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The internet is filled with hobby advice. From podcasts, to YouTube channels, you can probably find what you’re are looking for very quickly. Or not. That’s part of the problem. With so much out there it’s hard to figure out what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s really bad.

Our friend Jen and Oddfish Games hooked me up with John Glavin. John is the creator of Two-Gun Pixie a Youtube channel that focuses on board games and roleplaying game reviews and he’s been at it for a while. And by awhile, I mean over 8 years. John is also jumping into the professional GM world with his new Adventurers Union: Local 218.

I had a chance to chat with John about roleplaying, Two-Gun Pixie, and his personal style.

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Let’s start off with one of my favorite things…D&D Licensing.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/d-ds-beer-collaboration-continues-with-special-edition-beer-dice-tower-combo.715575/

We have talked about D&D’s collaboration with Mythical Meats a jerky company, I can remember one of Nabisco’s breakfast cereals having a D&D tie in. And, I think one of my friends had a D&D wood burning set. You know the thing that got hot and you could burn designs into wood. Yea D&D did that. And let’s not forget they licensed D&D to a predatory online gambling site.

This time we are talking beer. I like beer. New Holland Brewing has announced it’s bringing back it’s popular D20 Brew and this time it’s going to come with a dice tower and special edition dice.

Doc, what do you think about D20 Brew

[Kick to Christina]

Mike, New Holland is also bringing back their Mead Cask Bourbon. Is that more up your ally?

[Kick to Mike]

If you were in charge of D&D Licensing and you were looking for something weird to license, what would it be?

[Kick to Mike]

[Kick to Christina]

Gary Gygax, the creator of Dungeons and Dragons passed away in 2008. His widow Gail Gygax has been working to create a memorial for Gary in his hometown of Lake Geneva Wisconsin.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/theyre-building-a-memorial-game-table-sculpture-in-honor-of-gary-gygax.715511/

The memorial will be set in Library Park, and it will be a stone table with benches, and a statue of Gary Gygax himself seated at the table. The table will feature a bronze map of Gygax's first ever D&D dungeon level, scaled for use with miniatures.

What a cool thing that you could sit down and play with Gary, long after he has passed.

Doc, what are your thoughts on this one?

[Kick to Christina]

How about you Mike

[Kick to Mike]

This one made me think of all the new spaces going up that are roleplaying friendly. Coffee shops offer not only coffee, but roleplaying games for sale and tables where patrons can sit and play their favorite game. There are several here in Indiana and if you do a search, you will be blown away by how many exist across the US. Coffee shops aren’t the only venue. Bars are getting into the scene with some even offering game masters, table rentals, and weekly events with prizes. I mean this is really cool. I always said I wanted to open a vinyl record store, but now maybe I could open a vinyl record store and gaming space. I could call it Critical Spin!

Mike, what would your public games space look like?

[Kick to Mike]

What about you Doc?

[Kick to Christina]

And there you have it. All the news, you’ve already heard.

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I can still remember the first time I stood in front of a classroom filled with my peers. I had spent the time researching and learning, writing and organizing, and now it was time to teach. A dozen of my co-workers, people that I spent hours with, ate lunches with, and worked with every day. But this was something different. Standing in front of the classroom. All eyes on me, the looks on their faces were somewhere between anticipation and boredom. I could almost see their thoughts, “Why do I have to be here?” “Why should I listen to this guy?” “This is going to suck.”

I remember telling myself, It’s no different than running a game, Steve. Grab their attention, make your point, and give them what they came for.

I’ve been doing that now for over 25 years.

I wasn’t born a good communicator. I stuttered as a child, and because of that I was not outgoing in the classroom. I rarely asked questions and would damn near run away screaming when it came to making any kind of public statement. But when I would sit down and roleplay with my friends, that changed. It was like I was a different person. I was able to communicate and I wasn’t scared. I actually enjoyed it. Soon I would become the forever game master and that just meant more practice. Because that was what it was, practice.

I know for a fact if I didn’t roleplay I wouldn’t be a national instructor today. That class with 12 people in 1999 was only the beginning. I have done 2-hour presentations to auditoriums with over 1200 people. All of those hours of gaming and communicating gave me the skills and confidence I needed for my future.

