The Vintage RPG Podcast

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we chat with Michael Monaco about his new book excavating the history of  Fantasy Wargaming called The Highest Level of All . The game is a very idiosyncratic RPG created in the late '70s in the UK. I've talked about this game before, both in a previous episode of the podcast and in a post a million years ago — this is one of the RPGs from the early days that'...

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we check out Merlin Publishing's BattleCards , a neat, if doomed, combat card game that came out in 1993. Design credit goes to Steve Jackson (UK) and has players picking cards to square off, then scratching off hit locations to see if they score wounds. The winner claimed the defeated card (they have a gold value) and could send it in to "purchase" special tr...

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we check out A Time to Harvest , a recently released campaign for Call of Cthulhu where players take the role of Miskatonic University students on an ill-advised field trip to Vermont. We talk in vague terms about why it is a cool campaign, the after a clear "beyond this point is spoilers" warning we get into some of the nitty gritty. A future classic of the s...

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we descend into  The Maze of Peril (1986), a fantasy novel by Dr. John Eric Holmes. Holmes is best known for creating the first D&D Basic Rules box set (1977), but he also wrote fantasy fiction (in addition to his day job as a neurologist). At a glance, Maze of Peril doesn't inspire much confidence as to its quality, but it winds up being a fun adventure that...

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we're talking to James Wallis about his forthcoming book Everybody Wins . It's a fantastic book that charts the recent history of board games through the lens of the forty-three winners of the German Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) award, from 1979 to 2022. We also talk a little bit about RPGs as well — how could we not, as James was behind Hogshead Publis...

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we're looking at The Unspeakable Oath, the Call of Cthulhu fanzine from Pagan Publishing (and later, Arc Dream). Debuting in 1990, the zine feel emblematic of its time, while also illustrating a continuity of DIY tradition from the early days of the Amateur Press Associations into the current RPG zine scene. All that plus tentacles!

Stu took a sick day so this week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, Hambone called in Tony Vasinda of Plus One Exp , Adam Vass of World Champ Game Co. and Levi Combs of Planet X Games to chat about what's going on and what's cool this Zine Month. Hot damn! * * * New year, new Noble Knight discount code! Use VRPG23 for 10% off all your purchases online or in the store! Hang out with us on the Vintage RPG...

Old friends, new looks! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we're looking at NECA's Ultimates versions of the LJN Dungeons & Dragons action figures Warduke and Grimsword. We also check out Hasbro's Dungeons & Dragons cartoon series figures — Venger, Dungeon Master, Hank, Diana, Bobby and Uni. All these toys are honkin' BIG, but are they all GOOD? How much nostalgia is too much? Find out wherever...

Dying malls and office buildings corrupted by extradimensional entities? Sounds like this week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we're talking about Liminial Horror . A hack of Cairn from Goblin Archives, Liminal Horror takes the barely-there D&D framework of that earlier game and applies to the tropes of investigative horror. It works shockingly well! We also touch on The Mall and The Bureau , two scen...

Here we are in the brambles. This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we're looking at Cairn , Yochai Gal's ultra-lite hack/remix of Into the Odd and Knave . How few mechanics can you have and still have a D&D-esque RPG? It's both more and less than you expect, probably. Cairn actually highlights Into the Odd 's differences from D&D by pulling the Odd mechanics in a more old-school direction ( Into t...

We're embarking on a tour of ultra-lite RPGs for the next few weeks on the Vintage RPG Podcast. Up first: Into the Odd Remastered , Chris McDowall's extremely streamlined D&D-esque ruleset that is so distilled it becomes a sort of commentary on the tropes of roleplaying games broadly. Next up: Cairn !

Back the third party publishing of the 80s — this week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we take a look at GameScience's Fantasy Gamer's Compendium (1983), a collection of six smaller books originally created by the short-lived Little Soldier Games (in the mid-70s). Which is also the short-lived Phoenix Games (in like, 1980). It's a little confusing, and we iron that out. The books themselves, though, a...

