Side Passages

Winter is coming. The holidays are almost here. How do you keep your gaming group going through the long, dark winter (or at least, the holiday break)?

In addition to delving into holiday game survival strategies, we talk about David's recent trip and the gaming insights he gained from it, Ken gets lost in TaleSpire for a while, then gets distracted by all the new games he got (Mothership work-in-progress PDFs, CY_BORG in print).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfkGbMgevzk

Someplace Else

David took a trip

Natural disasters as part of your game

Never seen hurricanes and their aftermaths as part of a game

Virtual Gameroom

Ken took a crack at TaleSpire.

Myriad yak shaving side-quests as Ken re-learned how to use Windows, downloaded GIMP, figured out how to get TaleSpire to load on the right window.

And created a very tiny, but true-to-the-map, rendering.

Double the size of the underlying map to account for increased thickness of walls in TaleSpire?

The Hall of Distractions

Ken got his work-in-progress Mothership PDFs.

Player’s Survival Guide

Warden’s Operation Manual

Gradient Descent (module)

Mothership Companion (iOS / Android app)

Ken also got his print copy of CY_BORG.

It’s layout and design are every bit as bonkers as MORK BORG

Ken is trying very hard not to justify reading these some sort of research for Cyberpunk RED.

Cyberpunk story in Omni.

Main Topic: Keeping Your Gaming Group Going through the Holidays

Plan ahead

In July, talk about December.

Are people available Black Friday?

Are people available Christmas week?

Are people available on New Year’s Eve?

David used to run one shot games on every New Year’s

If so … defend that time! Create a plan for including significant others or agree for significant others to do something else.

Go asynchronous

Instead of gaming, post online.

Post Fests to build out the world & campaign setting

Plan alternative games

Missing a regular or two? Pause the campaign and focus on other games.

Invite back old friends who don’t have time for a campaign, but do have time for a one-shot or board game.

'Break out board games, either old favorites (Arkham Horror, Risk 2210) or new games that just showed up under the geek tree.

Run a one shot of that game you’ve been dying to play (cough Alien cough)

Make it about the group, not the game

Have a holiday party. Invite significant others! Breakout the party games!

Go to a movie as a group.

Have an online game day (video games, board games, whatever).

Make the holidays a logical breakpoint

For example:

New year, new campaign, new dice?

New chapter in an existing campaign?

New game?

You know winter is coming, so prepare for it.

Talk about the pace of the campaign throughout the year.

Decide what you’re going to do before you get to the holidays.

How to restart things if the game did break up

Get the group together to hang out, as many of them as you can

Have a talk about what people would like to do

It’s possible that people want to try something different for a while

Do something fun and remind yourself and everyone it’s not about the game itself, it’s about hanging out with your friends

Be prepared to have a different group composition, because life does happen

Feedback

Thanks for listening. If you have feedback, we love feedback!. You can send it to us at [email protected] or via Twitter @lairofsecrets. We stream this live on Twitch if you want to get your fix of things early and unedited. You can also visit lairofsecrets.com and leave us some feedback, topic ideas, or your own thoughts on what we’ve talked about.

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The CY_BORG rulebook under Ken's Christmas tree. Credit: Ken Newquist

As we gear up for our Cyberpunk RED campaign, we take some time to brainstorm ideas for for the game (If only reality didn't keep getting more cyberpunk-ish than cyberpunk).

Over in the library, we discuss William Gibson's Count Zero, then venture to the Game Room to talk about Forbidden Lands, CY_BORG, Mothership, and the just announced Edgerunners release for Cyberpunk RED.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn48MlWLG9E

Library

Count Zero

Ken’s reading William Gibson’s second book in The Sprawl Trilogy

Never read it, but it continues the feel of Neuromancer (which he just finished)

Next up: Mona Lisa Overdrive.

Game Room

New RPGs

Did Ken say he'll stop buying new RPGs until he’s read the ones he has? But how will he support Sweden’s economy if he does that?

