We put down our catalogues of iron rations and guaranteed unpossessed cats to venture into the Gaming Hut and discuss the allure of shopping and gear in roleplaying games. Inside the perimeter of the Tradecraft Hut we round up such national security concerns as Angela Merkel’s cellphone and the secret Twitter life of dismissed White House staffer Jofi Joseph. Corwyn Pendragon Asks Ken and Robin to name their touchstone works on story and structure. Finally Ken uses his high-level Consulting Occu...
Nov 15, 2013
Ken has returned from the Chicago Film Festival to regale the Cinema Hut with demonic pacts, ghost possession, a Kurdish western, and an unusually sympathetic take on the new Dario Argento flick. As prompted by George Pletz, Ask Ken and Robin considers the picaresque and floats various techniques for strictly episodic RPGing. In the Genre Hut we mull the highly problematic footprint Fu Manchu has planted in pop culture. Finally, we rev up Ken’s Time Machine , sending our chrono-hero to whichever...
Nov 08, 2013
Gather in the Gaming Hut as we discuss differences of perspective between game players and game designers. In How to Write Good we explore that most ancient of all fiction maxims. What does it mean to write what you know? Erik Otterberg supplies us the subject for Ask Ken and Robin : what if H. P. Lovecraft had lived to a ripe old age? Finally, popular demand, as it so often does, cries out for a sequel—in this case, the third Politics Hut retelling of the ongoing saga of Toronto mayor Rob Ford....
Nov 01, 2013
Feel all leafy-like as Ken issues an autumnal Travel Advisory for his recent road trip to Lovecraft’s Vermont and Marblehead. Bathe in the cathode rays of the Television Hut as we compare and contrast two nerd-relevant new shows—”Sleepy Hollow” and “Marvel’s Agents of Shield.” In Ask Ken and Robin we take on a Jeromy French query on the use of music in roleplaying games. Finally, with a sigh of palpable reluctance, the Consulting Occultist educates us on the Transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emer...
Oct 25, 2013
To what extent should an adventure tell a story to the GM who is about to read it? Journey with us into the Gaming Hut to find out. Then fire up your laptops with their Cartography Hut screensavers and geographic information systems to look at the genre possibilities of digital cemetery mapping. In Ask Ken and Robin , Tom Clare asks about using in-world narrative voices to write rules text and setting material. We conclude by revving up Ken’s Time Machine and urging him to reverse the Gran Sasso...
Oct 18, 2013
With the smoke from our burning village billowing behind us, we take momentary refuge in the Gaming Hut to discuss great migration campaign frames. Under the war-room glare of the Geopolitics Hut we look at the averted strike on Syria and the limits of military intervention. Ask Ken and Robin features a Tim Daly question about the relative virtues of designing a game engine from the ground up, as opposed to adapting an existing house system. Finally the Consulting Occultist goes back to basics t...
Oct 11, 2013
Gather your Hegelian war band around the speakers to listen to our opening Gaming Hut segment, in which we look at ways to transform groups of murder hoboes into ensemble procedural casts. We open a historical case file in the Tradecraft Hut , looking at the role spy novelist William Le Queux, abetted by the Daily Mail, played in whipping up espionage fever in the nineteen-oughts. Among My Many Hats prompts Robin to share his preparatory thinking on the new edition of Feng Shui he’ll be working ...
Oct 04, 2013
If it’s late September, it must be time for Robin to exit bleary-eyed from the Lightbox theater and stumble into the Cinema Hut to regale us with his findings from the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Listen to Ken wish he had more crossover with the upcoming Chicago Film Festival, or follow along at home. Then Ken and Robin Recycle Audio , capping off their suite of excerpts from the Gen Con GUMSHOE panel. Finally, popular demand decrees that we venture into the Eliptony Hut to tackle ...
Sep 27, 2013
Join us for a very special live episode of Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, live from FanExpo Canada. Hop in our time machine and journey back to Toronto on the weekend before Labor Day to hear about ninja anti-competition efforts, our most hated gaming clichés, and much, much more. Not to mention the toxic menace of the cronut burger. Joining us as very special sponsor is the Bundle of Holding , which just happens to be offering an incredible Ken and Robin-related deal—the Bundle of GUMSHOE! Unt...
Sep 20, 2013
Having survived his epic three weekends, three conventions journey into the heart of geekdom, Ken returns to issue a Travel Advisory on his final leg, which took him to the newly de-asterisked DragonCon. In How to Write Good we consider discipline, routine, and various techniques to keep the productivity flowing at the keyboard. Then Ken and Robin Recycle Audio , with the first of two excerpts from the Gen Con GUMSHOE and investigative roleplaying panel. Finally we give the weary Consulting Occu...
