Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

The Cinema Hut heralds the androids, fish men and yakuza vampires coming to a movie consumption venue near you as Robin regales you with the hottest tips from this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Consult his full list here.

It was the Gaming Hut, he thought, where the topic of internal monologue in roleplaying would be settled once and for all.

We save the debauchery till last as the History Hut tackles the hot topic of the Hellfire Club.

It blew up Kickstarter.  It slid into Gen Con on a gurney with both guns blazing. And now Feng Shui 2: Action Movie Roleplaying is laying down the kung fu, the gun fu, and the cybernetic primate fu, and rocketing its way to a retail store near you. Join our friends at Atlas Games in celebrating the long-anticipated release of Robin’s classic game, accompanied by the GM Screen: Fistful of Fight Scenes  and Blowing Up the Movies.

Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the pre-order for the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.

It’s not easy teaching in America’s second worst school district and being a wizard on the side. But Nathan Kulwicki thought he had it covered. Until he received news of the worst kind. Inoperable cancer. He’ll be dead before the start of the next school year. Now, he will have to scour time and unheard of dimensions to find a magical cure to save himself.  But what will he be willing to do to find it?  Find out in Terminal Magics, a novel by Plot Points impresario Ben Riggs.

The Gaming Hut finds us in an under-the-hood mood as we turn over Robin’s assertion that a full adventure written as early in the process as possible can illuminate your RPG game design process.

Ken and Robin Recycle Audio presents our final trove of treasures from the Gen Con investigative panel, with a series of deep GUMSHOE tips.

Then the Cinema Hut alerts you to another passel of the latest and coolest Asian action flicks. Titles discussed: Assassination, Kundo: Age of the Rampant, Wild City, No Tears for the Dead, and The Divine Move.

Ken’s Time Machine omits certain key details in a chrono-caper so momentous that not all can be revealed. What role did Ken play in the bizarre memory hole that is the Berenstain Bears?

Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the pre-order for the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.

You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.

It’s not easy teaching in America’s second worst school district and being a wizard on the side. But Nathan Kulwicki thought he had it covered. Until he received news of the worst kind. Inoperable cancer. He’ll be dead before the start of the next school year. Now, he will have to scour time and unheard of dimensions to find a magical cure to save himself.  But what will he be willing to do to find it?  Find out in Terminal Magics, a novel by Plot Points impresario Ben Riggs.

Our recording chambers may be hot but our subject matter gets cold, cold, cold, as Among My Many Hats takes a look at the Wendigo.

In How To Write Good, the dialogue turns to dialogue tags, he said, informatively.

Ken and Robin Recycle Audio continues to pillage the very best treasures of the  investigative roleplaying seminar at Gen Con, this time delving into red herrings, leaving room for player improv, and keeping your horror tropes fresh.

Then we circle back to Arctic climes as the Eliptony Hut rips the lid off the Franklin conspiracy.

It blew up Kickstarter.  It slid into Gen Con on a gurney with both guns blazing. And now Feng Shui 2: Action Movie Roleplaying is laying down the kung fu, the gun fu, and the cybernetic primate fu, and rocketing its way to a retail store near you. Join our friends at Atlas Games in celebrating the long-anticipated release of Robin’s classic game, accompanied by the GM Screen: Fistful of Fight Scenes  and Blowing Up the Movies.

Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the pre-order for the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.

You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfalgen. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.

Would you like to sharpen young children’s memory skills while also introducing them to the cosmic dread of the Cthulhu Mythos? Then Recall of Cthulhu, Kickstarting from the fine folks at Toy Vault, until September 25, is for you. Amazingly adorable artwork of the Elder Gods and their ilk to delight the young and the young at heart. This classic matching game can be played by up to four of the most deranged patients in the Sanatorium, as well as young cultists aged 4 and up!

A skepticism of all things pseudopod suffuses the question Thomas Deeny poses in Ask Ken and Robin. “Why Cthulhu? By that, I mean, why do gamers love Cthulhu games? Boardgames, RPGs — it seems as if you slap Cthulhu on the game, it just sells. What is the draw?”

Providence proved Providential indeed for our resident bookhound. Ken’s Bookshelf paws through his haul from his recent jaunt to Necronomicon.

We begin to glean the gold of the packed Investigative Roleplaying Seminar of this year’s Gen Con, as once more Ken and Robin Recycle Audio.

Oft-mentioned but not until now explicated, the Priory of Sion finally gets the full treatment from the Consulting Occultist.

It blew up Kickstarter.  It slid into Gen Con on a gurney with both guns blazing. And now Feng Shui 2: Action Movie Roleplaying is laying down the kung fu, the gun fu, and the cybernetic primate fu, and rocketing its way to a retail store near you. Join our friends at Atlas Games in celebrating the long-anticipated release of Robin’s classic game, accompanied by the GM Screen: Fistful of Fight Scenes  and Blowing Up the Movies.

Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the pre-order for the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.

You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfalgen. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.

Would you like to sharpen young children’s memory skills while also introducing them to the cosmic dread of the Cthulhu Mythos? Then Recall of Cthulhu, Kickstarting from the fine folks at Toy Vault, until September 25, is for you. Amazingly adorable artwork of the Elder Gods and their ilk to delight the young and the young at heart. This classic matching game can be played by up to four of the most deranged patients in the Sanatorium, as well as young cultists aged 4 and up!