Forbidden Lands … now in English!

A hexcrawl, sandbox fantasy RPG exploring a once-cursed land, still haunted land.

Ken got the Swedish version (accidentally) in June as part of a Free League’s sale.

English version was back ordered … and arrived in November.

CY_BORG

The science fiction iteration of MORK BORG.

Similar aesthetic, only this time, it’s an apocalyptic cyberpunk book

Arrives later in November (already have the PDF … but reading the physical book is more fun.

Cyberpunk RED

Edgerunners release is coming!

Mothership

The lightweight horror RPG arrives sometime in Q1 of 2023. For now, Ken's got the WIP versions of two modules: Dead Planet and A Pound of Flesh.

Cyberpunk Screamsheets kit and the weird world of cascading style sheets

In order to learn the latest in CSS, David worked with Mr. Miller to convert the Screamsheet kit to web form

Fan created scream sheets

Main Topic: Cyberpunk Brainstorming

Matt Colville - handing the players a small list of possible plot arcs they would be interested in

Rules for a cyberpunk player

Style over substance

Attitude is everything

Live on the edge

Break the rules

David’s media character as a possible narrator/documentarian so that he can help plot things with Ken initially

Campaign & World Building Ideas

Offshore sea stead of Makers trying to forge their own tech in the shadow of resurgent corporations. Corps stealing from Makers?

Inspiration

Rainbow’s End by Vernor Vinge

Unauthorized Bread by Cory Doctorow

Brazil

Rummage Flotilla - mining plastic from the seas

Inspiration

the Ocean Cleanup

Earth by David Brin

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

Waterworld (yes, Waterworld)

Run against an underwater corp paradise?

Inspiration

SeaQuest DSV

Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles

Run against a sub base (to steal a sub to attack the underwater corp paradise)

Race to recover crashed spacecraft / space stations

AIs as protagonists or antagonists … or the fixer?

Are AIs Cyberpunk’s Dragons?

Urban legends of a cyberpunk future

What horrors made it out of the failing NET?

AI trapped in the real world, who just wants to get back to the Net and make the pain stop.

Inspiration

The Matrix: Reloaded

Digital Heists

What funds are locked up in broken segments of the Net, just waiting to be recovered?

Inspiration

IRS Seizes Another Silk Road Hacker’s $3.36 Billion Bitcoin Stash

Feedback

Thanks for listening. If you have feedback, we love feedback!. You can send it to us at [email protected] or via Twitter @lairofsecrets. We stream this live on Twitch if you want to get your fix of things early and unedited. You can also visit lairofsecrets.com and leave us some feedback, topic ideas, or your own thoughts on what we’ve talked about.

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Cover art for Cyberpunk RED. Credit: R. Talsorian Games

As we build momentum toward our Cyberpunk RED campaign, we take a moment to reflect on the cyberpunk movies, books, games, and other media that inspires our take on the subgenre. We also talk National Novel Writing Month, hockey (yes, hockey), virtual gaming via NVIDIA GeForce Now, and the TaleSpire virtual table top.

The subject of travel and how visiting other parts of the country and the world can improve your game is the main topic for Episode 4 of the Lair of Secrets podcast. Before we delve into that globe-trotting topic, we geek out about AirPods, resurrecting the game room after the pandemic, variant endings for Cyberpunk 2077, revisit David's experiences with the Steamdeck, and contemplate approaching critical mass for a Cyberpunk RED game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8F_HBmGhiQ

Show Notes

Audiophile Auditorium

Why did David wait so long to get AirPods?

Game Room

After two years holed up in his home office …Ken wants to get back to treating it like the game room.

Purposefully trying not to work there unless I’m doing something creative or fun.

Easier to do now that Ken's son’s back in high school, his daughter’s at college, and Steven - Ken's seeing eye puppy - is at puppy college.

Working elsewhere in the house or - gasp - his actual work office.

Maybe get a Gaslands Refueled game together in October?

