South Africa’s apartheid-era chemical weapons program, and its head, Wouter “Dr. Death” Basson.
Esteemed backer Chad Ward meets us in the Mythology Hut to ask that we expand our previously parenthetical beef with Joseph Campbell into an entire segment.
Finally forward-thinking backer Tennant Reed visits the Consulting Occultist for the esoteric motivation behind repeated thefts of the preserved head of reformer and utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham.
The PDF of Atlas Games’ prehistoric, dinosaur-approved 5E setting, Planegea, is ready to hurtle to your download folder like a theropod toward an sauropod. Order it now for immediate download!
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 513: Tiptoe Away from His Flailing Proboscis
The Gaming Hut exists in all dimensions as beloved Patreon backer Jacob Boersma asks how to giving Evelyn Wang’s multiversal powers from Everything Everywhere All at Once to player characters.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Ken talks to Cody Swendrowski, developer for the Foundry virtual tabletop platform, who tells how its community focus distinguishes it from its competitors, and of his forays into streaming and podcasting.
Discerning backer Eric (Speaker in Digressions) buys a ticket to the Horror Hut to ask how to apply the cool conceit of Prey to other horror franchises.
Finally, classical backer Fridrik Bjarnason wants to know why Ken’s Time Machine was used to erase historical records of a Roman city recently unearthed in Zaragoza, Spain.
The PDF of Atlas Games’ prehistoric, dinosaur-approved 5E setting, Planegea, is ready to hurtle to your download folder like a theropod toward an sauropod. Order it now for immediate download!
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.
In the Mythos Hut we decide that fish people and serpent folk have hogged the spotlight for too long. It’s time for us to invent some humanoid toads, of the psychedelic variety of course, and wrap them into a Fall of DELTA GREEN scenario hook.
Inevitably, Fun With Science must grapple, so to speak, with the advent of necrobotic spiders. A request from beloved Patreon backer Evan Hughes, and some superglue, makes that happen.
In the Narrative Hut we explore the rural tilt of the fantasy genre.
Finally in the Eliptony Hut we check out psychic Uri Geller’s recently declared micronation off the coast of Scotland.
The PDF of Atlas Games’ prehistoric, dinosaur-approved 5E setting, Planegea, is ready to hurtle to your download folder like a theropod toward an sauropod. Order it now for immediate download!
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.
Foul sorcerers flee the Gaming Hut as beloved Patreon backer Jesse Lowe asks for the best Earth-based setting for swords and sorcery—the Hellenistic Era excepted, of course.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, designer Gwen Marshall joins Ken to discuss the thinking behind such acclaimed projects as the ENnie-winning Ancestry & Culture and S5E: Superheroic Roleplaying.
The Monster Hut gets philosophical for a look at egregores in mythology and gaming.
Finally the Consulting Occultist lets love into his heart for a profile of songwriter, polemicist and free love priestess Edith Maida Lessing.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
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.
Normally a post-Gen Con debrief takes up an entire episode. But since only one of us was there, Ken gives Robin the lowdown in a double-header Travel Advisory segment.
In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Mikey Hamm wants to emulate genres in which death is threatened but never actually happens.
We conclude with Ken’s Time Machine, as our hero considers which figure of the Old West he would most like to save from untimely death, and what changes to the timestream his intervention would wreak.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
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.
In the Gaming Hut we demonstrate how to dovetail player-created character hooks into your scenario, as Ken proposes a Freaking Weird Moment for his This is Normal Now character and Robin weaves it into a trio of mystery premises.
The Culture Hut uncovers a Dreamhound of Chicago, 30s surrealist painter Gertrude Abercrombie.
Then we duck into the Food Hut to make a list of defunct food products we might just use Ken’s Time Machine to stock up on.
Our final stop takes us to the Eliptony Hut, as we review the contents of a ghost hunter’s kit, starting with the copious suggestions in Peter Underwood’s Ghost Hunters Guide.
Get ready to solve your Christmas present problems early as Atlas Games brings the kid-friendly social deduction game Weird Little Elf to Kickstarter, until August 11th.
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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.
On August 2, 2012, the first installment of Ken and Robin Talks About Stuff debuted to a waiting gaming world.
For our recent 500th episode celebration, we held the traditional Lightning Round. For this extra special anniversary, we take a look back at the show, its topics and its origins with an A to Z of KARTAS.
Get ready to solve your Christmas present problems early as Atlas Games brings the kid-friendly social deduction game Weird Little Elf to Kickstarter, until August 11th.
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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.
In the Gaming Hut, Beloved Patreon backer Eric Jeppesen, or a clever facsimile thereof, kicks off an all-request episode, as he wonders how to run GUMSHOE One-2-One with a doppelganger protagonist.
Stealthy backer Erik R gains access to the Tradecraft Hut to ask how to set Night’s Black Agents in Asia.
Dimensionally resonant backer Nikolaj ducks into the Narrative Hut to find out what the sudden multiplicity of multiverses in movies and TV tells us about the present zeitgeist.
And finally formidable backer John Scheib revs up Ken’s Time Machine to learn about the timeline where Eugene of Savoy fights for France and not against it.
Get ready to solve your Christmas present problems early as Atlas Games brings the kid-friendly social deduction game Weird Little Elf to Kickstarter, until August 11th.
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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.
The Gaming Hut floats further from land than it ever has as beloved Patreon backer Alden Strock seeks the tabletop uses of Point Nemo, the planet’s literal middle of nowhere.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Ken talks to author Ben Riggs about his history of TSR, Slaying the Dragon, now orderable from MacMillan.
The Food Hut hops on a train to check out the oldest chain restaurant in America, along with the rest of the food and hospitality empire that was the Fred Harvey Company.
Finally estimable backer John Kingdon asks the Consulting Occultist to profile Gerald Gardner, fashioner of modern Wicca.
Get ready to solve your Christmas present problems early as Atlas Games brings the kid-friendly social deduction game Weird Little Elf to Kickstarter, until August 11th.
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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.
The next time you’re about to design a situation where the players can’t do what they want to do, you’ll recall this week’s Gaming Hut segment and think, “How do I let them do that without wrecking everything?”
The Crime Blotter investigates a string of rhino horn thefts attributed to the Dead Zoo Gang.
In Ripped from the Headlines, beloved Patreon backer Craig Maloney seeks the arcane secrets of Tik Tok tics.
In a previous installment of Ken’s Time Machine, while fixing the Greek War of Independence, our hero preserved the life of Lord Byron. Now he tells us about the horror novel that resulted from this previous intervention.
Get ready to solve your Christmas present problems early as Atlas Games brings the kid-friendly social deduction game Weird Little Elf to Kickstarter, until August 11th.
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021. 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.
In the Gaming Hut we ask when the GM should apply a rules set’s cost system for actions, and when it is instead best to make it a freebie.
The Command Hut provides a dossier on the Russian mercenary company called the Wagner Group.
In the Horror Hut, beloved backers Derek Upham and Stuart Thomas (or lifelike computer simulations thereof) point us to the latest hit tulpa, a monstrous creation of AI image software called Crungus.
Finally, estimable backer Robert Dean seeks the aid of Ken’s Time Machine in having William Morris invent RPGs in the 1890s.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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 kicks us off with a Travel Advisory on his journey to Poland’s Pyrkon, with ancillary adventures in Poznan.
Then the Gaming Hut subtly ratchets up the tension as we ask how long a horror scenario can go without anything overtly terrifying or supernatural happening.
But a worse fright awaits in The Business of Gaming, where we look at the global paper shortage and its impact on adventure gaming.
Then a slightly less bad fright creeps our way as, at the behest of beloved backer Scott Wachter, the Eliptony Hut beckons the armless entity known as the Fresno Nightcrawler.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Obi-Wan, Doctor Strange, Rothaniel, and the First Shin Honkaku Novel
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.
The Pinnacle
Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel (Stand-Up, US, HBO, Bo Burnham, 2022) At the Blue Note in New York, Carmichael reveals a tangle of family secrets and his gay identity. Astoundingly gutsy set cedes partial control to an increasingly participatory audience, landing in the intersection of comedy and high-wire confessional performance art.—RDL
Recommended
Den of Thieves (Film, US, Christian Gudegast, 2018) Sleazy major crimes cop (Gerard Butler) zeroes in on an ex-military robbery crew leader (Pablo Schreiber) as he cases L.A.’s branch of the Federal Reserve Bank. Crackling crime drama throws in clever heist twists as it genuflects before the altar of Heat,—RDL
Fire Island (Film, US, Andrew Ahn, 2022) Commitment-shy New Yorker (Joel Kim Booster) ducks his own intimacy issues during his gang’s annual group vacation in a gay resort time with an unsolicited promise to wingman his less confident bestie (Bowen Yang.) Borrows Judd Apatow’s mix of relaxed pacing, arrested maturity sincerity and raunch as a framework for the gay rom-com.—RDL
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders (Fiction, Japan, Soji Shimada, 1981) Forty years after the fact, astrologer Kitoshi Mitarai and his faithful (and self-described) Watson investigate a storied 1936 serial murder apparently planned by a mad alchemical artist – who was killed in a locked room before the murders began. Shimada’s first novel kicked off the shin honkaku subgenre with its verve, ironic joy, and critical success. The bizarre setup keeps the immense up-front exposition dump interesting, and the ensuing detection delightfully combines the eccentric and the humane. –KH
Good
Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (Film, US, Sam Raimi, 2022) Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) protects a young woman who can jump between alternate realities (Xochitl Gomez) from the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), now corrupted by an evil tome. Raimi livens up the thankless assignment of paying off story debts incurred in previous MCU entries by deploying as many of his signature flourishes as they’ll let him sneak in.—RDL
The Helm of Hades (Fiction, Paul Halter, 2019) French mystery author Halter has been called the “true heir of John Dickson Carr,” which on the evidence of this collection remains a bit of a stretch. This short story collection comprises nine “impossible” crimes and one Christie-esque timetable mystery, of uneven quality, the best being “The Ladder of Jacob” (a man is found dead from a fall with no heights around). One of the better ones, “The Yellow Book,” incorporates The King in Yellow for extra points. –KH
Okay
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Television, US, Disney+, Deborah Chow, 2022) Middle-aged Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) comes out of hiding when 10-year old Leia is kidnapped by Sith lackeys trying to lure him into the clutches of Darth Vader (Hayden Christiansen/James Earl Jones.) A competently executed continuation of the prequel project shows how misconceived it has always been, as the Jedi mythology and events briefly alluded to in the original films does not withstand the scrutiny that occurs when a former backstory becomes main narrative.—RDL
Surprisingly often, mysteries in other genres show clues landing in the detective’s lap. The Gaming Hut asks how to do this at the roleplaying table without leaving players feeling that they’re being led through the scenario.
In our first combo segment of the episode, we find the Crime Blotter in the Architecture Hut, as beloved Patreon backer Joshua Randall asks how the torso murders connect to the developers of his Cleveland neighborhood, Shaker Heights.
Ripped From the Headlines mines the scenario potential of the latest anti-vaxxer craze, creeping through cemeteries looking for Bluetooth signals.
Finally at the behest of tart and tannic backers Fridrik Bjarnason and Tim Vert, the Consulting Occultist joins us in the Food Hut to survey the esoteric side of wine.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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.
The Gaming Hut mines a new source of mysterious, danger-laden plot hooks: Reddit’s WhatIsThis forum.
The Horror Hut takes the unusual step of profiling a real person, as beloved backer Louis Sylvester asks for the lowdown on the explorer, linguist and polemicist Arminius Vambery, described by Bram Stoker in Dracula as a knowledgeable vampire hunter.
In the Narrative Hut we find another way to define fictional characters, by the various outcomes we want for them.
Finally at the behest of estimable backer Tennant Reed, we follow up Episode 482’s look at the Soviet Space program by sending Ken’s Time Machine to see what would have to happen for the Russians to beat America to the moon.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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.
We don’t believe it, you don’t believe it, but it’s true all the same. Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff has reached that milestone of milestones, Episode 500.
Which means, thanks to the perspicacious queries of our beloved Patreon backers, it is once again time for… LIGHTNING ROUND!!!
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Top Gun, Ghostbusters, We Own This City
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
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (Film, US, Jason Reitman, 2021) When their mom moves them to the middle of nowhere, teen scientist (Mckenna Grace) and her normie brother (Finn Wolfhard) discover a world-shaking mystery in the secret basement of their late, estranged grandfather. Latest attempt to revive the franchise that has never really been a franchise is surprisingly effective, thanks to Reitman’s patient focus on character, not to mention love for Harold Ramis and his own dad.—RDL
Labyrinth of Cinema (Film, Japan, Nobuhiko Obayashi, 2019) On an old movie house’s last night, three audience members are pulled through the screen and into a history of Japan’s military history as told through movies. Initially kooky and frenetic, increasingly somber, epic-length look at the love of film and how it obscures and illuminates the lure of war.—RDL
The Long Divorce (Fiction, Edmund Crispin, 1950) Incompletely incognito, Gervase Fen investigates a plague of poison-pen letters in the town of Cotten Abbas as hatred turns to murder. Effortless braiding of plot, character, puzzle, wit, horror, and irony mark this as classic Crispin. The only real flaw might be that one of the puzzles is a bit too easy, but Crispin has a lot of balls to keep in the air. –KH
Top Gun: Maverick (Film, US, Joseph Kosinski, 2022) Egotistical, hypertalented movie star Tom Cruise (Maverick), battling age and obsolescence in a new world of streaming, IP, and CGI, is called back by his loyal patron Jerry Bruckheimer (Iceman) to make one last practical-effects, live-action blockbuster by detourning the film that retroactively doomed his species (Star Wars). Glorious real-life US Navy jets combine with Claudio Miranda’s luminous cinematography to produce an ecstatic emotional bricolage that approximates a fine fighter-pilot movie. –KH
We Own This City (Television, US, HBO, David Simon & George Pelecanos, 2022) Federal investigators unravel the massive corruption of a Baltimore anti-gun task force led by motormouth cop Wayne Jenkins (Jon Bernthal.) Adaptation of Justin Fenton’s also highly recommended nonfiction book extends Simon’s examinations of Baltimore policing to its current nadir, treating Jenkins’ malfeasance as the egregious but inevitable result of continued devotion to the war on drugs.—RDL
Okay
Born Reckless (Film, US, John Ford, 1930) After a heroic stint in WWI, the head of a heist crew (Edmund Lowe) goes straighter as a nightclub owner, but can’t quite quit his old underworld buddies. Worth a look for students of the gangster picture, as an example of the genre right before Little Caesar and The Public Enemy cemented its baseline structure. Ford’s touch is most apparent in the brief wartime sequence.—RDL
In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Bill Durfy asks us to provide advice for budding professional GMs.
The Tradecraft Hut looks at John Stonehouse, a British MP who spied for the Czechs and wound up ineptly faking his own death.
In Ask Ken and Robin stylish backer Joe Webb asks Robin if his head exploded when the Met Gala paid homage to the era of the King in Yellow.
Finally in the Eliptony Hut mysterious markings in the Sahara have discerning backer Michael Gemar wondering what lies behind the flimsy rational explanation They used to veil out this story.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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.
Beholders swoop around the futuristic spires of the Gaming Hut as beloved Patreon backer Ian Carlsen seeks tips on time travel in F20 games.
Estimable backer Jason Thompson beckons us into the Culture Hut to ask if self-taught Chicago artist Joseph E. Yoakum might have been peering into the Dreamlands.
Finally our hero returns from Austin laden with queso and books, and tells us about the later in another epic installment of Ken’s Bookshelf.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Dr. Strange, Men, and a Demon-Possessed Skull
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
Feels Good Man (Film, US, Arthur Jones, 2020) Sweet-natured cartoonist Matt Furie reacts with confusion, dismay and finally resolve when his creation, Pepe the Frog, long a staple of Internet meme culture, metastasizes into a symbol of far-right hate. Documentary of our Esoterror times fills in the many intermediate stages of Pepe’s disjunctive semiotic journey.—RDL
Good Time (Film, US, Benny Safdie & Josh Safdie, 2017) After dragging his developmentally challenged brother (Benny Safdie) into a bank robbery that gets him locked up, a manipulative screw-up (Robert Pattinson) initiates a cascade of terrible decisions in his bid to free him. Crackling entry in the nightlong doom spiral sub-genre informed by Abel Ferrara and the Dardennes Brothers.—RDL
A Hero of Our Time (Fiction, Mikhail Lermontov, 1840) An observer’s reminiscences and the protagonist’s diary entries recount the romantic havoc wrought by a fickle young Russian officer stationed in the Caucasus. Ironic character study steadily chips away at the outward charms of its inwardly empty subject.—RDL
The Skull (Film, UK, Freddie Francis, 1965) Occult expert Maitland (Peter Cushing) obtains the demon-possessed skull of the Marquis de Sade from sweaty fixer Marco (Patrick Wymark) and badness happens. Acting tour de force by Cushing makes the most from the delicious high concept (originally a Robert Bloch story). A Modernist score by Elisabeth Luytens, fetish-laden set design, and a fine supporting turn by Christopher Lee as a rival occultist top off one of Hammer/Amicus stalwart Francis’ best films. –KH
Good
The Blue Panther (Film, France, Claude Chabrol, 1965) Rich young woman (Marie Laforêt) on vacation at a Swiss ski resort relies on her wits and her judo training when she becomes the caretaker of a jewel sought by assorted international assassins. Chabrol’s tribute to the espionage side of the Hitchcock filmography is pretty and charming but a touch too insouciant about fulfilling genre requirements.—RDL
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Film, US, Sam Raimi, 2022) Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) tries to protect universe-jumper America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) from the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen). Think of this as MCU vanilla swirled with Raimi ripple; while the story lurches along we at least get plenty of spooky stuff and wild camera flips to entertain us. Olsen is the real standout acting-wise, mostly thanks to a clunky script that offers little for Cumberbatch or Gomez to do except handwave CGI nonsense. –KH
Men (Film, UK, Alex Garland, 2022) Widowed Harper (Jessie Buckley) rents a manor in a remote English countryside from Geoffrey (Rory Kinnear) to seek closure but gets toxic masculinity with a side of folk horror. A feast of sound and lushly filmed nature, a Green Man, and weird repeating Rory Kinnear only take you so far: a Cronenbergian spectacle at the end doesn’t stick the landing at all, although it certainly squicks it. Harper’s empty passivity wastes Buckley and vitiates what point remains. –KH
Okay
Three Resurrected Drunkards (Film, Japan, Nagisa Oshima, 1968) A trio of students lose their IDs to Korean infiltrators and must resort to metafictional awareness to save their skins. Oshima’s answer to Help! plunks the pop group Folk Crusaders into an eccentric mix of formal experimentation, gross-out humor, and Vietnam War protest.—RDL
Beloved Patreon backer Ryan McClelland kicks of an all-request episode in the Gaming Hut, seeking advice on how to convincing players to treat former adversaries as questionable allies.
In the History Hut, estimable backer Derek Hiemforth has discovered that two doomed airships, the R101 and the Hindenburg, used the exact same Duralumin, and naturally asks us who cursed it.
Then it’s time for Ripped from the Headlines, as discerning backer Matthew Preston wants to know who’s in the lead-lined sarcophagus preventative archeologists just found buried under Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Finally, the Consulting Occultist tells curious backer Aaron Sapp, and by extension you, about his collection of Tarot card decks.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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.
Beloved Patreon backer Urchin Prince beckons us to the shiniest throne of the Gaming Hut to ask about boons the PCs’ patrons might give them.
The Architecture Hut faces cost overruns for its fiendish traps as estimable backer Tim Vert asks which famous architects we’d commission were we to build dungeons.
An odd shrimp smell lures us to the forest, and the Monster Hut, to discuss the shapeshifting tunda of Colombia and Ecuador.
Then we take a patented Ken’s Time Machine look at the Popish plot conspiracy hoax.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
The Gaming Hut investigates the difference between problems that rules sets should set out to solve and mere conceptual issues that never come up in play.
The History Hut gets hairy as we reveal the secrets of the Chester Cat Hoax.
Umbrage is entertained in the Narrative Hut as beloved Patreon backer Benjamin Rawls seeks our support on the misuse of the term “allegory.”
And much mystery is found within three points as we enter the Eliptony Hut, at the urging of estimable backer Ed (Speaker in Digressions), for a look at the Bridgewater Triangle.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
In an episode dedicated to recreating for posterity the good half of an old installment that has since gone missing, the Gaming Hut looks at campaigns where most of the PCs are sidekicks to a superior hero.
In the Tradecraft Hut we examine the career of former Putin aide Vladislav Surkov, the so-called Gray Cardinal behind Russia’s foray into postmodern authoritarianism, now under house arrest for Ukraine-related failures.
The Mythology Hut rises from the waves at the behest of beloved Patreon backer Toonspew, who wants to know about the kingdom of Ys.
And back to the recreation, the Consulting Occultist provides a profile of 13th century magician Roger Bacon.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
With the Gremlins franchise coming back, warnings are on the mind of beloved Patreon backer Bryan. He beckons us into the back room of the Gaming Hut to ask how to handle them at the roleplaying table.
In Tour de Lovecraft: the Destinations, Ken tells us what Arkham was like during the period of HPL’s stories. In the Mythos Hut, we wonder what it looks like today.
We meet estimable backer Charles Picard in the Culture Hut, to take in a production of artist Wassily Kandinsky’s synesthetic play The Yellow Sound and wonder what that might have to do with the malign monarch of the same color.
Then we don our flannels for a trip down paranoid memory lane in the Conspiracy Corner, as we look at investigative journalist Danny Casolaro, the Inslaw case, and the web of intelligence connections he called the Octopus.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Everything Everywhere, The Protege, Argentinean Noir and Italian Jack London
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
The Attorney (Film, South Korea, Woo-seok Yang, 2013) Convention-busting outsider lawyer (Song Kang-ho) becomes an unlikely foe of the 80s South Korean dictatorship when he takes on the case of a student tortured into a false subversion confession. Crowd-pleasing political courtroom drama powered by Song’s movie star charisma.—RDL
The Beast Must Die (Film, Argentina, Román Viñoly Barreto, 1952) When his son is killed in a hit and run accident, an urbane mystery novelist (Narciso Ibáñez Menta) vows to identify and kill the culprit. Menta’s interiorized performance contrasts with the big acting of his cast members in this atmospheric film noir character study, the first of several adaptations of a pseudonymously written mystery novel by Cecil Day-Lewis.—RDL
Everything Everywhere All At Once (Film, US, Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, 2022) Overstressed laundromat owner Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) discovers she’s the crux of the multiverse. Merely by not squandering Yeoh this film does better than almost any other thing she’s been in for decades; by allowing her a full emotional range from the quotidian to the cosmic it justifies a lot of (let’s face it) stupid comedy and cardboard metaphysics. The supporting cast (James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis, Stephanie Hsu) is also terrific, as is the best Wong Kar-Wai parody/tribute you’re likely to see. –KH
Martin Eden (Film, Italy, Pietro Marcello, 2019) After meeting a sweet-natured girl from a well-to-do family, a sailor and laborer resolves to educate himself and become a writer. Adaptation of the Jack London autobiographical novel, relocated to Italy and with period details scrambled, compresses time with a refreshingly staccato editing style.—RDL
Good
The Protégé (Film, US, Martin Campbell, 2021) Assassin Moody (Samuel L. Jackson) rescues an orphan in 1991 Vietnam; she (Maggie Q) seeks revenge for his killing 20 years later. Maggie Q is always magnificent, but Campbell never quite decides if he’s making a hitman rom-com (Michael Keaton as love interest is a choice) or a revenge thriller or even a Freudian journey and as a result doesn’t quite do any of those things. Q and Keaton actually kind of mesh, and the spy-combat stuff is not at all bad thanks to Campbell’s pro chops, but it never actually hits high gear. –KH
Okay
Killing Eve Season 4 (Television, BBC, Laura Neal, 2022) As Villanelle (Jodie Comer) takes an unlikely stab at redemption, Eve (Sandra Oh) adopts a more kinetic role in hunting the Twelve. Sour fizzle of a final season loses track of its characters’ core qualities, cycling them through changes to have something for them to do.—RDL
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
In the Gaming Hut, we look at the elements that ought to go into an introductory scenario.
Beloved Patreon backer Todd W. Olson has not left the building, but has rather entered the Culture Hut, as he asks how Elvis Presley’s 1968 Comeback Special might reverberate in Fall of DELTA GREEN.
In Ask Ken and Robin, esteemed backer Neil Barnes wonders what kind of superhero universe might be shifted into existence by the dread machinations of the King in Yellow.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
In the Gaming Hut we lay out goals the GM should set for convention games and other one-shots.
The Command Hut looks at an invasion of a smaller power by a larger one that has somewhat fallen down the memory hole: the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979.
Beloved Patreon backers such as Gabriel Rossman demanded that we address the escape of evil fox spirit Tamomo-n0-mae from the rock that imprisons her, occasioning a segment we call Ripped From the Headlines.
Finally the Consulting Occultist examines the esoteric influence on, and of, Swami Vivekananda, founder of yoga as we know it.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Tell your friends, loved ones and deniable assets that The Esoterrorists Bundle has returned to the Bundle of Holding. Get Robin’s game of special agents against occult conspirators and a capacious dossier of support material in PDF until April 6th.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
In the Gaming Hut we look at that most elusive of GM skills: knowing when to shut up.
The smell of ancient newsprint pervades the Horror Hut as beloved Patreon backer Jamie Twine seeks the connection between the King and Yellow and his contemporary, early newspaper comics character the Yellow Kid.
Finally, the imminence of the Academy Awards ceremony means it’s time for our annual tradition, our Cinema Hut roundup of our favorite films of 2021.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Tell your friends, loved ones and deniable assets that The Esoterrorists Bundle has returned to the Bundle of Holding. Get Robin’s game of special agents against occult conspirators and a capacious dossier of support material in PDF until April 6th.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
Among My Many Hats looks at Ken’s latest work of Cthulhoid essays, Tour de Lovecraft: the Destinations, available as of March 22nd from Atomic Overmind Press.
The Gaming Hut looks at ways you, the player, can find a way into a scenario when you don’t see a natural course of action.
Then Ken’s Bookshelf finishes its look at our hero’s epic recent raid on the shops of Florida and California, from mid 19th century New York City to the exciting world of human hybrids.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
Beloved Patreon backer Chihiro Yamata has access to an Edwardian house with a creepy ghost plaque, and wants the Gaming Hut to do something about it.
Esteemed backer Jake beckons us into the Cartography Hut to discuss the evolution of maps in WW2, as inspired by Ken’s recent review of Jeremy Black’s A History of the Second World War in 100 Maps.
The Food Hut inquires into the career of early organic wine advocate, grape varietal namesake, and devoted Nazi Fritz Zweigelt.
Finally sagacious backer Jeff Greenlee visits the Consulting Occultist for the lowdown on the surprisingly steamy story of the Jesus’ Wife hoax.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
The Gaming Hut gets a snazzy Architecture Hut retrofit as beloved Patreon backer Alexander Arebalo seeks tips for a game based around physical locations.
In Conspiracy Corner we ask ourselves if today’s full-paranoia anti-vaxxers would have been yesteryear’s Gnostics.
And finally our roving hero returns from the wilds of Florida and California with an honest to goodness actual haul from this here reality to add to Ken’s Bookshelf.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
The Gaming Hut gets a snazzy Architecture Hut retrofit as beloved Patreon backer Alexander Arebalo seeks tips for a game based around physical locations.
In Conspiracy Corner we ask ourselves if today’s full-paranoia anti-vaxxers would have been yesteryear’s Gnostics.
And finally our roving hero returns from the wilds of Florida and California with an honest to goodness actual haul from this here reality to add to Ken’s Bookshelf.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
Beloved Patreon backer Walter Manbeck chases a bad guy we thought we vanquished into the Gaming Hut, asking us how to keep recurring villains scary after the group has teamed up to defeat them.
At the best of well-rounded backer Robert Wolfe, the Architecture Hut goes Dymaxionic with a look at Buckminster Fuller.
Night’s Black Agents has bats, rats, and wolves. Trail of Cthulhu has cephalopods, rats, and hounds. In the Horror Hut, we select creepity animals to associate with The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
We wrap up in the Tradecraft Hut, where we tear open the archives and reveal the stay-behind secrets of Operation Gladio.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
In the Gaming Hut we wonder how many possible player character choices the writer of published scenarios should provide guidance for.
The Mythology Hut makes room for a round table as beloved Patreon backer Steve Dempsey seeks gaming inspiration from the kings and emperors whose stories make up the composite figure of King Arthur.
We try not to spill ink in the Culture Hut as equally beloved Patreon backer Ruth Tillman seeks the behind-the-scenes on superstar actress Sarah Bernhardt’s sculptural inkwell self-portrait of herself as a bat-winged, griffin-clawed Sphinx.
Finally, no less beloved Patreon backer Keelan O’Hea summons us to the Eliptony Hut to account for UFO aliens’ love affair with New Mexico.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
In the Gaming Hut we look at GMing techniques to respond to that moment when one player makes a unilateral choice that causes the rest of the group to groan in protest.
The History Hut acquires a pointy hat as beloved Patreon backer Bob J. Koester asks us to delve into Yale’s 1825 Conic Sections Rebellion.
Estimable backer Ed Sizemore demands to know how and why Ken’s Time Machine erased Pope John XX from the timeline.
And finally, at the behest of discerning backer Derrick McMullin, we enter the Cinema Hut to look at Eternals and ask if a big ideas film can also be a superhero film. For ease of spoiler avoidance, this segment appears at the end of the episode.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
The launch pad has been positioned uncomfortable close to the Gaming Hut, as beloved Patreon backer Neil Barnes seeks ways to center a game around the Soviet Space Program.
The Crime Blotter has to wait a little while longer for that immersion blender as we look at the recent media flap over package thefts from Union Pacific’s Los Angeles railyard.
Our Mythos Hut series wraps up as we outline a gaming scenario to feature our newly spawned deity, Qotha-Nhur’rin, the Destruction at the Heart of Creation.
Finally estimable Patreon backer Robert Wolfe asks the Consulting Occultist about Mary Poppins creator P. L. Travers and her association with mystical philosopher George Gurdjieff.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
In the Gaming Hut we consider the genre all tabletop roleplaying games bend toward. Spoiler: it has to do with the players.
Our ongoing Mythos Hut process of creating a new Lovecraftian god reaches the stage where we outline a story to introduce her. What will Qotha-Nhur’rin, the Destruction at the Heart of Creation, get herself up to?
The Narrative Hut attempts to sort out the various sub-genres of fantasy.
Finally, the Conspiracy Corner takes a break from Eurocentric crackpot historical revisionism to look at Sinocentric crackpot historical revisionism, as promulgated by the self-styled World Civilization Research Association.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Hawkeye, Finch, Eternals, and The Velvet Underground
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
Eyes of Fire (Film, US, Avery Crounse, 1983) On the Ohio frontier in 1750, Shawnee pursue an exiled adulterous preacher (Dennis Lipscomb) and a band of exiles including the daughter of a witch (Karlene Crockett) into a haunted valley. Surprisingly layered script, some really good manitou-ish creepiness, and an original story more than make up for the primitive special effects and slightly flat ending in this folk-horror Western. Also, getting to legitimately describe a movie as a “folk-horror Western” is pretty great. –KH
Five Little Pigs (Fiction, Agatha Christie, 1942) When the daughter of convicted murderess Caroline Crale tasks Hercule Poirot with finding the real killer after 15 years, his little grey cells get their greatest workout. Christie’s use of five narrative voices in flashback adds the layers to character and incident she usually neglects, and the puzzle is up there with her best misdirections. Finally, a Poirot novel I can Recommend. –KH
Hawkeye Season 1 (Television, US, Disney+, Jonathan Igla & Kevin Feige, 2021) Spoiled Hawkeye fangirl Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) crosses paths with the beat-up, world-weary Avenger (Jeremy Renner) while incurring the wrath of the tracksuit mafia. Good casting and chemistry, better-than-average fights, and a relatively tight series length keep the remarkably dumb story afloat. Any show that gets me to root for Jeremy Renner must be doing something right. –KH
Hercules in the Haunted World (Film, Italy, Mario Bava, 1961) To break the hold of vampire king Lico (Chrisopher Lee) over his beloved Deianira (Leonora Ruffo), brawny demigod Hercules (Reg Park) and his lothario hero pal Theseus (George Ardisson) brave the dangers of Hades. Peplum meets gothic horror as the ongoing series gets the full Bava treatment, from psychedelic color palette to scary imagery that must have blown the terrified minds of kiddie matinee attendees during its original release.—RDL
Ted Lasso Season 2 (Television, US, Apple+, Bill Lawrence, 2021) As AFC Richmond struggles to regain its spot in the Premier League, Ted (Jason Sudeikis) bumps heads with the new team psychologist (Sarah Niles) and Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) flirts with a mysterious dating app paramour. With the main cast satisfyingly united at the end of the previous season, this outing strains a bit for dramatic tension, settling from fresh new wonder status to comforting hangout show.—RDL
The Velvet Underground (Film, US, Todd Haynes, 2021) Rock band biodoc is in perfect hands with Haynes, who adopts avant garde visual techniques of Warhol and his circle to lay out the narrative of the seminal pre-punk art band, reclaiming Lou Reed’s gay icon status along the way.—RDL
Okay
Eternals (Film, US, Chloe Zhao, 2021) When their ancient enemy monsters return, an immortal alien, superbeing (Gemma Chan) reunites her scattered team of covert social engineers to fight them. Admirably ambitious, mostly stunning-looking shot at departing from established MCU formulas fails to find an efficient path into its complicated mythology and twisting narrative.—RDL
Finch (Film, US, Miguel Sapochnik, 2021) Determined survivor of a solar flare catastrophe (Tom Hanks) builds a humanoid robot (Caleb Landry-Jones) to guard his dog and accompany him on a cross-country journey. Sapochnik makes fine use of Hanks’ proven ability to carry a film as the only visible human onscreen, but draws the horror of his post-apocalypse so thoroughly that it fights the intended sentimentality of the father-son dramatic arc.—RDL
Episode 480: Not Described Otherwise as Being a Metal Tube
The Gaming Hut attempts to pin down a much-used bit of tabletop terminology as beloved Patreon backer Ludovic Chabant asks what we mean when we say that a game breaks.
Esteemed Patreon backers Jeromy French and Bryce Perry weave into the Food Hut, hungry and wanting to know more about archetypal drunk food, and why Canada doesn’t seem to have one.
Our Mythos Hut series on creating a new Lovecraftian deity reaches the stage where we have identified our concept, the forbidden or forgotten thought, and now flesh it out into an actual entity.
Finally the Eliptony Hut has taken a surprisingly long time to get to Toronto’s own famous tulpa, but finally does so with a segment on the Philip Experiment.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
Get ready for twists and Gaming Hut turns as beloved Patreon backer Terry Robinson asks for advice on genre shifts on the tabletop.
The Tradecraft Hut finds intrigue behind an old-timey Canadian historical footnote with a profile on Thomas Miller Beach, infiltrator of the Fenians.
In part two of our Mythos Hut series on creating a new Lovecraftian deity, we survey the canonical gods of cosmic indifference to see what unoccupied slot we might profitably fill.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine goes to the movies at the behest of estimable backer Monster Talk, who wants a peek at David Lean’s adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s Nostromo.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
We open up the Gaming Hut for another year and find a strangely folded missive from beloved Patreon backer Stephen Dosman, who wants us to incorporate the practice of letter-locking into historical games.
A new series begins in the Mythos Hut, as we construct a Lovecraftian deity, starting with a look at the common qualities of the existing ones.
In How to Write Good we look at the process of deciding how smart your various fictional antagonists are.
Finally estimable backer Michael David Jr. enjoins the Consulting Occultist to profile English writer and Catholic decadent Montague Summers.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
Nestle your rattling dice and thumping miniatures with care for our final episode of 2021.
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Bob Grider seeks the connection between the King in Yellow and locally celebrated fast food chain White Castle.
The History Hut goes nautical once more as formidable backer Dave Munro requests the rundown on the Metallic Lord himself, Sir Thomas Cochrane.
A cozy shiver pervades the Horror Hut as we answer estimable backer Matthew Preston’s real question about the differences between Edwardian ghost stories and later American fright tales.
Finally only the Eliptony Hut can untangle the saga of European UFO hoax slash conspiracy slash cult, UMMO.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
Episode 476: Homeostasis and Recurrence in Great Power Relations
In the Gaming Hut we find ways to design scenarios that highlight the cool and unique features of a location.
It’s that most wonderful time of the year as the Horror Hut contemplates Christmas ghost stories.
The Mythology Hut takes a look, get it, look, at the oddball Greek mythological figure Argus Panoptes.
Due to Omicron travel restrictions, Ken unfortunately had to cancel his Dragonmeet trip along with the rest of the inbound Pelgranes. Fortunately he did use the time machine’s bookstore-finding setting to bring back some volumes from other timelines, leading to a very special extradimensional installment of Ken’s Bookshelf.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
Beloved Patreon backer Kieron Gillen opens the Gaming Hut, which we hope isn’t a portal into a hellish otherrealm, to ask how designers screen out their skill as GMs during in-house playtests.
Erudite backer Bruce Miller infiltrates the Book Hut to ask about Richard Marsh’s The Beetle, a horror novel that for twenty years out-sold Dracula.
In Ask Ken and Robin, estimable backer Martin Rundkvist asks how Robin, and by extension Ken, goes about choosing projects.
Finally sagacious backer Paul Douglas poses a question that can only fit in the paranoid space that is the Conspiracy Corner: was Lenin a mushroom?
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
In the Gaming Hut we look for ways to design F20 encounters that players don’t want to skip.
The Architecture Hut reaches unprecedented heights as beloved Patreon backer Philip Masters seeks the esoteric secrets of the London Eye.
The Cinema Hut takes a bash at that laziest of storytelling devices, the dream sequence.
Finally well-measured Patreon backer bt revs up Ken’s Time Machine hoping to peer into the alternate reality where America’s adoption of the metric system was not thwarted by pirates.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
In the Gaming Hut we take on a classic horror scenario design issue. When the menace stems from ambient weirdness, how do you build fresh ways for the player characters to conclude the story?
Beloved Patreon backer Joshua Hillerup wafts salt air into the Culture Hut as he requests a nerdrtoping of Stan Rogers’ classic neo-shanty Barrett’s Privateers.
Among My Many Hats celebrates the digital release of Darker Hue Studios’ Haunted West. As part of its roster of stellar contributors, Ken talks about writing gear chapters in particular and working as part of a large team in general.
Continuing with the Western theme, estimable backer Ian Carlsen visits the Consulting Occultist to learn the esoteric significance of Wild Bill Hickok’s Dead Man’s Hand.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
An all-request episode kicks off with a Gaming Hut question from beloved backer Tom Abella, who wants to know if, when playtesting, there is such a thing as too good a GM.
Estimable backer Elias Helfer climbs all the way to the summit of the Tradecraft Hut to seek knowledge of Hassan-i Sabbah.
In Ask Ken and Robin, sagacious backer Michael David Jr. seeks guidance on a Mutant City Blues / Yellow King mash-up.
Finally, sleek and wily backer Ross Ireland inquires after a staple of the Eliptony Hut we’ve never quite explained: what’s the deal with alien big cats?
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
An all-request episode kicks off with a Gaming Hut question from beloved backer Tom Abella, who wants to know if, when playtesting, there is such a thing as too good a GM.
Estimable backer Elias Helfer climbs all the way to the summit of the Tradecraft Hut to seek knowledge of Hassan-i Sabbah.
In Ask Ken and Robin, sagacious backer Michael David Jr. seeks guidance on a Mutant City Blues / Yellow King mash-up.
Finally, sleek and wily backer Ross Ireland inquires after a staple of the Eliptony Hut we’ve never quite explained: what’s the deal with alien big cats?
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
Our Gaming Hut series on the axes of tabletop RPG design concludes, we think and hope, with an opposition separately suggested by beloved Patreon backers Nicola Wilson and Lauberfen: Randomness vs. Choice.
Crime Blotter goes old-timey with a profile of con artists Tim Oakes and Larry Summerfield, inventors of the wire game.
The Monster Hut delves deep into the World of Below to find the Peruvian mining goblin known as the muki.
Finally Conspiracy Corner takes us to Elbert County, GA, for the expensively manufactured mystery of the Georgia Guidestones.
Dig out your plastic T-Rexes and get them ready to stomp and chomp on your players’ character miniatures as our pals at Atlas Games announce the Kickstarter for Planegea, their dino-filled 5E setting of prehistoric fantasy adventure.
Uncover the secrets that teem beneath the surface of your happy home, with Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous, now on Kickstarter from Pelgrane Press. Explore food, consumption, and the extraordinary ordinary with this an anthology of American freeform live action horror roleplaying games by game designer Banana Chan and designer and illustrator Sadia Bies.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Finally we rev up Ken’s Time Machine to tackle, possibly once again, a perennial question: what does the world look like if Franz Ferdinand escapes assassination?
Dig out your plastic T-Rexes and get them ready to stomp and chomp on your players’ character miniatures as our pals at Atlas Games announce the Kickstarter for Planegea, their dino-filled 5E setting of prehistoric fantasy adventure.
Uncover the secrets that teem beneath the surface of your happy home, with Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous, now on Kickstarter from Pelgrane Press. Explore food, consumption, and the extraordinary ordinary with this an anthology of American freeform live action horror roleplaying games by game designer Banana Chan and designer and illustrator Sadia Bies.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Axes keep showing up at the Gaming Hut, and this week we look at the Abstract vs Emotional slider in roleplaying game design.
Inspired by the passing of one of its prime exponents, Owen Luder, the Architecture Hut gazes at the brutalist style and its influence on science fiction.
Then our resident bibliomane continues to make up for lost time, triggering an Ohio-based installment of Ken’s Bookshelf.
Dig out your plastic T-Rexes and get them ready to stomp and chomp on your players’ character miniatures as our pals at Atlas Games announce the Kickstarter for Planegea, their dino-filled 5E setting of prehistoric fantasy adventure.
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Ken and Robin Consume Media: The Card Counter, Secret Origins of the Afterlife, and Gems from the Chicago Film Fest
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.
The Pinnacle
Petite Maman (Film, France, Céline Sciamma, 2021) While her parents clean out her recently-dead grandmother’s house, eight-year-old Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) meets another eight-year-old girl (Gabrielle Sanz) in the woods behind. This note-perfect fairy tale exactly blends seriousness and magic, emotion and consideration. Superb child acting vivifies the trunk of the film, and Sciamma’s remarkable use of music again surprises and exalts. –KH
Recommended
Captain Volkonogov Escaped (Film, Russia/Estonia/France, Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov, 2021) In 1937 Leningrad, NKVD secret policeman Volkonogov (Yuriy Borisov) gets wind of his upcoming purging and sprints out into the city — where his problems get weirder, if not precisely worse. Borisov’s athletic, energetic acting carries us through a story by turns an acid satire, a tight thriller, and a dark Dostoevsky-meets-Gogol absurdist morality play. Notes of anachronism only heighten the themes and the off-kilter neo-Constructivist feel, like a really good graphic novel; cinematographer Mart Taniel also masterfully plays these shifting tones. –KH
The Card Counter (Film, US, Paul Schrader, 2021) In hopes of helping a lost young dude (Tye Sheridan) with a tie to his horrific past, a compulsively regimented gambler (Oscar Isaac) signs on with the supportive manager of a pro poker stable (Tiffany Haddish.) Cinema’s obsessive chronicler of expiation-seeking obsessives adds another notch to his gun belt, this time by giving his protagonist a choice of which movie to be in.—RDL
Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife (Nonfiction, Bart D. Ehrman, 2020) Biblical historian traces the rapid evolution of Christian beliefs about the afterlife, especially the burning eternally in Hell part, from the already disparate metaphysics of Jesus and Paul. Concise analysis of a complex topic stays admirably on point as it balances accessibility and erudition.—RDL
In Front of Your Face (Film, South Korea, Hong Sangsoo, 2021) A day in the life of long-retired actress Sangok (Lee Hyeyoung), visiting from the US to Seoul to meet with a director (Kwon Haehyo). If hangout neo-Realism were a thing, this would be it, as deft character studies interchange with moments of social unease. Hong shoots, writes, and scores this film with deceptive lightness, never overstaying a scene’s drama, almost tempting the viewer to foolishly discard it as a trifle. –KH
The Last Execution (Film, Germany, Franziska Stünkel, 2021) Eager for advancement, scientist Franz Walter (Lars Eidinger) joins the East German intelligence service (HVA) only to recoil at the inhumanity of his job. Based on the story (and on the trial transcript) of Werner Teske, the last official execution in East Germany, it builds tension by steady reveals of new moral brutalities all coated in bland careerism; Eidinger convincingly conveys Walter’s ongoing disintegration against DDR-era backdrops and bougie-Marxist beige decor. –KH
Love, Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Chef Charlie Trotter (Film, US, Rebecca Halpern, 2021) Charlie Trotter brought specifically American fine dining, the degustation menu, and high-end vegetarian dishes to Chicago in 1987 and in the 1990s ran the best restaurant in the world. (I ate there once in 2001, when it was probably still the best restaurant in America.) This documentary, built out of his voluminous correspondence and friendship circle, conveys something of the driven human behind the achievement. Like most biodocs, and unlike Charlie Trotter’s restaurant, it leaves you wanting more, but it’s still a very good plate. –KH
Mad God (Film, US, Phil Tippett, 2021) A steampunk-ish soldier travels to the deepest layer of Hell (or is it Creation) on a doomed mission. This is not a narrative film so much as it is a dark ride through a series of biotech grotesques (mostly) stop-motion animated from whatever Tippett had lying around for 30 years in his “most disturbing” box. (The occasional live-actor intercuts do not really work.) Appalling images and sounds from this movie will doubtless remain with me forever. It’s not mandatory for GMs running The Wars in the Yellow King RPG, but those that do see it won’t be able to run The Wars without it. –KH
Memoria (Film, Colombia/France/Germany/Mexico/China, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2021) Living in Colombia, British botanist Jessica (Tilda Swinton) hears a mysterious burst of sound that nobody else does. Existential mystery meets weird tale meets slow cinema in a movie that confounds Goethe’s critical criteria: What is it doing? God only knows, but it’s doing it with meticulous perfection. Is it worth doing? Perhaps, unlike Jessica, those that hear it know the answer to that question. Swinton’s acting job in this unknowable circumstance is more than enough reason to Recommend it, though. –KH
Paris, 13th District (Film, France, Jacques Audiard, 2021) The lives of underachieving user Emilie (Lucie Zhang), emotionally stunted dudeprof Camille (Makita Samba), wallflower Nora (Noemie Merlant), and camgirl Amber (Jehnny Beth) intertwine in the titular neighborhood. Paul Guilhaume shoots the lovers in New Wave-style black and white, and the performances keep the actors mostly sympathetic while the script (partially by Céline Sciamma) supplies the needful romantic twists. All love stories (all stories) are both arbitrary and artificial, the trick is to make them look real in the moment; in an understated way this is the Bourne Identity of romantic comedies. –KH
The Story of Film: A New Generation (Film, UK, Mark Cousins, 2021) Cousins extends his 2011 Story of Film series by another 160 minutes, in theory to examine the state of film in the 21st century (or really c. 2009-2020) but mostly to provide eclectic examples of film at its best now. Almost completely abandoning his previous geographical framework for a clearly ad hoc formal framework, Cousins turns his hand to picking the movies some future Mark Cousins will mention in fifty years when the conventional wisdom about this era hardens. Really, this is just a very well-financed Cinema Hut, and who doesn’t want more of those? –KH
Sundown (Film, Mexico/France/Sweden, Michel Franco, 2021) When his family hastily ends their Acapulco vacation after his mother dies, Neil (Tim Roth) stays in Mexico and does — nothing. A tour de force of existentialist drama anchored by Roth’s placid, almost flaccid, Bartleby-esque portrayal does sadly eventually offer an explanation of sorts. When the answers you were baying at the screen for in the first act anger you by appearing in the fourth, that’s a sign of a movie that (mostly) nailed it. –KH
Good
Demons (Film, Italy, Lamberto Bava, 1985) Moviegoers trapped inside cursed cinema become the prey of zombie-like demon possession victims. High 80s kitsch complete with MTV soundtrack meets disgust-loving gore effects in a gonzo post-giallo outing that is not as much fun as the semiotics paper it might inspire.—RDL
House of Snails (Film, Spain/Peru/Mexico, Macarena Astorga, 2021) Looking for solitude to finish his novel, writer Antonio (Javier Rey) rents the titular house in a remote Spanish town with a hidden horror legend. The movie head-fakes around a lot of horror tropes in the general lycanthropic space, and although the story I wanted wasn’t the story I guessed (and got) it wasn’t a bad time in the woods all considered, mostly thanks to Paz Vega, in there winningly as the realtor. Note to Darcy Ross: the snails play at best only a symbolic role, and this is not a Patricia Highsmith adaptation. –KH
One Second (Film, China, Zhang Yimou, 2021) A nameless fugitive (Zhang Li) from a labor camp and plucky orphan girl Liu (Liu Haocun) compete to steal a reel of film from “Mr. Movie” (Fan Wei) the projectionist-commissar in an Inner Mongolian town. Set at the tail end of the Cultural Revolution, and for that reason butchered to mush by Chinese government censors in 2019, this final cut keeps the Cinema Paradiso-style movie mooning (complete with cringe Maoist singalong) and the often sublime Buster-Keaton-style hijinks between the three main characters, but very much loses any edge or moral weight it ever had. –KH
Whether the Weather is Fine (Film, Philippines/France/Singapore/Indonesia/Germany/Qatar, Carlo Francisco Manatad, 2021) After Typhoon Haiyan destroys their hometown of Tacloban, ambitious Andrea (Rans Rifol), her schlemiel boyfriend Miguel (Daniel Padilla), and his dozy mom Norma (Charo Santos-Concio) haltingly decide to evacuate to Manila. Manatad depicts the post-disaster (probably accurately) as a surreal space where decisions make no sense, but at the cost of robbing any actions of consequences. Andrew Florentino’s spiky electronic music does a better job of thematic unity, and until Rifol’s character arbitrarily changes her personality she’s a joy to watch. –KH
Okay
Fabian: Going to the Dogs (Film, Germany, Dominik Graf, 2021) Bored advertising writer and wannabe novelist Fabian (Tom Schilling) bops through 1931 Weimar Berlin with his rich socialist friend and wannabe professor Stephan (Albrecht Schuch) until he meets his true love the wannabe actress Cornelia (Saskia Rosendahl). About 45 minutes in, Graf pretty much abandons the first act’s inventive multiple jump cuts, interwoven with historical footage and weird-angled shots, for cheap-looking digital video walks in suspiciously empty streets. Which might be forgivable if there weren’t over two hours left to go. Making both love and Weimar boring should be a shooting offence. –KH
Not Recommended
Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking (Film, Italy, Francesco Zippel, 2021) A resoundingly under-utilized John Singleton is only one of the many talking heads contributing surprisingly little to this empty documentary about the pioneering Black filmmaker. Neither critiquing Micheaux’ films nor really analyzing his reception and film career, this doc would have been better and more informative if it had just been Morgan Freeman (who also appears to scant effect) reading the Wikipedia entry. –KH
Episode 468: Weird Mushroom Things and a Swirl Over There
Dig out your plastic T-Rexes and get them ready to stomp and chomp on your players’ character miniatures as our pals at Atlas Games announce the upcoming Kickstarter for Planegea, their dino-filled 5E setting of prehistoric fantasy adventure.
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Our Gaming Hut series on axes of roleplaying design continues with Robin’s handling cost opposition, Harmonica versus Violin.
In the Architecture Hut, beloved Patreon backer Anders Gabrielsson seeks the truth about Chicago’s Midway Gardens.
Robin picks up a foreshadowed Cinema Hut thread on the changing face of international film, from access to style.
Finally estimable Patreon backer Ben Vincent wants to know what Ken’s Time Machine might have had to do with a report of a WWII Japanese A-bomb test in Korea.
Dig out your plastic T-Rexes and get them ready to stomp and chomp on your players’ character miniatures as our pals at Atlas Games announce the upcoming Kickstarter for Planegea, their dino-filled 5E setting of prehistoric fantasy adventure.
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Our Gaming Hut series on the axes of RPG design takes a turn as Robin looks at the trade-offs he thinks about while working on games, starting with Simulation vs Emulation.
Fun With Science goes deep to contemplate the abundance of mesopelagic fish.
The Horror Hut gets connubial at the behest of beloved Patreon backer Toonspew, who wants to know if there’s a Queen in Yellow.
Finally we cover up our luminous watches and enter the Eliptony Hut to confront the dread mystery of the Brazilian vampire UFOs known as the chupas.
Dig out your plastic T-Rexes and get them ready to stomp and chomp on your players’ character miniatures as our pals at Atlas Games announce the upcoming Kickstarter for Planegea, their dino-filled 5E setting of prehistoric fantasy adventure.
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
If it’s September, it must be, uh, Gen Con? Ken kicks off with a Travel Advisory on how the in-person side of the event went.
Speaking of unusual versions of long running events, Robin opens up the Cinema Hut to provide highlights of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, and to make a stunning announcement.
Our Gaming Hut series on principles and axes of tabletop design looks at Applicability, and whatever the positive opposite of that turns out to be.
Finally, in Ask Ken and Robin, beloved supporter Charles Cooley wonders what might be happening of a steampunky, monster hunting nature in late 19th century Romania.
Dig out your plastic T-Rexes and get them ready to stomp and chomp on your players’ character miniatures as our pals at Atlas Games announce the upcoming Kickstarter for Planegea, their dino-filled 5E setting of prehistoric fantasy adventure.
You’ve got the Pelgrane greatest hits, but from now, until Monday September 6th, you can gather up the Deep Cuts.
Pitting Salvador Dali against the Mythos just got cheaper! Get an otherworldly 25% off Dreamhounds of Paris in print or PDF from now until September at the Pelgrane Press web shop with the voucher code #ANTDREAM. Add its companion fiction volume The Book of Ants and get 25% off that too.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Our continuing Gaming Hut survey of tabletop RPG design principles tackles Power. That sounds like something we always want. Does it belong at one end of a spectrum, or does it corrupt absolutely?
Beloved Patreon backer the Molten Sulfur Blog makes a Tell Me More request that opens up the History Hut to profile Edwardian socialite and taboo-smasher Lady Idina Sackville.
In Ask Ken and Robin, estimable backer Stefanie McClelland asks us to quickly bounce off the gruesome career of narcosatánico Adolfo Constanzo for a look at contemporary magicians as criminal henchmen.
Finally, on his recent trip to Providence, our bibliomane acquired but a mere skiff to new volumes to add to his library, inspiring a rare single segment edition of Ken’s Bookshelf.
Dig out your plastic T-Rexes and get them ready to stomp and chomp on your players’ character miniatures as our pals at Atlas Games Kickstart Planegea, their dino-filled 5E setting of prehistoric fantasy adventure.
Pitting Salvador Dali against the Mythos just got cheaper! Get an otherworldly 25% off Dreamhounds of Paris in print or PDF from now until September at the Pelgrane Press web shop with the voucher code #ANTDREAM. Add its companion fiction volume The Book of Ants and get 25% off that too.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
In the Gaming Hut we continue our series on axes of tabletop RPG design with an examination of Resilience and Robustness.
At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Allen Wilkins, Ripped from the Headlines finds the real truth behind the November incident in which a crashing commuter train was saved by polyester whale tails.
In the Horror Hut we ask ourselves how to write folk horror scenarios without once again repeating the ending of Wicker Man.
Finally the Consulting Occultist profiles the mystical psychologist Claudio Naranjo.
Dig out your plastic T-Rexes and get them ready to stomp and chomp on your players’ character miniatures as our pals at Atlas Games Kickstart Planegea, their dino-filled 5E setting of prehistoric fantasy adventure.
Pitting Salvador Dali against the Mythos just got cheaper! Get an otherworldly 25% off Dreamhounds of Paris in print or PDF from now until September at the Pelgrane Press web shop with the voucher code #ANTDREAM. Add its companion fiction volume The Book of Ants and get 25% off that too.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
The Gaming Hut kicks off a series looking at the axes of RPG design, so appropriately enough we start with elegance.
In the Architecture Hut beloved Patreon backer Nicola Wilson seeks the truth scoop on the Trylon and Perisphere, noted features of the 1939 New York World’s Fair.
Fun With Science fields a question from stargazing backer Peter McAveney, who needs to know why Betelgeuse was getting dimmer and what Aldebaran might have had to do with that.
And finally we rev up Ken’s Time Machine to see how our intrepid hero stops the Battle of Blair Mountain.
