In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Walter Manbeck asks how to do El from Stranger Things as a player character. Expressionistic shadows flit across the Cinema Hut as we take a look at F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu . Then Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else , this time Atlas Games’ Michelle Nephew, who shares her deep experience of games for kids. Finally we convene near Ken’s Time Machine to learn what history looks like when the Gunpowder Plot succeeds. Want to pose a question to the show? G...
Sep 20, 2019
We take a closer look at Ken’s new Pelgrane Press book Hideous Creatures by way of the Monster Hut , which seems to be full of our pals, the Deep Ones. In How To Write Good we talk about foils and how to use them. The Culture Hut hosts a discussion of a painting by none other than Robert W. Chamber s, which peskily revealed itself too late to include in Ken’s annotated edition of The King in Yellow from our eldritch buds at Arc Dream. Finally the Eliptony Hut goes CanCon as we meet the Ottawa Pr...
Sep 13, 2019
This week’s Gaming Hut comes to you by telegram as Patreon backer Jay Tea asks us how to research and deploy historical communications technology, oh let’s say, FALL OF DELTA GREEN. Patreon backer Jeff Kahrs gathers us to in the Cinema Hut to ask why there is only one good Arthurian movie. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else , we learn what’s new with Magpie Games as its impresario Mark Diaz Truman realizes he has a mid-tier RPG publisher on his hands. Warning : contains friendly f-bombs. F...
Sep 06, 2019
The Gaming Hut shows up with its usual punctuality as Patreon backer Ken Ringwald asks to hear about time as a resource in RPGs. It’s dark out. He has a full tank of gas. He’s wearing sunglasses. Patreon backer Chris Camfield drives his 1974 Ford Monaco sedan to Ask Ken and Robin about the occult significance of the Blues Brothers. And yes, Ken knows it was Martinez de Pasqually who sojourned in Saint-Domingue, not the other founder of Martinism, Saint-Martin. This was a test of your gnosis. In ...
Aug 30, 2019
Present your badges for scanning and take a seat as we present our annual episode recorded before a live audience bursting with Patreon backers. Join us as we talk squishy Habsburgs, chron0-suppressed rebellions, donut heresies and the 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 . Does your head buzz with game ideas? Then you need The White Box ! This ...
Aug 23, 2019
Voices weary and brains bleary, Ken and Robin return from Gen Con 2019 to take their annual look at the state of the industry through the lens of the convention that invented roleplaying. 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 . Be cute! Be cunning! Be fierce! Most of all, be someone backing the Kickstarter for Atlas Games’ Magical Kitties , the roleplaying game of supern...
Aug 16, 2019
Our annual Indianapolis hotel room episode begins in the Gaming Hut , where we find ways to be a lone wolf PC the rest of the players won’t hate. In the Food Hut we look at our favorite cooking shows and why they make the list. Patreon backer Bryan invokes his Tell Me More powers to ask how alien symbiotes would work as the main baddies in a Night’s Black Agents series. Then the Eliptony Hut might also be the Tradecraft Hut as we sift through Australia’s famous Somerton Man case. Want to pose a ...
Aug 09, 2019
In the Gaming Hut , we build on some recent articles by Robin to further explore a crossover between the surrealist adventures of Dreamhounds of Paris to the psychedelic spycraft of THE FALL OF DELTA GREEN. Speaking of expanding on recent articles , How to Write Good provides tips for keeping your brain in gear for that most challenging of phases, the revision phase. The Consulting Occultist doesn’t usually muss his smoking jacket in the realm of politics, but with Marianne Williamson running fo...
Aug 02, 2019
An all request episode kicks off with a co-production between the Gaming Hut teams and our Tell Me More benefit for Patreon backers. Backers Mike Marlow and Kevin J. Maroney, seeing the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff capsule review of Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans’ graphic novel DIE, want to hear more. This expands into a wider discussion of how RPGs are depicted in fiction. Backer Steve Sick beckons us into a mossy southern version of the History Hut , asking what we can do with legendary Lo...
Jul 26, 2019
In the Gaming Hut we deconstruct scenarios where the PCs have to wait for certain events to take place. How to Write Good comes to the aid of Patreon backer Dustyn Mincey, who seeks guidance on the naming of people and places. The Politics Hut gets drunk on codeine and loco root with a look at the connection between fringe politics and medicine shows new and old. Then Ken’s Time Machine answers the call of backer Michael Dinos to rectify the disappointments DC Cinematic Universe. Want to pose a ...
Jul 19, 2019
The Gaming Hut starts us strong as we look for ways to avoid stock scenario openings. In the Culture Hut we examine the way critical terms lose their meaning when they penetrate popular consciousness. Ask Ken and Robin satisfies Mrs. Obed Marsh’s need to know how to run The Fall of Delta Green with 60s radical PCs. Then the Consulting Occultist calls for order in the court as we hear the confession of a Livonian werewolf. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking acc...
