Dice towers, gaming furniture, GM screens, bone, metal and stone dice, chainmail backpacks and movies based on game properties. Are gamers really suckers?
We discuss how willing gamers are to throw their money on extravagant game accessories, RPG movies, and nostalgia. What gaming related purchase left you feeling the most ripped off?
Ken Spencer talks to us about the Why Not Games Kickstarter for the adaption of Rocket Age to “the world’s greatest role-playing game” 5th edition. He also talks about the inspiration for the setting and also their plans to keep all books for Rocket Age available in both “classic” version, using the original Vortex system, and the DnD 5e ruleset. If you like pulp science fiction with a modern 1930s viewpoint and only ever play DnD, check out Rocket Age 5e.
We discuss Paizo changing the word “race” to “ancestry” in Pathfinder 2.0. What does that mean for Dungeons and Dragons? Will WotC follow Paizo’s lead? Now that “ancestry” is taken, what would be some other alternatives? Is this a case of modern sensibilities triumphing over tradition? Enjoy our lukewarm hot take!
Continuing our Campaign Confessions series, we look at our recent pirate-themed Dungeons and Dragons 5e campaign. Part one focuses on 5e itself and the reasons why this edition has become so successful. We try to put our finger, and maybe some blame, on who dragged D&D kicking and screaming out of the basement and made it appealing to a whole new generation of players. Is it the system itself or is it social media savvy?
First comic books have become cool and now D&D. There’s hope for you toy collectors yet.
“Know, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas,there was an Age undreamed of, an age where there was a good Conan movie. Sadly, that age has passed.”
– The Wizard of Reviews
We review the PDF release of Modiphius’ 2d20 RPG Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of as well as the 2011 movie Conan the Barbarian. Are you ready to adventure in the Hyborian Age? Was Jason Momoa?
If you haven’t seen the video version of this podcast click here.
During this episode, listeners may encounter the following (roll d100):
01-10 Boredom
11-20 Lame jokes
21-30 Extremely late movie reviews
30-80 Chris & Wayne fighting
81-90 Tangents
91-98 The ghost of Lyal, sighing
99-00 Interesting, lively conversation
In another Lyal-less episode, Chris and Wayne discuss encounters (both random and planned). Should encounters in RPGs be balanced, or should they follow the fiction of the setting? How to plan encounters, and how to make them interesting, balanced or not. This episode was inspired, in part, by an awesome (and angry) article by the Angry DM.
With 2013 coming to an end, we decide to make gaming resolutions, the geekiest kind of all. Listen to find out what games we will strive to play and make in 2014. Chris’s first resolution opens with an apology of sorts. Unfortunately, as usual, no one can remember what he said before to warrant the apology. Wayne’s resolution kind of comes out of nowhere, as if he made it up just for this episode. It will be interesting to see if he’ll ever bring it up again. Lyal’s resolution is a repeat from an earlier episode. However, if 2013 has taught us anything, it’s that Lyal can and will repeat himself.
“It is better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand.”
– Apache proverb
The warpath When lightning strikes, bows and war clubs gleamin’ No sunshine, no Geronimo dreamin’ The cavalry roamin’ on the loose, you got juice Up for abuse, when Chiricahua is induced So suck along, rock on, the brain waves
What you clocking, I’d be tomahawking, you get maimed The games you play, look up and say you want to change And rearrange, the strange, you never go the way Don’t look back, forget that, you need that Just sit back, look at the show, and see that
In this installment of warriors, we look at the Apache. Are we just thunder in the mouth?
It is better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand.
Have a bunch of hungry of listeners and only one hour to prepare? Well, if you have a corpse in the fridge and a few human foibles in the cupboard, you can satisfy even the most demanding guest with this zesty variation of our Creature Feature series.
Sin-eater Steaks
1 corpse, brined in the tears of a condemned man
a splash of wasted ability
seven vulgarities, diced
1 cup of the last words of a dying man (For a low-fat alternative, use the last words of a toddler.)
Cover the corpse in a sauce made from the ingredients.
Pass through the flames of Hell until the sinner recants or the meat is pink in the middle.
Slice into steaks and serve with sprigs of parsley, uh, from the damned.
Our second installment of Weapons looks at the role long guns (muskets, arquebuses, rifles, carbines and shotguns) in battle, society and games. It is also our first drinking game episode*.
Take a drink:
Whenever you hear the words “trade-off” or “interesting”.
Whenever “cavalry” is pronounced “Calvary”. Take a shot:
Whenever Chris mentions his daughter. (I think we cut those out.)
Whenever Lyal makes a mistake. (I’m pretty sure he cut those out.) Chug while:
Wayne complains about D&D Next. (You’ll probably tune those out. We do.)
*We highly recommend non-alcoholic drinks – otherwise this game would probably kill off most of the audience.