Chamber of Infinite Realities

David finished Cyberpunk 2077. Now he's trying out the variant endings

The (Pen & Paper) Matrix

Approaching critical mass for a Cyberpunk RED game.

Ken agrees with David; you should be watching Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.

It is excellent. Violent, brutal, gory and visually overloading, but excellent.

Portable Arcade

David is playing the Call of Cthulhu game on Steamdeck

It’s nice to sit on the couch or in a comfy chair and play

It gets him out of his office so he don’t feel like he is trapped there for work and fun

Cyberpunk 2077 has been working just fine on it so far

Slime Rancher 2 is the next test of the system

Star Wars: Andor

The prequel to Rogue One keeps the movie’s more desperate tone.

Galactic Tabletop

Spelljammer and Star Wars gaming update

Our short run of Spelljammer has run into some phlogiston trouble and has slowed down

David believes he is starting to hit his stride with Star Wars game planning and have a plot arc that would define the campaign

Main Topic: Travel and RPGs

How travel and other cultures can both help your game and your real life?

Traveling to Porto, Portugal for work

Exploring the U.S.: Montana, Utah, New Mexico, Alaska

Feedback

Thanks for listening. If you have feedback, we love feedback!. You can send it to us at [email protected] or via Twitter @lairofsecrets. We stream this live on Twitch if you want to get your fix of things early and unedited. We are lairofsecrets, one word, over there. You can also visit lairofsecrets.com and leave us some feedback, topic ideas, or your own thoughts on what we’ve talked about.

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Porto city hall and plaza by night. Credit: David Moore.

On Episode 3 of Season 3, we catch up on a few weeks of geeky pursuits. David discusses not watching to finish Cyberpunk 2077, and then we both rundown the big list of stuff we're watching (or want to watch) on streaming. Ken's planning to return to real world game conventions with MEPACon and discusses what the heck he should run. David's Steamdeck arrives, and he discusses why he got it ... and how it plays. Finally, the Inspiration Goat ventures forth from the Daydreaming with Dragons podcast and inspires us with the idea of using haiku to create RPG character backgrounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hksgnY6AXU&t=14s

Show Notes

The Matrix of Cybersouls

David doesn't want to finish Cyberpunk 2077

The Theatre of Streaming

Out now:

The Sandman on Netflix

Interview with a Vampire on AMC+

Cobra Kai, Season 5 on Netflix

Cyberpunk Edgerunners on Netflix

Prey (and the rest of the Predator movies) on Hulu

The Rings of Power on Prime

Next soon

The Peripheral on Prime

The Samaritan on Prime

Convention Hall

Contemplating Convention Games @ MEPACon

Possibilities:

Mothership

Savage Worlds

Mork Borg

Mutant Crawl Classics

Ken wants something he can easily run in a 3 hour slot, leaving an hour for miscellaneous rules explanation.

Game Hall

The Steamdeck is here

Podcast Inspiration

Character Background Haiku / Judd Karlman (as heard about on the Daydreaming about Dragons podcast).

Feedback

Thanks for listening. If you have feedback, we love feedback. You can send it to us at [email protected] or via Twitter @lairofsecrets. We stream this live on Twitch if you want to get your fix of things early and unedited. We are lairofsecrets, one word, over there. You can also visit lairofsecrets.com and leave us some feedback, topic ideas, or your own thoughts on what we’ve talked about.

In Episode 2 of the Lair of Secrets podcast, we brainstorm ideas for a rebooted Savage Ringworld campaign, which mashes up high concept science fiction with the Savage Worlds role-playing game. We also delve back into cyberspace with Cyberpunk 2077 and Cyberpunk RED, say good-bye to Nintendo 3DS (or at least, its eShop), visit the Rivers of London book series, and figure out how to organize our comic books.

Finally ... we're gaming! The Spelljammer Academy campaign's up and running, and David's launched into a Star Wars 5E game.