Dig out your plastic T-Rexes and get them ready to stomp and chomp on your players’ character miniatures as our pals at Atlas Games announce the upcoming Kickstarter for Planegea, their dino-filled 5E setting of prehistoric fantasy adventure.
You’ve got the Pelgrane greatest hits, but from now, until Monday September 6th, you can gather up the Deep Cuts.
Pitting Salvador Dali against the Mythos just got cheaper! Get an otherworldly 25% off Dreamhounds of Paris in print or PDF from now until September at the Pelgrane Press web shop with the voucher code #ANTDREAM. Add its companion fiction volume The Book of Ants and get 25% off that too.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer JP Moral asks for steps to take when homebrew adventures don’t feel right in play.
Estimable backer Bryan takes the History Hut to 1970 for a look at Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes and the Kent State shootings, with an eye toward portraying them in Fall of DELTA GREEN.
Incroyable backer Jake B invokes his Ask Ken and Robin powers to inquire into the choices behind the four sequences of The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
Finally enigmatic backer Mysterious Musings summons us into the Eliptony Hut for the weird truth on Raimondo di Sangro’s anatomical machines.
Dig out your plastic T-Rexes and get them ready to stomp and chomp on your players’ character miniatures as our pals at Atlas Games announce the upcoming Kickstarter for Planegea, their dino-filled 5E setting of prehistoric fantasy adventure.
Pitting Salvador Dali against the Mythos just got cheaper! Get an otherworldly 25% off Dreamhounds of Paris in print or PDF from now until September at the Pelgrane Press web shop with the voucher code #ANTDREAM. Add its companion fiction volume The Book of Ants and get 25% off that too.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer V. R. Weather asks for a 101 on playtesting. Surprised that we have not directly tackled this basic topic before, we immediately comply.
The Tradecraft Hut profiles the peripatetic career of OSS and CIA operative Louise Page Morris.
In How to Write Good estimable Patreon backer Benjamin Rawls wants to know when it’s okay to lengthen your novel.
Finally the Conspiracy Corner maintains a six-foot distance from its latest subject matter, germ theory denialism.
Dig out your plastic T-Rexes and get them ready to stomp and chomp on your players’ character miniatures as our pals at Atlas Games announce the upcoming Kickstarter for Planegea, their dino-filled 5E setting of prehistoric fantasy adventure.
You’ve got the Pelgrane greatest hits, but from now, until Monday September 6th, you can gather up the Deep Cuts. Bundle together Skullduggery, Lorefinder, The Gaean Reach, The Gaean Reach Gazetteer, and Owl Hoot Trail together in PDF at the Pelgrane Press shop and get a whopping 25% off!
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise , including the aforementioned Foxy Dragon at TeePublic.
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
You’ve got the Pelgrane greatest hits, but from now, until Monday September 6th, you can gather up the Deep Cuts. Bundle together Skullduggery, Lorefinder, The Gaean Reach, The Gaean Reach Gazetteer, and Owl Hoot Trail together in PDF at the Pelgrane Press shop and get a whopping 25% off!
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
In the Gaming Hut we provide tips on GMing for a loose cannon character. Surely not a loose cannon player. None of us have ever had that experience.
Beloved Patreon backer Travis Johnson summons the power of Ask Ken and Robin to ask how to include the Bush Wars in The Fall of DELTA GREEN.
Estimable Patreon backer Keelan O’Hea turns the temperature in the History Hut down to zero Centigrade as he seeks a tour of the Belle Époque Paris morgue.
Finally the Consulting Occultist confronts a head-scratcher only one of his particular esoteric set of skills can solve: why is there a floating baby in a clamshell in the Chicago seal?
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
You’ve got the Pelgrane greatest hits, but from now, until Monday September 6th, you can gather up the Deep Cuts. Bundle together Skullduggery, Lorefinder, The Gaean Reach, The Gaean Reach Gazetteer, and Owl Hoot Trail together in PDF at the Pelgrane Press shop and get a whopping 25% off!
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
In the Gaming Hut, we look at game balance. What is it, and when do we care about it?
We try not to step on any skulls in the Archaeology Hut as Beloved Patreon backers Liz & Siskey seek the scoop on Roman gravesite in Cambridgeshire containing a surprising number of beheaded remains.
In the Horror Hut, estimable Patreon backer Elias Helfer asks us for cosmic horror without any Lovecraft in it.
And finally Ken’s Time Machine makes the intervention that will lead the earlier widespread adoption of solar power.
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
You’ve got the Pelgrane greatest hits, but from now, until Monday September 6th, you can gather up the Deep Cuts. Bundle together Skullduggery, Lorefinder, The Gaean Reach, The Gaean Reach Gazetteer, and Owl Hoot Trail together in PDF at the Pelgrane Press shop and get a whopping 25% off!
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Count the syllables and jot down the allusions as an anonymous Patreon backer beckons us into the Gaming Hut to ask how to do spontaneous poetry duels in roleplaying sessions.
Then pseudonymous Patreon backer Polydamas meets us in the Architecture Hut for the secret history behind Columbia University’s New York City real estate empire.
Beloved Patreon backer Bob Grider wants to know what else to do with sphinxes other than have them tell annoying riddles, and fortunately the person-headed lion guarding the Monster Hut is one of the nice ones.
Finally erudite Patreon backer Dave Munro hangs out with us in a Victorian literary iteration of the Eliptony Hut, for a profile of Pre-Raphaelite poet, artist and model Elizabeth Siddal.
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
The Gaming Hut hits the streets, many of them, for a look at designing scenarios to introduce a city.
We find the Crime Blotter is covered in ancient leather and animal glue, our cue to find the gaming in the fake Biblical scrolls purchased by the Museum of the Bible.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Louis Sylvester asks for a rundown of generational issues found in fiction and movies.
Then numerology takes on a TikTok twist as the Consulting Occultist examines Grabovoi numbers.
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Make sure anyone else in the room is really them as the Gaming Hut looks at fox spirits, doppelgangers, and other foes who disguise themselves as human.
The Tradecraft Hut profiles CIA operative, author, and coup arranger Miles Axe Copeland, Jr.
How to Write Good serves up tips on the revision process, from break taking to change tracking.
Finally beloved Patreon backer Steve Dempsey engages Ken’s Time Machine for a peek at the timeline where Oliver Cromwell picks his competent son as successor.
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
It distorts minds. It invades realities. Now it has invaded the Bundle of Holding. Grab the Yellow Bundle and get The Yellow King Roleplaying Game for a price normally available only in dread alternate dimensions. Level up to the threshold price and get Ken’s Annotated King in Yellow, plus Absinthe in Carcosa, The Missing and the Lost, and New Tales of the Yellow Sign. You have them all already but send your friends to the Bundle of Holding.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Black Widow, Summer of Soul, and the Fate of the Artist
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
Black Widow (Film, US, Cate Shortland, 2021) On the run from the authorities, Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) finds a new lead to the Soviet assassin training program that warped her life—and reunites with her worse-for-wear costumed surrogate family (Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz.) Self-contained, rooted in character, snappy and with clear, well-staged action, this shaggy dog spy romp nimbly leaps past the structural pitfalls of the MCU.—RDL
The Fate of the Artist (Comics, Eddie Campbell, 2006) When artist Eddie Campbell disappears, a detective interviews his family and associates (including a troupe of actors depicting one of his creations) to get a lead on his character. Campbell elevates a perfectly good joke with visual stories of the arts and a domestic-comedy comic strip (Honeybee) that acts as a sort of Greek chorus of Campbell’s home life. Campbell takes the form seriously to (seemingly) avoid taking the subject seriously, to giddy result. –KH
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Film, US, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, 2021) Consigned to basement storage by dunderheads who didn’t think they could sell it, thrilling musical footage from a series of 1969 Harlem park concerts finds new life and historical context. Top acts include Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Staple Singers, and the Fifth Dimension. Crowd shots, usually a crutch in concert films, become the centerpiece, depicting the community that gathered around the music as much as the acts themselves.—RDL
Good
Black Widow (Film, US, Cate Shortland, 2021) A chance to break the Red Room that trained and twisted them reunites Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) with her sister Yelena (Florence Pugh). For a movie about mind control, this has a very on-the-rails, no-twists plot; for a comic-book spy movie the fights (while at least visible) don’t match the best of Marvel much less the best of the genre. Ray Winstone gets the Annette Bening role of “ridiculously squandered actor” this time around. Fortunately Johansson, Pugh, and Rachel Weisz (as their “mother” Melina) bring so much to the table as actors that you aren’t really hungry for much else after two years away from the MCU. –KH
By Sidney Lumet (Film, US, Nancy Buirski, 2015) The prolific director holds court as the sole talking head in a retrospective covering a career that starts in live TV and concludes in the mid-oughts, hitting such highlights as Twelve Angry Men, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, and The Verdict. A fine companion to his excellent book of practical filmmaking, Making Movies.—RDL
Okay
The Baron in France (Fiction, John Creasey, 1953) and The Baron and the Mogul Swords (Fiction, John Creasey, 1966) Former jewel thief turned art dealer John Mannering investigates stolen gems, and the murders attendant on them, in these two able potboilers. Creasey wrote something like 600 books, including 47 titles in the Baron series, and don’t worry I’m not going to read them all. Based on these two random titles, they provide a modicum of action, not-too-challenging puzzles, and entirely unchallenging (not to say cardboard) characters. The pages do whiz by, though. –KH
Don’t forget you’re in the Gaming Hut as beloved Patreon backer Lauberfen asks for tips on finding the fun in amnesia and similar player character flaws.
In Ripped from the Headlines, estimable Patreon backer Robert Wolfe seeks the true truth on the clones of the strong-willed pig.
Finally, as normalcy, or at least retail sales, returns to the vaccinated zones of the USA, a triumphant return. Ken’s Bookshelf heaves with a haul of titles gleaned from the eager shops of New England.
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
It distorts minds. It invades realities. Now it has invaded the Bundle of Holding. Grab the Yellow Bundle and get The Yellow King Roleplaying Game for a price normally available only in dread alternate dimensions. Level up to the threshold price and get Ken’s Annotated King in Yellow, plus Absinthe in Carcosa, The Missing and the Lost, and New Tales of the Yellow Sign. You have them all already but send your friends to the Bundle of Holding.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer as the Gaming Hut provides advice to players running in political intrigue games.
In Fun With Science beloved Patreon backer Josh King asks for the real truth behind Siberian mystery holes.
Ask Ken and Robin fields a question from estimable Patreon backer William Brafford, who seeks a Trail of Cthulhu campaign frame around the Works Progress Administration.
Finally, in an epic crossover event between the Architecture Hut and Conspiracy Corner, we delve into an up-and-coming alt history, the Tartarian Empire.
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
It distorts minds. It invades realities. Now it has invaded the Bundle of Holding. Grab the Yellow Bundle and get The Yellow King Roleplaying Game for a price normally available only in dread alternate dimensions. Level up to the threshold price and get Ken’s Annotated King in Yellow, plus Absinthe in Carcosa, The Missing and the Lost, and New Tales of the Yellow Sign. You have them all already but send your friends to the Bundle of Holding.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Keep an eye out for incoming candlesticks as the Gaming Hut finds ways to engage players in the prelude part of a scenario, for example the bit in a cozy mystery before any genteel murdering happens.
At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Dustyn Mincey, the History Hut examines the era of Greek history known as the Frankokratia.
In the Narrative Hut, estimable Patreon backer Derek Upham seeks enlightenment on third acts.
Finally in the Eliptony Hut, can you believe we went nine years before doing a segment on the Philadelphia Experiment?
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Just when time had lost all meaning, the ineffable power of numbers tells us that we’ve hit Episode 450. Seasoned investigators know what that means: our beloved Patreon backers pose them, and we blast them with electric force. It’s time for celebratory Qs and exultant As! It’s time for… LIGHTNING ROUND!!!
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
We venture from the Gaming Hut into a wider world of stashed items as beloved Patreon backer Carrie Schutrick requests the RPG angle on geocaching.
Estimable Patreon backers pool their resources in the Tradecraft Hut, where we gaze into the eyeless sockets of the CIA’s top secret asset—a mask of actor Rex Harrison.
Demon gods and their directional taboos trap us in the Mythology Hut.
Finally the Consulting Occultist profiles a genuine arch-villain of the occult, the Rasputin or Argentina, José López Rega.
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
In the Gaming Hut we spitball scenarios that take place over a period of many years.
Fun With Science answers the call from beloved Patreon backer bt to examine Freudian psychologist Charles Seligman’s project to gather dreams from the many peoples occupied by the British Empire.
Good thing we just had a new bar installed in the Food Hut, because it’s time to tell the story of how 19th century America invented cocktail culture as we know it.
Finally estimable Patreon backer Neil Barnes wonders why Ken’s Time Machine had to be used to neutralize the OTRAG project to launch cheaper satellite rockets from then-Zaire in the 1970s.
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Episode 447: The Bert-Adjacent Ugly Wheels of Commerce
We start out in the Gaming Hut to tell your GM that the shocking premise subversion they have in mind isn’t as fun or cool as they might think.
A segment that had to hibernate during the pandemic is back! In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Ken talks to colleague Jeff Tidball about his Bert and Ernie dichotomy of creative collaboration, perhaps typified by their upcoming project, Band or Album Remix, soon or now at a Kickstarter near you.
In the Horror Hut, beloved Patreon backer Timothy Coram asks how to inject a heaping spoonful of Edgar Allan Poe into The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
We end up in the Eliptony Hut, as TikTok convinces users to acquire that most cursed of crystals, moldavite.
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
An all-request episode kicks off in the Gaming Hut with beloved Patreon backer Chris Camfield’s request to follow up on a carelessly dropped side reference about realist F2O.
Esteemed Patreon backer Chris Melkus meets us in the Archaeology Hut to ask about a recent story of tomb robbing in China’s Shaanxi province, in which the culprits tunneled into ancient sites from conveniently situated restaurants.
Celebrated Patreon backer Gene Ha pops into the Narrative Hut to note that Robin often refers to the western narrative traditions, and asks about other narrative traditions we might take gaming inspiration from.
Finally, shadowy Patreon backer Dave from Washington enters the parlor of the Consulting Occultist hoping he may shed light on the appearance of Theosophical symbols on the control console in Ridley Scott’s Alien.
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
In the Gaming Hut we provide tips enabling you to convince your fellow players to go along with your plans.
Beloved Patreon backer Jurie Horneman asks us to convene a Book Hut to talk about Robert Anton Wilson.
In Ask Ken and Robin, estimable Patreon backer Gabriel Rossman looks for a fictionalized treatment of the Bronfman family’s various brushes with cults and mysticism.
Finally we duck into the Conspiracy Corner and down the rabbit hole of the NESARA theory.
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Prepare to reverse polarity as the Gaming Hut looks at scenarios that revolve around science mysteries.
Beloved Patreon backer Tennant Reed asks us to unfurl the Crime Blotter for the story of penal colony escapee and confessed cannibal Alexander Pearce.
In Ask Ken and Robin, estimable Patreon backer Kaijuthulu seeks tips on running a Mutant City Blues game with hardboiled 30s private eyes.
Finally in a thrilling Food Hut / Ken’s Time Machine crossover event, perspicacious Patreon backer Martin Rundkvist assigns Ken to change American condiment history.
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
In the Gaming Hut, we help you, the player, bring your character’s narrative hook, in this case a Freaking Weird Moment for The Yellow King Roleplaying Game, into play.
As befits this weird year, the Cinema Hut finally gets around to our Top Ten Films of 2020, right in time for you to have already seen the Oscars.
Finally the Eliptony Hut looks at the 1882 disappearance of stage magician De Le Mano.
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style!
A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Bravely we enter the Gaming Hut, at the behest of beloved Patreon backer Scott Wachter, to roast the cockatrice and other weaksauce monsters.
The History Hut runs aground as estimable Patreon backer Stephen Dosman asks how the Yellow Fleet, marooned in the Suez Canal after the Six Day War, might fit into a Fall of DELTA GREEN scenario.
With its 17th installment, our Cinema Hut horror essentials series reaches its inevitable conclusion, as we bring our list of top fright flicks up to the present.
Finally the Consulting Occultist again shows you his picture collection as an erudite but anonymous Patreon backer asks for the lowdown on Art Nouveau illustrator and occult theorist Austin Osman Spare.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Joe Webb asks for a Fall of DELTA GREEN / Night’s Black Agents crossover inspired by a Cambodian pop song. (After we recorded this segment Ken remembered that Tod Browning’s Dracula uses the Swan Lake theme as its title music, but if he had done that in advance you wouldn’t have gotten owl vampires, would you?)
Our Cinema Hut horror essentials series reaches the home stretch as we span the late oughts and early teens of this shudderific century.
In Ripped From the Headlines, we riff on the gaming potential of NFTs, whether they be from Carcosa or a server farm in Tashkent.
Finally, estimable Patreon backer wonders what happens when Ken’s Time Machine saves Will Rogers and aviator Wiley Post from the 1935 crash that claimed their lives.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
In the Gaming Hut the beloved Patreon backer known as Ed, Speaker in Digressions, asks us to envision a game that that arcs from a state of nature to civil society.
The Tradecraft Hut steams open the career of Alexandrine, Countess of Taxis, and Postmistress of the Holy Roman Empire.
The ongoing Cinema Hut Horror Essentials series reaches installment 15, and the mid-oughts.
Finally, estimable Patreon backers Bill Durfy and Gray St. Quintin fall for our sinister plan and ask for the full Eliptony Hut story on the Highgate Vampire.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Return to your favored doomed manor for Gloomier: A Night at Hemlock Hall, now Kickstarting from your mordant pals at Atlas Games. More Guests! More Stories! Compatible with all Gloom games. Stir yourself from your fainting couch and grab it today!
A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Beloved Patreon backer Jonathan Keim asks us to take care of the Gaming Hut for the winter, during which time we will contemplate making place as big a part of a game session as the Overlook Hotel is part of The Shining.
In the Food Hut Ken takes us to almost Nebraska and the spiral bound wonders of the 1965 Y-Teen Club cookbook.
The Cinema Hut’s horror essentials hits its lucky 13th installment, and the disjunctive anxiety that comes with the end of a century.
Finally estimable Patreon backer Ed Sizemore checks in with the Consulting Occultist for the story of Baird Spalding and Douglas DeVorss, which starts with an ancient book of desert secrets.
Return to your favored doomed manor for Gloomier: A Night at Hemlock Hall, now Kickstarting from your mordant pals at Atlas Games. More Guests! More Stories! Compatible with all Gloom games. Stir yourself from your fainting couch and grab it today!
GUMSHOE’s got a brand new Bundle. An incredible Bundle of Holding PDF deal, that is, featuring Ken’s Fall of DELTA GREEN, Robin’s Gaean Reach, Kevin Kulp’s TimeWatch and much much more. Take advantage before it vanishes, on March 29th.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Pick up that flashlight and head down into the basement as the Gaming Hut looks at building moments that take advantage of a single protagonist for one-player games like GUMSHOE One-2-One.
The History Hut returns to the wild streets of Ken’s signature city as beloved Patreon backer Neal Dalton seeks the story of Count Dante and the Chicago Dojo Wars.
Our Cinema Hut Horror Essentials series hits the 90s. Will we get far enough into them for Japan to save horror? (Note: this episode was recorded prior to the public revelation of director Richard Stanley’s history of domestic abuse.)
Finally, regal Patreon backer Daniel Gill enlists Ken’s Time Machine to find out how to extend the English Angevin King’s control over Normandy.
Return to your favored doomed manor for Gloomier: A Night at Hemlock Hall, now Kickstarting from your mordant pals at Atlas Games. More Guests! More Stories! Compatible with all Gloom games. Stir yourself from your fainting couch and grab it today!
From now until GUMSHOE’s got a brand new Bundle. An incredible Bundle of Holding PDF deal, that is, featuring Ken’s Fall of DELTA GREEN, Robin’s Gaean Reach, Kevin Kulp’s TimeWatch and much much more. Take advantage before it vanishes, on March 29th.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
In the Gaming Hut we parse the differences between crunch and simulation, as we examine the yen for complexity and the various related but separate impulses behind it.
At the behest of beloved Patreon backers Will Ferguson and Felicity Pyatt, the Crime Blotter heads to 1827 Suffolk to open the case files of the notorious Red Barn Murder.
The 80s keep on coming as our Cinema Hut Horror Essentials series gets burned in a furnace room and goes on a dreamscape rampage of wisecracking vengeance.
Finally, at the behest of estimable Patreon backers Tennant Reed, plus Tim Maness and Jean Bauer, and frankly everyone else too, the Eliptony Hut finally tackles the 2020 monolith outbreak.
Return to your favored doomed manor for Gloomier: A Night at Hemlock Hall, now Kickstarting from your mordant pals at Atlas Games. More Guests! More Stories! Compatible with all Gloom games. Stir yourself from your fainting couch and grab it today!
The second edition of Mutant City Blues, by Robin D. Laws, and now with added Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, is now in print from Pelgrane Press. Grab your Quade Diagrams and solve the crimes of a near future where one per cent of the population wields super powers. Use the voucher code DIAGRAM2020 to get 15% off at the Pelgrane Store.
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!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Sidle up to the Gaming Hut as we provide tips on bringing your player characters into historical events.
In Ask Ken and Robin, beloved Patreon backer Dennis Harlow asks us to add detail and credibility to something Anton LaVey made up. Specifically that King in Yellow author Robert W. Chambers discovered the actual play while engaged in espionage.
A massive pile up of Horror Essentials awaits us as we enter the early 80s in the Cinema Hut. How far can we get in one segment?
Finally enigmatic Patreon backer Bt taps on the door of the Consulting Occultist for the supernatural secrets of automaton maker John Joseph Merlin.
Return to your favored doomed manor for Gloomier: A Night at Hemlock Hall, now Kickstarting from your mordant pals at Atlas Games. More Guests! More Stories! Compatible with all Gloom games. Stir yourself from your fainting couch and grab it today!
The second edition of Mutant City Blues, by Robin D. Laws, and now with added Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, is now in print from Pelgrane Press. Grab your Quade Diagrams and solve the crimes of a near future where one per cent of the population wields super powers. Use the voucher code DIAGRAM2020 to get 15% off at the Pelgrane Store.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
Beloved Patreon backer Michael Curtis dons a Nehru jacket and John Lennon glasses to duck into the Gaming Hut for tips on running occult investigation in Swingin’ London.
In part 9 of the Cinema Hut Horror Essentials series, we reach the late 70s, and the rise of the horror auteurs.
Ripped from the Headlines gives us a break from incessant day-trading as we turn the Gamestop stock story into a scenario hook for The Yellow King RPG’s This is Normal Now sequence.
Finally esteemed Patreon backer Gerald Sears seeks the aid of Ken’s Time Machine in prolonging the existence of the Hart Island amusement park.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
The second edition of Mutant City Blues, by Robin D. Laws, and now with added Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, is now in print from Pelgrane Press. Grab your Quade Diagrams and solve the crimes of a near future where one per cent of the population wields super powers. Use the voucher code DIAGRAM2020 to get 15% off at the Pelgrane Store.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
The Gaming Hut nestles next to an apothecary and a retailer of used armor pieces as we suggest techniques to populate buildings for a city sourcebook.
Fright film enters the psychic hangover of the Watergate era in the latest installment of the Cinema Hut’s horror essentials series.
You wouldn’t think that familiarity with paranormal lore would provide insight into the charlatanry of speed reading, but that’s because you haven’t yet thought about it in the Eliptony Hut. For full details, see Scan Artist: How Evelyn Wood Convinced the World That Speed-Reading Worked by Marcia Biederman.
Finally, in the Culture Hut, we open the drawer on the works of eldritch photographer William Mortensen, whose supernatural pictorialism might inspire scenarios from Trail of Cthulhu to Cthulhu Confidential to THE FALL OF DELTA GREEN.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
The second edition of Mutant City Blues, by Robin D. Laws, and now with added Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, is now in print from Pelgrane Press. Grab your Quade Diagrams and solve the crimes of a near future where one per cent of the population wields super powers. Use the voucher code DIAGRAM2020 to get 15% off at the Pelgrane Store.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Jacob Ansari seeks tips on introducing complex settings to the players.
Part 8 of our Cinema Hut horror essentials series sees the genre take an apocalyptic turn amid the turmoil of the late 60s and early 70s.
Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes arise from following bad instructions. In the Food Hut we look at wrong cooking tips we learned about through bitter experience.
When it comes to an Eliptony Hut story, the Tsarichina Hole has it all: prophetic dreams, ancient treasure, revolutionary heroes, UFOs, a yellow monkey, a crypt you shouldn’t open, and vast expenditures of the Bulgarian military budget. Let us explain.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
The second edition of Mutant City Blues, by Robin D. Laws, and now with added Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, is now in print from Pelgrane Press. Grab your Quade Diagrams and solve the crimes of a near future where one per cent of the population wields super powers. Use the voucher code DIAGRAM2020 to get 15% off at the Pelgrane Store.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
Keep that Abingdon Island giant tortoise under a blanket as beloved Patreon backer Kevin L. Nault beckons us into the Gaming Hut to work animal trafficking into RPG scenarios.
Part 6 of our Cinema Hut horror essentials series continues the 60s gothic resurgence, and we assure you this segment wouldn’t hurt a fly.
Plangent notes ring through the Culture Hut as esteemed Patreon backer Ethan “Mr. E” Schoonover seeks the terrifying reality behind composer Erik Satie’s Vexations.
Finally the Holy Roman Empire once again rears its head as perceptive Patreon backer Paul Douglas visits the Consulting Occultist to learn about Michael Scot, court magician to Frederick II.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
The second edition of Mutant City Blues, by Robin D. Laws, and now with added Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, is now in print from Pelgrane Press. Grab your Quade Diagrams and solve the crimes of a near future where one per cent of the population wields super powers. Use the voucher code DIAGRAM2020 to get 15% off at the Pelgrane Store.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
Episode 430: Look What’s Happened to Consensus Reality
Classic occult conspiracy meets eldritch espionage when beloved Patreon backer Daniel Fidelman pokes his head into the Gaming Hut, asking how to incorporate Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier’s The Morning of the Magicians into THE FALL OF DELTA GREEN.
Our Cinema Hut Horror Essentials series hits a turning point in screen shock history, as the 60s beckon, bringing with them a return to the gothic.
In Ask Ken and Robin, esteemed Patreon backer Josh Borlase asks us to name our favorite Old Ones. Hope the runners-up aren’t jealous!
Finally, Ken’s Time Machine finds itself, and our hero, attending the final meeting of the Prince-Electors of Germany to choose a Holy Roman Emperor.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
The second edition of Mutant City Blues, by Robin D. Laws, and now with added Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, is now in print from Pelgrane Press. Grab your Quade Diagrams and solve the crimes of a near future where one per cent of the population wields super powers. Use the voucher code DIAGRAM2020 to get 15% off at the Pelgrane Store.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
In a co-production between the Mythology Hut and the T-Shirt Justification Hut, a particularly mournful example of the species inspires us to find ways to put the phoenix in your games. Then put the phoenix on yourself, or around your morning coffee, by saying Oh No, Not This Again at the Ken and Robin merch store.
Beloved Patreon backer Jeff Kahrs bids us into the Book Hut to discuss the legacy of John le Carré.
Part four of our Cinema Hut horror essential series brings us to the 50s, heyday of science horror.
Finally estimable Patreon backer Rich Ranallo enters the Eliptony Hut for a look at the giant of Kandahar.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
The second edition of Mutant City Blues, by Robin D. Laws, and now with added Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, is now in print from Pelgrane Press. Grab your Quade Diagrams and solve the crimes of a near future where one per cent of the population wields super powers. Use the voucher code DIAGRAM2020 to get 15% off at the Pelgrane Store.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
In the Gaming Hut we return to that perennial, not at all distracting topic of the red herring, as beloved Patreon backer Kevin Greenlee asks how to work player-generated herrings into the drama.
Then we take Interstate 71 to the Architecture Hut, where esteemed Patreon backer Tom Abella wants to know what the deal is with the old Public Library of Cincinnati.
Cinema Hut Horror Essentials continues with the early 40s, over which the shadow of Val Lewton looms large.
Finally the Consulting Occultist dons his paisley smoking jacket for an inquiry into the occultism of LSD advocate Timothy Leary.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
The second edition of Mutant City Blues, by Robin D. Laws, and now with added Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, is now in print from Pelgrane Press. Grab your Quade Diagrams and solve the crimes of a near future where one per cent of the population wields super powers. Use the voucher code DIAGRAM2020 to get 15% off at the Pelgrane Store.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
We’re back for another year, starting in the Gaming Hut, where beloved Patreon backer Nicola Wilson wants to know how to incorporate the relatively high cost of clothes and food in the Middle Ages into an investigative game.
In the Tradecraft Hut we examine the mid-2000s Pentagon-sponsored first-person shooter Iraqi Hero, and the use Dracula made of it.
The second installment of the Cinema Hut’s Horror Essentials series tackles that most fertile of eras for the genre, the early 30s.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine creates a timeline where papermaking surfaced in Europe not long after its invention in China, instead of waiting for around a thousand years.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
The second edition of Mutant City Blues, by Robin D. Laws, and now with added Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, is now in print from Pelgrane Press. Grab your Quade Diagrams and solve the crimes of a near future where one per cent of the population wields super powers. Use the voucher code DIAGRAM2020 to get 15% off at the Pelgrane Store.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
In our last episode of 2020 we lurch, masked and tipsy, into the Kringle Hut, to fashion a horror scenario around the Newfoundland tradition of mummering.
Beloved Patreon backer Noel Warford convenes a session of Ask Ken and Robin to inquire into the cosmology of his Hellenistika project.
In the Cinema Hut we kick off a series exploring Horror movie essentials. We’re going chronologically so let’s start with the silent era and see how far 15 minutes will take us.
Finally the Eliptony Hut whisks us to Brazil in the 60s for the sinister and enigmatic Lead Mask Case.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
The second edition of Mutant City Blues, by Robin D. Laws, and now with added Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, is now in print from Pelgrane Press. Grab your Quade Diagrams and solve the crimes of a near future where one per cent of the population wields super powers. Use the voucher code DIAGRAM2020 to get 15% off at the Pelgrane Store.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Jacob Boersma asks how, with conspiracies theories going mainstream, we should create them for our horror games.
In Ripped from the Headlines, backer Gray St. Quintin asks for the real story behind Carpathian tree poaching.
We talk for a while and then get abruptly canceled in the Television Hut, as we look at the impact of streaming on TV structure.
Finally the Consulting Occultist reviews the case files from the 1968 robbery of Israel Regardie’s Los Angeles library.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
The second edition of Mutant City Blues, by Robin D. Laws, and now with added Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, is now in print from Pelgrane Press. Grab your Quade Diagrams and solve the crimes of a near future where one per cent of the population wields super powers. Use the voucher code DIAGRAM2020 to get 15% off at the Pelgrane Store.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Mank Writes Kane and H. G. Wells is Full of Himself
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
Creem: America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine (Film, US, Scott Crawford, 2019) Documentary chronicles the scrappy, dysfunctional crew behind the scenes of the scrappy, proudly unrespectable rock magazine that published Lester Bangs and Dave Marsh. Another reminder that the story of any outsider culture institution includes volatile personalities and a hand-to-mouth balance sheet .—RDL
Die, Vol. 3: The Great Game (Comics, Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, 2020) Balletic precession into the third act of this story of gamers returning (with their adult baggage) to the fantasy world that trapped them 30 years ago. Gillen’s story slows down just enough to let you feel the blows; Hans’ art if anything intensifies, with seemingly small decisions paying off like depth charges. Bonus points for H.G. Wells being full of himself. –KH [Full disclosure/gratuitous plug: An interview with Ken and Robin appears in the back matter of this volume.]
Night Editor (Film, US, Henry Levin, 1946) To cover up his affair with a rich psychopath (Janis Carter), a spiraling homicide detective (William Gargan) fails to report a murder they witness together. Carter turns in a performance for the villain hall of fame in a B-movie noir so perverse and brutal you wonder how the heck it got past the Hays Office. The title refers not to the main action but to an intrusive framing device set in a newspaper office, meant to launch an anthology series.—RDL
Good
Blackhat (Film, US, Michael Mann, 2015) The FBI releases self-made hacker/ubermensch Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth) from prison to help the Chinese MSS (Wang Leehom) track down a malevolent hacker. Mann cannot frame a bad shot, and in the moment the set pieces work amazingly well; but the story needed at least one more dimension to truly ensnare, and Hemsworth needed at least two more dimensions to portray his character. –KH
The Long Dumb Road (Film, US, Hannah Fidel, 2018) Uptight art student (Tony Revolori) receives unwanted life lessons from the extroverted oddball mechanic (Jason Mantzoukas) who fixes his car on his way to his school in L.A. Mantzoukas gets to play a grounded version of his chaotic comic persona in this winning road buddy flick, though its commitment to realism rules out a climactic finish.—RDL
Mank (Film, US, David Fincher, 2020) Convalescing from a car accident, charmingly caustic screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) holes up on an isolated ranch to write the screenplay for Citizen Kane. Dreamlike Hollywood fantasia focuses less on the credit tussle with Orson Welles than the question of why Mank decided to stick it to erstwhile host William Randolph Hearst and, by way of collateral damage, Marion Davies. Points for including periodic cigarette burns to signal the changes of nonexistent reels.—RDL
Okay
21 Bridges (Film, US, Brian Kirk, 2019) Brilliant homicide detective with a strangely long list of kills on his record (Chadwick Boseman) races against the time to catch the coke heisters who gunned down eight of his colleagues. The script sets up the sealing off of New York’s titular bridges as a central premise and then does absolutely nothing with it. Boseman gives it more star power than it deserves as it oscillates between an action-movie reality level and serious drama.—RDL
EMMA. (Film, UK, Autumn de Wilde, 2020) Charismatic landowner’s daughter (Anya Taylor-Joy) meddles in the love life of her socially precarious friend (Mia Goth), to the tart dismay of hunky neighbor Mr, Knightley (Johnny Flynn.) Even the camera moves are broad in this fondant-colored Austen adaptation, which immediately telegraphs character traits that are meant to slowly reveal themselves over the course of the narrative .—RDL
JLA Classified: New Maps of Hell (Comics, Warren Ellis and Butch Guice, 2006) A sentient ancient alien weapon lands on Earth, and confronts the Justice League with its greatest fears. The set-up of this comic is by far the best part, as Ellis’ technophile imagination sets up a great hook; the payoff is more than correspondingly weak, however, a repetitive, simple story beat unworthy of Ellis. Grant Morrison did basically the same story vastly better in 1997.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
The second edition of Mutant City Blues, by Robin D. Laws, and now with added Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, is now in print from Pelgrane Press. Grab your Quade Diagrams and solve the crimes of a near future where one per cent of the population wields super powers. Use the voucher code DIAGRAM2020 to get 15% off at the Pelgrane Store.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
In the Gaming Hut, Lisa Steele and Neil Fortier ask how to adjust Robin’s police procedural superhero game, Mutant City Blues, in the wake of the George Floyd murder.
Beloved Patreon backer Jesse Lowe calls for a Culture Hut field trip to the Maryhill Museum, founded by Queen Marie of Romania and Yellow King Roleplaying Game historical figure Loie Fuller.
Finally in a crossover between the Crime Blotter and Eliptony Hut we examine the case of Ira Einhorn, the paranormalist 60s scenester later known as the Unicorn Killer.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
The second edition of Mutant City Blues, by Robin D. Laws, and now with added Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, is now in print from Pelgrane Press. Grab your Quade Diagrams and solve the crimes of a near future where one per cent of the population wields super powers. Use the voucher code DIAGRAM2020 to get 15% off at the Pelgrane Store.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
In the Gaming Hut we look at narrative coherence and whether GMs should enforce it by trying to make all introduced story elements pay off.
Something sufficiently definitive has happened that we are willing to risk the wrath of our ten day lead time and reopen the dusty Politics Hut to chew over the results of the US election.
Speaking of which, I guess it’s finally time to duck into Conspiracy Corner and talk about QAnon.
Finally, the Consulting Occultist for the first time trains his eye on a subject who is both a paranormalist and an RPG designer, James “Herbie” Brennan.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
Send your 13th Age characters deep below the Dragon Empire, and even deeper into danger, with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s Book of the Underworld. Get all the subterranean exploration and menace your adventurers can handle at the Pelgrane Press store. For a limited time only, get 10% off print or PDF with the voucher code STUFFWORLD.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
Send your 13th Age characters deep below the Dragon Empire, and even deeper into danger, with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s Book of the Underworld. Get all the subterranean exploration and menace your adventurers can handle at the Pelgrane Press store. For a limited time only, get 10% off print or PDF with the voucher code STUFFWORLD.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
Beloved Patreon backer John Scheib summons us to the Gaming Hut to find techniques for infusing Earth-based settings with your chosen nerdtrope.
In the Tradecraft Hut we find that the Cuban sonic attacks story, which we covered three years ago, has revealed itself into a campaign of FSB attacks against American spies and diplomats worldwide. Be sure to check out this amazing Julia Ioffe piece from GQ. This New York Times story looks at victims’ attempts to gain disability compensation.
We’re in for a tough couple of seasons here in the northern hemisphere, so the Food Hut is here to help with suggestions of ingredients to stuff your freezer with.
Finally the Eliptony Hut looks at computer networking pioneer, venture capitalist and ufologist Jacques Vallée.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
It’s hard to believe that British Intelligence would make this mistake yet again, but all the secrets of their vampire dalliances have returned to the Bundle of Holding. Score the entire Dracula Dossier line, from Ken and Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan line for a terrifyingly low price!
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
We risk mixing up our aromatics with our alembics as beloved Patreon backer Jason Gorkisch enters the Gaming Hut to ask which ingredients and cooking styles make the best basis for magic.
Peter McAveney calls upon the Crime Blotter for the scoop on the Potosi Mint Fraud.
Ironically, among many other things, it has indeed become rain on your wedding day. We sashay into the Word Hut to tell you what irony is.
Finally the Consulting Occultist goes literary as Thomas Casey seeks info on the supernatural leanings of Portuguese modernist writer Fernando Pessoa.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
It’s hard to believe that British Intelligence would make this mistake yet again, but all the secrets of their vampire dalliances have returned to the Bundle of Holding. Score the entire Dracula Dossier line, from Ken and Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan line for a terrifyingly low price!
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
A Theosophical choir sings in the Gaming Hut as beloved Patreon backer Brad McClain asks for Trail of Cthulhu scenario seeds inspired by Alexander Scriabin’s unfinished, Armageddon-inducing composition Mysterium.
Thanks to discerning Patreon backer Daniel Gill, we find the Tradecraft Hut knee-deep in documents as we try to find the interesting side of the boring side of intelligence work.
In the Cinema Hut we wonder why daddy issues have become the default character arc in Hollywood screenplays.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine blares its klaxons for Saxons and contemplates a history where Edward the Exile didn’t promptly die after his return to England to take up the royal reigns from Edward the Confessor.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
It’s hard to believe that British Intelligence would make this mistake yet again, but all the secrets of their vampire dalliances have returned to the Bundle of Holding. Score the entire Dracula Dossier line, from Ken and Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan line for a terrifyingly low price!
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Ross Ireland asks about the possibility of victory in an ongoing game. Is it essential, or can certain doom become its own kind of win?
Regal backer Mikey Hamm beckons us into an especially resplendent version of the History Hut to hear about the Amber Room and the curses associated with it.
In How to Write Good, we show you how to spot the ominous signs of an unmotivated protagonist.
Finally the Eliptony Hut reveals the secrets of the Vatican’s time viewer.
You know your dance crew is the hottest around… but now it’s time to prove it. Breakdancing Meeples is a real-time dexterity game of, you guessed it, breakdancing meeples, designed by Ben Moy and published by Atlas Games. Two to four people, ages six and up, compete for dancefloor glory, in five exciting minutes.
Send your 13th Age characters deep below the Dragon Empire, and even deeper into danger, with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s Book of the Underworld. Get all the subterranean exploration and menace your adventurers can handle at the Pelgrane Press store. For a limited time only, get 10% off print or PDF with the voucher code STUFFWORLD.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
Episode 416: They’re Gonna Have Their Lifeforms Fight
An all-request episode kicks off in the Gaming Hut as Dicegeeks asks us how to incorporate the Fossil Showman Albert Koch and his Missouri Leviathan into a game.
We jump some bulls on our way into the Archaeology Hut, where Jake B wants to know about a maker of Minoan seals from the town of Zakros around 1500 BCE.
Brian Malcolm impels us to dust off the Politics Hut for tips on getting along across partisan boundaries.
Finally Elias Helfer trudges with us up the cobwebbed stairs to the parlor of the Consulting Occultist for a look at iconic Tarot deck illustrator Pamela Colman Smith.
In-person Renaissance Faires are off the table for the moment, but what can be on your table, at a limited-time steal price is Ren Faire, Atlas Games’ hilarious card game of competitive historical costuming. Grab it for a stunning 40% off with the voucher code PANTALOONS.
Send your 13th Age characters deep below the Dragon Empire, and even deeper into danger, with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s Book of the Underworld. Get all the subterranean exploration and menace your adventurers can handle at the Pelgrane Press store. For a limited time only, get 10% off print or PDF with the voucher code STUFFWORLD.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
The pandemic didn’t stop Robin from attending the Toronto International Film Festival, because it took place in his living room this year. In the Cinema Hut he reviews the best of a cut-down slate and discusses the future of film festivals here in the Covidverse.
Speaking of stuff you’d only do during a plague, Ken has finished reading the entirety of the Nero Wolfe mysteries. In the Gaming Hut we wonder how you might adapt this famously sessile classic detective to GUMSHOE One-2-One.
Finally, Ken’s Time Machine changes the aesthetic timeline by winning greater fame for Thomas Wilfrid’s Clavilux. Just don’t call it a color organ!
In-person Renaissance Faires are off the table for the moment, but what can be on your table, at a limited-time steal price is Ren Faire, Atlas Games’ hilarious card game of competitive historical costuming. Grab it for a stunning 40% off with the voucher code PANTALOONS.
Send your 13th Age characters deep below the Dragon Empire, and even deeper into danger, with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s Book of the Underworld. Get all the subterranean exploration and menace your adventurers can handle at the Pelgrane Press store. For a limited time only, get 10% off print or PDF with the voucher code STUFFWORLD.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
Episode 414: That’s How You Get Your Grants Approved
The Gaming Hut transforms into a spooky manor by the moors as beloved Patreon backer Ian Carlsen asks what you can do, outside the setting, to make an F20 game more gothic.
In Ripped from the Headlines we pick off some low-hanging fruit by asking what seems weird and sinister about Elon Musk’s recent pig brain chip announcement.
Finally we once more adapt to the times with a contactless edition of Ken’s Bookshelf.
In-person Renaissance Faires are off the table for the moment, but what can be on your table, at a limited-time steal price is Ren Faire, Atlas Games’ hilarious card game of competitive historical costuming. Grab it for a stunning 40% off with the voucher code PANTALOONS.
Send your 13th Age characters deep below the Dragon Empire, and even deeper into danger, with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s Book of the Underworld. Get all the subterranean exploration and menace your adventurers can handle at the Pelgrane Press store. For a limited time only, get 10% off print or PDF with the voucher code STUFFWORLD.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
Convention season has gone into hibernation, but that didn’t stop us from doing a live episode at Gen Con Online. The Nerdtrope deck served up a duplicate, but that didn’t stop us from sticking in a ringer. Robin’s Internet was spotty, but that didn’t stop Ken from vamping in his absence. Robin’s mic had to be closer to his humming desktop than a normal episode, but that didn’t stop heroic audio editor Rob Borges from saving the technical day! Join us in not stopping the show as we all dream of a return to in-person events.
In-person Renaissance Faires are off the table for the moment, but what can be on your table, at a limited-time steal price is Ren Faire, Atlas Games’ hilarious card game of competitive historical costuming. Grab it for a stunning 40% off with the voucher code PANTALOONS.
Send your 13th Age characters deep below the Dragon Empire, and even deeper into danger, with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s Book of the Underworld. Get all the subterranean exploration and menace your adventurers can handle at the Pelgrane Press store. For a limited time only, get 10% off print or PDF with the voucher code STUFFWORLD.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
The Gaming Hut gets into a crossover mood as beloved Patreon backer Adam Grotjohn wants to know how to turn player characters from Vampire: the Masquerade into the antagonists for Night’s Black Agents.
In the Cinema Hut we each nominate someone as moviedom’s least likely major star.
The Food Hut turns some pages as we name our favorite food books.
And finally stalwart Patreon backer Pedro Garcia enters the History Hut for the story of Boris Skossyreff, whose self-proclaimed reign as Andorra’s king lasted for 13 days.
In-person Renaissance Faires are off the table for the moment, but what can be on your table, at a limited-time steal price is Ren Faire, Atlas Games’ hilarious card game of competitive historical costuming. Grab it for a stunning 40% off with the voucher code PANTALOONS.
Send your 13th Age characters deep below the Dragon Empire, and even deeper into danger, with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s Book of the Underworld. Get all the subterranean exploration and menace your adventurers can handle at the Pelgrane Press store. For a limited time only, get 10% off print or PDF with the voucher code STUFFWORLD.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Philippe Marcil asks how you start with Earth when it is full of racism, sexism, and a plethora of other isms.
A man in a barrel pleads with a man not in a barrel in the latest installment of that most mercantile of huts, the T-Shirt Justification Hut.
Ripped From the Headlines answers to green-thumbed backer Jamie Twine, who alerts us to the international unsolicited seeds mystery.
Finally the Consulting Occultist brandishes his planchette to explain the Ouija board and its inventor, Elijah Bond.
In-person Renaissance Faires are off the table for the moment, but what can be on your table, at a limited-time steal price is Ren Faire, Atlas Games’ hilarious card game of competitive historical costuming. Grab it for a stunning 40% off with the voucher code PANTALOONS.
Send your 13th Age characters deep below the Dragon Empire, and even deeper into danger, with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s Book of the Underworld. Get all the subterranean exploration and menace your adventurers can handle at the Pelgrane Press store. For a limited time only, get 10% off print or PDF with the voucher code STUFFWORLD.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
The Gaming Hut dares to risk horrific ill fortune to answer beloved Patreon backer Kevin Greenlee’s request for tips on game mastering powerful but cursed objects.
The History Hut looks at ways to incorporate the Bay of Pigs into The Fall of Delta Green.
The Culture Hut gets a stained-glass makeover as extremely on-brand Patreon backer Noel Warford asks for the truth behind France’s storied tradition of blind church organists.
Finally the Eliptony Hut takes a close look indeed, at the behest of insightful Patreon backer Bryan, into the pseudoscience of iridology.
You know your dance crew is the hottest around… but now it’s time to prove it. Breakdancing Meeples is a real-time dexterity game of, you guessed it, breakdancing meeples, designed by Ben Moy and published by Atlas Games. Two to four people, ages six and up, compete for dancefloor glory, in five exciting minutes.
Send your 13th Age characters deep below the Dragon Empire, and even deeper into danger, with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s Book of the Underworld. Get all the subterranean exploration and menace your adventurers can handle at the Pelgrane Press store. For a limited time only, get 10% off print or PDF with the voucher code STUFFWORLD.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
Episode 409: League of Extraordinary Liability Lawyers
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Michael Brodhead seeks our assistance in moving from setting to story. Might taxonomies of storytelling help?
The Architecture Hut provides grand surroundings to examine the Utopian architects and their possible sinister schemes, as requested by vaunted Patreon backer Ludovic Chabant.
In the Monster Hut we show you how to weave a mystery scenario around a monster, in this case the Argus from The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
Finally charming Patreon backer Jeromy French wishes to enlist Ken’s Time Machine to book a screening of David Lynch’s Revenge of the Jedi.
You know your dance crew is the hottest around… but now it’s time to prove it. Breakdancing Meeples is a real-time dexterity game of, you guessed it, breakdancing meeples, designed by Ben Moy and published by Atlas Games. Two to four people, ages six and up, compete for dancefloor glory, in five exciting minutes.
Send your 13th Age characters deep below the Dragon Empire, and even deeper into danger, with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s Book of the Underworld. Get all the subterranean exploration and menace your adventurers can handle at the Pelgrane Press store. For a limited time only, get 10% off print or PDF with the voucher code STUFFWORLD.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
Episode 408: Not That My Players Would Do Anything Like That
In lieu of our usual Gen Con wrap, we reach for an all-request episode.
Beloved Patreon backer Lauberfen meets us in the Gaming Hut to ask how to incorporate TPKs and character death into the narrative.
Inquiring Patreon backer Nikolaj picks up on a past cue from Robin to ask for a Crime Blotter rounding up the more colorful incidents of RCMP misconduct.
Reflective Patreon backer Corey Pierno seeks the Consulting Occultist’s wisdom on crystals and their history as supernatural objects.
Finally awesomely helmeted Patreon backer Walter Manbeck asks us to pop into the Television Hut to break down The Mandalorian.
You know your dance crew is the hottest around… but now it’s time to prove it. Breakdancing Meeples is a real-time dexterity game of, you guessed it, breakdancing meeples, designed by Ben Moy and published by Atlas Games. Two to four people, ages six and up, compete for dancefloor glory, in five exciting minutes.
A rare opportunity for entirely legal larceny presents itself to the discerning wanderer. For a few short days the Dying Earth Roleplaying Game and every single one of its supplements has returned to the Bundle of Holding. Until August 17th, get Robin’s core game and the entire line in PDF for a price so low it’s almost a swindle. Grab all of the game that gave Pelgrane its name!
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: American Pickle, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, and Iconic Michael Caine
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
An American Pickle (Film, US, Brandon Trost, 2020) After an entirely scientifically plausible freak pickling accident in 1920, a pugnacious Jewish immigrant (Seth Rogen) wakes up today and decides to shake his great-grandson (Seth Rogen), a water-treading app developer, from his stasis. Battle of the generations comedy dishes out satire with a heart. Structurally remarkable for its tight focus on just the two Rogen characters. If this had gone through a theatrical development process instead of made-for-streaming, it surely would have had a girlfriend and several confidant characters shoehorned in.—RDL
Damascus Gate (Fiction, Robert Stone, 1998) An American journalist in Jerusalem’s research into a newly forming cult of apocalyptic mystics stumbles onto a murky scheme to blow up the Temple Mount. Literary thriller methodically establishes a naturalistic vantage on its setting and characters before escalating the suspenseful final act.—RDL
Funeral in Berlin (Film, UK, Guy Hamilton, 1966) British spy Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) arranges the defection of KGB Colonel Stock (Oscar Homolka) from East Berlin despite his misgivings. Helmed by former British naval intelligence agent Hamilton and filmed very much on location in Berlin, this borderline noir is by far the most realistic of the three Harry Palmer movies. Caine’s suspicious yet cool, ironic performance delightfully bounces off his supercilious boss, an Israeli honey trap, and various weaselly Germans. Kudos to Hamilton and producer Harry Saltzman for straightforwardly adapting Len Deighton’s byzantine, excellent novel. –KH
I’ll Be Gone In the Dark (Television, US, HBO, Liz Garbus, 2020) Docu-series studies the cold case hunt, energized by true crime writer Michelle McNamara, for a shockingly prolific rapist and serial killer who stalked 70s Northern California. Masterfully weaves together multiple narratives: the procedural elements of the investigation; the experiences of surviving victims; the grief of McNamara’s husband Patton Oswalt after her sudden death; and most of all, an inquiry into the contradictory appeal of the true crime genre itself.—RDL
Ministry of Fear (Film, US, Fritz Lang, 1944) Released from an insane asylum, Stephen Neale (Ray Milland in top form) impulsively visits the village fete and steps into a web of Nazi conspiracy. Lang punctuates his visual paranoia with wartime blackouts and sudden death from Blitz and betrayal alike. Based on my favorite of Graham Greene’s novels, the film doesn’t live up either to its source or its director’s potential, but enough remains of their twin nightmares to captivate and surprise. –KH
Good
The Old Guard (Film, US, Gina Prince-Bythewood, 2020) Immortal, fast-regenerating good-guy mercs led by Andromache herself (Charlize Theron) fight their way out of a trap sprung by a megalomaniacal pharma exec. Presents an appealing character ensemble but keeps stopping the action-thriller in its tracks to deliver extended and mostly irrelevant exposition from the originating comic book.—RDL
The Wild Geese (Fiction, Daniel Carney, 1977) After failing to protect his client, former Congolese leader Limbani, mercenary colonel Faulkner gets one last chance to rescue him from a firing squad. Based on a rumored escape attempt by actual Congolese leader Moise Tshombe, this novel’s strengths are realistic portraits of psychologically broken mercs, mission planning, and jungle combat. The prose, sadly, turns flat and mawkish when it’s not describing violence. Worth a read for Fall of DELTA GREEN background. –KH
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Gene Ha asks about trusting players with knowledge of upcoming secrets, for example the vampire content in Night’s Black Agents.
The Tradecraft Hut delves into the spying career of Dutch painter Jan van Eyck.
Werewolves, vampires and Frankensteins all fit readily into a weird war environment, like The Yellow King RPG’s The Wars. In the Horror Hut, we ask how mummies might stalk the battlefield.
Finally we use Ken’s Time Machine to find out what happens to the timeline if the Quasi-War erupts into full scale conflict between the US and France.
You know your dance crew is the hottest around… but now it’s time to prove it. Breakdancing Meeples is a real-time dexterity game of, you guessed it, breakdancing meeples, designed by Ben Moy and published by Atlas Games. Two to four people, ages six and up, compete for dancefloor glory, in five exciting minutes.
A rare opportunity for entirely legal larceny presents itself to the discerning wanderer. For a few short days the Dying Earth Roleplaying Game and every single one of its supplements has returned to the Bundle of Holding. Until August 17th, get Robin’s core game and the entire line in PDF for a price so low it’s almost a swindle. Grab all of the game that gave Pelgrane its name!
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
Beloved Patreon backer Manfred convenes us in a camouflage-covered Gaming Hut to ask how to run Fall of Delta Green agents through the Vietnam War. Complicating factor: his players are ex-military; Manfred is not.
Esteemed Patreon backer Dan O’Hanlon unfurls the Crime Blotter for a briefing on Toronto’s tow truck wars.
In How to Write Good, we wonder which words are too laden with earthbound cultural reference to use in texts concerning other worlds.
Finally astute Patreon backer Rolfe Bergstrom attaches a telescope to the Eliptony Hut so we can look at that most anomalous of asteroids, ‘Oumuamua.
You know your dance crew is the hottest around… but now it’s time to prove it. Breakdancing Meeples is a real-time dexterity game of, you guessed it, breakdancing meeples, designed by Ben Moy and published by Atlas Games. Two to four people, ages six and up, compete for dancefloor glory, in five exciting minutes.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
Robin has coined yet another new term and so naturally we must enter the Gaming Hut to talk about table sense.
The T-Shirt Justification Hut wrings a segment out of our latest foray into feline-themed casual wear, Excuse Me While I Nap This Out.
The Culture Hut returns to the Belle Epoque era of The Yellow King Roleplaying Game to profile American dancer, lighting design pioneer and amateur astronomer, Loie Fuller.
Finally, Ken’s Time Machine rescues Houdini to find out what would have happened to his mooted nonfiction project with H. P. Lovecraft, The Cancer of Superstition.
You know your dance crew is the hottest around… but now it’s time to prove it. Breakdancing Meeples is a real-time dexterity game of, you guessed it, breakdancing meeples, designed by Ben Moy and published by Atlas Games. Two to four people, ages six and up, compete for dancefloor glory, in five exciting minutes.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
There’s nothing much going on in the Gaming Hut until beloved Patreon backer Rich Ranallo pops by to ask about incorporating boredom into the player experience.
In the Horror Hut, esteemed Patreon backer V R Weather asks Ken to give the Dracula Dossier treatment to Bram Stoker’s Lair of the White Worm.
Insightful Patreon backer Louis Sylvester takes an aisle seat in the Cinema Hut to ask about John Carpenter’s classic film Aliens.
Finally, admirable Patreon backer John W S Marvin calls on the untapped military knowledge of the Consulting Occultist for a look at the esoteric secrets behind the Battle of Kursk.
You know your dance crew is the hottest around… but now it’s time to prove it. Breakdancing Meeples is a real-time dexterity game of, you guessed it, breakdancing meeples, designed by Ben Moy and published by Atlas Games. Two to four people, ages six and up, compete for dancefloor glory, in five exciting minutes.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
In the Gaming Hut we look at villain plans, and why they have to make sense in investigative games.
The Food Hut goes to the drive-thru for a double-double as beloved Patreon backers Tim Maness and Jean Bauer ask for an explanation of the mythic role the Tim Hortons donut chain plays in the Canadian psyche.
Ken and Robin Recycle Audio with a nerdtrope of the 100 Years War and pod people from our YouTube episode of Ken and Robin Live.
