Armor Goes Clank!

Karen chose French cuisine for supper, so Kae made an easy Coq au Vin recipe from AllRecipes.com. In deference to some of the food allergies in our group, she substituted cranberry/pomegranate juice with a splash of vinegar in lieu of red wine, and celery with hing powder in lieu of onions. Hing powder can be found in South Asian food groceries, or ordered online. Download 64kbps mp3 (8.6 MB) Show links Dread the RPG Dread (DriveThruRPG Affiliate Link)

Louis was our GM for ‘Toon, and we decided on favorite childhood dishes. After much discussion, we settled on spaghetti and meatballs. John cooked the pasta, while Mags cooked meatballs and sauce in her new electric pressure cooker. Electric pressure cookers are easy, and remove all of the hassle of the traditional pressure cooker. Mags got hers from Amazon, and adapted this recipe from PeggyUnderPressure.com. PRESSURE COOKER MEATBALLS IN ITALIAN SAUCE (via PeggyUnderPressure.com) Ingredients: 1 bag of Kirkland frozen Italian meatballs from Costco (note: this is a LOT of meatballs—roughly 100 as the bag is designed for parties). I used about forty from the bag. Obviously, you can use your favorite frozen meatballs here. If you prefer to make your own meatballs and cook them in your pressure cooker, Mags recommends you check out this recipe from HipPressureCooking.com for guidance. 2 jars store-bought marinara sauce (or your favorite tomato sauce for meatballs) 1 chicken bouillon cube 2 cups water 1. Note: it’s important to have actual water in any pressure cooker recipe, because the cooker uses water to build up pressure. Without it your pressure cooker will overheat. 2. And you have to use actual water, as opposed to broth or just depending on the water in an ingredient, to achieve this effect. 3. The general rule of thumb is one cup of water per one cup of an ingredient. A couple of generous dashes of Italian seasoning to enhance the flavor of the store-bought sauce Pour one of the jars of sauce into the cooker. Put the frozen meatballs on top of the sauce (no need to defrost--trust me, they’ll come out very tender), then dump the second jar on top. Stir to coat, then lock on your lid. Set the pressure cooker to cook for twenty minutes. Since we’re talking frozen ingredients here, it will take a while (roughly 30 to 40 minutes, give or take) for the cooker to build up the pressure. Then it has to de-pressurize! So keep in mind that the total cooking time is going to be between 60 and 75 minutes. Once the cooker signals that it’s okay to remove the lid, do so, and let the meatballs rest for about ten minutes. Give them a nice stir, and you’re good to go. Serve over your favorite pasta. Add cheese, if desired. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can do the following: 1. First, be sure to scale your sauce and pans as needed for the number of people you’re serving. Depending on the size of your pans and the number of meatballs you’re cooking for your crew, you may need to divide the meatballs into two or more pans. Or, if you’re expecting a smaller group, use half a jar of sauce for the bottom of the pan, and the other half over the meatballs. 2. Get a large oven-safe pan (a big casserole dish is ideal). 3. Dump in one jar of the sauce, spread over the bottom of the pan. 4. Dump in the meatballs, then pour the other jar overtop. 5. Cover with aluminum foil. 6. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour. 7. Serve over pasta. JOHN’S ‘TOON PLAYLIST The Merrie Melodies / Looney Tunes series of cartoons from Warner Brothers is famous for its creative use of classical music, and for decades was the first introduction to classical music that American children had. John decided to put together a playlist to run while we were playing Steve Jackson Games’ ‘Toon, and we provide the list of tracks below. It is 9 1/2 hours of music.  Enjoy! 1. Strauss – Thunder & Lightning Gallop Polka 2. Strauss – Tales From the Vienna Woods Waltz 3. Smetana – From Bohemia’s Fields & Meadows 4. Chopin – Nocturne Op 27 No. 2 5. Chopin – Waltz in D flat Op 64 6. Beethoven – Symphony #7 7. Schumann – Op 73 8. Schumann – Op 56 9. Rossini – Overture – The Barber of Seville 10. Rimsky-Korsakoff – Flight of the Bumble Bee 11. Brahms – Hungarian Dance No 1 in G minor 12. Brahms – Hungarian Dance No 2 in D minor 13. Brahms – Hungarian Dance No 3 in F major 14. Brahms – Hungarian Dance No 4 in F minor 15. Brahms – Hungarian Dance No 5 in F sharp minor 16. Brahm