Sep 13, 2013
After a prefatory Travel Advisory on their activities at FanExpo Canada and a Food Hut trawl through the gustatory delight’s of Robin’s neighborhood, Ken and Robin take a nostalgic look back over the haul of treasures secured in Toronto for Ken’s Bookshelf . Gangsters, pirates and ancient Americans flood into the Hite Memorial Library as we learn the secret graphic signifier that announces the presence of prime crazy. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else , Rob Heinsoo swings by the podcast t...
Sep 06, 2013
Somewhat rested but still with a fog upon their vocal chords, Ken and Robin issue a joint Travel Advisory for Gen Con 2013. Come for the shameless bragging, stay for the awards analysis, industry temperature taking, panel highlights, and Indianapolis food tips. Join us in a hearty welcome to our latest sponsor, Gorilla Games, now Kickstarting Monster Derby , their full contact road rage road race board game!...
Aug 30, 2013
In the Gaming Hut we power up our universal translators to contemplate the treatment of languages in roleplaying. Then we review our way through the summer blockbuster season in the Cinema Hut . In an Ask Ken and Robin lightning round, we dispatch questions right and left, entertaining queries from the diceless to the non-violent. Then, under the watchful eyes of benevolent Google gods, our Cartography Hunt/Conspiracy Corner co-production takes the aerial view of the Kazakhstan pentagram. Join u...
Aug 23, 2013
Join hands and sing fhtagn fhtagn as we self-congratulate ourselves on an epic year of podcasting. Then sidle past the mutual back-patting into the Gaming Hut , where we consider the export potential of DramaSystem series pitches to other roleplaying games. Rear back in shock as the Food Hut hosts our most heretical segment ever, in which Robin argues that the vaunted Indy steakhouse St. Elmo’s is, in fact, a terrible restaurant. Settle in for an extended stay as Ask Ken and Robin tackles Alasda...
Aug 16, 2013
In Ask Ken and Robin , Jacob Ansari asks about playing Night’s Black Agents in previous time periods. The Tradecraft Hut hosts a look at Jasper Maskelyne, the so-called War Magician. In The Business of Gaming we examine the unfortunate implosion of the Kickstarter-funded boardgame The Doom that Came to Atlantic City . This episode was recorded a day before Cryptozoic Entertainment announced plans to publish the game and fulfill orders to Kickstarter backers gratis, giving a happy ending quality ...
Aug 09, 2013
We flip through some pages in the Gaming Hut as we discuss the evolution of roleplaying game graphic design, from aesthetics to utility. Then we slip into the plush seats of the Cinema Hut to review the career of the great Hong Kong director Johnnie To. His latest masterpiece, Drug War , awaits a North American cinema release in August. In Ask Ken and Robin , Chris Shorb asks if Robin’s Laws of Good Gamemastering is still relevant today. Then the neglected dials of Ken’s Time Machine finally get...
Aug 02, 2013
From the Cartography Hut we send our separate adventurers on intercut journeys of exploration, as we riff on the fantasy game potential of the Atlas of True Names series. How to Write Good connects the dots of stakes, consequences, and reader engagement. In Ask Ken and Robin , Geoffery Nelson asks how iconic characters can engage in meaningful conflict without stopping the story dead as both dig their heels in. Finally we conclude Ken’s series on the Nazi occult by veering at an impossible angle...
Jul 26, 2013
Events in Egypt have us taking shelter in the Gaming Hut to suggest approaches to uprisings and revolutions in roleplaying narrative. Then Robin beckons you to the Cinema Hut for a quick intro to Chinese film, as seen through three rarities recently screened at the TIFF Lightbox: the suppressed censorship satire Unfinished Comedy , showbiz melodrama on the cusp of the Cultural Revolution Two Stage Sisters and the proto-heroic bloodshed of The Story of a Discharged Prisoner . Game design bubbles ...
Jul 19, 2013
We start in the Gaming Hut by contemplating the massive Call of Cthulhu campaign. What drives the love for this classic cornerstone of roleplaying obsession? In Ask Ken and Robin , Leó Páll Hrafnsson wants to know what the deal is with the famously lost Ninth Roman Legion. Grab the remote in the Television Hut as we look at structure in TV shows, from their evolution to their application to roleplaying. Then our epic Consulting Occultist series on the Nazi Occult explores the Thule Society, weal...
Jul 12, 2013
We shuttle over to the Gaming Hut to continue our discussion of omnipresent surveillance, this time in the context of your roleplaying group’s tendency to turtle up. The unveiling of the Word Hut sees us finding our preferences between US and UK words and punctuation. Petrol, anyone? In Ask Ken and Robin , we respond to Daniel Fidelman’s question on how to pace the unsheathing of knives when player betrayal is on the agenda. Then we head over to chat with the Consulting Occultist , as part four ...