Related Savage Ringworld Posts

Savage Ringworld – A Science Fiction Savage Worlds Campaign

Savage Ringworld – Building the Savage Worlds Source Book Library

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGExDJez4l4

Show Notes

The Matrix of Cybersouls

David is being pulled into the story of Cyberpunk 2077

Not sure why it didn’t the first time, but this time David has the added interest of Cyberpunk RED

Side note, Talespire came out with their cyberpunk terrain set and I had fun creating the symphony hall from the Tales from the RED book. Will I ever get to use it? Perhaps.

The Arcade

Good-bye, Nintendo 3DS

The Nintendo 3DS has entered its end of days; the Nintendo eShop is shutting down in March 2023.

Ken just realized this, and is purchasing last-minute DLC before it goes away. Namely the Fire Emblem - Revelation, which is a new full campaign for the Fire Emblem Birthright/Conquest games.

Of course, the 3DS remains playable (and is still far more portable than the Switch) but it’s sad to see it go.

The Library

David is nearing the end of the current Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovich

He's currently listening to the October Man - shift to a different main character for this novella and set in Germany.

David's just about caught up with the series as it stands

Thanks library!

Looking forward to book 9 coming out next year

The Vault of Near-Infinite Long Boxes

Ken’s (slowly) inventorying his comic books.

Since high school, he’s kept a longhand record of what he’s collected.

This doesn’t scale, isn’t redundant, and is terrible for identifying gaps.

Experimenting with using League of Comic Book Geeks.

Now he just needs time…

The Game Room

Spelljammer Academy

We’ve played the Spelljammer Academy adventures that are a preview to Spelljammer It’s been lighthearted fun

David may make a Seth Skorkowski type video of how I would change it for other people to run

Star Wars 5E

David played several sessions of Star Wars 5e

Fan made game, using 5e as its base

David learned about it from Brennan Lee Mulligan’s game of Starstruck on Dropout.tv

It’s been fun, the party is really low level right now, so I don’t have a good grasp on how good the system is yet

The Loot Locker

Weren’t able to participate in Free RPG Day? We’ve got you covered.

Twitter retweet/tagging us in tweet.

We'll contact you and send you swag on a first-come, first-served basis

Main Topic: Savage Ringworld

What is Savage Ringworld?

It's Larry Niven's ringworld mashed up with the Savage Worlds rules published by Pinnacle Entertainment Group

One of Ken's Blackrazor Guild games, currently on hiatus.

It's set on a Niven-class ringworld approximately 150 years after a cataclysmic impact of a moon-sized object into the Ring.

Gave rise to "Fist of God" mountain, a truly massive landmark that smashed the warped the surrounding terrain.

Yeah, we stool that from Niven

The campaign follows a group of adventurers who traveled to Fist of God City, a cosmopolitan city built at the base of Fist of God Mountain.

Companion posts on Lair of Secrets:

Savage Ringworld: Introduction to a Science Fiction Savage Worlds Campaign

Savage Ringworld: Building the Savage Worlds Source book Library

Other ring worlds you may know:

Halo - The Halo Array of ringworlds featured prominently in the video games of the same name. A "sacred ring" also appeared in the streaming Halo series on Paramount+.

Orbitals - These ring world-like mega structures appear in the Culture series written by Iain Banks.

The Glavis Ringworld - Everyone knows about the Death Star mega structure, but in Season 1 of The Book of Boba Fett we got to see the Glavis Ringworld, a different kind of mega structure built around a small star.

How big is it?

Halo is big. The Halos encountered in the modern times are 10,000 kilometers in diameter; this size is roughly similar to that of Earth, which is 12,756 km in diameter. While the original twelve Halos had a diameter of 30,000 kilometers, concerns about their structural stability and transport led to the second series of rings being reduced in size. The surface of each ring is 318 kilometers wide, with a depth of 22.3 kilometers to 47 kilometers. The overall circumference of the ring is 31,415 km and the interior surface area is 9,985,200 km2 – roughly the size of Canada. Source: Halopedia: Halo Array.