Finally the Eliptony Hut reveals, at the behest of stalwart Patreon backer Drew, the truth behind Theodore Roosevelt’s fabled hunt for the snallygaster.
You know your dance crew is the hottest around… but now it’s time to prove it. Breakdancing Meeples is a real-time dexterity game of, you guessed it, breakdancing meeples, designed by Ben Moy and published by Atlas Games. Two to four people, ages six and up, compete for dancefloor glory, in five exciting minutes.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Harlem Renaissance Detecting, Italian Renaissance Painting, and That Play You’ve Heard About
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
The Collector of Lives: Giorgio Vasari and the Invention of Art (Nonfiction, Noah Charney and Ingrid Rowland, 2017) Biography of Tuscan Renaissance painter and architect Giorgio Vasari, whose 1550 book Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects established the precepts of art history as we know it. Packed with lively detail on its obsessively deadline-meeting protagonist, and also his precursors, contemporaries, and era.—RDL
The Conjure-Man Dies (Fiction, Rudolph Fisher, 1932) Harlem doctor John Archer and black NYPD detective Perry Dart must solve the murder of a West African conjure-man which rapidly becomes more than even the impossible crime it appeared. This first detective novel by an African-American writer joins Golden Age structure with Hammett-style street culture, without any white characters. The mystery compels, and if the ending is somewhat abrupt the narrative continuously fascinates and surprises on the way there. –KH
Dark and Bloody Ground: A True Story of Lust, Greed, and Murder in the Bluegrass State (Nonfiction, Darcy O’Brien, 1993) Fired East Kentucky prison guard becomes the accomplice of her chiseled felon lover as he joins a home invasion gang, whose loot later ensnares a colorful defense attorney. Minutely reported true crime saga situates its depraved criminal protagonists, who would be at home in either an Elmore Leonard novel or a Coen brothers film, in the broader context of place and social milieu.—RDL
Ford v Ferrari (Film, US, James Mangold, 2019) Sidelined by heart trouble, a determined former Le Mans champ (Matt Damon) enlists a hotheaded driver (Christian Bale) in the Ford Motor Company’s quixotic plan to beat legendary Italian car designer Enzo Ferrari at that most harrowing of competitions. With an expansiveness reminiscent of 60s widescreen epics, fits the many challenges of the race car flick into the reliable and satisfying chassis of a makers vs. suits story.—RDL
Hamilton (Film, US, Thomas Kail, 2020) Alexander Hamilton (Lin-Manuel Miranda) joins the Revolution, serves under George Washington, founds American capitalism, and dies in a duel against Aaron Burr (Leslie Odom, Jr.). Cut together from film of two 2016 original-cast performances of the smash musical, the movie essentially offers a “you are there” experience while reveling in the actors’ performances. Patriotic, optimistic, multiracial, and centrist, a fitting embodiment of the Obama era’s self-image. –KH
Good
Circus of Books (Film, Rachel Mason, 2019) Documentarian trains her lens on her self-certain mom and affable dad as they close up the West Hollywood porn emporium that for decades served as a fulcrum for L.A.’s gay community. Balances sweet family portraiture with community history at a time of sudden social change.—RDL
Eurovision Song Contest: the Story of Fire Saga (Film, David Dobkin, 2020) Oblivious dimwit (Will Ferrell) teams with the sweetly positive dimwit (Rachel McAdams) who has always loved him to pursue unlikely pop victory for their native Iceland at the titular celebration of titanic kitsch. Amiable spin on the Ferrell formula likely earns a star for those equipped to get the affectionate Eurovision in-jokes.—RDL
Okay
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (Film, US, Kevin Smith, 2019) Conned out of their names by a Hollywood studio, Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) head across the country to stop a reboot of Bluntman & Chronic and yes you’ve already seen this film in 2001, except then it had a budget and production values. Mewes has aged even worse than his acting, and Smith mugs more than usual, rendering sadly painful what should be at least a snicker-worthy nostalgia trip. Even as a devoted Askewniverse fan, Okay is as high as I go. –KH
Shockproof (Film, US, Douglas Sirk, 1949) Tough but naive parole officer Griff Marat (Cornel Wilde) gets in too deep when trying to pry a sultry murderer (Patricia Knight) from the suave gambler who led her down the path to crime. The main interest here is seeing a Samuel Fuller script realized by a more polished stylist, but you have to go in prepared for a tacked-on happy ending to lazily handwave away the noir moral transgression at the heart of the story.—RDL
Beloved Patreon backer Bob Grider invites us into the Gaming Hut to discuss top-down vs bottom-up design.
Discerning Patreon backer Allen Wilkins invokes his Ask Ken and Robin powers to request a mash-up of Night’s Black Agents and The Prisoner.
The History Hut looks at Saskatchewan-born strongman Édouard Beaupré, aka Beaupré the Giant, and his excellent reasons for haunting Montreal. (Before you write in, Robin misspeaks at one point, referring to tuberculosis as “eradicated” instead of “brought under control.”)
Finally esteemed Patreon backer Wayne Rossi steps into the Archaeology Hut to ask Ken to discourse on a random item listed in the book Spooky Archaeology by Jeb Card, which the die roll decrees to be the Tomb of Maeshowe, in Orkney, Scotland.
You know your dance crew is the hottest around… but now it’s time to prove it. Breakdancing Meeples is a real-time dexterity game of, you guessed it, breakdancing meeples, designed by Ben Moy and published by Atlas Games. Two to four people, ages six and up, compete for dancefloor glory, in five exciting minutes.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
In the Gaming Hut, Ken introduces us to the meta-textual, meme-filled wonderland that is his Fall of Delta Green player group.
The Crime Blotter visits the wild mobbed-up years when Montreal Quebec was the Vegas of the north.
In How To Write Good a question from beloved Patreon backer Daniel Gill prompts a look at present tense and other contemporary literary devices in fantasy fiction.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine attempts a difficult bank shot. Time Inc. has always wanted to prevent the Robert Kennedy assassination. But how to do it without, as detailed in this Smithsonian piece by Kevin Sandler, erasing Scooby Doo from the timeline?
The place you only think you remember explodes with weird danger in Welcome to the Island, the first adventure anthology for Over the Edge from Atlas Games. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots that bring the weird to your gaming table.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
On August 3, 2012, Ken and Robin debuted into a podcast-starved world the first edition of their weekly podcast. Stuff we talked about incluuuuded a brand new game called Night’s Black Agents, the Continuum convention in the UK, the role of the GM in game design, and the Golden Dawn.
Eightish years later, we bring you our 400th episode, and you know what that means—LIGHTNING ROUND!! Bolts of celebratory electrical power come courtesy of our Patreon backers, without which we could not do this show. They incluuude redesigning classic games, scenarios as movies, steampunk ancient Greece, and so much more.
Raise a virtual and/or actual glass in celebration of this milestone in erudite audio nonsense!
If you believe that games should have dwarves, that dwarves should roll dice, and that true camaraderie is hollering “Cheers!” and sharing a beer, then Dice Miner is for you. Avoid dragons and cave-ins as you roll custom dice down a 3D mountain. Kickstarting as of May 26, from Atlas Games.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
The Gaming Hut goes below the depths for beloved Patreon backer Hector Trelane, who seeks tips on adapting the feel of Wolfgang Petersen’s 1981 classic Das Boot into a roleplaying setting.
How to Write Good revisits the issue of prose style in RPG books with more tips to strengthen and clarify your work.
Fun With Science follows a tip from esteemed Patreon backer Gabriel Rossman, who has discovered a peculiar case of a scientific paper published under the stolen identities of researchers who had nothing to do with it.
Finally theatrically appalled Patreon backer Brian Malcolm demands redress for recent aspersions cast on Davenport, Iowa, in the form of an Ask Ken and Robin segment devoted to the manifold historical and eliptonic wonders of that beatific municipality.
If you believe that games should have dwarves, that dwarves should roll dice, and that true camaraderie is hollering “Cheers!” and sharing a beer, then Dice Miner is for you. Avoid dragons and cave-ins as you roll custom dice down a 3D mountain. Kickstarting as of May 26, from Atlas Games.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
In the Gaming Hut we look at times when it’s appropriate to give a player an auto-success. Sometimes winning beats failing forward!
The Tradecraft Hut checks out the story of Czech mayors alleged to have been targeted for assassination by Russian operatives.
Sagacious Patreon backer Michael Maneval retroactively opens up the T-Shirt Justification Hut for a multi-genre take on beloved mascot Valhalla Cat.
Finally estimable Patreon backer Fred Kiesche heads into the Edwardian parlor of the Consulting Occultist for a profile of Russian painter, archaeologist and theosophist Nicolas Roerich.
If you believe that games should have dwarves, that dwarves should roll dice, and that true camaraderie is hollering “Cheers!” and sharing a beer, then Dice Miner is for you. Avoid dragons and cave-ins as you roll custom dice down a 3D mountain. Kickstarting as of May 26, from Atlas Games.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer wants to know about arc-sized endgames for player characters. Your Call of Cthulhu characters may have wound up in a sanatorium, but did your D&D heroes ever become feudal lords?
The Cinema Hut is even more of a hut than usual as we conduct a folk horror 101.
The Culture Hut resumes our Yellow King themed biographical segments with a look at Symbolist artist Odilon Redon, a ley influence on weird illustration.
Finally our beloved chrononaut dodges hellhounds in Ken’s Time Machine as he saves Delta blues legend Robert Johnson from a fatal dose of poisoned whiskey.
If you believe that games should have dwarves, that dwarves should roll dice, and that true camaraderie is hollering “Cheers!” and sharing a beer, then Dice Miner is for you. Avoid dragons and cave-ins as you roll custom dice down a 3D mountain. Kickstarting as of May 26, from Atlas Games.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
If the hairs on the back of your neck are tingling, you must be in the Gaming Hut, and we may be providing tips on using Sense Trouble abilities.
In Fun With Science beloved Patreon backer Chris Sellers seeks the skinny on fatbergs.
He sends Robin’s players on missions in his current game, so it’s about time the TradecraftHut profiled iconic Canadian William Stephenson, aka Intrepid.
Finally the planets balefully align around the Eliptony Hut as estimable Patreon backer Dirk the Dice prompts us for the tale of doomsday predictor Albert Porta.
If you believe that games should have dwarves, that dwarves should roll dice, and that true camaraderie is hollering “Cheers!” and sharing a beer, then Dice Miner is for you. Avoid dragons and cave-ins as you roll custom dice down a 3D mountain. Kickstarting as of May 26, from Atlas Games.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
In the Gaming Hut we fulfill a Tell Me More Request from beloved Patreon backer Bryan, who wants us to wring gaming ideas from the most recent version of The Invisible Man.
Ask Ken and Robin finds estimable Patreon backer Scot Ryder asking if Robin would decrease the number of abilities in Ashen Stars, given the direction found in The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
Finally we bask in the last Ken’s Bookshelf for the foreseeable future, as Ken looks back with fond and dewy eyes at the volumes snapped up during his DundraCon trip earlier this year.
Due to a technical snafu you may notice a drop in Robin’s audio quality this time around.
The place you only think you remember explodes with weird danger in Welcome to the Island, the first adventure anthology for Over the Edge from Atlas Games. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots that bring the weird to your gaming table.
Until May 18th you can grab the entire GUMSHOE One-2-One line in handy PDF form at the Bundle of Holding. That’s Cthulhu Confidential, Night’s Black Agents Solo Ops, and all of their associated scenarios.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
The place you only think you remember explodes with weird danger in Welcome to the Island, the first adventure anthology for Over the Edge from Atlas Games. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots that bring the weird to your gaming table.
Until May 18th you can grab the entire GUMSHOE One-2-One line in handy PDF form at the Bundle of Holding. That’s Cthulhu Confidential, Night’s Black Agents Solo Ops, and all of their associated scenarios.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
In the Gaming Hut we help beloved Patreon backer Jamie Twine as he seeks to adapt scenarios written for standard GUMSHOE to the QuickShock version of the system found in The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
The Tradecraft Hut conducts an investigation into spying charges laid against a Major General of Ukraine’s security service.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, we celebrate the release of an open gaming license for Robin’s game HeroQuest, now rechristened QuestWorlds, by dropping a previously recorded chat with Chaosium’s Ian Cooper.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine answers the call of eldritch Patreon backer Sam Harris to move H. P. Lovecraft to Chicago and the editorship of Weird Tales magazine.
The place you only think you remember explodes with weird danger in Welcome to the Island, the first adventure anthology for Over the Edge from Atlas Games. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots that bring the weird to your gaming table.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
Remote play is all the rage and we’ve convened in the Gaming Hut, physically distanced as always, to provide our tips to smooth your sudden conversion to the format.
In the Cinema Hut we look at war movies you can nerdtrope into weird war scenarios, for example in the Wars sequence of The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
Objects hovering over the Eliptony Hut may be closer than they appear as esteemed Patreon backer Andrew Miller asks for an update on the recent flurry of USAF activity on the UFO front.
The place you only think you remember explodes with weird danger in Welcome to the Island, the first adventure anthology for Over the Edge from Atlas Games. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots that bring the weird to your gaming table.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
You are getting sleepy very sleepy in the Gaming Hut as we look at ways to make being mind-controlled fun for players.
The Yellow King Roleplaying Game profiles move back to the Culture Hut for a look at Ken’s favorite Belle Epoque figure, photographer, cartoonist, spy and balloonist Nadar.
In Ask Ken and Robin we satiate beloved Patreon backer Lt Col Andrew Bates’ desire to know what occult mysteries Bruce Lee and Jimi Hendrix fought together in Seattle in the early 60s.
Finally esteemed Patreon backer Kevin Nault enlists Ken’s Time Machine to save the Rotodyne.
The place you only think you remember explodes with weird danger in Welcome to the Island, the first adventure anthology for Over the Edge from Atlas Games. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots that bring the weird to your gaming table.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
Ken and Robin Consume Media: An Iconic Illustrator and Ontario Bike Gang History
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
Drew: the Man Behind the Poster (Film, Erik Sharkey, 2013) Documentary profile of Drew Struzan, the illustrator whose fusion of glam and caricature defined blockbuster movie posters of the 80s. Covering both the creative and rough business side of freelance illustration, this is essential viewing for artists, art directors, and fans of Star Wars and Indiana Jones.—RDL
Hard Road: Bernie Guindon and the Reign of the Satan’s Choice Motorcycle Club (Nonfiction, Peter Edwards, 2017) True crime bio, written with its subject’s cooperation, portrays the charismatic, reflexively violent, teetotalling founder and longtime president of Ontario’s most feared bike club, ascendant from the late 60s until its absorption by the Hells Angels in 2000. Readers may be surprised at a org chart that functions more as a Rotary club for criminals than the feudal Mafia structure where every earner kicks a cut upward to the top dogs.—RDL
They Came Together (Film, US, David Wain, 2014) Sweet shop owner (Amy Poehler) and her former corporate nemesis (Paul Rudd) recall their courtship as a series of romantic comedy cliches. Big absurd jokes and a parade of cameos subject tired romcom tropes to the Wet Hot American Summer treatment.—RDL
Okay
Down to Earth (Film, US, Alexander Hall, 1947) In this oddball musical sequel to Here Comes Mr. Jordan, an offended goddess Terpischore (Rita Hayworth) journeys to Earth to claim a starring role in a brassy Broadway show that takes liberties with her mythology. Though every single song lands with a thud, I can’t think of a better time to soak in a dated piece of fluff featuring the star at her glammiest, Edward Everett Horton, copious gay subtext, a musical ode to polyamory, and a color palette of screaming pastels—the latter of which you might not think possible until you expose your eyeballs to it.—RDL
Duel at Diablo (Film, US, Ralph Nelson, 1966) Former cavalry scout (Jame Garner) seeking revenge for the murder of his Comanche wife falls in with his former unit as they hunt insurgent Apaches. Notable mostly for Sidney Poitier getting to play a cool but non-saintly secondary hero, and for portraying the Apaches as justified without letting them break out of their structurally assigned role as antagonists to the heroes.—RDL
Not Recommended
The Assassination Bureau (Film, US, Basil Dearden, 1969) Suffragette journalist (Diana Rigg) hires the dashing head of an international assassination cartel (Oliver Reed) to put out a contract on himself, exposing his confederates’ scheme to get WWI off to an early start. Though one might be tempted to take frame grabs of its gob-smacking art nouveau production design as resources for YKRPG: Paris or steampunk adventure, this stumbles on the decision to play it as broad comedy without writing any jokes for the actors to play. Based on an unfinished novel by Jack London, who bought the premise from Sinclair Lewis and then realized it didn’t come with an ending.—RDL
The aroma of a damn fine cup of coffee wafts through the Gaming Hut as beloved Patreon backer Drew Eicholz asks us to pitch a non-frustrating version of Lynchian roleplaying.
In Fun With Science we look at Marie Curie as a figure in The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
Home cooking with leftovers is on our mind for some reason as the Food Hut looks at stews, and by extension cooking with ingredients you happen to have on hand.
Finally esteemed Patreon backer Peter Williamson visits the Consulting Occultist to learn about economist, mystic, poet and painter George Russell.
The place you only think you remember explodes with weird danger in Welcome to the Island, the first adventure anthology for Over the Edge from Atlas Games. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots that bring the weird to your gaming table.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
In the Gaming Hut we spitball ideas for GUMSHOE One-2-One scenarios enterprising listeners might turn into self-published PDF products under the auspices of its Creative Commons license.
We enter the History Hut to find rocker Frank Black prompting beloved Patreon backer to ask us about the Llano del Rio commune of the 1910s.
The Cinema Hut gathers up its leopard and evening attire for a screwball comedy 101 segment.
Then esteemed Patreon backer Shinanoki summons us to the Eliptony Hut to delve into the esoteric mysteries of the Takenouchi Documents.
The place you only think you remember explodes with weird danger in Welcome to the Island, the first adventure anthology for Over the Edge from Atlas Games. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots that bring the weird to your gaming table.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
In the Gaming Hut we ask when a historical event the players can research might also be a spoiler.
Ripped From the Headlines allows beloved Patreon backer Chris Lydon to discover the hidden significance of Las Vegas’ political hat wearing pigeons.
Our round of Yellow King Roleplaying Game Belle Epoque biographies shifts to the Culture Hut as we look at a potential patron for your occult investigators, the most famous actor in the world, Sarah Bernhardt.
Then the Eliptony Hut ventures to California’s Santa Lucia mountains, where esteemed Patreon backer David Shaw submits us to the gaze of the Dark Watchers.
The place you only think you remember explodes with weird danger in Welcome to the Island, the first adventure anthology for Over the Edge from Atlas Games. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots that bring the weird to your gaming table.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Peter McAveney asks how to set up a Night’s Black Agents game as if it is, at first, some other less vampire-infested game.
The Tradecraft Hut goes to 50s Canada, a tale of a KGB mole turned double agent and the corrupt RCMP officer who gave him up to his Soviet masters. For more, see Donald G. Mahar’s Shattered Illusions: KGB Cold War Espionage in Canada.
Ask Ken and Robin features a query from discerning Patreon backer Louis Sylvester about the process behind Robin’s Yellow King novel The Missing and the Lost.
Then Ken’s Time Machine undertakes a mission, sparked by Time Incorporated’s giant bull ire, to erase the Iowa Caucuses from the timestream.
This episode was recorded on March 10. We’ll address our plans to keep plugging during the pandemic at the top of next week’s show.
The place you only think you remember explodes with weird danger in Welcome to the Island, the first adventure anthology for Over the Edge from Atlas Games. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots that bring the weird to your gaming table.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
Episode 386: The Apache Helicopter of Toaster Ovens
In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Trung Bui asks us for tips and tricks on running open-ended games without interfering with player agency.
The Food Hut remains just as crispy, with a fraction of the calories, as Robin discovers air fryer cooking by way of the Breville Smart Oven with Air Fry.
Our tour of the Belle Epoque setting featured in The Yellow King Roleplaying Game moves to the Crime Blotter and a look at troubling forensics pioneer Alphonse Bertillon.
Finally the Eliptony Hut listens to signals from esteemed backer Jamie Twine, who needs to know about numbers stations.
The place you only think you remember explodes with weird danger in Welcome to the Island, the first adventure anthology for Over the Edge from Atlas Games. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots that bring the weird to your gaming table.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Gray St. Quintin asks us to expand on our past fleeting discussion of the various voices and modes used in a roleplaying session.
The Tradecraft Hut has no choice but to address recent reminders that Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger, whose story is already wild enough, was subjected to MK-ULTRA brainwashing experiments.
Esteemed backer Derek Upham bids to enter the Archaeology Hut to paw over ancient curse tablets found at the bottom of a Greek well.
Then we conclude our Consulting Occultist series on key figures of the magical Belle Epoque with dynamic duo Oswald Wirth and Stanislas de Guaita.
The place you only think you remember explodes with weird danger in Welcome to the Island, the first adventure anthology for Over the Edge from Atlas Games. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots that bring the weird to your gaming table.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!
Look out for dirigibles as the Gaming Hut looks at the process of selecting your tech level when building an alternate timeline. The Aftermath sequence of The King in Yellow Roleplaying Game serves as our case in point.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Somebody Else, we chat with game designer and writer Sarah Saltiel.
Beloved Patreon backer Andrew Miller wants to know Ken’s thoughts on emergent continuity in Ask Ken and Robin.
The Consulting Occultist continues our series of arcane profiles from Belle Epoque Paris with a look at Ely Star, a protege of Robert Houdin who infused his astrology with kabbalism.
The place you only think you remember explodes with weird danger in Welcome to the Island, the first adventure anthology for Over the Edge from Atlas Games. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots that bring the weird to your gaming table.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Longtime listeners know that “Start with Earth” is a Thing Ken Always Says. But in the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Nicola Wilson wants to know exactly where.
In the Conspiracy Corner estimable Patreon backer Steven Roman seeks bookshelf recommendations for all things recent and conspiratorial.
The Consulting Occultist continues to wear suspiciously Robin-like facial hair as we enter the penultimate edition of Belle Epoque magicians series, as inspired by The Yellow King Roleplaying Game, with the scene’s fun couple, Moina and Samuel Liddell Mathers, of Golden Dawn fame.
Placed spoilererrifically at the end, in case your childrearing duties have prevented you from catching the flick yet, the Cinema Hut trains an analytical lens on The Rise of Skywalker.
Your survival depends on separating heisting criminals from undercover cops in Never Bring a Knife, the action-packed new social deduction game from our ever-sneaky friends at Atlas Games. Available from Jan 17th at your friendly local game store or online.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
In the Gaming Hut we come to the rescue of beloved Patreon backer Keelan O’Hea, whose players have conceived the inexplicable desire for a version of GUMSHOE with more die rolling in it.
The Food Hut, of all huts, contains the first of this episode’s two Yellow King Roleplaying Game shout-outs, as we savor the career and influence of chef, restaurant operator and cookbook author Auguste Escoffier.
The History Hut finds Ken prowling the British Museum researching his upcoming Hellenistika D&D project.
Then the Consulting Occultist continues our series on the magicians of the Parisian Belle Epoque, as we drop into the shop of bookseller, composer and occult publisher Edmond Bailly.
Your survival depends on separating heisting criminals from undercover cops in Never Bring a Knife, the action-packed new social deduction game from our ever-sneaky friends at Atlas Games. Available from Jan 17th at your friendly local game store or online.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
They tried to suppress it. They tried to contain it. They left it for months on a loading dock in Estonia. But now The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has made its final crack in reality by heading to retail. We celebrate with an all-Yellow King edition of Robin’s ambitious new game.
In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Ken Ringwald obligingly asks how it tackles the age-old problem of time as a resource in RPGs.
The History Hut peels back the covers on the Skin Affair, a gruesome scandal that rocked Belle Epoque Paris in the wake of a sensational murder.
In Ask Ken and Robin, esteemed Patreon backer Ruth Tillman demands strange machineries for YKRPG’s Belle Epoque sequence.
Finally the Consulting Occultist resumes our interrupted look at the 1890s Parisian supernatural scene with a profile of the Martinist writer and salon organizer Papus.
Your survival depends on separating heisting criminals from undercover cops in Never Bring a Knife, the action-packed new social deduction game from our ever-sneaky friends at Atlas Games. Available from Jan 17th at your friendly local game store or online.
You’ve heard him talk about it. Now you can get it at retail or in the Pelgrane Press store: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Shatter your world with this eerie, physically imposing GUMSHOE game of decadent art and multiple existences. For a limited time only, enter the voucher code YELLOW at the Pelgrane shop to get 15% off all Yellow King items when you combine the core set with Absinthe in Carcosa and/or The Missing and the Lost.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
In the Gaming Hut, we show you how to turn otherwise inert scenes in a sandbox game into prompts for activity.
With the Academy Awards creeping up on us yet again, it’s time for us to sashay into the Cinema Hut to list our favorite films of 2019.
Finally the Consulting Occultist returns to matters Rosicrucian as beloved backer, the Monster Talk podcast, asks for secrets of Christian Rosenkreuz’s legendary tomb.
Your survival depends on separating heisting criminals from undercover cops in Never Bring a Knife, the action-packed new social deduction game from our ever-sneaky friends at Atlas Games. Available from Jan 17th at your friendly local game store or online.
What’s worse—yet even more pulse-poundingly exciting—than being a burned spy on the run from an international vampire conspiracy? Going it alone, as you do in Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s brilliant adaptation of GUMSHOE One-2-One to the shadowy world of Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops, 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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
That knife you smuggled into the Gaming Hut will finally pay off as we provide tips on playing the secret assassin character.
Patreon backer Tom Abella provides us a story Ripped From the Headlines, in which a baffling GPS-spoofing technology deployed on the Yangtze at Shanghai might be a cover for sand thieves. Or, you know, something weird.
In the Horror Hut backer Thomas Wolfe asks us to mull the works of weird fiction stalwart Clark Ashton Smith.
If it weren’t for Ken’s Time Machine, the megalosaurus might be known by another, entirely embarrassing name. Now he reveals what other interventions he staged, or is thinking about staging, in order to erase history’s insignificant but annoying details.
Your survival depends on separating heisting criminals from undercover cops in Never Bring a Knife, the action-packed new social deduction game from our ever-sneaky friends at Atlas Games. Available from Jan 17th at your friendly local game store or online.
What’s worse—yet even more pulse-poundingly exciting—than being a burned spy on the run from an international vampire conspiracy? Going it alone, as you do in Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s brilliant adaptation of GUMSHOE One-2-One to the shadowy world of Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops, 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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
With a wave of his chainsaw hand, Patreon backer Walter Manbeck summons us to the Gaming Hut for tips on running comedy horror games.
Inspired by a recent New York Times Magazine piece, the Tradecraft Hut examines the implications of the OSS’ impact on graphic and industrial design.
Patreon backer Marc Kevin Hall asks us into the Cinema Hut for the 101 on the absurdist retro delights of Winnepeg filmmaker Guy Maddin.
Finally the gray and Nordic aliens listen intently in the Eliptony Hut as we talk about Trevor James Constable and his sky amoeba theory of UFO origins.
Your survival depends on separating heisting criminals from undercover cops in Never Bring a Knife, the action-packed new social deduction game from our ever-sneaky friends at Atlas Games. Available from Jan 17th at your friendly local game store or online.
What’s worse—yet even more pulse-poundingly exciting—than being a burned spy on the run from an international vampire conspiracy? Going it alone, as you do in Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s brilliant adaptation of GUMSHOE One-2-One to the shadowy world of Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops, 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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Tom Shaw asks us to even the odds when strong PCs fight weak opponents.
A gruesome find in the History Hut prompts estimable backer Polydamas to seek guidance on portraying the Sandby Borg Massacre in a game.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Robin chats with Fil Baldowski, mastermind of the of All Rolled Up empire.
Finally, in Fun With Science, profound Patreon backer Wayne Shaw wants to know the true significance of the gigantic metal deposit buried beneath the moon’s south pole.
Hopping vampires tried to stop it! Transformed animals conspired to block it! Evil eunuchs issued proclamations against it! But thanks to the gun-toting, fist-flying efforts of your favorite scrappy underdogs at Atlas Games, Feng Shui 2, Robin’s acclaimed and recently improved game of action thrills has been reprinted and can again be found in stores. Import the excitement of the Hong Kong action cinema masters to your roleplaying table.
What’s worse—yet even more pulse-poundingly exciting—than being a burned spy on the run from an international vampire conspiracy? Going it alone, as you do in Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s brilliant adaptation of GUMSHOE One-2-One to the shadowy world of Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops, 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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Pull up a comfy chair and get your fireballs back in the Gaming Hut as we look at the timing of resource refreshing.
In the Tradecraft Hut we peer into the espionage activities of William Playfair, now better known as the inventor of the pie chart, not to mention most of your other favorite charts.
Ask Ken and Robin features a request from beloved Patreon backer Lars to consider updates to Earthdawn.
Then Phil Masters, estimable Patreon backer who this time gets a whole question to himself, asks if our hero might want to use Ken’s Time Machine to extend the life and career of Gustavus Adolphus, the reform-minded Swedish king some consider the inventor of modern warfare.
Hopping vampires tried to stop it! Transformed animals conspired to block it! Evil eunuchs issued proclamations against it! But thanks to the gun-toting, fist-flying efforts of your favorite scrappy underdogs at Atlas Games, Feng Shui 2, Robin’s acclaimed and recently improved game of action thrills has been reprinted and can again be found in stores. Import the excitement of the Hong Kong action cinema masters to your roleplaying table.
What’s worse—yet even more pulse-poundingly exciting—than being a burned spy on the run from an international vampire conspiracy? Going it alone, as you do in Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s brilliant adaptation of GUMSHOE One-2-One to the shadowy world of Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops, 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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
In our final episode of the year, we unwrap the annual Christmas present that is our episode recorded live at Dragonmeet in London. Join us for the nerdtroping of the Norman Conquest and Hindu mythology, this podcast’s alternate timeline, writing to drink by, annoying tannoy interruptions, and the real intervention in the 2016 election.
Hopping vampires tried to stop it! Transformed animals conspired to block it! Evil eunuchs issued proclamations against it! But thanks to the gun-toting, fist-flying efforts of your favorite scrappy underdogs at Atlas Games, Feng Shui 2, Robin’s acclaimed and recently improved game of action thrills has been reprinted and can again be found in stores. Import the excitement of the Hong Kong action cinema masters to your roleplaying table.
By the Great Gold Wyrm, is that an escalation die I hear? Pelgrane Press’ love letter to fantasy roleplaying just got lovelier with an epic PDF deal in the Bundle of Holding. Grab the brand new 13th Age Adventures bundle, or dip your toes in the Diabolist’s waters with a revived deal on the original 13th Age Bundle, including the core book and the campaign to end all campaigns, Eyes of the Stone Thief.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Freshly home and invigorated, or perhaps exhaugorated, by our annual trip to Dragonmeet in London, we issue a Travel Advisory for the William Blake exhibition at Tate Britain.
Rocketed by the power of recording technology back to the day before Gen Con, Ken and/orRobin Talk to Someone Else finds us in conversation with Colby Elliott, silky-voiced creator and narrator of RPG audiobooks, including a little number you might know as Robin’s Laws of Good Gamemastering.
Experienced listeners are already bracing themselves for what comes next: another bumper edition of Ken’s Bookshelf, featuring the haul from his 2019 London book raid. Plus special guest books straight from Robin’s carry-on bag!
Atlas Games’ delightful game of mud, blood and regicide, Gloom of Thrones , charges down the moat of your favorite game retailer on December 2nd. Take control of a noble family and exquisitely kill them off. May the most miserable player win!
By the Great Gold Wyrm, is that an escalation die I hear? Pelgrane Press’ love letter to fantasy roleplaying just got lovelier with an epic PDF deal in the Bundle of Holding. Grab the brand new 13th Age Adventures bundle, or dip your toes in the Diabolist’s waters with a revived deal on the original 13th Age Bundle, including the core book and the campaign to end all campaigns, Eyes of the Stone Thief.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
In the Gaming Hut we figure out what people are really talking about when they take sides in the system matters debate.
The Tradecraft Hut peers into a classic tabloid spy scandal, 1961’s Profumo Affair, to see what one might make of it in The Fall of Delta Green.
Beloved Patreon backer Timothy Coram steps up to make a demand on behalf of all, that Robin enter the Food Hut to confront Ken with the contents of the Sno-Voyageur’s Cookbook, a time capsule of Ontario cooking from the 80s.
Finally the Consulting Occultist answers a request from beloved Patreon backers Tim Maness and Jean Bauer for the lowdown on the 1911 Ark of the Covenant expedition.
Atlas Games’ delightful game of mud, blood and regicide, Gloom of Thrones , charges down the moat of your favorite game retailer on December 2nd. Take control of a noble family and exquisitely kill them off. May the most miserable player win!
By the Great Gold Wyrm, is that an escalation die I hear? Pelgrane Press’ love letter to fantasy roleplaying just got lovelier with an epic PDF deal in the Bundle of Holding. Grab the brand new 13th Age Adventures bundle, or dip your toes in the Diabolist’s waters with a revived deal on the original 13th Age Bundle, including the core book and the campaign to end all campaigns, Eyes of the Stone Thief.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Join us not midway through but at the top of the podcast as the Gaming Hut finds ways to introduce a new player to a long-running series.
In the Television Hut beloved Patreon backer Jeromy French asks Robin to expound on the problems of the series finale.
Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else features an interview Robin conducted at the Kraken, with Pedro Ziviani, whose new Chaosium story card game The Red Thread of Fate will begin its Kickstarter campaign on Jan 19th.
Then we get quiet, very very quiet, in an Eliptony Hut discussion of Raudive voices, also known as Electronic Voice Phenomena.
Atlas Games’ delightful game of mud, blood and regicide, Gloom of Thrones charges down the moat of your favorite game retailer on December 2nd. Take control of a noble family and exquisitely kill them off. May the most miserable player win!
What’s worse—yet even more pulse-poundingly exciting—than being a burned spy on the run from an international vampire conspiracy? Going it alone, as you do in Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s brilliant adaptation of GUMSHOE One-2-One to the shadowy world of Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops, 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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Elias Helfer asks us how to invent great magical artifacts.
The History Hut exits pursued by a bear, and also flying bricks, as we look at New York City’s 1849 Shakespeare riots.
Phil Masters leads a cane-toting pack of his fellow Patreon backers into the Horror Hut, demanding to know how Jekyll and Hyde fit into Robin’s theory about the inherent structural challenge of werewolf movies.
Then backer Andrea Colletta revs up Ken’s Time Machine to find out what history looks like when Richard Nixon’s application to join the FBI is accepted.
Fairytale Mash-ups, the new expansion for Atlas Games’ classic storytelling card game Once Upon a Time, is here to bring you classic characters, hilarious juxtapositions and hungry giant sheep.
What’s worse—yet even more pulse-poundingly exciting—than being a burned spy on the run from an international vampire conspiracy? Going it alone, as you do in Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s brilliant adaptation of GUMSHOE One-2-One to the shadowy world of Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops, 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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
We show up in the Gaming Hut with our usual punctuality to look at ways of handling player absences.
Crime Blotter looks at video games as a platform for money laundering.
Beloved Patreon backer Steve Dempsey invites us to the Food Hut for a bowl of chili, or at least some palaver and history concerning this iconic and weirdly controversial dish.
And finally, in Ask Ken and Robin, backer Michael Gemar invites us to riff on the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, a kickstarted temple to art and psychedelic mysticism, complete with bread and breakfast.
Fairytale Mash-ups, the new expansion for Atlas Games’ classic storytelling card game Once Upon a Time, is here to bring you classic characters, hilarious juxtapositions and hungry giant sheep.
Only a few days remain in the latest Bundle of Holding deal featuring Pelgrane Press’ Trail of Cthulhu. Feast on the brand new Cities of Cthulhu PDF bundle, featuring Dreamhounds of Paris and Cthulhu City, or tip your friends to the classic original bundle including the core book and so much more.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
In the Gaming Hut, Patreon backer Jacques de Villiers wonders how one might use The Armitage Files or Dracula Dossier in The Fall of Delta Green.
Then Ken convenes a Cinema Hut to talk about his discoveries from the Chicago International Film Festival.
He’s been a character in the Kartasverse for ages, but now he’s here in person. In Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, James Damato gives us the scoop on his Ultimate RPG Guides.
Then the Consulting Occultist acquaints us with a central figure in the field of magical speculation, Cornelius Agrippa.
Fairytale Mash-ups, the new expansion for Atlas Games’ classic storytelling card game Once Upon a Time, is here to bring you classic characters, hilarious juxtapositions and hungry giant sheep.
What’s worse—yet even more pulse-poundingly exciting—than being a burned spy on the run from an international vampire conspiracy? Going it alone, as you do in Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s brilliant adaptation of GUMSHOE One-2-One to the shadowy world of Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops, 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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Welcome to the Island is the first adventure anthology for the third edition of the Over the Edge RPG from Atlas Games. It features five original storylines by award-winning authors, each with hooks for different characters. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots to bend your players’ heads.
What’s worse—yet even more pulse-poundingly exciting—than being a burned spy on the run from an international vampire conspiracy? Going it alone, as you do in Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s brilliant adaptation of GUMSHOE One-2-One to the shadowy world of Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops, 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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
The Gaming Hut warms up its blue bolts as we mull the exasperated Dungeon Master trope.
Beloved Patreon backer Corey Pierno asks the Book Hut for tips on researching the everyday lives of historical people.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, we chat with Ellie Akers about her online equestrian management game Hunt and Jump, and common horse mistakes in RPGs.
Finally the Consulting Occultist heads to balmy British Columbia to tell the tale of yellow-robed cultist Brother XII.
Welcome to the Island is the first adventure anthology for the third edition of the Over the Edge RPG from Atlas Games. It features five original storylines by award-winning authors, each with hooks for different characters. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots to bend your players’ heads.
What’s worse—yet even more pulse-poundingly exciting—than being a burned spy on the run from an international vampire conspiracy? Going it alone, as you do in Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s brilliant adaptation of GUMSHOE One-2-One to the shadowy world of Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops, 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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
We hunker down in the mud and fear of the Gaming Hut to answer beloved Patreon backer Bill Durfy’s request to combine WWI and ghouls.
Impeachment is in the news, the 1867 news that is, as the History Hut covers the attempt to remove Andrew Johnson from the White House.
In How to Write Good we provide tips on creating blocked desires for your dramatic characters.
Finally the Food Hut takes a journey on Ken’s Time Machine as we peer into the dire timeline prevented when our hero supplied the yeast strain necessary for the brewing of lager.
Welcome to the Island is the first adventure anthology for the third edition of the Over the Edge RPG from Atlas Games. It features five original storylines by award-winning authors, each with hooks for different characters. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots to bend your players’ heads.
What’s worse—yet even more pulse-poundingly exciting—than being a burned spy on the run from an international vampire conspiracy? Going it alone, as you do in Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s brilliant adaptation of GUMSHOE One-2-One to the shadowy world of Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops, 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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Our forces muster outside the Gaming Hut as Patreon backer Robert Dean asks us how to fold mass battles into D&D.
Thanks to a redaction failure the Tradecraft Hut discovers ICE’s requisition for a replica Chicago at Fort Benning.
Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else gets a 13/10 as we chat with multi-hat wearing designer and gaming honcho Darren Watts, about such projects as We Rate Dogs!: The Card Game.
Finally in a very special segment of Conspiracy Corner Patreon backer Drew Clowery asks us to mull the responsibility of pop culture treatments of conspiracy culture.
Welcome to the Island is the first adventure anthology for the third edition of the Over the Edge RPG from Atlas Games. It features five original storylines by award-winning authors, each with hooks for different characters. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots to bend your players’ heads.
What’s worse—yet even more pulse-poundingly exciting—than being a burned spy on the run from an international vampire conspiracy? Going it alone, as you do in Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s brilliant adaptation of GUMSHOE One-2-One to the shadowy world of Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops, from Pelgrane Press.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
The PCs are being pursued! Run to the Gaming Hut to learn how to make this fun!
A sinister substances drips in your direction! Creep into the Horror Hut for an examination of ooze horror.
Fill your cart with processed junk as the Food Hut contemplates objectively terrible comestibles at least one of us loves.
Get communal, or at least manufacture a fork or two, as we enter the Eliptony Hut to make up something fun about 19th century preacher—some might say cult leader—John Humphrey Noyes.
Welcome to the Island is the first adventure anthology for the third edition of the Over the Edge RPG from Atlas Games. It features five original storylines by award-winning authors, each with hooks for different characters. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots to bend your players’ heads.
What’s worse—yet even more pulse-poundingly exciting—than being a burned spy on the run from an international vampire conspiracy? Going it alone, as you do in Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s brilliant adaptation of GUMSHOE One-2-One to the shadowy world of Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops, from Pelgrane Press.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Welcome to the Island is the first adventure anthology for the third edition of the Over the Edge RPG from Atlas Games. It features five original storylines by award-winning authors, each with hooks for different characters. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots to bend your players’ heads.
What’s worse—yet even more pulse-poundingly exciting—than being a burned spy on the run from an international vampire conspiracy? Going it alone, as you do in Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s brilliant adaptation of GUMSHOE One-2-One to the shadowy world of Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops, 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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Does your head buzz with game ideas? Then you need The White Box! This indispensable toolbox gives you not only the meeples, cubes, dice, tokens, and discs you need to prototype your design but the deep expertise of 25 essays ranging from the theoretical to the practical. Brought to you by Atlas Games and Gameplaywright.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
We take a closer look at Ken’s new Pelgrane Press book Hideous Creatures by way of the Monster Hut, which seems to be full of our pals, the Deep Ones.
In How To Write Good we talk about foils and how to use them.
The Culture Hut hosts a discussion of a painting by none other than Robert W. Chambers, which peskily revealed itself too late to include in Ken’s annotated edition of The King in Yellow from our eldritch buds at Arc Dream.
Finally the Eliptony Hut goes CanCon as we meet the Ottawa Prophet, Ezekiel Stone Wiggins. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Does your head buzz with game ideas? Then you need The White Box! This indispensable toolbox gives you not only the meeples, cubes, dice, tokens, and discs you need to prototype your design but the deep expertise of 25 essays ranging from the theoretical to the practical. Brought to you by Atlas Games and Gameplaywright. Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
This week’s Gaming Hut comes to you by telegram as Patreon backer Jay Tea asks us how to research and deploy historical communications technology, oh let’s say, FALL OF DELTA GREEN.
Patreon backer Jeff Kahrs gathers us to in the Cinema Hut to ask why there is only one good Arthurian movie.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, we learn what’s new with Magpie Games as its impresario Mark Diaz Truman realizes he has a mid-tier RPG publisher on his hands. Warning: contains friendly f-bombs.
Finally the Consulting Occultist takes a day trip to the Tower of London to inspect the arcane sigils of imprisoned sorcerer Hew Draper. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Does your head buzz with game ideas? Then you need The White Box! This indispensable toolbox gives you not only the meeples, cubes, dice, tokens, and discs you need to prototype your design but the deep expertise of 25 essays ranging from the theoretical to the practical. Brought to you by Atlas Games and Gameplaywright. Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
The Gaming Hut shows up with its usual punctuality as Patreon backer Ken Ringwald asks to hear about time as a resource in RPGs.
It’s dark out. He has a full tank of gas. He’s wearing sunglasses. Patreon backer Chris Camfield drives his 1974 Ford Monaco sedan to Ask Ken and Robin about the occult significance of the Blues Brothers. And yes, Ken knows it was Martinez de Pasqually who sojourned in Saint-Domingue, not the other founder of Martinism, Saint-Martin. This was a test of your gnosis.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, we chat with collector and industry stalwart Jim Kitchen about the Gen Con auction.
Finally Patreon backer embarks on an unknowing follow-up to last week’s live episode by asking how Ken’s Time Machine might preserve Habsburg rule in Spain.
Does your head buzz with game ideas? Then you need The White Box! This indispensable toolbox gives you not only the meeples, cubes, dice, tokens, and discs you need to prototype your design but the deep expertise of 25 essays ranging from the theoretical to the practical. Brought to you by Atlas Games and Gameplaywright.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Present your badges for scanning and take a seat as we present our annual episode recorded before a live audience bursting with Patreon backers. Join us as we talk squishy Habsburgs, chron0-suppressed rebellions, donut heresies and the proverbial so much more.
Does your head buzz with game ideas? Then you need The White Box! This indispensable toolbox gives you not only the meeples, cubes, dice, tokens, and discs you need to prototype your design but the deep expertise of 25 essays ranging from the theoretical to the practical. Brought to you by Atlas Games and Gameplaywright.
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Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Voices weary and brains bleary, Ken and Robin return from Gen Con 2019 to take their annual look at the state of the industry through the lens of the convention that invented roleplaying.
Be cute! Be cunning! Be fierce! Most of all, be someone backing the Kickstarter for Atlas Games’ Magical Kitties, the roleplaying game of supernatural felines. Suitable for play with young childrens, it pits its four-footed heroes against robots, witches and more!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Be cute! Be cunning! Be fierce! Most of all, be someone backing the Kickstarter for Atlas Games’ Magical Kitties, the roleplaying game of supernatural felines. Suitable for play with young children, it pits its four-footed heroes against robots, witches and more!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Episode 355: If Abstract Expressionism Doesn’t Do the Trick
In the Gaming Hut, we build on somerecentarticles by Robin to further explore a crossover between the surrealist adventures of Dreamhounds of Paris to the psychedelic spycraft of THE FALL OF DELTA GREEN.
Speaking of expanding on recent articles, How to Write Good provides tips for keeping your brain in gear for that most challenging of phases, the revision phase.
The Consulting Occultist doesn’t usually muss his smoking jacket in the realm of politics, but with Marianne Williamson running for President he has little choice but to roll up his sleeves.
We conclude on a retrospective note with a Cinema Hut examination of the first mega cycle of Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, from Iron Man to Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Be cute! Be cunning! Be fierce! Most of all, be someone backing the Kickstarter for Atlas Games’ Magical Kitties, the roleplaying game of supernatural felines. Suitable for play with young children, it pits its four-footed heroes against robots, witches and more!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
An all request episode kicks off with a co-production between the Gaming Hut teams and our Tell Me More benefit for Patreon backers. Backers Mike Marlow and Kevin J. Maroney, seeing the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff capsule review of Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans’ graphic novel DIE, want to hear more. This expands into a wider discussion of how RPGs are depicted in fiction.
Backer Steve Sick beckons us into a mossy southern version of the History Hut, asking what we can do with legendary Louisiana governor Huey Long.
In Ask Ken and Robin, backer Polydamas points out that fun ruiners are trying to ruin the qi-lin, antlered magical creature of China and beyond. We restore the fun to this most benevolent of chimeras.
Finally, in Fun With Science, Drew asks us to examine another weirdo USAF proposal, which had them wondering just how many jet engines it would take to halt the earth’s rotation.
Be cute! Be cunning! Be fierce! Most of all, be someone backing the Kickstarter for Atlas Games’ Magical Kitties, the roleplaying game of supernatural felines. Suitable for play with young childrens, it pits its four-footed heroes against robots, witches and more!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Episode 353: You Can’t Say Eliptonic Without Tonic
Be cute! Be cunning! Be fierce! Most of all, be someone backing the Kickstarter for Atlas Games’ Magical Kitties, the roleplaying game of supernatural felines. Suitable for play with young children, it pits its four-footed heroes against robots, witches and more!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Be cute! Be cunning! Be fierce! Most of all, be someone backing the Kickstarter for Atlas Games’ Magical Kitties, the roleplaying game of supernatural felines. Suitable for play with young children, it pits its four-footed heroes against robots, witches and more!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
In the Gaming Hut Patreon backer(s) The Armchair Adventurers ask if we agree with Greg Stafford’s prohibition on invisiblity spells in his games.
Was every noteworthy English writer also a spy? In the Tradecraft Hut Daniel Defoe puts his hand up and adds himself to the list of examples.
In the Monster Hut we decide if we’re on Team Scorpion Tail or Team Quill Shooter as we look at our mythical portmanteau pal, the manticore.
Then we hop in Ken’s Time Machine to satisfy the curiosity of Patreon backer Gene Ha, who wants to know what dread future our hero avoided by having Alfonso XI of Castile knighted by an automaton of St. James.
Be cute! Be cunning! Be fierce! Most of all, be someone backing the Kickstarter for Atlas Games’ Magical Kitties, the roleplaying game of supernatural felines. Suitable for play with young children, it pits its four-footed heroes against robots, witches and more!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Like much of our content, it’s hard to believe. Unlike much of it, it’s true. Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff has reached its milestone 350th episode. Yes, we’ve been laying down the skinny on aliens, phantom cats, conspiracies and oh yes, the exciting world of tabletop roleplaying games for a whole seven years.
Longtimers know what that means: LIGHTNING ROUND!!! Enabled by our beloved cast of Patreon backers, it’s time for rapid fire question answering, with topics ranging from unloved Old Ones and introducing historical important GMCs to player homework and the dread influence of the Yellow King.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Over the Edge, the twisted game of counter-culture conspiracy, returns in a completely remagined edition by its original creator, Jonathan Tweet. Grab it wherever fine Atlas Games are sold, on June 1st.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
In the Gaming Hut Patreon backer Ethan Schoonover asks us to explain the bespoke game terms we use, from F20 to GMC.
Mikko Airaksinen puts a chill in the History Hut with his request for the esoteric scoop behind the Swedish North Pole Expedition of 1897.
Our epic spate of Ken and Robin Recycle Audio excerpts from Carcosa Con concludes with a look at Robin’s build-out of the Chambers mythos into The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
Finally backer Chris Kalley, seconded by Jay Tea, asks the Consulting Occultist to blow the lid off magical Buenos Aires.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Over the Edge, the twisted game of counter-culture conspiracy, returns in a completely remagined edition by its original creator, Jonathan Tweet. Grab it wherever fine Atlas Games are sold, on June 1st.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
The Gaming Hut manifests somewhere between Balla Balla and Yagga Yagga as Patreon backer Bill Cohen asks us how to lure RPG characters to adventure in Australia.
The Crime Blotter profiles Dai Cathay, the young Number One of the mid-sixties Saigon underworld.
Ken and Robin Recycle Audio with a panel excerpt from Carcosa Con covering post-Lovecraftian additions to the King in Yellow mythos.
The Eliptony Hut looks back on the career of paradigmatic nuts-and-bolts UFOlogist Stanton Friedman, who passed away this May.
Over the Edge, the twisted game of counter-culture conspiracy, returns in a completely remagined edition by its original creator, Jonathan Tweet. Grab it wherever fine Atlas Games are sold, on June 1st.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Episode 347: We’ve Warren Commissioned Your Witch Problem
Patreon backer Ross Ireland pulls a fast one on us in the Gaming Hut, asking how to pitch campaigns with switcheroo premises to players.
Via the Tell Me More Feature of Ken and Robin Consume Media, backer Kevin Maroney opens the Mythology Hut for more on Ronald Hutton’s scholarly survey, The Witch.
Ken and Robin Recycle Audio continues our panel replay from Carcosa Con, this week looking at the process by which Lovecraft and his successors turned Robert W. Chambers’ King in Yellow tales into a mythos.
Then, per multiple Tell Me More Requests, we bathe in the glow of the Television Hut as Robin looks for broader lessons in Game of Thrones’ final season.
Over the Edge, the twisted game of counter-culture conspiracy, returns in a completely remagined edition by its original creator, Jonathan Tweet. Grab it wherever fine Atlas Games are sold, on June 1st.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Over the Edge, the twisted game of counter-culture conspiracy, returns in a completely remagined edition by its original creator, Jonathan Tweet. Grab it wherever fine Atlas Games are sold, on June 1st.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
We enter the Gaming Hut pursued by powerful patrons as backer Remi Permann seeks help importing 13th Age icons to other games.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Ken chats with Nathan Paoletta, designer of such games The World Wide Wrestling RPG, Annalise, and his latest, the Poe-inspired Imp of the Perverse, now on preorder.
Then Ken and Robin Recycle Audio with the second part of our Robert W. Chambers panel from Carcosa Con, this time focusing on his story “The Repairer of Reputations.”
Finally we put Ken’s Time Machine into service in an attempt to prevent Justinian from closing the Neoplatonic Academy.
Over the Edge, the twisted game of counter-culture conspiracy, returns in a completely remagined edition by its original creator, Jonathan Tweet. Grab it wherever fine Atlas Games are sold, on June 1st.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
The Gaming Hut looks at the task of assembling a game’s skill list.
In the Cinema Hut Patreon backer Andrew Miller observes the North American launch of the Criterion Channel by asking for a 101 on its treasures.
Ken and Robin Recycle Audio presents the first part of our Robert W. Chambers panel from Carcosa Con, dealing with the writer and his influences.
At the behest of Patreon backer Rafael Pabst, we open the Book Hut to look at printer Jacob Ilive and his Blibical forgery, the Book of Jasher, as influenced by Astro-Theology.
Atlas Games’ Godsforge lets you get your wizard battle on. Roll, reroll, and combine dice to summon creations and cast spells as you struggle to be the last sorcerer standing…or at least leave a good-looking, conical-hatted corpse.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Patreon backer Jacob Ansari collars us in the Gaming Hut to ask about running alternate history games.
The Tradecraft Hut looks at the February raid on Madrid’s North Korean embassy by the Free Joseon organization.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else we chat with Mark Morrison, stalwart Call of Cthulhu contributor and the mind behind Campaign Coins, wresting from him the secrets of convention GMing. Warning, parents: Includes a few swears.
Then we head to the History Hut for a look at Baron Franz Nopcsa, openly gay aristocrat, spy, geologist, paleontologist and aspiring King of Albania.
Atlas Games’ Godsforge lets you get your wizard battle on. Roll, reroll, and combine dice to summon creations and cast spells as you struggle to be the last sorcerer standing…or at least leave a good-looking, conical-hatted corpse.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
In the Gaming Hut Patreon backer Jake asks us how to portray a character modeled on Janet Armstrong in a NASA adventure series.
We dust off the long-disused Politics Hut so that Ken can give us an update on Chicago politics.
The Food Hut looks at Canada’s iconic desserts, as selected for a series of stamps from Canada Post, including a look at the resulting Nanaimo Bar controversy.
The Eliptony Hut provides refuge to Puerto Rico’s latest chupacabra variant, the perhaps humanoid, perhaps animalistic, perhaps winged Gárgola de Barceloneta.
Atlas Games’ Godsforge lets you get your wizard battle on. Roll, reroll, and combine dice to summon creations and cast spells as you struggle to be the last sorcerer standing…or at least leave a good-looking, conical-hatted corpse.
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Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
We lit the fires of the Gaming Hut the old-fashioned way before answering a question from Patreon backer Jason Thompson on interesting players in low-tech settings.
In the Cinema Hut we revisit the subject of the rewatch, looking at films that change or defy expectations on subsequent viewings.
Then Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone else, as we both chat with Chaosium’s Lynne Hardy about line development and the upcoming Call of Cthulhu projects on her docket.
Finally, at the behest of backer Andrea Colletta, we pop into the parlor of the Consulting Occultist to whip up the new sorcerous discipline of etymomancy.
Atlas Games’ Gloom gets chillier and killier asGloom of Thrones breaches the wall and rampages across Kickstarter until April 29th. Doom! Wilderness travel! More doom! At least in Gloom version you know you’ll get an ending!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Atlas Games’ Gloom gets chillier and killier asGloom of Thrones breaches the wall and rampages across Kickstarter until April 29th. Doom! Wilderness travel! More doom! At least in Gloom version you know you’ll get an ending!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
Last week you heard us from Carcosa Con in Poland. This time we’re back and ready to share out experience of the show and the local RPG scene in the Gaming Hut.
Then, in Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, we chat with one of our estimable hosts, Daria Pilarczyk. As project manager of Black Monk Games she has much knowledge to drop on the life of a game company that licenses and translates such titles as Munchkin and Call of Cthulhu.
We stuck around for a few days after the show to explore Wroclaw and Krakow. Travel Advisory finds us delving into a medieval salt mine and checking out a castle that has now fully recovered from a Renaissance-era alchemy accident.
In the spirit of our trip we conclude with the History Hut, profiling veteran commander of multiple revolutions Tadeusz Kosciuszko.
Atlas Games’ Gloom gets chillier and killier asGloom of Thrones breaches the wall and rampages across Kickstarter until April 29th. Doom! Wilderness travel! More doom! At least in Gloom version you know you’ll get an ending!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Cthulhu. Hastur. Who’s the Great Old One, and who’s the GREATEST Old One? Time to find out. It’s WRESTLENOMICON, the card game from veterans of Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, Epic Spell Wars, and Delta Green, now on Kickstarter!
Recorded in front of a live audience, this episode emanates from the 14th century confines of Czocha Castle, on Lake Lesnia, in southwestern Poland, courtesy of our lovely hosts at CarcosaCon.
