The Download's tracks

This week the word is expectations. The nerds talk about how expectations can make or break an experience, and discuss the impact of expectations on everything from Star Wars to Harry Potter, including the Twilight Zone and various role-playing games. After they spoiler warning, they discuss Game of Thrones, the Orville, and Avengers: Endgame. SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

This week the word is Reset. The nerds discuss various times the reset button has been pressed, and how it differs from the reboot. Andy tells Keith about the fun he had at PaulCon. Keith talks about his latest GoT bingo cards, and shares a few non-spoilery thoughts about Us. Then they lower the spoiler curtain and spend a lot of time discussing Star Trek Discovery’s season 2 finale, the penultima...

This week the word is Scottish, since Keith was just in Scotland. He talks about some of his travel experiences, including the Student Nationals, his first stay in a bonafide flea-bag motel, and getting to meet the Minister of Cats of Scotland. Then the nerds spend a lot of time talking about the trailer for Star Wars episode 9. After the Spoiler Warning they discuss Star Trek: Discovery and the f...

This week the word is crabgrass. The nerds talk about what they mean by this writers’ term and wonder where it came from and how well known it is. Along they way they discuss the early days of LARPing, issues with The Last Jedi, “Mystery Box” stories, unreliable narrators, and their favorite movies in the Marvel franchise. Andy rants about an issue he had with Ant Man and the Wasp. Keith talks abo...

This week the word is Cruisin’, since Keith has just returned from the JoCo Cruise and has many stories to tell. Of particular note is the enormous D&D game he ran, with 70 DMs and over 400 players. He also reports on how the concert by TMBG was affected by a huge storm, and a new James Ernest card game he learned on the cruise. Andy talks about a movie he’s been hearing about called The Wandering...

This week the word is thirteen. Andy talks about his progress on designing an expansion for Doctor Who Fluxx about the 13th Doctor, and Keith talks about the significance of the number in Eberron. Keith talks about the events he’ll be running on the Joco Cruise. Then they discuss a bunch of media topics at a non-spoiler level, including The Umbrella Academy, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Us, Get O...

This week the word is travel. The nerds discuss various aspects of traveling as much as they do. Andy talks about his experiences at Pensacon and shares thoughts about giving copies of his games to celebrities who portrayed characters in those games. Keith talks about his upcoming trip to the UK. Other travel topics include really long trips, traveling alone, logistical planning, the window vs. ai...

This week the word is bird-dog, bird because Looney Labs just announced a new partnership with a company named Cardinal, and dog because Keith just launched a Kickstarter for Action Pups! Andy talks about two new games he’s working on for Cardinal to publish, Marvel Fluxx and Jumanji Fluxx. Keith wonders where the phrase “quitting cold turkey” comes from, and Andy wonders how you say angst in Germ...

This week the word is love. The nerds discuss unusual romantic relationships, in particular stories in which robots and humans fall in love. Then they talk about romance in role-playing games. Keith tells stories about playing a bear in a game of Blue Rose, and they talk about love stories in LARP games. They talk generally about Brooklyn Nine-Nine and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, and then t...

This week the word is afterlife. The nerds discuss all the various types of afterlife stories, including recent shows like The Good Place and Dead Like Me, other forms of life after death such as zombies, vampires, and ghosts, resurrection in role-playing games, and the question of whether or not people in Heaven have cell phones or Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Keith ponders a world where dead can rou...

This week the word is optometry, as in Keith’s Sci-Fi Optometry Test. Then they discuss other equipment-less games like 20 questions, French Toast, and Battle of the Quote-Masters. Further topics include Rod Serling as a LARP character, tales from the Over the Edge RPG, magic shows, and hypnotism acts. Then they lower the spoiler curtain to discuss the starts of season two of Star Trek: Discovery...

This week the word is Beginnings. They talk about how difficult it can be to get a new story started, and discuss a few successful and unsuccessful first episodes. Keith gets into the tricky issues of starting an RPG campaign, and describes some of his approaches to “session zero.” Andy mentions a memorable LARP they both played in called Tabula Rasa, then he talks about his experiences on the Sta...

