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Posts Tagged ‘Cartography Hut’

Episode 586: The Velveteen Rabbit of Signage

February 16th, 2024 | Robin

In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Hector Trelane takes inspiration from Robin’s EZ One Shot system to ask if designers are finding a root language of roleplaying that points toward a less cluttered style of play.

At the behest of estimable backer Kristian Groenseth the Cartography Hut investigates the fake stop sign epidemic that struck Cranston, Rhode Island.

And finally Ken’s Bookshelf paws the spoils of our resident bibliomane’s recent raid on New York City.

Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!

Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.

Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.

Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.


Experience the world of Gloom in a new, immersive way with Unhappy Birthday at Castle Slogar. With an integrated hint and solution website, drenched in the beloved Gloom aesthetic by artist J. Scott Reeves, this puzzling gamebook kicks off Atlas’ new Enigma line. Sign up for the Kickstarter announcement!

Reality horror just got realer with three new support products for The Yellow King Roleplaying Game: Black Star Magic, Legions of Carcosa: The Yellow King Bestiary, and Robin’s latest novel, Fifth Imperative.

Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.

Episode 566: You Are a Special Island

September 22nd, 2023 | Robin

In the Gaming Hut, we look at the second of the scenario structures Robin breaks down in his new Adventure Crucible chapbook, the mystery.

Beloved Patreon backer Joshua Randall beckons us into the Cartography Hut as he seeks places on Earth with the widest variety of F20 friendly biomes.

Then Charles Picard puts up multiple screens in a geodesic Culture Hut to ask about Charles and Ray Eames’ film “Glimpses of the USA”, as seen in Moscow in 1959.

Finally the Eliptony Hut looks at the dangerous tale of the Fenn treasure.

Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!

Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.

Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.

Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.


You are a great mage, battling for the last reservoir of the magical element Etherium. You’ll craft creations and cast spells to defeat your rivals, leaving you as master of the Godsforge! The new 2nd Edition of Godsforge is available now from Atlas Games, plus two new expansions: Return of the Dragon Gods and Twilight of the Great Houses.

Even Death Can Die, the breathlessly-awaited scenario book for Cthulhu Confidential, is now in print at an eldritch game store near you, or in the Pelgrane web store. Thrill to three hardboiled Lovecraftian adventures apiece from stalwart investigators Langston Wright, Vivian Sinclair, and Dex Raymond, all for one player and one GM.

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!

Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.

Episode 541: That’s Where You Collect Your Bonus

March 31st, 2023 | Robin

In the Gaming Hut we look at the Efficiency Paradox, where players who most effectively grapple with the choices of a scenario are the most likely to regard it as linear.

A Zillow floorplan of a Glendora CA home winds up in the Cartography Hut at the behest of beloved backer Monster Talk, who has spotted some anomalies he needs explained.

The ninth installment of the Cinema Hut Science Fiction Essentials series finds us in the mid-60s, as the genre falls into arty European hands.

On Jan 31, 1914, a meteor struck a torpedo factory in Sistersville, West Virginia, sending an exploding ball of nitroglycerin into the air. We find out what role Ken’s Time Machine played in this unlikely event.

Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!

Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.

Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.

Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.


In Sunset City, there’s always something fishy going on … and we’re not talking tuna.  The magical kitties of Sunset City have their paws full of mystery. Thanks to our fine feline friends at Atlas Games, Magical Kitties Noir is headed to Kickstarter.

The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.

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!

Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.

Episode 524: Let’s Just Dump It in the West

November 25th, 2022 | Robin

In the Gaming Hut we mull a peculiar property of RPGs as narrative, the expectation that a scenario will set up more plot elements than it actually pays off.

At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Jurie Horneman, the Cartography Hut gets out a map to look at the 50 square mile legal loophole known as Yellowstone’s Zone of Death.

Then the Tradecraft Hut delves into recent headlines suggesting that the Chinese government has set up clandestine police stations throughout the world, including three of them in Robin’s Toronto stomping grounds.

Finally we finally get around to a segment we assumed we had done long ago, venturing into the Eliptony Hut to celebrate that most illustrious of cryptids, Mothman.

Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!

Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.

Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.

Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.


Godsforge, Atlas Games’ fast-paced game of battling spellcasters, is now on Kickstarter. Grab wizardly first dibs on the new 2nd Edition of Godsforge, and two new expansions, Return of the Dragon Gods and Twilight of the Great Houses, from November 8 to December 8th.

Track down foul sorcerers in a corrupt city, clamber through underground ruins and investigate the intrigues of your decadent rivals in Swords of the Serpentine, the GUMSHOE game of swords, sorcery and mystery, now available from Pelgrane Press.

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!

Delta Green Iconoclasts, a campaign of horrors modern and ancient, brings a team of Agents to a scene of horrors all too real: Mosul in 2016, held by the self-styled Islamic State in a reign of depraved brutality. From a small base at the Kirkuk airfield, the Agents must research the horrors to come and prepare for a harrowing infiltration. Terrors and new supplementary material await, now in PDF, hardback now in preorder.

Episode 487: Nothing More Organic Than a Moon

March 11th, 2022 | Robin

Beloved Patreon backer Chihiro Yamata has access to an Edwardian house with a creepy ghost plaque, and wants the Gaming Hut to do something about it.

Esteemed backer Jake beckons us into the Cartography Hut to discuss the evolution of maps in WW2, as inspired by Ken’s recent review of Jeremy Black’s A History of the Second World War in 100 Maps.

The Food Hut inquires into the career of early organic wine advocate, grape varietal namesake, and devoted Nazi Fritz Zweigelt.

