Keep your friends close and your enemies closer as the Gaming Hut provides advice to players running in political intrigue games. In Fun With Science beloved Patreon backer Josh King asks for the real truth behind Siberian mystery holes. Ask Ken and Robin fields a question from estimable Patreon backer William Brafford, who seeks a Trail of Cthulhu campaign frame around the Works Progress Administration. Finally, in an epic crossover event between the Architecture Hut and Conspiracy Corner , we ...
Jul 02, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 452
Keep an eye out for incoming candlesticks as the Gaming Hut finds ways to engage players in the prelude part of a scenario, for example the bit in a cozy mystery before any genteel murdering happens. At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Dustyn Mincey, the History Hut examines the era of Greek history known as the Frankokratia. In the Narrative Hut , estimable Patreon backer Derek Upham seeks enlightenment on third acts. Finally in the Eliptony Hut , can you believe we went nine years before d...
Jun 25, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 451
Just when time had lost all meaning, the ineffable power of numbers tells us that we’ve hit Episode 450. Seasoned investigators know what that means: our beloved Patreon backers pose them, and we blast them with electric force. It’s time for celebratory Qs and exultant As! It’s time for… LIGHTNING ROUND!!! 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 . Bears need hairstyles! Lu...
Jun 18, 2021•1 hr•Ep. 450
We venture from the Gaming Hut into a wider world of stashed items as beloved Patreon backer Carrie Schutrick requests the RPG angle on geocaching. Estimable Patreon backers pool their resources in the Tradecraft Hut , where we gaze into the eyeless sockets of the CIA’s top secret asset—a mask of actor Rex Harrison. Demon gods and their directional taboos trap us in the Mythology Hut . Finally the Consulting Occultist profiles a genuine arch-villain of the occult, the Rasputin or Argentina, José...
Jun 11, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 449
In the Gaming Hut we spitball scenarios that take place over a period of many years. Fun With Science answers the call from beloved Patreon backer bt to examine Freudian psychologist Charles Seligman’s project to gather dreams from the many peoples occupied by the British Empire. Good thing we just had a new bar installed in the Food Hut , because it’s time to tell the story of how 19th century America invented cocktail culture as we know it. Finally estimable Patreon backer Neil Barnes wonders ...
Jun 04, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 448
We start out in the Gaming Hut to tell your GM that the shocking premise subversion they have in mind isn’t as fun or cool as they might think. A segment that had to hibernate during the pandemic is back! In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else , Ken talks to colleague Jeff Tidball about his Bert and Ernie dichotomy of creative collaboration, perhaps typified by their upcoming project, Band or Album Remix , soon or now at a Kickstarter near you . In the Horror Hut , beloved Patreon backer Timot...
May 28, 2021•59 min•Ep. 447
An all-request episode kicks off in the Gaming Hut with beloved Patreon backer Chris Camfield’s request to follow up on a carelessly dropped side reference about realist F2O. Esteemed Patreon backer Chris Melkus meets us in the Archaeology Hut to ask about a recent story of tomb robbing in China’s Shaanxi province, in which the culprits tunneled into ancient sites from conveniently situated restaurants. Celebrated Patreon backer Gene Ha pops into the Narrative Hut to note that Robin often refers...
May 21, 2021•56 min•Ep. 446
In the Gaming Hut we provide tips enabling you to convince your fellow players to go along with your plans. Beloved Patreon backer Jurie Horneman asks us to convene a Book Hut to talk about Robert Anton Wilson. In Ask Ken and Robin , estimable Patreon backer Gabriel Rossman looks for a fictionalized treatment of the Bronfman family’s various brushes with cults and mysticism. Finally we duck into the Conspiracy Corner and down the rabbit hole of the NESARA theory. Want to pose a question to the s...
May 14, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 445
Prepare to reverse polarity as the Gaming Hut looks at scenarios that revolve around science mysteries. Beloved Patreon backer Tennant Reed asks us to unfurl the Crime Blotter for the story of penal colony escapee and confessed cannibal Alexander Pearce. In Ask Ken and Robin , estimable Patreon backer Kaijuthulu seeks tips on running a Mutant City Blues game with hardboiled 30s private eyes. Finally in a thrilling Food Hut / Ken’s Time Machine crossover event, perspicacious Patreon backer Martin...
May 07, 2021•55 min•Ep. 444
In the Gaming Hut , we help you, the player, bring your character’s narrative hook, in this case a Freaking Weird Moment for The Yellow King Roleplaying Game, into play. As befits this weird year, the Cinema Hut finally gets around to our Top Ten Films of 2020, right in time for you to have already seen the Oscars. Finally the Eliptony Hut looks at the 1882 disappearance of stage magician De Le Mano. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support ...
