Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff episodes:

• 04.19.2024

  Episode 595: IPA Aliens

  In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Jason Thompson asks if the group dynamic known as the Tyranny of Structurelessness applies to GM-less roleplaying games. Estimable backer Gray St. Quintin seeks the regular confines of the Architecture Hut to ask...

  
• 04.12.2024

  Episode 594: Bishop of the Drowned Land

  In the Gaming Hut we identify the elements of a great recurring gamemaster character. At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Lester Ward, the Archaeology Hut mulls the ancient Egyptian fortresses that were flooded by the building of the Aswan...

  
• 04.05.2024

  Episode 593: Supermarket of Murder

  Elves and dragons have some emotional needs to work out as the Gaming Hut answers beloved Patreon backer Nikolaj’s request for tips on bringing elements of DramaSystem into an F20 game. The Crime Blotter checks out the Philadelphia poison murders,...

  
• 03.29.2024

  Episode 592: A Rhode Island Level of Excitement

  In the Gaming Hut we find ways to bring players back into the action when they make sensible decisions that sideline their characters. 2Beloved Patreon backer Paul S. Enns beckons us into the Tradecraft Hut to cover the May 23rd...

  
• 03.22.2024

  Episode 591: Good Fun That Barbarians Have

  In the Gaming Hut, Robin pitches Ken on a concept for a roleplaying game called Renfields. The Mythology Hut looks at the enigmatic Dacian god and/or person named Zalmoxis, who might have been a sky deity. Or an earth deity....

  
• 03.15.2024

  Episode 590: Rolled a Critical and Saved a Clown

  We hope you can make it to the Gaming Hut for a discussion of quorum and attendance vagaries. In the History Hut we answer the request of beloved Patreon backer Jeromy French to flesh out a topic we have previously...

  
• 03.08.2024

  Episode 589: Ordo Veritatis Chicago

  Players say they hate linear scenarios. Seasoned convention GMs extoll the efficacy of the greased rail session. In the Gaming Hut we ask what’s up with that. Beloved Patreon backer Monster Talk requests a Ripped from the Headlines on the...

  
• 03.01.2024

  Episode 588: Full Stop Anti-Marooning

  Keep your ancient documents well-hidden in the Gaming Hut, as beloved Patreon backer Brian Thomas asks us how to construct a Bookhounds of London one-shot around explorer Aurel Stein, the Great Game, and the Diamond Sutras. When architects go wrong...

  
• 02.23.2024

  Episode 587: Someone’s Gonna Wear the Skin

  Beloved Patreon backer Mark Kenney inspires us to wear our classiest outfits in the  Gaming Hut as we seek ways to bring the vocabulary of clothing and fashion to tabletop narration. The Food Hut examines an old school staple dessert...

  
• 02.16.2024

  Episode 586: The Velveteen Rabbit of Signage

  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...

  
• 02.09.2024

  Episode 585: Advice and Holy Water

  In the Gaming Hut we look at the paradox of choice, in which players want many alternative paths yet also want to explore all of them. The Archaeology Hut surveys the career of William Stukeley, the 18th century polymath whose...

  
• 02.02.2024

  Episode 584: Maybe a Murder is Good Sometimes

  In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Joshua Randall asks for help dealing with players who like to shoot down everyone else’s plans. Fans of irony will appreciate the story of Edo firebreaks, as told in the History Hut. Ken...

  
• 01.26.2024

  Episode 583: Marge the Druid is Feeling Rejected

  In the Gaming Hut beloved backer Ludovic Chabant asks Robin to expand on his choice for favorite RPG adventure, as seen on the Scroll for Initiative blog. Naturally Ken also makes a choice or two himself. Estimable backer Fred Kiesche...

  
• 01.19.2024

  Episode 582: That’s a Bad Laser

  In the Gaming Hut beloved backer Jamie Twine seeks tips on signaling weirdness and danger in horror games not set in our recognizable world. Esteemed backer Ginger asks for the Tradecraft Hut take on the OSINT journalism entity Bellingcat. Ken...

  
• 01.12.2024

  Episode 581: Bureaucratic Survival Horror

  Everything unravels in the Gaming Hut when beloved Patreon backer Tennant Reed asks us to use the Watergate docudramedy Gaslit as inspiration for a heist gone wrong game. Ken’s Bookshelf delivers a change of pace segment as Robin asks our...

  
• 01.05.2024

  Episode 580: The Most Fun Word in the History of Metallurgy

  The Gaming Hut contains a special rack for displaying fancy blades as beloved Patreon backer Stephen Dosman asks us to find the tabletop fun in Ulfberht swords. In the Cinema Hut we look at the newest cycle of female-focused, character-driven...

