Rene Plays Games

Welcome back for episode 2 of Koriko: A Magical Year by Jack Harrison & Mousehole Press , who just so happen to be running a Kickstarter campaign to print some of their other great games like Artefact, Bucket of Bolts, and CounterPart! Go check it out!   In this episode, our teenage witch Genie settles into the city of Koriko and meets her first Confidants - NPCs who will be recurring througho...

Welcome to another episode of Perspective Checks where I sit down with friends and folks from the TTRPG world and discuss what they love about this wonderful hobby!   I was so honored to have this month's guest Michael Low on to chat about his philosophy in all things TTRPGs. Michael is a teacher and game designer whose work you can hear on his podcast Stories RPG , his writing classes which use R...

Hello and welcome to a new solo RPG series, switching up tone completely and exploring the wonderfully cozy journaling game Koriko: A Magical Year by Jack Harrison & Mousehole Press , creators of other incredible solo games like Artefact, Orbital, and Bucket of Bolts (Jack also did layout for Notorious & Outsiders, so clearly he knows what he's doing)!   Koriko is a game about a teenage wi...

We're back to Mining Media for this month, because I keep seeing "How do you hack 5e to do Pokemon?!" and I don't have the hair to tear out over it... so let's talk bringing everyone's favorite monster catcher/befriender to the table!   The thing about Pokemon is that it's so much more than just an 8-bit handheld video game now, there's multiple TV series, video game series, manga, movies (even a...

Welcome back for the explosive finale of our trilogy following the bot-human construct Nomad ISIL-8 in NOTORIOUS and OUTSIDERS by Jason Price, a.k.a. Always Checkers Publishing .   The Admiral's Fleet has taken over Nos and set up Chedo Robay and his Ghol assistants to reverse engineer the cloning program designs stolen by ISIL-8's first lead, Ka Lirra (as Aura Day). The Trade Alliance has followe...

Welcome to another episode of Perspective Checks where I sit down with friends and folks from the TTRPG world and discuss a topic of their choice!   This month's episode concerns the power of music, ambience, and sound in TTRPG play, and I'm joined by brothers Noah & Tyler that make up Monument Studios , which is launching a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for their upcoming Fantasy+ app ful...

Welcome back to the developing trilogy of the bot-human construct Nomad ISIL-8 in NOTORIOUS and OUTSIDERS by Jason Price, a.k.a. Always Checkers Publishing .   ISIL-8 has narrowly avoided the Trade Alliance and escaped through FTL travel to a remote corner of the galaxy. Through interrogating the mystic-marked assassin nomad and covert communications to ally nomads and other contacts throughout th...

While technically a bonus for 5 Tuesdays in July, editing is a process and I'm a busy person, so this one took a few more days, enjoy the second half of our Dragonbane Free RPG Day one-shot scenario The Sinking Tower to kick off August!   Also! All episodes during the month of August will be using music from Monument Studios , who is running a Kickstarter campaign for their Fantasy+ collection of...

5th Tuesdays are for bonus episodes and this one comes IN TWO PARTS! Part 2 will be releasing on Thursday August 1st!   For July's Bonus Episode, we're playing Free League 's 2024 Free RPG Day scenario for Dragonbane called The Sinking Tower. It's a tight one-shot adventure for the classic Swedish fantasy RPG that's designed for "tournament style" play, and all happens on a two hour clock! After c...

Get deep enough into the indie tabletop RPG scene and eventually you'll come up with an idea that you want to play out in a game, but you can't find a good match for it (despite the thousands of games out there). So what do you do? You start making one yourself!   Most people homebrew rules in their favorite RPGs, and if you think about it, even that is game design in a way. You're no longer playi...

Welcome back to the developing trilogy of the bot-human construct Nomad ISIL-8 in NOTORIOUS and OUTSIDERS by Jason Price, a.k.a. Always Checkers Publishing .   ISIL-8 finds themselves wanted on the planet of Arro after their run-in with the hostile hunting down a rogue hacker. Bounties go up through the Guild to bring the missing Bot-Construct in however possible, but ISIL-8 still has a job throug...

Welcome to another episode of Perspective Checks where I sit down with a friend in the TTRPG world and discuss a topic of their choice!   If you're familiar with Ironsworn, especially Starforged, this week's guest likely needs no introduction - Matt Risby is the man behind the microphone for the incredible podcast The Bad Spot , which has 3 incredible seasons of Ironsworn: Starforged , some origin...

