Remote play is all the rage and we’ve convened in the Gaming Hut , physically distanced as always, to provide our tips to smooth your sudden conversion to the format. In the Archaeology Hut , beloved Patreon backer Mikko Airaksinen wants us to get to the bottom of museums locking away their 3D artifact scans . In the Cinema Hut we look at war movies you can nerdtrope into weird war scenarios, for example in the Wars sequence of The Yellow King Roleplaying Game . Objects hovering over the Elipton...
Apr 24, 2020
You are getting sleepy very sleepy in the Gaming Hut as we look at ways to make being mind-controlled fun for players. The Yellow King Roleplaying Game profiles move back to the Culture Hut for a look at Ken’s favorite Belle Epoque figure, photographer, cartoonist, spy and balloonist Nadar. In Ask Ken and Robin we satiate beloved Patreon backer Lt Col Andrew Bates’ desire to know what occult mysteries Bruce Lee and Jimi Hendrix fought together in Seattle in the early 60s. Finally esteemed Patreo...
Apr 17, 2020
The aroma of a damn fine cup of coffee wafts through the Gaming Hut as beloved Patreon backer Drew Eicholz asks us to pitch a non-frustrating version of Lynchian roleplaying. In Fun With Science we look at Marie Curie as a figure in The Yellow King Roleplaying Game . Home cooking with leftovers is on our mind for some reason as the Food Hut looks at stews, and by extension cooking with ingredients you happen to have on hand. Finally esteemed Patreon backer Peter Williamson visits the Consulting ...
Apr 10, 2020
In the Gaming Hut we spitball ideas for GUMSHOE One-2-One scenarios enterprising listeners might turn into self-published PDF products under the auspices of its Creative Commons license. We enter the History Hut to find rocker Frank Black prompting beloved Patreon backer to ask us about the Llano del Rio commune of the 1910s. The Cinema Hut gathers up its leopard and evening attire for a screwball comedy 101 segment. Then esteemed Patreon backer Shinanoki summons us to the Eliptony Hut to delve ...
Apr 03, 2020
In the Gaming Hut we ask when a historical event the players can research might also be a spoiler. Ripped From the Headlines allows beloved Patreon backer Chris Lydon to discover the hidden significance of Las Vegas’ political hat wearing pigeons. Our round of Yellow King Roleplaying Game Belle Epoque biographies shifts to the Culture Hut as we look at a potential patron for your occult investigators, the most famous actor in the world, Sarah Bernhardt. Then the Eliptony Hut ventures to Californ...
Mar 27, 2020
In the Gaming Hut , beloved Patreon backer Peter McAveney asks how to set up a Night’s Black Agents game as if it is, at first, some other less vampire-infested game. The Tradecraft Hut goes to 50s Canada, a tale of a KGB mole turned double agent and the corrupt RCMP officer who gave him up to his Soviet masters. For more, see Donald G. Mahar’s Shattered Illusions: KGB Cold War Espionage in Canada . Ask Ken and Robin features a query from discerning Patreon backer Louis Sylvester about the proce...
Mar 20, 2020
In the Gaming Hut , beloved Patreon backer Trung Bui asks us for tips and tricks on running open-ended games without interfering with player agency. The Food Hut remains just as crispy, with a fraction of the calories, as Robin discovers air fryer cooking by way of the Breville Smart Oven with Air Fry . Our tour of the Belle Epoque setting featured in The Yellow King Roleplaying Game moves to the Crime Blotter and a look at troubling forensics pioneer Alphonse Bertillon. Finally the Eliptony Hut...
Mar 13, 2020
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Gray St. Quintin asks us to expand on our past fleeting discussion of the various voices and modes used in a roleplaying session. The Tradecraft Hut has no choice but to address recent reminders that Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger, whose story is already wild enough, was subjected to MK-ULTRA brainwashing experiments. Esteemed backer Derek Upham bids to enter the Archaeology Hut to paw over ancient curse tablets found at the bottom of a Greek well. Then we...
Mar 06, 2020
Look out for dirigibles as the Gaming Hut looks at the process of selecting your tech level when building an alternate timeline. The Aftermath sequence of The King in Yellow Roleplaying Game serves as our case in point. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Somebody Else , we chat with game designer and writer Sarah Saltiel. Beloved Patreon backer Andrew Miller wants to know Ken’s thoughts on emergent continuity in Ask Ken and Robin . The Consulting Occultist continues our series of arcane profiles from B...
Feb 28, 2020
Longtime listeners know that “Start with Earth” is a Thing Ken Always Says. But in the Gaming Hut , beloved Patreon backer Nicola Wilson wants to know exactly where. In the Conspiracy Corner estimable Patreon backer Steven Roman seeks bookshelf recommendations for all things recent and conspiratorial. The Consulting Occultist continues to wear suspiciously Robin-like facial hair as we enter the penultimate edition of Belle Epoque magicians series, as inspired by The Yellow King Roleplaying Game,...
