In the Gaming Hut we look at how the same adversary can play very different roles from one game to the next. Serving as an example is Red Jack, created for Night’s Black Agents but presently contemplating a killing spree in The Yellow King Roleplaying Game . The Tradecraft Hut examines China’s latest hacking coup against the US, snaffling up 614 gigs of tech specs on the Sea Dragon submarine munitions project. In the Narrative Hut we weigh the various definitions of the word protagonist, decidin...
Jul 20, 2018
The Gaming Hut lies at the end of a ten foot corridor this week as Patreon backer Elias Helfer asks us, as paragons of story-driven RPGs, to explain why we think dungeons are awesome. In Fun With Science we extrapolate a future with affordable carbon reclamation. With the Over the Edge Kickstarter now in progress, we dig into our vault of interviews from last year’s Gen Con to chat with Jonathan Tweet in Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else . If someone tells you their favorite esoteric writer ...
Jul 13, 2018
It’s been 300 installments, just a smidge shy of six years, and longtime listeners and backers know what that means. Time for another episode-length Lightning Round , as we provide uncharacteristically snappy As to Qs about games, beverages, monsters, bees and the ever-proverbial so much more. 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 TeePublic . The island of Al Amarja may have moved...
Jul 06, 2018
The Gaming Hut has a bunch of vampires in the shop for adjustments as we look at the process of adapting creatures between systems. In Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else , Ken talks to Rich Ranallo about the new edition of Velvet Generation , now on Kickstarter . Listen close and you’ll hear Ken’s lightning bolt face makeup. As a milestone beckons, Ask Ken and Robin finds us in the mood for a meta-question. Thank goodness Patreon backer Ian Carlsen is here to request a glimpse behind the KART...
Jun 29, 2018
Having both recently moved big projects off our plates and into post-production, we convene in the Gaming Hut to look at lessons and surprises from our design work on Vampire: the Masquerade 5th Edition and The Yellow King Roleplaying Game . In the Horror Hut , we respond to the wish of Patreon backer Stephen Perpitch-Harvey to talk about jinn. Among My Many Hats has Robin donning the headgear of an ancient horse clan to talk about Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind , the new iOS game follow-up to Kin...
Jun 22, 2018
Do gamers like choice more than ordinary humans? We raised the question several episodes back, and now it’s all grown up into its very own Gaming Hut segment. In the Tradecraft Hut we look at the espionage allegations leveled against the Chinese telecom giant ZTE. Then the time comes for a brand new segment, the T-Shirt Justification Hut , in which we prepare you for the wearable terror of Walrus Revenge. Grab the shirt here ! Finally the Eliptony Hut augments its customary tinfoil hat with a be...
Jun 15, 2018
Not by chance do we start in the Gaming Hut , for a look at the role of coincidence in various mystery genres. Then at the behest of Patreon backer Stewart Robertson we duck into the secret recesses of the Mythology Hut for a 101 on Gnosticism. In Ask Ken and Robin , backer Aaron Galen White wants Robin to tell him more about Don DeLillo’s Zero K , and the treatment of genre tropes in literary fiction. Then Ken’s Time Machine revs up to see, at the request of backer Jacob Boersma, what a timelin...
Jun 08, 2018
Another all-request episode begins in the Gaming Hut , where Patreon backer David Shaw wants us to turn supermarket tokens into an eldritch menace. In the Architecture Hut Ken fills us in on the Chicago Spire Pit, at the behest of backer Neal Kaplan. Backer Steve Sick joins us in the plush seating of the Cinema Hut for a samurai film 101. And Ash Jackson is the Scrollbard meets us in the parlor of the Consulting Occultist to get each of us to circumscribe a sacred alphabet. Want to pose a questi...
Jun 01, 2018
Patreon backer Andy Olson invites us to plan a fantasy heist in the Gaming Hut . In the Tradecraft Hut backer Andrew Miller debriefs us on the Fat Leonard case. How to Write Good looks at invented slang, with examples from Robin’s upcoming King in Yellow novel, The Missing and the Lost . Then we check backer Karl Schmidt’s goblet for traces of toxin as the History Hut visits that remarkable foe of Rome, Mithridates VI, aka the Poison King. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority q...
May 25, 2018
Stop plinking those kobolds and pop into the Gaming Hut as we ask if today’s median gamer is less motivated than before by the prospect of in-game reward. In Ask Ken and Robin , Patreon backer Neal Dalton asks Ken how he chooses game systems and pitches them to his players. We enter the Cartography Hut to look at the persuasive qualities of maps. Check out Cornell’s online archive of polemical maps. Maps referenced include The Awakening , The Russian Octopus , and Pig Nicknames of the US States ...