Welcome back to the developing trilogy of the bot-human construct Nomad ISIL-8 in NOTORIOUS and OUTSIDERS by Jason Price, a.k.a. Always Checkers Publishing .   ISIL-8 has failed The Guild and failed to complete a bounty, leaving the frozen planet of Utov without their target Aura Day, a.k.a. Ka Lirra, one of the masterminds behind the bot-construct clone army ISIL-8 was created for. However, Ka Li...

Not a 5th Tuesday bonus episode, but just keeping up the rhyming bonus episodes with Gila RPGs solo games and in June that means RUNE . Similar to REAP, which I played back in February for the Leap Year, RUNE is a solo TTRPG based on the Dark Souls and Elden Ring games, and it plays just as punishing (you'll see).   If you want to hear Spencer play through this realm on his YouTube channel, you ca...

Welcome to another Mining Media where we turn your binging into better TTRPG experiences. In this episode we're talking about Atlus' video game franchise Persona . These JRPGs are some of the best video games I've ever played, they're full of great tactical turn-based combat, interesting dungeons, shadow worlds and slice of life as teenagers in modern Japan. But, most importantly, these games have...

Welcome back to the developing trilogy of the bot-human construct Nomad ISIL-8 in NOTORIOUS and OUTSIDERS by Jason Price, a.k.a. Always Checkers Publishing .   After wandering the frozen planet of Utov hunting for the whereabouts of a blueprint thief named Aura Day, a charming Pellucid, or crystalline species, member of the New Uprising, ISIL-8 was turned away and eventually outgunned by one of th...

Welcome to another episode of Perspective Checks where I sit down with a friend in the TTRPG world and discuss a topic of their choice! I met this episode's guest on the relatively new social media platform Threads, where the RPG community is still pretty small and interactive. Jordan is a Mainer and runs the small game company Goosepoop Games where he is focused on making silly, wholesome games....

A brand new beginning! For the first time since the podcast started I'm starting a brand new series, and I'm super excited to be playing "Trilogy Mode" combining NOTORIOUS and OUTSIDERS by Jason Price, a.k.a. Always Checkers Publishing . These games recreate the solo bounty hunter vibes of Star Wars (especially the Mandalorian), Cowboy Bebop, and westerns/space operas so well. Also, Jason has a Ki...

Welcome to another Mining Media where we turn your binging into better TTRPG experiences. In this episode we're talking about Amazon Prime's new video game to TV adaptation Fallout. Based on the hit video game franchise, season one takes some liberties with what's been established in the games but succeeds in making an enjoyable, pretty true to universe story that uses a lot of great techniques yo...

As the sky island of Manao crumbles into pieces and plummets into the ocean below, Dyne and the crew of the Venture rush to warn the villagers of Isto Mavana of the coming disaster. Kyrody Dominion Admiral Magnus Cassidy calls for a parley with the leaders of the Resistance, but negotiations take a terrible turn, and the final battle of the Reaches begins...   To all the listeners who have made it...

Welcome to another episode of Perspective Checks where I sit down with a friend in the TTRPG world and discuss a topic of their choice!   This time I'm joined by another one of the OGs of Rene's nerdy life on the internet - Baby DM Sara from the DMs After Dark ! If you're following this channel, you likely know that I've been playing games with these wonderful nerds for the last few years, and the...

Dyne and the crew of the Venture confront the colossal skeletal creature in the heart of the sky island Manao, while dragging the injured Cynosure Society scientists to safety. Tamrin snags a sweet trophy. Maezyu finds a weak point in the Cynosure Society's complex sky iron contraption. Dyne realizes the terrible fate of Manao and the heavy truth of the Mystic Trials - the responsibility passed on...

It's a 5th Tuesday, so here we are with another bonus episode! This time Rene sits down to play the one-player, card-based Dragon Dowser from Hatchling Games . It is a wonderful game where you take the role of a Dowser, someone who has dedicated themselves to saving dragon eggs from the clutches of the tyrannical Mecharchs, rulers who betrayed humanity's saviors for power and progress. It has wond...

Welcome to another Mining Media where we turn your binging into better TTRPG experiences. In this episode we're talking about Fonda Lee's incredible gangster fantasy trilogy The Green Bone Saga . This series is one of *very* few (maybe the only?) that I've rated 5 stars down the line. It has enough magic and urban fantasy to feel wondrous, incredibly emotional character development, intense martia...

Aboard another Kyrody Warship, Dyne and Ephraim learn the truth about the Kyrody Dominion's presence out here in the Reaches. However, the truth comes with a twist, and Dyne's attempts to persuade the sailors to accept an alternative option lands on deaf ears. His failure comes at a heavy cost, and a friend is lost...   Maezyu convinces Dyne to finish what's been started - a win against the Kyrody...