Jul 12, 2019
In the Gaming Hut Patreon backer(s) The Armchair Adventurers ask if we agree with Greg Stafford’s prohibition on invisiblity spells in his games. Was every noteworthy English writer also a spy? In the Tradecraft Hut Daniel Defoe puts his hand up and adds himself to the list of examples. In the Monster Hut we decide if we’re on Team Scorpion Tail or Team Quill Shooter as we look at our mythical portmanteau pal, the manticore. Then we hop in Ken’s Time Machine to satisfy the curiosity of Patreon b...
Jul 05, 2019
Like much of our content, it’s hard to believe. Unlike much of it, it’s true. Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff has reached its milestone 350th episode. Yes, we’ve been laying down the skinny on aliens, phantom cats, conspiracies and oh yes, the exciting world of tabletop roleplaying games for a whole seven years. Longtimers know what that means: LIGHTNING ROUND!!! Enabled by our beloved cast of Patreon backers, it’s time for rapid fire question answering, with topics ranging from unloved Old Ones ...
Jun 28, 2019
In the Gaming Hut Patreon backer Ethan Schoonover asks us to explain the bespoke game terms we use, from F20 to GMC. Mikko Airaksinen puts a chill in the History Hut with his request for the esoteric scoop behind the Swedish North Pole Expedition of 1897. Our epic spate of Ken and Robin Recycle Audio excerpts from Carcosa Con concludes with a look at Robin’s build-out of the Chambers mythos into The Yellow King Roleplaying Game . Finally backer Chris Kalley, seconded by Jay Tea, asks the Consult...
Jun 21, 2019
The Gaming Hut manifests somewhere between Balla Balla and Yagga Yagga as Patreon backer Bill Cohen asks us how to lure RPG characters to adventure in Australia. The Crime Blotter profiles Dai Cathay, the young Number One of the mid-sixties Saigon underworld. Ken and Robin Recycle Audio with a panel excerpt from Carcosa Con covering post-Lovecraftian additions to the King in Yellow mythos. The Eliptony Hut looks back on the career of paradigmatic nuts-and-bolts UFOlogist Stanton Friedman, who pa...
Jun 14, 2019
Patreon backer Ross Ireland pulls a fast one on us in the Gaming Hut , asking how to pitch campaigns with switcheroo premises to players. Via the Tell Me More Feature of Ken and Robin Consume Media, backer Kevin Maroney opens the Mythology Hut for more on Ronald Hutton’s scholarly survey, The Witch . Ken and Robin Recycle Audio continues our panel replay from Carcosa Con, this week looking at the process by which Lovecraft and his successors turned Robert W. Chambers’ King in Yellow tales into a...
Jun 07, 2019
In the Gaming Hut , Patreon backer Hyperlexic asks Robin to elucidate the core pleasures of RuneQuest. The History Hut finds us obeying the commands of backer Antti Elomaa to get to the bottom of Britain’s 1939 pet massacre. Ken and Robin Recycle Audio with segments from our Robert W. Chambers and King in Yellow Mythos panels at Carcosa Con. Finally in the Eliptony Hut we look at the bio-energetic theories of renegade Russian crank scientist Lev Gumilyov. Want to pose a question to the show? Get...
May 31, 2019
We enter the Gaming Hut pursued by powerful patrons as backer Remi Permann seeks help importing 13th Age icons to other games. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else , Ken chats with Nathan Paoletta, designer of such games The World Wide Wrestling RPG , Annalise , and his latest, the Poe-inspired Imp of the Perverse, now on preorder . Then Ken and Robin Recycle Audio with the second part of our Robert W. Chambers panel from Carcosa Con, this time focusing on his story “The Repairer of Reputati...
May 24, 2019
The Gaming Hut looks at the task of assembling a game’s skill list. In the Cinema Hut Patreon backer Andrew Miller observes the North American launch of the Criterion Channel by asking for a 101 on its treasures. Ken and Robin Recycle Audio presents the first part of our Robert W. Chambers panel from Carcosa Con, dealing with the writer and his influences. At the behest of Patreon backer Rafael Pabst, we open the Book Hut to look at printer Jacob Ilive and his Blibical forgery, the Book of Jashe...
May 17, 2019
Patreon backer Jacob Ansari collars us in the Gaming Hut to ask about running alternate history games. The Tradecraft Hut looks at the February raid on Madrid’s North Korean embassy by the Free Joseon organization. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else we chat with Mark Morrison, stalwart Call of Cthulhu contributor and the mind behind Campaign Coins, wresting from him the secrets of convention GMing. Warning, parents : Includes a few swears. Then we head to the History Hut for a look at Baro...