May 18, 2018
The Gaming Hut takes place inside the Tradecraft Hut , or is it the other way around, as we, with the assistance of a FOIA request, investigate CIA-designed board games . How to Write Good looks at the particular challenges of creating game fiction. In the Food Hut we open a few bottles alongside Patreon backer Tim Vert, who wants to know about wines in fantasy worlds. Finally the Eliptony Hut tackles the mystery of the Roanoke Colony disappearance. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your ...
May 11, 2018
In the Gaming Hut , Patreon backer SR points us to an archived trove of CounterSpy magazine and asks how to make use of it in Fall of DELTA GREEN . We wouldn’t lead you on in an elaborate scheme of deception, and so have returned for the second part of a Cinema Hut question from backer Chris Camfield, laying down our 101 of con man films. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else , Ken talks to designer Alex Roberts about her RPG Star-Crossed, The Two-Player Game of Forbidden Love , on Kickstarte...
May 04, 2018
In the Gaming Hut we cover ways to design monsters to star in investigative scenarios. We tromp into the Command Hut at the behest of Patreon backer Thomas Vallejos, who wants to know the deep secrets behind a proposal to revive the US Army’s iconic WWII-era uniform style. In Ask Ken and Robin , backer Daniel Krauklis asks about writing scenarios featuring underrepresented groups. Finally, hold onto your library cards as, thanks to a query from backer Michael Parker, the Consulting Occultist inv...
Apr 27, 2018
Picking up a thread left hanging a few episodes back, the Gaming Hut looks at ways to make a mundane solution to an apparently occult mystery work satisfyingly for your players. The Tradecraft Hut peers behind the headlines of the Skripal poisoning case. In the Cinema Hut Patreon backer Chris Camfield asks for the 101 on heist flicks. Then Ken’s Time Machine gets back to its core business, the alternate timeline, by finding out what would happen when William Duer’s 1791 attempt to take control o...
Apr 20, 2018
Another all-request episode begins in the Gaming Hut , as Patreon backer Ruth Tillman asks us how we might game Annihilation in both its film and novel iterations. We head into the Book Hut at the behest of backer Sean Gomez, who wants to know more about Ken’s recent William Haggard fixation and spy thriller inspiration for Fall of DELTA GREEN more generally. In Ask Ken and Robin backer Louis Sylvester asks Robin, and also Ken, about devices to incorporate weird sounds and other subtle horror mo...
Apr 13, 2018
Robin tries out a new maxim in That Thing I Always Say : in a game RPG session, the only way to go off track is a dead end. In The Culture of Gaming , we look at gatekeeping, which rears its head once more with the rise of streamed play. Finally, in Ken’s Bookshelf , our resident bibliomane caresses the teetering pile of books he liberated from Moe’s Books in the Bay Area. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon ! Sna...
Apr 06, 2018
Keep a close eye on your open beverage as the Gaming Hut spins a Fall of DELTA GREEN arc from that most notorious of covert programs, MKULTRA. The Food Hut goes sequel for Instant Pot II: The Instant Pottening. Look over your shoulder for copycats as the Horror Hut investigates doppelgangers and body snatchers. One more warning: keep swords safely stored in their stones as the Eliptony Hut gives the 101 on historical Arthur theories. [Here’s Dr. Caitlin Green’s superb fun-ruiner deluxe/grownup l...
Mar 30, 2018
You have nothing to lose but your chains, and also your handcuffs, and possibly also your orange prison scrubs, as the Gaming Hut shows you what to do the next time your PC gets captured. The Tradecraft Hut probes off-books financial arrangements in covert operations, as inspired by a request from Patreon backer Chris Sellers. Chris wants us to turn this real-life ATF finagle into fodder for Night’s Black Agents and Fall of Delta Green . Backer Michael Maneval, meanwhile, wants the PCs to become...
Mar 23, 2018
Ken dons raffish 60s-vintage headgear to give The Fall of DELTA GREEN , now available for preorder, the Among My Many Hats treatment. Robin reviews ways to shape a dramatic scene in How to Write Good . We look at the science of choice and its implications for tabletop design in the Gaming Hut . Referenced in this segment: The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar. Finally the Consulting Occultist finds another Nazi mystic to talk about, as Patreon backer Bret Kramer asks for a profile on Savitri Dev...
Mar 16, 2018
We gather suspiciously in the Gaming Hut to ask if and how GMs can assist players in horror games who want their characters to exercise a Scully-like skepticism. We break into the History Hut at the behest of Patreon backer Andy Young, who seeks the scoop on fresh-faced 19th century burglar Edward Jones. In Ask Ken and Robin Andy Bates seeks help incorporating the Witches Tree , which haunts his hometown of Louisville, into his gaming. Speaking of mysteries, how the heck have we done 283 episode...