Niven’s ringworld is exponentially bigger. The Ringworld is an artificial ring about one million miles wide and approximately the diameter of Earth's orbit (which makes it about 600 million miles in circumference), encircling a Sol-type star. It rotates, providing an artificial gravity equivalent to 99.2% of Earth's gravity by way of centrifugal force. Ringworld has a habitable flat inner surface equivalent in area to approximately three million Earth-sized planets. Source: Wikipedia

What does that mean?

The walls of the ringworld - which keep the atmosphere from escaping - are 1,000 miles high. Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth, is 5.4 miles high. Mons Olympus on Mars - the biggest volcano/mountain in the solar system - is 16 miles high. The Earth's diameter? 7,917 miles. We're talking about walls that are a significant percentage of the diameter of the planet we live on. The width of the ring itself (the cross section) is 997,000 miles.Meanwhile, the ringworld's surface area is that of three million Earth-sized planets. A Halo-style ring world? It's surface area is equivalent of Canada.

What the heck do you do with it?

Challenges

It’s so big that people probably can’t even see the far side of the ring (side from a thin band of light).

Different regions of the ring likely don’t interact with one another. And no one’s going to be circumnavigating the thing on foot.

The Ring is High Science … but that doesn’t mean the adventures on it are.

At the end of the day … it’s just another planet (albeit a big one)

How do you generate tension and drama in a world so large?

Approaches to stories

Fronts (borrowing liberally from Dungeon World)

Each of these fronts is advancing and causing conflict as they do so.

The Ringworld Experiment: The civilization that created the Ringworld did so for a reason. Giant space ark for the galaxy's trillions of species? Immense laboratory for experimenting with evolution at a time and physical scale unimagined by lesser sentients?

The Cause of the Fist of God event: Was the Fist of God a cosmic fluke? Given that the Ancients cleared out the entire solar system building the Ringworld, that seems unlikely. But if it was an engineered event ... why did it happen? And what's going to happen next?

Consequences of the Fist of God event: The Fist of God event occurred 150 years ago. It ravaged the land around the newly formed "mountain" and drew the attention of all nearby civilizations. Those who could traveled to the mountain and formed the bastion of interconnected civilizations known as Fist of God City. Who else is still traveling to the Fist of God ... and what do they want?

Ringworld instability: As in Larry Niven's books, the Ringworld has become unstable. Can it be saved and if so, how?

Location of the Week

In Star Trek, the crew goes to a new planet each episode via ship.

In Stargate, the various SG teams travel through a gateway.

Create different travel networks, and use them for locations?

Locations reachable by foot.

Locations reachable by train

Locations reachable by plane

Locations reachable by hyperloop

Locations reachable by teleportation

Inspirations / Places to steal from

Given the size of the Ringworld, anything is possible.

Approaches to mapping

Mapping by hand is a non-starter - the ringworld is too big.

Use mind map or transit map?

Create smaller, regional sketches for specific areas?

Subway-style maps?

Feedback

Thanks for listening. If you have feedback, we love feedback. You can send it to us at [email protected] or via Twitter @lairofsecrets. We stream this live on Twitch if you want to get your fix of things early and unedited. You can also visit lairofsecrets.com and leave us some feedback, topic ideas, or your own thoughts on what we’ve talked about.

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Cover artwork for the Ringworld graphic novel. Credit: Macmillan

As summer ends, the podcast turns it attention to Spelljammer, the fantasy-in-space setting for Dungeons & Dragons. Ken and David look Wizards of the Coast's new 3-book release and discuss David's Spelljammer Academy mini-campaign based on WotC's free Roll20 release.

They also talk about the resurgence of all things cyberpunk, including the Cyberpunk RED role-playing game and the Tales from the RED anthology of adventures, after David talked with the R. Talsorian crew at GenCon 2022.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9GjU9QBO1g

Convention Hall

Conventions we're attending

David's thoughts on GenCon 2022

GenCon Website

Back up to 50,000ish people.

