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Episode 417: Double Devil

October 16th, 2020 | Robin

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.

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.


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.

One Response to “Episode 417: Double Devil”

  1. Scott Zaboem says:

    Aw, this one hurts. I love a directionless protagonist. My favorite novel of all time, Candide by Voltaire, had an endlessly directionless title character. It is the external forces acting upon Candide, the entire world in fact, which consistently push the story forward.

    A very similar example is Arthur Dent who loses his motivation in the first few pages of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and doesn’t get a new one as the books in that series get better and better for the next four installments. The greatest ambition that Arthur develops is surviving the immediate scene and maybe relaxing with a cup of English tea or a great sandwich. This is the character who figures out the meaning of life, the universe, ans everything (and the question) but still doesn’t particularly care.

    Even among children’s stories, there is Alice of the …in Wonderland notoriety. A properly structured heroine would have been motivated to find a way home — or in any modern reboot to overthrow the tyrant queen like a proper isakei protagonist. Then She would spend her scenes working towards that goal and then leave, having seen in the process only the bare minimum amount of Wonderland. In Carroll’s version, Alice just wanders around and finds the place interesting. It’s far weirder and more fun in Carroll’s version, I think.

    You gentlemen and scholars remain far better.read than me. Perhaps I am missing something.

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