Author: upturnedtable
Absent our faithful expert in all things Malifaux, Nick, we unbox the Dual Commander pledge for Wyrd Miniatures’ The Other Side game. We chose The Cult of the Burning Man and Abyssinia as our two allegiances. Are the pre-assembled miniatures as good as Malifaux? What do you get in an allegiance box? Watch and find out!
Apologies in advance for the never quite in focus overhead camera.
We unbox the latest RPG from Free League published in English by Modiphius, Forbidden Lands. A new take on fantasy where players are rogues and raiders, in it only for themselves, in a magically cursed land. The game is a sandbox style adventure played over a hex-based map. This is the core box and the Kickstarter extras.
Spoilers: It’s excellent!
https://www.youtube.com/c/idleredhands
Robots, androids, replicants. They are called by many names and have a variety of origins and motivations. How can they best be used in your TTRPGs? Find out in our discussion about using robots in your tabletop campaigns, both as antagonists and protagonists. For additional inspiration, we also give you a list of possible campaign ideas (thank you, GURPS!).
In the tradition of our Creature Features, we watched the 1980 scifi film Saturn 3, starring Kirk Douglas, Harvey Keitel, and Farrah Fawcett. It includes some interesting examples of how to use a robot as an RPG character, even if it failed in its use of the robot as a movie character.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:04:57 — 79.4MB) | Embed
Using robots in your TTRPG campaigns? What questions should you ask yourself when you include them? We have a list of campaign ideas using robots to help you out, and we discuss how to play them both as antagonists and protagonists.
Also in the tradition of our Creature Features, we watched the 1980 scifi film Saturn 3, starring Kirk Douglas, Harvey Keitel and Farrah Fawcett. Regardless of its failings as a scifi horror film, it does include some interesting examples of how to use a robot as a character. And Farrah Fawcett. She is in the film. Did I mention that?
Following up on our top 5 horror settings, we discuss ideas for new and fresh fantasy settings inspired by books, movies, and television. These are not necessarily our favorites, but they were definitely the most inspiring. Have we played it too safe or our choices a reach? Let us know what you think.
Understand that we deliberately didn’t include settings that are currently being used for existing games. Which means this list doesn’t include Lord of the Rings or A Song of Ice and Fire for obvious reasons. (Well, maybe not so obvious since A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying doesn’t get near enough love.)
To hear what didn’t make the list and also what inspired us to make our choices, listen to our full list of choices in this episode. If you would like to skip the full discussion and go right to the final top 5, please visit our YouTube channel and let us know what we got wrong in the comments.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:08 — 62.4MB) | Embed
We discuss Paizo changing the word “race” to “ancestry” in Pathfinder 2.0. What does that mean for Dungeons and Dragons? Will WotC follow Paizo’s lead? Now that “ancestry” is taken, what would be some other alternatives? Is this a case of modern sensibilities triumphing over tradition? Enjoy our lukewarm hot take!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:13 — 29.7MB) | Embed
In the second part of our discussion of Dungeons and Dragons 5e and our pirate campaign, we talk about how to play pirates in a fantasy roleplaying setting. We also discuss our collaborative world-building session.
Avast ye! Here be piratey accents. Yuv bin warrn’d. Arrrrrr!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:36 — 47.6MB) | Embed
Continuing our Campaign Confessions series, we look at our recent pirate-themed Dungeons and Dragons 5e campaign. Part one focuses on 5e itself and the reasons why this edition has become so successful. We try to put our finger, and maybe some blame, on who dragged D&D kicking and screaming out of the basement and made it appealing to a whole new generation of players. Is it the system itself or is it social media savvy?
First comic books have become cool and now D&D. There’s hope for you toy collectors yet.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:02 — 35.2MB) | Embed
For Halloween this year, we discuss our top 5 horror settings for role-playing. These settings, from movies, books, and television, aren’t necessarily our favorite ones to watch or read, but they are the most interesting and inspirational settings to play in. Let us know if you agree with us!
Note that we deliberately didn’t include settings that are currently being used for games. Do you really need another gaming list topped by Call of Cthulhu and World of Darkness?
If you would like to skip the full discussion and go right to the final top 5, please visit our YouTube channel.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:04 — 52.2MB) | Embed
Actual play session of Warhammer 40,000 Deathwatch setting using the Cortex Prime ruleset. Three and a half hours of space marine carnage! If you are interested in trying this setting with this system use the links below…
Pre-generated character PDFs available here:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1-ZtRUU2yoYrBo5ky1QDspvqMEBp5ZHfD
Ruleset available for pre-order here:
https://cortex-prime.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
Listen to a discussion of the choice to pair Deathwatch and Cortex Prime:
Our GM was @HyveMynd
https://hyvemynd.wordpress.com/