A precious few Deluxe copies of Cogs and Commissars, clever card game of are available directly from Atlas Games. The “Most-Equal ‘Apparatchik’ Edition” features wooden screen-printed Citizen tokens, neoprene mats for each faction leader, and a foil-stamped, spot-gloss, magnetic-closure box. Seize the means of collectibility!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Cthulhu. Hastur. Who’s the Great Old One, and who’s the GREATEST Old One? Time to find out. It’s WRESTLENOMICON, the card game from veterans of Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, Epic Spell Wars, and Delta Green, now on Kickstarter!
An all request episode kicks off in the Gaming Hut, where Patreon backer Michael Fox asks about picking exactly the right Mythos creature for your scenario.
Backer Jacob Boersma meets us in the Food Hut to ask what the heck might be behind a recent Dutch pistachio heist.
In Ask Ken and Robin, patron Michael Dinos seeks our help getting in Jose Luis Borges’ Library of Babel.
And in the Conspiracy Corner, backer James Griffin asks us to examine the some fanciful theorizing around the idea that Douglas MacArthur was a Japanese agent.
A precious few Deluxe copies of Cogs and Commissars, clever card game of are available directly from Atlas Games. The “Most-Equal ‘Apparatchik’ Edition” features wooden screen-printed Citizen tokens, neoprene mats for each faction leader, and a foil-stamped, spot-gloss, magnetic-closure box. Seize the means of collectibility!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Cthulhu. Hastur. Who’s the Great Old One, and who’s the GREATEST Old One? Time to find out. It’s WRESTLENOMICON, the card game from veterans of Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, Epic Spell Wars, and Delta Green, now on Kickstarter!
The Gaming Hut stages a baccarat game with the devil as Patreon backer Eain Bankins asks for help introducing the main villain without devolving into an immediate and disappointing fight.
In the Horror Hut we stir the pot on the witch and/or Satanist sub-genre.
Then Ken has another stack of tomes to lovingly riffle through as he adds the fruits of this year’s Bay Area shopping expedition to Ken’s Bookshelf.
A precious few Deluxe copies of Cogs and Commissars, clever card game of are available directly from Atlas Games. The “Most-Equal ‘Apparatchik’ Edition” features wooden screen-printed Citizen tokens, neoprene mats for each faction leader, and a foil-stamped, spot-gloss, magnetic-closure box. Seize the means of collectibility!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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, Western, and Freeway Warrior!
Cthulhu. Hastur. Who’s the Great Old One, and who’s the GREATEST Old One? Time to find out. It’s WRESTLENOMICON, the card game from veterans of Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, Epic Spell Wars, and Delta Green, now on Kickstarter!
The Gaming Hut delves into a design issue at the behest of Patreon backer Mikey Hamm, who wants to know how to balance player options against the archetypal experience of a game.
We keep mentioning him, and now backer Sam Harris demands an entire Book Hut segment on Canadian literary critic Northrop Frye.
Get ready for a tough fight as we inaugurate the brand new Monster Hut with a look at the bugbear.
Finally backer Chris Kalley visits the Consulting Occultist to learn about military theorist, Thelemite and fascist J. F. C. Fuller.
A precious few Deluxe copies of Cogs and Commissars, clever card game of are available directly from Atlas Games. The “Most-Equal ‘Apparatchik’ Edition” features wooden screen-printed Citizen tokens, neoprene mats for each faction leader, and a foil-stamped, spot-gloss, magnetic-closure box. Seize the means of collectibility!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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, Western, and Freeway Warrior!
Cthulhu. Hastur. Who’s the Great Old One, and who’s the GREATEST Old One? Time to find out. It’s WRESTLENOMICON, the card game from veterans of Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, Epic Spell Wars, and Delta Green, now on Kickstarter!
Episode 334: The Number One Mistake of Smart People
Protect the precious store of dwindling oxygen in the Gaming Hut as we riff a crew of GMCs for an installation horror scenario.
Journey into the History Hut to hear us satisfy Martin Rundkvist’s Patreon backer desire to hear about writer/explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton and his wife and literary steward, Isabel.
Join us in the Cinema Hut as we contemplate the pleasures and mysteries of the rewatch.
Then hop into Ken’s Time Machine as he tells us about the Burr-Clinton-Brant Upper Canada coup that never was.
A precious few Deluxe copies of Cogs and Commissars, clever card game of are available directly from Atlas Games. The “Most-Equal ‘Apparatchik’ Edition” features wooden screen-printed Citizen tokens, neoprene mats for each faction leader, and a foil-stamped, spot-gloss, magnetic-closure box. Seize the means of collectibility!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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, Western, and Freeway Warrior!
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
A precious few Deluxe copies of Cogs and Commissars, clever card game of are available directly from Atlas Games. The “Most-Equal ‘Apparatchik’ Edition” features wooden screen-printed Citizen tokens, neoprene mats for each faction leader, and a foil-stamped, spot-gloss, magnetic-closure box. Seize the means of collectibility!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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, Western, and Freeway Warrior!
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Mumbai Rap Dreams and Classic Fu Comedy
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
Dirty Ho (Film, HK, Chia-Liang Liu, 1979) Bumpkinish thief (Wong Yue) reluctantly submits to the reforming efforts of an incognito martial artist (Gordon Liu), whose pursuing enemies must for court intrigue reasons also disguise their fighting mastery whenever they try to kill him. Comedy martial arts choreography requires not just the athleticism, precision and inventiveness of the regular kind; it has to be funny, too, and this gives us the form at its apex. Be aware that Hong Kong comedy of this period is not about sensitivity culture.—RDL
Gully Boy (Film, India, Zoya Akhtar, 2019) In Mumbai’s Dharavi slum, emo poet Murad (Ranveer Singh) finds inspiration and a dream in rap. Hitting all the standard “rise of the rocker” beats (Murad is roughly based on Mumbai rapper Naezy), Akhtar works visual and social contrasts in Mumbai to great advantage. She superbly leverages Singh’s star power, and that of Alia Bhatt as Singh’s equally driven girlfriend; Siddhant Chaturvedi provides strength as his rap mentor. If the story stakes are mostly old-Mumbai (or old-Hollywood) low, the acting and directing are new-Mumbai strong. –KH
Hereditary (Film, US, Ari Aster, 2018) Harried artist (Toni Collette) grapples with her lack of grief on the death of her toxic mother, and then crushing grief when another disaster strikes her family, and supernatural manifestations close in. Slow burn horror in which the archetypal characters are elevated by shaded writing and performances from Collette, Gabriel Byrne (as the skeptical husband) and Ann Dowd (as the conveniently helpful new confidant.)—RDL
Of Fathers and Sons (Film, Germany, Tala Derki, 2018) Verite documentary goes inside the daily life of a starry-eyed member of a Syrian al-Qaida affiliate as he looks forward to the apocalypse, defuses land mines, and prepares his eight young sons to become jihadi soldiers. Stunning for the degree of access afforded the filmmaker, this reveals not so much the banality of evil as a casual, workaday devotion to an ideology of violence and death.—RDL
Good
All About Ah-Long (Film, HK, Johnnie To, 1989) The lives of a loutish construction worker (Chow Yun-Fat) and his irrepressible 10-year-old son hit a curve when the boy’s mother (Sylvia Chang), now a successful commercial producer, comes back into the picture. Come to see To in the middle of his evolution into his mature style, stay for the magnetism of the leads and the rip-your-heart-out-and-then-stomp-on-it-and-shoot-it-a-couple-of-times-for-good-measure melodrama.—RDL
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (Audio drama, Julian Simpson, BBC, 2018) Adapting the Pinnacle Lovecraft novel as a faux true-crime podcast investigating a modern locked-room murder deserves points for audacity and high concept. Its execution, however, trades Lovecraft’s clear mystery concept and historical grounding for a more chaotic (in all senses) postmodern feel, without particularly enlivening the characters. –KH
God of War (Film, China, Gordon Chan, 2017) Uxorious general (Vincent Zhao) overcomes limp support from the Ming Court to battle Japanese-backed pirates. Rousingly mounted war/action epic focuses on weapons and tactics, occasionally handwaving in the direction of a character arc for its virtuous hero.—RDL
Okay
The Trial and Execution of the Traitor George Washington (Fiction, Charles Rosenberg, 2018) The hated British kidnap General Washington in 1780 and put him on trial in the Old Bailey in a gamble to end the stalemated war. Real-life lawyer Rosenberg should probably have amplified the legal thriller side of this earnest but flatly told story, which strays too close to implausibility without the necessary buttress of bafflegab. –KH
A precious few Deluxe copies of Cogs and Commissars, clever card game of are available directly from Atlas Games. The “Most-Equal ‘Apparatchik’ Edition” features wooden screen-printed Citizen tokens, neoprene mats for each faction leader, and a foil-stamped, spot-gloss, magnetic-closure box. Seize the means of collectibility!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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!
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
A precious few Deluxe copies of Cogs and Commissars, clever card game of are available directly from Atlas Games. The “Most-Equal ‘Apparatchik’ Edition” features wooden screen-printed Citizen tokens, neoprene mats for each faction leader, and a foil-stamped, spot-gloss, magnetic-closure box. Seize the means of collectibility!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
We find a new disruptive way to travel to the Gaming Hut as we consider scenarios inspired by scooter charger culture.
In the Conspiracy Corner we ask if journalists and police could do with some basic conspirology literacy training.
Patreon backer Jeff Cannell summons us to the Horror Hut to ask if vampires who have turned into mist can be seen in mirrors.
Then we send Ken’s Time Machine to see what would happen if Aldous Huxley had succeeded in funding the psychedelic research organization he and a pair of medical scientists tried to launch in the 1950s.
A precious few Deluxe copies of Cogs and Commissars, clever card game of are available directly from Atlas Games. The “Most-Equal ‘Apparatchik’ Edition” features wooden screen-printed Citizen tokens, neoprene mats for each faction leader, and a foil-stamped, spot-gloss, magnetic-closure box. Seize the means of collectibility!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Wish to introduce innocent children to the horror of the Mythos, while remaining on budget? Atlas Games is here to affordably twist young minds with a buy two, get one free deal on Ken’s Mini Mythos line of childrens’ book parodies: Where the Deep Ones Are, Goodnight Azathoth, Cliffourd the Big Red God, and Antarctic Express.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Get ready for a tear gassing as the Gaming Hut finds us riffing a Fall of Delta Green scenario set during the 1968 Democratic convention.
Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else features a chat with app maker Steven Hammond, whose work has helped you run Feng Shui fights, plot Beating the Story narrative arcs, and create GUMSHOE characters.
The Tradecraft Hut answers a Miscellaneous Musings request for a look at 43 Group.
Finally in we have Fun With Science as Patreon backer Chris Sellers asks for the Mythos implications of a certain black hole beaming black hole beams at us.
Wish to introduce innocent children to the horror of the Mythos, while remaining on budget? Atlas Games is here to affordably twist young minds with a buy two, get one free deal on Ken’s Mini Mythos line of childrens’ book parodies: Where the Deep Ones Are, Goodnight Azathoth, Cliffourd the Big Red God, and Antarctic Express.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Wish to introduce innocent children to the horror of the Mythos, while remaining on budget? Atlas Games is here to affordably twist young minds with a buy two, get one free deal on Ken’s Mini Mythos line of childrens’ book parodies: Where the Deep Ones Are, Goodnight Azathoth, Cliffourd the Big Red God, and Antarctic Express.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Struggle to stay one step ahead of the authorities as the Gaming Hut finds ways to do the classic trope of the protagonist framed for a crime in a roleplaying scenario.
The Horror Hut enters an old-timey uncanny valley as we look at the wax museum sub-genre.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, we shrink GMing maven Matt Colville from his native video format to audio only.
Finally the Consulting Occultist unwinds the deeply complicated tale of the Cock Lane Ghost, as first penetrated by intrepid occult investigator Samuel Johnson.
Wish to introduce innocent children to the horror of the Mythos, while remaining on budget? Atlas Games is here to affordably twist young minds with a buy two, get one free deal on Ken’s Mini Mythos line of childrens’ book parodies: Where the Deep Ones Are, Goodnight Azathoth, Cliffourd the Big Red God, and Antarctic Express.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
We kick off 2019 with an all-request episode, starting with Patreon backer Bryan Gustafson, who enters the Gaming Hut to ask us how to use the tiny houses movement in a Cthulhu Confidential scenario.
In the Command Hut, backer Tom Abella seeks the scoop on the series of WWII commando and bombing raids against a plant in German-occupied Norway to destroy its heavy water production.
We get worldly in the Cartography Hut as backer Jake asks us to use the Psalter Mappa Mundi for gaming purposes.
Finally not one but two backers, Ludovic Chabant and Ian Carlsen, knock on the indistinct walls of the Eliptony Hut demanding the dialectic on Marxist UFOlogy, as inspired by this piece from The Outline.
Wish to introduce innocent children to the horror of the Mythos, while remaining on budget? Atlas Games is here to affordably twist young minds with a buy two, get one free deal on Ken’s Mini Mythos line of childrens’ book parodies: Where the Deep Ones Are, Goodnight Azathoth, Cliffourd the Big Red God, and Antarctic Express.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Once again we close out the year with an episode recorded in front of a live audience at Dragonmeet in Hammersmith, London. Topics include the relationship between Queen Elizabeth and the Peloponnesian War, Cthulhoid Teletubbies, giant cows, modes of Yellow King RPG Game Mastering, and of course, sausages.
We’ll be back with our first episode of 2019 on January 4th. Until then, enjoy a safe and happy holiday!
Wish to introduce innocent children to the horror of the Mythos, while remaining on budget? Atlas Games is here to affordably twist young minds with a buy two, get one free deal on Ken’s Mini Mythos line of childrens’ book parodies: Where the Deep Ones Are, Goodnight Azathoth, Cliffourd the Big Red God, and Antarctic Express.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Jet-lagged and full of pudding, we return from our latest trip to Dragonmeet to issue a Travel Advisory about the Anglo Saxon Kingdoms exhibit at the British Library.
In the Gaming Hut we pursue a request from Patreon backer Mikey Hamm to talk about chase rules.
If we were just in London, our hero must have come home with a metric oodle of tomes to share with you before he files them up on Ken’s Bookshelf.
Wish to introduce innocent children to the horror of the Mythos, while remaining on budget? Atlas Games is here to affordably twist young minds with a buy two, get one free deal on Ken’s Mini Mythos line of childrens’ book parodies: Where the Deep Ones Are, Goodnight Azathoth, Cliffourd the Big Red God, and Antarctic Express.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Holy Forking Shirtballs Ken and Robin are Consuming Media
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
The Good Place Season 3 (Television, US, Michael Schur, NBC, 2018) The breathless pacing of this premise-threat-philosophy-class comedy slows down a bit for time travel, life interventions, and making fun of Australia before resuming its roller-coaster switchbackery once Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) and friends again become interdimensional fugitives. –KH
The Good Place Season 3 (Television, US, Michael Schur, NBC, 2018) Michael (Ted Danson) breaks the cosmic rules to bring Eleanor and company back to life on Earth for a second shot at redemption. This season not only shifts the show’s premise yet again, but switches protagonists, moving Michael and Janet (D’arcy Carden) to the forefront and pushing Kristen Bell as Eleanor into the ensemble.—RDL
Killing Eve Season 1 (Television, UK, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, BBC America, 2018) Intelligence analyst (Sandra Oh) steps into the field in pursuit of an emotionally arrested, psychopathic assassin (Jodie Comer.) Semi-comic espionage thriller pits a grounded protagonist against a cartoonish antagonist. It’s hard to see how the premise sustains itself through an entire series, but that’s a problem for next year, I guess.—RDL
Let the Sunshine In (Film, France, Claire Denis, 2017) Emotionally unmoored artist (Juliette Binoche) careens through a series of unstable romantic relationships. Powerfully performed character study recalls Rohmer, but with intense feeling taking the place of Olympian detachment.—RDL
Good
The Irregular: A Different Class of Spy (Fiction, H.B. Lyle, 2017) What ever happened to Wiggins, the street-urchin head of Sherlock Holmes’ Baker Street Irregulars? According to Lyle’s novel, he became the first-ever agent of the British Secret Service in 1909, facing off against the historical anarchist Peter the Painter and other shadowy threats to the Empire. Far from flawlessly executed, but a fun thriller nonetheless. –KH
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 1 (Television, US, Netflix, Amy Sherman-Palladino, 2017) When her husband ditches her for his shiksa secretary, achievement-obsessed Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) takes over his stand-up comedy dream. Glorious dive into late 50s New York style falters only during the stand-up scenes, where the otherwise perfectly executed old-school presentational acting style precludes the comic timing that would have worked then, or now.—RDL
Not to spoil anything, but we open in the Gaming Hut as Patreon backer V Weather asks us what to do when it turns out you’ve already read the adventure your GM is running.
In How To Write Good, we examine the uses and abuses of ambiguity in RPG setting materials.
Then it’s off to the Tradecraft Hut, where earlier we promised a segment based on a random page from Christopher Andrew’s The Secret World: A History of Intelligence. The number generator has assigned Ken page 227, which means we’re talking about Cromwell’s spies.
Then our Belle Epoque occultism series again jaunts into the Eliptony Hut for a visit with astronomer, parapsychologist, spiritist and science fiction writer Camille Flammarion.
If you dig clever, take-that game play and/or ironic Soviet robots, Atlas Games’ new card game Cogs and Commissars was made for you. Buy it at a brick-and-mortar game store and send a selfie to Atlas, to get a special Neon Botsky promo card.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Get out your space calculators as we meet in the Gaming Hut to entertain a request from Patreon backer Robert Dean, who wants to hear more about the time Ken ran Traveller for accountants.
In the History Hut we fulfill the desire of backer Joe Littrell to learn the real reason behind Churchill’s wartime initiative to protect the apes of Gibraltar.
The other Consulting Occultist continues our Yellow King-inspired series on occultists of the Belle Epoque with a look at the original neo-Gnostic, Jules Doinel.
We close with our promised venture into the Cinema Hut to talk about Orson Welles’ new film, The Other Side of the Wind.
If you dig clever, take-that game play and/or ironic Soviet robots, Atlas Games’ new card game Cogs and Commissars was made for you. Buy it at a brick-and-mortar game store and send a selfie to Atlas, to get a special Neon Botsky promo card.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
This podcast never wastes your time, but what if you, as a GM, have to fill some space in your session? The Gaming Hut looks at ways to vamp for time.
In the drafty confines of the Architecture Hut, Patreon backer Darren Hennessy wants to know about Houska Castle in the Czech Republic, known for its Gothic origins, Renaissance modifications and, oh yes, gate to hell.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, we talk to game designer Sarah Richardson about her new game Velvet Glove.
Our survey of Belle Epoque weirdness ducks into the Eliptony Hut with a profile of early parapsychologist Albert de Rochas.
If you dig clever, take-that game play and/or ironic Soviet robots, Atlas Games’ new card game Cogs and Commissars was made for you. Buy it at a brick-and-mortar game store and send a selfie to Atlas, to get a special Neon Botsky promo card.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Under the black stars of Carcosa, we celebrate the impending publication of Robin’s The Yellow King Roleplaying Game and the manuscript completion of Ken’s The King in Yellow Annotated Edition with an all-Pallid Mask edition of our decadent podcast.
In Among My Many Hats, Ken shares what he’s learned about Chambers and the Hyades while working on the aforementioned project.
Then in How to Write Good he lays out the steps involved in creating an annotated edition of an existing work.
The Food Hut explores what your Belle Epoque Yellow King characters might be eating and, more likely, drinking.
Finally the Consulting Occultist changes identities to embark on a series on the wizards and paranormalists you might encounter in 1890s Paris. First up: pioneering trickster Leo Taxil.
If you dig clever, take-that game play and/or ironic Soviet robots, Atlas Games’ new card game Cogs and Commissars was made for you. Buy it at a brick-and-mortar game store and send a selfie to Atlas, to get a special Neon Botsky promo card.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
We open in the Gaming Hut, or is all part of an elaborate trick, as Patreon backer Sean asks how to pull switcheroos on players who don’t like being fooled.
Ken meets us in the Cinema Hut to reveal the filmic goodies he saw at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival.
In Ask Ken and Robin we answer a request from backer Lewis Sylvester for a GUMSHOE 101. And you’re totally right, we do forget to mention Fall of Delta Green, because there’s too much cool GUMSHOE for even us to remember. Luckily there’s a whole ad to tell you all about it.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine visits and attempts to rectify Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising.
If you dig clever, take-that game play and/or ironic Soviet robots, Atlas Games’ new card game Cogs and Commissars was made for you. Buy it at a brick-and-mortar game store and send a selfie to Atlas, to get a special Neon Botsky promo card.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Join us in the Gaming Hut to assist Patreon backer Dustyn Mincey with his difficulty in sticking with a single game, when there are so many awesome games in the world.
Then Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, specifically designer extraordinaire Steve Kenson.
Finally it’s again time to vicariously caress the covers of various tomes as Ken’s Bookshelf gloats over the treasures looted from Powell’s Books in Portland.
If you dig clever, take-that game play and/or ironic Soviet robots, Atlas Games’ new card game Cogs and Commissars was made for you. Buy it at a brick-and-mortar game store and send a selfie to Atlas, to get a special Neon Botsky promo card.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Join us for an elegaic Gaming Hut as we tackle but a single topic: the life and work of our friend and inspiration, the grand shaman of gaming, Greg Stafford (1948-2018.)
Over the Edge is back, with Jonathan Tweet updating his classic and influential game design. Get ready to duck New Age cultists, baboon-wielding gangsters, twisted assassins when the roleplaying game of weird modern danger. The island of Al Amarja may have moved from its classic 1990s location, but never fear. The Kickstarter may be over, but the action has moved to BackerKit.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
In the Gaming Hut we assist Patreon backer Jean-Francois Paradis in creating a campaign where the PCs’ homeland is invaded by a technologically superior rival.
Stay far from manhole covers and sewer grates as the Horror Hut looks at CHUDs and troglodytes.
Then Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, specifically gaming’s cartoonist laureate, John Kovalic, about the Tao of Igor Kickstarter.
Finally it’s time to stay positive as backer Dan Kassiday asks the Consulting Occultist to discuss the nocebo effect explanation for curses.
Over the Edge is back, with Jonathan Tweet updating his classic and influential game design. Get ready to duck New Age cultists, baboon-wielding gangsters, twisted assassins when the roleplaying game of weird modern danger. The island of Al Amarja may have moved from its classic 1990s location, but never fear. The Kickstarter may be over, but the action has moved to BackerKit.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Ken Does the Chicago Film Fest; Robin Homebrews His Own Horror Fest
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
Border (Film, Sweden, Ali Abbasi, 2018) Tina (Eva Melander) looks Neanderthal, but she can sniff out shame and fear (among other things) making her a valued customs officer — until she meets Vore (Eero Milonoff) who looks like she does. From a story by Jon Ajvide Lindqvist (Let the Right One In) who also co-wrote the script, the film plays effortlessly with many different genres from policier to horror to magical realism. –KH
Liverleaf (Film, Japan, Eisuke Naitô, 2018) Bullied transfer student Haruka (Anna Yamada) finally unbottles her rage in ultraviolent revenge, revealing secrets and burying bodies in a blizzard. Based on a manga, some of the scenes are achingly beautiful — and often gory as hell. Maybe some of the story beats could have used some signals or supports, but this is ukiyo-e after all, so maybe not. –KH
The Mercy of the Jungle (Film, Belgium/France/Rwanda, Joel Karekezi, 2018) Career Rwandan Army Sergeant Xavier (Marc Zinga) and peasant private Faustin (Stéphane Bak), left behind during an offensive in the Second Congo War must survive the jungle, a band of rebels, and their own psyches in this effective war movie that occasionally becomes genuinely gripping. The two leads’ strong, lived-in performances give Karekezi a solid core to return to, keeping the picaresque nature of the material reined in. –KH
Needing You … (Film, Hong Kong, Johnnie To & Wai Ka-Fai, 2000) Alpha male manager Andy (Andy Lau) and manic pixie sales rep Kinki (Sammi Cheng) discover each other and their feelings thereupon in this romantic comedy paced like a car chase film. Cheng’s effortless charm carries the film despite some grating characterization, and the comic relief is mostly actually comical, which never hurts. This won’t make you fall in love with romcoms if you don’t already love them, but its lessons in pacing apply all over the dramatic spectrum. –KH
Satan’s Slaves (Film, Indonesia, Joko Anwar, 2017) After their mom dies, a quartet of young siblings fends off supernatural assaults on their ramshackle country house. Presents the now-fashionable fusion of haunted house and Satanic cult sub-genres through an Islamic cultural lens, abetted by well-crafted scares and hints of hip style.—RDL
Terrified (Film, Argentina, Demián Rugna, 2017) A police captain with cardiac problems reluctantly joins an ad hoc group of parapsychologists probing supernatural manifestations plaguing an everyday residential street. Contrast between a mundane, grounded setting and s-u-u-u-u-per creepy haunting sequences place this among the best in the occult investigator movie canon. You could easily start an Esoterrorists series by showing your players this movie and then saying, “Okay, you’re the next team to go in.”—RDL
Good
Animal (Film, Argentina/Spain, Armando Bo, 2018) A civilized man (Guillermo Francella) disintegrates when his kidney fails. Notable for the slow-motion home invasion-demonic possession story featuring the scumbag drifter with a matching blood type who extorts him, but in the end the film feels like a writer with too many directions becoming a director without a clear vision. –KH
Boys Cry (Film, Italy, Damiano and Fabio D’Innocenzo, 2018) Vacuous losers Manolo (Andrea Carpanzano) and Mirko (Matteo Olivetti) accidentally run over a snitch, gaining them entry to a minor mafia clan and setting off a slow fuse of moral awakening. With no glamor, an overexposed palette, and lots of close-ups of the thugs, this is not a pretty mob film; your value likely depends on whether you care to identify with these accidental goombahs. –KH
Project Gutenberg (Film, Hong Kong, Felix Chong, 2018) Rejected artist (Aaron Kwok) throws in as protege to a murderous counterfeiter (Chow Yun-Fat.) Meta-minded crime drama swerves between tropes and sub-genres, logging a thrilling extended homage to A Better Tomorrow III in one of its subversions of Chow’s classic persona. –RDL
Okay
Ash is Purest White (Film, China/France, Jia Zhangke, 2018) In 2001 in the remote city of Datong, Qiao (Zhao Tao) is the girlfriend of petty mob boss Bin (Liao Fan); in 2006 she gets out of jail to find he has deserted her and she pursues him to Fangjie; in 2017 she’s back in Datong running mah-jongg waiting for him to show up. Too long to let any of the three acts work, and too invested in an unappealing Bin to be enjoyable at any length. The middle act, where Qiao rebuilds her life one grift at a time, could have been great. –KH
John Dies At the End (Film, US, Don Coscarelli, 2012) Hunky duo of amateur paranormal hunters battle a reality-altering drug and its monstrous manifestations. A shaggy dog spirit pervades this Bill & Ted meets Cronenberg action-horror comedy. Lesson: if your lead is kinda wooden, don’t put him in an extended two-hander with Paul Giamatti.—RDL
Sibel (Film, EU/Turkey, Çagla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti, 2018) In rural Turkey, the mute daughter (Damla Sönmez) of the mayor (Emin Gürsoy) communicates using an ancestral whistling language, but most of her day is spent alone hunting a wolf. Zenciri and Giovanetti want to wrap their exoticized-society girl-power movie in fairy tale clothing, but do nothing to reconcile (or play up) the conflict between the two modes. The two leads also play differently, Sönmez bordering on histrionics while Gürsoy dives deep internally; the result is four halves of two movies. –KH
Transit (Film, Germany/France, Christian Petzold, 2018) To escape a France fallen to fascist invasion, Georg (Franz Rogowski) assumes the identity of a dead writer; while waiting in Marseille for his papers to clear, he becomes embroiled in both his lives’ complications. Moody, slightly surreal film becomes a case study in why voiceover narration is a terrible idea. –KH
Another all-request episode kicks off in the Gaming Hut as Patreon backer Gene Ha asks what F20 evil deities get out of all the dungeons they create and manage.
In the Cartography Hut we look into trap streets and parch marks, at the behest of backer Jurie Hornemann.
Ask Ken and Robin gives backer Jacques de Villiers the chance to ask Robin about GMless Hillfolk.
Finally in Ken’s Time Machine, backer Michael Maneval asks Ken to describe the reasons behind his constant efforts to keep musical instrument inventor Adolphe Sax from a premature final rest.
Over the Edge is back, with Jonathan Tweet updating his classic and influential game design. Get ready to duck New Age cultists, baboon-wielding gangsters, twisted assassins when the roleplaying game of weird modern danger. The island of Al Amarja may have moved from its classic 1990s location, but never fear. The Kickstarter may be over, but the action has moved to BackerKit.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
The Cinema Hut bursts with upcoming delights as Robin returns from his annual jaunt to Toronto International Film Festival to provide highlights on a banner year.
In the Gaming Hut we tackle a perennial problem: how do you make sure the talky PC gets to talk to the talky NPC before the killy PC kills him with his proverbial axe?
Finally the Conspiracy Corner digs into an archetypal case of magical thinking gone devastatingly wrong, the Satanic Panic of the 80s and early 90s.
Over the Edge is back, with Jonathan Tweet updating his classic and influential game design. Get ready to duck New Age cultists, baboon-wielding gangsters, twisted assassins when the roleplaying game of weird modern danger. The island of Al Amarja may have moved from its classic 1990s location, but never fear. The Kickstarter may be over, but the action has moved to BackerKit.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Advice for players kicks us off in the Gaming Hut, as we suggest ways to react when the GM provides you with a magic gun.
Then in a segment we persist in calling How To Write Good, rather than Robin Yells Into the Wind, we show you how to tag jokes on the Internet.
Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else features our Gen Con chat with Shanna Germain, who applies her poetic concision to her many hats and projects at Monte Cook Games.
Finally we gather in the shadowy Conspiracy Corner to field a question from Patreon backer Kevin Nault, who wants some theory about conspiracy theory, national and otherwise.
The White Box is a game design workshop in a box, bursting with inspiring theory and the basic components to turn that theory into playable reality. Brought to you in tandem by Atlas Games and Gameplaywright, it’s the perfect gift for the aspiring game master in your life—who might well be yourself.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Let’s summon the spirit of summer one last time by hearkening back to a balmy Indianapolis Friday, when Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff live from the surprising new confines of the Lucas Oil stadium at Gen Con. Come for the Nerdtrope cards, come for the incisive questions from our ever-alert audience.
The White Box is a game design workshop in a box, bursting with inspiring theory and the basic components to turn that theory into playable reality. Brought to you in tandem by Atlas Games and Gameplaywright, it’s the perfect gift for the aspiring game master in your life—who might well be yourself.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
The White Box is a game design workshop in a box, bursting with inspiring theory and the basic components to turn that theory into playable reality. Brought to you in tandem by Atlas Games and Gameplaywright, it’s the perfect gift for the aspiring game master in your life—who might well be yourself.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
On the alert for treacherous banana peels, we gather in the Gaming Hut to wonder if GUMSHOE can handle incompetent PCs.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Patreon backer Frank Rafaelson wants Ken to pitch a new edition of Nephilim.
How to Write Good posits that idiot plotting is not just an issue in procedure-heavy narratives. We look at ways to avoid it in dramatic scenes.
Finally, Patreon backer Adam Grotjohn wonders what fell reality Ken’s Time Machine was preventing at the cemetery now known as Lincoln Park in Chicago.
The White Box is a game design workshop in a box, bursting with inspiring theory and the basic components to turn that theory into playable reality. Brought to you in tandem by Atlas Games and Gameplaywright, it’s the perfect gift for the aspiring game master in your life—who might well be yourself.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Another all-request episode opens in the familiar confines of the Gaming Hut, where Patreon backer Trung Bui wants to know how we pull out all the stops for climactic campaign-ending episodes.
In the Horror Hut, backer Samwise Crider asks how to incorporate the newly discovered Icelandic and Swedish versions of Bram Stoker’s Dracula into a Dracula Dossier series.
The Cinema Hut hosts another movie 101, this time on the fantasy film, at the command of backer Corey Pierno.
Finally we heed the cries of backer Steve Sick, who bids us enter the Eliptony Hut’s coruscating doorway to talk about Sumerian stargates.
The White Box is a game design workshop in a box, bursting with inspiring theory and the basic components to turn that theory into playable reality. Brought to you in tandem by Atlas Games and Gameplaywright, it’s the perfect gift for the aspiring game master in your life—who might well be yourself.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Patreon backers, specifically Patreon backer Brian Malcolm, demand yet more dungeon talk from us in the Gaming Hut. How do you lend a dungeon complex a narrative quality, instead of making it a random collection of rooms and fights?
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Christoph Sapinsky tells us about his new hard SF game Free Spacer, now Kickstarting.
In Ask Ken and Robin, backer David Shaw wonders what would happen if you managed to engrave the Elder Sign on Cthulhu.
Finally backer Hal Mangold asks the Consulting Occultist to review the career of Australian artist and Pagan sex magician Rosaleen Norton.
The White Box is a game design workshop in a box, bursting with inspiring theory and the basic components to turn that theory into playable reality. Brought to you in tandem by Atlas Games and Gameplaywright, it’s the perfect gift for the aspiring game master in your life—who might well be yourself.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
We’re scratchy voiced and mushy headed from our journey to Gen Con 18. The Best Four Days in Gaming got bigger than ever this year, and we’re here to sort through the awards, the announcements, and perhaps a spot of food.
Also at Gen Con we talked to Emily Reinhart, whose magical girl RPG Domina Magicais Kickstarting now. We tuck that interview in among our loop-brained observations.
The White Box is a game design workshop in a box, bursting with inspiring theory and the basic components to turn that theory into playable reality. Brought to you in tandem by Atlas Games and Gameplaywright, it’s the perfect gift for the aspiring game master in your life—who might well be yourself.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Once more we’re in the same room together with an episode recorded in our hotel the day before Gen Con. Hmm, what easy topics shall we tackle?
Does the game system you’re playing expect you to generate a plot hook for your character? We’re waiting in the Gaming Hut with tips and advice.
The Tradecraft Hut keeps insisting we keep it topical, so what choice do we have but to cover the Maria Butila story?
In the Food Hut, we journey to Food Valhalla, where dwell the favorite meals we will never again eat in the mortal realm.
Speaking of topics we can’t not address, we close in the gridded-off confines of the Archaeology Hut, where we ponder that giant sarcophagus everyone has been talking about.
The White Box is a game design workshop in a box, bursting with inspiring theory and the basic components to turn that theory into playable reality. Brought to you in tandem by Atlas Games and Gameplaywright, it’s the perfect gift for the aspiring game master in your life—who might well be yourself.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Episode 304: We’re Not Running a Party of Death Here
Mystery scenario construction is once again on our minds in the Gaming Hut, as we discuss ways to run a mystery in which the investigators respond to an ongoing spree of murders, monster attacks, or the like.
We make sure the roof of the History Hut is well-patched as we consider the cosmic terror that was the passenger pigeon.
At the request of Patreon backer Timothy Coram, we pop into the Cinema Hut to chat about the giallo, and its application to The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
Finally the Consulting Occultist profiles Alexander Dugin, a Russian philosopher who combines fascism, synarchy, nationalism and chaos magick under the banner of an oddly familiar eight-pointed arrow star.
The island of Al Amarja may have moved from its classic 1990s location, but don’t be fooled. Over the Edge is indeed back, with Jonathan Tweet updating his classic and influential game design. Get ready to duck New Age cultists, baboon-wielding gangsters, twisted assassins when the roleplaying game of weird modern danger is Kickstarting now!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Most RPG scenarios assume that it’s up to the player characters to conclusively defeat the bad guys at the end. In the Gaming Hut we ask when it’s okay to leave the mop up to outside forces.
In the History Hut Patreon backer Jake asks us to unveil the mysteries of the Cagots.
Ask Ken and Robin fields a Q from backer Jacques de Villiers on gaming Twin Peaks and the related works of David Lynch.
Finally we enter the Eliptony Hut, carefully checking our calendars, to satisfy backer Alexandria Permann’s curiosity regarding the Phantom Time Hypothesis.
The island of Al Amarja may have moved from its classic 1990s location, but don’t be fooled. Over the Edge is indeed back, with Jonathan Tweet updating his classic and influential game design. Get ready to duck New Age cultists, baboon-wielding gangsters, twisted assassins when the roleplaying game of weird modern danger is Kickstarting now!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
After years in a remote safe house, he’s back. John Scott Tynes is writing Delta Green again. A mere few days remain in the Kickstarter campaign for Delta Green: The Labyrinth, from Arc Dream Publishing. This all-new collection of organizations presents ready-made sources of allies, enemies, mysteries, and surprises for your Delta Green campaign. Back now for extra Yithians!
In the Gaming Hut we look at how the same adversary can play very different roles from one game to the next. Serving as an example is Red Jack, created for Night’s Black Agents but presently contemplating a killing spree in The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
The Tradecraft Hut examines China’s latest hacking coup against the US, snaffling up 614 gigs of tech specs on the Sea Dragon submarine munitions project.
In the Narrative Hut we weigh the various definitions of the word protagonist, deciding which one of them is the most useful to writers.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine surveys the adjusted timeline that would result from rescuing Polish resistance hero Witold Pilecki from execution by the Soviet-backed regime in 1948.
The island of Al Amarja may have moved from its classic 1990s location, but don’t be fooled. Over the Edge is indeed back, with Jonathan Tweet updating his classic and influential game design. Get ready to duck New Age cultists, baboon-wielding gangsters, twisted assassins when the roleplaying game of weird modern danger is Kickstarting now!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
The Gaming Hut lies at the end of a ten foot corridor this week as Patreon backer Elias Helfer asks us, as paragons of story-driven RPGs, to explain why we think dungeons are awesome.
In Fun With Science we extrapolate a future with affordable carbon reclamation.
With the Over the Edge Kickstarter now in progress, we dig into our vault of interviews from last year’s Gen Con to chat with Jonathan Tweet in Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else.
If someone tells you their favorite esoteric writer is Julius Evola, you just heard your cue to back away slowly. The Consulting Occultist is here to tell you why.
The island of Al Amarja may have moved from its classic 1990s location, but don’t be fooled. Over the Edge is indeed back, with Jonathan Tweet updating his classic and influential game design. Get ready to duck New Age cultists, baboon-wielding gangsters, twisted assassins when the roleplaying game of weird modern danger is Kickstarting now!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
It’s been 300 installments, just a smidge shy of six years, and longtime listeners and backers know what that means. Time for another episode-length Lightning Round, as we provide uncharacteristically snappy As to Qs about games, beverages, monsters, bees and the ever-proverbial so much more.
The island of Al Amarja may have moved from its classic 1990s location, but don’t be fooled. Over the Edge is indeed back, with Jonathan Tweet updating his classic and influential game design. Get ready to duck New Age cultists, baboon-wielding gangsters, twisted assassins when the roleplaying game of weird modern danger hits Kickstarter on July 10th.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
The Gaming Hut has a bunch of vampires in the shop for adjustments as we look at the process of adapting creatures between systems.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, Ken talks to Rich Ranallo about the new edition of Velvet Generation, now on Kickstarter. Listen close and you’ll hear Ken’s lightning bolt face makeup.
As a milestone beckons, Ask Ken and Robin finds us in the mood for a meta-question. Thank goodness Patreon backer Ian Carlsen is here to request a glimpse behind the KARTAS scenes.
Finally, Leprejuan beckons us into the Eliptony Hut to ponder the Mad Gasser of Mattoon.
Join the intrigue of the Cursed Court, the award-festooned, quick-playing, gorgeous new board game from Atlas Games. Anticipate the moves of the King, Queen, Priestess and Assassin in the game Bruno Faidutti calls “an unexpected masterwork.” Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Having both recently moved big projects off our plates and into post-production, we convene in the Gaming Hut to look at lessons and surprises from our design work on Vampire: the Masquerade 5th Edition and The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
In the Horror Hut, we respond to the wish of Patreon backer Stephen Perpitch-Harvey to talk about jinn.
Join the intrigue of the Cursed Court, the award-festooned, quick-playing, gorgeous new board game from Atlas Games. Anticipate the moves of the King, Queen, Priestess and Assassin in the game Bruno Faidutti calls “an unexpected masterwork.” Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world (though maybe not your team of hardened covert agents) from the Cthulhu Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Do gamers like choice more than ordinary humans? We raised the question several episodes back, and now it’s all grown up into its very own Gaming Hut segment.
In the Tradecraft Hut we look at the espionage allegations leveled against the Chinese telecom giant ZTE.
Then the time comes for a brand new segment, the T-Shirt Justification Hut, in which we prepare you for the wearable terror of Walrus Revenge. Grab the shirt here!
Finally the Eliptony Hut augments its customary tinfoil hat with a bell-bottoms and platform shoes as Patreon backer Stacy Forsythe wants to know why the 70s was such a high water mark for weirdness studies.
Join the intrigue of the Cursed Court, the award-festooned, quick-playing, gorgeous new board game from Atlas Games. Anticipate the moves of the King, Queen, Priestess and Assassin in the game Bruno Faidutti calls “an unexpected masterwork.”
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
Episode 296: Build a Crummy Robot and Call It Gnostic
Not by chance do we start in the Gaming Hut, for a look at the role of coincidence in various mystery genres.
Then at the behest of Patreon backer Stewart Robertson we duck into the secret recesses of the Mythology Hut for a 101 on Gnosticism.
In Ask Ken and Robin, backer Aaron Galen White wants Robin to tell him more about Don DeLillo’s Zero K, and the treatment of genre tropes in literary fiction.
Then Ken’s Time Machine revs up to see, at the request of backer Jacob Boersma, what a timeline without the Chernobyl disaster would look like.
Join the intrigue of the Cursed Court, the award-festooned, quick-playing, gorgeous new board game from Atlas Games. Anticipate the moves of the King, Queen, Priestess and Assassin in the game Bruno Faidutti calls “an unexpected masterwork.”
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
Join the intrigue of the Cursed Court, the award-festooned, quick-playing, gorgeous new board game from Atlas Games. Anticipate the moves of the King, Queen, Priestess and Assassin in the game Bruno Faidutti calls “an unexpected masterwork.”
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
Patreon backer Andy Olson invites us to plan a fantasy heist in the Gaming Hut.
In the Tradecraft Hut backer Andrew Miller debriefs us on the Fat Leonard case.
How to Write Good looks at invented slang, with examples from Robin’s upcoming King in Yellow novel, The Missing and the Lost.
Then we check backer Karl Schmidt’s goblet for traces of toxin as the History Hut visits that remarkable foe of Rome, Mithridates VI, aka the Poison King.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
Stop plinking those kobolds and pop into the Gaming Hut as we ask if today’s median gamer is less motivated than before by the prospect of in-game reward.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Patreon backer Neal Dalton asks Ken how he chooses game systems and pitches them to his players.
And finally, at the request of backers Rich Ranallo, Jurie Horneman, and also everyone, the Archeaology Hut asks why the Hobby Lobby retail chain was importing looted Sumerian incantations.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Atlas Games. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
The Gaming Hut takes place inside the Tradecraft Hut, or is it the other way around, as we, with the assistance of a FOIA request, investigate CIA-designed board games.
How to Write Good looks at the particular challenges of creating game fiction.
In the Food Hut we open a few bottles alongside Patreon backer Tim Vert, who wants to know about wines in fantasy worlds.
Finally the Eliptony Hut tackles the mystery of the Roanoke Colony disappearance.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
In the Gaming Hut, Patreon backer SR points us to an archived trove of CounterSpy magazine and asks how to make use of it in Fall of DELTA GREEN.
We wouldn’t lead you on in an elaborate scheme of deception, and so have returned for the second part of a Cinema Hut question from backer Chris Camfield, laying down our 101 of con man films.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Ken talks to designer Alex Roberts about her RPG Star-Crossed, The Two-Player Game of Forbidden Love, on Kickstarter until May 10th.
Then the Consulting Occultist goes West Coast as we examine the ley line implications of the L.A. Times leaving its iconic art deco headquarters.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Atlas Games. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
In the Gaming Hut we cover ways to design monsters to star in investigative scenarios.
We tromp into the Command Hut at the behest of Patreon backer Thomas Vallejos, who wants to know the deep secrets behind a proposal to revive the US Army’s iconic WWII-era uniform style.
In Ask Ken and Robin, backer Daniel Krauklis asks about writing scenarios featuring underrepresented groups.
Finally, hold onto your library cards as, thanks to a query from backer Michael Parker, the Consulting Occultist investigates the theft of an Isaac Newton manuscript from the Carnegie Rare Books room.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Atlas Games. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
Picking up a thread left hanging a few episodes back, the Gaming Hut looks at ways to make a mundane solution to an apparently occult mystery work satisfyingly for your players.
The Tradecraft Hut peers behind the headlines of the Skripal poisoning case.
In the Cinema Hut Patreon backer Chris Camfield asks for the 101 on heist flicks.
Then Ken’s Time Machine gets back to its core business, the alternate timeline, by finding out what would happen when William Duer’s 1791 attempt to take control of the Bank of the United States succeeds.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Atlas Games. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
Another all-request episode begins in the Gaming Hut, as Patreon backer Ruth Tillman asks us how we might game Annihilation in both its film and novel iterations.
We head into the Book Hut at the behest of backer Sean Gomez, who wants to know more about Ken’s recent William Haggard fixation and spy thriller inspiration for Fall of DELTA GREEN more generally.
In Ask Ken and Robin backer Louis Sylvester asks Robin, and also Ken, about devices to incorporate weird sounds and other subtle horror moments into games and fiction.
Finally, in the History Hut, with indulgences purchased by backer Jacob Ansari, we investigate the career of the pretender-monk Paul Palaiologos Tagaris.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Atlas Games. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Atlas Games. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
Keep a close eye on your open beverage as the Gaming Hut spins a Fall of DELTA GREEN arc from that most notorious of covert programs, MKULTRA.
The Food Hut goes sequel for Instant Pot II: The Instant Pottening.
Look over your shoulder for copycats as the Horror Hut investigates doppelgangers and body snatchers.
One more warning: keep swords safely stored in their stones as the Eliptony Hut gives the 101 on historical Arthur theories. [Here’s Dr. Caitlin Green’s superb fun-ruiner deluxe/grownup literature review as mentioned at the end of this segment: “The Historicity and Historicisation of Arthur” –KH]
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Atlas Games. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
You have nothing to lose but your chains, and also your handcuffs, and possibly also your orange prison scrubs, as the Gaming Hut shows you what to do the next time your PC gets captured.
The Tradecraft Hut probes off-books financial arrangements in covert operations, as inspired by a request from Patreon backer Chris Sellers. Chris wants us to turn this real-life ATF finagle into fodder for Night’s Black Agents and Fall of Delta Green.
Backer Michael Maneval, meanwhile, wants the PCs to become meddling kids. In Ask Ken and Robin we mull the ingredients needed to run a Scooby-Doo game.
Finally, in Ken’s Time Machine, backer Daniel Fidelman gets back to the classic premise of the segment to ask what our chrono-hero would have to do to add native American states to the American map.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Atlas Games. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Navigate your love of the Lone Wolf game books and/or fantasy inspired by medieval Italy with the Sommerlund Map set Kickstarter from Askfageln. Revel in 1o gorgeous maps inspired by Joe Dever’s classic fantasy setting and the city of Bologna.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
Ken dons raffish 60s-vintage headgear to give The Fall of DELTA GREEN, now available for preorder, the Among My Many Hats treatment.
Robin reviews ways to shape a dramatic scene in How to Write Good.
We look at the science of choice and its implications for tabletop design in the Gaming Hut. Referenced in this segment: The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar.
Finally the Consulting Occultist finds another Nazi mystic to talk about, as Patreon backer Bret Kramer asks for a profile on Savitri Devi.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Atlas Games. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Navigate your love of the Lone Wolf game books and/or fantasy inspired by medieval Italy with the Sommerlund Map set Kickstarter from Askfageln. Revel in 1o gorgeous maps inspired by Joe Dever’s classic fantasy setting and the city of Bologna.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
We gather suspiciously in the Gaming Hut to ask if and how GMs can assist players in horror games who want their characters to exercise a Scully-like skepticism.
We break into the History Hut at the behest of Patreon backer Andy Young, who seeks the scoop on fresh-faced 19th century burglar Edward Jones.
In Ask Ken and Robin Andy Bates seeks help incorporating the Witches Tree, which haunts his hometown of Louisville, into his gaming.
Speaking of mysteries, how the heck have we done 283 episodes without getting around to Springheeled Jack? We finally remedy that oversight in the Eliptony Hut.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
It wasn’t on the maps. No one talked about it. But now you live there. Cthulhu City. Where the mayor goes everywhere with twin sacred jaguars, and the chief of police blinks at your with fishy eyes. Where the cultists run city hall and the investigators are hunted criminals. Cthulhu City, the new Trail of Cthulhu sourcebook from Pelgrane Press, by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan.
Navigate your love of the Lone Wolf game books and/or fantasy inspired by medieval Italy with the Sommerlund Map set Kickstarter from Askfageln. Revel in 1o gorgeous maps inspired by Joe Dever’s classic fantasy setting and the city of Bologna.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
In the Gaming Hut we put up our dukes and look at ways to frame fights that advance the story.
Oscar time is upon us, so as is our annual wont we pop into the Cinema Hut for a look back at our favorite films of 2017.
Recovering from the red carpet, we visit the Consulting Occultist, who has been checking out the initial offerings placed online by the Ritman Library of occult texts.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
It wasn’t on the maps. No one talked about it. But now you live there. Cthulhu City. Where the mayor goes everywhere with twin sacred jaguars, and the chief of police blinks at your with fishy eyes. Where the cultists run city hall and the investigators are hunted criminals. Cthulhu City, the new Trail of Cthulhu sourcebook from Pelgrane Press, by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan.
Navigate your love of the Lone Wolf game books and/or fantasy inspired by medieval Italy with the Sommerlund Map set Kickstarter from Askfageln. Revel in 1o gorgeous maps inspired by Joe Dever’s classic fantasy setting and the city of Bologna.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
We swear we didn’t plan this, but Patreon backer Chris Sellers showed up unexpectedly in the Gaming Hut to ask about improvising GUMSHOE scenarios.
The location of the Tradecraft Hut has been dangerously exposed, and only our look at fitness apps as a threat to operational security will save us.
In an equally sudden turn, How to Write Good examines transitions between scenes, as codified in Robin’s new book for creators of fiction, Beating the Story. Get the electronic editions immediately by taking part in the print book preorder.
A final surprise lies in store for us in December of 1926, where Ken’s Time Machine grants Patreon backer David Shaw’s request for the story behind the story of the Agatha Christie disappearance.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
It wasn’t on the maps. No one talked about it. But now you live there. Cthulhu City. Where the mayor goes everywhere with twin sacred jaguars, and the chief of police blinks at your with fishy eyes. Where the cultists run city hall and the investigators are hunted criminals. Cthulhu City, the new Trail of Cthulhu sourcebook from Pelgrane Press, by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan.
Navigate your love of the Lone Wolf game books and/or fantasy inspired by medieval Italy with the Sommerlund Map set Kickstarter from Askfageln. Revel in 1o gorgeous maps inspired by Joe Dever’s classic fantasy setting and the city of Bologna.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
It wasn’t on the maps. No one talked about it. But now you live there. Cthulhu City. Where the mayor goes everywhere with twin sacred jaguars, and the chief of police blinks at your with fishy eyes. Where the cultists run city hall and the investigators are hunted criminals. Cthulhu City, the new Trail of Cthulhu sourcebook from Pelgrane Press, by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan.
It’s tiny, it fits on your keychain, it’s complete and flexible, and it’s already almost gone. Askfageln presents the Kickstarter for the Keychain RPG, now in English, not Swedish.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
Brace yourself for musical metaphors as we head into the Gaming Hut and find that Patreon backer Brian Thomas has left us the logical analogy Orchestra: jazz combo :: play’s ensemble cast : role playing gaming group.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, Ken and Robin talk to Delta Green writer and illustrator Dennis Detwiller.
In the Narrative Hut backers Andrew Miller and Dan O’Hanlon team up to ask just what Robin means when he calls coming-of-age stories the Worst Genre.
Then the Consulting Occultist admits backer Hoyle Anderson to his Edwardian snuggery for a cuppa and discussion of zodiac cup tasseography.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
It wasn’t on the maps. No one talked about it. But now you live there. Cthulhu City. Where the mayor goes everywhere with twin sacred jaguars, and the chief of police blinks at your with fishy eyes. Where the cultists run city hall and the investigators are hunted criminals. Cthulhu City, the new Trail of Cthulhu sourcebook from Pelgrane Press, by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan.
In Highway Holocaust you are Cal Phoenix, the Freeway Warrior, champion and protector of Dallas Colony One. Defend this fragile convoy from H.A.V.O.C. bikers with this exclusive hardcover (with dust jacket and book ribbons), the first choose-your-own-adventure-gamebook in Joe Dever’s post apocalyptic series. From the fine folks at FENIX, now available from Modiphius.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
As the world continues to turn into one big Conspiracy Corner, we look at the escalating weirdness that is Pizzagate.
We shift to fictional, and therefore more plausible, conspiracies as Patreon backer Marco Marini seizes control of Ask Ken and Robin to take Fall of Delta Green beyond the Anglosphere.
Finally backer Jason Thompson asks us to deploy Ken’s Time Machine on a literary mission, to displace J.R.R. Tolkien as the font of modern fantasy.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
It wasn’t on the maps. No one talked about it. But now you live there. Cthulhu City. Where the mayor goes everywhere with twin sacred jaguars, and the chief of police blinks at your with fishy eyes. Where the cultists run city hall and the investigators are hunted criminals. Cthulhu City, the new Trail of Cthulhu sourcebook from Pelgrane Press, by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan.
In Highway Holocaust you are Cal Phoenix, the Freeway Warrior, champion and protector of Dallas Colony One. Defend this fragile convoy from H.A.V.O.C. bikers with this exclusive hardcover (with dust jacket and book ribbons), the first choose-your-own-adventure-gamebook in Joe Dever’s post apocalyptic series. From the fine folks at FENIX, now available from Modiphius.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
It wasn’t on the maps. No one talked about it. But now you live there. Cthulhu City. Where the mayor goes everywhere with twin sacred jaguars, and the chief of police blinks at your with fishy eyes. Where the cultists run city hall and the investigators are hunted criminals. Cthulhu City, the new Trail of Cthulhu sourcebook from Pelgrane Press, by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan.
In Highway Holocaust you are Cal Phoenix, the Freeway Warrior, champion and protector of Dallas Colony One. Defend this fragile convoy from H.A.V.O.C. bikers with this exclusive hardcover (with dust jacket and book ribbons), the first choose-your-own-adventure-gamebook in Joe Dever’s post apocalyptic series. From the fine folks at FENIX, now available from Modiphius.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
Yeah verily and anon, the Gaming Hut goes iambic pentameter as Patreon backer Chris Camfield asks us how to add Shakespearean flavor to a roleplaying campaign.
Then your sweet and savory hosts venture into the Food Hut to reveal unbeatable flavor combinations.
Sandhogs and aqueducts turn from research into terror as Ken and Robin Talk To Someone Else summons Ruth Tillman of Cthulhu Confidential fame.
Now it can be told! Not a dream! Not an imaginary story! Finally recalls a book raid he neglected to tell us about previously, as Ken’s Bookshelf devours goodly portions of that NYC staple, Strand Books.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
It wasn’t on the maps. No one talked about it. But now you live there. Cthulhu City. Where the mayor goes everywhere with twin sacred jaguars, and the chief of police blinks at your with fishy eyes. Where the cultists run city hall and the investigators are hunted criminals. Cthulhu City, the new Trail of Cthulhu sourcebook from Pelgrane Press, by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan.
In Highway Holocaust you are Cal Phoenix, the Freeway Warrior, champion and protector of Dallas Colony One. Defend this fragile convoy from H.A.V.O.C. bikers with this exclusive hardcover (with dust jacket and book ribbons), the first choose-your-own-adventure-gamebook in Joe Dever’s post apocalyptic series. From the fine folks at FENIX, now available from Modiphius.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
In the Gaming Hut we mull the process of scenario writing, specifically the differences between writing first, or playing first.
Backer Fred Kiesche takes advantage of his Patreon priveleges in Ask Ken and Robin, seeking deeper info on Ken’s current 13th Age campaign, Poikila Hellenistika.
We take our seats in the Cinema Hut to reel off a mere smattering of our favorite character actors of the classic Hollywood studio era.
Finally in Ken’s Time Machine Patreon backer Rich Ranallo demands details on our resident chrono-agent’s involvement in Grover Cleveland’s secret nautical surgery.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
It wasn’t on the maps. No one talked about it. But now you live there. Cthulhu City. Where the mayor goes everywhere with twin sacred jaguars, and the chief of police blinks at your with fishy eyes. Where the cultists run city hall and the investigators are hunted criminals. Cthulhu City, the new Trail of Cthulhu sourcebook from Pelgrane Press, by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan.
