Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

In the Gaming Hut we continue our series on axes of tabletop RPG design with an examination of Resilience and Robustness.

At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Allen Wilkins, Ripped from the Headlines finds the real truth behind the November incident in which a crashing commuter train was saved by polyester whale tails.

In the Horror Hut we ask ourselves how to write folk horror scenarios without once again repeating the ending of Wicker Man.

Finally the Consulting Occultist profiles the mystical psychologist Claudio Naranjo.

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.

Dig out your plastic T-Rexes and get them ready to stomp and chomp on your players’ character miniatures as our pals at Atlas Games Kickstart Planegea, their dino-filled 5E setting of prehistoric fantasy adventure.

Pitting Salvador Dali against the Mythos just got cheaper! Get an otherworldly 25% off Dreamhounds of Paris in print or PDF from now until September at the Pelgrane Press web shop with the voucher code #ANTDREAM. Add its companion fiction volume The Book of Ants and get 25% off that too.

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!

Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the  first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”

The Gaming Hut kicks off a series looking at the axes of RPG design, so appropriately enough we start with elegance.

In the Architecture Hut beloved Patreon backer Nicola Wilson seeks the truth scoop on the Trylon and Perisphere, noted features of the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Fun With Science fields a question from stargazing backer Peter McAveney, who needs to know why Betelgeuse was getting dimmer and what Aldebaran might have had to do with that.

And finally we rev up Ken’s Time Machine to see how our intrepid hero stops the Battle of Blair Mountain.

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.

Dig out your plastic T-Rexes and get them ready to stomp and chomp on your players’ character miniatures as our pals at Atlas Games announce the upcoming Kickstarter for Planegea, their dino-filled 5E setting of prehistoric fantasy adventure.

You’ve got the Pelgrane greatest hits, but from now, until Monday September 6th, you can gather up the Deep Cuts.

Pitting Salvador Dali against the Mythos just got cheaper! Get an otherworldly 25% off Dreamhounds of Paris in print or PDF from now until September at the Pelgrane Press web shop with the voucher code #ANTDREAM. Add its companion fiction volume The Book of Ants and get 25% off that too.

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!

Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the  first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”

In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer JP Moral asks for steps to take when homebrew adventures don’t feel right in play.

Estimable backer Bryan takes the History Hut to 1970 for a look at Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes and the Kent State shootings, with an eye toward portraying them in Fall of DELTA GREEN.

Incroyable backer Jake B invokes his Ask Ken and Robin powers to inquire into the choices behind the four sequences of The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.

Finally enigmatic backer Mysterious Musings summons us into the Eliptony Hut for the weird truth on Raimondo di Sangro’s anatomical machines.

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.

Dig out your plastic T-Rexes and get them ready to stomp and chomp on your players’ character miniatures as our pals at Atlas Games announce the upcoming Kickstarter for Planegea, their dino-filled 5E setting of prehistoric fantasy adventure.

Pitting Salvador Dali against the Mythos just got cheaper! Get an otherworldly 25% off Dreamhounds of Paris in print or PDF from now until September at the Pelgrane Press web shop with the voucher code #ANTDREAM. Add its companion fiction volume The Book of Ants and get 25% off that too.

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!

Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the  first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”

In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer V. R. Weather asks for a 101 on playtesting. Surprised that we have not directly tackled this basic topic before, we immediately comply.

The Tradecraft Hut profiles the peripatetic career of OSS and CIA operative Louise Page Morris.

In How to Write Good estimable Patreon backer Benjamin Rawls wants to know when it’s okay to lengthen your novel.

Finally the Conspiracy Corner maintains a six-foot distance from its latest subject matter, germ theory denialism.

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.

Dig out your plastic T-Rexes and get them ready to stomp and chomp on your players’ character miniatures as our pals at Atlas Games announce the upcoming Kickstarter for Planegea, their dino-filled 5E setting of prehistoric fantasy adventure.

You’ve got the Pelgrane greatest hits, but from now, until Monday September 6th, you can gather up the Deep Cuts. Bundle together Skullduggery, Lorefinder, The Gaean Reach, The Gaean Reach Gazetteer, and Owl Hoot Trail together in PDF at the Pelgrane Press shop and get a whopping 25% off!

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!

Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the  first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”

The T-Shirt Justification Hut gets scaly and doomy with a look at the connection between dragons and apocalypses.

In the Money Hut, we reveal high-frequency trading as yet another Carcosan front operation.

Then we fulfill a past promise with part two of Ken’s Bookshelf New England haul.

