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Archive for July, 2013

Episode 49: No One Likes a Blood Frenzy

July 26th, 2013 | Robin

From the Cartography Hut we send our separate adventurers on intercut journeys of exploration, as we riff on the fantasy game potential of the Atlas of True Names series.

How to Write Good connects the dots of stakes, consequences, and reader engagement.

In Ask Ken and Robin, Geoffery Nelson asks how iconic characters can engage in meaningful conflict without stopping the story dead as both dig their heels in.

Finally we conclude Ken’s series on the Nazi occult by veering at an impossible angle into the Eliptony Hut for a look at Nazi UFOs and the Hollow Earth.

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Tags: Ask Ken and Robin, Cartography Hut, Eliptony Hut, How To Write Good

Posted in Podcast | 10 Comments »

Episode 48: Except for All the Cannibalism

July 19th, 2013 | Robin

Events in Egypt have us taking shelter in the Gaming Hut to suggest approaches to uprisings and revolutions in roleplaying narrative.

Then Robin beckons you to the Cinema Hut for a quick intro to Chinese film, as seen through three rarities recently screened at the TIFF Lightbox: the suppressed censorship satire Unfinished Comedy, showbiz melodrama on the cusp of the Cultural Revolution Two Stage Sisters and the proto-heroic bloodshed of The Story of a Discharged Prisoner.

Game design bubbles creative and economic get the Ask Ken and Robin treatment, thanks to a query from Ironicus.

Then the Consulting Occultist completes his obligations as a guide to the Nazi occult with a look at the scholarship-distorting, expedition launching academic department of the SS, the Ahnenerbe.

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Tags: Ask Ken and Robin, Cinema hut, Consulting Occultist, Gaming hut

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Episode 47: An Occasional Underused Wendigo

July 12th, 2013 | Robin

We start in the Gaming Hut by contemplating the massive Call of Cthulhu campaign. What drives the love for this classic cornerstone of roleplaying obsession?

In Ask Ken and Robin, Leó Páll Hrafnsson wants to know what the deal is with the famously lost Ninth Roman Legion.

Grab the remote in the Television Hut as we look at structure in TV shows, from their evolution to their application to roleplaying.

Then our epic Consulting Occultist series on the Nazi Occult explores the Thule Society, wealthy right-wing imaginers of lost continents who built an anti-Communist goon squad only to see it morph into the Nazi party.

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

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Episode 46: An Indictment of Your Pudding

July 5th, 2013 | Robin

We shuttle over to the Gaming Hut to continue our discussion of omnipresent surveillance, this time in the context of your roleplaying group’s tendency to turtle up.

The unveiling of the Word Hut sees us finding our preferences between US and UK words and punctuation. Petrol, anyone?

In Ask Ken and Robin, we respond to Daniel Fidelman’s question on how to pace the unsheathing of knives when player betrayal is on the agenda.

Then we head over to chat with the Consulting Occultist, as part four of our series on Nazi occultism leads us to metaphorically heft the Spear of Destiny.