In Highway Holocaust you are Cal Phoenix, the Freeway Warrior, champion and protector of Dallas Colony One. Defend this fragile convoy from H.A.V.O.C. bikers with this exclusive hardcover (with dust jacket and book ribbons), the first choose-your-own-adventure-gamebook in Joe Dever’s post apocalyptic series. From the fine folks at FENIX, now available from Modiphius.
With your Handlers Guide already at your side, it’s time to assemble some operations to spiral your Delta Green operatives into paranoia and Mythos horror. Delta Green: A Night at the Opera features six terrifying adventures from the conspiratorial minds of Dennis Detwiller, Shane Ivey, and Greg Stolze. Preorder before it’s desperately too late!
It’s 2018 and we’re back, starting as usual in the Gaming Hut. Within its cozy confines we answer a question from a mystery backer on achieving genuine emotional investment in roleplaying.
The History Hut unfolds its secret plans at the behest of Patreon backer Antti Elomaa, who wants to know why military operations have such evocative names.
The Narrative Hut looks at the evolution of the American anti-hero from the 30s to today.
Finally, backer Tim Vert checks in with the Consulting Occultist on the status of a possible eclipse child.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
It wasn’t on the maps. No one talked about it. But now you live there. Cthulhu City. Where the mayor goes everywhere with twin sacred jaguars, and the chief of police blinks at your with fishy eyes. Where the cultists run city hall and the investigators are hunted criminals. Cthulhu City, the new Trail of Cthulhu sourcebook from Pelgrane Press, by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan.
For decades Tove Gillbring of Askfageln has been a beacon of Swedish gaming. Now her cancer has returned, and she’s determined to focus the rest of her life on an ultimate burst of creative fireworks. Help her husband Anders make that happen by supporting the LOVE TOVE crowdfunding campaign. Please note that the campaign moved to GoFundMe after this episode was recorded.
Delta Green Game Moderators, take heart! Reinforcements have arrived in the form of the Delta Green Handler’s Guide from Arc Dream Publishing, bursting with operational details, threats and eldritch history to keep your players locked, loaded, and terrified.
Our final episode of 2017 arrives with bells a-jangling in the form of our traditional live show from Dragonmeet. Learn about Stalin and Atlantis, what elements of our work we think other designers have picked up on, which beverages go with which iterations of a beloved nerd franchise, why Nazis are stupid, and much much more.
We’ll be back on January 5th with our first episode of 2018.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
Sink your fangs into an amazing deal as the Dracula Dossier haunts the Bundle of Holding. This bargain is so unbelievable that it can’t see itself in the mirror, and ends on December 27th!
For decades Tove Gillbring of Askfageln has been a beacon of Swedish gaming. Now her cancer has returned, and she’s determined to focus the rest of her life on an ultimate burst of creative fireworks. Help her husband Anders make that happen by supporting the LOVE TOVE crowdfunding campaign. Please note that the campaign moved to GoFundMe after this episode was recorded.
Delta Green Game Moderators, take heart! Reinforcements have arrived in the form of the Delta Green Handler’s Guide from Arc Dream Publishing, bursting with operational details, threats and eldritch history to keep your players locked, loaded, and terrified.
Our throats showing the wear of travel to that most lurghy-inducing of wonderlands, we issue a Travel Advisory on Dragonmeet and the Modigliani show at the Tate Modern in London.
In the Gaming Hut we compare and contrast two ways of structuring mystery scenarios: Robin’s Maze of Clues and Ken’s Ocean of Clues.
Longtime listeners are already bracing themselves for what comes next. The fall of the British pound places a heavy burden on the structural integrity of Ken’s Bookshelf, as he comes back laden with treasures from Treadwell’s, Foyle’s, and the Tate gift shop.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
Sink your fangs into an amazing deal as the Dracula Dossier haunts the Bundle of Holding. This bargain is so unbelievable that it can’t see itself in the mirror, and ends on December 27th!
For decades Tove Gillbring of Askfageln has been a beacon of Swedish gaming. Now her cancer has returned, and she’s determined to focus the rest of her life on an ultimate burst of creative fireworks. Help her husband Anders make that happen by supporting the LOVE TOVE crowdfunding campaign.
Delta Green Game Moderators, take heart! Reinforcements have arrived in the form of the Delta Green Handler’s Guide from Arc Dream Publishing, bursting with operational details, threats and eldritch history to keep your players locked, loaded, and terrified.
Episode 271: The Friends We Met Along the Way and Ate
Patreon backer Joshua Trowbridge entreats us in the Gaming Hut to return to a perennial puzzler: how to convince change-averse players to try the awesome new thing you want to run for them.
Patreon backer Josh Mannon summons us to the Cartography Hut, to explain that hole where the Kong Mountains used to be.
In Ask Ken and Robin Patreon backer Adam Grotjohn asks Ken and Robin if roleplaying games could be used to teach criminological procedure.
And finally Patreon backer Rick Neal has been hanging out next to Ken’s Time Machine, wanting to know why Time Inc. needed Kaspar Hauser dead.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
The book has been written.The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it.
In Highway Holocaust you are Cal Phoenix, the Freeway Warrior, champion and protector of Dallas Colony One. Defend this fragile convoy from H.A.V.O.C. bikers with this exclusive hardcover (with dust jacket and book ribbons), the first choose-your-own-adventure-gamebook in Joe Dever’s post apocalyptic series. From the fine folks at FENIX, now available from Modiphius.
Delta Green Game Moderators, take heart! Reinforcements have arrived in the form of the Delta Green Handler’s Guide from Arc Dream Publishing, bursting with operational details, threats and eldritch history to keep your players locked, loaded, and terrified.
In Atlas Games’ wickedly different cooperative deck-building game Witches of the Revolution, you and your doughty coven fight the American Revolution the way it was really fought: with spells aplenty! Resurrect Ben Franklin, cure Paul Revere of lycanthropy and keep those red-coated witch hunters at bay.
The book has been written.The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it.
In Highway Holocaust you are Cal Phoenix, the Freeway Warrior, champion and protector of Dallas Colony One. Defend this fragile convoy from H.A.V.O.C. bikers with this exclusive hardcover (with dust jacket and book ribbons), the first choose-your-own-adventure-gamebook in Joe Dever’s post apocalyptic series. From the fine folks at FENIX, now available from Modiphius.
Delta Green Game Moderators, take heart! Reinforcements have arrived in the form of the Delta Green Handler’s Guide from Arc Dream Publishing, bursting with operational details, threats and eldritch history to keep your players locked, loaded, and terrified.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Mystery Elephant Coins and a True Crime Masterpiece
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 our new podcast segment, Tell Me More.
The Pinnacle
The Keepers Season 1 (Television, US, Netflix, Ryan White, 2017) Nearly half a century after their high school teacher, a nun named Cathy Cesnik, was murdered, her former students initiate a sprawling investigation into her death, and the abusive Catholic priest who may have been involved in it. Documentary true crime series becomes all the more compelling as its central mystery grows ever more complicated and contradictory.—RDL
Recommended
Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions (Nonfiction, Frank L. Holt, 2003) Elephant medallions discovered in 1887 and 1973 have politely roiled numismatic circles for decades; Holt lays out their provenance and controversy, and provides a theory to explain them that passes my Alexandrian sniff test — essentially, they were campaign coins for veterans of the Hydaspes battle. Excellent introduction to a recondite topic, ideal for refurbishing into an RPG seed. –KH
The Ghost Goes West (Film, UK, Rene Clair, 1935) Suave Scottish lord (Robert Donat) who must sell his castle tries to conceal the existence of its ancestral specter (also Donat), little suspecting that the American grocery tycoon with his eye on the place (Eugene Pallette) regards it as a selling point. Tellingly British take on the screwball comedy in which the joke is not that the nouveau riche Americans have gone silly and Europeanized, but that their affection for the old world vulgarizes tradition.—RDL
Invincible (Film, EU/US, Werner Herzog, 2001) In 1932, Jewish strongman Zishe Breitbart (Jouko Ahola) journeys to Berlin to make his fortune in the occult cabaret run by the mentalist Hanussen (Tim Roth). Herzog’s movie hearkens back to silent melodrama in its uncomplicated shots and Ahola’s guileless acting, which plays wonderfully off Roth’s oily Hanussen. Herzog mashes up history (the real Breitbart died in 1925) to create a not-quite-distant fable; buy a ticket and enjoy the show. –KH
Jim & Andy and The Great Beyond (Film, US, Chris Smith, 2017) Interviews with a now-philosophical Jim Carrey frame heretofore unseen backstage footage from the Man on the Moon shoot, where he remained obsessively in character as either Andy Kaufman or the awful Tony Clifton. Documentary only shows Carrey’s perspective, but to hear him tell it, he has finally recovered from the realization that he strove for and got everything he ever wanted—only to find it wasn’t enough.—RDL
The Man in the Iron Mask (Film, US, James Whale, 1939) Evil king Louis XIV (Louis Heyward) carries on hanging rebels and toying with the heart of the Spanish infanta (Joan Bennett), scarcely suspecting that his order to arrest a Gascon rebel raised by the four musketeers will confront him with his previously unknown twin brother. A piece set in the literal baroque period gives Whale full latitude for his baroque, frame-filling sensibility, plus a touch of the old Frankenstein days in the Bastille scenes. Screenwriters never use more than the barest whiff of the Dumas source material, in which the musketeers scheme against and betray one another, and it’s always interesting to see how any given adaptation rearranges the elements.—RDL
Good
Little Big Soldier (Film, Hong Kong, Ding Sheng; action director Jackie Chan, 2010) During the warring states period, a conscripted peasant (Jackie Chan) captures an enemy general (Leehom Wang) and tries to get him back home to collect a reward. Economical script provides a tonally consistent showcase for Jackie’s dramatic chops, but suffers from Ding’s arbitrary compositions and over-caffeinated editing.—RDL
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Season 11 (Television, US, Netflix, Joel Hodgson, 2017) The revival of the ur-nerd-riff show does everything it needs to do competently: a chunky, amiable comic (Jonah Ray) and two robots (Hampton Yount and Baron Vaughn) make fun of bad movies. But it doesn’t capture either the anarchic glee of the early Joel years or the relentless comic pile-on cruelty of the middle Mike years, relying on a labored backstory featuring the two mad scientists (Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt). The core of MST3K has always been the riffs; let’s hope next season doubles down on that. –KH
Okay
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition (Film, US, Zack Snyder, 2016) Thirty extra minutes and an R rating don’t repair the foundational flaws in this super-Ragnarok, but they do add coherence to the story, humanity to Clark Kent, and a name to poor Jimmy Olsen. At three hours, there’s still plenty to regret here, but Snyder’s visual sense at least has something more to play off of. –KH
We’ve installed additional measures in the Gaming Hut to discuss security camera surveillance and how to stop it from wrecking your mystery plots.
Jump scares await in the Horror Hut as we look at the bogeyman and his pals, the evil spirits.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, we chat with marketing guru and game designer Wade Rockett.
Which leads us to Ken’s Time Machine and a question from Patreon backer Derek Upham, who wants to know about our chrono-protagonist’s role in causing the Egg Nog Riot.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!
The book has been written.The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it.
In Highway Holocaust you are Cal Phoenix, the Freeway Warrior, champion and protector of Dallas Colony One. Defend this fragile convoy from H.A.V.O.C. bikers with this exclusive hardcover (with dust jacket and book ribbons), the first choose-your-own-adventure-gamebook in Joe Dever’s post apocalyptic series. From the fine folks at FENIX, now available from Modiphius.
Delta Green Game Moderators, take heart! Reinforcements have arrived in the form of the Delta Green Handler’s Guide from Arc Dream Publishing, bursting with operational details, threats and eldritch history to keep your players locked, loaded, and terrified.
Make sure your copy of this podcast has been properly authenticated, preferably by a person in a pointy hat, as the Gaming Hut looks at forgery in worlds with truth magic.
Get your drama on in How to Write Good as we make sure that your scenes of interaction further the plot, instead of merely commenting on the action.
Then once more run your vicarious paws over the latest acquisitions to adorn Ken’s Bookshelf. Yes, our hero has been to Powell’s again and has the loot to show for it.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!
The book has been written.The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it.
In Highway Holocaust you are Cal Phoenix, the Freeway Warrior, champion and protector of Dallas Colony One. Defend this fragile convoy from H.A.V.O.C. bikers with this exclusive hardcover (with dust jacket and book ribbons), the first choose-your-own-adventure-gamebook in Joe Dever’s post apocalyptic series. From the fine folks at FENIX, now available from Modiphius.
Delta Green Game Moderators, take heart! Reinforcements have arrived in the form of the Delta Green Handler’s Guide from Arc Dream Publishing, bursting with operational details, threats and eldritch history to keep your players locked, loaded, and terrified.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Heaven, Asgard and Times Square
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 our new podcast segment, Tell Me More.
Recommended
Counter-Attack (Film, US, Zoltan Korda, 1945) Trapped behind enemy lines in the basement of a collapsed factory, a doughty Soviet paratrooper (Paul Muni) and flinty spy (Marguerite Chapman) struggle to keep a group of German prisoners at bay. Wartime suspenser powered by tense scripting and a career-best performance from Muni. Even if it weren’t any good it would be worth a watch for its historical value as a Hollywood propaganda from the brief sliver of time when glorifying the Red Army made total sense.—RDL
The Deuce Season 1 (Television, HBO, David Simon, 2017) As a bar manager (James Franco) goes into business with an affable mobster, streetwalker Candy (Maggie Gyllenhaal) eyes the nascent XXX scene of early 70s New York as a way out and up. As he did to great effect in “The Wire”, Simon assembles a socioeconomic collage showing how a black market industry ties people together and bends them out of shape.—RDL
The Good Place Season 1 (Television, NBC, Michael Schur, 2016-2017) Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) dies and awakens in “The Good Place,” a sort of gated-community heaven run by its Architect (Ted Danson), even though she was actually pretty bad. You have to kind of love a comedy combining Plato and The Prisoner, or at least I do, especially given its commitment to narrative momentum via constant premise threat. –KH
Tattooed Life (Film, Japan, Seijun Suzuki, 1965) In 1926, a betrayed yakuza killer flees with his mooncalf aesthete brother to a remote mining community, only to find that trouble isn’t done with them yet. Suzuki, mostly known for subversive and/or experimental low-budget crime pics, here gets the resources to weave a sweeping traditional narrative, capped with a fine ballet of katanas and revolvers.—RDL
Thor: Ragnarok (Film, US, Taika Waititi, 2017) After Odin dies and his heretofore unknown death goddess sister shows up to devastate Asgard, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) finds that his journey back circuits through a gladiator world and a visit with a big green co-worker. Waititi finds not only the previously missing tone for a Thor movie (dry, behind-the-beat Kiwi comedy) but pulls off the impressive trick of keeping momentum rolling in a typically overstuffed latter-day Marvel flick.—RDL
Good
Big Bang (Film, South Korea, Park Jung-Woo, 2007) After losing his wife and his job on the same day, a priggish stickler teams with a small time crook to stage a revenge rampage. Buddy actioner increases the melodrama dosage as it accelerates.—RDL
The Posterist (Film, Hong Kong, Hui See-wai, 2016) Documentary celebration of Yuen Tai-yung, illustrator and designer of the most iconic movie posters of HK cinema’s 70s-90s golden age. On the production level this feels like an extended DVD extra, but is indispensable as film history and catnip to illustrators and illustration fans. Looking at Yuen’s work you’d be forgiven for mistaking it as the work of at least three entirely different artists, as if Jack Davis, Drew Struzan and John Alvin were the same person.—RDL
Episode 267: The First Two Things are Metaphors For the Third
Gather in the Gaming Hut but keep an eye on who might be creeping up on you with a knife or candlestick as we riff a cast of murder suspects.
Ken then meets you in the Cinema Hut to report on what he saw at this year’s Chicago Film Festival.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Patreon backer Aaron Sapp wants to know how Ken’s famously anti-vampire views square with his work on Vampire 5th Edition.
We end on a Gallic switcheroo as Robin dons the mantle of Consulting Occultist to fulfill a request from Patreon backer Paul to talk about the Rosicrucian magician Josephin Peladan. Watch for his appearance in The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!
The book has been written.The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it.
In Highway Holocaust you are Cal Phoenix, the Freeway Warrior, champion and protector of Dallas Colony One. Defend this fragile convoy from H.A.V.O.C. bikers with this exclusive hardcover (with dust jacket and book ribbons), the first choose-your-own-adventure-gamebook in Joe Dever’s post apocalyptic series. From the fine folks at FENIX, now available from Modiphius.
Delta Green Game Moderators, take heart! Reinforcements have arrived in the form of the Delta Green Handler’s Guide from Arc Dream Publishing, bursting with operational details, threats and eldritch history to keep your players locked, loaded, and terrified.
Evade lasting shame by joining us for tea and scones in the Gaming Hut, where Patreon backer Tom Abella asks us to riff on the subject of social spirals.
Sneak into the Tradecraft Hut for a look back at the career of WWII spy Jeanne Rousseau.
Ken has oft-spoken of the dire Bochcoization. Now Robin turns on the Television Hut to alert all and sundry to its heir, the inexorable Abramsification.
Finally the Eliptony Hut goes cigar-shaped as it unearths the shattering truth behind the Aurora Airship Crash.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!
The book has been written.The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it.
In Highway Holocaust you are Cal Phoenix, the Freeway Warrior, champion and protector of Dallas Colony One. Defend this fragile convoy from H.A.V.O.C. bikers with this exclusive hardcover (with dust jacket and book ribbons), the first choose-your-own-adventure-gamebook in Joe Dever’s post apocalyptic series. From the fine folks at FENIX, now available from Modiphius.
John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
We situate the Gaming Hut near a wolf trap as we answer a request from Patreon backer Dicegeeks and find ways to use the Green Children of Woolpit in a game.
In the Food Hut backer Bryan Gustafson asks us to talk about snack bar purveyor and philanthropist Daniel Lubetsky.
Our Cinema Hut 101s usually take the form of filmographies, but this time around we’re going to instead lay out the basics on a slippery concept: auteurism.
Finally backer Steve Sick stands next to Ken’s Time Machine and asks if French sorcerers maybe had a hand in the death of Henry V.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!
The book has been written.The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it.
In Highway Holocaust you are Cal Phoenix, the Freeway Warrior, champion and protector of Dallas Colony One. Defend this fragile convoy from H.A.V.O.C. bikers with this exclusive hardcover (with dust jacket and book ribbons), the first choose-your-own-adventure-gamebook in Joe Dever’s post apocalyptic series. From the fine folks at FENIX, now available from Modiphius.
John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
In the Gaming Hut we examine a classic dichotomy in GMing technique: when do you use the world to nudge the story, and when do you address the players out-of-character?
The Tradecraft Hut looks at 2017’s most eliptonic spy story, the apparent sonic attacks in Cuba that have led the US State Department to withdraw diplomats from the country.
At the urging of Patreon backer Ethan Cordray, we convene in a particularly outdoorsy version of the History Hut to look at the Kibbo Kift, the British interwar alternative to the scouting movement that donned faux Anglo Saxon garb to promote world peace and pay ritual homage to the Piltdown Man.
And finally, our Patreon backers demanded that we Tell them More, so the Television Hut is open for discussion of Twin Peaks: the Return.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you! The book has been written.The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Some monsters we want to kill. But others we want to figure out, then kill. The Gaming Hut looks at designing creatures that make for good mysteries.
Then at the behest of Patreon backer Fridrik Bjarnason we journey across route revealed by codes and numbers to the Eliptony Hut, where we consider the theory that Dante and da Vinci snitched out the location of Templar treasure, looted from the Holy Land, in that most obvious of places, Iceland.
Patreon backer Sean McCauliff pops a question over the Ask Ken and Robin transom: how do you transform your home town into a Trail of Cthulhu setting?
Then, following a prophecy laid down to us by Patreon backer Rafael Pabst, the Consulting Occultist looks at the career of poet and illustrator William Blake, with a special focus on the visionary, angel-seeing part.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!
The book has been written.The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it.
Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Robin is back from his annual sojourn to the Toronto International Film Festival, so it’s time to open up the Cinema Hut to alert you to the best and nerdiest of the 44 titles he saw there. From zombies to noir, he’s got your watch list for the next 12-18 months.
In the Gaming Hut we look at the causes and implications of the biggest story in tabletop RPGs these days, the great D&D resurgence.
Following up on a past visit to the Mythology Hut, we deliver on our promise to talk about the mythic shift undertaken by the vampire, from predatory monster to romantic hero.
Then at the barked command of stalwart Patreon backer Jeromy French, we take a turbulent voyage to a highly fortified History Hut to deliver the 101 on the Barbary Pirates.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!
The book has been written.The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it.
Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Now Ken’s in the Black Lodge
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 our new podcast segment, Tell Me More.
The Pinnacle
Twin Peaks: The Return (TV, Showtime, David Lynch, 2017) Picking up 25 years after Lynch’s seminal oneiric soap opera murder mystery ended, it is more of some of those things, most especially “Lynch’s.” I love that I could never see ahead down Lynch’s road, and also: Robert Forster. Penderecki’s “Threnody.” Magic and romance just out of frame. Bzzzkkkzztt (and all the rest of Lynch’s amazing sound design) That shot of NYC. Trees. Coffee! Charred men. “The Nine Inch Nails.” //erusolC// –KH
Recommended
Call Me Lucky (Film, US, Bobcat Goldthwait, 2015) Documentary profile of radical comedian’s comedian Barry Crimmins explores the origins of his righteous rage as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. Loving portrait of a many-faceted man, made by a longtime friend.—RDL
I Will Find You: A Reporter Investigates the Life of the Man Who Raped Her (Nonfiction, Joanna Connors, 2016) A generation after her brutal rape by a stranger, Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter seeks context by researching the life of the now-deceased perpetrator. Unsparing work of personal journalism finds answers to the literal questions if not the teleological ones, but mostly a deep well of unspeakable, cyclic suffering.—RDL
Good
The Curse of the Bronze Lamp (Fiction, John Dickson Carr, 1946) A relatively enjoyable “impossible crime” outing for Carr’s second-tier detective Sir Henry Merrivale, who is more annoying than Gideon Fell. Remarkable for solving the locked room (actually a locked castle) two different ways, because Carr is a showoff; the Egyptian color ticks it up from Okay. –KH
Giant Days, Vols. 1-3 (Comics, John Allison, 2015-6) Compilations of Allison’s comic about three girls and their travails in university, mostly involving idiotic romantic partners. As warm and sweetly human as Allison’s work elsewhere (one character, Esther de Groot, carries over from his Bad Machinery/Bobbinsverse) but without the overt weirdness (here calmed into eccentricity) and frenetic storytelling. –KH
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (Film, UK/US, Matthew Vaughn, 2017) Proletarian gentleman superspy Eggsy (Taron Egerton) returns to battle a drug lord (Julianne Moore) with the help of the American superspy group Statesman (Channing Tatum, Halle Berry, Jeff Bridges, Pedro Pascal). Too much bad, unnecessary CGI (and some over-obvious direction) obscures a surprisingly not-terrible script; still, worth seeing for those seeking the thrills James Bond once provided. –KH
Night’s Master (Fiction, Tanith Lee, 1978) Linked short stories of innocence corrupted or maintained lay out an eon in the existence of a seductive demon lord. Lapidary prose and 70s sex abound in this neo-Symbolist outing in the Dunsany tradition.—RDL
A Report on the Party and the Guests (Film, Czechoslovakia, Jan Němec, 1966) Cosmopolitan guests at an influential figure’s country banquet are subjected to subtly menacing power games. Absurdist drama looks at how quickly the comfortable rationalize their own oppression. But even in this relatively free period of cinema in the Soviet satellite nations, it has to rely on the viewer to infer the dark conclusion it’s so clearly setting up.—RDL
The Transfiguration (Film, US, Michael O’Shea, 2016) Affectless, vampire-obsessed, neglected, and bullied African-American teen Milo (Eric Ruffin) eventually befriends his abused, self-destructive white neighbor Sophie (Chloe Levine). Essentially a loose remake of Romero’s Martin set in the Brooklyn projects, it suffers by comparison (its slow burn goes down to embers more than once) but on its own merits adds a few liters of AB+ to the vampire genre. –KH
Okay
Chasing the Dragon (Film, HK, Wong Jing & Jason Kwan, 2017) Loyal gangster Crippled Ho (Donnie Yen) and honorable corrupt cop Lee Rock (Andy Lau) rise together in the British-managed Hong Kong crime world of the late 60s and early 70s. Mythologized crime biopic maintains an unusually consistent tone for a Wong Jing effort, but is overloaded with plot points—because, weirdly, this is a remake of two previously unrelated films: the caustic, greatly superior To Be Number One and Lee Rock, featuring Andy Lau in the same role he plays here. Scored a big mainland release usually denied to violent HK gang pictures by dialing up the anti-colonial angle.—RDL
Preacher Season 2 (Television, US, AMC, Sam Catlin, 2017) With the Saint of Killers on his heels, Jesse drags Tulip and Cassidy to New Orleans in search of God, who has gone AWOL from heaven. Bursts of bravura weirdness can’t conceal the momentum stall of a season in which the protagonist makes zero progress toward his goal.—RDL
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you! The book has been written. The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
When Ken and Robin go live, as they do here in this episode recorded in August at Gen Con, the audience, aided by a mythic pack of index cards, tells us what the topics are. And in this case they jointly demanded Crimean War mecha, Bannonesque intrigue, Ken’s beef with the Gnostics, time machine interference in the Siege of Malta, mediating disputes between Captain America and Wolverine, and the proverbial so much more.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you! The book has been written. The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you! The book has been written. The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Golden Age Mysteries and The Sewer Clown
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 our new podcast segment, Tell Me More.
Robin is off at the Toronto International Film Festival and posting capsule reviews over at his blog. When titles covered there are released in cinemas or on home video, he’ll rerun the reviews in future installments of this here hut.
Recommended
Love Lies Bleeding (Fiction, Edmund Crispin, 1948) Detective don Gervase Fen is conveniently on the scene when a public school reels under (at least) two murders. Calm and confident in tone, Crispin’s smooth wit, convincing characters, and nicely knotted mystery do ample justice to the setting he creates here. Among the best exemplars of the Golden Age of Mystery. –KH
Monster Island Tales (Fiction, James L. Cambias, 2017) Collects two good short stories: “Return to Skull Island” is a shaggy dog (Waldroppy dog?) zine review of a somewhat alternate King Kong; “The Dinosaur Train” is a deceptively light, touchingly Bradburyesque tale of a family with a traveling dinosaur show fallen on hard times in the 1980s. –KH
Good
The Case of the Gilded Fly (Fiction, Edmund Crispin, 1944) Crispin’s first mystery featuring his detective don Gervase Fen combines Oxford, the theater, and a locked room for a frothy mixture that reads like the lowest common denominator of Dorothy Sayers and John Dickson Carr, which is to say, still pretty good. Two amazingly effective M.R. Jamesian incidents don’t deepen the story so much as cast it in a watery light by comparison. –KH
Toni Erdmann (Film, Germany, Maren Ade, 2016) Slovenly, prank-loving teacher poses as an eccentric business figure in an effort to get closer to and/or severely annoy his workaholic daughter when she’s trying to close a difficult consulting deal. Dogme-esque comedy has some memorable scenes at its core, but is suffocated by a two hour forty minute run time full of dead moments crying out for a ruthless edit.—RDL
Okay
It (Film, US, Andy Muschietti, 2017) Focusing on only the childhood half of Stephen King’s masterpiece, even at 2 and a quarter hours the film feels both cramped and shallow, relying almost entirely on jump scares and theme music. Strong casting can only do so much; the script and director know they need to bring the town of Derry and the kids’ nightmares into the lived foreground, but have no real idea how to do it. Like the miniseries, It punts when replacing King’s ending; unlike the miniseries, It doesn’t have Tim Curry. –KH
Legends and Romances of Brittany (Nonfiction, Lewis Spence, 1917) Grab bag of Breton faerie, hero, saint and dolmen lore, with the prose voice and scholarship you’d expect from a hundred year old compendium. Useful source material for the Yellow King Roleplaying Game’s Brittany stretch goal, though scarcely a cracking casual read.—RDL
Tedious Brief Tales of Granta and Gramarye (Fiction, Arthur Gray, 1919) Seven supernatural tales of Jesus College Cambridge, none set after 1766. Gray deep dives into M.R. James-style antiquarianism without the grue and with only a very few droplets of dread, like a church-architecture-obsessed Ripley’s Believe it or Not! –KH
A couple of episodes ago we put a pin in the idea of Magic Blackwater and now in the Gaming Hut we unpin it for further consideration.
In yet more business arising from the previous minutes, the Mythology Hut looks at the kinship between the vampire and the serial killer.
Then Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, specifcally Stacy Dellorfano of Contessa fame.
Then it’s off to the whirring proximity of Ken’s Time Machine to see what it did and didn’t have to do with the Roman Emperor Caracalla’s murder of his brother Geta. Question courtesy of Patreon backer Ash Jackson Is the Scrollbard.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!
The book has been written. The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it.
Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Annual traditions happen only once a year, and since Gen Con has now happened fifty times, we must bring you an extra special convention review Gaming Hut.
With a Travel Advisory on something that won’t happen for a long time or possibly ever–Ken’s journey into eclipse totality!
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!
The book has been written. The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it.
Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
That ambient sound you hear is the muffled bustle of the Embassy Suites in beautiful downtown Indianapolis as we record a face-to-face episode immediately prior to the sweet chaos of Gen Con.
We start in a portable version of the Gaming Hut to answer a question from Patreon backer Alexandria Permann, who wants to know how to sell players on unfamiliar genres and settings.
Then we guard against korrigan magic as we dare enter the Mythology Hut for an overview of Breton folklore.
How To Write Good looks at scenes in which antagonists scheme against one another.
Then we delve into the Eliptony Hut for a topic Ken can tackle from memory: cold war psychic warfare.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!
The book has been written. The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it.
Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!
The book has been written. The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it.
Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!
The book has been written. The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it.
Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
We clatter our dice and thump our miniatures in the Gaming Hut, considering a Patreon backer Travis Johnson question about what to do when the players break the tone they asked you to instill.
With a Kickstarter and then a vacation, Robin hasn’t been paying attention to the news lately. So he meets Ken in the Tradecraft Hut on the off chance anything has happened on the espionage front his summer.
In the Cinema Hut, Patreon backer Nancy Feldman wants us to talk about our favorite pulp movies.
Finally Patreon backer Mike Marlow wants to know why Ken’s Time Machine was sighted near the great Boston molasses flood of 1919.
This week we have a special contest thanks to Petersen Games and its Kickstarter for Cthulhu Wars Onslaught 3. Patrons, head on over to the contest page and follow the instructions to enter a draw to win one of four rare, glow-in-the-dark Yellow King figures.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you! The book has been written. The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
The Gaming Hut falls all over itself answering a question from Patreon backer Daniel Krauklis: “What does the choice to have fumbles in your rules that tell us about your game and the moral universe in which the characters operate?”
We fortify the Cartography Hut for a workshop on designing strategic locations into your world.
How to Write Good examines tragedy and anagnorisis.
And the Consulting Occultist gets all semiotic to reply to a query from Patreon backer Polydamas on what the Secret Masters were up to when they invented post-modernism.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!
The book has been written. The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it. (You think you hear us say Backerkit in the ad in this episode, but that’s just a reality shattering manifestation caused by your exposure to the Yellow Sign. Please bear with us as we clear that up.) Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!
The book has been written. The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it. (You think you hear us say Backerkit in the ad in this episode, but that’s just a reality shattering manifestation caused by your exposure to the Yellow Sign. Please bear with us as we clear that up.) Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Get on the Bus! Tour de Lovecraft: The Destinations Kickstarter Has Launched
As heard on this very podcast, I and Atomic Overmind Press are launching — nay, have already launched — the Kickstarter for my book Tour de Lovecraft: the Destinations, the sequel to my much beloved volume Tour de Lovecraft: the Tales. Drop by the Kickstarter and back us if you care to, and we would be ever so grateful if you shared the Kickstarter link wherever you find the media most sociable.
As one Kickstarter ends, another begins, specifically on Wednesday, July 26. In Among My Many Hats Ken tells us about his cool new book, Tour de Lovecraft: The Destinations, which is Kickstarting on Wednesday, July 26.
The Gaming Hut poses a GMing question: when is it best for us, as Game Masters, not to talk?
In Ask Ken and Robin, Patreon backer Jeff Kahrs asks Ken and Robin how to engage reluctant old-schoolers in narrative sharing.
Finally, it turns out that Chicagoans have been sighting a bat- or owl-winged humanoid since 2011 and for some reason it’s taken this long for us to rev up the Eliptony Hut for it. Hence, the scoop on the Chicago Phantom.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you! The book has been written. The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Pelgrane Press is terrified to announce that Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game, is now live on Kickstarter—but only until 8 pm Eastern, tonight, Friday July 21. Snap up the best prices ever on Robin’s elegantly terrifying new project.Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Who would have believed that when they started a podcast two scrappy writer/game designers could make it all the way to episode 250?
You know what that means: time once again for another Lightning Round, in which we fire through as many questions as we can, starting with those posed to us by our indispensible Patreon backers.
And yes, of course Cary Grant, not Jimmy Stewart, stars in North by Northwest. Ken is just testing you.
This anniversary gains a special frisson, as we must also thank ENnies judges for once again nominating us in the Best Podcast category
But that’s enough preamble. Lightning Time is here!
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you! The book has been written. The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Pelgrane Press is terrified to announce that Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game, is now live on Kickstarter. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Then we rev up Ken’s Time Machine to find out why our resident chrono-agent prevented sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi from building a lamp-wielding lady at the Suez Canal.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you! The book has been written. The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Pelgrane Press is terrified to announce that Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game, is now live on Kickstarter. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
In the Gaming Hut we find ways to design compelling consequences, with a particular nod toward Robin’s recent work on GUMSHOE One-2-One and The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
The Tradecraft Hut provides a briefing requested by Patreon backer Stephen Brandon: given the recent Reality Winner case, what can player characters do to avoid her mistakes and leak confidently to the media?
Ask Ken and Robin celebrates Canada Day alongside backer Jake Cotter, who asks for recommendations for running a CanCon game.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!
The book has been written. The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Pelgrane Press is terrified to announce that Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game, is now live on Kickstarter.
Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Episode 247: So Fair It Shines as a Marketing Quote
Stare! Stare my friends, into the most psychically destablizing hat of all. For this week Among My Many Hats has the Yellow Sign neatly embroidered upon it, and you know what that means: Robin’s new GUMSHOE project for Pelgrane Press, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game, is Kickstarting now. Ken hangs onto his last Composure point as he asks Robin all about it.
At the triple command of Patreon backer Rafael Pabst, the Book Hut takes a look at the mythic work of Robert Graves.
A simple yet elusive question confronts us in the Gaming Hut. Half-elves: what’s their deal?
Finally Patreon backer Tim Vert knows who he’s gonna call. He asks the Consulting Occultist to tell us all about Harry Houdini’s ghostbusters.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!
The book has been written. The book has been read. Now it rewrites you.
Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them.
Pelgrane Press is terrified to announce that Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game, is now live on Kickstarter.
Saddle up! Askfageln’s Western is now shooting it out at the Kickstarter corral! Play desperate desperadoes, merciless mercenaries, courageous native warriors and brimstone-tinged preachers in a time and place in need of heroes.
John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Special Dire Announcement: The Yellow King Roleplaying Game is Now on Kickstarter
We interrupt the tranquility of your regular podcast subscription feed to riff briefly on some long anticipated yet terrifying news. The Yellow King Roleplaying Game, which Robin has been covertly promoting for many months, is now up for your decadent assessment on Kickstarter. We’ll be back in Friday to discuss it in detail, but we knew you would want to be woken from your febrile absinthe dreams to scoot on over to Kickstarter and claim those all-important firsties. And don’t worry–you can’t see the Yellow Sign in audio!
Uh-oh, looks like Robin wants to introduce another term of art into the RPG design lexicon. Ken joins him in the Gaming Hut to consider system humility.
Transfixed by the hypnotic gaze of Patreon backer Andrea Coletta, we shuffle into the History Hut to reveal all on the Rasputin phenomenon, as most recently echoed by a juicy South Korean political scandal.
In Ask Ken and Robin we imbibe a query from backer Wayne about PC and GMC intoxication in roleplaying games.
Then we stand in proximity to Ken’s Time Machine as backer Sam Harris wants the truth on Gregor MacGregor’s Poyais Scheme.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you! Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now shipping at the Pelgrane Press store.
Saddle up! Askfageln’s Western is now shooting it out at the Kickstarter corral! Play desperate desperadoes, merciless mercenaries, courageous native warriors and brimstone-tinged preachers in a time and place in need of heroes.
John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
A guy in a hat was going to tell us what was in the Gaming Hut this week, but then one of your PCs just shot him with a crossbow. That leaves us to figure out what to do when the players kill off their information sources.
In the Book Hut, Patreon backer Andy Young asks us to name the essential reference books for any KARTAS listener’s library.
Backer Frank Turfler Jr. uses Ask Ken and Robin to seek the secrets of the prodigious Hitean memory. Can we all learn his tricks, or would that require overly expensive multiclassing?
Finally the Eliptony Hut goes to the cottage, dipping its toes off the dock into a lovely lake, loch or bay as backers Darin DuMez and Doc Cross team up to demand some lake monster sightings.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you! Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now shipping at the Pelgrane Press store.
Saddle up! Askfageln’s Western is now shooting it out at the Kickstarter corral! Play desperate desperadoes, merciless mercenaries, courageous native warriors and brimstone-tinged preachers in a time and place in need of heroes.
John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
We knew you were going to join us in the Gaming Hut, where we answer Patreon backer Bret Kramer’s question on running omniscient GMCs as allies or enemies of the player characters.
In the Food Hut we look at cocktails, subject of a recently concluded quest by Robin.
The Tradecraft Hut goes Gallic with the 101 on French intelligence services.
Finally the Consulting Occultist looks at the arcane geography of 1930s Los Angeles times as manipulated by L.A. Times publisher Harry Chandler and revealed in the pages of Cthulhu Confidential.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you! Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now shipping at the Pelgrane Press store.
Saddle up! Askfageln’s Western is now shooting it out at the Kickstarter corral! Play desperate desperadoes, merciless mercenaries, courageous native warriors and brimstone-tinged preachers in a time and place in need of heroes.
John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
We know you want to hear about it, so Among Our Many Hats digs into the announcement that a certain Ken Hite will serve as lead designer for the new edition of Vampire: the Masquerade.
But that’s not all the hats! Then Robin looks at ways to use the Story Beats web app, which allows you to easily create narrative maps as seen in Hamlet’s Hit Points and his upcoming Beating the Story.
In an Ace Double of a segment, the Tradecraft Hut provides a backgrounder on the Trump intel spill. Then we sashay to a timeline next door to Meet Senator Hite and see what, if anything, he plans to do about it.
And when Ken was in Berlin getting his fangs fitted, he took time out to visit a museum. Hence, the Consulting Occultist recounts the wonders of the alchemy exhibit at the Kulturforum.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you! Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now shipping at the Pelgrane Press store. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
The Gaming Hut has a thatched roof this time out as we riff a cast of pseudo-medieval villagers for your next F20.
In The Business of Gaming we puzzle the mystery of the generic supplement.
In the Food Hut we look at foodstuffs as treasure.
Finally we pry open the bars of the Eliptony Hut for the story of Lulu Hurst, the Wonder of Georgia, who in the 1880s claimed that she gained superhuman strength through contact with the Force.
In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now shipping at the Pelgrane Press store.
Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Episode 241: New Hampshire’s Second Most Famous Notch
In the Gaming Hut we look at premise rejection from a player perspective. How do you catch yourself doing it, and how do you find your way through it?
We crawl over to the Cinema Hut to discuss the motifs of the war movie and how they’re adjusting to contemporary conflicts.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Ken speaks with Keisha Howard of Sugargamers.
Then we’re in for a rocky Ken’s Time Machine as Patreon backer Allen Wilkins asks our hero to fess up about his involvement in collapsing New Hampshire’s Old Man of the Mountain rock formation.
Like Ken and Robin themselves, The White Box, from Atlas Games and Gameplaywright, is all about making games. Professor of the gaming arts Jeremy Holcomb gives you all the deep knowledge, wooden bits, plastic discs, and punchboard tokens you need to take the game that’s in your head and make it a reality. Make it all the more awesome by supporting the White Box Kickstarter. Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now shipping at the Pelgrane Press store. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Our second consecutive all-request episode kicks off in the Gaming Hut, as Ray Slakinksi asks for tips on running Night’s Black Agents at conventions.
In the History Hut Andy Young wants to know about the Mythos truth behind the death of legendary Canadian painter Tom Thomson.
Rick Neal uses the kind offices of Ask Ken and Robin to find out about geek-friendly destinations in Toronto and Chicago.
Then get ready to grab your picket signs as our Tell Me More segment enlists the Consulting Occultist for a look at the secret occult history of the epic battle between urban planner Robert Moses and the writer Jane Jacobs over the fate of Greenwich Village.
Like Ken and Robin themselves, The White Box, from Atlas Games and Gameplaywright, is all about making games. Professor of the gaming arts Jeremy Holcomb gives you all the deep knowledge, wooden bits, plastic discs, and punchboard tokens you need to take the game that’s in your head and make it a reality. Make it all the more awesome by supporting the White Box Kickstarter.
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Another all-request episode kicks off in the Gaming Hut, as Stewart Robertson asks how to make a BSM (Big Science McGuffin) integral to a game series.
The History Hut, takes on a yurt-like configuration as Morgan Ellis demands the scoop on the Mad Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg.
Joshua Hillerup convenes an installment of Ask Ken and Robin to wonder how “Gotham” might inspire a series in which a transformational hero becomes an iconic hero.
Which leaves Kevin J. Maroney waiting patiently in the Eliptony Hut for a profile of Roger Babson, the wealthy purveyor of sensible investment advice who set up a foundation to battle man’s enemy number one: gravity.
Like Ken and Robin themselves, The White Box, from Atlas Games and Gameplaywright, is all about making games. Professor of the gaming arts Jeremy Holcomb gives you all the deep knowledge, wooden bits, plastic discs, and punchboard tokens you need to take the game that’s in your head and make it a reality. Make it all the more awesome by supporting the White Box Kickstarter.
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store.
Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Wish to introduce innocent children to the horror of the Mythos, while remaining on budget? Atlas Games is here to affordably twist young minds with a buy two, get one free deal on Ken’s Mini Mythos line of childrens’ book parodies: Where the Deep Ones Are, Goodnight Azathoth, Cliffourd the Big Red God, and Antarctic Express.
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Episode 237: You Can’t Be a Martyr and Have It Coming
Wish to introduce innocent children to the horror of the Mythos, while remaining on budget? Atlas Games is here to affordably twist young minds with a buy two, get one free deal on Ken’s Mini Mythos line of childrens’ book parodies: Where the Deep Ones Are, Goodnight Azathoth, Cliffourd the Big Red God, and Antarctic Express.
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Episode 236: Not on the Front Page of the Literature
Get ready to argue logistics as the Gaming Hut considers player planning. When is it prelude to play, and when is it play?
The Crime Blotter opens one of the most famous cold cases of all: the Black Dahlia murder.
Ask Ken and Robin features a query from Patreon backer Padriag Griffin about the plausibility of hidden societies of vampires or wizards in a world of pervasive surveillance.
Finally the Eliptony Hut catches up on some recent news as we ask why a member of the Moorish sovereign citizen movement might be messing with Yig’s digs in Moundville.
Wish to introduce innocent children to the horror of the Mythos, while remaining on budget? Atlas Games is here to affordably twist young minds with a buy two, get one free deal on Ken’s Mini Mythos line of childrens’ book parodies: Where the Deep Ones Are, Goodnight Azathoth, Cliffourd the Big Red God, and Antarctic Express. Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
In the Gaming Hut Patreon backer Joan Guardiet asks us to make a game set in a warrior woman society work for a party of male PCs.
Speaking of requests, in Ask Ken and Robin backer Kalin Kadiev seeks tips on researching Bulgarian occultism.
Tell Me More teams up with the Cartography Hut for a tour of cursed places.
And in a switcheroo, Robin dons the smoking jacket of the Consulting Occultist as we look at the cultists and gurus of 1930s L.A., as seen in Cthulhu Confidential.
Wish to introduce innocent children to the horror of the Mythos, while remaining on budget? Atlas Games is here to affordably twist young minds with a buy two, get one free deal on Ken’s Mini Mythos line of childrens’ book parodies: Where the Deep Ones Are, Goodnight Azathoth, Cliffourd the Big Red God, and Antarctic Express.
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
We creep into the Gaming Hut at the command of Patreon backer Alexander Permann, who assigns us the mission of envisioning a Night’s Black Agents spinoff featuring the Kingdom of Asturias.
In a joint session of the Horror Hut and our Tell Me More feature, we look at that crowdsourced urban legend, Slenderman.
Robin vents in the Narrative Hut about one of his least favorite terms: plot immunity.
Then Ken’s Time Machine takes to the chrono-skies as Patreon backer Bruce Miller (no relation) asks about the fatal final flight of bandleader and WWII pilot Glenn Miller.
Wish to introduce innocent children to the horror of the Mythos, while remaining on budget? Atlas Games is here to affordably twist young minds with a buy two, get one free deal on Ken’s Mini Mythos line of childrens’ book parodies: Where the Deep Ones Are, Goodnight Azathoth, Cliffourd the Big Red God, and Antarctic Express.
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Episode 233: It’s Peter Framptons All the Way Down
Wish to introduce innocent children to the horror of the Mythos, while remaining on budget? Atlas Games is here to affordably twist young minds with a buy two, get one free deal on Ken’s Mini Mythos line of childrens’ book parodies: Where the Deep Ones Are, Goodnight Azathoth, Cliffourd the Big Red God, and Antarctic Express.
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
The Gaming Hut may seem friendly and bucolic, but this time it’s full of danger, as we riff a cast of conspiratorial small town NPCs.
Take your seat and suppress your coughing as the Culture Hut gets classical. Patreon backer Noel Warford asks us for the scoop on such theosophically influenced composers as Henry Cowell, Dane Rudhyar and Leo Ornstein.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Patreon backer Ronan Kennedy seeks advice on running an NPC as a member of the party.
Then we enter the Eliptony Hut, which has been outfitted with an orgone accumulator for our discussion of Wilhelm Reich.
Wish to introduce innocent children to the horror of the Mythos, while remaining on budget? Atlas Games is here to affordably twist young minds with a buy two, get one free deal on Ken’s Mini Mythos line of childrens’ book parodies: Where the Deep Ones Are, Goodnight Azathoth, Cliffourd the Big Red God, and Antarctic Express. Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Episode 231: Please Compensate For Our Brutal Incompetence
The Hoary Hosts of Patreon backer Elias Helfer command the opening of the Gaming Hut! Therein we shall describe ways to portray weird and magnficent landscapes like those seen in the Doctor Strange movie in roleplaying sessions!
Backer Alex Johnston penetrates the vaunted infosec of the Tradecraft Hut to demand our dossier on Nikolai Vavilov and the Nazi bio-pirates.
You’d think this would be the last segment, but nonetheless How To Write Good looks at crafting climactic sequences.
Then backer Jacob Ansari meets the Consulting Occultist at the baggage carousel to ask about the sorcerous significance of the Denver International Airport.
Wish to introduce innocent children to the horror of the Mythos, while remaining on budget? Atlas Games is here to affordably twist young minds with a buy two, get one free deal on Ken’s Mini Mythos line of childrens’ book parodies: Where the Deep Ones Are, Cliffourd the Big Red God, Goodnight Azathoth and Antarctic Express.
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Know us by our funny voices and exaggerated mannerisms as we meet in the Gaming Hut to discuss what makes a Game Master character easy to play.
Grab a mojito and light a fine cigar as Ken supplies a Travel Advisory on his recent jaunt to Cuba.
It’s Oscar time, and you know what that means. Months after the rest of the critical world, we take our seats in the Cinema Hut to reveal our Top Ten Movie lists for 2016.
Wish to introduce innocent children to the horror of the Mythos, while remaining on budget? Atlas Games is here to affordably twist young minds with a buy two, get one free deal on Ken’s Mini Mythos line of childrens’ book parodies: Where the Deep Ones Are, Cliffourd the Big Red God, and Antarctic Express.
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Episode 229: Your Perspective on Trees and Badgers
The Gaming Hut stands at the service of Patreon backer Vince Arebalo’s son Dax, who asks for tips on getting comfortable around unfamiliar fellow players.
The CIA has finally put its trove of declassified historical documents in a readily accessible online database. In the Tradecraft Hut we find out what Ken searched for first.
Backer Jeremiah Genest commands the opening of the Narrative Hut to talk about political horror, and what distinguishes itself from its better known cousin, the political thriller.
Finally at the behest of backer Doc Cross we take a trip in Ken’s Time Machine to meet the most august Emperor Norton I of San Francisco.
Sleepers awake, and travel through the secret pathways of the occulted world to preorder the new edition of Unknown Armies from Atlas Games. From the deluxe printed edition to ebooks in a variety of formats, the weird wonders of UA beckon!
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Episode 228: I Assume Someone Has Blood-Typed All the Monkeys
In the Gaming Hut we ask ourselves how far rules and GM influence should go to prevent the players from idiot plotting their own characters.
Speaking of gaming the system, esteemed Patreon backer Jeremy Forbing acts as a stalking horse for a certain shadowy figure to convene the Politics Hut. With a mysterious knowledge of Ken’s thought processes, Jeremy asks for his theory on how Trump will destroy the Republican party.
On the Crime Blotter we find a report about Los Angeles organized crime in 1937, which just coincidentally happens to feature in Cthulhu Confidential.
Finally at the behest of backer and Hillfolk illustrator Jan Pospisil, the Eliptony Hut considers the connection between Rhesus blood factor and survivors of Atlantis.
Sleepers awake, and travel through the secret pathways of the occulted world to preorder the new edition of Unknown Armies from Atlas Games. From the deluxe printed edition to ebooks in a variety of formats, the weird wonders of UA beckon!
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Another all-request episode starts in the Gaming Hut, where Patreon backer Gerald Sear wants us to consider the Mythos implications of the Disney corporation.
Then assemble your miniature greenhouses and sail over to the History Hut, where we make up interesting facts about botanist and tea smuggler Robert Fortune at the behest of backer Steve Sick.
Backer Theron Bretz revs up the projector in the Cinema Hut, as we tackle Spy Movies 101.
Then the Consulting Occultist unfurls some alchemical wisdom on a Paul Tevis request for the skinny on the Ripley Scrolls.
Sleepers awake, and travel through the secret pathways of the occulted world to preorder the new edition of Unknown Armies from Atlas Games. From the deluxe printed edition to ebooks in a variety of formats, the weird wonders of UA beckon!
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Episode 226: Yig is More of a Moundsville Ohio Guy
A surrealist sandbox and a structured mystery make a date in the Gaming Hut, as Josh Rose asks how to run Dreamhounds of Paris as a GUMSHOE One-2-One setting.
Given that the world has turned into a spy novel, and not a particularly believable one at that, maybe it’s time to duck into the Tradecraft Hut for an update on espionage in the news.
Ask Ken and Robin features a demand for parity from Drew Clowery, who wants a “how Robin runs games” segment to go with its Ken equivalent from Episode 220.
Finally Eben Lindsey asks us to rev up Ken’s Time Machine to reveal the fate of Cahokia, the North American city that suffered mass abandonment circa 1400.
Sleepers awake, and travel through the secret pathways of the occulted world to preorder the new edition of Unknown Armies from Atlas Games. From the deluxe printed edition to ebooks in a variety of formats, the weird wonders of UA beckon!
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Patreon backer Zachary Joyner poses some Gaming Hut questions about improvising a GUMSHOE game. How quickly do you give out clues? How do you maintain pace without leading the players?
Though our latest trip to London has faded into the mist of nostalgia, we would be remiss not to paw through the books Ken raided while there, in another edition of Ken’s Bookshelf.
Still on a bibliophilic note, Ask Ken and Robin fulfills the desires of backer Christopher Kalley for the secret scoop on our personal libraries.
Finally we enlist the Consulting Occultist to reveal the esoteric weirdness lurking in your bowl of Chex cereal, as he tells all about Ralstonism.
Sleepers awake, and travel through the secret pathways of the occulted world to preorder the new edition of Unknown Armies from Atlas Games. From the deluxe printed edition to ebooks in a variety of formats, the weird wonders of UA beckon!
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Episode 224: Without Checking, Because That Spoils the Fun
Gather in the Gaming Hut as we ask ourselves when one should take historical license when running or designing a game set in the real past. Spoiler: we also answer ourselves.
In the Book Hut, Patreon backers Scott Haring and Kalin team up to demand a rundown on the works of Tim Powers.
Sorting one’s research is an important part of How to Write Good, and thanks to a question from backer Trung Bui we discuss our methods for whipping it into shape.
Finally, at the behest of backer Vana Stillwater, we pop into the Eliptony Hut to make up, er, uncover reasons behind the perhaps mysterious demise of cryptozoologist Tom Slick.
Sleepers awake, and travel through the secret pathways of the occulted world to preorder the new edition of Unknown Armies from Atlas Games. From the deluxe printed edition to ebooks in a variety of formats, the weird wonders of UA beckon!
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store.
Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
The contents of this podcast become too horrible to correlate as we slip into the Gaming Hut to answer a question from Patreon backer Laurel Halbany about handling secret mythos knowledge in an age of ever-present information.
In Ask Ken and Robin, backer Jeff Kahrs ask us to expound on the contradictions of opting out of challenging or uncomfortable subject matter at the gaming table.
Then Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, in the ever so irrepressible form of Burning Wheel and Torchbearer designer Luke Crane. Warning: adorably sweary.
Finally the Consulting Occultist, somewhat to his surprise, realizes he has yet to tell us about Eliphas Levi, and so tells us about Eliphas Levi.
Sleepers awake, and travel through the secret pathways of the occulted world to preorder the new edition of Unknown Armies from Atlas Games. From the deluxe printed edition to ebooks in a variety of formats, the weird wonders of UA beckon!
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store.
Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Finally, after ceding all recent chapeaus to Ken, Robin seizes control of Among My Many Hats to talk about Cthulhu Confidential and the design of the GUMSHOE One-2-One system. Because it’s finally up for pre-order over at the Pelgrane store.
While we’re mulling Cthulhu Confidential, Ken and/or Robin Talks To Someone Else has a word with Chris Spivey, creator of that book’s African American science investigator Langston Wright. And what fine timing, as Chris’ exciting new GUMSHOE project Harlem Unbound is currently Kickstarting.
Then Ken presents us with a thick layer of rant between two slices of bread, as he calls us to order in the Food Hut to tell us how to make a damn sandwich.
Finally our hero, perhaps still spackled with mayo, tries not to look too tasty to large felines as Ken’s Time Machine fulfills a John Kingdon request for the real truth behind the hungry hungry lions of Tsavo.
Sleepers awake, and travel through the secret pathways of the occulted world to preorder the new edition of Unknown Armies from Atlas Games. From the deluxe printed edition to ebooks in a variety of formats, the weird wonders of UA beckon!
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store.
Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
If it’s December, Ken and Robin must be coming to you live from Dragonmeet, the little London convention that isn’t so little any more. Join us as Ken emerges triumphant from a draw of the nerdtrope deck that definitely, definitely happened exactly just as Robin describes it. Plus red herrings, steak, and more stupid gnomes. Also in a Dragonmeet tradition, the f-bomb gets dropped–and the dropper might surprise you!
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card. Do intervals between Ken’s Time Machine segments leave you listless, bored, and itchy? Then you’re in luck, because TimeWatch, the wild and woolly GUMSHOE game of chrono-hopping adventure has now blasted its way into our reality. Brought to you by master of over-the-top fast-paced fun Kevin Kulp and our reality-maintaining overlords at Pelgrane Press. For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
In the Gaming Hut, urged on by Patreon backer Fred Kiesche, Ken takes us under the hood of his Rex of the Old 97 campaign. What does he do behind that Peter Frampton GM screen, and how does he do it?
But stranger requests await us still! Patreon backer Jeromy French convenes a meeting in the Culture Hut, where Robin talks about the Toronto music scene. Listen to his Toronto playlist on Spotify.
Next we delve into everyone’s new favorite four syllable word, as the History Hut serves up some backstory on the Emoluments Clause.
Then once again we find ourselves in the shadowy environs of the Conspiracy Corner, as Patreon backer Leandro Ugarte wants us to explain where Juan Peron’s hands went.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card.
