Episode 99: Methane Planet of the Rakshasas
July 25th, 2014 | Robin
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.
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.
Episode 98: Why are We Conquering This?
July 18th, 2014 | Robin
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.
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.
Episode 97: Hamsterface
July 11th, 2014 | Robin
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.
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.
Episode 96: Yardarm Shortage
July 4th, 2014 | Robin
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.
Episode 95: A Big Can of Time Worms
June 27th, 2014 | Robin
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.
Episode 94: The Simpering Bridegroom
June 20th, 2014 | Robin
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.
Episode 93: A Damp 1968
June 13th, 2014 | Robin
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.
Episode 92: The Werepig Demographic
June 6th, 2014 | Robin
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.
Episode 91: The Envy Must Flow Through Me
May 30th, 2014 | Robin
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.
Episode 90: Nine Yards of Crazy
May 23rd, 2014 | Robin
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.
