This is an episode about people in compromising situations digging themselves even deeper for the sake of advancing their goals... Admittedly, a LOT of our episodes are about that, but this one has a real laser-focused theme. Divino looks to recruit the Chosen One himself, despite the kid's suspicions. Corvina actually musters up some effort and does some research. Simone buddies up to the people she's currently most scared of... and winds up on the wrong end of a waaacky misunderstanding!
Oct 16, 2019•1 hr 2 min
This new term at Pigsmoke seems to come with an extra helping of intrigue, especially now that Liam (played by Levi) has rejoined the party just in time to get tangled up in the Mindbending Department's latest scandal-in-the-making. Can he avoid reprisal from the Dean's office AND revenge from his colleagues? Meanwhile, Divino seems to be having some popularity issues, and Simone and Corvina wind up bumping into the wrong kind of people.
Oct 09, 2019•1 hr 14 min
Pigsmoke College is back in session, and the professors are just as excited to be back as their students. The Dean has recruited a mysterious figure--played by Jonix!--to join its hand-picked mentors of Chad Blackwood, the Chosen One. Is this downright villainous-looking necromancer one of those evil professors we keep hearing about, or just kind of creepy and sad? Can Simone keep bluffing her students and peers into thinking she has magic? Will Corvina ever catch a break? Listen on to find out!
Oct 01, 2019•1 hr 3 min
Our ragtag magicians have finally found their goblin... or, more accurately, he has found them and taunted them as a disembodied voice, ushering them towards a "guessing game" that seems a little more dangerous than Twenty Questions. Will Gin's carefree spirit and skeleton butler carry him above danger? Will Batu survive against the very "true magic" he's been looking for? Will Agnes's swamp-witchery help in this swamp? Listen on to find out!
Aug 28, 2019•1 hr 17 min
As Echo traverses the ruined city, climbing ever higher and encountering ever stranger products of wild magic, the changes they have undergone become more apparent. What will they be by the time they reach their goal? What IS their goal? And what will they have for lunch at the food court? Content Warning: Some body horror.
Aug 14, 2019•1 hr 1 min
We're back at it with... well, technically, this is from before we left Bleak Spirit to begin with. But now you can listen to the system played with a new crew--Owen, Sara, Pixie, and Jonix--in an entirely new setting where a world much like our own has been warped by the emergence of untamed magic. What will the helmed wanderer Echo encounter as they progress through the ruined city, and what will change as a result? We don't know yet!
Aug 07, 2019•1 hr 4 min
We're jumping right into yet another Kickstarter campaign tie-in, this time with What We Were by Freddie Taylor Bell! It's a setting-agnostic system that focuses on personalized character arcs, and Jonix is using it to showcase his unique fantasy world! Three young mages (an apprentice-turned-trapper, a noble-turned-necromancer, and a barmaid-turned-witch) try to find a place in a world where people have only recently learned to harness the world's magic. The first step: see a goblin. You can ba...
Aug 01, 2019•1 hr 49 min
Nicks's journey reaches its thrilling climax and chilling conclusion! As he ventures deeper into the abbey in search of treasure, he will find more and more hints at the horrific events that led to its abandonment and the terrifying truths of its current state... and we'll find out just how truly roguish he is. Content Warning for some brief gore and desecration of corpses.
Jul 24, 2019•1 hr 6 min
We're delving into the pre-release version of a game from the creator of Pigsmoke: Bleak Spirit, a game about a stranger in a strange land where no one knows for sure what the real story is. Owen, Levi, Fern, and Vanessa share control of a roguish skink and the swamped abbey he's exploring; what kind of narrative could emerge from this? It's anyone's guess, but our money isn't on a sunshiny one. Content Warning: Brief description of some nasty corpses.
Jul 17, 2019•1 hr 21 min
Having recruited a new member, secured some privacy, and shifted their inter-gang alliances, the Resurrectionists settle in for a week of recuperation. Blondie hob-nobs over tea, Flint sticks his nose around, Thalia dances like no one's watching, and Ira makes some friends. However, the factions of Doskvol are never at rest in their struggle for supremacy, and unseen clocks tick towards midnight...
