Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

The Gaming Hut goes below the depths for beloved Patreon backer Hector Trelane, who seeks tips on adapting the feel of Wolfgang Petersen’s 1981 classic Das Boot into a roleplaying setting. How to Write Good revisits the issue of prose style in RPG books with more tips to strengthen and clarify your work. Fun With […]

In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer wants to know about arc-sized endgames for player characters. Your Call of Cthulhu characters may have wound up in a sanatorium, but did your D&D heroes ever become feudal lords? The Cinema Hut is even more of a hut than usual as we conduct a folk horror 101. […]

If the hairs on the back of your neck are tingling, you must be in the Gaming Hut, and we may be providing tips on using Sense Trouble abilities. In Fun With Science beloved Patreon backer Chris Sellers seeks the skinny on fatbergs. He sends Robin’s players on missions in his current game, so it’s […]

In the Gaming Hut we fulfill a Tell Me More Request from beloved Patreon backer Bryan, who wants us to wring gaming ideas from the most recent version of The Invisible Man. Ask Ken and Robin finds estimable Patreon backer Scot Ryder asking if Robin would decrease the number of abilities in Ashen Stars, given […]

The Cartography Hut gets smart as beloved Patreon backer Gerald Sears asks us to riff on intelligent maps. Esteemed Patreon backer Sibel Permann urges the History Hut to find gaming gold in the Guelphs and Ghibellines. The Horror Hut looks at a paper by Francis T. McAndrew on the social-evolutionary psychology of Bad Places. Finally […]

In the Gaming Hut we help beloved Patreon backer Jamie Twine as he seeks to adapt scenarios written for standard GUMSHOE to the QuickShock version of the system found in The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. The Tradecraft Hut conducts an investigation into spying charges laid against a Major General of Ukraine’s security service. In Ken […]

Remote play is all the rage and we’ve convened in the Gaming Hut, physically distanced as always, to provide our tips to smooth your sudden conversion to the format. In the Archaeology Hut, beloved Patreon backer Mikko Airaksinen wants us to get to the bottom of museums locking away their 3D artifact scans. In the […]

You are getting sleepy very sleepy in the Gaming Hut as we look at ways to make being mind-controlled fun for players. The Yellow King Roleplaying Game profiles move back to the Culture Hut for a look at Ken’s favorite Belle Epoque figure, photographer, cartoonist, spy and balloonist Nadar. In Ask Ken and Robin we […]

The aroma of a damn fine cup of coffee wafts through the Gaming Hut as beloved Patreon backer Drew Eicholz asks us to pitch a non-frustrating version of Lynchian roleplaying. In Fun With Science we look at Marie Curie as a figure in The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Home cooking with leftovers is on our […]

In the Gaming Hut we spitball ideas for GUMSHOE One-2-One scenarios enterprising listeners might turn into self-published PDF products under the auspices of its Creative Commons license. We enter the History Hut to find rocker Frank Black prompting beloved Patreon backer to ask us about the Llano del Rio commune of the 1910s. The Cinema […]

In the Gaming Hut we ask when a historical event the players can research might also be a spoiler. Ripped From the Headlines allows beloved Patreon backer Chris Lydon to discover the hidden significance of Las Vegas’ political hat wearing pigeons. Our round of Yellow King Roleplaying Game Belle Epoque biographies shifts to the Culture […]

In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Peter McAveney asks how to set up a Night’s Black Agents game as if it is, at first, some other less vampire-infested game. The Tradecraft Hut goes to 50s Canada, a tale of a KGB mole turned double agent and the corrupt RCMP officer who gave him up […]

In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Trung Bui asks us for tips and tricks on running open-ended games without interfering with player agency. The Food Hut remains just as crispy, with a fraction of the calories, as Robin discovers air fryer cooking by way of the Breville Smart Oven with Air Fry. Our tour […]

In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Gray St. Quintin asks us to expand on our past fleeting discussion of the various voices and modes used in a roleplaying session. The Tradecraft Hut has no choice but to address recent reminders that Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger, whose story is already wild enough, was subjected […]

Look out for dirigibles as the Gaming Hut looks at the process of selecting your tech level when building an alternate timeline. The Aftermath sequence of The King in Yellow Roleplaying Game serves as our case in point. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Somebody Else, we chat with game designer and writer Sarah Saltiel. […]

Longtime listeners know that “Start with Earth” is a Thing Ken Always Says. But in the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Nicola Wilson wants to know exactly where. In the Conspiracy Corner estimable Patreon backer Steven Roman seeks bookshelf recommendations for all things recent and conspiratorial. The Consulting Occultist continues to wear suspiciously Robin-like facial […]

In the Gaming Hut we come to the rescue of beloved Patreon backer Keelan O’Hea, whose players have conceived the inexplicable desire for a version of GUMSHOE with more die rolling in it. The Food Hut, of all huts, contains the first of this episode’s two Yellow King Roleplaying Game shout-outs, as we savor the […]

They tried to suppress it. They tried to contain it. They left it for months on a loading dock in Estonia. But now The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has made its final crack in reality by heading to retail. We celebrate with an all-Yellow King edition of Robin’s ambitious new game. In the Gaming Hut, […]

In the Gaming Hut, we show you how to turn otherwise inert scenes in a sandbox game into prompts for activity. With the Academy Awards creeping up on us yet again, it’s time for us to sashay into the Cinema Hut to list our favorite films of 2019.  Finally the Consulting Occultist returns to matters […]

That knife you smuggled into the Gaming Hut will finally pay off as we provide tips on playing the secret assassin character. Patreon backer Tom Abella provides us a story Ripped From the Headlines, in which a baffling GPS-spoofing technology deployed on the Yangtze at Shanghai might be a cover for sand thieves. Or, you […]

With a wave of his chainsaw hand, Patreon backer Walter Manbeck summons us to the Gaming Hut for tips on running comedy horror games. Inspired by a recent New York Times Magazine piece, the Tradecraft Hut examines the implications of the OSS’ impact on graphic and industrial design. Patreon backer Marc Kevin Hall asks us […]

In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Tom Shaw asks us to even the odds when strong PCs fight weak opponents. A gruesome find in the History Hut prompts estimable backer Polydamas to seek guidance on portraying the Sandby Borg Massacre in a game. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Robin chats with […]

Pull up a comfy chair and get your fireballs back in the Gaming Hut as we look at the timing of resource refreshing. In the Tradecraft Hut we peer into the espionage activities of William Playfair, now better known as the inventor of the pie chart, not to mention most of your other favorite charts. […]

In our final episode of the year, we unwrap the annual Christmas present that is our episode recorded live at Dragonmeet in London. Join us for the nerdtroping of the Norman Conquest and Hindu mythology, this podcast’s alternate timeline, writing to drink by, annoying tannoy interruptions, and the real intervention in the 2016 election. Want […]