We can learn a lot from roleplaying.

Last time, Mike and I talked about the Satanic Panic and all the things the haters said was wrong with roleplaying so today, Mike, Dr. Christina and I are going to talk about all of the good things you get by table top roleplaying.

Let’s start with you Mike, What’s one thing that you can do today because of roleplaying?

[Kick to Mike]

Christina, you literally got your doctorate in this stuff so when we talk about the things we can learn from table top roleplaying, where should we start?

[Kick to Christina]

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Let’s start off with one of my favorite things…D&D Licensing.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/d-ds-beer-collaboration-continues-with-special-edition-beer-dice-tower-combo.715575/

We have talked about D&D’s collaboration with Mythical Meats a jerky company, I can remember one of Nabisco’s breakfast cereals having a D&D tie in. And, I think one of my friends had a D&D wood burning set. You know the thing that got hot and you could burn designs into wood. Yea D&D did that. And let’s not forget they licensed D&D to a predatory online gambling site.

This time we are talking beer. I like beer. New Holland Brewing has announced it’s bringing back it’s popular D20 Brew and this time it’s going to come with a dice tower and special edition dice.

Doc, what do you think about D20 Brew

[Kick to Christina]

Mike, New Holland is also bringing back their Mead Cask Bourbon. Is that more up your ally?

[Kick to Mike]

If you were in charge of D&D Licensing and you were looking for something weird to license, what would it be?

[Kick to Mike]

[Kick to Christina]

Gary Gygax, the creator of Dungeons and Dragons passed away in 2008. His widow Gail Gygax has been working to create a memorial for Gary in his hometown of Lake Geneva Wisconsin.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/theyre-building-a-memorial-game-table-sculpture-in-honor-of-gary-gygax.715511/

The memorial will be set in Library Park, and it will be a stone table with benches, and a statue of Gary Gygax himself seated at the table. The table will feature a bronze map of Gygax's first ever D&D dungeon level, scaled for use with miniatures.

What a cool thing that you could sit down and play with Gary, long after he has passed.

Doc, what are your thoughts on this one?

[Kick to Christina]

How about you Mike

[Kick to Mike]

This one made me think of all the new spaces going up that are roleplaying friendly. Coffee shops offer not only coffee, but roleplaying games for sale and tables where patrons can sit and play their favorite game. There are several here in Indiana and if you do a search, you will be blown away by how many exist across the US. Coffee shops aren’t the only venue. Bars are getting into the scene with some even offering game masters, table rentals, and weekly events with prizes. I mean this is really cool. I always said I wanted to open a vinyl record store, but now maybe I could open a vinyl record store and gaming space. I could call it Critical Spin!

Mike, what would your public games space look like?

[Kick to Mike]

What about you Doc?

[Kick to Christina]

And there you have it. All the news, you’ve already heard.

Send us Fan Mail

It’s weird just how much of my life can be traced through television. As much time as I spent as a kid riding my bike down the gravel roads to friends houses and playing in the woods, I spent at least that much time watching TV. From the early years of Sunday Morning Cartoons and The Wonderful World of Disney to my teenage years, cruising North Park in Evansville Indiana and going to the movie theater every Friday and Saturday night. I guess it’s no surprise that I can remember the first time I watched a movie about Dungeons and Dragons.

It was Christmas Break, no school, Rainy but mild weather and based on the newspaper it looked like CBS was going to have a movie about roleplaying. This was going to be pretty cool. I was into roleplaying, but didn’t get a chance to play much. For some reason nobody wanted to talk about roleplaying and if you ever brought it up you got funny looks. I was really looking forward to it.

It was called Mazes and Monsters and it stared that funny guy from Bosum Buddies…That was a great show.

I remember settling in with Orvil Redenbacher Popcorn.

And Wow, that didn’t go the way I thought it would.

For you younger folks out there, roleplaying is cool. ComiCon draws in well over 100,000 people, all dressed up in crazy costumes. GenCon brings in over 70,000 people and that’s a convention designed for roleplayers and gamers.

Being a roleplayer is cool. Movie stars talk about doing it. Rock Stars play D&D. Jocks at your school play D&D. I mean it blows my mind.

Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s if you played D&D you were a Satan worshiper.