  
• 12.22.2023

  Episode 579: Live at Dragonmeet 2023

  Our annual live episode recorded at London’s Dragonmeet finds our audience of expert questioners in a substantive mood. Accordingly, after nerdtroping WWII and the Peloponnesian war and contemplating high end snacks, we look at the unsolved problems of gaming, solo...

  
• 12.15.2023

  Episode 578: Subtitle Quibbler

  The Gaming Hut explodes in a molasses fireball full of staplers, but then does something entirely sensible, as we consider ways to reframe the fumble. The Eliptony Hut studies a locally beloved cryptid, the Loveland Ohio frogman. Finally Ken’s Bookshelf...

  
• 12.08.2023

  Episode 577: A Glove on the Flipper

  In the Gaming Hut we come to the aid of beloved Patreon backer Keelan O’Hea, who wants to know how to revive a campaign after a period spent on hold. Recent reports that it is the world’s oldest pyramid surely...

  
• 12.01.2023

  Episode 576: Pantheon Hop

  In the Gaming Hut we ask ourselves whether designers should include optional rules they don’t actually recommend using. The History Hut takes on the smell of rocket fuel as beloved backer Fred Kiesche asks for the real made-up story behind...

  
• 11.24.2023

  Episode 575: Your Starter Past Life

  In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Alexander Arebalo wants to know how to make a building more of a character than a setting in a scenario. Glittering backer Josh King checks the Crime Blotter for the story of Civil...

  
• 11.17.2023

  Episode 574: Kettle of Worms

  In the Gaming Hut show you how to remind players that their characters are the experts. The Tradecraft Hut profiles American novelist, journalist and Soviet spy Martha Dodd. Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else finds us chatting with designer...

  
• 11.10.2023

  Episode 573: Have a Train Handy

  In the Gaming Hut we discuss ways to build premise acceptance into pregenerated characters. Beloved Patreon backer invites us to the Horror Hut to discuss H. P. Lovecraft’s view that Bram Stoker was not the sole author of Dracula. Director...

  
• 11.03.2023

  Episode 572: Rains of Peas and Gravel

  In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Bart Mallio asks us for ways to make traps exciting. Redoubtable backer Patrick Crowley directs us to the History Hut for a look at St. Louis’ Veiled Prophet tradition. The Food Hut takes...

  
• 10.27.2023

  Episode 571: Forensic Chainsawologists

  The Gaming Hut stands inconveniently close to a weapons and armor store as beloved Patreon backer Urchin Prince asks for advice on handling shopping-obsessed players. At the request of arborially concerned backer Evan Hughes, Ripped from the Headlines finds the...

  
• 10.20.2023

  Episode 570: Perhaps I’m Wrung Out

  Our first all-request episode in many moons kicks off with a Gaming Hut question from beloved Patreon backer Derrick Yates, on running horror when you don’t love gory movies. Then compelling backer Richard Schwerdtfeger beckons us to the Command Hut...

  
• 10.13.2023

  Episode 569: Alacrity was Their Dump Stat

  The Gaming Hut completes its series on scenario structures, as inspired by Robin’s recent Adventure Crucible chapbook for the Kraken, with the intrigue scenario. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, we chat with Ajit George, who looks back...

  
• 10.06.2023

  Episode 568: Dream Ghosts

  The Gaming Hut continues its look at the structures analyzed in Robin’s Adventure Crucible Kraken chapbook with the survival scenario. In the Cinema Hut Robin points you toward the best geek-facing films he chose for the second annual Robin and...

  
• 09.29.2023

  Episode 567: All This Stupid Wheat

  The Gaming Hut continues its look at scenario structures, as found in Robin’s new Adventure Crucible chapbook, with the chain of fights. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Eric Prister from The Nature of My Game Podcast provides...

  
• 09.22.2023

  Episode 566: You Are a Special Island

  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...

  
• 09.15.2023

  Episode 565: Live at Gen Con 2023

  Ken and Robin were together once more for a live show at Gen Con, and here it is, with the mystical confluence of Elvis, Ben Franklin, and zombies, plus harissa, fancy liquor labeling, our nemeses, why Robin would never have...

  
• 09.08.2023

  Episode 564: Speciation Event

  The Gaming Hut hosts part one in a series breaking down the various scenario structures, as inspired by Robin’s new Kraken chapbook, Adventure Crucible. We start with a look at the dungeon and other area-based scenarios, finding its hidden and...

  
• 09.01.2023

  Episode 563: The Human Salmon of 1737

  Among My Many Hats looks at Robin’s new Adventure Crucible Kraken chapbook, in which he breaks down the structures of various scenario types to help you design them better. Get in PDF from DriveThruRPG or in physical form from All...

