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Episode 249: You Take What Toes You Can Get

July 7th, 2017 | Robin

 

Run! Hide! The Gaming Hut is coming for you, with a look at chase rules for horror RPGs.

Homicide and puppets collide as the Crime Blotter recounts 1929’s Benny Evangelist murders.

The recent theft of Dawson City’s Downtown Hotel severed drinking toe prompts a Food Hut consideration of appalling drink rituals.

Then we rev up Ken’s Time Machine to find out why our resident chrono-agent prevented sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi from building a lamp-wielding lady at the Suez Canal.

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In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you! The book has been written. The book has been read. Now it rewrites you. Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Pelgrane Press is terrified to announce that Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game, is now live on Kickstarter. Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! 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. John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!

5 Responses to “Episode 249: You Take What Toes You Can Get”

  1. Tim Emrick says:

    The Earthdawn RPG has an excellent example of how to use revolting drinks as a sort of cultural initiation. Orks brew a beverage called hurlg, which IIRC, requires a Willpower roll to successfully force yourself to drink the stuff, then a Toughness roll to keep it down. A non-ork can often gain the respect of orks by the act of attempting to drink hurlg, and can really impress them by succeeding.

    One of my wife’s character’s spells allowed her to create a meal of any food or drink that she had tasted within the past year. She made a point of tasting hurlg once a year just in case she ever needed to make friends with orks.

  2. Andrew Stewart says:

    Wait, whuh??
    As great an artist as Jean Léon Gérôme was, he was NOT a Symbolist – where do you get a Dreamlands connection? Gustave Moreau, you mean?

  3. Phil Masters says:

    You probably need to look at the chase rules in GURPS Action. They’re mostly designed to handle car chases in action movie games rather than horror, but there should be enough concepts in common to make them a useful reference.

    Also, I have fond memories of the Evesham Hotel drinks list (which may even still be active) in the UK. The proprietor clearly insisted that any friend or acquaintance going abroad for any reason should bring back a bottle or two of the local spirit or liqueur, just so he could add it to his stock (which occupied locked shelves all over the hotel); quality wasn’t a consideration. The drinks menu was a small pamphlet, which contained as many warnings as recommendations. The effect was experimental rather than initiatory, but one could probably build a scenario around a similar establishment bringing up what could not be put down.

  4. Mike says:

    Hey Ken, Where can I get more info on the Benny Evangelist murder? Do you have a book that you would recommend? This is the kind of topic I love to read late at night in bed.

  5. Lloyd Rasmussen says:

    The best description of Malort I have heard is “Liquid Hate”. Average flavor linger time for me is 9 hours. (Yes, I was dumb enough to try it twice.)

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