Do intervals between Ken’s Time Machine segments leave you listless, bored, and itchy? Then you’re in luck, because TimeWatch, the wild and woolly GUMSHOE game of chrono-hopping adventure has now blasted its way into our reality. Brought to you by master of over-the-top fast-paced fun Kevin Kulp and our reality-maintaining overlords at Pelgrane Press. For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!
Dirk the Dice rolls into the Gaming Hut to ask us how to make sword and sorcery monster encounters exciting.
Don’t believe a word you hear in the Conspiracy Corner, as we look at the history and evolution of propaganda.
Expand your consciousness in the Cinema Hut, where backers Andrew Collins and Adam Grotjohn invite us to rap about visionary filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Keep a careful watch as the Consulting Occultist whispers of Les Veilleurs, an Parisian occult group founded in the final days of WWI.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card. Do intervals between Ken’s Time Machine segments leave you listless, bored, and itchy? Then you’re in luck, because TimeWatch, the wild and woolly GUMSHOE game of chrono-hopping adventure has now blasted its way into our reality. Brought to you by master of over-the-top fast-paced fun Kevin Kulp and our reality-maintaining overlords at Pelgrane Press. For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook or Delta Green: Need to Know, the quick start rules set with extra-sturdy Handler’s Screen.
Patreon backer Michael Kotschi pops a moony question over the Ask Ken and Robin transom, prompting us to look at 70s NASA from a Moon Dust Men perspective.
The Politics Hut still has a hangover, but I guess we still have to address that thing that happened.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, Ken talks to blogger, podcaster, freshly minted game designer and snailologist Darcy Ross.
Is the Eliptony Hut an odd place to talk about the Sybil case? The answer might surprise you!
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card. Do intervals between Ken’s Time Machine segments leave you listless, bored, and itchy? Then you’re in luck, because TimeWatch, the wild and woolly GUMSHOE game of chrono-hopping adventure has now blasted its way into our reality. Brought to you by master of over-the-top fast-paced fun Kevin Kulp and our reality-maintaining overlords at Pelgrane Press. For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook or Delta Green: Need to Know, the quick start rules set with extra-sturdy Handler’s Screen.
Patreon backer Ethan Cordray rises from the Pacific waves of Ask Ken and Robin to pose a stumper: how to make Cthulhu scary again.
Ken is back from an extended sequester in the Cinema Hut to talk about his favorites from the Chicago International Film Festival.
Once more we learn How to Write Good, this time with a look at authorial commentary.
Our hero saves America again as a Ken’s Time Machine after-action report details Timothy Pickering’s attempted New England secession of 1804, posed by Patreon backer Paul. Correction Hut: Ken is mortified that he got the XYZ Affair mixed up with the Citizen Genet affair, but rest assured they both involved the French and influence-peddling, so both the larger history and the jokes still work.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card. Do intervals between Ken’s Time Machine segments leave you listless, bored, and itchy? Then you’re in luck, because TimeWatch, the wild and woolly GUMSHOE game of chrono-hopping adventure has now blasted its way into our reality. Brought to you by master of over-the-top fast-paced fun Kevin Kulp and our reality-maintaining overlords at Pelgrane Press. For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook or Delta Green: Need to Know, the quick start rules set with extra-sturdy Handler’s Screen.
This week the Gaming Hut holds a special surprise: it’s not just a segment, but a free game in and of itself, as Robin teaches you how to run Death Spiral.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Reiner Dobbelman asks us about mythic-level play.
Then we again hear the protesting groans of Ken’s Bookshelf as we vicariously paw through his haul from his latest raid on Powell’s Books in Portland.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card. Do intervals between Ken’s Time Machine segments leave you listless, bored, and itchy? Then you’re in luck, because TimeWatch, the wild and woolly GUMSHOE game of chrono-hopping adventure has now blasted its way into our reality. Brought to you by master of over-the-top fast-paced fun Kevin Kulp and our reality-maintaining overlords at Pelgrane Press. For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Among My Many Hats blows the lid off of Ken’s upcoming Kickstarter for a revised, revamped, and reanimated Tour de Lovecraft: the Tales.
Are the results of this podcast rigged? Find out as the History Hut looks at the history of vote-rigging in America.
When Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, sometimes that someone is Sandy Petersen, of Cthulhu Wars, Chaosium and Doom fame. This is one of those times.
Finally we open up the Horror Hut to entertain a query from Padraig Griffin, who needs to know about the precise sort of alchemy Dracula practiced. We won’t ask him why he does, because he’s a Patreon backer and so deserves the absolute benefit of the doubt.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card. Do intervals between Ken’s Time Machine segments leave you listless, bored, and itchy? Then you’re in luck, because TimeWatch, the wild and woolly GUMSHOE game of chrono-hopping adventure has now blasted its way into our reality. Brought to you by master of over-the-top fast-paced fun Kevin Kulp and our reality-maintaining overlords at Pelgrane Press. For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
The Gaming Hut looks at top temporal locations for TimeWatch scenarios. Pelgrane Press celebrates our segment by offering you, the listener, a voucher code to order from its online store. Plunk in TIMEWATCH at the voucher prompt for 10% off any TimeWatch product. In keeping with the chronological confusion of TimeWatch, the offer is good for a limited but indeterminate time period, so act fast, before it shimmers away into nothingness.
Next up Robin issues a Travel Advisory for his trip to THE KRAKEN, a Gaming Retreat held at the Schloss Neuhausen in the rural depths of the former East Germany.
Its founder Fabian Kuechler can tell us more about the unusual history that led to THE KRAKEN, so in Ken and/Robin Talk To Someone Else, we get him to do just that.
Ken also spent his time since our last recording session on the road, occasioning a jaunt into the Cinema Hut for a review of the latest H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card. Do intervals between Ken’s Time Machine segments leave you listless, bored, and itchy? Then you’re in luck, because TimeWatch, the wild and woolly GUMSHOE game of chrono-hopping adventure has now blasted its way into our reality. Brought to you by master of over-the-top fast-paced fun Kevin Kulp and our reality-maintaining overlords at Pelgrane Press. For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Episode 213: I Would Have Been On the Other Side of That
A fork in the road leads to either the Gaming Hut, or the Gaming Hut, as we look at those times when giving players choice and control in a scenario leads to a less interesting outcome.
The History Hut has us looking at the career of oil magnate E.L. Doheny, key figure in the Teapot Dome scandal and partial inspiration for Daniel Plainview in There Might Be Blood.
Then Ken and/or Robin Talk To Somebody Else, specifically Epidiah Ravachol of Dread and Worlds Without Master fame.
We conclude with the Consulting Occultist talking about Jakob Böhme, trying to convince Robin that there is something of interest to be gleaned from yet another Christian mystic.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card. Do intervals between Ken’s Time Machine segments leave you listless, bored, and itchy? Then you’re in luck, because TimeWatch, the wild and woolly GUMSHOE game of chrono-hopping adventure has now blasted its way into our reality. Brought to you by master of over-the-top fast-paced fun Kevin Kulp and our reality-maintaining overlords at Pelgrane Press. For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
We kick off another episode inspired entirely by Patreon backer requests with John Corey, who asks Ken to expand on real history as the best setting for gaming and the challenges of reskinning it, thus inviting another round of That Thing I Always Say.
The enigmatic asker known only as Bryan ushers into the Horror Hut to consider Lovecraftian spam.
In the Tradecraft Hut, Simon Hedge requests a 101 on Kremlinology.
And Neil Dalton poses a probing question in the Eliptony Hut, about horror writer, UFO contactee and podcaster Whitley Strieber.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card. Do intervals between Ken’s Time Machine segments leave you listless, bored, and itchy? Then you’re in luck, because TimeWatch, the wild and woolly GUMSHOE game of chrono-hopping adventure has now blasted its way into our reality. Brought to you by master of over-the-top fast-paced fun Kevin Kulp and our reality-maintaining overlords at Pelgrane Press. For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Unfurl your flags as we gather in the Gaming Hut to envision an F20 game in which nationalities take the place of alignments.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Patreon backer Jason Breti asks us to talk about Microscope.
How to Write Good looks at things that happen in real life that writers have to work extra hard to put across in fiction.
Finally, Ken’s Time Machine obeys backer Shane McLean’s demands for information on our hero’s interactions with Thomas Bloodworth in the early stages of London’s Great Fire.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card.
Do intervals between Ken’s Time Machine segments leave you listless, bored, and itchy? Then you’re in luck, because TimeWatch, the wild and woolly GUMSHOE game of chrono-hopping adventure has now blasted its way into our reality. Brought to you by master of over-the-top fast-paced fun Kevin Kulp and our reality-maintaining overlords at Pelgrane Press.
For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Much tabletop roleplaying advice, ours included, helps GMs to keep players entertained. But what about the other way around? Thanks to Patreon backer Jesse Morgan, we head into the Gaming Hut to look at ways to keep your GM motivated.
Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else covers not one but two areas of expertise, as Hal Mangold delivers the wisdom on art direction and layout. The favorite font he says we’ll reveal in the show notes is 806 Typography.
Then in a special double-length screening session in the Cinema Hut, Robin reveals his discoveries from this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. For films glossed over in the segment, see his capsule review round-up.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card. Do intervals between Ken’s Time Machine segments leave you listless, bored, and itchy? Then you’re in luck, because TimeWatch, the wild and woolly GUMSHOE game of chrono-hopping adventure has now blasted its way into our reality. Brought to you by master of over-the-top fast-paced fun Kevin Kulp and our reality-maintaining overlords at Pelgrane Press. For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Take a reality check before you dare to enter the Gaming Hut, as we answer Patreon backer Bryan’s request to devise a campaign based on flawed perceptions.
Time for another intro course in the Cinema Hut as Ken and Robin give your their film noir 101.
Coriander meets pate as the Food Hut investigates the banh mi, a sandwich whose flavors are as complex as its history.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine revs up at the behest of backer Rick Neal, who wants to know just what was up when Jack Parsons met L. Ron Hubbard to attempt the Babylon Working.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card. Do intervals between Ken’s Time Machine segments leave you listless, bored, and itchy? Then you’re in luck, because TimeWatch, the wild and woolly GUMSHOE game of chrono-hopping adventure has now blasted its way into our reality. Brought to you by master of over-the-top fast-paced fun Kevin Kulp and our reality-maintaining overlords at Pelgrane Press. For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Robin is away at the Toronto International Film festival, and longtime listeners know what that means: it’s time to cover his absence from the podcast mic to drop the live episode we released at Gen Con. Join us for another glorious nerdtrope, a big hand for all our Patreon backers, and all the questions a packed audience (a cramped audience frankly) can pack into one 50-minute time slot! Support the KARTAS Patreon!
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card.
Do intervals between Ken’s Time Machine segments leave you listless, bored, and itchy? Then you’re in luck, because TimeWatch, the wild and woolly GUMSHOE game of chrono-hopping adventure has now blasted its way into our reality. Brought to you by master of over-the-top fast-paced fun Kevin Kulp and our reality-maintaining overlords at Pelgrane Press.
For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Our 207th installment starts on a tripartite note as Patreon backer Andrew Young pops his head into the Gaming Hut to ask about the pertinence of three-act structure in roleplaying scenarios.
Speaking of Andrews, the Tradecraft Hut opens the case file on East German spymaster Markus Wolf, at the behest of backer Andrew Collins.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, we invite Jeff Tidball to reveal all about Atlas Games’ upcoming GUMSHOE game set in Ars Magica’s Mythic Europe.
Having left a suitable interval for you all to finish your binge-watching, we then turn on the Television Hut for a much-requested chat about “Stranger Things.”
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card.
Do intervals between Ken’s Time Machine segments leave you listless, bored, and itchy? Then you’re in luck, because TimeWatch, the wild and woolly GUMSHOE game of chrono-hopping adventure has now blasted its way into our reality. Brought to you by master of over-the-top fast-paced fun Kevin Kulp and our reality-maintaining overlords at Pelgrane Press.
For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Rules get hybridized in the Gaming Hut, at the behest of Patreon backer Jason Carter, who wants to fuse GUMSHOE’s investigative rules with the combat systems of other games, say for example Feng Shui.
The man who shot Billy the Kid was himself killed in a dispute over goats. Coincidence? The History Hut looks at the killing of Pat Garrett.
Learn the secret of scoring your RPG sessions with music from writer and game designer Will Hindmarch, as Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else.
Finally, erect your anti-wolf defenses as the Eliptony Hut tells the hair-raising tale of the Beast of Gevaudan.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card.
Do intervals between Ken’s Time Machine segments leave you listless, bored, and itchy? Then you’re in luck, because TimeWatch, the wild and woolly GUMSHOE game of chrono-hopping adventure has now blasted its way into our reality. Brought to you by master of over-the-top fast-paced fun Kevin Kulp and our reality-maintaining overlords at Pelgrane Press.
For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Get your dice and character sheets together and head on into the Gaming Hut as we field Patreon backer Gnoll Warford’s question about preparing as a first-time convention GM.
In How To Write Good, we slake patron Corey Pierno’s desire to know our writing and researching routines.
When Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, that someone else turns out to be Emily Care Boss, whose classic games of personal interaction have now been collected as the Romance Trilogy. Pre-order it now!
Then Ken’s Time Machine revs up to answer a question from Patreon backer Drew Clowery—can Ken use his time knowledge to finally reveal the identity of the Culper Ring’s Agent 355?
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card. It’s hard to imagine that you listen to this show and have yet to check out The Dracula Dossier. But now that it has taken home Product of the Year and an oodle of other ENnie awards, perhaps you have remembered your blood thirst it. Time to drink deep of Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Voices weary and graveled, but with spirits lifted by ENnies Gold and Silver, Ken and Robin return from Gen Con to regale you with this year’s round-up of the Best Four Days in Gaming. As is our annual wont we throw separate segments to the wind to encompass all the Gaming Hut goodness. Sub-headings include the Diana Jones Awards, industry scuttlebutt, meetings with listeners, the fate of the show and of course, food. All that and much much more.
Thanks to our beloved ENnies voters for allowing us a three-peat, hanging yet another Gold medal around this podcast’s grateful neck.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card.
It’s hard to imagine that you listen to this show and have yet to check out The Dracula Dossier. But now that it has taken home Product of the Year and an oodle of other ENnie awards, perhaps you have remembered your blood thirst it. Time to drink deep of Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.
For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
In a special live from our hotel room episode, we inflate a portable Gaming Hut to field a question from Frent about catastrophe pile-ups in popular continuities.
The Tradecraft Hut looks at the implications of Russian intelligence’s hack of the Democratic National Committee emails. (See The Crusader, by Paul Kengor, pp. 317-320 for the full text of KGB head Viktor Chebrikov’s letter to Andropov about Ted Kennedy’s approaches to the Soviets about the 1984 election.)
Ken demanded it, so we did it—a Food Hut on that most exalted of fruits, the blueberry.
Thanks to Patreon backer Morgan Ellis, we have a Consulting Occultist topic Ken can field in his sleep and/or the day before a big show: ley lines.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card. Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Episode 202: While We’re On the Surface of the Freezing Sun
Another all-Patreon backer request episode kicks off in the Gaming Hut as Tom Abella asks what Brexit will do to spycraft in our world and that of Night’s Black Agents.
In The Business of Gaming Wesley Marshal asks about the ethics of working on an IP you don’t care for.
Karl Schmidt wants the Consulting Occultist to spill the astrological and alchemical beans on Rudolf II of the Holy Roman Empire.
Then finally it’s time for another installment of Tell Me More, in which Ken and/or Robin expand their Ken and Robin Consume Media thoughts about Occupied, The Vampire Countess, and The Neon Demon.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card. Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Episode 201: You Don’t Need to Drag Pokemon Into It
Pokemon fever is back and more feverish than ever. As Pokemon Go breaks loose of the Gaming Hut, forcing players onto the actual streets, is there anything we can riff about it that reality hasn’t already delivered?
Ken watched every Dracula flick he could get his hands on, and now the result of that effort, The Thrill of Dracula, awaits your reading pleasure. We open Ken’s coffin to chat about it in Among My Many Hats.
Our amygdalas alert us to danger whenever we see an upside down triangle. In Fun With Science, we go behind the science to make up explanations for this peculiar phenomenon.
Finally, Patreon backer Jacob Ansari wants to know why Ken’s Time Machine was employed to obscure Palermo’s mysterious Blue Room aka Wonderland Chamber.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card.
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.
You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Let the bells ring out and the banners fly! We can remember starting this occasionally humble podcast like it was yesterday, but here we are with our 200th episode. And you know what that means: lightning round questions. This time, served up primarily by our Patreon backers. Among the many topics: underused Lovecraft, why conversion rules will always break your heart, and where huts come from, dealing with rules lawyers, and limes versus lemons.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card. Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Episode 199: Not That That’s What Time Travelers Say
In Ask Ken and Robin, Patreon backer Conrad Kinch asks what the cruel empire of Tsan-Chan might be up to in 5000 AD. The answer might surprise him!
Now that you’ve worked your way through the filmography we provided in our Westerns 101 segment, the Cinema Hut rides back to the corral to pick some deeper cuts. Yes, it’s Westerns 201.
Fun With Science tackles a question from supporter Antti Elomaa: “Aside from building Geiger-counters and scientific apparatii, what use could one have for pre-nuclear steel, main source of which is the German WWI fleet scuttled at Scapa Flow?”
Then we’re back in the parlor of the Consulting Occultist to hear the tale of reputed 16th century sorcerer Rinaldo des Trois-Echelles du Mayne.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card.
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.
You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Matters come to a head in the Gaming Hut, where we talk about writing scenario climaxes.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Patreon backer Eric Jeppesen asks Ken and Robin to help weave a campaign around 16th century English-Ottoman relations and the figure of Edward Barton.
Enterprising filmmakers tasked a deep learning neural net to write a short film screenplay for them, and this is the result. We step into the oh so analytical confines of the Narrative Hut to discuss its implications.
Finally supporter Paul S. Enns asks us to rev up Ken’s Time Machine for a look at the timeline where Richard Nixon went unpardoned for his involvement in the Watergate scandal.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card.
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.
You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this… Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. This episode also brought to you by Joe Dever’s Freeway Warrior, Kickstarting from now until July 7th. Survive the apocalypse with the blazing return of Joe Dever’s classic game books, now from Askfageln. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Patreon backer Philip asks for ways to incorporate the beat cycle from Robin’s book Hamlet’s Hit Points into game systems that don’t already support it.
The Tradecraft Hut peers into the dossier of Yakov Blumkin, the so-called Soviet James Bond.
We gather in the Gaming Hut to wonder why breaking the fourth wall was ever considered poor form.
Then we lurk our way to the Conspiracy Corner, where Patreon backer Darren Hennessy wants to know what we know about the Business Plot.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this… Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.
This episode also brought to you by Joe Dever’s Freeway Warrior, Kickstarting from now until July 7th. Survive the apocalypse with the blazing return of Joe Dever’s classic game books, now from Askfageln.
Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Patreon backer Trung Bui asks us to assemble in the Gaming Hut to tell him who the murderer is, and also to discuss the challenges of investigative scenario construction.
The gore runs thick but the design sense runs high as the Cinema Hut answers a Marc Kevin Hall request for an introduction to Italian horror films.
In the Culture Hut backer and Parisian dreamhound Josh Rose wants to know what the Communist Party would have looked like if it had embraced surrealism.
And hey, it’s another all request episode, as backer James Griffin quizes the Consulting Occultist on past life regression. Why isn’t it a thing any more?
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this… Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Episode 194: Knocking Off Early For Gin and Lemonade
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enrol you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free. Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free. Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
In the Gaming Hut we ponder a meta-terminology games designers might use to describe the purpose and function of the various sub-systems they build into roleplaying rules sets.
Now that Donald Trump has sewn up the Republican nomination, we head into the Politics Hut to ask Ken what happened to his party, and whether he thinks he’ll get it back after the election.
Installment Two of Tell Me More highlights three Ken and Robin Consume Media items our Patreon backers wanted to hear more about: Batman v. Superman, Ambrose Bierce, and The Burglar’s Guide to the City.
Finally the Consulting Occultist satisfies Patreon backer Allen Wilkins’ desire to hear about writer Alan Moore’s occult thought.
It’s yo ho ho and a pocketful of doubloons as Atlas Games surveys the seven seas from the crow’s nest that is our coveted anchor sponsor slot. Parrot on its shoulder, it orders up another special deal for Ken and Robin listeners, this time in the form of their innovative game of piratical nautical warfare, Pieces of Eight.
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.
You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Ghost Transit, Noir Identities and a Murderous Jigsaw Puzzle
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 our new podcast segment, Tell Me More.
Recommended
Les Cousins (Film, France, Claude Chabrol, 1959) Earnest student arrives in Paris to stay with his cousin, the theatrically overbearing center of a whirlwind party set, only to see him shack up with the young woman he’s fallen for. Like La Dolce Vita or Dazed and Confused, acutely portrays the rites and rhythms of an exuberant but fragile social scene.—RDL
The Ghost Network (Fiction, Catie Disabato, 2014) A Situationist pop icon vanishes in Chicago; her obsessed fan vanishes searching for her; the key seems to lie in the “ghost network” of lost or never-built Chicago subway and L lines. Disabato writes as the “editor” of another (imaginary) author’s non-fiction true crime book — so it’s a Situationist In Cold Blood metafiction about secret Chicago mass transit, so yes it’s written entirely for me. It could stand some punching up of character motivations, and two or three historical facts get badly mangled, but it’s still a heck of a first novel.–KH
H.H. Holmes Murder Castle Jigsaw Puzzle (Puzzle, Holly Carden, 2016) This 513-piece jigsaw puzzle depicts a cutaway of the legendary H.H. Holmes “Murder Castle” hotel in 1893 Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. Only moderately challenging as a jigsaw but ultimately quite absorbing as an art experience, especially one in which you have to keep asking “now, which expiring victim goes here”? –KH
Zero Focus (Film, Japan, Yoshitaro Nomura, 1962) Woman’s husband disappears one week into their marriage, sending her on an investigative journey to the bleak, snow-swept town where he was supposedly wrapping up some business affairs. Moody, noirish mystery knitted together by flashbacks, some of the Rashomon variety.–RDL
Good
Crooked (Fiction, Austin Grossman, 2015) The true and secret magical history of the Cold War, as told by Richard Nixon, our last sorcerer-president. The notes of near-Mythos occultism are excellent, as is the secret history by and large, but the temptation to caricature overwhelms Grossman to the detriment of character. For those into this kind of thing, the absurdist Hunter-Thompson-meets-HPL novel The Damned Highway by Brian Keene and Nick Mamatas did all of it better.—KH
The Crooked Way (Film, US, Robert Florey, 1949) Amnesiac war hero returning to L.A. in search of his identity discovers that he used to be a gangster and that his former accomplices are none too happy to have him back. Gives up on its existential themes in favor of standard procedural obstacles, but worth a look for great noir photography from John Alton and its use of Los Angeles locations.—RDL
The Doctor and the Devils (Film, US, Freddie Francis, 1985) Spurred by the needs of an arrogant pioneering anatomist (Timothy Dalton), a pair of vicious new entrants into the cadaver supply business (Jonathan Pryce, Stephen Rea) murder their way past the competition. Upscale fictionalization of the Burke and Hare from Hammer alum Francis revels in grotty Victoriansploitation, In the highly theatrical acting style that pervaded prestige dramas for in the late 70s and early 80s. Adapted by Ronald Harwood from a Dylan Thomas screenplay written in the 40s. —RDL
Legends of Tomorrow Season 1 (TV, CW, 2016) Renegade time agent recruits a ragtag band of superheroes and villains to stop an evil immortal from conquering history. Engaging characterizations and performances do much heavy lifting, compensating for wobbly structures, copious idiot plotting, and a miscast big bad who projects all the menace of a mumbling hamster.—RDL
It’s yo ho ho and a pocketful of doubloons as Atlas Games surveys the seven seas from the crow’s nest that is our coveted anchor sponsor slot. Parrot on its shoulder, it orders up another special deal for Ken and Robin listeners, this time in the form of their innovative game of piratical nautical warfare, Pieces of Eight. Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
From the magical land of sponsors comes Atlas Games, who with a twinkle of fairy dust revive their 2nd Edition Once Upon a Time clearance sale. Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook.
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.
You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
When you assemble your bug-out kit, make sure it includes a copy of Delta Green: Need to Know, the everything-you-need quickstart kick for the classic game of covert agents against the Cthulhu mythos, from our fine friends at Arc Dream Publishing.
Bend reality to your will, but be ready to pay the price, as Atlas Games’ Unknown Armies bubbles up from the supernatural underground for a weird and majestic new Kickstarter campaign. Now in its final hours! Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
When you assemble your bug-out kit, make sure it includes a copy of Delta Green: Need to Know, the everything-you-need quickstart kick for the classic game of covert agents against the Cthulhu mythos, from our fine friends at Arc Dream Publishing.
The Gaming Hut gets organized as we answer Patreon backer Samwise Crider’s question about tracking clues in GUMSHOE and other investigative games.
Backer Adam McDonald enters the Politics Hut for the 101 on machine politics—particularly that of Ken’s beloved Chicago.
Backer and colleague Hal Mangold grabs his popcorn in the Cinema Hut with his request for a getting started in Asian action movies segment.
Hey, it turns out to be another all-backer request episode, as Tennant Reed lurks in the Conspiracy Corner with his question about Italy’s P2 “Black Lodge” and its many associated tentacular crimes and mysteries.
Bend reality to your will, but be ready to pay the price, as Atlas Games’ Unknown Armies bubbles up from the supernatural underground for a weird and majestic new Kickstarter campaign. Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
When you assemble your bug-out kit, make sure it includes a copy of Delta Green: Need to Know, the everything-you-need quickstart kick for the classic game of covert agents against the Cthulhu mythos, from our fine friends at Arc Dream Publishing.
Episode 186: You Need Canapes To Have a Secret Society
Bend reality to your will, but be ready to pay the price, as Atlas Games’ Unknown Armies bubbles up from the supernatural underground for a weird and majestic new Kickstarter campaign. Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. If you’re like every roleplayer we know, you strive to outshine others in showing your love of dice. Well, now you can arouse the envy of friends and foes alike with Askfageln’s dazzling coffee table photo art book dedicated to all things pipped and many-sided, Dice: Rendezvous with Randomness. Luxuriate in the photo artistry of Mans Danneman. Grab the book or gorgeous prints through their Kickstarter!
When you assemble your bug-out kit, make sure it includes a copy of Delta Green: Need to Know, the everything-you-need quickstart kick for the classic game of covert agents against the Cthulhu mythos, from our fine friends at Arc Dream Publishing.
Among My Many Hats is an Egyptian headdress with a distinctly feline aspect, as Ken talks about his installment of Ken Writes About Stuff devoted to Bast.
The Gaming Hut looks at ways to write scenarios to present the information about Game Master Characters GMs need to run their games.
Thanks to Patreon Patron Jeff Kahrs, the Tradecraft Hut finally gets around to that segment on Kim Philby it’s had on the to-do list since forever.
And finally, Ask Ken and Robin fulfills the desire of Kolbe and other Patreon patrons in bringing back the stars of our existential mystery, Brian Harker and Eric, the talking lava lamp he has grudgingly sworn to protect. Well, maybe sworn is a strong choice of words…
Bend reality to your will, but be ready to pay the price, as Atlas Games’ Unknown Armies bubbles up from the supernatural underground for a weird and majestic new Kickstarter campaign. Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. If you’re like every roleplayer we know, you strive to outshine others in showing your love of dice. Well, now you can arouse the envy of friends and foes alike with Askfageln’s dazzling coffee table photo art book dedicated to all things pipped and many-sided, Dice: Rendezvous with Randomness. Luxuriate in the photo artistry of Mans Danneman. Grab the book or gorgeous prints through their Kickstarter! In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
Finally current events have again conspired to provide us with one of those fabled Nerdtropes in the News. What strangeness links the International Order of St Hubertus with the Marfa Lights?
Bend reality to your will, but be ready to pay the price, as Atlas Games’ Unknown Armies bubbles up from the supernatural underground for a weird and majestic new Kickstarter campaign.
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. If you’re like every roleplayer we know, you strive to outshine others in showing your love of dice. Well, now you can arouse the envy of friends and foes alike with Askfageln’s dazzling coffee table photo art book dedicated to all things pipped and many-sided, Dice: Rendezvous with Randomness. Luxuriate in the photo artistry of Mans Danneman. Grab the book or gorgeous prints through their Kickstarter! In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
Pull your swords out of your stones and step into the Gaming Hut for a consideration of the Chosen One trope.
How to Write Good explores a phenomenon Robin calls Nigeling, when you make one character look good by painting others as rubes.
You’ll place great stock in… no, I’m sorry, I can’t. Let’s just say the Food Hut is talking soup and leave it at that.
Then we close on an most unusual Ken’s Time Machine mission: getting a notorious criminal cast as James Bond before he commits his famous crime.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this… Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.
If you’re like every roleplayer we know, you strive to outshine others in showing your love of dice. Well, now you can arouse the envy of friends and foes alike with Askfageln’s dazzling coffee table photo art book dedicated to all things pipped and many-sided, Dice: Rendezvous with Randomness. Luxuriate in the photo artistry of Mans Danneman. Grab the book or gorgeous prints through their Kickstarter!
In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
Now that backers of our exciting and handsome Patreon campaign get priority access to pose questions for the show, we have a bunch of great questions in the hopper. So let’s get to four of them in a special celebratory all-request episode.
In the Gaming Hut Paul Stefko asks us for tips on running games set in artificial realities.
Drew Clowery takes us into the History Hut for a look at the Know Nothings.
Ask Ken and Robin features a Scott Bennett question on keeping a fresh attitude toward older projects.
And finally Steven Hammond revs up Ken’s Time Machine to ask why our sagacious time hero hid a door in King Tut’s tomb from Howard Carter.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this…
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.
If you’re like every roleplayer we know, you strive to outshine others in showing your love of dice. Well, now you can arouse the envy of friends and foes alike with Askfageln’s dazzling coffee table photo art book dedicated to all things pipped and many-sided, Dice: Rendezvous with Randomness. Luxuriate in the photo artistry of Mans Danneman. Grab the book or gorgeous prints through their Kickstarter!
In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
In this special theme episode, we start in the uncharted waters of the Cartography Hut, to look at the struggle to accurately measure longitude at sea, and its underdog hero, clockmaker John Harrison.
We shift to the Gaming Hut to ask ourselves how to introduce navigational uncertainty into magic-rich F20 worlds.
Then the Consulting Occultist tours us through the colorful career of privateer, courtier, cookbook author and magic powder maker Kenelm Digby. The connection? The rejected magical dog injury method of longitude measurement.
When the astronomer Giovanni Cassini wanted to establish a reference point for longitude he went to the ruins of Uraniborg, the observatory erected by Tycho Brahe. Can Ken’s Time Machine prevent it from being destroyed in the first place?
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this… Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
Sneak up on us very carefully as Ask Ken and Robin responds to a Josh Kroger question regarding stealth systems in RPGs.
Recent events force us to reconsider past Politics Hut pronouncements as, with increasing trepidation, we ask once more, is Donald Trump America’s Rob Ford?
In the Mythology Hut we pry under the ecclesiastical floorboards to look for Finnish frog coffins.
Then it’s just a hop skip and jump across a bridge patrolled by the grim forces of Chris Christie to the Eliptony Hut, where we hunt the elusive Jersey Devil.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this… Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
Let’s schmooze a while in the Gaming Hut as we spitball a game based on social experience points.
Get in touch with your inner cave dweller as the Conspiracy Corner checks out Neanderthal conspiracy theories, most notably those of painter and sculptor Stanislav Szukalski.
Finally it’s that time of year again: in a bumper segment of the Cinema Hut, we list our top 10 films of 2015. Get your golf pencils ready; they’ll be needed to overcome a shocking clerical error that threatens to tear the world of Ken and Robin apart!
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this… Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
Long have we teased it! Now it’s finally here, for your keeping-the-show-alive convenience: our Patreon campaign. In this special mini-episode we talk the whys, the wherefores, and the long-coveted extra stuff we can do if we hit particular milestones. Jump on board to make show notes, transcripts and the new Ken and Robin Consume Media feature happen.
There’s a rat looking at us and a hawk flying overhead as Ask Ken and Robin fields a Michael Shreeves question on making familiars narratively satisfying.
Our lead time prevents the Politics Hut from engaging in prognostication, so instead we step back to look at ways of understanding this most chaotic and suspenseful of US primary seasons.
Among My Many Hats goes for the gold as Ken tells us about his treatment of alchemy in the latest Ken Writes About Stuff.
Then we discover the role Ken’s Time Machine played in keeping the United States as a two-party country, by request of Adam Waxman.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this… Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
Can you make it through the terrors of Ask Ken and Robin, when Sean Maclean asks us how to run survival horror?
If so, the Tradecraft Hut awaits, where we deliver our promised full segment on legendary M15 counterintelligence honcho Maxwell Knight.
Go down to the basement and get made small as Horror Hut zooms in on scary dolls.
Finally, the Consulting Occultist fills us in on Paracelsus, a literal Renaissance man whose achievements in medicine, psychology and toxicology also included influential works of a Hermetic bent.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this… Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
Get your chlorophyll on as we enter a vine-choked version of the Gaming Hut to riff an alien species that feeds via photosynthesis.
Ken gets you started on your collection of books about maps in a bibliographic Cartography Hut.
It’s been a while since Ask Ken and Robin had a lightning round, so let’s have a lightning round.
Then the Eliptony Hut blows up real good with a look at the Martian nuclear armageddon theory.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this… Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
Oh, the humanity! How do we characterize being a human in F20 games and settings? Answers lie inside the Gaming Hut.
You think the media is bad today. Back during Chicago’s circulation wars you could get shot for reading the wrong paper on the subway. Elucidation waits in a hard-to-target corner of the History Hut.
Wizards of the Coast is licensing its flagship setting, the Forgotten Realms, to third party creators prepared to join its Dungeon Masters’ Guild venture, a joint effort with DriveThru RPG. Ramifications and implications get a good mulling in TheBusiness of Gaming.
Then in the most momentous crossover team up event since Superman faced off against Ali, the Consulting Occulist enters the Tradecraft Hut to recount the fascinating career of outsiders’ insider Tom Driberg. Only a certain percentage of the legends surrounding him turn out to be too good to check.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this… Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
Roll the dice with us as Among My Many Hats finds Ken headed to Las Vegas 68.
Grant our dramatic petition while How To Write Good breaks down dramatic scene construction.
Join us for a plate of tamarind-infused noodles as the Food Hut looks at the politics of pad thai.
Finally, narrowly avoid drowning not once but twice as Ken’s Time Machine explains why our hero saved both a young James Garfield and his eventual assassin Charles Guiteau from separate watery graves.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this… Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
In the Gaming Hut we rise to popular new demand to riff a whole bunch of scenario entry-points to get you started with a Dracula Dossier campaign.
As teased last episode, the History Hut looks at anatomical tables, as seen in our December visit to London’s Royal College of Physicians.
Continuing the London weirdness, the Eliptony Hut takes on an Egyptian revival exterior as we probe into rumors of a time machine in the Brompton Cemetery.
Finally, conveniently placed for the spoiler averse, those of you who wanted to hear Ken and Robin talk about Star Wars: The Force Awakens can start lining up at the Cinema Hut.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this… Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
While in London in December, the Consulting Occultist got a sneak peek at key items of John Dee’s book collection. Join us in previewing the upcoming exhibit Scholar, courtier, magician: the lost library of John Dee, which runs Jan 18-July 29 at the Royal College of Physicians.
Then we turn to the Gaming Hut for a consideration of apparent versus actual complexity in roleplaying games, and how to present simple game systems so they look as easy to run as they actually are.
Finally, if we were recently in London, you know that the time has come for another epic installment of Ken’s Bookshelf.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this…
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
Once again we end a year of talking about stuff with a live episode from Dragonmeet in London. Join us as we discuss a time war involving Isaac Newton and the Crusades, GUMSHOE, Feng Shui, highly detailed games, hypothetical gaming-inspired cookbooks, what we’re afraid of now, and making gnomes interesting.
Enjoy your holidays, and join us when we return on January 8th with episode 172 and more details of our secret mission in London.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this…
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
What should you look for when revising a scenario? The Gaming Hut holds the answers.
Cinematic technique, legacy and mortality all come out to play in the darkened space of the Cinema Hut as we delve into Robin’s powerful response to the documentary Hitchcock/Truffaut.
Then Ken and Robin Recycle Audio, specifically more clips from Robin’s Q&A at FanExpo in Toronto.
Men in black peer into the windows of the Eliptony Hut as we round up the career of sardonic Fortean investigator John A. Keel.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this…
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
We start amid the familiar shag carpet of the Gaming Hut to look at the question of making the mechanics serve the story and not the other way around.
The History Hut delves into the best-named military conflict ever, the War of Jenkins’ Ear.
In the Horror Hut we avoid gazing into mirrors while discussing the Bloody Mary trope.
Finally, in Ask Ken and Robin, Rob Dean asks us to nerdtrope a real-life found artifact, these instructions to Mr. A.M. Brosius in 1911 concerning a dig in Baltimore.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this…
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
The New York Public Library online map collection provides a feast of gameable treasures. We gather in the Cartography Hut to pick our favorites and riff on ways to put them to use.
Among My Many Hats has Ken turning your players into an official bulwark against UFO incursion in his latest Ken Writes About Stuff installment, MAJESTIC OVERWATCH.
Ken and Robin Recycle Audio as the audience of Deep Ones at Toronto’s FanExpo pepper Robin with questions about exciting endings, compelling darkness, and NPCs your players care about.
Finally the Consulting Occultist gets architectural to discuss the occult tendencies of Le Corbusier.
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
The New York Public Library online map collection provides a feast of gameable treasures. We gather in the Cartography Hut to pick our favorites and riff on ways to put them to use.
Among My Many Hats has Ken turning your players into an official bulwark against UFO incursion in his latest Ken Writes About Stuff installment, MAJESTIC OVERWATCH.
Ken and Robin Recycle Audio as the audience of Deep Ones at Toronto’s FanExpo pepper Robin with questions about exciting endings, compelling darkness, and NPCs your players care about.
Finally the Consulting Occultist gets architectural to discuss the occult tendencies of Le Corbusier.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this…
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
In the Horror Hut we pitch and cast our imagined filmed vampire update, Dracula AD 2017. (Please note that a couple of tangential references in this segment seem odd in light of the November 13th Paris attacks, which occurred after this episode was recorded.)
Finally, in an exciting crossover event, the Tradecraft Hut books some time on Ken’s Time Machine to keep James Jesus Angleton’s paranoia within useful limits.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this…
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
We predicted that Ask Ken and Robin would feature a Manfred Gabriel question about incorporating prophecy into roleplaying sessions, and we were right!
Dracula tried to thwart him, but Ken still managed to check out some titles at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival, and joins us in the Cinema Hut to talk about the highlights.
The Tradecraft Hut looks at the career of Czarist master spy Pyotr Rachkovsky. Was he to spying what Henry Ford was to automated production?
Finally Robin takes Ken up on a previous challenge and runs him through the opening scenes of an existential mystery in a Gaming Hut that features actual gaming. Meet Brian Harker and his co-worker Eric, who is a lava lamp.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this…
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
Episode 165: If You Violate a Ghost’s Trade Policy
When Deep Ones suddenly display their powers of teleportation, are they being uncool? Step into the Gaming Hut for a look at situations where you want to keep the abilities of your monsters consistent.
In Ask Ken and Robin @marcaddress gets us to riff a society where corpse reanimation for heavy lifting and other tasks becomes just another normal aspect of life.
Powell’s Portland thought it was safe. But then Ken went back in its waters for a second strike on its reserve in a single year. Come round to Ken’s Bookshelf as we paw through the highlights of his monster haul.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this…
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.
You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
Episode 164: Another Excuse To Drink In the Street
We kick off an episode devoted to Halloween in the Mythology Hut, where we survey the holiday’s history, mutations over time, and cultural diffusion.
Ken suspects that 1933’s so-called Black Halloween might be entirely apocryphal, but even so we head for the Gaming Hut to riff an outline for a Trail of Cthulhu scenario in which Nodens lets his dark side out.
The Horror Hut has us gazing into mirrors and their use in scary storytelling.
Finally the Consulting Occultist delves into the North Berwick witch trials, in which opponents of King James VI / I found themselves on the wrong end of a Halloween-related accusation.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this…
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.
You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. The Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game has come to an end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging your fever for this classic game, or that pinnacle of the Cthulhu game zine world, The Unspeakable Oath.
Find the enigma within the enigma as the Gaming Hut hosts a look at existential mysteries.
In Ask Ken and Robin we find the key to a Gerald Sears question about Parisian official’s bid to remove the love locks from the Pont des Arts bridge.
How to Write Good serves up tips on character names.
Finally in the Eliptony Hut, we examine Ilya Ivanov’s attempt to hybridize humans and chimpanzees.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this…
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the pre-order for the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
In a move that surely violates someone’s security clearance, this episode is also brought to you by the Kickstarter for Delta Green: the Roleplaying Game from our friends at Arc Dream Publishing. Add to the awesomeness of this classic setting of Mythos espionage, now its own standalone game.
The Gaming Hut turns over the hourglass as we discuss villain clocks.
Ken issues a Travel Advisory on the latest installment of the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival.
In Ask Ken and Robin we field a Pete Darley question about our adherence to canon in published scenario.
And in a pulse-pounding, pumice-raining edition of Ken’s Time Machine, sabotage places our doughty chrononaut in Pompeii, eight hours ahead of the head cloud that will flash-cook its remaining residents.
Ken and Robin have oft been accused of being cards. Well, we can deny it no longer. We have become super-limited promo cards for Murder of Crows, Atlas Games’ fast-paced card game of murder and the macabre, for two to five players in the mood for something a little morbid. It’s Edward Gorey meets Caligari, by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Wait a minute, what does that graphic say? I’m not so sure about this…
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the pre-order for the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
It’s not easy teaching in America’s second worst school district and being a wizard on the side. But Nathan Kulwicki thought he had it covered. Until he received news of the worst kind. Inoperable cancer. He’ll be dead before the start of the next school year. Now, he will have to scour time and unheard of dimensions to find a magical cure to save himself. But what will he be willing to do to find it? Find out in Terminal Magics, a novel by Plot Points impresario Ben Riggs.
The Gaming Hut features an ill-advised open bar as we mull campaigns in which player characters have to be married.
Ask Ken and Robin tackles a question posed to us by approximately 75% of listeners: hey, what about that Nazi Gold train?
Vegetables return to the Food Hut, demanding to know how we will roast them.
Finally the Eliptony Hut turns its laser scalpels on the topic of cattle mutilations.
It blew up Kickstarter. It slid into Gen Con on a gurney with both guns blazing. And nowFeng Shui 2: Action Movie Roleplaying is laying down the kung fu, the gun fu, and the cybernetic primate fu, and rocketing its way to a retail store near you. Join our friends at Atlas Games in celebrating the long-anticipated release of Robin’s classic game, accompanied by the GM Screen: Fistful of Fight Scenes and Blowing Up the Movies.
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the pre-order for the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.
You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfalgen. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
It’s not easy teaching in America’s second worst school district and being a wizard on the side. But Nathan Kulwicki thought he had it covered. Until he received news of the worst kind. Inoperable cancer. He’ll be dead before the start of the next school year. Now, he will have to scour time and unheard of dimensions to find a magical cure to save himself. But what will he be willing to do to find it? Find out in Terminal Magics, a novel by Plot Points impresario Ben Riggs.
The Cinema Hut heralds the androids, fish men and yakuza vampires coming to a movie consumption venue near you as Robin regales you with the hottest tips from this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Consult his full list here.
It was the Gaming Hut, he thought, where the topic of internal monologue in roleplaying would be settled once and for all.
We save the debauchery till last as the History Hut tackles the hot topic of the Hellfire Club.
It blew up Kickstarter. It slid into Gen Con on a gurney with both guns blazing. And nowFeng Shui 2: Action Movie Roleplaying is laying down the kung fu, the gun fu, and the cybernetic primate fu, and rocketing its way to a retail store near you. Join our friends at Atlas Games in celebrating the long-anticipated release of Robin’s classic game, accompanied by the GM Screen: Fistful of Fight Scenes and Blowing Up the Movies.
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the pre-order for the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
It’s not easy teaching in America’s second worst school district and being a wizard on the side. But Nathan Kulwicki thought he had it covered. Until he received news of the worst kind. Inoperable cancer. He’ll be dead before the start of the next school year. Now, he will have to scour time and unheard of dimensions to find a magical cure to save himself. But what will he be willing to do to find it? Find out in Terminal Magics, a novel by Plot Points impresario Ben Riggs.
The Gaming Hut finds us in an under-the-hood mood as we turn over Robin’s assertion that a full adventure written as early in the process as possible can illuminate your RPG game design process.
Ken and Robin Recycle Audio presents our final trove of treasures from the Gen Con investigative panel, with a series of deep GUMSHOE tips.
Then the Cinema Hut alerts you to another passel of the latest and coolest Asian action flicks. Titles discussed: Assassination, Kundo: Age of the Rampant, Wild City, No Tears for the Dead, and The Divine Move.
Ken’s Time Machine omits certain key details in a chrono-caper so momentous that not all can be revealed. What role did Ken play in the bizarre memory hole that is the Berenstain Bears?
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the pre-order for the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.
You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
It’s not easy teaching in America’s second worst school district and being a wizard on the side. But Nathan Kulwicki thought he had it covered. Until he received news of the worst kind. Inoperable cancer. He’ll be dead before the start of the next school year. Now, he will have to scour time and unheard of dimensions to find a magical cure to save himself. But what will he be willing to do to find it? Find out in Terminal Magics, a novel by Plot Points impresario Ben Riggs.
Episode 158: Englishman is Not Actually Valued For Its Own Flavor
Our recording chambers may be hot but our subject matter gets cold, cold, cold, as Among My Many Hats takes a look at the Wendigo.
In How To Write Good, the dialogue turns to dialogue tags, he said, informatively.
Ken and Robin Recycle Audio continues to pillage the very best treasures of the investigative roleplaying seminar at Gen Con, this time delving into red herrings, leaving room for player improv, and keeping your horror tropes fresh.
Then we circle back to Arctic climes as the Eliptony Hut rips the lid off the Franklin conspiracy.
It blew up Kickstarter. It slid into Gen Con on a gurney with both guns blazing. And nowFeng Shui 2: Action Movie Roleplaying is laying down the kung fu, the gun fu, and the cybernetic primate fu, and rocketing its way to a retail store near you. Join our friends at Atlas Games in celebrating the long-anticipated release of Robin’s classic game, accompanied by the GM Screen: Fistful of Fight Scenes and Blowing Up the Movies.
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the pre-order for the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.
You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfalgen. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
Would you like to sharpen young children’s memory skills while also introducing them to the cosmic dread of the Cthulhu Mythos? Then Recall of Cthulhu, Kickstarting from the fine folks at Toy Vault, until September 25, is for you. Amazingly adorable artwork of the Elder Gods and their ilk to delight the young and the young at heart. This classic matching game can be played by up to four of the most deranged patients in the Sanatorium, as well as young cultists aged 4 and up!
A skepticism of all things pseudopod suffuses the question Thomas Deeny poses in Ask Ken and Robin. “Why Cthulhu? By that, I mean, why do gamers love Cthulhu games? Boardgames, RPGs — it seems as if you slap Cthulhu on the game, it just sells. What is the draw?”
Providence proved Providential indeed for our resident bookhound. Ken’s Bookshelf paws through his haul from his recent jaunt to Necronomicon.
We begin to glean the gold of the packed Investigative Roleplaying Seminar of this year’s Gen Con, as once more Ken and Robin Recycle Audio.
Oft-mentioned but not until now explicated, the Priory of Sion finally gets the full treatment from the Consulting Occultist.
It blew up Kickstarter. It slid into Gen Con on a gurney with both guns blazing. And nowFeng Shui 2: Action Movie Roleplaying is laying down the kung fu, the gun fu, and the cybernetic primate fu, and rocketing its way to a retail store near you. Join our friends at Atlas Games in celebrating the long-anticipated release of Robin’s classic game, accompanied by the GM Screen: Fistful of Fight Scenes and Blowing Up the Movies.
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the pre-order for the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.
You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfalgen. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
Would you like to sharpen young children’s memory skills while also introducing them to the cosmic dread of the Cthulhu Mythos? Then Recall of Cthulhu, Kickstarting from the fine folks at Toy Vault, until September 25, is for you. Amazingly adorable artwork of the Elder Gods and their ilk to delight the young and the young at heart. This classic matching game can be played by up to four of the most deranged patients in the Sanatorium, as well as young cultists aged 4 and up!
In the dog days before Labor Day, Ask Ken and Robin happily accepts a softball from Cam Banks (a ringer name if ever we heard one.) “Why is “fantasy” supposedly a genre in RPGs but people mostly mean “F20 fantasy”? Why is there no equivalent in science fiction RPGs?”
Ken issues a Travel Advisory for Necronomicon 2015, with a detour to pork belly obsessed Providence, RI. Restaurants mentioned: Den Den Café, Kitchen, Ken’s Ramen, Red Stripe, Pizza Gourmet.
Ken and Robin Recycle Audio dips back into the Pelgrane Press panel from Gen Con, as we learn about Fearful Symmetries, Cat’s untitled story game anthology project, The Fall of Delta Green and the Trail of Cthulhu Starter Box.
Then either we or our clones open up the Eliptony Hut to consider the free love alien contactee doctrine of the Raelians.
It blew up Kickstarter. It slid into Gen Con on a gurney with both guns blazing. And nowFeng Shui 2: Action Movie Roleplaying is laying down the kung fu, the gun fu, and the cybernetic primate fu, and rocketing its way to a retail store near you. Join our friends at Atlas Games in celebrating the long-anticipated release of Robin’s classic game, accompanied by the GM Screen: Fistful of Fight Scenes and Blowing Up the Movies.
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the pre-order for the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.
Genetic enhancements meet tradecraft as Among My Many Hats looks under the hood of Ken’s new Mutant City Blues campaign frame, “Mutant City Spies.”
The Food Hut returns in what might be the first of an sweeping two-part series as we find ways to trick vegetables into being delicious.
Ken and Robin Recycle Audio from the Pelgrane Press panel at Gen Con, regarding yet more Dracula Dossier ancillary items in development, TimeWatch, GUMSHOE One-2-One, and the Worldbreaker epic campaign for The Esoterrorists.
Finally we don’t let the historical record get in the way of a good chronological alteration scheme as Ken’s Time Machine gives Leon Trotsky the movie career the world always wanted him to have.
It blew up Kickstarter. It slid into Gen Con on a gurney with both guns blazing. And nowFeng Shui 2: Action Movie Roleplaying is laying down the kung fu, the gun fu, and the cybernetic primate fu, and rocketing its way to a retail store near you. Join our friends at Atlas Games in celebrating the long-anticipated release of Robin’s classic game, accompanied by the GM Screen: Fistful of Fight Scenes and Blowing Up the Movies.
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the pre-order for the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. Download your consciousness into the Kickstarter for Transreality: New Worlds, the identity-bending graphic novel from Chris Lackey. Your inner pink gorilla will thank you.
Episode 154: Orange and Tufty From the Primordial Swamp
The featured headgear in Among My Many Hats is of a knitted variety as Robin talks about Ghosts in the Black, the Firefly campaign book he contributed to, and just what his credited role as story designer entails.
Wistful nostalgia for the antics of a certain former Toronto mayor wafts through the Politics Hut like a melancholy fragrance from days gone by. But wait, can an unruly orange toupee fill the not inconsiderable hole he has left in the hearts of podcast listeners? We ask if Donald Trump can become America’s Rob Ford.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Laroshe asks about games in which a party of sidekicks revolves around a more powerful central hero.
Then the Consulting Occultist risks possible heckling from a brazen head as he looks at the life and legend of Roger Bacon.
Look out, Lieutenants of evil! The sinister mastermind you work for has taken some time to shake the post-conquest blues. But he’ll be back soon, and your survival depends on impressing him. Thankfully, our lead sponsor Atlas Games has just what you need: their delightful new card game of competitive minion-stacking, Three Cheers for Master.
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the pre-order for the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.
Download your consciousness into the Kickstarter for Transreality: New Worlds, the identity-bending graphic novel from Chris Lackey. Your inner pink gorilla will thank you.
Pilot your sky galleon to the Zodiac Empires Kickstarter. Explore a world of early industrialization, weird cults and noir intrigue, suitable for such fantasy games as Pathfinder and Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition.
As the action opens in the Gaming Hut, we find Ken and Robin just one day back from Gen Con, punchy but unbowed. Hear them talk Diana Jones Awards, the new regime at Chaosium, and the great D&D resurgence. Make future spending plans as they recount such Pelgrane-rich announcements as The Fall of Delta Green, GUMSHOE One2One, and Robin Writes About Stuff. And as we mention a few of the panels we attended, steel yourself for a terrible revelation about the recording of our live episode. Yes, it’s all the thrills and spills you’ve come to expect from our traditional hour plus of Gen Con wrap.
Look out, Lieutenants of evil! The sinister mastermind you work for has taken some time to shake the post-conquest blues. But he’ll be back soon, and your survival depends on impressing him. Thankfully, our lead sponsor Atlas Games has just what you need: their delightful new card game of competitive minion-stacking, Three Cheers for Master.
Buckle up your extra special rapier for a jaunt into the Gaming Hut to consider the connection between gear and status.
Take extra reindeer with you, for your predecessor lost all of his when he entered the far confines of the Cartography Hut to talk Soviet map-making.
From hominids and their tapir pals to the contents of a teen’s bedroom, Ken and Robin delineate some great opening scenes in the Cinema Hut.
Then paranoia goes old-timey as the Conspiracy Corner recounts the story of America’s Anti-Masonic Party.
Look out, Lieutenants of evil! The sinister mastermind you work for has taken some time to shake the post-conquest blues. But he’ll be back soon, and your survival depends on impressing him. Thankfully, our lead sponsor Atlas Games has just what you need: their delightful new card game of competitive minion-stacking, Three Cheers for Master.
What’s that hiding behind your baseboards? Could it be a PDF copy of Philip Masters’ The Small Folk, in which you play fairy folk descendants sneaking, scheming, and avoiding the attentions of wily housecats? Grab it at Warehouse23.
Robin gets a head start on his Dracula Dossier homework as the Gaming Hut lays out the whys and hows of campaign frames.
The titular chapeau takes on a conical shape as Ken talks Yithians in Among My Many Hats. Check out his Ken Writes About Stuff installment for more.
How to Write Good examines different authorial worldviews and how they determine what does and doesn’t fit in your narrative.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine whirs up for a trip to pre-gold rush California, courtesy of a question from Rich Fryer.
Look out, Lieutenants of evil! The sinister mastermind you work for has taken some time to shake the post-conquest blues. But he’ll be back soon, and your survival depends on impressing him. Thankfully, our lead sponsor Atlas Games has just what you need: their delightful new card game of competitive minion-stacking, Three Cheers for Master.
Episode 150: Anniversary Lightning Round Extravaganza III
Stuff we’re here to talk about in this milestone episode might include Ben Franklin, the Flash, Zeus, Tom Fury, Phar Lap, keraunomedicine, the Lockheed P-38, Mjolnir, the blitzkrieg, Final Fantasy XIII, James Otis Jr., Garth Ranzz, al-Borak, Tampa Bay hockey, or the static discharge between clouds and the earth.
That is to say, we’ve hit episode 150, a milestone requiring us to pull out all the meteorological stops for our customary all Ask Ken and Robin lightning round edition.
Warning: actual episode does not discuss any of the above.
Look out, Lieutenants of evil! The sinister mastermind you work for has taken some time to shake the post-conquest blues. But he’ll be back soon, and your survival depends on impressing him. Thankfully, our lead sponsor Atlas Games has just what you need: their delightful new card game of competitive minion-stacking, Three Cheers for Master.
Line up your polyhedrals in order of social preference as we enter the Gaming Hut to examine caste and class in worldbuilding.
The History Hut provides a footnote to a somber event with details on the 1822 trial of Denmark Vesey, a founder of Charleston SC’s Mother Emanuel Church, for conspiracy to revolt against slavery.
Tom Pleasant poses a challenging Ask Ken and Robin query, asking what we would do if we could use Ken’s Time Machine to alter roleplaying history.
Finally we bathe ourselves in light as the Consulting Occultist profiles the preeminent practitioner of nice magic, Dion Fortune.
Look out, Lieutenants of evil! The sinister mastermind you work for has taken some time to shake the post-conquest blues. But he’ll be back soon, and your survival depends on impressing him. Thankfully, our lead sponsor Atlas Games has just what you need: their delightful new card game of competitive minion-stacking, Three Cheers for Master.