Apr 30, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 443
Bravely we enter the Gaming Hut , at the behest of beloved Patreon backer Scott Wachter, to roast the cockatrice and other weaksauce monsters. The History Hut runs aground as estimable Patreon backer Stephen Dosman asks how the Yellow Fleet, marooned in the Suez Canal after the Six Day War, might fit into a Fall of DELTA GREEN scenario. With its 17th installment, our Cinema Hut horror essentials series reaches its inevitable conclusion, as we bring our list of top fright flicks up to the present...
Apr 23, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 442
In the Gaming Hut , beloved Patreon backer Joe Webb asks for a Fall of DELTA GREEN / Night’s Black Agents crossover inspired by a Cambodian pop song. (After we recorded this segment Ken remembered that Tod Browning’s Dracula uses the Swan Lake theme as its title music, but if he had done that in advance you wouldn’t have gotten owl vampires, would you?) Our Cinema Hut horror essentials series reaches the home stretch as we span the late oughts and early teens of this shudderific century. In Ripp...
Apr 16, 2021•1 hr 8 min
In the Gaming Hut the beloved Patreon backer known as Ed, Speaker in Digressions, asks us to envision a game that that arcs from a state of nature to civil society. The Tradecraft Hut steams open the career of Alexandrine, Countess of Taxis, and Postmistress of the Holy Roman Empire. The ongoing Cinema Hut Horror Essentials series reaches installment 15, and the mid-oughts. Finally, estimable Patreon backers Bill Durfy and Gray St. Quintin fall for our sinister plan and ask for the full Eliptony...
Apr 09, 2021•1 hr 13 min
Would we rather fight a turnip-headed wyvern, or an enormous Jenny Haniver? The answer awaits in the T-Shirt Justification Hut . In Ask Ken and Robin , mighty-thewed Patreon backer Mike Mearls asks for sources to run an F20 game in Ancient Sumer. The Cinema Hut finally gets with the present century as the horror essential series continues. Finally we duck into the Conspiracy Corner as a recent spate of snow denialism leads us to the history of weather control conspiracy theory. Want to pose a qu...
Apr 02, 2021•1 hr 6 min
Beloved Patreon backer Jonathan Keim asks us to take care of the Gaming Hut for the winter, during which time we will contemplate making place as big a part of a game session as the Overlook Hotel is part of The Shining . In the Food Hut Ken takes us to almost Nebraska and the spiral bound wonders of the 1965 Y-Teen Club cookbook. The Cinema Hut’s horror essentials hits its lucky 13th installment, and the disjunctive anxiety that comes with the end of a century. Finally estimable Patreon backer ...
Mar 26, 2021•1 hr 18 min
Pick up that flashlight and head down into the basement as the Gaming Hut looks at building moments that take advantage of a single protagonist for one-player games like GUMSHOE One-2-One. The History Hut returns to the wild streets of Ken’s signature city as beloved Patreon backer Neal Dalton seeks the story of Count Dante and the Chicago Dojo Wars. Our Cinema Hut Horror Essentials series hits the 90s. Will we get far enough into them for Japan to save horror? ( Note: this episode was recorded ...
Mar 19, 2021•1 hr 17 min
In the Gaming Hut we parse the differences between crunch and simulation, as we examine the yen for complexity and the various related but separate impulses behind it. At the behest of beloved Patreon backers Will Ferguson and Felicity Pyatt, the Crime Blotter heads to 1827 Suffolk to open the case files of the notorious Red Barn Murder. The 80s keep on coming as our Cinema Hut Horror Essentials series gets burned in a furnace room and goes on a dreamscape rampage of wisecracking vengeance. Fina...
Mar 12, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 436
Sidle up to the Gaming Hut as we provide tips on bringing your player characters into historical events. In Ask Ken and Robin , beloved Patreon backer Dennis Harlow asks us to add detail and credibility to something Anton LaVey made up. Specifically that King in Yellow author Robert W. Chambers discovered the actual play while engaged in espionage. A massive pile up of Horror Essentials awaits us as we enter the early 80s in the Cinema Hut . How far can we get in one segment? Finally enigmatic P...
Mar 05, 2021
Beloved Patreon backer Michael Curtis dons a Nehru jacket and John Lennon glasses to duck into the Gaming Hut for tips on running occult investigation in Swingin’ London. In part 9 of the Cinema Hut Horror Essentials series, we reach the late 70s, and the rise of the horror auteurs. Ripped from the Headlines gives us a break from incessant day-trading as we turn the Gamestop stock story into a scenario hook for The Yellow King RPG’s This is Normal Now sequence. Finally esteemed Patreon backer Ge...
Feb 26, 2021
The Gaming Hut nestles next to an apothecary and a retailer of used armor pieces as we suggest techniques to populate buildings for a city sourcebook. Fright film enters the psychic hangover of the Watergate era in the latest installment of the Cinema Hut’s horror essentials series. You wouldn’t think that familiarity with paranormal lore would provide insight into the charlatanry of speed reading, but that’s because you haven’t yet thought about it in the Eliptony Hut . For full details, see Sc...