Mike and I lived through those days and on this episode, we are going to talk about the Satanic Panic, walk you through some of the low points and generally make you all realize that you don’t know how good you got it.

Mike, did you watch Mazes and Monsters?

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I swear they are listening to us?

Who is “They”? 

You now, “Them”! 

On Season 3 Episode 16 of You Heard It Here Last, Christina and I talked about the fact that somebody at EN World really loved Deathstalker.

I just found out that by the time you hear this episode Deathstalker will once again be in movie theaters. That’s right they are remaking the campy Conan rip-off, and it looks like they are doing it the proper way…with another “B” Movie version.

But that’s not what this one is about. In our episode I said that if we were going to have a Roger Corman TTRPG it should have been Death Race 2000 and look what EN World did. They have written another 2 part piece about Death Race 2000 as a TTRPG. 

https://www.enworld.org/threads/where%E2%80%99s-the-death-race-2000-roleplaying-game-part-one.715287/

Mike, I know you are not a big “B” Movie fan like Christina and I, but I can’t help but feel like we are starting to see some throwback themes in roll playing to the 80’s and even 70’s. The 80’s makes sense with Stranger Things, but what’s your take on roleplaying games starting to mine our childhoods for inspiration?

[Kick to Mike]

Since I’ve got Mike here, we might as well dive into his favorite genre.

Cyberpunk Legends: Into the Night is a solo or cooperative card game set in the world of R. Talsorian’s Cyberpunk. It’s an officially licensed game and just premiered on Kickstarter…and it blew past it’s funding goal in 19 minutes.

https://www.rascal.news/cyberpunk-legends-hacks-the-system-500k-raised-in-under-a-day/

At the time of recording this it is at 3 quarters of a million dollars and it doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down much.

Mike, why do you think Cyberpunk in general is so popular and is this just an example of a game riding the coattails of other games or is it something else?

[Kick to Mike]

And there you have it…all the news, you’ve already heard.

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               Clarice emerges from the bathroom in a half-crouch, arms 

               out, both hands on the gun, extended just below the level of 

               her unseeing eyes. She stops, listens. In her raw-nerved 

               darkness, every SOUND is unnaturally magnified - the HUM of 

               the refrigerator... the TRICKLE of water... her own terrified 

               BREATHING, and Catherine's faraway, echoing SOBS... Moths 

               smack against her face and arms. She eases forward, then 

               stops again, listens... She eases forward again, following 

               her gun, and creeps directly in front of, and then past -

                  MR. GUMB

That excerpt from the script to Silence of the Lambs showcases the power of the thriller. I can remember sitting in a dark movie theater, glued to the big screen trying to will Jodie Foster’s character, Clarice Starling to turn and shoot the killer. I miss those days at the movies.

But we are not here to chat about the fall of modern cinema, no, we are here to talk about the Thriller. What it is and why you should try to incorporate elements into your roleplaying game.

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15 years ago, the TTRPG world as we new it came to an end and a new era began. The postapocalyptic era, an era powered by the apocalypse. In 2010 Apocalypse World changed everything. The new take on traditional RPGs quickly changed the landscape from crunchy numbers-based games to one that flowed with the narrative and allowed players the freedom to affect the game unlike anything we have ever seen before.

Well, they are back.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/apocalypse-world-to-get-third-edition-kickstarter-launching-soon.715124/

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lumpleygames/apocalypse-world-burned-over

Apocalypse World is releasing a 3rd edition of the game.

The newest edition doesn’t have a set release date at the time of this recording and the Kickstarter page only says coming soon.

Christina, I know you weren’t necessarily a fan of Apocalypse World, but you are a massive fan of the Powered by the Apocalypse systems. What do you think of this news? Will we see anything revolutionary in the newest edition?

[Kick to Christina]

Since Apocalypse World could be viewed as one of the big games, at least with name recognition, why are they releasing it through Kickstarter? Is every new TTRPG going to come out through Backerkit or Kickstarter in the future?

