Total Pebble Knockdown

On this episode of Delve: * Once upon a time we discussed the "good" party and the "bad" party, but we never discussed the "morally ambiguous" party. You know, the neutral party that really doesn't have a stake in affairs of the state or society, but just has a job to do and wants to get paid for their services. Basically witchers, but with less personal investment. What do you do when your party...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * In case you were not aware, basically every licensed property in existence has decided to dive into the tabletop market. On this Weekly Muse, Nathan slightly breaks Alex with news of a Power Rangers RPG, Disney theme park board games, a 5E compatible version of Runescape and a shocking list of super successful Kickstarters with recognizable brands. And...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * Somewhere in Nebraska, video game enthusiasts uncovered a treasure trove of cartridges from the Genesis and SNES era and lost their collective minds. Early estimates suggest that it could be worth millions with most of the cartridges still factory sealed. Does this sound like an over-estimate? What other digital antiques could be worth money? What shoul...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * It might not be well-known, but Alex and Nathan have been playing... oh, what is it called... Dungeons & Dragons. Alex has been running a module and Nathan is playing a bard, so this is a new experience for both of us. We discuss what it's like running a module compared to making your own campaign and how you can still make it your own. We also thin...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * Nintendo came under some fire for shutting down their WiiU and 3DS game stores without offering another option to enjoy a ton of classic games once that happens. Besides spawning a clear response from academics and the Video Game History Foundation, this brings up a serious issue about the preservation of video games in the digital age. Also, why can't...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * With Horizon Forbidden West and Elden Ring now released, media outlets have already begun the discussion about what shall be the Game of the Year. On this Soapbox, we make the simple statement: NO! And while it is far too early to be calling a contest such as this, we might as well discuss why GOTY is a thing and if we really need The Game Awards. Horiz...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * We welcome our first guest to the show, Chris Bissette, creator of Loot the Room, writer of The Wretched and Co-Writer/Publisher of The Unquiet Dark on Kickstarter right now. How quickly will this episode go off the rails? You probably know the answer. * Dark Souls has a tabletop game now, as does Devil May Cry and Darkest Dungeon apparently. Not really...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * And so, Nathan arrives at 77 hours into Cyberpunk 2077 and Alex has also been playing quite heavily. So, now we get to discuss the game you didn't think we'd play... as much as we actually have. Why was this the game we keep playing? What did CD Projekt Red do right that often gets overshadowed by a disastrous launch and company response? Could this sti...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * So, Activision Blizzard was acquired by Microsoft for a whole lot of money and now we have to discuss the biggest purchase in video gaming history. Mostly, we need to talk about whether this was a good idea. Will Microsoft be able to justify this price tag in the future and how would they plan on recuperating the cost? The good, the bad and the microtra...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * Techland has a big game coming out shortly called Dying Light 2: Stay Human. To promote the release, they sent out a message saying the game would be 500 hours long and a lot of people did not take that news well. Techland had to clarify that 500 hours would be specifically to do everything in the game and the main game would be 20 hours. So, have we co...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * Have you ever wanted to be a video game character in real life? Well a new place called Bam Kazam is building experiences that let you live out your digital dreams in the analog world. What world would we explore and which ones are we trying to avoid? Bam Kazam in Scottsdale turns you into a video game character, literally Bam Kazam Homepage * So Dark A...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * Really quick, imagine the most likely reality show star to get a video game adaptation. Now toss that idea out the window, because we're talking about the reality of playing a Dog the Bounty Hunter game. This is not a drill. The mullets are real. Let's discuss the fresh hell we are in. The article with a mullet - Dog the Bounty Hunter Is Getting His Own...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * It was only a matter of time. Nathan finally played Snowball the Rainbow Unicorn Detective in a live stream. In addition to discussing what happened when he popped up on The Inspectres and got transported to the magical world of Kittensville, we look at how Snowball was built using the normal D&D creation tools. Yes, Nathan built Snowball as an actu...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * New Year, new opportunities to not follow through with resolutions. However, Alex and Nathan discuss the idea of "New Year's Themes" and what we would like to do in 2022.  The idea of New Year's themes came from this CGP Grey video: Your Theme - YouTube * On this episode, Nathan does the most dangerous thing in the Internet age: He admits he was wr...

* Recently, D&D released their new Strixhaven setting, taking the famous TTRPG into a school setting straight out of Magic: The Gathering. Time to think about all the school pop culture properties we could stick into this and what Rodney Dangerfield would be as a D&D character. Also, there is now an owl you can play and why does everyone have night vision? Sources with more details on Stri...

* It's time to reiterate a previous statement to game companies because it has not been fixed: Stop selling us your beta. Since Nathan made a video on the subject back in 2019, we continue to get half-finished games rushed to market but still sold as full games from developers hoping to capitalize on the goodwill they have garnered with fans. And then comes the micro-transactions, roadmaps of cont...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * Skyrim has released it’s Anniversary Edition to celebrate 10 years of re-releases. And thus, we need to wistfully look back at our first experiences with the epic RPG and how we still play it. * Of course, when we think about Skyrim, most people start wondering how many versions there have been and we kind of come up with a couple answers on how many th...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * Rockstar was under some major fire after the release of GTA Trilogy: Definitive Edition with many complaints about bugs, glitches, poor graphics rendering, missing songs, lazy re-skins, the removal of the old games from sale, typos that were not in the originals and (somehow) a return of "Hot Coffee". So... I guess we'll discuss all of that? GTA Trilogy...

* There was Borderlands news this week and Nathan is legally obligated to discuss the series whenever applicable. This time it's about a stand-alone version of Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, the DLC from Borderlands 2, revamped as a Wonderlands one-shot in preparation for next year's installment. Will this be the kind of game we play as a team or possibly as frenemies? Only time will tell......

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * Netflix is dipping their toes in the water of game streaming, but in very shallow water. We look at the initial offerings, which is quite limited, but beg so many fun questions. This shows a much broader trend of cloud gaming and streaming services, so we look at what those sorts of services are and why you might use them. * Keeping track of your money...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * Dark Souls is a difficult game and causes a fierce dislike in certain people, such as Nathan. However, we have learned that games based on the Dark Souls formula are far better than the game that spawned them in many ways. We get up on our soapbox and discuss Code Vein, Nioh, The Surge 2 and Jedi Fallen Order to see why some souls-like games succeed by...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * It’s that time of year and every news outlet wants to put out a version of the “Top Scary Games” lists and we discuss some of the most common entries on them. What did we play and were they actually scary? * Hallways with teeth, cannibals, long horse, siren head and all sorts of other odd things. Welcome to the very strange world of Roblox cults, which...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * Shortly after we released an episode discussion the possibility of a new D&D edition, word came down that we will be getting a new edition of D&D in 2024. Thanks to the folks on our Discord server, we could have a deeper Discord Discussion on that topic. Is this D&D 6E or is it more like 5.5E? What kind of changes could we be looking at? Let...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * Inspiration Points are one of those mechanics that can get overlooked while playing D&D. Similar systems exist in other games as well, but how do we get better engagement with those systems? A suggestion from our Discord server leads us to ask that very question. * While your party is battling hordes of goblins in a dungeon, do they ever lose track...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: * Myst got a full-on re-imagining recently. Alex and Nathan remember when they played the original game that came out... almost 30 years ago!? How old are we!? Myst • Cyan * Why do we see so many recreations of classic games? Is it related to us being old? * What is the difference between remasters, remakes and reboots? We give some explanations, examples...