Posts Tagged ‘Among my many hats’
Episode 174: Metaphor Drift! Metaphor Drift!
January 22nd, 2016 | Robin
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. 
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Episode 168: Real Made-Up History
November 27th, 2015 | Robin
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.
Ken’s first map, of Brasov, appears here.
Robin’s map, to the residences of Ebenezer Ingalsbie and T. R. Wolcott, is here.
Ken’s second map, of 1840s Brooklyn, is here.
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.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 158: Englishman is Not Actually Valued For Its Own Flavor
September 18th, 2015 | Robin
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 now Feng 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! 
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Episode 155: Semi-Facing Into the Abyss
August 28th, 2015 | Robin
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 now Feng 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. 
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 154: Orange and Tufty From the Primordial Swamp
August 21st, 2015 | Robin
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.
Episode 151: Draculas Competing To Be the Dracula
July 31st, 2015 | Robin
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.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 146: The Most Punished “Well Actually” Ever
June 26th, 2015 | Robin
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.
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Episode 136: It Says Necropolis Right in the Name
April 17th, 2015 | Robin
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.
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Episode 131: Helping People Steal Concrete
March 13th, 2015 | Robin
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.
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Episode 127: Blah Blah Zombies Blah Blah
February 13th, 2015 | Robin
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.
What’s better than ravening ghouls prowling a blasted land for dead flesh to feast upon? Free ravening ghouls prowling a blasted land for dead flesh to feast upon! For a limited time only, grab Ken’s Ghouls installment of Ken Writes About Stuff for the grave-dirt price of $0.00.
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