May 10, 2019
In the Gaming Hut Patreon backer Jake asks us how to portray a character modeled on Janet Armstrong in a NASA adventure series. We dust off the long-disused Politics Hut so that Ken can give us an update on Chicago politics. The Food Hut looks at Canada’s iconic desserts, as selected for a series of stamps from Canada Post, including a look at the resulting Nanaimo Bar controversy. The Eliptony Hut provides refuge to Puerto Rico’s latest chupacabra variant, the perhaps humanoid, perhaps animalis...
May 03, 2019•1 hr 7 min
We lit the fires of the Gaming Hut the old-fashioned way before answering a question from Patreon backer Jason Thompson on interesting players in low-tech settings. In the Cinema Hut we revisit the subject of the rewatch, looking at films that change or defy expectations on subsequent viewings. Then Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone else , as we both chat with Chaosium’s Lynne Hardy about line development and the upcoming Call of Cthulhu projects on her docket. Finally, at the behest of backer An...
Apr 26, 2019
In another imperious edition of That Thing I Always Say , Robin says, “Envision this in play.” Ask Ken and Robin finds Patreon backer Kevin Roy seeking the scoop on remote control inventor John Hays Hammond Jr. Backer Martijn Waegemakers meets us in the Mythology Hut to ponder the diminishing returns of Robin Hood adaptations. Backer Dan O’Hanlon summons Ken’s Time Machine to peer into the reality where ecstasy replaced LSD as the iconic sixties drug. Want to pose a question to the show? Get you...
Apr 19, 2019
Last week you heard us from Carcosa Con in Poland. This time we’re back and ready to share out experience of the show and the local RPG scene in the Gaming Hut . Then, in Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else , we chat with one of our estimable hosts, Daria Pilarczyk. As project manager of Black Monk Games she has much knowledge to drop on the life of a game company that licenses and translates such titles as Munchkin and Call of Cthulhu . We stuck around for a few days after the show to explore...
Apr 12, 2019
Recorded in front of a live audience, this episode emanates from the 14th century confines of Czocha Castle, on Lake Lesnia, in southwestern Poland, courtesy of our lovely hosts at CarcosaCon. 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 . A precious few Deluxe copies of Cogs and Commissars , clever card game of are available directly from Atlas Games. The “Most-Equal ‘Apparatc...
Apr 05, 2019
An all request episode kicks off in the Gaming Hut , where Patreon backer Michael Fox asks about picking exactly the right Mythos creature for your scenario. Backer Jacob Boersma meets us in the Food Hut to ask what the heck might be behind a recent Dutch pistachio heist. In Ask Ken and Robin , patron Michael Dinos seeks our help getting in Jose Luis Borges’ Library of Babel. And in the Conspiracy Corner , backer James Griffin asks us to examine the some fanciful theorizing around the idea that ...
Mar 29, 2019
The Gaming Hut stages a baccarat game with the devil as Patreon backer Eain Bankins asks for help introducing the main villain without devolving into an immediate and disappointing fight. In the Horror Hut we stir the pot on the witch and/or Satanist sub-genre. Then Ken has another stack of tomes to lovingly riffle through as he adds the fruits of this year’s Bay Area shopping expedition to Ken’s Bookshelf . Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your ...
Mar 22, 2019
The Gaming Hut delves into a design issue at the behest of Patreon backer Mikey Hamm, who wants to know how to balance player options against the archetypal experience of a game. We keep mentioning him, and now backer Sam Harris demands an entire Book Hut segment on Canadian literary critic Northrop Frye. Get ready for a tough fight as we inaugurate the brand new Monster Hut with a look at the bugbear. Finally backer Chris Kalley visits the Consulting Occultist to learn about military theorist, ...
Mar 15, 2019
Protect the precious store of dwindling oxygen in the Gaming Hut as we riff a crew of GMCs for an installation horror scenario. Journey into the History Hut to hear us satisfy Martin Rundkvist’s Patreon backer desire to hear about writer/explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton and his wife and literary steward, Isabel. Join us in the Cinema Hut as we contemplate the pleasures and mysteries of the rewatch. Then hop into Ken’s Time Machine as he tells us about the Burr-Clinton-Brant Upper Canada coup ...
Mar 08, 2019
Time to check your dermal surfaces for sigils as the Gaming Hut takes a look at spell side effects. The Tradecraft Hut goes contemporary and shadowy to examine private spy agencies, including Black Cube and Psy Group. Ask Ken and Robin responds to the request of Patreon backer Drew Eicholz for contemporary weirdness in Kansas that does not rely on stock monsters. The Eliptony Hut remains in the midwest to tell backers Dicegeeks what lurks in the Cincinnati Subway, and how to kill it. Want to pos...
Mar 01, 2019