Feb 21, 2020
In the Gaming Hut we come to the rescue of beloved Patreon backer Keelan O’Hea, whose players have conceived the inexplicable desire for a version of GUMSHOE with more die rolling in it. The Food Hut , of all huts, contains the first of this episode’s two Yellow King Roleplaying Game shout-outs, as we savor the career and influence of chef, restaurant operator and cookbook author Auguste Escoffier. The History Hut finds Ken prowling the British Museum researching his upcoming Hellenistika D&...
Feb 14, 2020
They tried to suppress it. They tried to contain it. They left it for months on a loading dock in Estonia. But now The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has made its final crack in reality by heading to retail. We celebrate with an all-Yellow King edition of Robin’s ambitious new game. In the Gaming Hut , beloved Patreon backer Ken Ringwald obligingly asks how it tackles the age-old problem of time as a resource in RPGs. The History Hut peels back the covers on the Skin Affair, a gruesome scandal tha...
Feb 07, 2020
In the Gaming Hut , we show you how to turn otherwise inert scenes in a sandbox game into prompts for activity. With the Academy Awards creeping up on us yet again, it’s time for us to sashay into the Cinema Hut to list our favorite films of 2019. Finally the Consulting Occultist returns to matters Rosicrucian as beloved backer, the Monster Talk podcast, asks for secrets of Christian Rosenkreuz’s legendary tomb. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with y...
Jan 31, 2020
That knife you smuggled into the Gaming Hut will finally pay off as we provide tips on playing the secret assassin character. Patreon backer Tom Abella provides us a story Ripped From the Headlines , in which a baffling GPS-spoofing technology deployed on the Yangtze at Shanghai might be a cover for sand thieves. Or, you know, something weird. In the Horror Hut backer Thomas Wolfe asks us to mull the works of weird fiction stalwart Clark Ashton Smith. If it weren’t for Ken’s Time Machine , the m...
Jan 24, 2020
With a wave of his chainsaw hand, Patreon backer Walter Manbeck summons us to the Gaming Hut for tips on running comedy horror games. Inspired by a recent New York Times Magazine piece , the Tradecraft Hut examines the implications of the OSS’ impact on graphic and industrial design. Patreon backer Marc Kevin Hall asks us into the Cinema Hut for the 101 on the absurdist retro delights of Winnepeg filmmaker Guy Maddin. Finally the gray and Nordic aliens listen intently in the Eliptony Hut as we t...
Jan 17, 2020
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Tom Shaw asks us to even the odds when strong PCs fight weak opponents. A gruesome find in the History Hut prompts estimable backer Polydamas to seek guidance on portraying the Sandby Borg Massacre in a game. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else , Robin chats with Fil Baldowski, mastermind of the of All Rolled Up empire. Finally, in Fun With Science , profound Patreon backer Wayne Shaw wants to know the true significance of the gigantic metal deposit ...
Jan 10, 2020
Pull up a comfy chair and get your fireballs back in the Gaming Hut as we look at the timing of resource refreshing. In the Tradecraft Hut we peer into the espionage activities of William Playfair, now better known as the inventor of the pie chart, not to mention most of your other favorite charts. Ask Ken and Robin features a request from beloved Patreon backer Lars to consider updates to Earthdawn . Then Phil Masters, estimable Patreon backer who this time gets a whole question to himself, ask...
Jan 03, 2020
In our final episode of the year, we unwrap the annual Christmas present that is our episode recorded live at Dragonmeet in London. Join us for the nerdtroping of the Norman Conquest and Hindu mythology, this podcast’s alternate timeline, writing to drink by, annoying tannoy interruptions, and the real intervention in the 2016 election. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon ! Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePub...
Dec 20, 2019
Freshly home and invigorated, or perhaps exhaugorated, by our annual trip to Dragonmeet in London, we issue a Travel Advisory for the William Blake exhibition at Tate Britain. Rocketed by the power of recording technology back to the day before Gen Con, Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else finds us in conversation with Colby Elliott, silky-voiced creator and narrator of RPG audiobooks, including a little number you might know as Robin’s Laws of Good Gamemastering . Experienced listeners are alr...
Dec 13, 2019
In the Gaming Hut we figure out what people are really talking about when they take sides in the system matters debate. The Tradecraft Hut peers into a classic tabloid spy scandal, 1961’s Profumo Affair, to see what one might make of it in The Fall of Delta Green . Beloved Patreon backer Timothy Coram steps up to make a demand on behalf of all, that Robin enter the Food Hut to confront Ken with the contents of the Sno-Voyageur’s Cookbook, a time capsule of Ontario cooking from the 80s. Finally t...