In the dog days before Labor Day, Ask Ken and Robin happily accepts a softball from Cam Banks (a ringer name if ever we heard one.) “Why is “fantasy” supposedly a genre in RPGs but people mostly mean “F20 fantasy”? Why is there no equivalent in science fiction RPGs?”

Ken issues a Travel Advisory for Necronomicon 2015, with a detour to pork belly obsessed Providence, RI. Restaurants mentioned: Den Den Café, Kitchen, Ken’s Ramen, Red Stripe, Pizza Gourmet.

Ken and Robin Recycle Audio dips back into the Pelgrane Press panel from Gen Con, as we learn about Fearful Symmetries, Cat’s untitled story game anthology project, The Fall of Delta Green and the Trail of Cthulhu Starter Box.

Then either we or our clones open up the Eliptony Hut to consider the free love alien contactee doctrine of the Raelians.

It blew up Kickstarter.  It slid into Gen Con on a gurney with both guns blazing. And now Feng Shui 2: Action Movie Roleplaying is laying down the kung fu, the gun fu, and the cybernetic primate fu, and rocketing its way to a retail store near you. Join our friends at Atlas Games in celebrating the long-anticipated release of Robin’s classic game, accompanied by the GM Screen: Fistful of Fight Scenes  and Blowing Up the Movies.

Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the pre-order for the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted.

Genetic enhancements meet tradecraft as Among My Many Hats looks under the hood of Ken’s new Mutant City Blues campaign frame, “Mutant City Spies.”

The Food Hut returns in what might be the first of an sweeping two-part series as we find ways to trick vegetables into being delicious.

Ken and Robin Recycle Audio from the Pelgrane Press panel at Gen Con, regarding yet more Dracula Dossier ancillary items in development, TimeWatch, GUMSHOE One-2-One, and the Worldbreaker  epic campaign for The Esoterrorists.

Finally we don’t let the historical record get in the way of a good chronological alteration scheme as Ken’s Time Machine gives Leon Trotsky the movie career the world always wanted him to have.

It blew up Kickstarter.  It slid into Gen Con on a gurney with both guns blazing. And now Feng Shui 2: Action Movie Roleplaying is laying down the kung fu, the gun fu, and the cybernetic primate fu, and rocketing its way to a retail store near you. Join our friends at Atlas Games in celebrating the long-anticipated release of Robin’s classic game, accompanied by the GM Screen: Fistful of Fight Scenes  and Blowing Up the Movies.

Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the pre-order for the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. Download your consciousness into the Kickstarter for Transreality: New Worlds, the identity-bending graphic novel from Chris Lackey. Your inner pink gorilla will thank you.

As the action opens in the Gaming Hut, we find Ken and Robin just one day back from Gen Con, punchy but unbowed. Hear them talk Diana Jones Awards, the new regime at Chaosium, and the great D&D resurgence. Make future spending plans as they recount such Pelgrane-rich announcements as The Fall of Delta Green, GUMSHOE One2One, and Robin Writes About Stuff. And as we mention a few of the panels we attended, steel yourself for a terrible revelation about the recording of our live episode. Yes, it’s all the thrills and spills you’ve come to expect from our traditional hour plus of Gen Con wrap.

Look out, Lieutenants of evil! The sinister mastermind you work for has taken some time to shake the post-conquest blues. But he’ll be back soon, and your survival depends on impressing him. Thankfully, our lead sponsor Atlas Games has just what you need: their delightful new card game of competitive minion-stacking, Three Cheers for Master.

Buckle up your extra special rapier for a jaunt into the Gaming Hut to consider the connection between gear and status.

Take extra reindeer with you, for your predecessor lost all of his when he entered the far confines of the Cartography Hut to talk Soviet map-making.

From hominids and their tapir pals to the contents of a teen’s bedroom, Ken and Robin delineate some great opening scenes in the Cinema Hut.

Then paranoia goes old-timey as the Conspiracy Corner recounts the story of America’s Anti-Masonic Party.

Look out, Lieutenants of evil! The sinister mastermind you work for has taken some time to shake the post-conquest blues. But he’ll be back soon, and your survival depends on impressing him. Thankfully, our lead sponsor Atlas Games has just what you need: their delightful new card game of competitive minion-stacking, Three Cheers for Master.

Robin gets a head start on his Dracula Dossier homework as the Gaming Hut lays out the whys and hows of campaign frames.

The titular chapeau takes on a conical shape as Ken talks Yithians in Among My Many Hats. Check out his Ken Writes About Stuff installment for more.

How to Write Good examines different authorial worldviews and how they determine what does and doesn’t fit in your narrative.

Finally Ken’s Time Machine whirs up for a trip to pre-gold rush California, courtesy of a question from Rich Fryer.

Look out, Lieutenants of evil! The sinister mastermind you work for has taken some time to shake the post-conquest blues. But he’ll be back soon, and your survival depends on impressing him. Thankfully, our lead sponsor Atlas Games has just what you need: their delightful new card game of competitive minion-stacking, Three Cheers for Master.