Feb 19, 2021
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Jacob Ansari seeks tips on introducing complex settings to the players. Part 8 of our Cinema Hut horror essentials series sees the genre take an apocalyptic turn amid the turmoil of the late 60s and early 70s. Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes arise from following bad instructions. In the Food Hut we look at wrong cooking tips we learned about through bitter experience. When it comes to an Eliptony Hut story, the Tsarichina Hole has it all...
Feb 12, 2021
Keep that Abingdon Island giant tortoise under a blanket as beloved Patreon backer Kevin L. Nault beckons us into the Gaming Hut to work animal trafficking into RPG scenarios. Part 6 of our Cinema Hut horror essentials series continues the 60s gothic resurgence, and we assure you this segment wouldn’t hurt a fly. Plangent notes ring through the Culture Hut as esteemed Patreon backer Ethan “Mr. E” Schoonover seeks the terrifying reality behind composer Erik Satie’s Vexations. Finally the Holy Rom...
Feb 05, 2021
Classic occult conspiracy meets eldritch espionage when beloved Patreon backer Daniel Fidelman pokes his head into the Gaming Hut , asking how to incorporate Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier’s The Morning of the Magicians into THE FALL OF DELTA GREEN. Our Cinema Hut Horror Essentials series hits a turning point in screen shock history, as the 60s beckon, bringing with them a return to the gothic. In Ask Ken and Robin , esteemed Patreon backer Josh Borlase asks us to name our favorite Old Ones. ...
Jan 29, 2021
In a co-production between the Mythology Hut and the T-Shirt Justification Hut , a particularly mournful example of the species inspires us to find ways to put the phoenix in your games. Then put the phoenix on yourself, or around your morning coffee, by saying Oh No, Not This Again at the Ken and Robin merch store . Beloved Patreon backer Jeff Kahrs bids us into the Book Hut to discuss the legacy of John le Carré. Part four of our Cinema Hut horror essential series brings us to the 50s, heyday ...
Jan 22, 2021
In the Gaming Hut we return to that perennial, not at all distracting topic of the red herring, as beloved Patreon backer Kevin Greenlee asks how to work player-generated herrings into the drama. Then we take Interstate 71 to the Architecture Hut , where esteemed Patreon backer Tom Abella wants to know what the deal is with the old Public Library of Cincinnati. Cinema Hut Horror Essentials continues with the early 40s, over which the shadow of Val Lewton looms large. Finally the Consulting Occul...
Jan 15, 2021
We’re back for another year, starting in the Gaming Hut , where beloved Patreon backer Nicola Wilson wants to know how to incorporate the relatively high cost of clothes and food in the Middle Ages into an investigative game. In the Tradecraft Hut we examine the mid-2000s Pentagon-sponsored first-person shooter Iraqi Hero, and the use Dracula made of it. The second installment of the Cinema Hut’s Horror Essentials series tackles that most fertile of eras for the genre, the early 30s. Finally Ken...
Jan 08, 2021
In our last episode of 2020 we lurch, masked and tipsy, into the Kringle Hut, to fashion a horror scenario around the Newfoundland tradition of mummering. Beloved Patreon backer Noel Warford convenes a session of Ask Ken and Robin to inquire into the cosmology of his Hellenistika project. In the Cinema Hut we kick off a series exploring Horror movie essentials. We’re going chronologically so let’s start with the silent era and see how far 15 minutes will take us. Finally the Eliptony Hut whisks ...
Dec 18, 2020
In the Gaming Hut , beloved Patreon backer Jacob Boersma asks how, with conspiracies theories going mainstream, we should create them for our horror games. In Ripped from the Headlines , backer Gray St. Quintin asks for the real story behind Carpathian tree poaching . We talk for a while and then get abruptly canceled in the Television Hut , as we look at the impact of streaming on TV structure. Finally the Consulting Occultist reviews the case files from the 1968 robbery of Israel Regardie’s Lo...
Dec 11, 2020
In the Gaming Hut we discuss a key difference between RPG settings and the real world: imaginary politics has a lot more smart people in it. Beloved Patreon backer Andrew Miller lures us into an especially osseous Archaeology Hut to contemplate the mammoth bone temple of Kostenki. In Ask Ken and Robin , esteemed backer Craig Maloney doesn’t want us to forget the Motor City as he demands the hidden Mythos secrets of Detroit. Then in Ken’s Time Machine we check out the timeline where the First Sin...
Dec 04, 2020
In the Gaming Hut , Lisa Steele and Neil Fortier ask how to adjust Robin’s police procedural superhero game, Mutant City Blues, in the wake of the George Floyd murder. George III’s topographical collection has gone online , prompting a Cartography Hut focused on one of its treasures—a very RPG-looking map of the fort and barracks at Mount Pleasant , Maryland. Beloved Patreon backer Jesse Lowe calls for a Culture Hut field trip to the Maryhill Museum, founded by Queen Marie of Romania and Yellow ...
Nov 27, 2020