Yay, news! Download 64kbps mp3 (13.3 MB) Show links Origins Awards Nominees Tabletop Season 4 Game Line-Up Hasbro’s 2016 Next Great Game Challenge Mensa Mind Games Backers of the now-cancelled campaign should request a refund at the “Contact Me” link on Game Salute’s bio page on Kickstarter Nocturnal Media announcement of West End Games acquisition Maisie Williams as game store clerk Lorraine (NSFW language)

Carol and Mags talk to game designer Ryan Macklin about Katanas & Trenchcoats, an April Fool’s Day joke-RPG that’s spiraled out of control (and for which Ryan blames Steve Kenson). Download 64kbps mp3 (14.3 MB) Show links Katanas and Trenchcoats (Kickstarter) Ryan Macklin Seattle Childrens' Hospital The Trevor Project Be sure to check out Gamerati!

Carol and Mags talk to with Paris Crenshaw, lead author of the Trail of the Apprentice mini-campaign, Legendary's current Kickstarter. The campaign is part of their Pathfinder & 5E - Legendary Beginnings. Download 64kbps mp3 (9.4 MB) Show links Trail of the Apprentice (Kickstarter) Legendary Games Be sure to check out Gamerati!

At ConGlomeration 2016 in Louisville, Kentucky, Carol, Mags, and Steve bring us headlines, followed by an interview with gaming and fandom luminary and ConGlomeration Media Guest Jenna Busch! Download 64kbps mp3 (23.0 MB) Show links Girl Meets Lightsaber twitter.com/jennabusch www.facebook.com/jennabuschpublicpage www.instagram.com/jennabusch/ www.youtube.com/user/MariNimue www.imdb.com/name/nm2436678/ en.wikipedia.com/wiki/Jenna_Busch/ Be sure to check out Gamerati! Promos Miskatonic University Podcast

Carol and Mags sit down with Dennis Detwiller, Shanna Germain, and Monte Cook about the latest goings-on at Monte Cook Games. Download 64kbps mp3 (8.00 MB) Show links Kickstarter: Worlds of Cypher System (Kickstarter) Monte Cook Games Be sure to check out Gamerati!

Carol interviews Ross Watson and Michael Surbrook about High Rock Press' Kickstarter - Aaron Allston's Strike Force. We talk about the history of the setting, and all of the knowledge that Aaron Allston brought from his long-running campaign to GMs. As of this recording on 2/17/16 they are at $28K+ to bring a new edition of the groundbreaking classic Champion's supplement, first published in 1988, to gamers everywhere. Join us as we talk about the effort to bring a new edition of this work that inspired so many of the writers and developers of the games we all enjoy today. Download 64kbps mp3 (13.5 MB) Show links Aaron Allston's Strike Force (Kickstarter) Michael Subrook Ross Watson High Rock Press Be sure to check out Gamerati!

With Mark Kinney, Carol, and Mags. WOW...this is late. The AGC Crew looks back at 2015 (and a little of 2014). Special Guest Appearance by...Alexa! Download 64kbps mp3 (27.1 MB) Show links Chronicles of Darkness (Onyx Path) Errata Forums Popular Mechanics: The 15 Best New Board Games San Francisco Chronicle:The best board games to play this year League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 1970s (Savage Worlds) by Karl Keelser Be sure to check out Gamerati! AGC's DriveThruRPG Picks for this episode! Carol's DriveThruRPG Pick: Chronicles of Darkness Mark's DriveThruRPG Pick: War of the Worlds: The Anglo-Martian War of 1895 Mags' DriveThruRPG Pick: House of Bards: A World of Adventure for Fate Core

With Carol and Mags. Games and game stores performing well in the market place, and a could a new game store from Down Under be in the offing? Rey has been missing from Monopoly, and the AGC Gals get indignant about it. The Mergers & Acquisitions Department at Asmodee has been busy again, while Kalmbach gets one of the few companies not in Asmodee's sights. WotC offers an OGL for 5th edition, and open up the D&D Adventurer's League. Strahd and Free Trader Beowolf are back! Symbarum to arrive from Sweden. Green Ronin, Luke Crane, and Evil Hat get busy in 2016. New minis for the Walking Dead and D&D Icons of the Realms. NEW BORG SHIP IS EIGHT INCHES ON ONE SIDE and Mags can't deal. And Finally: an author unearths a precursor to the Chainmail Fantasy supplement. Download 64kbps mp3 (19.2 MB) Show links: Stellar Performance for U.S. Toy Industry, Growing Nearly 7 Percent in 2015, The NPD Group Reports A Precursor to the Chainmail Fantasy Supplement