And we're back! Hope y'all had an excellent holiday season. This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we sort of tackle the third edition of D&D. Not so much the system (though we hit the broad strokes), but the idea of it, where it came from, where it went, what it inspired. It's sort of a ruminating ramble that seems even more relevant now with the recent kerfuffle over the OGL (though we recorded b...

We decided to take a couple weeks off for the holidays, so we remastered a couple older episodes for your enjoyment. We'll be back with a new episode on January 9. Original show notes: Hey, we're weekly! We talk about what that means for the podcast going forward (forget that we say its December in the episode. It isn't. Schedules change, OK?). It would be rad if you joined us on our Patreon , bec...

We decided to take a couple weeks off for the holidays, so we remastered a couple older episodes for your enjoyment. We'll be back with a new episode on January 9. Original show notes: Happy holidays, folks! We're breaking from format this episode to dig deep into the nostalgia and look at the Sears Wish Book, an important part of our childhood Christmas experiences. Specifically, we're looking at...

War hedgehogs! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we check out Dragonroar , the first major fantasy RPG out of the UK, and boy is it British. Beware, for man-eating penguins lie in wait. And war hedgehogs!

Fighting Fantasy? That's for babies. This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we look at Advanced Fighting Fantasy, the full-fledged RPG rules derived from the (not really for babies) Fighting Fantasy gamebook series. There are three delightful volumes - Dungeoneer starts things off with dungeons rules, Blacksand! takes players to the city streets and Allansia explores the great outdoors. Lots of fan...

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we look at the amazing fantasy RPG-inspired art book,  Down in the Dungeon (1981), by Don Greer. This amazing collection of art retells the adventures the author experienced while exploring Zarakan's dungeon after discovering it on a camping trip somewhere in the American Southwest. We talk about the enduring appeal of this sort of art and speculate a bit abou...

Horror stories on vinyl! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we digress a little bit to talk about Cadabra Records and their "nightmares on vinyl." These are spoken word readings or full cast audio plays of classic horror stories, set to atmospheric soundscapes and wrapped in evocative sleeve art. They're part of a larger tradition of (often horror-centric) storytelling recordings but, primarily...

Back to back heresy, just like we like it. Last week, we did Heirs to Heresy , this week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we're talking about John's new adventure Heresy of Rot , co-authored by Levi Combs and published by Necromancer Games. We talk a bit about horror in RPGs and we also briefly discuss Lodestar to Karamouska , a system agnostic RPG setting zine by Matheus Graef that Stu published throu...

They seem to be at the center of every occult conspiracy mystery ever written, so of course they have an RPG! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we take a look at Heirs to Heresy , Allan Bahr's RPG centered on the Knights Templars (and their persecution in 1312). We also talk a bit about Osprey Publishing's whole RPG line and some of the many surprises contained therein! * * * Our friends at No...

In 2021, Call of Cthulhu turned 40 years old! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we're looking at some of the print products that came out in 2022 to celebrate that mind-blasting anniversary — the sinister-looking 40th Anniversary edition of the  Keeper Rulebook , the Kickstarted reprint of the first edition Call of Cthulhu box set with its accompanying stack of scenario books and, mostly, the...

FLASHBACK to October 29, 2018. Two friends in a remote club house. Lightning flashes. Thunder roars. The rain hammers the window in torrents. Within, they discuss… I6: Ravenloft ! Yep, this week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we're airing a remastered repeat. One of Stu's microphone cables died under mysterious circumstances and we couldn't replace it in time to record a new jam. We'll be back next w...

There were terrors lurking in the shadows when the world was young! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we take a look at Time/Life's classic series, The Enchanted World. Over 21 lushly illustrated volumes, the books portray a world of magic and monsters in a delicious, in-universe style. Perfect for pillaging for roleplaying games! * * * We mentioned the television spots for the books on the sh...

Game over, man! Actually, wait, no, as usual, we can't always trust Stu's first impressions. This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we look at the  Colonial Marines Operations Manual (2021) for Free League's Alien RPG. This sourcebook introduces campaign play to the system and continues the metaplot established in the cinematic adventures along in a big way. Game on!