The Vintage RPG Podcast

Artist Nick Tofani joins us this week on the Vintage RPG podcast to talk about horror in RPGs, particularly the Mothership adventure he illustrated, the unpleasant-in-the-best-way  Gradient Descent . It's dark outside, something is howling in the wind and pale shapes with dead eyes are shambling nearer, so make sure the doors are locked and turn up the volume on this one. We're sure you'll make it...

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we're talking time travel and that's sure to result in a headache. Specifically, we're looking at Yaquinto Publications'  Timeship  (1983), but we also chat about a couple other time travel RPGs like  Timemaster  (1984) and  Doctor Who  (1985). Let's get timey-wimey!

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we talk about a gritty, street level horror RPG in which you play creatures of the night making their way in the big city.  Vampire: The Masquerade ? Nope! Beating White Wolf to the punch by a full year is Stellar Games'  Nightlife  (1990). We talk about the appeal of being the monster, the many similarities between the two games and the delightful way in whic...

This week, join us in welcoming the amazing David Hoskins to the show. You've seen his pen work in  Acid Death Fantasy ,  The Isle of the Plangent Mage  and, soon, in  Through Ultan's Door . We talk about how he got into RPG illustration, matters of style, some pretty fantastic black knights that have been creeping onto his Instagram and more!  * * * You can see more of David's work on  his websit...

Back in November, in our holiday gift guide episode, we talked briefly with Jess Carrier from  Noble Knight Games about the weird stuff people trade in. Over the next couple months, we kept thinking about it: they must get strange stuff constantly! So we invited Jess and Noble Knight's RPG tsar Andrew Branstad to come on and tell us all about the bazaar of the bizarre that is their warehouse. 

This week, we check out the famous lost (and found) short film by Roger Christian,  Black Angel . This gorgeous little jam occupies a neat place in Star Wars history and also happens to be a mighty fine bit of early '80s sword and sorcery cinema in its own right. And after you listen to our takes on it, you can check it out for yourself on YouTube for free  (with a brief intro by Christian).

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, minds are blown! Somehow, we haven't done a  Fiend Folio  episode yet and this week is it. We talk about how the book's difficult birth, the mixed reception on release and the quiet disavowal it got from TSR. We get cartoon hearts in our eyes talking about Russ Nicholson's art, as usual. We make fun of flumphs and adherers. And that's just scratching the surfa...

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we're in outer space, paying off our starship mortgage and exploring the Third Imperium. That's right, we're finally cracking open the little black  Traveller  box. We talk a bit about what makes Game Designer's Workshop's classic science fiction RPG, well, a classic. It must be something special, because it forged a heck of a legacy despite there being all of...

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we journey to Jennell Jaquays'  Dark Tower , one of the best books Judges Guild's produced and often considered one of the very best D&D adventures of all time. We chat a bit about why that is, touch on  Caverns of Thracia  (which will be getting its own episode shortly) and generally discuss the state of dungeon design in the late 70s. There's also DUCKS! Thi...

We are joined this week on the Vintage RPG Podcast by the fine fellows from  Narrative Dynamics , Michael Dunn-O'Connor and Eric Swanson. They are the folks behind the  Goblinville  RPG zines and  Rebel Crown  – two very different but equally awesome games. We discuss them both, what it is like switching tones, the difference between designing your own game and using an existing engine ( Rebel Cro...

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we are joined by Peter Bebergal ( Season of the Witch ,  Strange Frequencies ), editor of  Appendix N , a brand new anthology from Strange Attractor Press that explores the fantasy fiction that influenced the creation of Dungeons & Dragons. We have a far ranging, philosophical discussion about the stories Gygax overlooked, the ways literature does (and doesn't...

It was bound to happen eventually: this week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we discuss the disaster that was  Dallas: The Television Role-Playing Game . How did SPI screw up a game based on a license of a TV show at the height of its powers? A game that launched during an unprecedented eight month media frenzy about the show? The world just wasn't ready. Which is a shame, because the character and na...

