What is that ringing sound!? Could it be... THE SPLATPHONE! Listener Jake recorded some thoughts on melancholy in RPGs. This prompted John and Kyle to enter the Swamp of Sadness, and discuss the topic through the lens of the film The Neverending Story.

The Splatphone!

The Fall of Magic

Wolves of God

Polaris

Delta Green

The Fall of Delta Green

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Kyle and John take a break from talking about favorite media to give some tips on doing NPC and characters voices. Or maybe they just needed an excuse to be silly? 

Noisy Person Cards

The Between and Brindlewood Bay

Beyond the Darkened Threshold

Orcs with normal voices

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Roll for Topic's own Andy Rau joins Kyle and John to talk about the first book of the Dark Tower series: The Gunslinger. Will the podcast survive this titanic show down?

The Gunslinger

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Kyle finally tricks John into talking about the story The Fortress Unvanquishable, save for Sacnoth. After many attempts, John learns how to pronounce Tharagavverug and Wong Bongerok. Kyle compares the story to the Legend of Zelda, and points out that Leothric teaming up with Tharagavverug  is kinda like  Spiderman teaming up with Venom. Spoiler: We love this story. 

The Fortress Unvanquishable, save for Sacnoth

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John and Kyle wrap up 2022 with a discussion of what they are grateful for, what they learned, and what they are looking forward to in 2023. And then they sing!

Dungeon23

Vaesen RPG Subreddit

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This week Kyle and John tackle two excellent articles from the OSR Canon. Kyle realizes that John is old enough to have played D&D when the OSR style was just called... playing D&D. John gets cranky, and Kyle calms him down. 

Pleasures of the OSR: Secrecy and Discovery

Episode 126 – Pleasures of the OSR: Secrecy and Discovery, by Ben L.

The Ogre and the Golden Bird

Episode 19 – The Ogre and the Golden Bird by Patrick Stewart

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In this episode John and Kyle talk about the Beatles, The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, The Twilight Zone, and OH YEAH, the actual story listed in the title of this episode. We also totally talk about RPGs a whole bunch.

The Last Defender of Camelot (Wikipedia)

The Last Defender of Camelot - Twilight Zone

In Memoriam: George RR Martin Remembers Roger Zelazny

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This week we go old school with a story from the influential author Lord Dunsany: The Quest of the Queen's Tears. Marvel at how John and Kyle can talk about a 3 page story for almost an hour. You can read the full text of The Quest of the Queen's Tears - link in the show notes.

Lord Dunsany

The Quest of the Queen's Tears

Richard Francis Burton

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John and Kyle discuss another entry in the the annals of their Personal Appendix N. For this episode John choose The Dark Muse by Karl Edward Wagner. This story is part of Wagner's collection Night Winds, which features his most famous character - Kane the Mystic Swordsman.

Check the show notes for more about Karl Edward Wagner, Kane, and this story. Including a link to an excerpt from The Dark Muse.

The Dark Muse: Excerpt

The Last Wolf Trailer (Karl Edward Wagner documentary)

Karl Edward Wagner (Wikipedia)

Where to start with Kane?

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On episode of 97 of our sister podcast Roll for Topic, Chris and John designed a 1-page RPG: Prison Escape!. In this episode of The Splatbook, Chris joins John and Kyle to run the game. Enjoy!

Roll For Topic episode 97

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