February « 2013 « Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

Archive for February, 2013

Episode 27: League of Extraordinary Skeletons

February 22nd, 2013 | Robin

In Ask Ken and Robin, we field Conrad Kinch’s query about the politics of game design. Do a designer’s political beliefs show up in his work?

Then, as you knew we would, we engage in some History Bending in honor of Richard III’s recently-confirmed excavation from a Leicester car park.

Our new segment How To Write Good inaugurates with a barrage of style tips of both general and RPG-specific application.

Finally, in Consulting Occultist, we review the stream-crossing career of African-American magician, escape artist and hoodoo worker Black Herman.

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Tags: Ask Ken and Robin, Consulting Occultist, History Bending, How To Write Good

Posted in Podcast | 16 Comments »

Episode 26: Passing the Legislation To See What’s In It

February 15th, 2013 | Robin

In an unprecedented merger of the Gaming Hut with the Politics Hut, we look to political scientist Steven Teles’ theory of government as kludgeocracy to demonstrate why government should hire game designers like Ken and Robin to playtest their legislation for them.

Then we take latitudes with the longitudes of the Cartography Hut to examine the history and fantasy of Stonehenge.

The map above is from Profantasy Software’s Source Maps: Temples, Tombs and Catacombs, which you can grab at a mere $10, a quarter of the usual price, until Feb 22nd, by following this special link to the Profantasy store. This informative pack of historical maps stands alone, with a built in viewer and tons of images and background. But if you have Profantasy Software’s flagship mapping package, Campaign Cartographer 3, you can edit the maps and use symbols from them.

In Ask Ken and Robin, we entertain Lisa Padol’s question about the edition wars inspired by the differences between old and new World of Darkness.

Finally, Ken’s Time Machine averts the sacking of China’s Old Summer Palace—or, at least, the most notorious of its several sackings.

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Tags: Ask Ken and Robin, Cartography Hut, Gaming hut, Ken's Time Machine, Politics Hut

Posted in Podcast | 18 Comments »

Episode 25: Finally, the Woodrow Wilson Throwdown

February 8th, 2013 | Robin

In the Gaming Hut, we mull the economics of game design. Will the Kickstarter wave usher in a new era of component-driven play?

Then it’s off to the History Hut for Ken’s long-anticipated final showdown with the historical legacy of Woodrow Wilson. Was he really America’s worst president?

In Ask Ken and Robin, we are asked the most basic question of our craft: why do people game?

Finally the Consulting Occultist considers the silver-shirted biography of American screenwriter, vision-haver and fascist William Dudley Pelley.

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Tags: Ask Ken and Robin, Consulting Occultist, Gaming hut, History Hut

Posted in Podcast | 21 Comments »

Episode 24: Conan Gets a Fish

February 1st, 2013 | Robin

After two bits of preamble business, one elegiac and the other bathetic , we issue a Travel Advisory to wring vicarious enjoyment from Ken’s journey to WarpCon in Cork, Ireland.

We then step into the Cinema Hut to regale one and all with our top ten picks from the sterling movie year that was 2012.

In Ask Ken and Robin, Lowell Francis asks Ken to expand on a past comment contrasting his sense of fun placement to that of our esteemed pal Dennis Detwiller, leading us to a consideration of the grind, character fragility, and when to bring the power fantasy.

Finally, we once more brave the shadowy depths of the Conspiracy Corner to explore the patterns and motivations behind the recent wave of truther movements.