Finally sagacious backer Jeff Greenlee visits the Consulting Occultist for the lowdown on the surprisingly steamy story of the Jesus’ Wife hoax.

Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!

Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.

Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.

Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.


Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!

Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.

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!

Delta Green: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules.  They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.

Episode 423: The Mysterious G

November 27th, 2020 | Robin

In the Gaming Hut, Lisa Steele and Neil Fortier ask how to adjust Robin’s police procedural superhero game, Mutant City Blues, in the wake of the George Floyd murder.

George III’s topographical collection has gone online, prompting a Cartography Hut focused on one of its treasures—a very RPG-looking map of the fort and barracks at Mount Pleasant, Maryland.

Beloved Patreon backer Jesse Lowe calls for a Culture Hut field trip to the Maryhill Museum, founded by Queen Marie of Romania and Yellow King Roleplaying Game historical figure Loie Fuller.

Finally in a crossover between the Crime Blotter and Eliptony Hut we examine the case of Ira Einhorn, the paranormalist 60s scenester later known as the Unicorn Killer.

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.


Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.

The second edition of Mutant City Blues, by Robin D. Laws, and now with added Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, is now in print from Pelgrane Press. Grab your Quade Diagrams and solve the crimes of a near future where one per cent of the population wields super powers. Use the voucher code DIAGRAM2020 to get 15% off at the Pelgrane Store.

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.

Episode 394: Fruit Cutting Policies

May 8th, 2020 | Robin

The Cartography Hut gets smart as beloved Patreon backer Gerald Sears asks us to riff on intelligent maps.

Esteemed Patreon backer Sibel Permann urges the History Hut to find gaming gold in the Guelphs and Ghibellines.

The Horror Hut looks at a paper by Francis T. McAndrew on the social-evolutionary psychology of Bad Places.

Finally the Consulting Occultist elucidates the effort to market famously ill-reviewed 50s fantasy novel Kinsmen of the Dragon as an esoteric tome.

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.


The place you only think you remember explodes with weird danger in Welcome to the Island, the first adventure anthology for Over the Edge from Atlas Games. Launch brand new stories, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or create exciting one-shots that bring the weird to your gaming table.

Until May 18th you can grab the entire GUMSHOE One-2-One line in handy PDF form at the Bundle of Holding. That’s Cthulhu Confidential, Night’s Black Agents Solo Ops, and all of their associated scenarios.

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!

Arc Dream Publishing’s Shane Ivey brings you Swords and Sorceries, fifth edition adventure in a sea-swept world inspired by ancient myth. Seek your fortunes, or find gruesome death in the tombs of forgotten gods and evils best left buried. Seize all three adventures, Sea Demon’s Gold, Song of the Sun Queens, and Tomb of Fire, today!

Episode 331: Tomb of the Kardashians

February 15th, 2019 | Robin


In the Gaming Hut we imagine what will happen when LARPs meet e-sports. Call our people, TV industry.

Patreon backer Jason Thompson summons us to the Cartography Hut to express disbelief in the non-existence of maps in the Hellenistic era.

In How to Write Good we dig deep into word clusters and ways to eliminate them.

Then we slip into the Eliptony Hut as backer Stephen Brandon demands rampant speculation on the case of the disappearing airman.

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.


A precious few Deluxe copies of  Cogs and Commissars, clever card game of are available directly from Atlas Games.  The “Most-Equal ‘Apparatchik’ Edition” features wooden screen-printed Citizen tokens, neoprene mats for each faction leader, and a foil-stamped, spot-gloss, magnetic-closure box. Seize the means of collectibility!

Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.

Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.

Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.

Episode 325: NIMBY Horror

January 4th, 2019 | Robin

We kick off 2019 with an all-request episode, starting with Patreon backer Bryan Gustafson, who enters the Gaming Hut to ask us how to use the tiny houses movement in a Cthulhu Confidential scenario.

In the Command Hut, backer Tom Abella seeks the scoop on the series of WWII commando and bombing raids against a plant in German-occupied Norway to destroy its heavy water production.

We get worldly in the Cartography Hut as backer Jake asks us to use the Psalter Mappa Mundi for gaming purposes.

Finally not one but two backers, Ludovic Chabant and Ian Carlsen, knock on the indistinct walls of the Eliptony Hut demanding the dialectic on Marxist UFOlogy, as inspired by this piece from The Outline.

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.


Wish to introduce innocent children to the horror of the Mythos, while remaining on budget? Atlas Games is here to affordably twist young minds with a buy two, get one free deal on Ken’s Mini Mythos line of childrens’ book parodies: Where the Deep Ones Are, Goodnight Azathoth, Cliffourd the Big Red God, and Antarctic Express.

Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.

Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.

Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.

Episode 314: Preamble Snipper

October 12th, 2018 | Robin

 

Another all-request episode kicks off in the Gaming Hut as Patreon backer Gene Ha asks what F20 evil deities get out of all the dungeons they create and manage.

In the Cartography Hut we look into trap streets and parch marks, at the behest of backer Jurie Hornemann.

Ask Ken and Robin gives backer Jacques de Villiers the chance to ask Robin about GMless Hillfolk.

Finally in Ken’s Time Machine, backer Michael Maneval asks Ken to describe the reasons behind his constant efforts to keep musical instrument inventor Adolphe Sax from a premature final rest.

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.


Over the Edge is back, with Jonathan Tweet updating his classic and influential game design. Get ready to duck New Age cultists, baboon-wielding gangsters, twisted assassins when the roleplaying game of weird modern danger. The island of Al Amarja may have moved from its classic 1990s location, but never fear. The Kickstarter may be over, but the action has moved to BackerKit.

Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.

Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.

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