Tales From the Shelf

Book 2, V5. Ep 4: The Clans (Pt 2, N-T) NOTE: We changed our recording method as we were seeing worse and worse quality in our recordings. You'll see a drastic improvement in quality as we redid the audio from the Nosferatu Clan onwards.  ALSO NOTE: Yes I call Jeri Ryan 'Seven of DD', but my animosity is not against the actress, who went through hell in that suit , it's the people who designed it...

Book 2, V5. Ep 4: The Clans (Pt 1) Clans. Part clans/career, part vampiric and  cultural archetype, choosing a Clan is a big deal and it both helps define and stereotype your character. In this episode we run through the Brujah and Gangrel clans - etymology, archetypes, Disciplines and Bane (don't worry, we speed this up or we'll be here a year, we just have things to say).  Next up: More clans!  ...

Book 2, V5. Ep 3: Kindred Society Moving on through the intro, we hit the section Kindred Society. We run through world history and  bringing players up to speed on what they're being dropped into. The Camarilla, the Anarchs, the big conflicts, the seven Traditions. Next up: Clans. Who are we playing?   If you want to contact us, you can contact us:  talesshelfpod@gmail.com and  talesshelfpod.bsky...

  Book 2, Episode 2 - Vampire the Masquerade, 5th edition: Part 1: the introductory section. We start with the book and its cover, in all its bisexual lighting, move on through the scrapbook introduction and laying out of the basics.  And we ask - is this a book of its time, compared to the goth-punk of the 90s? How does it lay out its stall? And who really did the Twin Towers bombing in 2011?   ...

EDIT: Original upload had a weird issue where the intro/outro was audible, despite being clear in editing. This should now be fixed.   All right, Book 2, episode 1 - Vampire the Masquerade, 5th edition. The game that outsold DnD, had its own Aaron Spelling TV show and sold us Beckett action figures, not to mention giving us a cult classic of videogame history. (As is tradition, now it's been menti...

Sorry all, real life problems means no real episode this fortnight.  I know it isn't fun, I hate it when it isn't regular, but better now than in the middle of a deep dive.  And this is an extension of the hobby for us; we don't ask for money, we've been regular from the start...sometimes life gets in the way. Please bear with us.  Next episode will be the start of our deep dive into V5, and hopef...

We're taking a break between books to throw out some more general advice and tell stories. After we've gotten a group together, the next step is improving them.   Apologies for the audio, which cut out on some of our most useful and insightful comments (because of course it did). Unfortunately we only realised how bad it was after recording and have stitched it together as  best we can.   @ us on...

We're taking a break between books to throw out some more general advice and tell stories. This part is about our experiences in getting people together. Next ep will cover levelling up your group.  At this point in time, V6 has been revealed and the playtest packet is out. It doesn't seem good, but we're still deciding whether to do an emergency pod on the new stuff, or wait and fold it into the...

Episode 011: Our conclusions.  This is the final episode for this book - a shorter one as we reach our conclusions and rate the Witcher RPG core book out of /6. Spoilers - it ain't great.      @ us on Bluesky; talesshelfpod.bsky.social Music by ebunny, find them on Pixabay. This is an podcast by adults, for adults; some profanity is going to happen.   Made by incredibly nerdy humans - no AI involv...

Episode 010: Witcher Deep Dive Pt10. Part 2 of the adventure "And to all a Good Night".  We're continuing our deep dive on the Witcher RPG by R Talsorian games.  The Witcher RPG came out in 2018 and since then R Tal. has promised a cleanup of the core book. With that in mind, we take on the book in detail - with a mind to looking at its strengths, weaknesses and what we'd change.   In Part 10 of o...

Episode 009: Witcher Deep Dive Pt9. The adventure "And to all a Good Night".  We're continuing our deep dive on the Witcher RPG by R Talsorian games.  The Witcher RPG came out in 2018 and since then R Tal. has promised a cleanup of the core book. With that in mind, we take on the book in detail - with a mind to looking at its strengths, weaknesses and what we'd change.   In Part 8 of our Witcher R...

Episode 008: Witcher Deep Dive Pt8. The GM Section  We're continuing our deep dive on the Witcher RPG by R Talsorian games.  The Witcher RPG came out in 2018 and since then R Tal. has promised a cleanup of the core book. With that in mind, we take on the book in detail - with a mind to looking at its strengths, weaknesses and what we'd change.   In Part 8 of our Witcher RPG deep dive we head past...

Episode 007: Witcher Deep Dive Pt7. The World We're continuing our deep dive on the Witcher RPG by R Talsorian games.  The Witcher RPG came out in 2018 and since then R Tal. has promised a cleanup of the core book. With that in mind, we take on the book in detail - with a mind to looking at its strengths, weaknesses and what we'd change.   In Part 7 of our Witcher RPG deep dive we get past rules a...

Episode 006: Witcher Deep Dive Pt6, Combat Pt. 2 of 2 We're continuing our deep dive on the Witcher RPG by R Talsorian games.  The Witcher RPG came out in 2018 and since then R Tal. has promised a cleanup of the core book. With that in mind, we take on the book in detail - with a mind to looking at its strengths, weaknesses and what we'd change.   In Part 6 of our Witcher RPG deep dive we continue...

Episode 005: Witcher Deep Dive Pt5, Combat Pt. 1 of 2 We're continuing our deep dive on the Witcher RPG by R Talsorian games.  The Witcher RPG came out in 2018 and since then R Tal. has promised a cleanup of the core book. With that in mind, we take on the book in detail - with a mind to looking at its strengths, weaknesses and what we'd change.   In Part 5 of our Witcher RPG deep dive we start at...

Episode 004: Witcher Deep Dive Pt4, Magic and Crafting. We're starting with a deep dive on the Witcher RPG by R Talsorian games.  The Witcher RPG came out in 2018 and since then R Tal. has promised a cleanup of the core book. With that in mind, we take on the book in detail - with a mind to looking at its strengths, weaknesses and what we'd change.   In Part 4 of our Witcher RPG deep dive we start...

Book 1, The Witcher RPG, Episode 003: Witcher Deep Dive  - Gear We're starting with a deep dive on the Witcher RPG by R Talsorian games.  The Witcher RPG came out in 2018 and since then R Tal. has promised a cleanup of the core book. With that in mind, we take on the book in detail - with a mind to looking at its strengths, weaknesses and what we'd change.   In Part 3 of our deep dive we delve int...

Book 1, The Witcher RPG, Episode 002: Witcher Deep Dive Pt4, - skills and core mechanics. We're starting with a deep dive on the Witcher RPG by R Talsorian games.  The Witcher RPG came out in 2018 and since then R Tal. has promised a cleanup of the core book. With that in mind, we take on the book in detail - with a mind to looking at its strengths, weaknesses and what we'd change.   In Part 2 of...

Book 1, The Witcher RPG, Episode 001: Witcher Deep Dive - character generation We're starting with a deep dive on the Witcher RPG by R Talsorian games.  The Witcher RPG came out in 2018 and since then R Tal. has promised a cleanup of the core book. With that in mind, we take on the book in detail - with a mind to looking at its strengths, weaknesses and what we'd change.   Part 1 of the deep dive...