[Kick to Christina]

Next, we have a new game announcement from over at Rascal News.

https://www.rascal.news/new-release-posting-through-it-a-social-media-futures-game/

Posting Through It is a new roleplaying game from Diegetic Games. The press release describes the game as follows;

Posting Through It explores how modern public discourse has changed our experience of global disruption and redefined what it means to “win” and “lose” in an uncertain future. It’s played over a group chat platform like Discord or WhatsApp.

The game is free to download and looks like it could be very interesting for those of you obsessed with social media.

Christina, what do you think of this new game?

[Kick to Christina]

With Critical Role announcing their Campaign 4 will be a “West Marches” Style game the internet is a tizzy with descriptions of West Marches. That style of play seems to be built for social media. Bigger Question, how has social media changed the way we roleplay? 

[Kick to Christina]

And there you have it, all the news you’ve already heard?

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One of the things we are passionate about at the Epic Adventure Podcast is spontaneous story telling. I have been a low prep game master for a very long time, preferring to let my players actions push the narrative and typically filling in the gaps between the sessions to make it feel like I’ve pre written an epic storyline, when in reality I’m just making it up as I go along.

Christina is the same way, playing in her games is a lesson in be careful what you ask for, because you will likely get it.

And then we have Mike, the most regimented of the three of us. He loves to spend hours pouring over the perfect game story, layers within layers and mysteries within mysteries, only to have us, the players, show up and burn it all to the ground in minutes.

Funny enough, Mike, the planner was the one to come up with the Radiance Adventure Engine.

For those of you not familiar Radiance was designed to allow you to solo roleplay any roleplaying game in existence. It is a set of cards that are based on traditional story telling methods that help you create a story for your game, then you use the rule system from your favorite ttrpg to resolve the conflicts that occur. It’s amazing as a solo game, but it’s story engine design makes it, in my opinion, the greatest GM toolkit ever created. If you are stuck and need a quick story or idea in your adventure because the pure beings of chaos called your players did something different, just pull a Radiance card, and there you go.

Instant adventure.

We’ve used Radiance before on this podcast to create adventures on the fly, but today we are going to do something different.

We are going to generate a world on the fly.

That’s right, a world to adventure in. More specifically a Fantasy World to adventure in.

Recently we pontificated on the fact that the worlds and settings of D&D sucked. I don’t have to read minds to know that the fans of D&D were shouting “Oh Yea, can you do it better?” Well let’s find out.

On this episode I’m going to pull some Radiance cards and surprise Mike, Christina, and myself with the prompts. From there, we are going to build a Fantasy World for you.

So, You guys ready for this?

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Welcome to You Heard it Here Last where we talk about news, you’ve already heard.

Ever since Critical Roll announced that Brennen Lee Mulligan would be taking over as GM there has been a ton of buzz around the long running Actual Play show. We were going to see Daggerheart played by its creators, the Critical Roll team, with one of the best Actual Play game masters around at the helm.

Then Critical Roll Announced they would be using Dungeons and Dragons, 2024 as the rule system for the upcoming season.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/critical-role-to-use-d-d-2024-rules-for-campaign-four-expands-to-three-tables-and-thirteen-players.714934/

I don’t know about you, but that took the wind right out of my sails.

Let’s start with you Mike, What’s all this then?

[Kick to Mike]

Christina, your thoughts?

[Kick to Christina]

Now on to Mike’s favorite Post Apocalyptic setting, Fallout. Recently Amazon released the trailer for Fallout Season 2. Last year’s hit streaming series is back for another season and this time they are headed to New Vegas.

https://youtu.be/7TsP09cZA7o?si=6ryklSJ-C3G1MIen

https://www.enworld.org/threads/modiphius-reveals-new-art-for-new-vegas-themed-fallout-rpg-expansion-exclusive.714947/

Not to be left out Modiphius plans to release Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Royal Flush in the last quarter of 2025. Modiphius just released some art from the upcoming release which is scheduled for the 4th quarter of 2025 which brings the Fallout setting to, you guessed it New Vegas. I love synergy, or at the very least organization. With the second season of the streaming show dropping in December and the new source book coming out at roughly the same time it looks like I should dust off the powered armor and head back out to the wasteland.

Mike, since it’s your favorite we will lead with you

[Kick to Mike]

Christina, Thoughts on the new Fallout stuff.

[Kick to Christina]

And there you have it, all the news, you’ve already heard.