David hung out at the Writers Symposium area for most of the time. Inspiring and informative.

Had some good gaming with the long running living Star Wars campaign, Sparks. Had a cozy chat with the lead designer, James Hutt, from R. Talsorian Games and some fans of their games.

MEPACon

MEPACon Website

Small convention in eastern Pennsylvania

Moving from the Poconos to the SureStay Plus Hotel in Bethlehem, PA in Fall 2022. That means it goes from 45 minutes away to 15.

Ken's hoping to go.

Game Room

New projects, new games

Ken’s doing a post a day at Nuketown for RPG A Day 2022.

Questions like:

What is a great introductory RPG?

When were you first introduced to RPGs?

What would be your perfect game?

Suggestion Sunday: Recommend a game to friends

Cyberpunk RED and Tales of the RED mission book

David picked it up after talking with James Hutt

Having read the first adventure of Tales from the RED, David is very impressed with how little text they have used to make a rich adventure.

Really inspiring and reminding David why he enjoyed cyberpunk in the past and Shadowrun in college. He's actually even more impressed with the setting for Cyberpunk RED than Shadowrun, since its alternate history really seems like it could have happened and more heavily leans on the accelerating pace of technology as part of the reason why Cyberpunk is cyberpunk.

The Loot Locker

Weren’t able to participate in Free RPG Day? We’ve got you covered.

Reply to one of our tweets or mention us (@LairOfSecrets) on twitter to be entered into the contest.

Main Topic: Spelljammer - Adventures in Space

Spelljammer - Adventures in Space

Released August 16

Boxed set containing:

Astral Adventurer’s Guide, a 64-page hardcover book

Boo’s Astral Menagerie, a 64-page hardcover book

Light of Xaryxis, a 64-page hardcover adventure

A double-sided poster map of the Rock of Bral, an asteroid-city

A sturdy, four-panel Dungeon Master’s screen

Spelljammer Academy

Ken and David, along with some other friends are playing through the mini-module series

It’s been a fun set of mini adventures so far, but now that all four are out, it’ll be a much better experience.

David may do a Seth Skorkowsky- style RPG review of it, pointing out what he liked, what he didn’t, and what changes he would recommend if you all ran it in the future.

Using D&D Beyond and Owlbear Rodeo

Spelljams - a WotC playlist for Spelljammer.

Feedback

Thanks for listening. If you have feedback, we love feedback. You can send it to us at [email protected] or via Twitter @lairofsecrets. We stream this live on Twitch if you want to get your fix of things early and unedited. You can also visit lairofsecrets.com and leave us some feedback, topic ideas, or your own thoughts on what we’ve talked about.

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Cover art for Boo’s Astral Menagerie. Credit: Wizards of the Coast

In the final episode of Season 2, we talk about exploring strange new worlds, meeting new civilizations, and then … blowing them up. We also delve into the game Nobody Saves the World, undertake an ursine caper to steal some honey, geek out about the Obi-wan streaming series, and look back on the season that was.

The Brick RoomLEGO Star WarsKen played through the original games with his kids when they were littleExpected a remaster of those games plus some new content from the sequel trilogyWhat we got is a whole new game, filled with classic LEGO fun, lots of Star Wars in-jokes, and oh so much nostalgia for Ken's familyThe Holo DeckStar Trek: Strange New WorldsThe continuing mission of the starship Enterprise … with Captain PikeAll of the optimism you love and want from TrekStar Trek: Picard, Season 2Wait, there’s a Season 2?Oh and there’s Borg?And Q?The ArcadeNobody Saves the WorldFun top down exploration and fighting game with shapeshifting magicMade by the developers of GuacameleeA good couch co-op with David's youngest daughterThe Game RoomHoney HeistSuccessful heisting of black orchid honey from both humans and from a certain red shirt wearing but legally distinct roly poly bearThe Streaming AnnexObi-Wan Disney+ seriesLots of online drama over the focus on Obi Wan with young LeiaIf you really think about A New Hope, Leia knew Obi Wan, but Luke has no clue who he is