Mar 09, 2018
In the Gaming Hut we put up our dukes and look at ways to frame fights that advance the story. Oscar time is upon us, so as is our annual wont we pop into the Cinema Hut for a look back at our favorite films of 2017. Recovering from the red carpet, we visit the Consulting Occultist , who has been checking out the initial offerings placed online by the Ritman Library of occult texts. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Pat...
Mar 02, 2018
We swear we didn’t plan this, but Patreon backer Chris Sellers showed up unexpectedly in the Gaming Hut to ask about improvising GUMSHOE scenarios. The location of the Tradecraft Hut has been dangerously exposed, and only our look at fitness apps as a threat to operational security will save us. In an equally sudden turn, How to Write Good examines transitions between scenes, as codified in Robin’s new book for creators of fiction, Beating the Story . Get the electronic editions immediately by t...
Feb 23, 2018
February loses its rep as the cruelest month when we confront it with an all-hut, all-request episode, in tribute to our fabulous Patreon backers. In the Gaming Hut , Tom Bagatelle seeks guidance on a sandbox time travel campaign. Peter Williamson adds reclining couches to the Food Hut as we consider the Roman cookbook attributed to Apicius. Zachary Joyner meets us in the Cartography Hut for the 101 on telling stories with places. Finally David Sowa makes an urgent topical request in the Elipton...
Feb 16, 2018
Brace yourself for musical metaphors as we head into the Gaming Hut and find that Patreon backer Brian Thomas has left us the logical analogy Orchestra: jazz combo :: play’s ensemble cast : role playing gaming group. In Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else , Ken and Robin talk to Delta Green writer and illustrator Dennis Detwiller. In the Narrative Hut backers Andrew Miller and Dan O’Hanlon team up to ask just what Robin means when he calls coming-of-age stories the Worst Genre. Then the Consul...
Feb 09, 2018
In Among My Many Hats Robin talks about Beating the Story , which gears the story beat system you may know from Hamlet’s Hit Points to fiction writing in all of its forms. Pre-order the print book now and get it in electronic form immediately! As the world continues to turn into one big Conspiracy Corner , we look at the escalating weirdness that is Pizzagate. We shift to fictional, and therefore more plausible, conspiracies as Patreon backer Marco Marini seizes control of Ask Ken and Robin to t...
Feb 02, 2018
Ladies and tigers abound as the Gaming Hut looks at story choices and how players respond to them. Then Patreon backer Scott Wachter dusts off the Archaeology Hut to ask why King Tut armed himself with a meteor dagger. Move over, Project Blue Book. There’s a new defunct US government effort to investigate UFOs in town. We duck into the Eliptony Hut to discuss AATIP. Finally we fill the Cinema Hut with spoilers as we power up our takes on Star Wars: The Last Jedi . Want to pose a question to the ...
Jan 26, 2018
Yeah verily and anon, the Gaming Hut goes iambic pentameter as Patreon backer Chris Camfield asks us how to add Shakespearean flavor to a roleplaying campaign. Then your sweet and savory hosts venture into the Food Hut to reveal unbeatable flavor combinations. Sandhogs and aqueducts turn from research into terror as Ken and Robin Talk To Someone Else summons Ruth Tillman of Cthulhu Confidential fame. Now it can be told! Not a dream! Not an imaginary story! Finally recalls a book raid he neglecte...
Jan 19, 2018•1 hr 14 min
In the Gaming Hut we mull the process of scenario writing, specifically the differences between writing first, or playing first. Backer Fred Kiesche takes advantage of his Patreon priveleges in Ask Ken and Robin , seeking deeper info on Ken’s current 13th Age campaign, Poikila Hellenistika. We take our seats in the Cinema Hut to reel off a mere smattering of our favorite character actors of the classic Hollywood studio era. Finally in Ken’s Time Machine Patreon backer Rich Ranallo demands detail...
Jan 12, 2018
It’s 2018 and we’re back, starting as usual in the Gaming Hut . Within its cozy confines we answer a question from a mystery backer on achieving genuine emotional investment in roleplaying. The History Hut unfolds its secret plans at the behest of Patreon backer Antti Elomaa, who wants to know why military operations have such evocative names. The Narrative Hut looks at the evolution of the American anti-hero from the 30s to today. Finally, backer Tim Vert checks in with the Consulting Occultist...
Jan 05, 2018
Our final episode of 2017 arrives with bells a-jangling in the form of our traditional live show from Dragonmeet. Learn about Stalin and Atlantis, what elements of our work we think other designers have picked up on, which beverages go with which iterations of a beloved nerd franchise, why Nazis are stupid, and much much more. We’ll be back on January 5th with our first episode of 2018. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS...
Dec 22, 2017