The Gaming Hut acquires extra filigrees and an extended backstory as we examine the cognitive investments gamers make when they learn to love detail.
The Food Hut takes a turn for the imaginary in response to this medieval recipe for griddle-roasted unicorn, brought to our attention by Terry O’Carroll. What happens when F20 adventurers start to regard monsters and mythical creatures not just as opponents, but as ingredients in fantasy-world cuisine?
In Ask Ken and Robin, Sean Phelan asks for ground rules on killing key NPCs offstage.
Finally we find ourselves in the Eliptony Hut, inspired by a CIA document drop on Project Blue Book, to investigate disinformation campaigns waged against UFOlogists.
Look out, Lieutenants of evil! The sinister mastermind you work for has taken some time to shake the post-conquest blues. But he’ll be back soon, and your survival depends on impressing him. Thankfully, our lead sponsor Atlas Games has just what you need: their delightful new card game of competitive minion-stacking, Three Cheers for Master.
Spruce up your decor as the Gaming Hut reveals the secrets of room description.
Ken does the bulk of the replying in an eliptonic Ask Ken and Robin, as RogerBW seeks a disentanglement of convex and concave hollow earth theories.
Once again we rev up the Recommendation Engine, tipping you to a movie, two books, two food products and, believe it or not, a game!
Impose your will on reality through whatever lens you want as the Consulting Occultist casts a gimlet eye on chaos magick.
Look out, Lieutenants of evil! The sinister mastermind you work for has taken some time to shake the post-conquest blues. But he’ll be back soon, and your survival depends on impressing him. Thankfully, our lead sponsor Atlas Games has just what you need: their delightful new card game of competitive minion-stacking, Three Cheers for Master.
Episode 146: The Most Punished “Well Actually” Ever
Guns blaze and mystic swords clash as Among My Many Hats goes under the hood on Blowing Up the Movies, Robin’s new book of essays combing the action movie classics for gameable nuggets.
In Ask Ken and Robin, @clarkythecruel asks about incorporating sports into RPGs.
How to Write Good shows you how to build a dimensioned protagonist for an idea-based story.
Ken’s Time Machine reports back from the alternate dimension where Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his pal Robert Southey actually established that Susquehanna River utopia they were always talking about.
Look out, Lieutenants of evil! The sinister mastermind you work for has taken some time to shake the post-conquest blues. But he’ll be back soon, and your survival depends on impressing him. Thankfully, our lead sponsor Atlas Games has just what you need: their delightful new card game of competitive minion-stacking, Three Cheers for Master.
This podcast is also sponsored by another podcast, Game Master’s Journey. Join Lex Starwalker as he covers all things RPG from the secret side of the GM screen.
Alex Guerrero has played before but never GMed. He wants to introduce a trio of interested neophytes/family members to roleplaying through a session of Fear Itself. He’s here to Ask Ken and Robin “What tips do you have on pacing, and not overthinking?”
In History Hut we look at the craziest damn thing we’ve heard about in a long time, the wacky, electrified lost world of fraternal orders and side degrees. For more, see Fantagraphics’ Burlesque Paraphernalia.
Ken’s Bookshelf tells the exciting story of what happens when Oklahoma City’s few used book stores are shaken to their very core.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enrol you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Abandon your neutrality as we enter the Gaming Hut to talk about alignment in D&D.
Find out if we’ve been digging what you’ve been digging about the recent crop of shows in the Television Hut.
Then the Consulting Occultist gives us the lowdown on alchemist, mystic and eponymous library founder Elias Ashmole.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Using the conveniently public domain 1972 film Horror Express as a baseline, we demonstrate how to adapt a movie into a scenario worthy of the Gaming Hut.
In a flood-threatened Travel Advisory, Ken takes us on a tour of the sights and horrors of his hometown, Oklahoma City.
Then Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, checking in on Keith Baker and his recently Kickstarted game Phoenix: Dawn Command.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enrol you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
In the Gaming Hut we ask how much work game design should do to constrain problem players.
Be careful in the History Hut not to sit in the sledgehammerin’ seat as we tell the tale of the Bloody Benders.
In Ask Ken and Robin Ciaran Conliffe asks Ken and Robin to demonstrate how Esoterrorists might exploit Somerset Fairy Doors.
Next a certain someone clambers into Ken’s Time Machine to do something about Ngo Dình Diem other than installing him as president of South Vietnam and then assassinating him. The answer might surprise you!
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
How to Create Good examines the secrets of successful collaboration.
And Ken’s Time Machine, answering a request from Christoph Sapinsky, reveals why our resident time traveler assisted the booze-related demise of Ogedei Khan in 1241.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
If you’re in Dublin over the June bank holiday, check out the convivial proceedings of Hobocon, May 30th to June 1st, at the Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square West.
Crack open your Chaotic Neutral dictionary as Ken and Robin venture into the Gaming Hut to spitball a fantasy world extrapolated from the existence of alignment languages.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Somebody Else, both Ken and Robin speak with Leeman Kessler, the actor and auteur behind the Ask Lovecraft web series.
And since we were both recently near a Powell’s—the one in Portland to be precise, the time has come to take another epic gander at the recent inflow toward Ken’s Bookshelf.
(Ken’s audio is a little dodgy this week but we hope to have him rescued from the mi-go and his brain at least partially out of that jar in time for next week’s show.)
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Screaming to you from the abyssal depths of the downtown Portland Oregon Crowne Plaza, comes our latest live episode. Join us as we talk Dracula vs. Gala, Muhammad Ali vs. Nyarlathotep, Nollywood, the Sino-Soviet split, DaVinci’s Glaaki revelation, our season of True Detective, and more.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Episode 138: All the Characterization You’re Gonna Require
Make sure you have your magic translation earbuds on as we enter the Gaming Hut to talk about secret and magical languages.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Ruth Tillman John Burgess asks us to reveal our research secrets. Sorry for the misidentification in the episode audio, John.
Having previously run down the classic Hong Kong movies you need to see to feel the Feng Shui 2 vibe, Robin reopens the Cinema Hut for a rundown of titles from the last few years.
And at the behest of Phil Masters, Ken clambers into Ken’s Time Machine to preserve Andalucian civilization.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
This episode also brought to you by Double Exposure’s Envoy program, which is all about the bringing. Specifically, bringing together games, runners of games, and players of games. Become a herald today, or jump aboard their team for Origins and/or Gen Con.
This article on the programmable variability of claw machines springboards us into the Gaming Hut for an examination of pass/fail cycles.
A corpse with the distinctive dagger of medieval Teutonic justice lies near the threshold of the History Hut, where we convene to discuss Vehmic courts.
How to Write Good has us spitballing classic characters reimagined as leading characters in TV police procedurals.
Finally the Consulting Occultist answers a request from Bryant Durrell for the 101 on spiritualist polymath Rudolf Steiner.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
This episode also brought to you by Double Exposure’s Envoy program, which is all about the bringing. Specifically, bringing together games, runners of games, and players of games. Become a herald today, or jump aboard their team for Origins and/or Gen Con.
Robin hijacks an Ask Ken and Robin question about running an Armitage Files-style campaign set after Sherlock Holmes’ plunge over Reichenbach to ask: do the master detective and the Mythos go together at all? Then of course we do answer Sami Uusitalo’s question, because what kind of podcast would we be otherwise?
Ken tells us about Tomb-Hounds of Egypt, his latest Ken Writes About Stuff single, in Among My Many Hats. That hat is a pith helmet and the topic is 1930s Egyptology.
Heads spin in the Cinema Hut as we look at The Exorcist and its cyclical legacy of fluid-spewing demonological horror.
Finally Time Inc. entertains a Bob Jamieson request to use Ken’s Time Machine to repair or avert the 1690s Scottish debacle known as the Darien Scheme.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
When the Gaming Hut asks you to mind your tone, we’re talking about ways to instil it during roleplaying sessions.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Roger Bell West draws us into the Eliptony Hut with by requesting the lowdown on Fomenko’s New Chronology.
We ban phrases from our lexicon in an ever so impactful edition of the Word Hut.
Then the Consulting Occultist builds electric Jesus in its barn as we look at the career of John Murray Spear.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
It’s raining drama tokens in the Gaming Hut as Robin shares his DramaSystem GMing tips.
The clash of arms resounds in the History Hut as Ken gives us the lowdown on legendary Indian empire-builder Chandragupta Maurya.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Ryan Christiansen asks if RPGs can be used as a consciousness raising tool.
Art history and faith collide in the Conspiracy Corner as we ask what might be in those Michelangelo letters thieves are holding for ransom. Will the Vatican pay the requested 100,000 Euros, or send your PCs to extract them?
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Are you in the near to moderate orbit of Madison WI? If so, reserve the dates April 10th to the 12th to attend Odyssey Con 15 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. From spray can art demonstrations to a zombie prom to a four-track seminar panel, this relaxing, well-run weekend con will meet your geekly needs.
What’s that hiding behind your baseboards? Could it be a PDF copy of Philip Masters’ The Small Folk, in which you play fairy folk descendants sneaking, scheming, and avoiding the attentions of wily housecats? Grab it at Warehouse23.
Episode 133: Wielding Fennel Without Proper Church Authority
Cough into your elbow as we duck into the Gaming Hut to think up explanations imaginary cultures might give for the origin of diseases.
The Cinema Hut unspools Robin’s top five recommended films for schooling your players in the Feng Shui spirit.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Collin T asks how to get players immersed in a detailed setting without burying them in exposition or homework.
Finally the Consulting Occultist introduces us to the Italian benandanti, who as late as the 16th century were entering dreams to battle witches and pirates.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Mapheads, rejoice. CAD maestro Jeff James is Kickstarting Scale Realms. This project will fund full color, high quality maps with 3D structures and landscaping, with a hex or square option.
Are you in the near to moderate orbit of Madison WI? If so, reserve the dates April 10th to the 12th to attend Odyssey Con 15 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. From spray can art demonstrations to a zombie prom to a four-track seminar panel, this relaxing, well-run weekend con will meet your geekly needs.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Jonas Beardsley points us to this Wired article about advances in astrophysics brought about by the computer effects used in the movie Interstellar. We then make good on his invitation to explore ways overly realistic CGI could go horribly wrong.
Safe under the covers of the Horror Hut, we talk about stories, movies and lists that scared us as kids.
The Eliptony Hut goes underground for a truth more interesting than the truth of Toronto’s mystery tunnel.
Finally Time Inc. once again has tree protection on its mind as it uses Ken’s Time Machine to rescue Irminsul from Charlemagne.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Roll yourself a critical hit by ordering from a freshly discovered special trove of The Bones, the book on dice from our pals at Gameplaywright. Notables including Wil Wheaton, John Kovalic and our own Kenneth Hite wax both cubic and polyhedral, now at a crazy low price.
Mapheads, rejoice. CAD maestro Jeff James is Kickstarting Scale Realms. This project will fund full color, high quality maps with 3D structures and landscaping, with a hex or square option.
Are you in the near to moderate orbit of Madison WI? If so, reserve the dates April 10th to the 12th to attend Odyssey Con 15 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. From spray can art demonstrations to a zombie prom to a four-track seminar panel, this relaxing, well-run weekend con will meet your geekly needs.
Join us in the Gaming Hut for a psychotropic ritual as we think about introducing entheogens into the magic of your F20 world.
The Politics Hut flips its municipal focus as Ken shares his perspective on the Chicago machine and mayor Rahm Emanuel’s forced confrontation with a run-off election.
How to Write Good takes a closer look at first acts, specifically the ones that set up your character’s status quo and the imminent threats to it.
Finally the Consulting Occultist crosses over with Among My Many Hats as Ken tells us about his Goetia instalment of Ken Writes About Stuff.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Roll yourself a critical hit by ordering from a freshly discovered special trove of The Bones, the book on dice from our pals at Gameplaywright. Notables including Wil Wheaton, John Kovalic and our own Kenneth Hite wax both cubic and polyhedral, now at a crazy low price.
Mapheads, rejoice. CAD maestro Jeff James is Kickstarting Scale Realms. This project will fund full color, high quality maps with 3D structures and landscaping, with a hex or square option.
Episode 130: Regional Resentments of Canadian Mollusks
Yohann Delalande kicks us off with an Ask Ken and Robin question about portraying current real-world horrors in RPGs without lapsing into insensitivity.
We fulfill this podcast’s Canadian content requirements in the Tradecraft Hut with a look at iconic hooded defector Igor Gouzenko.
Patron hero of surveyors Nain Singh Rawat inspires a duck into the Cartography Hut to consider exploration-based campaign frames.
Blond Venusians await in the Eliptony Hut for a profile of prolific contactee, mystic, archaeologist and fascist George Hunt Williamson.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Roll yourself a critical hit by ordering from a freshly discovered special trove of The Bones, the book on dice from our pals at Gameplaywright. Notables including Wil Wheaton, John Kovalic and our own Kenneth Hite wax both cubic and polyhedral, now at a crazy low price.
We start with an Ask Ken and Robin question from Ethan Cordray, who wants to know how a GM and player might collaborate in creating scenarios.
Inspired by this Malcolm Gladwell piece, the Crime Blotter examines the changing relationship between organized crime and upward mobility.
Fun with Science plays with your perceptions for a look at hallucinations and synaesthesia. Recommended reading: Oliver Sacks’ Hallucinations.
Speaking of reading, we conclude with another paw through Ken’s Bookshelf, this one cataloguing the haul from his recent jaunt to San Francisco.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
This episode is also brought to you by the Plot Points podcast. After you listen to us, listen to them analyze RPG adventures as literature.
Modern Myths wants you to know about its booth, a veritable oasis of roleplaying both indie and trad, at PAX East, right across from Indie Games on Demand.
Weighty personages surrounded by bullet-proof genre expectations surround us in the Gaming Hut as we examine script immunity in historical gaming.
The MythologyHut finds us riffing a kid-friendly adventure idea arising from the superstitious connection between faeries and uncrushed eggshells.
Pol Jackson poses an Ask Ken and Robin poser about the difficulty of staging Tomb of Horrors style gotcha traps for today’s F20 players.
Finally, as the Oscars approach, we grab some popcorn in the Cinema Hut as we reveal our top ten lists for 2014.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
This episode is also brought to you by the Plot Points podcast. After you listen to us, listen to them analyze RPG adventures as literature.
Modern Myths wants you to know about its booth, a veritable oasis of roleplaying both indie and trad, at PAX East, right across from Indie Games on Demand.
We begin with endings as the Gaming Hut enumerates ways to build your roleplaying series to the biggest of finishes.
Among My Many Hats has Ken telling us about Vendetta Run, the latest installment of Ken Writes About Stuff, in which a spectral Wyatt Earp decides you’re in need of some rough supernatural justice.
How to Write Good looks at common pitfalls in mystery plotting.
That telltale salty crunch tells you that Ken’s Time Machine has been tasked by questioner Donald Dennis to inquire into the legend behind the invention of the potato chip.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
This episode is also brought to you by the Plot Points podcast. After you listen to us, listen to them analyze RPG adventures as literature.
A pithy remark from LEGO Batman inspires our latest excursion into the Gaming Hut, as we ponder the question of narratively acceptable character demises.
In the Tradecraft Hut we look at bone music, 50s era contraband pop music recordings etched against the will of Soviet authorities onto old medical X-rays.
The Recommendation Engine spits out manly suggestions from Ken and unthemed suggestions from Robin.
Finally, in response to a Nick Eden request, the Consulting Occultist introduces us to that seeming contradiction in terms, the Soviet Occult.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
This episode is also brought to you by the Plot Points podcast. After you listen to us, listen to them analyze RPG adventures as literature.
Ken and Robin remember a 90% scale replica of the façade of the Alamo in this episode themed around their recent sojourn in Austin, TX.
In the Gaming Hut we recapitulate a Chupacabracon panel with talk of villains and how to portray them.
The Food Hut has us munching on barbecue, Tex Mex and the wonder that is In and Out Burger.
The Eliptony Hut has a classic bit of carny cryptozoology in it—the Minnesota Iceman, now resident in Austin’s Museum of the Weird.
And finally Ken’s Time Machine has him ensuring continuing independence for the Republic of Texas.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Choose your own sponsor, so long as it is Destiny Quest Infinite, an interactive fantasy game book like no other. Armed with nothing but your sword and a backpack, you enter a land of monsters, powerful forces, and shadowy secrets. Or check out the licensed computer version from Adventure Cow.
Join Ken and Robin for this live episode recorded at Chupacabracon in beautiful Austin, TX. The best audience ever, per capita, punch above their weight to keep us supplied with incisive questions. We discover that the Nerdtrope game is exceptions-based as Ken draws a historic quintuple Trope. Or is that Nerd? I forget. Vicissitudes of the road had their way with our audio quality this time out, but hey, quintuple. We couldn’t not release that.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Choose your own sponsor, so long as it is Destiny Quest Infinite, an interactive fantasy game book like no other. Armed with nothing but your sword and a backpack, you enter a land of monsters, powerful forces, and shadowy secrets. Or check out the licensed computer version from Adventure Cow.
Verily and anon, adopt the cloak of darkness as Ken ducks into the Elizabethan tavern that is the Gaming Hut to discuss his School of Night GUMSHOE setting.
Violence and mayhem disrupt the tranquil comfort of the Food Hut as we examine America’s Whiskey Wars and riff some dystopian futuristic equivalents.
Should that scene end with a jump or a slide? How to Write Good mulls the art of transitions.
The Conspiracy Corner situates itself in a hotel room—the so-called Illuminati hotel room at Houston’s Hotel Zaza. We spitball the sinister plotlines that might spin from this weird location.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
The Magicians’ Guild turns out to be rife with factions and competing interests as the Gaming Hut looks at ways to add realistic messiness to your game’s imaginary institutions.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Robin asks up-and-coming illustrator Rachel A. Kahn how an artist breaks into the roleplaying game market these days, and what her must-have tools and resources are.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine shakes off some mothballs, but not a sense of historical inevitability, as Lisa J. Steele asks Ken to keep Japan allied with the West in the run-up to WWII.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Our voices are as froggy as London used to be foggy in our first episode back after our UK sojourn. Inspired by the Museum of London’s current Sherlock Holmes exhibit, we usher a certain consulting detective into the Gaming Hut.
As listeners know, every trip to the UK occasions a raid by Ken on London’s book purveyors. So we peer deep into the unsorted pile of Ken’s Bookshelf for an epic vicarious cataloguing of his latest plunder.
Finally we wrap up our Dreamhounds of London inspired Culture Hut series with a look at the life, art and madness of Antonin Artaud and his Theater of Cruelty.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Just like sugar plums and figgy pudding, the annual live podcast from London’s Dragonmeet is here to warn us that December holds us in its thrall. Ken nerdtropes Genghis Khan and alien artefacts. Robin ups the ante on the tradition of live episode f-bombs. We contemplate Sigil’s thorniest immigration issues. And we tell you what the most expendable character type is.
Which brings our podcast to a close for another year. Have a happy and safe holiday of your choice. We’ll be back on January 2nd with another episode packed with mystery, gaming, surrealism, and of course the results of Ken’s annual London book buying spree.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Then follow the esoteric clues to the Kickstarter for Weird Detective: the Tabletop Roleplaying Game. Grab the PDF corebook for a mere five bucks, piling on additional goodies as your fear-constricted heart desires.
In Ask Ken and Robin, we answer an Ian Porell question about how much writing should go into a GUMSHOE NPC, and move on from there to supply other tips on creating supporting players for investigative games.
From there we take a short hop to the Gaming Hut to look at post-mortems and other ways of eliciting player feedback.
Our Dreamhounds of Paris-inspired visits to the Consulting Occultist continue with a consideration of mystical seeker George Gurdjieff.
Finally we pick up the lobster phone in theCulture Hut to talk about Dreamhounds’ most popular player character, Salvador Dali.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Then follow the esoteric clues to the Kickstarter for Weird Detective: the Tabletop Roleplaying Game. Grab the PDF corebook for a mere five bucks, piling on additional goodies as your fear-constricted heart desires.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Jeff Jones seeks advice on running an anti-Nazi campaign set in 30s America. We oblige in both pulp and occult genre modes.
Become conscious of an enticing aroma in the Gaming Hut as we look at creature senses.
The Consulting Occultist continues his Parisian sojourn with an examination of uxurious bookseller Nicolas Flamel, to whom later rumor and Harry Potter imputed alchemical mastery.
That segment draws inspiration from our Dreamhounds of Paris book, which also takes us into the Culture Hut to meet Marcel Duchamp, chess-playing wit and inventor of the avant garde as we know it.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Ken’s Dracula Dossier Kickstarter crawled back into its crypt this Wednesday. But you can defy the line between death and undeath by heading to this secret mountain redoubt, where all the deals from the campaign remain available for a limited time.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Stephanie asks Ken and Robin to find gaming ideas in the disappearance, and much later resurfacing, of Henry IV’s long-dead head.
The Gaming Hut has us looking at moments where player choice conflicts with character believability.
Back to matters Gallic, the Consulting Occultist details the life, thought, and possible Dreamlands influence of fin de siècle writer, ritualist and schmoozer Gerard Encausse.
Finally, our Dreamlands of Paris inspired sojourn in the Culture Hut continues with a look at that most contradictory of figures, the doctrinaire aesthetic revolutionary Andre Breton.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Show Ken you love him, and/or hate bloodsuckers, by kicking a few pounds in the direction of his Dracula Dossier Kickstarter. Learn what MI6 doesn’t want you to know about the king of the vampires.
Heroically fashion a new civilization from the ashes of the old in Legacy: Life Among the Ruins, from UFO Press. Start your multi-generational quest to rebuild the world with a journey to Kickstarter. Now in its last week!
The Tradecraft Hut takes an unusual lead slot as Ken answers an FMGuru request for the tale of WWII Soviet spy Richard Sorge.
Horatio stands to our right and Laertes to our right as the Gaming Hut contemplates the use of supporting characters as foils.
Blasting his trumpet for Dreamhounds of Paris, the Consulting Occultist begins a mini-arc delving into the French occult, starting with scientist, spiritualist and polymath Charles Richet.
Even more brazenly touting Dreamlands, our just-opened Culture Hut kicks off an in-depth series with Surrealism 101.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Show Ken you love him, and/or hate bloodsuckers, by kicking a few pounds in the direction of his Dracula Dossier Kickstarter. Learn what MI6 doesn’t want you to know about the king of the vampires.
Heroically fashion a new civilization from the ashes of the old in Legacy: Life Among the Ruins, from UFO Press. Start your multi-generational quest to rebuild the world with a journey to Kickstarter.
The hats in Among My Many Hats are bowlers, and green apples obscure our faces, because we’re talking about Dreamhounds of Paris, now available for preorder, and its companion volume,The Book of Ants.
In the Food Hut we answer a Ryan Macklin request to talk about herbs. Which delicious plant will we name as monarch over all the others?
We are pursued by a bear into the Gaming Hut for a discussion of Shakespearean gaming, as part of our nod to birthday celebrant Dina Katz.
Finally the Consulting Occultist makes an appearance in the Tradecraft Hut to discuss revelations that British psy-ops thought it would calm the Northern Irish conflict if they staged evidence of black masses.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Show Ken you love him, and/or hate bloodsuckers, by kicking a few pounds in the direction of his Dracula Dossier Kickstarter. Learn what MI6 doesn’t want you to know about the king of the vampires.
Also sponsoring us this week is the Paranoia Kickstarter from Mongoose Publishing. Obey the Computer, citizen, and crowdfund a fast-playing new iteration of the classic RPG of a darkly humorous future.
Gallop into the Gaming Hut as we discuss a term from documentary filmmaking, chasing story, and how it might relate to roleplaying games.
Take a seat in the Cinema Hut as Ken discusses his top picks from the 2014 Chicago International Film Festival.
Begin at the beginning as How to Write Good looks at constructing compelling opening scenes.
Then puzzle through a chronological controversy in the Eliptony Hut, with our examination of the centuries of darkness thesis.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Episode 113: And the Heads of a Whole Bunch of People
In the Gaming Hut we consider the dividing line between fun character customization and tiresome homework, and whether it’s moving lately.
Still in a Draculanean mood, Ken enters the Book Hut for a vantage on the career of Bram Stoker.
We rev up the Recommendation Engine for its sophomore run to talk about a movie, a record, some books, and one of our favorite leaves.
Then Ken’s Time Machine essays a daring escape as Ken rescues Marie Antoinette.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Grab your battlemat and head on over to the Kickstarter for ArcKnight’s Flat Plastic Miniatures. Their new transparency format combines snazzy looks with a great bargain, giving you more figures than competing styles.
In the Gaming Hut we look at ways to add nuance to your setting’s faiths by considering the split between official and popular religion.
Ken spills blood-red beans on the coming Dracula Dossier Kickstarter in Among My Many Hats.
The Food Hut takes on a bookish sheen as we recommend our favorite food writing.
Finally, the Consulting Occultist looks at the witch-related thoughts of once-influential scholar Margaret Murray.
Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.
Grab your battlemat and head on over to the Kickstarter for ArcKnight’s Flat Plastic Miniatures. Their new transparency format combines snazzy looks with a great bargain, giving you more figures than competing styles.
We kick off with a Gaming Hut riffed adventure premise, as heavily armed lords come from miles around to claim their share of a holy man’s ashes.
How to Write Good stacks its deck in favor of the protagonists to show you how to avoid Mary Sue syndrome.
Ask Ken and Robin leaves Robin as puzzled as the questioner as we tackle a persistent GUMSHOE fallacy.
Venus flies over the Eliptony Hut as Ken serves up the 101 on Immanuel Velikovsky.
Atlas Games again devotes its coveted anchor sponsor slot with windmill-kicking promotion for Robin’s Hong Kong action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, which is Kickstarting even as we speak. Worldspinner makes setting construction a breeze, from the map to the themes driving your adventures. Welcome them to the podcast sponsor roster by showing some geographical love to their Kickstarter.
In the Gaming Hut Robin asks Ken to resolve Robin’s ambivalence toward creativity rewards.
The Politics Hut puts one of Ken’s rules distinctions to real life use as we contemplate Stability, Sanity, and ISIL.
Another lightning round flashes its electrical mayhem in Ask Ken and Robin.
Finally Chris Huth prompts Ken’s Time Machine to journey to an even worse version of WWI.
Atlas Games again devotes its coveted anchor sponsor slot to windmill-kicking promotion for Robin’s Hong Kong action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, which is Kickstarting even as we speak. Worldspinner makes setting construction a breeze, from the map to the themes driving your adventures. Welcome them to the podcast sponsor roster by showing some geographical love to their Kickstarter.
Ask Ken and Robin starts us in a murderous frame of mind as Dreaming Johnny wonders about settings and play styles for games where you play assassins.
In The Business of Gaming we helpfully collate all of our advice on breaking into game design as a career in one handy segment.
How to Write Good finds us looking at contrivances and how to avoid them.
Finally the Consulting Occultist gives us the real lowdown on synarchy.
Atlas Games again devotes its coveted anchor sponsor slot with windmill-kicking promotion for Robin’s Hong Kong action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, which is Kickstarting even as we speak.
Heroic Journey Publishing joins us to tout their Kickstarter for the Mecha: Kaiju sourcebook for their anime-styled, speed-line riddled Mecha RPG.
Before getting to the main meat of the episode, a Preamble Hut seems necessary to update a few stories of interest to KARTAS listeners. So gather round as Ken dispatches fresh claims of a DNA solution to the Jack the Ripper mystery, and Robin covers the latest bizarre twist in the Rob Ford saga. Or is that now the Doug Ford saga?
Then nestle in with your popcorn as Robin reports back from the Toronto International Film Festival for the 2014 edition of an obligatory Cinema Hut.
Ken’s Time Machine departs from formula to contemplate an omnibus question from Fridrik Bjarnason. Which characters in history are so serendipitous or unlikely that they must have been undercover time-travelers?
Join us for another Ken and Robin live episode, this time from beautiful and now slightly better smelling Indianapolis, Indiana. We nerdtrope magical slave revolts, fit the Fords into the Cthulhu mythos, riff on our favorite spice, and more. Hurtle back into mid-August with us!
Lead sponsor Atlas Games alerts you to a project near and dear to Robin’s heart, not to mention a good chunk of his year so far. That would be the freshly inaugurated Kickstarter for Feng Shui 2! Head on over and help add as much awesome as possible to the new version of the action movie roleplaying game.
Questions of pacing kick us into fall, as Ask Ken and Robin tackle a query from listener Michael Bowman.
In Crime Blotter we hunker down in our tarmac-damaging humvee to consider the trend of police militarization that catapulted to world attention in the wake of the Ferguson protests.
Ken and Robin Recycle Audio serves up the promised second helping of GUMSHOE scenario design master class.
Then in Ken’s Time Machine our intrepid chrononaut shortens the US Civil War.
Lead sponsor Atlas Games sharpens your desire for a project near and dear to Robin’s heart, not to mention a good chunk of his year so far. It fires off warning shots concerning the upcoming Kickstarter for Feng Shui 2! Click the link to be notified when the campaign goes live.
Episode 105: Does This Look Like a Railroad to You?
In Ask Ken and Robin, we field a Tuukka Heimola question about running great one-shots and convention games.
The History Hut reveals itself to be a series of rapidly constructed forts as we look at the Battle of Poltava.
Joined by co-panelist Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, Ken and Robin Recycle Audio in part one of a two-part excerpting of their Gen Con GUMSHOE adventure master class.
Finally, Sarah Helen Whitman, spiritualist and jilted fiancee of Edgar Allen Poe, summons herself into a particularly gossipy installment of Consulting Occultist.
Lead sponsor Atlas Games announces a project near and dear to Robin’s heart, not to mention a good chunk of his year so far. It fires off warning shots concerning the upcoming Kickstarter for Feng Shui 2! Click the link to be notified when the campaign goes live.
Stone Skin Press has a deal for you. Until September 1st, all hardcopy purchases of Robin’s action-driven Mythos fiction anthology Shotguns v. Cthulhu come not only with the expected free electronic edition of that book, but also an ebook of Schemers, Robin’s anthology of betrayal and conspiracy. Just buy it at the Pelgrane Press store, as you normally would, no special links or offer codes required.
It’s Gen Con, Gen Con and more Gen Con as we issue our usual bumper Travel Advisory in the wake of the big show. Robin comes home wreathed in Hillfolk glory, Ken and Robin snag gold, Ken makes the flipper motions of supreme pleasure in the presence of Greg Stafford, and we limn unmistakable evidence of the Roleplaying Golden Age. All that and a slightly bleary much, much more.
Lead sponsor Atlas Games announces a project near and dear to Robin’s heart, not to mention a good chunk of his year so far. It fires off warning shots concerning the upcoming Kickstarter for Feng Shui 2! Click the link to be notified when the campaign goes live.
Stone Skin Press has a deal for you. Until September 1st, all hardcopy purchases of Robin’s action-driven Mythos fiction anthology Shotguns v. Cthulhu come not only with the expected free electronic edition of that book, but also an ebook of Schemers, Robin’s anthology of betrayal and conspiracy. Just buy it at the Pelgrane Press store, as you normally would, no special links or offer codes required.
Ken slaps down suggestions of a Gaming Hut renovation, but that poses little impediment to Robin as he sets out the four key components that make for an engaging obstacle. For more, see Robin’s latest publication, a fundraiser chapbook for the Kraken Convention called Sharper Adventures in HeroQuest Glorantha, available to the public soon after that con wraps.
Cartography Hut finds Ken searching for Dracula’s castle, finding not one site but many, each dripping with gore and story potential.
Ask Ken and Robin has our titular podcasters flopping their pseudopods in response to a MarcAddress challenge to create a civilization absent fine motor control.
Finally theories about the Holy Grail taking up residence in the Oak Island money pit infuse the Eliptony Hut with a salty spray of Canadian content.
Lead sponsor Atlas Games announces a project near and dear to Robin’s heart, not to mention a good chunk of his year so far. It fires off warning shots concerning the upcoming Kickstarter for Feng Shui 2! Click the link to be notified when the campaign goes live.
Stone Skin Press has a deal for you. Until September 1st, all hardcopy purchases of Robin’s action-driven Mythos fiction anthology Shotguns v. Cthulhu come not only with the expected free electronic edition of that book, but also an ebook of Schemers, Robin’s anthology of betrayal and conspiracy. Just buy it at the Pelgrane Press store, as you normally would, no special links or offer codes required.
Joining us for the first time as sponsor is Jeffrey Wikstrom’s Arthur Dies at the End, an ebook series that spins the tedium of Malory into erudite fun.
Stone Skin Press has a deal for you. Until September 1st, all hardcopy purchases of Robin’s action-driven Mythos fiction anthology Shotguns v. Cthulhu come not only with the expected free electronic edition of that book, but also an ebook of Schemers, Robin’s anthology of betrayal and conspiracy. Just buy it at the Pelgrane Press store, as you normally would, no special links or offer codes required.
Our multi-episode arc about the underwater dead who sell life and buy dreams comes to a conclusion in the Gaming Hut as we break out specific scenario ideas for our riffed setting.
In a new segment called Recommendation Engine we tell you what’s catching our fancy in the worlds of books, TV, movies, and food.
Rob Ford is back from rehab and onto the Toronto mayoralty campaign trail, and you know what that means: a midsummer night’s Politics Hut.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine takes a trip to 7th century India to save Buddhism’s bodhi tree from the conquering forces of King Sassanka.
Joining us for the first time as sponsor is Jeffrey Wikstrom’s Arthur Dies at the End, an ebook series that spins the tedium of Malory into erudite fun.
Stone Skin Press has a deal for you. Until September 1st, all hardcopy purchases of Robin’s action-driven Mythos fiction anthology Shotguns v. Cthulhu come not only with the expected free electronic edition of that book, but also an ebook of Schemers, Robin’s anthology of betrayal and conspiracy. Just buy it at the Pelgrane Press store, as you normally would, no special links or offer codes required.
Episode 100: Special Anniversary All Lightning Edition
Let the bells ring out and the banners fly. It’s the landmark 100th episode of our humble podcast!
To celebrate, we’ve collected from listeners across the social media landscape a cornucopia of lightning round questions, which we dispatch with varying degrees of efficiency.
Also in a celebratory mood are our ever-reliable anchor sponsors and fine friends at Atlas Games. With a twinkle of fairy dust they pop the champagne cork and give you another shot at their 2nd Edition Once Upon a Time clearance sale.
We are honored and delighted to say that Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff has been nominated for a 2o14 ENnie Award for Best Podcast. If you are seeing this before Aug 1st, and want us bounding up to that podium on Friday night at Gen Con, please do us a huge solid and go to the ENnies voting booth and pull the virtual lever.
Watch out for wandering monsters as the Gaming Hut looks at random tables.
In the Mythology Hut we answer the call of listener Genus Unknown to examine the roots of the Faust legend.
The Cartography Hut encourages you to map your imaginary city’s zones of safety and danger.
Then the Consulting Occultist goes psychedelic with a look at the Source Family and its karate-chopping, bank robbing New Age guru, Father Yod.
Often in the Gaming Hut (and other huts arrayed around it) we riff a ton of quick ideas in Gatling gun fashion. This time out we take one of those riffed ideas, that of the city of underwater dead who sell longer lives to mortals, as we demonstrate the process of fleshing out a concept into a setting.
The Tradecraft Hut takes on the seminal story of 20th century espionage, Kim Philby and the Cambridge Five.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Robin fields a Steve Hammond question on setting changes between the previous edition of Feng Shui and the one he is currently cooking up.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine takes a John Clayton request for a better Roman occupation of Britain, in the hopes that it might dampen later regional conflicts.
All hail the audio majesty of editor Rob Borges, who rescued this and last week’s episodes from the scourge of electronic interference, leaving only a touch of distortion in Robin’s sibilants.
A mystery questioner Asks Ken and Robin how they handle red herrings.
Ken flips on the projector in the Cinema Hut to get us started on the new Indian crime film.
The Cartography Hut looks at the aesthetic and propagandistic impact of legendary map artist Richard Edes Harrison.
We close with the Consulting Occultist, who tells us of the London stone and the magical significance of its current ignominious location.
All hail the audio majesty of editor Rob Borges, who rescued this and next week’s episodes from the scourge of electronic interference, leaving only a touch of distortion in Robin’s sibilants.
It’s time to talk terms in the Gaming Hut, as we toss around the distinction between simulation and modeling.
In the Conspiracy Corner we review the disputed death of Indian independence leader turned Axis ally Subhas Chandra Bose.
Inspired by this piece by Leigh Alexander on Gama Sutra, How to Write Good asks if suffering is the hallmark of the modern hero. And if so, what does that mean for our portrayals of female heroes?
The Eliptony Hut hosts the ultimate deniers as we consider Flat Earth Societies and their legendary five corners of the world.
Take a moment to patronize our fine array of sponsors, starting with Atlas Games, who with a twinkle of fairy dust revive their 2nd Edition Once Upon a Time clearance sale.
Then take an eerie cinematic journey with The Dreamlands, the first filmic adaptation of Lovecraft’s dream cycle, from the director of the acclaimed Die Farbe. Check out the trailers and decide whether crowdfunding or crowdinvesting is right for you.
Turn your head and sarcophagus as Ask Ken and Robin raises the lid on a @CrazyDogSpirit question on making the most of mummies.
Then it’s time for another Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, in which Allison Fizzard, associate professor of history at Regina’s Campion College, explains Tudor-era retirement plans and how Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries threw them for a loop. Plus, there’s beer.
We springboard from that into the Gaming Hut, examining ways to incorporate legal petitions into fantasy RPGing.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine takes us to that moment when a 16-year-old future George V crossed paths with the Flying Dutchman.
Take a moment to patronize our fine array of sponsors, starting with Atlas Games, who with a twinkle of fairy dust revive their 2nd Edition Once Upon a Time clearance sale.
Once you’ve finished listening to us, tune in to the One SHOT podcast, curing your gaming withdrawal with one-and-done actual play episodes featuring such games as Pathfinder, Feng Shui and, of special interest to devoted Kartasians, Time Watch, the GUMSHOE game of panchronological investigation.
Then take an eerie cinematic journey with The Dreamlands, the first filmic adaptation of Lovecraft’s dream cycle, from the director of the acclaimed Die Farbe. Check out the trailers and decide whether crowdfunding or crowdinvesting is right for you.
A fog-shrouded Travel Advisory sees Robin reporting on his trip to historic (and Fortean) St. John’s, Newfoundland.
In Ask Ken and Robin, donor Brendan Power asks about handling spotty game night attendance.
The Horror Hut mulls over that very odd foundation of the Gothic tradition, The Castle of Otranto.
Finally the Consulting Occultist looks at husband and wife demon-busters Ed and Lorraine Warren.
It’s yo ho ho and a pocketful of doubloons as Atlas Games surveys the seven seas from the crow’s nest that is our coveted anchor sponsor slot. Parrot on its shoulder, it orders up another special deal for Ken and Robin listeners, this time in the form of their innovative game of piratical nautical warfare, Pieces of Eight.
Among the two new sponsors we welcome to the show this week is the Play Generated Map and Document Archive, a scholarly game studies resource searching for game notes, character sheets and maps from gamers like you, and from your ex-gamer friends. Help them secure the history of roleplaying for future generations.
Also joining us is the One SHOT podcast, curing your gaming withdrawal with one-and-done actual play episodes featuring such games as Pathfinder, Feng Shui and, of special interest to devoted Kartasians, Time Watch, the GUMSHOE game of panchronological investigation.
We start in a submersible as the Cartography Hut takes you under the sea to riff on campaign and adventure possibilities arising from the mapping of sunken Dunwich.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Yohann Delalande asks us to find inspiration for Night’s Black Agents in the flamboyant and multi-pronged career of Uzbekistan’s Gulina Karimova. We oblige, throwing in some Hillfolk and The Esoterrorists for good measure.
The Business of Gaming lays down the wisdom on professionalism.
And Anne Boleyn’s life hangs in the balance as we take a trip to a dangerous Tudor moment in Ken’s Time Machine.
It’s yo ho ho and a pocketful of doubloons as Atlas Games surveys the seven seas from the crow’s nest that is our coveted anchor sponsor slot. Parrot on its shoulder, it orders up another special deal for Ken and Robin listeners, this time in the form of their innovative game of piratical nautical warfare, Pieces of Eight.
We kick off with Ask Ken and Robin and a Sean Phelan question about asynchronous information dissemination in roleplaying games.
Dire rumors swirl as the Tradecraft Hut looks at disinformation and fear-mongering as a geopolitical instrument, from the Crimea to the ghost dance.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Robin chats with Moon Design’s Jeff Richard, who tells tales of the epic heroquest that brought the mammoth and jaw-dropping Guide to Glorantha project back from the mythic realm of Kickstarter.
Finally, Ken, having tackled the topic in a two-part Ken Writes About Stuff entry, dons the Consulting Occultist hat to introduce us to the basics of voodoo.
It’s yo ho ho and a pocketful of doubloons as Atlas Games surveys the seven seas from the crow’s nest that is our coveted anchor sponsor slot. Parrot on its shoulder, it orders up another special deal for Ken and Robin listeners, this time in the form of their innovative game of piratical nautical warfare, Pieces of Eight.
The titular emotion exudes from a certain Chicagoan as we issue a Travel Advisory for Robin’s trip to the Chimeriades convention in sunny Provence.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Chris Shorb asks about making alternate histories plausible in roleplaying.
We take another request in the Eliptony Hut, because Alan Scott wants to know about the Lemurians of Mount Shasta.
Finally an overdue Politics Hut catches up on the latest turns in the Rob Ford saga, which landed him in rehab and temporarily out of Toronto’s mayoral race.
It’s yo ho ho and a pocketful of doubloons as Atlas Games surveys the seven seas from the crow’s nest that is our coveted anchor sponsor slot. Parrot on its shoulder, it orders up another special deal for Ken and Robin listeners, this time in the form of their innovative game of piratical nautical warfare, Pieces of Eight.
This week’s show is also brought to you in part by the World of Aetaltis. The Temple of Modren, the first sourcebook introducing this exciting new Pathfinder Compatible world, is now Kickstarting.
In the Gaming Hut we demonstrate scenario construction by brainstorming a Fear Itself adventure featuring the fearsome Crate Man.
Duck furtively into the Cartography Hut as we look at maps as secrets.
In Ask Ken and Robin we field a query from Tom Allman on prepping for Cthulhu games.
Then we sidle up to Ken’s Bookshelf to vicariously paw through the spoils of his recent raid on Powell’s Book City in Portland.
It’s yo ho ho and a pocketful of doubloons as Atlas Games surveys the seven seas from the crow’s nest that is our coveted anchor sponsor slot. Parrot on its shoulder, it orders up another special deal for Ken and Robin listeners, this time in the form of their innovative game of piratical nautical warfare, Pieces of Eight.
This week’s show is also brought to you in part by the World of Aetaltis. The Temple of Modren, the first sourcebook introducing this exciting new Pathfinder Compatible world, is now Kickstarting.
Episode 89: The Elvis of the European Occult Underground
The Gaming Hut reverberates with spectral dread as we find ways to make ghosts and hauntings scary in roleplaying.
Fun with Science looks for story and gaming grist in the increasingly respected, and increasingly mind-blowing, multiverse theory of cosmological physics.
In That Thing I Always Say Robin goes on about the lasting influence a game’s first adventure has on the way it is played thereafter.
The Consulting Occultist finishes his major figures of the French enlightenment trilogy with the immortal Comte de Saint Germain.
It’s yo ho ho and a pocketful of doubloons as Atlas Games surveys the seven seas from the crow’s nest that is our coveted anchor sponsor slot. Parrot on its shoulder, it orders up another special deal for Ken and Robin listeners, this time in the form of their innovative game of piratical nautical warfare, Pieces of Eight.
This week’s show is also brought to you in part by the World of Aetaltis. The Temple of Modren, the first sourcebook introducing this exciting new Pathfinder Compatible world, is now Kickstarting.
In the Gaming Hut, Robin asks Ken to specify a suitable period of occult ferment and together they riff it into a DramaSystem Series Pitch.
We unseal the stone door of the Mythology Hut to give Lilith the once-over.
The Cinema Hut joins forces with the Horror Hut as we mull the current cycle of haunting movies.
Finally, we respond to a Justin Mohareb request for Ken’s Time Machine. The suspiciousrevocation of Richard Nixon’s FBI application sure smells like time stream interference. Did Ken do this, or was it the work of a rogue time effectuator he must now reverse?
It’s yo ho ho and a pocketful of doubloons as Atlas Games surveys the seven seas from the crow’s nest that is our coveted anchor sponsor slot. Parrot on its shoulder, it orders up another special deal for Ken and Robin listeners, this time in the form of their innovative game of piratical nautical warfare, Pieces of Eight.
The Bundle of Holding rejoins us as sponsor with a deal relevant to your specific Ken and Robin needs. Aeons in the making and finally rising, it’s the Trail of Cthulhu Bundle, in eldritch partnership with Pelgrane Press! Get it before it sinks beneath the waves again, on May 12th.
Ken’s return from Portland’s HP Lovecraft Film Festival and its sister event Conthulhu prompts the issuance of an especially eldritch Travel Advisory.
Listener Greg Gray gets an unprecedented answer when he poses an Ask Ken and Robin question about the paucity of info in roleplaying rules books for spanking new players.
How to Write Good serializes its commas and regularizes its colons when we tackle the hot topic of punctuation gray areas.
Finally the Consulting Occultist pulls a long con and at least half of a badger game as we consider the grifting career of Cagliostro, alchemist and influential Freemason.
It’s yo ho ho and a pocketful of doubloons as Atlas Games surveys the seven seas from the crow’s nest that is our coveted anchor sponsor slot. Parrot on its shoulder, it orders up another special deal for Ken and Robin listeners, this time in the form of their innovative game of piratical nautical warfare, Pieces of Eight.
Pull up an extra special chair in the Gaming Hut as we look at ways to put guest players to good use.
In the Tradecraft Hut, Ken helps listener Rick Jonzz start a beginner’s tradecraft bookshelf.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Joshua Weiss wonders what we might say about miniatures in narrative-based gaming.
Then we flip Ken’s Time Machine to mythic setting, assigning him to stop Circe from turning Odysseus men into pigs.
It’s yo ho ho and a pocketful of doubloons as Atlas Games surveys the seven seas from the crow’s nest that is our coveted anchor sponsor slot. Parrot on its shoulder, it orders up another special deal for Ken and Robin listeners, this time in the form of their innovative game of piratical nautical warfare, Pieces of Eight.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Kevin Maroney asks us to expand on an earlier Ken comment questioning the suitability of the d20 structure for Cthulhu gaming.
The History Hut flies the Jolly Roger to examine best practices of, and essential conditions for, piracy.
In the Gaming Hut we recount our least favorite setting cliches.
And in spoiler-ready last position, we point the remote at the Television Hut to give our take on True Detective.
It’s yo ho ho and a pocketful of doubloons as Atlas Games surveys the seven seas from the crow’s nest that is our coveted anchor sponsor slot. Parrot on its shoulder, it orders up another special deal for Ken and Robin listeners, this time in the form of their innovative game of piratical nautical warfare, Pieces of Eight.
After ten years delighting the Swedish gaming scene, our pals at Fenix Magazine now bring the Best of Fenix to English-language GMs and players with their now-active Indiegogo campaign. This project so resounds with Hitean goodness that you have surely chipped in already. But if you haven’t, that burning bird of prey is still passing the hat.
Episode 84: Those Punk Magicians Killed My Elephant
The Gaming Hut rings with the sound of accents and impressions as we examine the role of voice work in GMing.
The Crime Blotter finds a surprising nexus of grift, elephant materialization and the technological spread of 20th century entertainment in the person of Harry Thurston. A less famous follower in his magician brother Howard’s footsteps, Harry made his influence felt through connections to the Chicago mob.
We drink deep of mead, wine, beer and polyglot alcoholic beverages in the Food Hut, as we take a look at prehistoric and ancient drinking. A bookshelf hat tip goes out to Uncorking the Past by Patrick E. McGovern.
Get sleepy, very sleepy, letting go of cares and worries as the Consulting Occultist casts your mind toward the tale of Franz Anton Mesmer.
It’s yo ho ho and a pocketful of doubloons as Atlas Games surveys the seven seas from the crow’s nest that is our coveted anchor sponsor slot. Parrot on its shoulder, it orders up another special deal for Ken and Robin listeners, this time in the form of their innovative game of piratical nautical warfare, Pieces of Eight.
After ten years delighting the Swedish gaming scene, our pals at Fenix Magazine now bring the Best of Fenix to English-language GMs and players with their now-active Indiegogo campaign. This project so resounds with Hitean goodness that you have surely chipped in already. But if you haven’t, that burning bird of prey is still passing the hat.
Is that a displacer beast in your pocket, or are you just glad to listen to us? Convene in the Gaming Hut as we discuss monster abilities and to what extent they enter into player awareness.
The Tradecraft Hut furtively considers stolen passports. Don’t let your characters leave theirs as collateral for motorcycles in Phuket, Thailand!
In Ask Ken and Robin, Jim Crocker prompts us to evaluate the works of William S. Burroughs as a source of gaming horror and weirdness.
The Eliptony Hut goes nautical to explore the fate of the Mary Celeste, whose mystery might have been a tad embellished by one Arthur Conan Doyle.
It’s yo ho ho and a pocketful of doubloons as Atlas Games surveys the seven seas from the crow’s nest that is our coveted anchor sponsor slot. Parrot on its shoulder, it orders up another special deal for Ken and Robin listeners, this time in the form of their innovative game of piratical nautical warfare, Pieces of Eight.
After ten years delighting the Swedish gaming scene, our pals at Fenix Magazine now bring the Best of Fenix to English-language GMs and players with their now-active Indiegogo campaign. This project so resounds with Hitean goodness that you have surely chipped in already. But if you haven’t, that burning bird of prey is still passing the hat.
Episode 82: Ken and Robin’s Tiny Dolls Talk About Stuff
In the Gaming Hut we again lift the RPG design hood to tinker with PC/NPC asymmetry.
Eerie Horror Hut riffing ensues as we sift the story possibilities of 3D-Printed Clone Dolls.
Ask Ken and Robin opens in the middle of a Philippe Marcel question about starting game sessions in media res.
Purely hypothetically, you understand, a certain Ken’s Time Machine segment might tell you who murdered Alexander the Great, and why Ken helped cover it up.
It’s yo ho ho and a pocketful of doubloons as Atlas Games surveys the seven seas from the crow’s nest that is our coveted anchor sponsor slot. Parrot on its shoulder, it orders up another special deal for Ken and Robin listeners, this time in the form of their innovative game of piratical nautical warfare, Pieces of Eight.
After ten years delighting the Swedish gaming scene, our pals at Fenix Magazine now bring the Best of Fenix to English-language GMs and players with their now-active Indiegogo campaign. This project so resounds with Hitean goodness that you have surely chipped in already. But if you haven’t, that burning bird of prey is still passing the hat.
In the Cartography Hut we set out techniques to add a dose of psychogeography to the map of your imaginary city.
The Gaming Hut looks at the elasticity of vampire mythology, as inspired by Ken’s golden steampunk vampires of El Dorado, as seen in Fenix magazine.
How to Write Good confronts the pesky threat of word clusters, and how to avoid using the same word twice in one…dammit!
Consulting Occultist meets Tradecraft Hut as, at the request of listener Johnstone Metzger, we examine the work and shocking demise of mythological studies scholar and Romanian dissident Ioan Culianu.
Once again Fenix Magazine occupies our coveted anchor sponsor slot. After ten years delighting the Swedish gaming scene, they’re now bringing the Best of Fenix to English-language GMs and players with their now-active Indiegogo campaign. This project so resounds with Hitean goodness that you have surely chipped in already. But if you haven’t, that burning bird of prey is still passing the hat.
It’s yo ho ho and a pocketful of doubloons as Atlas Games serves up another special deal for Ken and Robin listeners, this time in the form of their innovative game of piratical sea battles, Pieces of Eight.
That rumble in your molars heralds the thundering approach of the Open Metalcast Podcast, joining us as sponsor in a crescendo of aural extremity!
Episode 80: Vulnerable to Attack By Panzer Leaders
Gaming Hut starts on a somber note as we remember the roleplaying innovations of Aaron Allston (1960-2014.) We go on to discuss one of the key themes of his work, genre emulation at the tabletop.
The Eliptony Hut takes on a distinctly octagonal shape as we look at the eight-sided architectural influence of phrenologist and social reformer Orson Squire Fowler.
In the Business of Gaming, we share social media tips and tricks.
Finally, Eoin Keith Boyle makes a St. Patrick’s Day request: can Ken’s Time Machine be put to use preventing the English conquest of Ireland?
Once again Fenix Magazine occupies the coveted anchor sponsor slot. After ten years delighting the Swedish gaming scene, they’re now bringing the Best of Fenix to English-language GMs and players with their now-active Indiegogo campaign.
Don your chivalric armor to also thank sponsor Atlas Games, now unveiling Knightly Tales, the exciting new expansion for their classic Once Upon a Time card game.
That rumble in your molars heralds the thundering approach of the Open Metalcast Podcast, joining us as sponsor in a crescendo of aural extremity!
Grab your retrospective popcorn and hunker down in the Cinema Hut as Ken and Robin review their movie top tens for 2013.
Responding to popular demand, the Consulting Occultist assesses competing new claims of having cracked the cryptobotanical mysteries of the Voynich Manuscript.
In Ask Ken and Robin we hit the dimmer switch to address Richard Fryer’s question on lighting effects at the gaming table.
Then a ghostly romance unfolds as Ken’s Bookshelf unexpectedly reunites with the revenant spirit of an old favorite tome purveyor, returning from the west with lighter wallet and heavier luggage. What happened in the parking lot might surprise you!
Once again Fenix Magazine occupies the coveted anchor sponsor slot. After ten years delighting the Swedish gaming scene, they’re now bringing the Best of Fenix to English-language GMs and players with their now-active Indiegogo campaign.
Don your chivalric armor to also thank sponsor Atlas Games, now unveiling Knightly Tales, the exciting new expansion for their classic Once Upon a Time card game.
Staging a no-knock raid to flash its badge and confiscate your mi-go fetuses, it’s Delta Green: Tales from Failed Anatomies, now on Kickstarter. Robin has a story in the main book, and Ken in the bonus selection, so it’s only fitting that we should welcome Arc Dream Publishing to our sponsor stable.
Find new reason to plunge into the dungeon as the Gaming Hut tackles ways of giving narrative meaning to F20 combat encounters.
Look at Fluffy in a new light as the Tradecraft Hut examines the animal spying claims of trainer Bob Bailey, who in addition to creating the chicken Tic-Tac-Toe machine says he was a contractor for the CIA.
In Ask Ken and Robin, John Wilson asks Ken and Robin about turning homebrew sessions into published games and scenarios.
Time Incorporated revs up Ken’s Time Machine, asking him to pick one of ten unbuilt utopias from a recent i09 listicle and make it a reality. If you can’t guess which one he picks, you don’t know Ken.
Once again Fenix Magazine occupies the coveted anchor sponsor slot. After ten years delighting the Swedish gaming scene, they’re now bringing the Best of Fenix to English-language GMs and players with their now-active Indiegogo campaign.
Don your chivalric armor to also thank sponsor Atlas Games, now unveiling Knightly Tales, the exciting new expansion for their classic Once Upon a Time card game.
Staging a no-knock raid to flash its badge and confiscate your mi-go fetuses, it’s Delta Green: Tales from Failed Anatomies, now on Kickstarter. Robin has a story in the main book, and Ken in the bonus selection, so it’s only fitting that we should welcome Arc Dream Publishing to our sponsor stable.
They said it couldn’t strike twice, but the Ask Ken and Robin lightning round is back, tackling game designer payment, Day After Ragnarok, book hunting, and a Rob Ford mini-update.
In the wide open spaces of the Genre Hut, we look at ways to nerdtrope the Western, including Ken’s Once Upon a Time in the North from Fenix magazine. We fit in all the John Waynes!
Reserve your kitchen outlets as Ken and Robin talk gadgets and appliances in the Food Hut.
Then look up, way up, to the paranoia of chemtrails in Conspiracy Corner.
Once again Fenix Magazine occupies the coveted anchor sponsor slot. After ten years delighting the Swedish gaming scene, they’re now bringing the Best of Fenix to English-language GMs and players with their now-active Indiegogo campaign.
Don your chivalric armor to also thank sponsor Atlas Games, now unveiling Enchanting Tales, the exciting new expansion for their classic Once Upon a Time card game.
We start this episode in the Gaming Hut, where we bat around ways to activate your player character’s character hook.
In our new segment, Crime Blotter, we examine the four categories of hit man, as proposed by a recent Birmingham City University study of British hired killers.
Tropes face off against cliches as we once again tell you How to Write Good.