Main Topic: Season 2 Retrospective

3 most popular episodes?S2E2 Scum and Villainy Campaign Planning, Reading Time, Animal Crossing Redux, Twilight 2000 Boxed SetS2E3 Improving Games by Stealing From OthersS2E7 - Godsend AgendaWhat we enjoyedScum and Villainy actual play!Getting ready for Scum and VillainyS2E2 Scum and Villainy Campaign Planning, Reading Time, Animal Crossing Redux, Twilight 2000 Boxed SetS2E5 WorldbuildingS2E6 Session Zero, The Expanse, Tome of Beasts 3, Astroneer, Collapsing EmpireGame interviews!S2E1 Shotguns & SorceryS2E7 Godsend AgendaFavorite topicsLunchtime GamingWait, Ken started doing this in 2010? Damn…How Gaming Changed During the PandemicGreat to be back on a podcast talking with Overlord Chris Miller.Gaming with KidsGotta catch ‘em all. Pokemon? Nah, Overlords! We talked with Kris Johnson about his experiences gaming with kids.Talking with the Younger GenerationNewly forged in the Audio Foundries… an interview with IsleenStuff to work onAudio challenges here and there, but we’re getting betterThanks, John, for reporting the problems!Videos of our episodes on YouTubeSeason 2 has started to be released there.Looking ahead to Season 3…Spelljammer actual play in the fall?Another one-shot or two?Improv for Gamers, 2nd Edition?Dyson Fall?

Feedback

Thanks for listening. If you have feedback, we love feedback. You can send it to us at [email protected] or via Twitter @lairofsecrets. We stream this live on Twitch if you want to get your fix of things early and unedited. You can also visit lairofsecrets.com and leave us some feedback, topic ideas, or your own thoughts on what we’ve talked about.

Featured Image Meta

The promotional poster for Obi-Wan Kenobi.

It's summer, so let's grab some books, head to the beach/lake/mountains and read!

Main Topic: Summer Reading List

The Empire's Ruin (Ashes of the Unhewn Throne, Book 1) by Brian Staveley (Ken's pick)Follow up-to Staveley's Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, in which an Empire tries to survive against conspiracies within and enemies without, as well as an ancient threat returned to dominate the world. This book picks up five years later … and things haven’t gone well for the Empire. The Kettral are all but wiped out and rebellion against the Empire is wide-spread. I wasn’t in the right head space to read this book – which starts off dark and gets darker – in the spring, but I’m back into it now.METAtropolis edited by John Scalzi (David's pick)A strange man comes to an even stranger encampment...a bouncer becomes the linchpin of an unexpected urban movement...a courier on the run has to decide who to trust in a dangerous city...a slacker in a "zero-footprint" town gets a most unusual new job...and a weapons investigator uses his skills to discover a metropolis hidden right in front of his eyes. Welcome to the future of cities. Welcome to METAtropolis.The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, Book 1) by Becky Chambers (Ken's pick)Ken’s giving into friendly peer pressure and reading this book. Just about everyone he knows who enjoys science fiction has read the novels in this series, so he figured he'd better get with the program.January Fifteenth By Rachel Swirsky (David's pick)A book about the possibly positive and negative consequences of universal basic income, told through stories of four people.Star Wars: Lesser Evil (Thrawn Ascendancy, Book 3) by Timothy Zahn (Ken pick)Star Wars books are Ken’s go-to beach read, so it's good that we've got a new Zahn novel out. The Thrawn Ascendancy books are prequels taking place between the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy, and detail everyone's favorite blue-skinned, red-eyed admiral's rise to power.The World Atlas of Coffee by James Hoffman (David's pick)Talking about coffee from around the world. It’s become an interest of David and his daughter's.The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, Book 2) by N.K. Jemisin (Ken's pick)Ken had a hard time getting into Book 1 on this series. Jemisin does an incredible job of world building, but the pacing of the first book threw him off. He pushed through, and he’s glad he did. Now Ken's back for more with Book 2, in which we find out what the heck happened to a certain celestial body...A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (David's pick)Reread of the classicWintersmith by Terry Pratchett (David's pick)More Discworld!Horror Graphic Novels (Ken's picks)After wrapping up Hellboy and B.P.R.D., Ken’s looking for new horror graphic novels.Something is Killing the Children Vol. 1 by James Tynion IVThe Swamp Thing: Becoming by Ram VThe Me You Love In The Dark, by Skottie YoungImmortal Hulk by Al EwingEscape from Yokai Land by Charles Stross (David's pick)The Laundry Files book 12, haven’t read them all, but this seemed like a good place to jump back in.Galaxy the Prettiest Star by Jadzia Axelrod (David's pick)An alien princess, disguised as a human boy going to high school, in hiding from the people who took over her home planet. A story about growing up, finding your true self, and the people who accept you for whom you truly are.

