Tavern Watch Podcast

While there are still plenty of crunchy tabletop games out there, lately we're playing a lot of shorter TTRPGs that lean into narrative elements — and are easier to schedule than long form campaigns. We talk about our recent Pigeon's 11 game, the cozy fantasy of Legend in the Mist, and the Nebula-nominated Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast. Also, we're apparently going back to Eberron this year in a surprise D&D book that wasn't part of the original 2025 release slate.

Plus the speedy demise of Sigil, Wizards of the Coast's Unreal-based VTT that launched and laid off its staff within a month. Yikes.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a tough day for the employees of Triangle Agency, but our skilled Agents are always ready to beat back any challenge — even when that challenge is a mass of anomalous electrical wires intent on their deaths! But don't worry about them, because Triangle Agency is always here to help Agents who help themselves. They've really earned their paychecks today! (At least those of them who get paid.)

In this episode, GM Phil Ulrich does his very best to get all of our Agents killed (or at least rack up some demerits). But if you want to know how it goes, you'll have to listen to the episode yourself.

This is the last episode of a three-part series in which we play Triangle Agency, an extremely triangular TTRPG by Haunted Table Games. If you enjoyed this game, you can pick up your own copy from Haunted Table Games or Modiphius. We welcome your future contributions to Triangle Agency!

Intro music for this game is Business Training Background Music By Alec Koff. What a great productivity-boosting tune!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Triangle Agency's agents are on the case — with a little help from corporate HQ, of course! Our highly skilled team of experts is in the process of tracking down a dangerous anomaly, but don't you worry (or you might become a loose end we have to deal with).

In this episode, GM Phil Ulrich helps the Agency's best make some art, earn the high score in their favorite video game, and untangle some extremely dangerous wires. It's all in a day's work for the employees of Triangle Agency!

This is the second of a three-part series in which we play Triangle Agency, an extremely triangular TTRPG by Haunted Table Games. (Here's the first episode if you haven't listened to it.) If you enjoyed this game, you can pick up your own copy from Haunted Table Games or Modiphius. We welcome your future contributions to Triangle Agency!

Intro music for this episode is Inspired by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to beautiful Ternion City, home of the Triangle Agency. In our corporate headquarters, agents are hard at work — right now! — to preserve reality. You like reality, don't you? Of course you do. And your friends at Triangle Agency are here to keep the reality you love safe... preferably without you noticing any of those pesky breaks in reality in the first place! What breaks in reality? We certainly haven't seen any!

GM Phil Ulrich helps the Agency's latest employees with their new field assignment: to investigate a string of strangely similar and equally unexplained deaths. Sounds like a potential break in reality to us!

This is the first of a three-part series in which we play Triangle Agency, an extremely triangular TTRPG by Haunted Table Games. If you enjoyed this game, you can pick up your own copy from Haunted Table Games or Modiphius. We welcome your future contributions to Triangle Agency!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Intro music for this game is Inspired by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month on Tavern Watch, we discuss the messy release of D&D's 2024 edition, which was staggered out into 2025... and seems to have lost some hype in the process. But Wizards of the Coast could turn things around, with an upcoming live action D&D show on Netflix and two new Forgotten Realms books coming out late this year. Plus all the games we're looking forward to, in which Liz could probably spend the entire show talking about Magpie's Fallen London Kickstarter (but doesn't).

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Eberron Express is about to pull into the station, and when it does Egan Bakker's killer could vanish forever. Can the passengers solve the mystery before time runs out... and do they even want to?

Join DM Elizabeth Harper on this trip across Eberron, with colorful group of characters:

• Nick Marino as Talis, a scholar that Bakker publicly humiliated, and neither of them have forgotten it.
• Phil Ulrich as Jindaar, who was Bakker's business partner until he was squeezed out of the business... just before Bakker made it big.
• Anne Stickney as Orchid, a mysterious figure who has recently been seen hanging off Bakker's arm.
• Joan Albright as Treya, Bakker's neglected wife who — despite Orchid's presence — still stands by his side.
• Matt Rossi as Kaltjarn, Egan Bakker's long lost heir, who has spent most of her life not knowing her father.
• Joe Perez as Cylyeira, who knew Bakker a long time ago, before he found success.

