This GROGPOD features a special recording of an interview with writer Ben Aaronovitch, the creator of The Rivers of London series of books. An RPG has been developed by the team at Chaosium. Ben talks about the project, his formative years in gaming and gives insight into his creative process.

The interview was recorded live as part of GROGMEETish which took place in November. It features additional questions from the GROGSQUAD.

Dirk the Dice gives a quick review of the game based on his experience of playing the game over recent months.

Music is by Static Music Club.

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Following Part 1, we are now ready to open the spurious envelopes on our 1984 experiences.

We also issue a challenge to listeners to help us discover new enthusiasms.

At Daily Dwarf returns with an overview of what was happening in the pages of White Dwarf.

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The post 1984: A Year in RPGs Ep75 Pt2 first appeared on The GROGNARD Files.

Welcome to the zoom of role-playing rambling where we are looking backwards to look forwards. This time we are transporting you back to the heady days of 1984.

We are joined by the fabulous Bob Fischer who shares the highlights from his 1984 diaries.

Judge Blythy, our resident rules lawyer, joins Dirk to determine the RPG Highlights of 1984, but get distracted (see part 2)

Make sure you check out the wonderful projects from the Haunted Generation.

You can support the podcast at Patreon.

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En garde! Yes, this time we are investigating the worlds of 17th Century Europe and asking, “is this the true mode of all fantasy role-playing high-adventure?”

We are joined by Graham Kinniburgh, who tells us about his Oscar night triumph with An Irish Goodbye and what it was like being at The Battle of the Bastards.

He is adding The Three Musketeers to Appendix G.

In the Zoom of Role-Playing rambling we talk about Flashing Blades. You can read more from the author, Mark Pettigrew, in this interview.

We also cover En Garde!, 17th Century Minimalist, Seventh Sea, and Barbarians of Lumuria.

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Welcome to the third and final part of our Monsters in Role Playing Games (RPGs) episode. This time we are joined in the Room of Role Playing rambling by Tomas Harenstam from Free League. He talks about his formative years in Swedish role playing and how to create a great Bestiary.

Dirk and Blythy answer listener Monster questions before having a chat about When we were Wizards.

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We continue to explore the worlds of monsters in role-playing games (RPGs). In this episode, we are joined by James Holloway, from the Monster Man podcast. He adds a new entry into the ever expanding Appendix G.

Judge Blythy and Dirk talk about the famous monsters of Hollywood and beyond and consider what we can learn from them.

The end music is Concrete by Omari, from Phunk Media

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This time we are looking at bestiaries from our book shelves. We talk about:

Numenera,

Forbidden Lands,

Call of Cthulhu,

Dragon Warriors,

13th Age,

Vaesen,

This was at the request of GROGSQUADer China Miéville who Dirk talked to at an RPG Symposium earlier this year.

Next time, James Holloway, Monster Man joins us, because monsters are great.

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Following our podcasts about home computing in the 1980s, we turn our attention to the emerging culture of ‘Cyberpunk’ and how it shaped a new imaginative space – especially for gaming.

We look at Neuromancer by William Gibson, with writer Alister Davison who has added the novel to Appendix G, the list of media that has inspired us. Do you have any suggesions?

Judge Blyhty is in to Roome of Role-Playing Rambling to look at Cyberpunk Red and its influnce.

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We’ve talked about our formative years in RPGs, what about computers? They were as important as a common-ground to become friends.

In this episode Dirk and Blythy talk about their exposure to computers in the 80s.

Also, we discuss Rippers for Savage Worlds and the crisis of confidence when creating a setting.

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At this year’s virtual GROGMEET we were joined by Dan Whitehead, the author of Speccy Nation, who took us on a tour of The ZX Spectrum. The 8-bit computer was a staple of our every day lives in the 1980s.

There’s an advert for Third Floor Wars which recently featured Burn After Running’s Guy Milner.

The next season of the Book Club features classic science fiction.

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