Looking for more summer reading inspiration? Check out our Summer 2021 reading list.

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Thanks for listening. If you have feedback, we love feedback. You can send it to us at [email protected] or via Twitter @lairofsecrets. We stream this live on Twitch if you want to get your fix of things early and unedited. We are twitch.com/lairofsecrets, one word, over there. You can also visit lairofsecrets.com and leave us some feedback, topic ideas, or your own thoughts on what we’ve talked about.

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Cover art for four of our summer reading list books. Credit their respective publishers.

Welcome to the Lair of Secrets! On this episode, we delve into retro gaming, review David's expanded reading list, talk about building computers, and explore the weird and dark world of MÖRK BORG.

Moar Books!David's local library has partnered with a larger library network, so he can get access to more ebooks.Lord of Light by Roger ZelaznyThe Kaiju Preservation Society by John ScalziThud! by Terry PratchettEqual Rites by Terry PratchettCurse of Chalion by Lois McMaster-BujoldThe Computer Assembly BayDavid taught his daughters how to build their own computers from parts.They both asked in the past to have David teach them.It was a great success!It was two months ago and they still work!The Winter GuardBrownsburg winter guard did amazing in the A Guard category, taking 2nd in State and then 2nd in WGI Nationals. The first time they have ever gone to the national event.3D RealmsDavid's 3D printing foray was for the props team. They needed a housing for some electronics for props.The Junior Gaming CorpsDavid Ran a D&D game for Teagan and some of her friends. The plan is for it to be a casual summer game.Picked up D&D Beyond for the game.Multiversal PortalingDoctor Strange and the Multiverse of MadnessThe Infinite ArcadeKen got the Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade on the SwitchKen finished the first level of his Ready Player One Replay at Nuketown. Getting ready for the second level.Ken is bad at Dungeons of DaggorathKen is even worse at Street Fighter II … even when playing Ken.Model SpaceportPaintingLooking forward to painting rockets started in the fallSpray paint doesn’t stick in <40 F tempsExperimenting with no-bleed masking tape.Back to the NovaSkill level 3More difficult than I rememberMÖRK BORG (pronounced "Murk Borg")Ken's Swedish kin created MÖRK BORG.It’s yellow, pink, and awesome.The world is ending. The prophecies of the Two-headed Basilisk were correct. You’re scum at the end of the time? Do you plunder … or do you fight?And there’s a solo game version: Solitary Defilement.

Feedback

Thanks for listening. If you have feedback, we love feedback. You can send it to us at [email protected] or via Twitter @lairofsecrets. We stream this live on Twitch if you want to get your fix of things early and unedited. We are twitch.com/lairofsecrets, one word, over there. You can also visit lairofsecrets.com and leave us some feedback, topic ideas, or your own thoughts on what we’ve talked about.