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we check out what is possibly the first ever silent roleplaying game. A silent RPG? Seems impossible, but that's what  Alice is Missing   aims to be, with all the investigation, narrative and social interaction playing out over text messages. The game is also timed, has a custom soundtrack and designed to be played only once by a given group, adding to the int...

This week, we chat with our pal Matt Kelley, the fellow behind  Exalted Funeral , indie RPG publisher and distributor extraordinaire. We talk about how he got into the biz, where its going and some of the fantastic creators he's met along the way. We also announce a new monthly segment that will showcase rad indie RPG creators who will be working with Exalted Funeral in the future. All good things...

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we get chromed up and check out the two earliest iterations of R. Talsorian's premier RPG,  Cyberpunk 2013  and  Cyberpunk 2020 . We talk a bit about cyberpunk as a genre, look at the particular (and surprising) inspirations for the RPG and dig into the fast and deadly system. There's the obvious comparisons to make between  Cyberpunk  and  Shadowrun , so you...

As promised, t his week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we  visit  James M. Ward's  Gamma World ,  a mutant-filled romp through the post-apocalypse !  We talk about how  Gamma World  builds off Ward's earlier game,  Metamorphosis Alpha , the clever way it handles characters unearthing tech the players probably know about, the approach to world creation and the cryptic alliances that make me like there...

Mutants in space! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we dig into James M. Ward's Metamorphosis Alpha, the first sci-fi RPG people care about! Halfway through the massive colony ship's journey, it passed through a cloud of radiation, leading to waves of mutation and a breakdown of society. Now, centuries later, the human population of the ship have lost the knowledge of how to use the ship's tec...

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we talk to  Joe DeSimone  of  The Academy of Games ! We talk about RPGs as a learning tool, Townes Van Zandt, sobriety mechanics and much more!

The world is dying. Will you rage hopelessly against the end or cower in robbed graves in your final days? That's the central question of  Mörk Borg , the heaviest metal RPG we have encountered thus far (which says something, considering the connection between Bolt Thrower and Warhammer). This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we talk about the outlandish design of the  Mörk Borg  book, the grimmes...

This week we take a look at a thoroughly modern zine:  A Visitor's Guide to the Rainy City , by Rich Forest, illustrated by Bill Spytma and published by  Superhero Necromancer . A product of ZineQuest 2, it is an entirely system agnostic setting book that details the strange and wondrous city where the rain never stops (and also a floating pirate stronghold island thing and some more rural areas s...

Building off our recent episode on  Chivalry & Sorcery , this week we look at another realistic medieval RPG world, N. Robin Crossby's Hârn. Unlike C&S, though, Hârn was originally created as a system agnostic setting. That'd change later, with the HârnMaster system, but with or without the rules, the Hârn remains one of the the most ambitious and stunningly detailed ever created. Let's take a loo...

Most folks would say  Steading of the Hill Giant Chief  was the first published adventure for Dungeons & Dragons. And they'd be wrong! While  Steading  was the first D&D adventure published by TSR, it was  Palace of the Vampire Queen  from Wee Warriors that was actually the first adventure module. A bit thin by modern standards and definitely more gonzo, we take a look at this often overlooked pie...

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we take a look at  Chivalry & Sorcery . One of the earliest RPGs, it is another example of D&D players feeling like D&D failed in some way and making their own game to correct it. In  C&S 's case, Ed Simbalist and Wilf Backhaus felt D&D wasn't realistic enough, so they set about making a game that reaaaaally leans into simulation and is pretty tedious, even fo...

This year, instead of digging up gift suggestions ourselves, we've turned to the professionals. First up, we talk to Matt Kelley about the strange sights you can see at Exalted Funeral  (as ever, they're gonna have a big Black Friday sale). Jess Carrier fills us in on a small slice of the stuff you can find at  Noble Knight Games  (they've got it all, for real, and their sale is going on right now...

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay! Grab your axe, smear some mud on your clothes, strap on some desperation and delve with us into the grim and perilous Old World. Stu laments having avoided  WFRP  all these years (don't hold your breath for 40k though). Then he delights in the game's systems and world building and art. In addition to the main rules, we also chat, broadly, about The Enemy Within campaign...