  
• 08.25.2023

  Episode 562: Never Refer to Peoples’ Necks

  In the Gaming Hut, we propose ways to respond to the characters’ failures of stealth without killing story momentum. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, both of us chat with author Howard Andrew Jones about the state of...

  
• 08.18.2023

  Episode 561: If Sauron Was an Eye of Love

  For the first time since the Great Unpleasantness, not only Ken but also Robin made it to Gen Con. Picking up a tradition where it left off, we devote the episode to recapping our experience there. From the new stuff...

  
• 08.11.2023

  Episode 560: A Total Gef Move

  The episode we record together in Indianapolis before Gen Con is back, starting with a Gaming Hut look at using the vagaries of attendance to guide your plot developments. In the Food Hut we look at new additions to our...

  
• 08.04.2023

  Episode 559: It’s Not a Two Demon Bag

  In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Lauberfen asks for tips on achieving balance with F20 magic items. How do GMs find the sweet spot between a boring +1 sword and a full MacGuffin? The Book Hut looks at the...

  
• 07.28.2023

  Episode 558: Any Other Stupid Cave Lake

  In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Hector Trelane asks us to discuss the Jeepform game design movement. A Crime Blotter investigation has us looking at Captagon, a licit pharmaceutical product that traveled from Germany to the Eastern Bloc and...

  
• 07.21.2023

  Episode 557: All Four-Sided

  In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Michael David Jr. wants to know how to fold the 19th century French interest in Ancient Egypt into The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. In the Food Hut we look at gum arabic, a...

  
• 07.14.2023

  Episode 556: We Touched the Thing in Tomb of Horrors

  Beloved Patreon backer and longtime GM David Rourke convenes us in the Gaming Hut to ask, is it okay if running published adventures doesn’t work for you? Travel Advisory features a report from Ken on his recent trip to the...

  
• 07.07.2023

  Episode 555: Do We Get a Deal for Seven?

  The Gaming Hut looks at collaborative worldbuilding. Our Cinema Hut Science Fiction Cinema Essentials series reaches the back half of the 90s. In Ask Ken and Robin, beloved Patreon backer Kevin Greenlee asks how to fit DramaSystem into other games....

  
• 06.30.2023

  Episode 554: The Best Way to Annoy a Husband

  In the Gaming Hut we look at a common GMing pitfall, which we like to call the Case of the Tight-lipped Informant. The Tradecraft Hut opens the dossier on 18th century antiquarian and spy Philipp von Stosch. Installment 22 of...

  
• 06.23.2023

  Episode 553: They Get a Really Great Poem Out of It

  Beloved Patreon backer Ryan McClelland ventures into our seedy, low rent Gaming Hut to ask how Sam Spade’s monkeywrenching style of investigation fits in GUMSHOE. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Somebody Else, Ken talks to Improv for Gamers author...

  
• 06.16.2023

  Episode 552: Worse Hats

  In the Gaming Hut we suggest ways to design your player character backstory to make you a premise accepter. Learn with Ken as Among My Many Hats discusses his upcoming online adult education course “H.P. Lovecraft: Maker of Modern Horror,”...

  
• 06.09.2023

  Episode 551: It’s a Bad Gun

  In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Elias Helfer wants to hear our take on our esteemed colleague Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s take on investigative leads. Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else finds Ken talking to tabletop roleplaying pioneer Jennell Jacquays....

  
• 06.02.2023

  Episode 550: LIGHTNING ROUND!!!

  The planet Earth has hurtled through time and space yet again to take this podcast to another milestone: our five hundred and fiftieth episode. Longtime listeners know what that means—LIGHTNING ROUND!!! questions as posed by our beloved Patreon backers. In...

  
• 05.26.2023

  Episode 549: Secretly About Papyrus

  Flashbacks and cold opens fill the Gaming Hut as beloved Patreon backer Kelly Fisher asks how scenes without the player characters work as downbeats. In the Cinema Hut Science Fiction Essentials Series, we reach installment 17, which might not get...

  
• 05.19.2023

  Episode 548: The Rhino and I Have an Alibi

  Your heroes don masks and top hats in the Gaming Hut as beloved backer Daniel Fidelman asks how to use iconic French pulp villain Fantomas in The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. The Tradecraft Hut gets a little too online as...

  
• 05.12.2023

  Episode 547: Such Things as No

  In the Gaming Hut we wonder how running games for a streaming audience will change GMing practice in general. At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Dan Noland with proceed with extreme caution into the Book Hut for a look...

  
• 05.05.2023

  Episode 546: Now I Can Talk To Plants

  We enter the secret chamber of the Gaming Hut at the behest of beloved Patreon backer Ian Carlsen, who seeks guidance on a campaign built around initiation into a mystery cult. Speaking of mysteries, the Food Hut tackles the terrifying...