Jul 03, 2019•1 hr 5 min
The Resurrectionists have welcomed Ira Glasgow the Slide into their ranks, but they find themselves in a familiar situation when Ira's prior... ahem, associate isn't eager to let them move on. Can a band of rogues, used to getting what they want through deception and violence, find peaceful resolution with a ruthless and paranoid gang leader? Or will someone get a knife thrown into their shoulder? Whoops, that was probably way too specific.
Jun 26, 2019•1 hr 26 min
The Resurrectionists set out to find their next score, but quickly discover that political powderkegs with underlying hints of conspiracy are, in fact, complicated. Short on leads, they stumble into one person with the skills and contacts to help them navigate this web of conflict and intrigue... and immediately antagonize them. Featuring the return of Fern, previously heard in our Maid RPG adventures!
Jun 19, 2019•1 hr
With their latest wins and losses behind them, the Resurrectionists settle in for a little downtime. Franz recovers from the (ahem) licking he got, Thalia reflects a little on her home life, and Kristov makes an unexpected breakthrough. Then it's time to contemplate their next move, with a little guidance from new allies, though not all sources are equally trustworthy...
Jun 12, 2019•1 hr 9 min
The Resurrectionists are back, as their name would imply! We return to Doskvol after a long hiatus to see our favorite pseudo-Victorian rogues finish what they started: tracking down and killing a masked assassin in order to pay off a criminal organization for poaching their shark-woman fence. Franz/Blondie hits up an old contact who hits back, Thalia/Shade follows some spectral clues, Kristov/Flint puts a little English on the metaphorical ball, and Crowl/Club's clock ticks.
Jun 05, 2019•1 hr 9 min
After an explosive end to the last episode, the united champions of Jorl push forward to end the invasion in the Fomorians' own mothership! Though they have determination and unexpected allies on their side, can they hope to sever the head of an otherworldly army? Find out in the finale of our first Fate Core adventure! Knights of Invasion is a World of Adventure by Richard Bellingham https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/179613/Knights-of-Invasion-o-A-World-of-Adventure-for-Fate-Core Our intro a...
May 22, 2019•1 hr 28 min
The Battle of Smyden continues as our knights converge on the aliens' entry point! Zeno keeps up the wrestlemania, Geoffrey has a lucky streak, Agrippa plays diplomatic hardball, and Prim has her best bad idea yet.
May 16, 2019•1 hr 12 min
The Invasion that these Knights are Of, apparently, finally kicks off! When the volcano that once split Jorl in two becomes the beachhead for a hostile force, can our ragtag heroes and their hurried coalition stand against it? Geoffrey puts his jousting skills to use, Prim uses some urban combat tactics, Zeno braves the fire, and Agrippa fights as dirtily as possible. Content Warning: Some gore, mostly inflicted upon big evil aliens.
May 08, 2019•1 hr 32 min
It's time for more M.A.I.D. action! Fern joins us with Daisy, a maid who... well, to use a certain turn of phrase, she wears a lot more hats than the little maid doily thing. She, Princess Hekatom, and Darwin Barkley are assigned to protect an important human diplomat in the heart of spider territory. Will they succeed despite their impulsiveness, unwillingness to utilize backup, and pitiful Affection scores? Listen to find out!
May 01, 2019•1 hr 15 min
Back by popular demand, it's Lasers & Feelings, the one-page, one-stat RPG! All of your favorite Raptor crewmates are here: Robin the Savvy Pilot, Chumbo, Dizzy the Hotshot Explorer, fan-favorite Chumbo, Logos the Android Doctor, I think Chumbo's in this one too, Bit the Dangerous-and-or-Sexy Engineer, and who could forget... the Star Dreadnought.
Apr 24, 2019•1 hr 10 min
The united knights of Jorl make their last push to prepare for the coming invasion! Agrippa proves that shame works, Geoffrey makes an uncertain promise, Zeno writes two letters, and Sara completely derails our podcast for a good couple minutes, cementing 100% canon details into another character's backstory by sheer force of will. Also featuring a Patreon shoutout!