Dec 06, 2019
Join us not midway through but at the top of the podcast as the Gaming Hut finds ways to introduce a new player to a long-running series. In the Television Hut beloved Patreon backer Jeromy French asks Robin to expound on the problems of the series finale. Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else features an interview Robin conducted at the Kraken, with Pedro Ziviani, whose new Chaosium story card game The Red Thread of Fate will begin its Kickstarter campaign on Jan 19th. Then we get quiet, very v...
Nov 29, 2019
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Elias Helfer asks us how to invent great magical artifacts. The History Hut exits pursued by a bear, and also flying bricks, as we look at New York City’s 1849 Shakespeare riots. Phil Masters leads a cane-toting pack of his fellow Patreon backers into the Horror Hut , demanding to know how Jekyll and Hyde fit into Robin’s theory about the inherent structural challenge of werewolf movies. Then backer Andrea Colletta revs up Ken’s Time Machine to find out w...
Nov 22, 2019
, We show up in the Gaming Hut with our usual punctuality to look at ways of handling player absences. Crime Blotter looks at video games as a platform for money laundering. Beloved Patreon backer Steve Dempsey invites us to the Food Hut for a bowl of chili, or at least some palaver and history concerning this iconic and weirdly controversial dish. And finally, in Ask Ken and Robin , backer Michael Gemar invites us to riff on the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, a kickstarted temple to art and psychede...
Nov 15, 2019
In the Gaming Hut, Patreon backer Jacques de Villiers wonders how one might use The Armitage Files or Dracula Dossier in The Fall of Delta Green . Then Ken convenes a Cinema Hut to talk about his discoveries from the Chicago International Film Festival. He’s been a character in the Kartasverse for ages, but now he’s here in person. In Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else , James Damato gives us the scoop on his Ultimate RPG Guides. Then the Consulting Occultist acquaints us with a central figur...
Nov 08, 2019
The Gaming Hut chunks a double-double in the pentacle as Patreon backer Louis Sylvester asks us to riff on regional linguistic magic. Backer Nikolaj Hansen runs into a Mythology Hut shaped like a phone booth, asking Ken why Umberto Eco was wrong about Superman. Things get hairy in the Cinema Hut as we look at structural problems as the bane of werewolf movies. Finally we brave the cold wilds of the Eliptony Hut to satisfy backer Mikey Hamm’s request for a segment on the Dyatlov Pass incident. Wa...
Nov 01, 2019
The Gaming Hut warms up its blue bolts as we mull the exasperated Dungeon Master trope. Beloved Patreon backer Corey Pierno asks the Book Hut for tips on researching the everyday lives of historical people. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else , we chat with Ellie Akers about her online equestrian management game Hunt and Jump, and common horse mistakes in RPGs. Finally the Consulting Occultist heads to balmy British Columbia to tell the tale of yellow-robed cultist Brother XII. Want to pose...
Oct 25, 2019
We hunker down in the mud and fear of the Gaming Hut to answer beloved Patreon backer Bill Durfy’s request to combine WWI and ghouls. Impeachment is in the news, the 1867 news that is, as the History Hut covers the attempt to remove Andrew Johnson from the White House. In How to Write Good we provide tips on creating blocked desires for your dramatic characters. Finally the Food Hut takes a journey on Ken’s Time Machine as we peer into the dire timeline prevented when our hero supplied the yeast...
Oct 18, 2019
Our forces muster outside the Gaming Hut as Patreon backer Robert Dean asks us how to fold mass battles into D&D. Thanks to a redaction failure the Tradecraft Hut discovers ICE’s requisition for a replica Chicago at Fort Benning. Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else gets a 13/10 as we chat with multi-hat wearing designer and gaming honcho Darren Watts, about such projects as We Rate Dogs!: The Card Game . Finally in a very special segment of Conspiracy Corner Patreon backer Drew Clowery ask...
Oct 11, 2019
The PCs are being pursued! Run to the Gaming Hut to learn how to make this fun! A sinister substances drips in your direction! Creep into the Horror Hut for an examination of ooze horror. Fill your cart with processed junk as the Food Hut contemplates objectively terrible comestibles at least one of us loves. Get communal, or at least manufacture a fork or two, as we enter the Eliptony Hut to make up something fun about 19th century preacher—some might say cult leader—John Humphrey Noyes. Want t...
Oct 04, 2019
Beloved Patreon backer Timothy Daly meets us in the Gaming Hut to ask why D&D remains the most popular roleplaying game. Speaking of D&D, Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else , specifically Jim Zub, about the Young Adventurers’ Guide series of D&D kids’ books. Finally the Cinema Hut hosts its annual look back at the top and most gamer-worthy titles Robin saw at the Toronto International Film Festival. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with...
Sep 27, 2019