This is the last episode of a three-part D&D murder mystery called Murder on the Eberron Express, written by Orla ní Dhúill. You can buy this unconventional adventure on the DM's Guild to play it yourself! It includes pre-generated characters (though our group created their own) and requires very little prep, and the format is sure to keep players on their toes — we certainly had fun with it!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Someone on this train killed Egan Bakker, and the passengers of the Eberron Express are determined to track them down... but is the killer right in front of them? We'll see how the party fares one roll for initiative later.

Join DM Elizabeth Harper on this trip across Eberron, with colorful group of characters:

• Nick Marino as Talis, a scholar that Bakker publicly humiliated, and neither of them have forgotten it.
• Phil Ulrich as Jindaar, who was Bakker's business partner until he was squeezed out of the business... just before Bakker made it big.
• Anne Stickney as Orchid, a mysterious figure who has recently been seen hanging off Bakker's arm.
• Joan Albright as Treya, Bakker's neglected wife who — despite Orchid's presence — still stands by his side.
• Matt Rossi as Kaltjarn, Egan Bakker's long lost heir, who has spent most of her life not knowing her father.
• Joe Perez as Cylyeira, who knew Bakker a long time ago, before he found success.

This is the second episode of a three-part D&D murder mystery called Murder on the Eberron Express, written by Orla ní Dhúill. You can buy this unconventional adventure on the DM's Guild to play it yourself! It includes pre-generated characters (though our group created their own) and requires very little prep, and the format is sure to keep players on their toes — we certainly had fun with it!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Famed artificer Egan Bakker has invented a new weapon, and it's going to get him killed one day. As Bakker boards the luxurious Eberron Express, an unusual group or passengers joins him on the three-day route to Fairhaven... and because each of them have their own grudge against Bakker, the trip isn't likely to end well.

Join DM Elizabeth Harper on this trip across Eberron, with colorful group of characters:

• Nick Marino as Talis, a scholar that Bakker publicly humiliated, and neither of them have forgotten it.
• Phil Ulrich as Jindaar, who was Bakker's business partner until he was squeezed out of the business... just before Bakker made it big.
• Anne Stickney as Orchid, a mysterious figure who has recently been seen hanging off Bakker's arm.
• Joan Albright as Treya, Bakker's neglected wife who — despite Orchid's presence — still stands by his side.
• Matt Rossi as Kaltjarn, Egan Bakker's long lost heir, who has spent most of her life not knowing her father.
• Joe Perez as Cylyeira, who knew Bakker a long time ago, before he found success.

This is the first episode of a three-part D&D murder mystery called Murder on the Eberron Express, written by Orla ní Dhúill. You can buy this unconventional adventure on the DM's Guild to play it yourself! It includes pre-generated characters (though our group created their own) and requires very little prep, and the format is sure to keep players on their toes — we certainly had fun with it!

Note: this episode contains some NSFW language. Blame Matthew. 

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our crew of seasoned spacefarers made it safely to the planet surface, so the hard part is over... right? All they have to do now is survive (which means not blowing themselves up), find a way home (with the nearest spaceport several solar systems away), and maybe thwart this strange new alien threat along the way. It's all the day in the life of an adventurer.

Join us as we wrap up our Starfinder 2e playtest game, run by GM Matthew Rossi with co-conspirators— ah, players Joe Perez, Joan Albright, Chris Chesno, and Liz Harper. We hope you enjoy the show!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A dead pilot (maybe), a crashing starship (definitely), and a tiny problem that's causing the dead to rise. (Does that mean the pilot is now... okay?) As they hurtle into the planet, our crew of adventurers has to figure out how to contain this unexpected threat before it can spread across the galaxy.

Fortunately we have a team who knows what it takes to survive (a lucky set of dice, of course). Join us as we try out the Starfinder 2e playtest with a rollicking adventure from GM Matthew Rossi, with players Joe Perez, Joan Albright, Chris Chesno, and Liz Harper! This is the first of a two-part game of Starfinder 2e, so you'll find out how our expedition ends quite soon.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.