Total Pebble Knockdown

On the show today:Nathan and Alex get a hands-on experience playing Anemoiapolis Chapter 1 while discussing architecture, psychology, horror, illogical level design and mannequins.

On the show today: For several years now Nathan has put out a Best to Worst list of new games he played from the previous year. However, 2024 was a unique case. Because of this there will not be a list this year and on this episode we discuss the reasons why. And also, we go over what the list was going to be for those who are curious.

Steam Next Fest brought us many interesting demos for upcoming games. Alex and Nathan got ahold of several and wanted to discuss them on this episode. We have vampires, zombies, radiation and scariest of all... fishing!

We have a few D&D questions from Reddit. What happens when we become and vampire AND a werewolf? What happens when we want to switch our character out mid-campaign? What if our players keep trying to unionize everyone? Let's discuss. Reddit – bit by a werewolf and a vampire – https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/1h2xdkq/one_of_my_players_got_bit_by_both_a_vampire_and_a/Reddit – switching...

Sometimes, we need to get some fiber in our gaming diet. Today, we discuss some nutritional games that help us better understand and appreciate the medium of video games. NOTE: Nathan made a mistake when talking about Deus Ex. Let us know in the comments if you catch it.

On the show today: Sometimes we load up on empty calories. Video games are no different. But what are junk food games and which ones do we binge on in an unhealthy fashion? Could there be a real benefit to playing them or are they a waste of our time.... comparative to playing other games.

Sometimes you just want to play something familiar that has a special place in your heart. Much like comfort food, we will occasionally revert to playing comfort games. Let's talk about a few examples from our experiences and what we get out of the experience.

NOTE: Apologies for the audio issues. Much of the episode is done in voice-over since the original audio was so poor. On the show today: There are many reasons why we stop playing games. Some of those reasons are a natural end to a great experience, some because they are unplayable and some are far more complicated. Nathan lays out his 7 cases of why we stop playing a game, from best case to worst...

In the course of a year, we often play many games that are not new releases. In this episode, Nathan goes over 5 games he played in 2024 that released before the year that really impressed him. And quite a variety it is. We discuss a survival crafting game, a card game, secret horror title, soul-like and open-world shooter. A little something for everyone.

On the show today: It's that time to play Save, Bury, Reboot. What games do we save from destruction, which will we throw into the E.T. pit and which will get a whole new coat of paint? Bonus: we have some other game related things to bury while we are here. Now that 2024 is behind us, we can look at our Steam spider graphs to see what kind of games we really got into this last year. What were the...

On the show today: Welcome to part 2 of our December Advent Calendar. A topic for every day of the month. On this episode, we give you 9 more to get you through until Christmas Day. 17. The Peasant Railgun is no longer possible, but that's not the only D&D shenanigans that have been destroyed by D&D 2024. Today, we ask if anyone had even heard of Ladder+Saw=Infinite Money. https://www.bell...

On the show today: Welcome to part 1 of our December Advent Calendar. A topic for every day of the month. On this episode, we give you the half. That's right, you get 16 whole conversations in one giant package! Like how Santa has packages... 1.  S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and bad first impressions 2.  Valve changes Steam’s season pass guidelines – https://www.gamesindustry.biz/valve-updates-guidelines-for-...

On the show today: Nathan returns to Palworld. Nearly a year ago, the game rocked the video game industry with record sales. But we haven't really played it since February. So, what is it like now? Lucas Pope is a talented game designer with unique ideas. Papers, Please and Return of the Obra Dinn are critically acclaimed games with accolades aplenty from gamers. However, today Nathan has a critic...

On the show today: It's the 10-year anniversary of the "Too Much Water" meme from IGN's Pokemon review. Sometimes a bullet point of game analysis misses the context you need. And sometimes the point is not warranted. Let's discuss which one this was. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/too-much-water Can you play D&D by yourself? Also, should you? One Quora answer explains how you could theoretical...

On the show today: Survival crafting and horror sound like a match made in spooky heaven but after Nathan tried the demo for upcoming Project Mist, he started asking if these two should ever be near each other. We discuss why the mechanics of these genres has trouble meshing. Jump scares are just not as scary as horror can be by building atmosphere. We talk about the idea of tension and release an...

On the show today: Urban legends are sometimes rooted in truth, but sometimes they become self-fulfilling prophecies. Take the case of the Goat Man of Pope Lick Creek. A monster that is said to lead people to their death by crossing a trestle bridge may not be real, but the consequences of that story are just as bad. USA Today – https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/05/16/pope-lick-m...

On the show today: Alex has played over 70 hours of Warhammer: Space Marine 2. Having already been familiar with Space Marine back in 2011, Alex wanted to discuss how the new game follows up with the story and mechanics of the first, so he's going to do that. Dredge has an interesting mechanic called Panic, which accrues when you stay up too late at night. Suddenly you see things that aren't there...

On the show today: WikiHow can theoretically teach you things, but can it help you avoid a TPK? We look at the article and ask if we can learn anything from the article. Avoiding a TPK – https://www.wikihow.com/Tpk-Dnd Card mechanics have been used in many ways in video games. Sometimes you construct a deck to use against other decks. Sometimes the decks are constructed to do battle or are built o...

On the show today: Dave the Diver was an indie darling last year and Nathan got to play it on stream this month. Having continued to play it far after our monthly stream, he found that many of the advances hinted at the beginning get paid off far later and entice players to keep moving forward. Let's discuss how Dave the Diver incentivizes players from the beginning. Deep Diving with Dave - ht...

On the show today: Elon Musk took issue with the Fallout slogan "War Never Changes" back in May. Instead of simply complaining, we take a moment to look at how players can see the same information in different ways and how to better inform players to the themes of the game. https://futurism.com/elon-musk-fallout-tweet https://x.com/girldrawsghosts/status/1815417466509463757 Josh Sawyer (...

On the show today: DC Lasair is here to explain how he runs tabletop game streams, the tech he uses, the way he structures games and how to move story along when you are playing live. How long can you hold an audience's attention? What do you have to go over with your cast ahead of time? How much prep do you need? DC has run many charity livestreams. How do you set those up? What resources are...

On the show today: Oh Deer asks you to act like an NPC in a video game lest you get shot by an increasingly unhinged hunter. The TPK crew played this to hunt each other for sport and came away with a sense that it was unlike other gaming experiences because of it's structure. What does it feel like when you have to act like you are not playing a game? Getting a player acclimated to a new game...

On the show today: It's not used very often, but tremorsense is an extrasensory ability some monsters use in D&D. There are some interesting scenarios that utilize this, but it's often a secondary thought. What is tremorsense? What are some fun ways to utilize it? Also, could there be something similar for water? Flanking maneuvers are common in warfare, but less common in RPGs. But th...

On the show today: We recently made a pros and cons episode on modding games and it got Nathan to thinking about something. What if he modded a game he had already played and beaten several times? And so, this is a tale of playing the modded version of KOTOR. Can you actually categorize all video games into "Parkour" and "Menu"? A Calvin & Hobbes meme seems to think so, but...

On the show today: Space is really big, but you might not want to play a game in it. There are games that bypass the enormity of the great void, but others insist on making you traverse it. How can we mitigate this vast nothingness? And why would you travel 45 minutes to a space station on the other side of the galaxy? Games often punish you when things go wrong. However, there are some that insis...