Apr 10, 2019•58 min
Listen, usually I put a lot of thought into these descriptions, but this time... there's a point in this episode where someone says "betrothed by the Squatchmaster General" and I just can't top that. Come listen to this to hear that line if nothing else. The rest is also good, just not better than "betrothed by the Squatchmaster General."
Apr 04, 2019•1 hr 16 min
After a slight detour, we're back in Knights of Invasion, with the newly-organized party taking it upon themselves to rally their countrymen towards a unified defense! First off, we've got to meet the rest of Agrippa's family, and see if we can warm up a big gruff Dreamworks Dad. Then, Prim has Schemes to set up, Zeno has a Message to send, and Geoffrey has Regrets to dwell on. Also, many silly asides.
Mar 27, 2019•59 min
That's right, Maid is back! But it's not the charmingly mundane Maid focused on the world-jumping Hawksmore fortress and its frilly agents of conquest; this is M.A.I,D., a futuristic task force of super-powered peacekeepers! Unfortunately, a recording hiccup prevented us from showing you the random character creation, so: PLEASE believe me when I say that the bondage themes were selected by dice rolls, I didn't--Mom, if you're reading this, it was all the dice, NOT ME. Content Warning: A few dea...
Mar 20, 2019•55 min
With the tournament over and cosmically larger problems heaped onto their collective plate, the knights of Jorl reassemble their blown minds and take stock of the situation. Both King Karl and Queen Kelda agree that the situation is dire, but is life or death enough to make them cooperate? And, now that they're not being flung together by the spirit of competition, will our beloved knights find a reason to hang out together? I hope so, or my job's about to get way harder.
Mar 06, 2019•1 hr 21 min
The tournament comes to a head when all four of our knights--and two that aren't ours so much as mine, being NPCs--wade into an all-out melee! This plays out as what may be the longest single combat scene in Big Gay Nerds history, one full of fleeting alliances and desperate gambits. When the dust settles, who will be the sole victor? Also: there's a twist ending! So you'd better be pretty enticed by all of this.
Feb 27, 2019•1 hr 42 min
It's time to tilt! We've got a real strong bracket for this jousting tournament, folks, with Ser Zeno the handsome foreign heir starting on one side and Ser Geoffery the handsome horse-whisperer on the other! Who will overcome some unexpected opposition and earn the Big Prize? And while that's happening, what will Agrippa and Prim do to prepare for their upcoming competitions? Most importantly, do any of us fully understand the rules yet?
Feb 19, 2019•1 hr 7 min
No occasion bigger than Queen Kelda's 30th birthday could bring the courts of Jorl together for civil competition, making this a fantastic opportunity for knights to win glory... or a political advantage for their kingdoms. Among these gathered tournamenteers are a handsome heir from overseas, a small-but-bold second child, a horse-whispering country boy, a representative of a reclusive house who's definitely who she says, and... a green-clad outsider who no one can make sense of. Hmm.
Feb 13, 2019•57 min
Here we go, with an adventure that I think I've wanted to run since the show's inception, if not earlier! It's the enticingly open-ended Fate system, where the little personality quirks setting your character apart are the most mechanically important things about them. We're using it to play a game of chivalry and conflict, set on a fictional island divided between two kingdoms. With knighthood as a baseline, what kinds of misfits will the party develop to fit into their armor? https://www.evilh...
Feb 06, 2019•53 min
The crew of the Australia is ready to meet with a mysterious contact... and get some shore leave in the meantime! Or station-leave, to be precise. If shores are planets in this metaphor than I guess a space station would be... a bundle of docks in the middle of the water, like in Flapjack. Anyway, X aims to regain some social standing, Eva sings, Craig logs in, and Nat shakes on it.
Jan 16, 2019•1 hr 27 min
A handful of prisoners and backwater settlers are given the chance for a fresh start for themselves and humanity as a whole... once they get their hands on some prohibitively rare fuel for their mining-barge-turned-interstellar-ark. It's also uncertain if a gun-toting revolutionary, a disorganized hacker/pilot, a neon-faced failed guard, and a bodybuilding farmer are even capable of keeping their fellow humans (and one methane-filled companion) focused on the same goal. Includes discussion of po...
Jan 09, 2019•1 hr 18 min