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 , including the aforementioned Foxy Dragon at TeePublic.

Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !

You’ve got the Pelgrane greatest hits, but from now, until Monday September 6th, you can gather up the Deep Cuts. Bundle together Skullduggery, Lorefinder, The Gaean Reach, The Gaean Reach Gazetteer, and Owl Hoot Trail together in PDF at the Pelgrane Press shop and get a whopping 25% off!

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!

Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the  first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”

In the Gaming Hut we provide tips on GMing for a loose cannon character. Surely not a loose cannon player. None of us have ever had that experience.

Beloved Patreon backer Travis Johnson summons the power of Ask Ken and Robin to ask how to include the Bush Wars in The Fall of DELTA GREEN.

Estimable Patreon backer Keelan O’Hea turns the temperature in the History Hut down to zero Centigrade as he seeks a tour of the Belle Époque Paris morgue.

Finally the Consulting Occultist confronts a head-scratcher only one of his particular esoteric set of skills can solve: why is there a floating baby in a clamshell in the Chicago seal?

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.

Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !

You’ve got the Pelgrane greatest hits, but from now, until Monday September 6th, you can gather up the Deep Cuts. Bundle together Skullduggery, Lorefinder, The Gaean Reach, The Gaean Reach Gazetteer, and Owl Hoot Trail together in PDF at the Pelgrane Press shop and get a whopping 25% off!

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!

Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the  first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”

In the Gaming Hut, we look at game balance. What is it, and when do we care about it?

We try not to step on any skulls in the Archaeology Hut as Beloved Patreon backers Liz & Siskey seek the scoop on Roman gravesite in Cambridgeshire containing a surprising number of beheaded remains.

In the Horror Hut, estimable Patreon backer Elias Helfer asks us for cosmic horror without any Lovecraft in it.

And finally Ken’s Time Machine makes the intervention that will lead the earlier widespread adoption of solar power.

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.

Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !

You’ve got the Pelgrane greatest hits, but from now, until Monday September 6th, you can gather up the Deep Cuts. Bundle together Skullduggery, Lorefinder, The Gaean Reach, The Gaean Reach Gazetteer, and Owl Hoot Trail together in PDF at the Pelgrane Press shop and get a whopping 25% off!

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!

Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the  first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”

Hey, it’s an all-request episode!

Count the syllables and jot down the allusions as an anonymous Patreon backer beckons us into the Gaming Hut to ask how to do spontaneous poetry duels in roleplaying sessions.

Then pseudonymous Patreon backer Polydamas meets us in the Architecture Hut for the secret history behind Columbia University’s New York City real estate empire.

Beloved Patreon backer Bob Grider wants to know what else to do with sphinxes other than have them tell annoying riddles, and fortunately the person-headed lion guarding the Monster Hut is one of the nice ones.

Finally erudite Patreon backer Dave Munro hangs out with us in a Victorian literary iteration of the Eliptony Hut, for a profile of Pre-Raphaelite poet, artist and model Elizabeth Siddal.

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.

Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !

A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.

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!

Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the  first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”

The Gaming Hut hits the streets, many of them, for a look at designing scenarios to introduce a city.

We find the Crime Blotter is covered in ancient leather and animal glue, our cue to find the gaming in the fake Biblical scrolls purchased by the Museum of the Bible.

In Ask Ken and Robin, Louis Sylvester asks for a rundown of generational issues found in fiction and movies.

Then numerology takes on a TikTok twist as the Consulting Occultist examines Grabovoi numbers.

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.

Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !

A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.

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!

Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the  first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”

Make sure anyone else in the room is really them as the Gaming Hut looks at fox spirits, doppelgangers, and other foes who disguise themselves as human.

The Tradecraft Hut profiles CIA operative, author, and coup arranger Miles Axe Copeland, Jr.

How to Write Good serves up tips on the revision process, from break taking to change tracking.

Finally beloved Patreon backer Steve Dempsey engages Ken’s Time Machine for a peek at the timeline where Oliver Cromwell picks his competent son as successor.

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.

Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !

It distorts minds. It invades realities. Now it has invaded the Bundle of Holding. Grab the Yellow Bundle and get The Yellow King Roleplaying Game for a price normally available only in dread alternate dimensions. Level up to the threshold price and get Ken’s Annotated King in Yellow, plus Absinthe in Carcosa, The Missing and the Lost, and New Tales of the Yellow Sign. You have them all already but send your friends to the Bundle of Holding.

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!

Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the  first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”