This week the word is fandom, as in “What are your fandoms?” What does it mean to be a fan? The nerds each talk about their own fandoms, including being fans of their own creations. Near the end they bring down the Spoiler Curtain to discuss the first episode of season 2 of The Orville, followed by Riverdale and Babylon 5. SPOILER ALERT: CONTAINS SPOILERS

This week the word is new. Topics the nerds discuss include new elements being added into existing games or stories to freshen them up (such as Scrappy Doo, Worf, Seven of Nine, Batgirl, and the Great Gazoo), how their games have evolved as they’ve created new editions and new game mechanics, and shows that have radically re-invented themselves from one season to the next (including the Sarah Conn...

This week the word is endings. Topics the nerds discuss include the all-time best ending to a TV series, stories that had the perfect ending but then continued anyway, and stories that ended before their time. Media they mention include Newhart, MASH, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, The Americans, Journeyman, How I Met Your Mother, all of the Star Treks, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Game of Thrones, H...

This week the word is holidays. Topics the nerds discuss include made-up holidays, christmas movies about ghosts and princes, the non-existence of a Star Trek holiday special, drive-in movies, Iceland’s Yule cat and Lads, Holland’s Zwarte Piet, Leap Day Williams, holiday music, and the possibility that Santa is a vampire. Andy saw Ralph Breaks the Internet, and Keith saw The Favourite, and they te...

This week the word is pax, which the nerds discuss along with other words that sound like pax and other words that are just interesting, including whiz mob, grifter, and okus. They each discuss their experiences at PAX Unplugged. Other topics include the classic board game Masterpiece, time travelers who exist in every time at once, and the hand-held gizmos used on Space: 1999. They also spend a l...

This week the word is bugs. Among other things, the nerds discuss the trailer for the Bumblebee movie, and Andy talks about vintage sci-fi he’s been watching lately, specifically Space: 1999, the original Battlestar Galactica, and Babylon 5. Lastly, they discuss the Good Place. SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

This week the word is Excelsior because Stan Lee passed away this week. The nerds talk about their early experiences with comic books, the differences between Marvel and DC heroes, etc. Then Keith talks about a recent incident in which Illimat made the news for witchy reasons. Moving on to media, they discuss Forever, Babylon 5, the Star Trek Discovery between-season shorts, and after a spoiler wa...

This week the nerds talk about the number nine. They have at least nine thoughts about it. Andy has elaborate ideas for what he would do if he suddenly got the job of writing Star Wars Episode 9, then Keith tosses out his own ideas for how to finish the trilogy of Star Wars trilogies. Moving on to other media, Keith talks about a new show called Homecoming, and Andy gives his reactions to season 2...

This week the nerds talk about the use of dice, or lack thereof, in role-playing games. Keith just got back from AmberCon with many tales of the games he played and ran there, and they discuss various RPG systems and how they use — or eschew — the roll of the dice. Media discussions include Homecoming, Babylon 5, and First Man.

This week the nerds talk about plans. They discuss various media that purported to have a plan, but didn’t (like Battlestar Galactica and Lost), and media that really should have had a plan but never did (like the new Star Wars movies). They discuss the differences between stories that are meant to go on forever vs. those that are complete and self-contained. Andy talks gives his reactions to some...

This week the nerds take on the topic of monsters! What makes a monster, anyway? They break down the various categories and discuss their favorites, ranging from classic monster movie monsters, alien monsters, fantasy monsters, furry monsters, and others. Other topics include early McDonaldland commercials, the Island of Dr. Moreau, Salyut-7, monster cereals, laugh tracks, The Good Place, The Gold...

This week the nerds take on the topic of time, and stories about characters who can stop time, slow time down, or, of course, travel through time. Specific subjects include Doctor Who, Hiro from Heroes, the Flash, Quicksilver from the X-men, Voyagers, the First Men in the Moon, Manifest, Seven Days, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Man in the High Castle, Fringe, Sliders, and others. At the end th...

This week the nerds take on the topic of pizza. They have much to say on the subject. It starts with the debate about pineapple on a pizza, they discuss other toppings (and the endless negotiations a group must go through to ordering one), and how some toppings are more “pick-off-able” than others. Then they move on to their childhood favorite pizzas, their go-to choices for ordering a pizza now,...