Jul 05, 2013
Summer convention season kicks off with a Travel Advisory on Ken’s trip to Origins. Robin beckons you into the Cinema Hut to share his rare chance to see the first Wong Fei-Hung film, 1949’s The Whip That Smacks the Candle . Having established a Tradecraft Hut , we are naturally behooved to mull the implications of the newly whistleblown PRISM program of the NSA. We wrap with part 3 of our Consulting Occultist series on the Nazi occult, this time focusing in on Irminist prophet and Himmler advis...
Jun 28, 2013
Meet us in the Gaming Hut for techniques to make your characters’ backstories shine during RPG play. In Ask Ken and Robin we (meaning mostly Ken) address a question from friend of the site Jeromy French: “are there merits to reading August Derleth’s Lovecraftian fiction and why?” Then we fire up the grills of the Food Hut to look at prepared condiments and sauces one might use without shame as part of one’s fresh cooking. Finally, part two of our epic Consulting Occultist series on the Nazi occu...
Jun 21, 2013
This week’s Travel Advisory takes us to unfamiliar territory—not just the capital of Robin’s beloved Canada, but the On Words Conference held by the Writers’ Union of Canada . Come for compare/contrast between traditional and gaming publishing, stay for the Ottawa facts. We bid a wistful Book Hut farewell to Jack Vance, the titan of SF and fantasy literature who inspired certain key concepts of roleplaying, not to mention the output of our sponsor Pelgrane Press—so much so that it is named after...
Jun 14, 2013
First up, Ken and Robin enter the Gaming Hut to transcend their origins and discuss transhuman RPGs. How do we create inhuman characters human players can still portray? In the Tradecraft Hut , we discuss the implications of the Obama administration’s war on leakers, and how to bring press revelations into your espionage gaming. Robin then bows to popular demand with a Politics Hut Rob Ford update, this one covering the first thirteen days of the Toronto mayor’s crack video problems. (Warning: c...
Jun 07, 2013
In the Gaming Hut , we examine the tradition of flaws and disads in RPGs. Do they put the “fun” in dysfunctional? Then Ken and Robin adjourn to the Cinema Hut , where they try not to tell you too much about Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color while urging you to see it, and from there jump into the distinction between the explanatory and the experiential in storytelling. In Ask Ken and Robin , Jon Leitheusser asks Robin to explain the process by which his game design aesthetic gelled. Finally, fraud ...
May 31, 2013
Ken and Robin enter the Gaming Hut to catch you up on what they’re playing right now, from xenoarcheaological exploration to carnies caught between the devil and alien invaders. In Ask Ken and Robin , Terry O’Connell asks, “What’s your take on the Beyonce as Illuminati meme?” How to Write Good leads us into a general consideration of the mash-up age, before we provide advice on how to pastiche the prose styles of previous eras. Finally we rev up Ken’s Time Machine to prevent Cannibalism at the J...
May 24, 2013
Two mysterious doors provide ingress into the Gaming Hut . Which one do we take, as we contemplate adventure structure and the choice points that comprise it? Ask Ken and Robin takes an alternate history turn as Crane Brinton wonders: What does the alternate timeline where the Kaiser won WWI look like? Then we hop into a mapping car and head to the Cartography Hut , where we riff on the storytelling inspiration of Google’s recent documentation of the Fukushima ghost zone. We close with a visit t...
May 17, 2013
We start with a visit to the Gaming Hut to discuss the play utility of illustrations. In the Food Hut we explore the legends and lore of packaged goods, including the secret origins of Cool Whip, the Twinkie, and Gatorade. Conrad Kinch Asks Ken and Robin how one guides a playtester to greatness. Michael Cule adds a supplemental: have we ever regretted not implementing a piece of playtester advice? Finally, Ken’s Time Machine takes us to the intractable yet little mythologized tragedy that was th...
May 10, 2013
The undertones of jet lag in Robin’s voice indicate the issuance of another Travel Advisory , in this case concerning his lovely trip to Germany’s Hannover Spielt. Beers mentioned include: Herrenhäuser Pilsener , Astra Arschkalt , Schneider Aventinus , and Robin and John’s fave, Höss Doppel-Hirsch (the name of which Robin completely mangles during the podcast.) The trip also provides another opportunity for Ken and/or Robin To Talk To Someone Else —in this case, show sponsor John Kovalic, who di...
May 03, 2013
Ken and Robin hit a bare and blackened stage to bring the improv concept of “yes anding” to the Gaming Hut . In Ask Ken and Robin , they answer Kevin J. Maroney’s question about picking a game for roleplaying newbies. In its return appearance, How To Write Good tackles the basics of short story structure. And finally, listener Falko Sieverding proposes a mission for Ken’s Time Machine . Is maintaining the Vice-Presidency of Henry Wallace past 1944 the way to stop the atomic bombings of Hiroshima...
Apr 26, 2013
