Episode 85: History is Replete With Idiots
April 18th, 2014 | Robin
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
April 11th, 2014 | Robin
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.
Episode 83: Chekov’s Squid Throwing
April 4th, 2014 | Robin
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
March 28th, 2014 | Robin
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.
Episode 82: Ken and Robin's Tiny Dolls Talk About Stuff [ 1:08:57 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Episode 81: If I Were an Otter
March 21st, 2014 | Robin
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
March 14th, 2014 | Robin
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!
Episode 79: Take That, Entertainment
March 7th, 2014 | Robin
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.
Episode 78: Elves Don’t Listen to Podcasts
February 28th, 2014 | Robin
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.
Episode 77: All the John Waynes
February 21st, 2014 | Robin
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.
Episode 76: Hunker in the Bunker
February 14th, 2014 | Robin
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.