Then Ken dons his Consulting Occultist regalia to tear the lid off the djinn menace.
Once again Fenix Magazine occupies the coveted anchor sponsor slot. After ten years delighting the Swedish gaming scene, they’re now bringing the Best of Fenix to English-language GMs and players with their now-active Indiegogo campaign.
Clank about in chivalric armor in fealty to Atlas Games, now unveiling Enchanting Tales, the exciting new expansion for their classic Once Upon a Time card game.
A curious case study, in which a regrettable glacier incident leads listener Joe Tyne to a Call of Cthulhu stumbling block, warrants treatment from the experts in Ask Ken and Robin.
At the request of listener Benjamin Blattberg, we essay a hidden gems segment of the Cinema Hut.
Finally, with a nod of the chrono-helmet to Kevin Kulp’sTimeWatch RPG Kickstarter, Ken’s Time Machine unscrambles the Ossian hoax to, somewhat reluctantly, restore the literary reputation of 18th century poet and Scottish revivalist James McPherson.
Once again Fenix Magazine occupies the coveted anchor sponsor slot. After ten years delighting the Swedish gaming scene, they’re now bringing the Best of Fenix to English-language GMs and players with their now-active Indiegogo campaign.
Our next sponsor, Sand and Steam Productions, is now well into its Kickstarter for their Fate-powered mythic Norse RPG, War of Metal and Bone.
Also aboard the sponsor train is Atlas Games, who in a dappled fairyland warehouse discovered the need to liquidate still perfectly fabulous copies of Once Upon Time 2nd Edition, as the 3rd Edition glimmers on the horizon. Take advantage of this special deal for Ken and Robin listeners!
Keep your silver dagger ready in the Gaming Hut as we look at campaign setting creation through the example of Ken’s Werewolves of Dacia, which will appear in the upcoming Best of Fenix anthology. Hat tip to Big Think for its Middle Earth-to-Earth conversion map.
Once again Fenix Magazine occupies our coveted anchor sponsor slot. After ten years delighting the Swedish gaming scene, they’re poised to bring the Best of Fenix to English-language GMs and players with a February Indiegogo campaign.
Our next sponsor, Sand and Steam Productions, is now well into its Kickstarter for their Fate-powered mythic Norse RPG, War of Metal and Bone.
Also aboard the sponsor train is Atlas Games, who in a dappled fairyland warehouse discovered the need to liquidate still perfectly fabulous copies of Once Upon Time 2nd Edition, as the 3rd Edition glimmers on the horizon. Take advantage of this special deal for Ken and Robin listeners!
Ask Ken and Robin dispenses advice on running SF and space opera games, in response to a query from Ed Hirsch.
In a curiously hexagonal Book Hut, we examine the seminal work of Argentinean fantasist Jorge Luis Borges, and the beautifully idiosyncratic English Lit class he once taught, courtesy of the newly translated book Professor Borges: A Course on English Literature.
Among My Many Hats prompts Robin to talk Storyscape, his design for a tablet-based tabletop roleplaying game, now being Kickstarted by friend of the show Slabtown Games.
The Consulting Occultist returns to the spiritualist movement of the 19th century to contemplate the Swedenborg-cribbing visions of Andrew Jackson Davis, the Poughkeepsie Seer.
Join us in welcoming a new anchor sponsor, Fenix Magazine. After ten years delighting the Swedish gaming scene, they’re poised to bring the Best of Fenix to English-language GMs and players with a February Indiegogo campaign.
Our next sponsor, Sand and Steam Productions, is now well into its Kickstarter for their Fate-powered mythic Norse RPG, War of Metal and Bone.
Also aboard the sponsor train is Atlas Games, who in a dappled fairyland warehouse discovered the need to liquidate still perfectly fabulous copies of Once Upon Time 2nd Edition, as the 3rd Edition glimmers on the horizon. Take advantage of this special deal for Ken and Robin listeners!
Seize the narrative steering wheel as a player in the Gaming Hut, where we discuss techniques to productively exercise character agency.
Uncover the layers beneath the layers of the History Hut, in which we find gaming and story fodder in multispectral palimpsest recovery.
In Ken and Robin Talk To Someone Else, we speak together to two someone elses, Cat Tobin and Simon Rogers of Pelgrane Press, who discuss the logistical lessons from the now-fulfilled Hillfolk Kickstarter.
Then we rev up Ken’s Time Machine to, at the behest of new sponsor Sand and Steam Productions, save the Viking colony of Vinland from extinction.
Yes, we said Sand and Steam Productions, now launching the Kickstarter for their Fate-powered mythic Norse RPG, War of Metal and Bone.
Also clambering aboard the sponsor train is Atlas Games, who in a dappled fairyland warehouse discovered the need to liquidate still perfectly fabulous copies of Once Upon Time 2nd Edition, as the 3rd Edition glimmers on the horizon. Take advantage of this special deal for Ken and Robin listeners!
We ring in 2014 with an Ask Ken and Robin from Ross Ireland, who wants to switch to a more serious horror tone after years of loosey-goosey play.
Then we zoom back in time to the dying embers of 2013, for a segment of Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else featuring James Wallis of The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Once Upon a Time fame.
We conclude our episode of all-eponymous segments with another dive into Ken’s Bookshelf, this time examining his haul from our recent trip to London.
Once again we thank our anchor sponsor, Slabtown Games, who very soon will be launching a Kickstarter for Storyscape, a tablet-based tabletop roleplaying game Robin is currently designing for them.
Special guest Rob Heinsoo joins Ken and Robin for a very special episode recorded live at Dragonmeet, from the municipal splendor of Kensington Town Hall in beautiful downtown London.
Ken nerdtropes the alchemical secrets of the JFK airport. Rob performs a parlor trick of his own by telling us a story about danger. And Robin spills some beans on continuity changes in the upcoming Feng Shui 2.
In response to audience questions the panel reveals its favorite gaming moments and sources of design envy.
This will be our last episode before we take a brief break for the holidays. We’ll be back with a brand new show on January 10th.
Once again we thank our anchor sponsor, Slabtown Games, who very soon will be launching a Kickstarter for Storyscape, a tablet-based tabletop roleplaying game Robin is currently designing for them.
Ken and Robin open the Gaming Hut to air evolving differences in gamer expectations, with Feng Shui player feedback offering a time portal between the mid-90s and now.
Among My Many Hats looks into Ken’s gig as a dramaturg for WildClaw Theatre’s stage production ofShadow Over Innsmouth.
With the holidays nearing, the Food Hut learns what Christmas food means to us.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine gears up to undo the 1979 Iranian revolution.
Episode 68: Why You Shouldn’t Ask Us to Destroy Civilization
News that US states are now legalizing Internet gambling within their borders send us to an unusually garishly lit and jingle-jangling Gaming Hut, where we consider hobby gaming twists on playing for cash online.
Then Ask Ken and Robin visits the Consulting Occultist on behalf of Steven W. King, who wants to know what to put on his beginning occult bookshelf.
In the Cartography Hut we look for the fun in the relative inaccuracy of period maps.
Finally, in an all-too-inevitable Politics Hut, Robin shares the local perspective on the now-international Rob Ford story, from the release of damning search warrant evidence to his loss of all but titular authority. You learned about it here first, probably!
Anchor sponsor Slabtown Games remains with us to tout Storyscape, a tablet-based tabletop roleplaying game Robin is currently designing for them.
Episode 67: You Suck as a Depicter of Matriarchies
Take a moment to study the menu in the Gaming Hut, as we contrast the operations of prix fixe and a la carte character improvement RPG designs.
Watch us cut the ribbon on our brand new Abandoned Idea Clearinghouse, in which we look at creative ideas we decided not to pursue and why we set them aside.
In Ask Ken and Robin, we don our therapeutic coats to help listener Martin Rundkvist through a crisis of verisimilitude brought on by his humanities degree.
Finally we enter the Eliptony Hut to probe deeply into the 1973 Pascagoula UFO abduction.
Slabtown Games moves into the anchor sponsor slot as it continues to tease the upcoming Kickstarter for Storyscape, a tablet-based tabletop roleplaying game Robin is currently designing for them.
Kotadama Heavy Industries invites you to explore Ryuutama: The Natural Fantasy RPG, translated by Matt Sanchez & Andy Kitkowski. Satisfy your yearning for travel and exploration by jumping aboard their successful Kickstarter campaign.
We place a horseshoe over the mantle of the Gaming Hut to consider luck’s role as a branch point in roleplaying.
Then, at the behest of lead sponsor Stephen Jankiewicz, we enter the cobwebbed confines of the Horror Hut to ask if terror and sense of wonder can coexist.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Leo Pall Hrafnsson inquires: “How do you run a game that feels like Heat or Catch Me If You Can, where the PCs directly oppose one another?”
Finally, a grumbling time traveler revs up Ken’s Time Machine to intervene in the invention of Thanksgiving to build a more sensible, dare we say Canadian, separation between it and Christmas.
Serving as anchor sponsor this week is author Stephen Jankiewicz. Among his many works, KARTAS listeners may be most drawn to his weird tales in the Lovecraft tradition, as found in his collections Medusa, the Drowned and Other Tales and The Muse of the Monstrous. Check out his stuff on Amazon.
Slabtown Games joins us to tout Storyscape, a tablet-based tabletop roleplaying game Robin is currently designing for them.
Kotadama Heavy Industries invites you to explore Ryuutama: The Natural Fantasy RPG, translated by Matt Sanchez & Andy Kitkowski. Satisfy your yearning for travel and exploration by jumping aboard their successful Kickstarter campaign.
We put down our catalogues of iron rations and guaranteed unpossessed cats to venture into the Gaming Hut and discuss the allure of shopping and gear in roleplaying games.
Inside the perimeter of the Tradecraft Hut we round up such national security concerns as Angela Merkel’s cellphone and the secret Twitter life of dismissed White House staffer Jofi Joseph.
Corwyn Pendragon Asks Ken and Robin to name their touchstone works on story and structure.
Finally Ken uses his high-level Consulting Occultist borrowing privileges to scrutinize the legendary Voynich Manuscript.
A new honor roll of sponsors joins us to help keep the podcast going.
Serving as anchor sponsor this week is author Stephen Jankiewicz. Among his many works, KARTAS listeners may be most drawn to his weird tales in the Lovecraft tradition, as found in his collections Medusa, the Drowned and Other Tales and The Muse of the Monstrous. Check out his stuff on Amazon.
Slabtown Games joins us to tout Storyscape, a tablet-based tabletop roleplaying game Robin is currently designing for them.
Kotadama Heavy Industries invites you to explore Ryuutama: The Natural Fantasy RPG, translated by Matt Sanchez & Andy Kitkowski. Satisfy your yearning for travel and exploration by jumping aboard their successful Kickstarter campaign.
Ken has returned from the Chicago Film Festival to regale the Cinema Hut with demonic pacts, ghost possession, a Kurdish western, and an unusually sympathetic take on the new Dario Argento flick.
As prompted by George Pletz, Ask Ken and Robin considers the picaresque and floats various techniques for strictly episodic RPGing.
In the Genre Hut we mull the highly problematic footprint Fu Manchu has planted in pop culture.
Finally, we rev up Ken’s Time Machine, sending our chrono-hero to whichever sack of Rome he chooses to prevent.
Our anchor sponsor this episode is Engine Publishing and their system-neutral GM resource, Odyssey: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Campaign Management. Get $5 off in the Engine Publishing store using code KARTAS20, good through November 2013!
Gather in the Gaming Hut as we discuss differences of perspective between game players and game designers.
In How to Write Good we explore that most ancient of all fiction maxims. What does it mean to write what you know?
Erik Otterberg supplies us the subject for Ask Ken and Robin: what if H. P. Lovecraft had lived to a ripe old age?
Finally, popular demand, as it so often does, cries out for a sequel—in this case, the third Politics Hut retelling of the ongoing saga of Toronto mayor Rob Ford. In the segment you’ll hear Robin mention the strange suspended feeling of waiting over a period of months for the big shoe to drop. Well, it dropped yesterday, rendering this segment, recorded last week, a halcyon snapshot of a bygone day. Still, it will help to bridge the gap from when non-Torontonians stopped following the story and yesterday, when he once again made headlines worldwide.
Episode 62: Watch Out, Boys, He Has the Power of Transcendentalism
Feel all leafy-like as Ken issues an autumnal Travel Advisory for his recent road trip to Lovecraft’s Vermont and Marblehead.
Bathe in the cathode rays of the Television Hut as we compare and contrast two nerd-relevant new shows—”Sleepy Hollow” and “Marvel’s Agents of Shield.”
In Ask Ken and Robin we take on a Jeromy French query on the use of music in roleplaying games.
Finally, with a sigh of palpable reluctance, the Consulting Occultist educates us on the Transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Our anchor sponsor this episode is Engine Publishing and their system-neutral GM resource, Odyssey: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Campaign Management. Get $5 off in the Engine Publishing store using code KARTAS20, good through November 2013!
Episode 61: Next To the Opposite Hex You’ll Be Like a Ferret in Heat
To what extent should an adventure tell a story to the GM who is about to read it? Journey with us into the Gaming Hut to find out.
Then fire up your laptops with their Cartography Hut screensavers and geographic information systems to look at the genre possibilities of digital cemetery mapping.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Tom Clare asks about using in-world narrative voices to write rules text and setting material.
We conclude by revving up Ken’s Time Machine and urging him to reverse the Gran Sasso raid, in which the Nazis rescued Mussolini from Allied custody.
With the smoke from our burning village billowing behind us, we take momentary refuge in the Gaming Hut to discuss great migration campaign frames.
Under the war-room glare of the Geopolitics Hut we look at the averted strike on Syria and the limits of military intervention.
Ask Ken and Robin features a Tim Daly question about the relative virtues of designing a game engine from the ground up, as opposed to adapting an existing house system.
Finally the Consulting Occultist goes back to basics to study the surprisingly young history of the Tarot.
Our anchor sponsor this episode is Engine Publishing and their system-neutral GM resource, Odyssey: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Campaign Management. Get $5 off in the Engine Publishing store using code KARTAS20, good through November 2013!
Gather your Hegelian war band around the speakers to listen to our opening Gaming Hut segment, in which we look at ways to transform groups of murder hoboes into ensemble procedural casts.
We open a historical case file in the Tradecraft Hut, looking at the role spy novelist William Le Queux, abetted by the Daily Mail, played in whipping up espionage fever in the nineteen-oughts.
Among My Many Hats prompts Robin to share his preparatory thinking on the new edition of Feng Shui he’ll be working on, in partnership with Atlas Games and Atomic Overmind.
Finally we dust off Ken’s Time Machine and send him off to extend by at least a generation the golden age that was Periclean Athens.
Take a moment to appreciate the support of episode sponsor and Eliptonic essayist Matthew Rossi. Check out his Kindle-ready booksThings That Never Were, Bottled Demon, and At last, Atlantis at Amazon!
Episode 58: You or Shub-Niggurath Walk Out of The Room
If it’s late September, it must be time for Robin to exit bleary-eyed from the Lightbox theater and stumble into the Cinema Hut to regale us with his findings from the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Listen to Ken wish he had more crossover with the upcoming Chicago Film Festival, or follow along at home.
Then Ken and Robin Recycle Audio, capping off their suite of excerpts from the Gen Con GUMSHOE panel.
Finally, popular demand decrees that we venture into the Eliptony Hut to tackle the recent appearance of a monument to Azathoth in Ken’s old stomping ground, Oklahoma City.
Joining us as sponsor this episode is Engine Publishing and their system-neutral GM resource, Odyssey: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Campaign Management. Get $5 off in the Engine Publishing store using code KARTAS20, good through November 2013!
Also aboard the sponsor train, Eliptonic essayist extraordinaire Matthew Rossi. Check out his Kindle-ready booksThings That Never Were, Bottled Demon, and At last, Atlantis at Amazon!
Join us for a very special live episode of Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, live from FanExpo Canada. Hop in our time machine and journey back to Toronto on the weekend before Labor Day to hear about ninja anti-competition efforts, our most hated gaming clichés, and much, much more. Not to mention the toxic menace of the cronut burger.
Joining us as very special sponsor is the Bundle of Holding, which just happens to be offering an incredible Ken and Robin-related deal—the Bundle of GUMSHOE! Until Saturday, Sept 28th, you can grab PDFs of Ashen Stars, Mutant City Blues, See Page XX v1, and the first four issues of Ken Writes About Stuff — plus a 1-year KWAS subscription. Pay more than the current average and grab Night’s Black Agents and The Zalozhniy Quartet, too—plus additional sweeteners yet to be announced!
Also sponsoring us this week, writer and musician David Maurice Garrett. Check out his book Tome of Horror and his album Al Azif.
Having survived his epic three weekends, three conventions journey into the heart of geekdom, Ken returns to issue a Travel Advisory on his final leg, which took him to the newly de-asterisked DragonCon.
In How to Write Good we consider discipline, routine, and various techniques to keep the productivity flowing at the keyboard.
Then Ken and Robin Recycle Audio, with the first of two excerpts from the Gen Con GUMSHOE and investigative roleplaying panel.
Finally we give the weary Consulting Occultist a topic he should be able to do while standing on his head—those diffusely mystical purveyors of alchemical imagery, the Rosicrucians.
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Special thanks to this episode’s lead sponsor, Genesis of Legend Publishing, and itsSpark RPG.
Also joining us as sponsor this week, writer and musician David Maurice Garrett. Check out his book Tome of Horror and his album Al Azif.
Episode 55: Endemic Clan Warfare and Beautiful Lakes
After a prefatory Travel Advisory on their activities at FanExpo Canada and a Food Hut trawl through the gustatory delight’s of Robin’s neighborhood, Ken and Robin take a nostalgic look back over the haul of treasures secured in Toronto for Ken’s Bookshelf. Gangsters, pirates and ancient Americans flood into the Hite Memorial Library as we learn the secret graphic signifier that announces the presence of prime crazy.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Rob Heinsoo swings by the podcast to discuss the design process for 13th Age, as seen through the lens of traps and their evolving role in fantasy roleplaying.
Finally we enter the Gaming Hut to consider techniques for collaborative worldbuilding. That last segment idea comes courtesy of this episode’s lead sponsor, Genesis of Legend Publishing, and itsSpark RPG.
Episode 54: Gen Con 2013, or Should I Have Shaved My Head?
Somewhat rested but still with a fog upon their vocal chords, Ken and Robin issue a joint Travel Advisory for Gen Con 2013. Come for the shameless bragging, stay for the awards analysis, industry temperature taking, panel highlights, and Indianapolis food tips.
Join us in a hearty welcome to our latest sponsor, Gorilla Games, now Kickstarting Monster Derby, their full contact road rage road race board game!
You demanded; we complied, adding a donate button to help you help us keep the show going. You’ll find it, and through it our eternal gratitude, at the right-hand side of the blog masthead.
Episode 53: My Feelings About Hatchets Have Completely Changed
In the Gaming Hut we power up our universal translators to contemplate the treatment of languages in roleplaying.
Then we review our way through the summer blockbuster season in the Cinema Hut.
In an Ask Ken and Robin lightning round, we dispatch questions right and left, entertaining queries from the diceless to the non-violent.
Then, under the watchful eyes of benevolent Google gods, our Cartography Hunt/Conspiracy Corner co-production takes the aerial view of the Kazakhstan pentagram.
Join us in a hearty welcome to our latest sponsor, Gorilla Games, now Kickstarting Monster Derby, their full contact road rage road race board game!
FanExpo Canada rolls out this weekend at the Metro Toronto Convention Center. Its many geekish splendors include a special live episode of Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff. Gather up your questions and catch us in the flesh at 3:45 pm on Saturday, in room 705.
Episode 52: The Delightful Burning Sensation You Alluded To Earlier
Join hands and sing fhtagn fhtagn as we self-congratulate ourselves on an epic year of podcasting.
Then sidle past the mutual back-patting into the Gaming Hut, where we consider the export potential of DramaSystem series pitches to other roleplaying games.
Rear back in shock as the Food Hut hosts our most heretical segment ever, in which Robin argues that the vaunted Indy steakhouse St. Elmo’s is, in fact, a terrible restaurant.
Settle in for an extended stay as Ask Ken and Robin tackles Alasdair Sinclair’s question about maintaining a single campaign for the long haul.
Then look up to the strangest sight in the skyline of Bandung, Indonesia as, at the request of Tom McGrenery, the Consulting Occultist tries to infuse its Octopus House with more weirdness than it already contains.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Jacob Ansari asks about playing Night’s Black Agents in previous time periods.
The Tradecraft Hut hosts a look at Jasper Maskelyne, the so-called War Magician.
In The Business of Gaming we examine the unfortunate implosion of the Kickstarter-funded boardgame The Doom that Came to Atlantic City. This episode was recorded a day before Cryptozoic Entertainment announced plans to publish the game and fulfill orders to Kickstarter backers gratis, giving a happy ending quality to our link to designer Keith Baker’s site.
Finally we open the Eliptony Hut to the truth and legend of Nikolai Tesla, as we wonder what might be found under the grounds of his last laboratory, now slated as a museum in his honor.
Want those ad guidelines we mentioned in the show? Download our rate sheet, in handy PDF format.
Our present roster of fine sponsors pays for hosting and audio production of Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff. But to keep doing it, our titular hosts need to offset the time they devote to the show, which would otherwise be devoted to their paid writing projects.
To that end, we’re opening up a few more advertising slots to keep the podcast going. If you’d like to advertise your game, company or other product or service to an eager audience of discerning listeners, download our rate sheet, in handy PDF format.
We flip through some pages in the Gaming Hut as we discuss the evolution of roleplaying game graphic design, from aesthetics to utility.
Then we slip into the plush seats of the Cinema Hut to review the career of the great Hong Kong director Johnnie To. His latest masterpiece, Drug War, awaits a North American cinema release in August.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Chris Shorb asks if Robin’s Laws of Good Gamemastering is still relevant today.
Then the neglected dials of Ken’s Time Machine finally get twiddled as he heads back to the 15th century to save Joan of Arc.
From the Cartography Hut we send our separate adventurers on intercut journeys of exploration, as we riff on the fantasy game potential of the Atlas of True Names series.
How to Write Good connects the dots of stakes, consequences, and reader engagement.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Geoffery Nelson asks how iconic characters can engage in meaningful conflict without stopping the story dead as both dig their heels in.
Finally we conclude Ken’s series on the Nazi occult by veering at an impossible angle into the Eliptony Hut for a look at Nazi UFOs and the Hollow Earth.
Events in Egypt have us taking shelter in the Gaming Hut to suggest approaches to uprisings and revolutions in roleplaying narrative.
Then Robin beckons you to the Cinema Hut for a quick intro to Chinese film, as seen through three rarities recently screened at the TIFF Lightbox: the suppressed censorship satire Unfinished Comedy, showbiz melodrama on the cusp of the Cultural Revolution Two Stage Sisters and the proto-heroic bloodshed of The Story of a Discharged Prisoner.
Game design bubbles creative and economic get the Ask Ken and Robin treatment, thanks to a query from Ironicus.
Then the Consulting Occultist completes his obligations as a guide to the Nazi occult with a look at the scholarship-distorting, expedition launching academic department of the SS, the Ahnenerbe.
We start in the Gaming Hut by contemplating the massive Call of Cthulhu campaign. What drives the love for this classic cornerstone of roleplaying obsession?
In Ask Ken and Robin, Leó Páll Hrafnssonwants to know what the deal is withthe famously lost Ninth Roman Legion.
Grab the remote in the Television Hut as we look at structure in TV shows, from their evolution to their application to roleplaying.
Then our epic Consulting Occultist series on the Nazi Occult explores the Thule Society, wealthy right-wing imaginers of lost continents who built an anti-Communist goon squad only to see it morph into the Nazi party.
We shuttle over to the Gaming Hut to continue our discussion of omnipresent surveillance, this time in the context of your roleplaying group’s tendency to turtle up.
The unveiling of the Word Hut sees us finding our preferences between US and UK words and punctuation. Petrol, anyone?
In Ask Ken and Robin, we respond to Daniel Fidelman’s question on how to pace the unsheathing of knives when player betrayal is on the agenda.
Then we head over to chat with the Consulting Occultist, as part four of our series on Nazi occultism leads us to metaphorically heft the Spear of Destiny.
Summer convention season kicks off with a Travel Advisory on Ken’s trip to Origins.
Robin beckons you into the Cinema Hut to share his rare chance to see the first Wong Fei-Hung film, 1949’s The Whip That Smacks the Candle.
Having established a Tradecraft Hut, we are naturally behooved to mull the implications of the newly whistleblown PRISM program of the NSA.
We wrap with part 3 of our Consulting Occultist series on the Nazi occult, this time focusing in on Irminist prophet and Himmler advisor Karl-Maria Wiligut.
That periodic thumping sound you hear is Robin’s mic falling apart as we record. Apologies for any sonic disorientation this may cause.
Meet us in the Gaming Hut for techniques to make your characters’ backstories shine during RPG play.
In Ask Ken and Robin we (meaning mostly Ken) address a question from friend of the site Jeromy French: “are there merits to reading August Derleth’s Lovecraftian fiction and why?”
Then we fire up the grills of the Food Hut to look at prepared condiments and sauces one might use without shame as part of one’s fresh cooking.
Finally, part two of our epic Consulting Occultist series on the Nazi occult sets the stage with Volkisch movements, Guido von List, and the cast of variously psychopathic characters who bring occult thought with them into Hitler’s high command.
This week’s Travel Advisory takes us to unfamiliar territory—not just the capital of Robin’s beloved Canada, but the On Words Conference held by the Writers’ Union of Canada. Come for compare/contrast between traditional and gaming publishing, stay for the Ottawa facts.
We bid a wistful Book Hut farewell to Jack Vance, the titan of SF and fantasy literature who inspired certain key concepts of roleplaying, not to mention the output of our sponsor Pelgrane Press—so much so that it is named after a Vancian creature.
In the Gaming Hut we list techniques for running successful defensive scenarios. Protecting your base needn’t lead to turtling all the way down.
Finally, a very special Among My Many Hats takes you inside the process of The Nazi Occult, Ken’s new history-bending work for the Osprey Adventures line. This serves as the prelude for a multi-part series on that very subject, which we’ll kick off next week!
First up, Ken and Robin enter the Gaming Hut to transcend their origins and discuss transhuman RPGs. How do we create inhuman characters human players can still portray?
In the Tradecraft Hut, we discuss the implications of the Obama administration’s war on leakers, and how to bring press revelations into your espionage gaming.
Robin then bows to popular demand with a Politics Hut Rob Ford update, this one covering the first thirteen days of the Toronto mayor’s crack video problems. (Warning: contents of scandal may have shifted our recording date.)
Finally Ken’s Time Machine revs up, with an account of how Ken altered our timeline to keep the 1928 Baltimore space program an amusing footnote, and not a historical catastrophe.
Episode 41: The Kind of Scary Energy That Doesn’t Exist
In the Gaming Hut, we examine the tradition of flaws and disads in RPGs. Do they put the “fun” in dysfunctional?
Then Ken and Robin adjourn to the Cinema Hut, where they try not to tell you too much about Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color while urging you to see it, and from there jump into the distinction between the explanatory and the experiential in storytelling.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Jon Leitheusser asks Robin to explain the process by which his game design aesthetic gelled.
Ken and Robin enter the Gaming Hut to catch you up on what they’re playing right now, from xenoarcheaological exploration to carnies caught between the devil and alien invaders.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Terry O’Connell asks, “What’s your take on the Beyonce as Illuminati meme?”
How to Write Good leads us into a general consideration of the mash-up age, before we provide advice on how to pastiche the prose styles of previous eras.
Two mysterious doors provide ingress into the Gaming Hut. Which one do we take, as we contemplate adventure structure and the choice points that comprise it?
Ask Ken and Robin takes an alternate history turn as Crane Brinton wonders: What does the alternate timeline where the Kaiser won WWI look like?
Then we hop into a mapping car and head to the Cartography Hut, where we riff on the storytelling inspiration of Google’s recent documentation of the Fukushima ghost zone.
We close with a visit to the Consulting Occultist, who recounts the Theosophy-meets-Evangelical-meets-New Age tale of Elizabeth Clare Prophet.
We start with a visit to the Gaming Hut to discuss the play utility of illustrations.
In the Food Hut we explore the legends and lore of packaged goods, including the secret origins of Cool Whip, the Twinkie, and Gatorade.
Conrad Kinch Asks Ken and Robin how one guides a playtester to greatness. Michael Cule adds a supplemental: have we ever regretted not implementing a piece of playtester advice?
Finally, Ken’s Time Machine takes us to the intractable yet little mythologized tragedy that was the Trail of Tears.
The undertones of jet lag in Robin’s voice indicate the issuance of another Travel Advisory, in this case concerning his lovely trip to Germany’s Hannover Spielt. Beers mentioned include: Herrenhäuser Pilsener, Astra Arschkalt, Schneider Aventinus, and Robin and John’s fave, Höss Doppel-Hirsch (the name of which Robin completely mangles during the podcast.)
The trip also provides another opportunity for Ken and/or Robin To Talk To Someone Else—in this case, show sponsor John Kovalic, who discusses the design of his addictively fun party new party game, ROFL.
Ripped From the Headlines finds us grappling with the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings and subsequent manhunt of the Brothers Tsarnaev. Though hardly a fun story, it touches on so many of our perennial topics that a weighing-in seems obligatory.
Then we move on to more entertaining and distant history, as, at the request of Ask Lovecraft, the Consulting Occultist tells us tales of Paschal Beverly Randolph, 19th century exponent of Mesmerism, pre-Adamism, and wholesome sex magic.
Episode 36: A Scuba Diver Walks Into an Ice Cream Shop
Ken and Robin hit a bare and blackened stage to bring the improv concept of “yes anding” to the Gaming Hut.
In Ask Ken and Robin, they answer Kevin J. Maroney’s question about picking a game for roleplaying newbies.
In its return appearance, How To Write Good tackles the basics of short story structure.
And finally, listener Falko Sieverding proposes a mission for Ken’s Time Machine. Is maintaining the Vice-Presidency of Henry Wallace past 1944 the way to stop the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
We start in the leatherbound precincts of the Book Hut for a look at a classic piece of early travel writing, Alexander William Kinglake’s Eothen. Grab as a Gutenberg ebook, or in print.
Still in a choleric mood, we nip over to the Gaming Hut to examine the presentation of epidemic disease in fantasy gaming worlds.
Among My Many Hats provides an inside look at Ken’s new subscription series from Pelgrane Press, the euphoniously titled Ken Writes About Stuff. Snag it from the newly spiffed-up Pelgrane shop.
A recent TED talk controversy provides a jumping-off point for the Eliptony Hut, in which we consider the works of cross-disciplinary eliptonist Graham Hancock.
Ask Ken and Robin sees our intrepid heroes venturing from behind the couch to answer HippyWizard’s query on overcoming the shyness factor at the game table.
And finally, Ken’s Time Machine prevents the arrest and death in custody of Pope Pius VI.
We kick off with another Travel Advisory, this one centered on Ken’s quest to Las Vegas and the Gama Trade Show, to prise from it premonitions of the new hotness.
Then History Hut takes a turn for the glandular as we examine the careers of quack testicular transplanter John R. Brinkley and perfectly respectable testicular transplanter Dr. G. Frank Lydston. Guess which one installed bits of dead prisoners between his skin and his ribcage. For more, see Pope Brock’s splendid Charlatan: America’s Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam.
Ask Ken and Robin fields a query from listener DVanZandt. How do you avoid the minefields of player disbelief when running a game in the real world?
With a tip of the mitre to the newly elected Francis I, we enter the Conspiracy Corner to look at the role of the Jesuits in conspiracy lore.
Scoops of polyhedrals in hand, we enter the Gaming Hut to contemplate the power of experience points. Are they justified in a genre-emulative design?
In Ask Ken and Robin, Darren Watts asks Ken to explain how zombies can be one of the two great 20th century myths, since this means either Superman or Godzilla aren’t?
Science Hut puts American exceptionalism under the microscope, or at least sits it down in a room and offers it a sociological marshmallow. Have scientific theories of human nature met their WEIRD?
Finally we meet the Consulting Occultist in the non-standard confines of the Tradecraft Hut, where we open an Elizabethan dossier on spy and playwright Christopher Marlowe.
In our latest venture into the Gaming Hut, we consider the classic sandbox versus railroad opposition. Useful dichotomy, or intellectual black hole that swallows all other argument?
From there we gain access to the Tradecraft Hut, to examine the wartime disinformation career of thriller novelist Dennis Wheatley.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Craig Maloney prompts us to mull the role of mini-games in roleplaying design.
And finally, with such matters back in the news, we tap the Consulting Occultist for a 101 class on lost continents, from Atlantis to Hyperborea and beyond.
We start by venturing into the Genre Hut to limn the fraught boundaries of the Fake Nerd crisis.
Our examination of the Chelyabinsk meteor takes us into the Eliptony Hut, where we trace its impact on, and incorporation into, a cluster of competing conspiracy theories.
In Ask Ken and Robin we tackle the role of laws and law-breaking in roleplaying games. Is it an American thing, or does it arise from an impulse that defies national boundaries?
Finally we rev up Ken’s Time Machine, where Ken reveals several four-color strategies for preventing the adoption of the Comics Code Authority.
That Vitamin D sheen you see on Ken’s glossy coat shows that he recently escaped Chicago’s frigid embrace for the sunshine of California’s Bay Area, necessitating another Travel Advisory as we review his trip to Dundracon.
An unusual clatter of gunfire punctuates activities at the Food Hut, as we parse press reports of connections between Europe’s horsemeat scandal and the shadow financial empire of Russia’s most notorious arms dealer.
Andrew Brehaut prompts this week’s Ask Ken and Robin with a question on structure in game and scenario design.
Then we flash back to San Francisco for an elegiac installment of Ken’s Bookshelf, in which our intrepid traveler hauls home the fruits of his last epic plundering of that legendary occult bookshop, which is soon to migrate to the etheric spheres in an online-only capacity. Follow along at home with his list of books mentioned.
In an unprecedented merger of the Gaming Hut with the Politics Hut, we look to political scientist Steven Teles’ theory of government as kludgeocracy to demonstrate why government should hire game designers like Ken and Robin to playtest their legislation for them.
Then we take latitudes with the longitudes of the Cartography Hut to examine the history and fantasy of Stonehenge.
The map above is from Profantasy Software’s Source Maps: Temples, Tombs and Catacombs, which you can grab at a mere $10, a quarter of the usual price, until Feb 22nd, by following this special link to the Profantasy store. This informative pack of historical maps stands alone, with a built in viewer and tons of images and background. But if you have Profantasy Software’s flagship mapping package, Campaign Cartographer 3, you can edit the maps and use symbols from them.
In Ask Ken and Robin, we entertain Lisa Padol’s question about the edition wars inspired by the differences between old and new World of Darkness.
Finally, Ken’s Time Machine averts the sacking of China’s Old Summer Palace—or, at least, the most notorious of its several sackings.
In the Gaming Hut, we mull the economics of game design. Will the Kickstarter wave usher in a new era of component-driven play?
Then it’s off to the History Hut for Ken’s long-anticipated final showdown with the historical legacy of Woodrow Wilson. Was he really America’s worst president?
In Ask Ken and Robin, we are asked the most basic question of our craft: why do people game?
Finally the Consulting Occultist considers the silver-shirted biography of American screenwriter, vision-haver and fascist William Dudley Pelley.
After two bits of preamble business, one elegiac and the other bathetic , we issue a Travel Advisory to wring vicarious enjoyment from Ken’s journey to WarpCon in Cork, Ireland.
We then step into the Cinema Hut to regale one and all with our top ten picks from the sterling movie year that was 2012.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Lowell Francis asks Ken to expand on a past comment contrasting his sense of fun placement to that of our esteemed pal Dennis Detwiller, leading us to a consideration of the grind, character fragility, and when to bring the power fantasy.
Finally, we once more brave the shadowy depths of the Conspiracy Corner to explore the patterns and motivations behind the recent wave of truther movements.
Kicking off with another service-oriented segment of Ask Ken and Robin, we suggest ways to introduce a rich setting to players who are unfamiliar with it.
Then we inaugurate the Eliptony Hut, first by explaining what the heck eliptony is, then squeezing adventure and story ideas from the latest in white-hot weirdness, the Martian ground squirrel.
What one might call Among My Many Hats Classic Edition sends us back in time to chat about a joint project, the Shadows Over Filmland supplement for Trail of Cthulhu. Which, due to a wondrous and wholly inexplicable coincidence, happens to be on sale at the Pelgrane Press store until February 1st, 2013. [Shadows over Filmland is $10 off, not 10% off as it says in the podcast – that’s more than 25%]
Finally we rev up Ken’s Time Machine, assigning our chrono-hopping Chicagoan to find the least-worst replacement for Joseph Stalin as leader of the Soviet Union.
In a special Cartography Hut / Ask Ken and Robin crossover, Troy Holoday invites us to contemplate the vanished D&D roles of mapper and caller.
On a serious note we go to the History Hut for a sense of perspective, if not solace, on America’s relationship with the gun.
In the Cinema Hut Robin finally uncorks his long-simmering rant on the fundamentally unBondian nature of Skyfall. Ken gamely and briefly attempts a role as devil’s advocate before reverting to true and inevitable doctrine.
We wrap with an ironic tale for the Consulting Occultist—the sad story of Margaret Fox, who accidentally founded 19th century spiritualism through a teenage prank.
Our first episode of the new year begins in the Gaming Hut, where we examine the difference between showing up to be entertained, and showing up to play.
AskKen and Robin fields Paul Weimer’s question about fudging die rolls—when, if ever, is it acceptable?
The Politics Hut takes on the classic modernist curvature of Toronto’s city hall as Robin recounts the saga that can only be called The Assassination of His Own Mayoralty by the Lunkhead Rob Ford. (Since we recorded, the libel suit against Ford Robin mentions was dismissed. But still, the point stands…)
And finally, in Ken’s Time Machine, our maverick chrono-detective chafes at the fussy over-caution of his superiors as they send him to 1888 to find out who Jack the Ripper was—without simply showing up at one of the murder scenes.
In our final episode of 2012, we issue a Travel Advisory on our recent trip to Dragonmeet in London. A seamless segue then ushers us to the wonder of Ken’s Bookshelf, in which Robin vicariously enjoys the impressive pile of tomes Ken liberated from the British Isles during his journey.
With yet another end of the world imminent, we are then behooved to cut the ribbon on the Mythology Hut to consider the State of the Apocalypse, 2012 edition.
In Ask Ken and Robin, we ponder the ideal RPG rules set for the play-by-forum format.
We close with another visit to the Consulting Occultist, who this time around delves into the murky facts behind a reputed 17th century French Satanism outbreak, better known as the Affair of the Poisons.
We’ll be back on Jan 11, 2013 with our next new episode. Until then, please accept the seasonal greeting of your choice and have a safe and pleasant holiday!
Join us for our first episode recorded in front of a live audience, in the council chambers at Kensington Town Hall as part of Dragonmeet 2012. We welcome special guest Simon Rogers for an uber edition of Ask Ken and Robin, which in turn encompasses a panoply of our trademark huts. In the process as we talk Pelgrane Plans, the experience of publishing, digital tools, dino-riding samurai, crowdfunded exhumations and why a question about the Spanish Inquisition and the Illuminati hardly counts as a question at all.
This week’s episode commences with a trip to the Gaming Hut to consider Robin’s dichotomy of rewards versus incentives, which segues into a discussion of the co-designer syndrome in playtest feedback.
Ask Ken and Robin fields a question from Brett Evill on how one might bend history to add Ruritania-style postage stamp states back to the map of Europe.
We swap the key cooking tips we’d wished our time traveling present selves had told our neophyte incarnations as the Food Hut tackles minimaxing in the kitchen.
Then a recent report on the decoding of the Copiale Codex sends us to Conspiracy Corner to consider the history of secret societies through the obscured lenses of the Great Enlightened Society of Oculists.
Episode 17: A Gorgeous Work of Rosicrucian Monomania
In Ask Ken and Robin, we examine the popularity, or lack thereof, of the western as a roleplaying genre, and point to models historical and cinematic for the adventuring party in spurs and Stetsons.
We venture into a particularly cramped and cluttered iteration of the Cartography Hut to spin a passel of story threads from the real-life tale of the Mount Washington map hoard.
With zombie-like tread we shamble down the aisles of the Cinema Hut to chew over the career of director George A. Romero.
Then Time Incorporated once more dispatches Ken’s Time Machine, this time to prevent the murder of Salvador Allende and the ensuing ascension to power of Augusto Pinochet.
Inspired by Christian Marclay’s cinechronological video installation The Clock, Gaming Hut examines time and pacing in roleplaying.
The Schaudenfreude Institute initiates a new PhD course and Ken plots a bold path forward for his beloved Republican party as we enter the ballot booth-like confines of the Politics Hut to mull the 2012 Presidential Election.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Justin Mohareb, in a cleverly submitted audio question, asks Robin to expound on his theory of the one okay game store.
Finally, we power down the cloaking device concealing our brand-new Tradecraft Hut to look at the Petraeus resignation and its place in the history of sexual security scandals.
Many thanks to all who voted or influenced the voters for the Golden Geek Awards! Your hard work or subtle noodges have paid off, as Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff has won the 2012 Golden Geek Award for Best Podcast! We are both a lot honored and a bit dumfounded, given the great talent on all the fine podcasts ranged against us in nomination.
In The Business of Gaming, Robin shares the Kickstarter lessons he learned from the recent bumper crowdfund of his new roleplaying game, Hillfolk.
Ken brings the light of his presence to a devastated New Jersey in Travel Advisory, recounting his adventures at Metatopia.
Ask Ken and Robin envisions the Dominion of America, the alternate world political entity resulting from Britain’s sensible management of its North American colonies.
Then Ken in his guise as the Consulting Occultist finds the standards-loving organist behind media-seeking Satanist Anton LaVey.
We kick off with another film festival wrap-up in the Cinema Hut, this time Ken’s visit to the Chicago International Film Festival.
Ask Ken and Robin asks us to contemplate the differences between two of Robin’s game engines, DramaSystem and Skulduggery, leading us to contemplate a broader old saw: does system matter?
This week’s Ask Ken and Robin asks us to turn a previous thing that Ken always says on its head. When is it better not to base your setting on the real world?
Then Robin and Ken square off in the History Hut for their long-planned reenactment of the War of 1812. As in real history, the Canadian battles the American to a standstill and therefore achieves resounding victory, as graded on a curve.
At the request of beloved sponsor Dork Tower, Ken and Robin then establish yet another new hut, this time the Food Hut, in which a discussion of our favorite recipes and shopping haunts leads us to a sense of place, waves of immigration to Toronto, and the death of the Chicago meat packing industry.
Finally we drop in again on the Consulting Occultist for an introduction to Kenneth Grant, whose role as Derleth to Aleister Crowley’s Lovecraft went as far as incorporating Shub-Niggurath into his ritual practices.
We kick off with a Gaming Hut segment contemplating the question: is it ever okay to kick someone out of your game group and, if so, when?
Jason Breti supplies our Ask Ken and Robin question, leading us to examine Sandy Petersen’s original draft for Call of Cthulhu as compared to the final game we all know and love.
Then, in That Thing I Always Say, Robin, with a little help from Johan Wolfgang von Goethe, shows you how not to have wrong opinions about art.
And in a surprise Ken’s Time Machine twist, Ken tells us how he already altered the time stream, when he averted nuclear catastrophe during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
This week’s installment of Ask Ken and Robin prompts us to wax autobiographical and reveal our similar yet opposite secret origins.
Then we descend into the Paris catacombs, escaping from what we find there only through the maps snatched from the high cabinets of the Cartography Hut.
The Business of Gaming prompts mulling of the history and choices of open game licensing, now that Robin has to figure out the best license for DramaSystem.
We close with the ever-popular Consulting Occult as Ken gives us the 101 on Elizabethan magician, mathematician and cartographer (sense a theme here?) John Dee.
In Among My Many Hats, Robin discusses Hillfolk, his new game of iron age personal interaction, and its DramaSystem engine, now up for crowdfunding. Ken teases “Moscow Station”, a DramaSystem Series Pitch offered as a campaign stretch goal.
Ask Ken and Robin poses a follow-up on the Puritans, who turn out not to be as puritanical as certain Victorians wanted us to think.
We venture into the Gaming Hut to contemplate RPG design decisions that once irritated but have now entered the standard toolkit.
Finally, we engage in some History Bending, triggered by a report that a Tibetan statue collected by a famed Nazi expedition was carved from a meteor.
And with open arms we welcome a new sponsor to the fold: DriveThru RPG!
With a tip of the hat to sponsors Profantasy Software, we fling open the inaugural doors of the Cartography Hut to contemplate maps we have known and loved.
In a frenzy of construction, we then throw caution to the wind and cut the ribbon on Politics Hut, in which we look at the current US Presidential election from the Republican and Canadian points of view.
Ask Ken and Robin prompts us to consider: can comedy and Lovecraft coexist? (Thanks for the question, Monica Valentinelli.)
Finally, Ken faces his most daunting Ken’s Time Machine yet as Time Incorporated asks him to prevent Prohibition.
Wow! After a mere nine episodes, our humble audio adventure has garnered a Golden Geek Award nomination as Best Podcast from the good folks at RPGGeek. It’s a worthy crop of nominees and we’re proud to be counted among them.
Ken’s aura has taken on a particular sheen with the announcement, as he is also nominated for Night’s Black Agents and Bookhounds of London.
If there is a mother of all Cinema Huts, it is the Toronto International Film Festival. We kick off the episode with Robin’s picks from the just-completed 37th fest.
Then we skulk into the Conspiracy Corner to put the inflammatory impact of Innocence of Muslims in historical context.
In Ask Ken and Robin, we compare the strong points of Dungeons and Dragons’ third and fourth editions, as we examine the emotional fuel behind the Great Schism.
Finally, we call again upon the Consulting Occultist for a primer on Aleister Crowley.
Travel Advisory whisks us on an aural journey to Worldcon, courtesy of Ken, who brings back knowledge of Chinese SF, steampunk semantics, the best vampire novel of the last 100 years, and the dreaded hallway seminar. Along the way we explore the sub-cultural differences between the literary side of geekery and its gaming cousin.
We venture into the Gaming Hut to peer over the shoulders of Mike Mason and Paul Fricker as they refit the classic roleplaying game Call of Cthulhu for its seventh edition.
On the occasion of a $69 mil settlement of price-fixing charges by HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster, The Business of Gaming contrasts mainstream publishing’s response to ebooks to that of the tabletop gaming world.
Finally, in History Bending, we squeeze gameworthy or fictionable material from the connection between aviator Charles Lindbergh and his associates, real-life weird scientist Dr. Alexis Carrel and pulp-writer/UFO investigator Donald Keyhoe. Referenced: The Immortalists, by David M. Friedman.
This week’s stuff-talking kicks off with another Among My Many Hats. Here Robin unravels the circuitous design history of his Dying Earth Revivification Folio, as Ken orders his sandestin to provide him with perks and snails.
In Ask Ken and Robin, we ponder cases in which D&D fights are better off without a battle grid.
Then we journey to the History Hut to consider Neil Armstrong and the passing of the space age.
Finally we call upon Ken in his capacity as Consulting Occultist to introduce us to H. P. Blavatsky and the Theosophists.
In Ken and Robin Recycle Audio choice snippets of the GUMSHOE Investigative roleplaying panel are presented for your delectation, with special guest silvered tones supplied by Pelgrane Press publisher Simon Rogers. They add Night’s Black Agents and The Esoterrorists to the reference tally.
Stuff talked about on this week’s episode include:
The debut of our segment That Thing I Always Say, in which we catch you up on Ken and Robin fundaments. We start with Ken’s contention that no invented setting is as interesting as the real world.
Ask Ken and Robin invites us to contemplate the mental plutonium of a tag-team follow-up to Robin’s The Armitage Files. While we can’t quite whip that rabbit out of our hats, we do talk about an eerily similar project, the still-percolating Dracula Dossier for Night’s Black Agents.
Because Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, Ken’s collaborator on that project, just happened to be imprisoned in Ken’s library lair staying at Ken’s place as we recorded, we put him in the spotlight for our first segment of Ken or Robin Talk To Someone Else. We chat about his ENnie-nominated Ashen Stars scenario collection, Dead Rock Seven, and its Night’s Black Agents counterpart, The Zalozhniy Quartet. Find Armitage, Dead Rock, Night’s Black Agents, and Zalozhniy at the Pelgrane Press Store.
Then we withdraw to the Gaming Hut to talk about creating interesting, playable female characters for freeforms and convention tabletop sessions.
We wrap by taking another spin in Ken’s Time Machine, in which his efforts to retroactively fix the US health care system take him to a steamer on the Congo, to quaff a quinine-laden beverage with a bumptious ex-president.
Stuff talked about in the third episode of Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff include:
Among My Many Hats brings back the overt pluggery with a discussion of Robin’s new book of short stories, New Tales of the Yellow Sign, and its inspiration, the classic King in Yellow cycle of Robert W. Chambers. Since recording the episode, the ebook version has infected Kindle and Smashwords.
In The Business of Gaming, we tackle the topic du jour, Kickstarter, and its impact on the hobby. We look at the recent Stone Skin Press crowdfunding campaign and its blatant cupcakery. Also referenced: Margaret Atwood’s embrace of the new way for her arts-based social media platform, Fanado.
After an Ask Ken and Robin lightning round, we go in-depth on what we do when we first get an idea for a game or supplement.
Lastly but not leastly, Ken again dons the mantle of Consulting Occultist to examine the difference between a mystic and an occultist, as seen through the examples of Johnny Appleseed and Emannuel Swedenborg. Also referenced: Daniel Burnham, and Mitch Horowitz’s book Occult America.
We did it once, and now we’re doing it again. It’s Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, the new podcast from game designers and authors Kenneth Hite and Robin D. Laws. Join our thrilling audio adventure as we discuss games, movies, history, narrative and sundry concerns of the geekosphere.
This week we revisit a perennial segment and roll out three more:
We enter the cozy confines of the Gaming Hut to ask: is Risk: Legacy a story game?
In Ask Ken and Robin, we lay guru wisdom on Nolan S., re: bringing story structure to roleplaying sessions in the face of player unpredictability.
We establish the rules of Ken’s Time Machine before sending him off into the chrono-vortex to stop WWI. You’ll never guess who he enlists in his covert war on Kaiser Bill.
Welcome to the inaugural episode of Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, the new podcast from game designers and authors Kenneth Hite and Robin D. Laws. Join our thrilling audio adventure as we discuss games, movies, history, narrative and sundry concerns of the geekosphere.
Here’s what we talk about this week:
In our Among Our Many Hats segment, we talk about Ken’s new roleplaying game Night’s Black Agents, in which the spy thriller goes vampire, with logistics supplied by the GUMSHOE system.
In Travel Advisory, Robin recounts his recent trip to the Continuum convention in Leicester, England, where he performs a health-check on the hobby and marvels over future Glorantha mapping plans from Moon Design, publishers of HeroQuest and now RuneQuest. Along the way we detour to London’s John Soane Museum, an enduring monument to one man’s acquisitiveness.
Our Ask Ken and Robin segment tackles a question from Robert Scott Martin on the role of the GM in contemporary game design.
In the Gaming Hut beloved backer Ryan McClelland argues that the Sailor is a fine Occupation that ought to be in Trail of Cthulhu 2nd Edition (now on Backerkit) and urges us to rebut him by listing even more such Occupations.
Beloved Patreon backer Ryan McClelland ventures into our seedy, low rent Gaming Hut to ask how Sam Spade’s monkeywrenching style of investigation fits in GUMSHOE.
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.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
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 our new podcast segment, Tell Me More. 
John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer! 
John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer! 
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now shipping at the Pelgrane Press store. 
Want to plunge headlong into Lovecraftian mystery, but lack a gaming group? Want to introduce a friend or loved one to the roleplaying hobby? GUMSHOE One-2-One has come to your rescue! Find this new system by some guy named Robin D. Laws, in the line’s flagship title, Cthulhu Confidential. Now pre-ordering at the Pelgrane Press store. 
Finally, after ceding all recent chapeaus to Ken, Robin seizes control of Among My Many Hats to talk about Cthulhu Confidential and the design of the GUMSHOE One-2-One system. Because it’s finally up for pre-order over at the Pelgrane store.
If it’s December, Ken and Robin must be coming to you live from Dragonmeet, the little London convention that isn’t so little any more. Join us as Ken emerges triumphant from a draw of the nerdtrope deck that definitely, definitely happened exactly just as Robin describes it. Plus red herrings, steak, and more stupid gnomes. Also in a Dragonmeet tradition, the f-bomb gets dropped–and the dropper might surprise you!
Do intervals between Ken’s Time Machine segments leave you listless, bored, and itchy? Then you’re in luck, because TimeWatch, the wild and woolly GUMSHOE game of chrono-hopping adventure has now blasted its way into our reality. Brought to you by master of over-the-top fast-paced fun Kevin Kulp and our reality-maintaining overlords at Pelgrane Press. 
For those seeking yet more Ken content, his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. 
In the Gaming Hut, urged on by Patreon backer Fred Kiesche, Ken takes us under the hood of his Rex of the Old 97 campaign. What does he do behind that Peter Frampton GM screen, and how does he do it?
Dirk the Dice rolls into the Gaming Hut to ask us how to make sword and sorcery monster encounters exciting.
Patreon backer Michael Kotschi pops a moony question over the Ask Ken and Robin transom, prompting us to look at 70s NASA from a Moon Dust Men perspective.
Patreon backer Ethan Cordray rises from the Pacific waves of Ask Ken and Robin to pose a stumper: how to make Cthulhu scary again.
This week the Gaming Hut holds a special surprise: it’s not just a segment, but a free game in and of itself, as Robin teaches you how to run Death Spiral.
Among My Many Hats blows the lid off of Ken’s upcoming Kickstarter for a revised, revamped, and reanimated Tour de Lovecraft: the Tales.
Much tabletop roleplaying advice, ours included, helps GMs to keep players entertained. But what about the other way around? Thanks to Patreon backer Jesse Morgan, we head into the Gaming Hut to look at ways to keep your GM motivated.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Patreon backer Conrad Kinch asks what the cruel empire of Tsan-Chan might be up to in 5000 AD. The answer might surprise him!
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. 
Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook. 
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. 
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. 
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. 
Among My Many Hats is an Egyptian headdress with a distinctly feline aspect, as Ken talks about his installment of Ken Writes About Stuff devoted to Bast.
If you’re like every roleplayer we know, you strive to outshine others in showing your love of dice. Well, now you can arouse the envy of friends and foes alike with Askfageln’s dazzling coffee table photo art book dedicated to all things pipped and many-sided, Dice: Rendezvous with Randomness. Luxuriate in the photo artistry of Mans Danneman. Grab the book or gorgeous prints through their Kickstarter! 
Pull your swords out of your stones and step into the Gaming Hut for a consideration of the Chosen One trope.
In this special theme episode, we start in the uncharted waters of the Cartography Hut, to look at the struggle to accurately measure longitude at sea, and its underdog hero, clockmaker John Harrison.
Let’s schmooze a while in the Gaming Hut as we spitball a game based on social experience points.
Long have we teased it! Now it’s finally here, for your keeping-the-show-alive convenience: our Patreon campaign. In this special mini-episode we talk the whys, the wherefores, and the long-coveted extra stuff we can do if we hit particular milestones. Jump on board to make show notes, transcripts and the new Ken and Robin Consume Media feature happen.
There’s a rat looking at us and a hawk flying overhead as Ask Ken and Robin fields a Michael Shreeves question on making familiars narratively satisfying.
Can you make it through the terrors of Ask Ken and Robin, when Sean Maclean asks us how to run survival horror?
Get your chlorophyll on as we enter a vine-choked version of the Gaming Hut to riff an alien species that feeds via photosynthesis.
Oh, the humanity! How do we characterize being a human in F20 games and settings? Answers lie inside the Gaming Hut.
We predicted that Ask Ken and Robin would feature a Manfred Gabriel question about incorporating prophecy into roleplaying sessions, and we were right!
We kick off an episode devoted to Halloween in the Mythology Hut, where we survey the holiday’s history, mutations over time, and cultural diffusion.
Our recording chambers may be hot but our subject matter gets cold, cold, cold, as Among My Many Hats takes a look at the Wendigo.
In the Gaming Hut we look at ways to add nuance to your setting’s faiths by considering the split between official and popular religion.
Worldspinner makes setting construction a breeze, from the map to the themes driving your adventures. Welcome them to the podcast sponsor roster by showing some geographical love to their Kickstarter.
A curious case study, in which a regrettable glacier incident leads listener Joe Tyne to a Call of Cthulhu stumbling block, warrants treatment from the experts in Ask Ken and Robin.
