“No, we’re okay, now that we’re not murdered or anything.”
-Joy Ride

In this episode, we debut another series: movie genres. To kick it off, we discuss thrillers and what thrilling tricks we can use in our games to make them more, yup, thrilling. Lyal talks about submarine movies. Wayne talks about submarine movies. No, wait, that was Lyal talking over Wayne. Chris talks about getting a lot of “great ideas” from Lady in the Water, despite it being pretty far from thrilling and pretty far from great.

Chris podcasts from inside a can again.

The only thing too big to fail is a dragon, and if we had dragon bankers, we bet people wouldn’t be so keen to Occupy Wall Street. You want to pass on this episode? Passing’s for quarterbacks, and I don’t see a number on your back. So, listen up and join the 1%.

Also, a review of Descent: Journeys in the Dark.

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word “slavery”? “Fun”? “Engaging”? No? Well, after this episode you just might. Probably not, though.

Plus: The Lord of the Rings: The Untold Story

Oscar Wilde once said, “(A)ny fool can make history, but it takes a genius to podcast about it.” At least, he would have said that if he’d listened to this episode (and had known what a podcast was).

In this episode, we look at how to give your setting a history and a background by using names, prejudices, quotes, forgotten monuments and other tricks.

Wayne reveals a trick of his own when he uses his precognition to critique Lyal’s points before Lyal actually makes them.

There are three things you don’t bring up at the Idle Red Hands dinner table: religion, politics, and the definition of a sandbox game. (Actually, you could probably bring up the first two.)

In this episode, we compare sandbox games to ball of twine games, and the analogies and metaphors fly. (Hey! Another metaphor.) I think we even manage to work in a snowclone. We talk about what these types of games are (and, boy, does that get heated, metaphorically speaking) and the pitfalls (metaphor) to avoid.

In a land very much like your own, but with more Sailor Moon uniforms, three podcasters did an episode on Changeling: The Lost. Lyal thought it was too dark. Wayne thought it wasn’t dark enough. Chris thought, well, that was never quite clear.

So, the three podcasters decided to look for gaming inspiration from real fairy tales. Chris collected ladies’ shoes until his wife caught him. Wayne looked for his sleeping beauty until hospital security barred him from the coma ward. Lyal ordered a “living doll” from the Internet, but he never actually said what happened with that.

Then, the three little trolls found the comic Fables and a podcast episode took shape.

The only thing darker than the Changeling: The Lost setting is our review of it.

In this episode, we review the latest incarnation of White Wolf’s Changeling game and discuss Wayne’s campaign. In between Lyal’s ranting and Chris’s waffling, you’ll hear how Wayne used gold-painted puzzle pieces (and two or three slightly different ways to describe them) and how he introduced game mechanics through his story.

After listening to this episode, you might be surprised to learn that we will probably continue playing Changeling; however, you’ll have to wait until episode 16 to find out how.

No Changeling books were harmed during the recording of this episode.

Special offer! Download Part 1 for free and get Part 2 for the low, low price of nothing. Offer expires in 2056.

In this installment of Campaign Confessions, we look at the World of Darkness system and the Vampire: The Requiem setting and system. We also explain how we track blood/glamour, health, and damage in Vampire and Changeling. (There’s some dispute over who gets credit for that.)

Yujiro guest hosts.

You’d think that a bunch of guys who spend their weekends playing games would have nothing to say about seduction. Well, you’d be wrong. You’d think that a bunch of (mostly) heterosexual guys coming on to each across a table would get awkward. Well, you’d be right.

In this episode, we discuss how to incorporate romance and seduction into your games.

“Interesting” was apparently Lyal’s word of the day. He has since bought a thesaurus.

Rocket Nazis! Airships! The Castle of Endless Stealth Rolls! Will Rex “Blade” Richards and his trusty band of sidekicks be able to stop the Nazis from unleashing their secret weapon on the world? Find out in the thrilling conclusion to “The Curse of the Atlantean ‘Thing'”!

In this episode, we discuss Hollow Earth Expedition and the Ubiquity system. We also talk about what we liked and didn’t like about Wayne’s pulp adventure.

Tom and Yujiro guest host again.

For those of you interested in trying out Hollow Earth Expedition for yourselves, you can find two free sample adventures in PDF form (Stranded in the Hollow Earth and Kidnapped in the Hollow Earth) complete with sample characters and a streamlined version of the Ubiquity rules from the Exile Games website.