Season Finale - Goblin Kings and Popstars Sing Bat Alchemist uses gym-kata to make his way through the swarm of goblins dance-fighting to Enrique Iglesias. He moves under the bleachers and sees bad-kid goblins smoking cigarettes and making out. He melts them with an acid potion. Warlock Rock hits a button that raises a fashion-show catwalk in the center of the room. She sashays her way to the Goblin King, does a diving punch, but misses and lands sprawled out on the floor behind him. Dragon Warr...
Jan 03, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Season 3Ep. 12
Our guests this week are Erik & Heidi Gygax Garland (GAXLAND, Egg Con) and Matt Forbeck (Marvel Multiverse RPG, Shotguns & Sorcery, Warhammer 40k, Minecraft) as we continue our Gary Con 2024 series of 50 years of Dungeons and Dragons interviews. We talk with Erik & Heidi about getting married, gun stuff, growing up Gygax, the Satanic panic, and moving back to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Their GAXLAND products include D&D campaign modules including a boxed set of three OD&D style ...
Dec 04, 2024•31 min
The Vat Spawn watch the Goblin King polymorph the missing Ariana from a beautiful pop star into a grotesque goblin. A hundred goblins cheer him on as the transformation occurs. “Goblins is people?” Dragon Warrior queried. Bat Alchemist lights a joint from the demon dog’s fire breath to regain his lost health. Then he reverse engineered Warlock Roc’s listening device to play Enrique Iglesias through the tone-stone walls, causing them to gather in one area for a makeshift dance party. Turns out go...
Nov 14, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Our guest this week is Stephen Radney-MacFarland as we continue our Gary Con 2024 series of 50 years of Dungeons and Dragons interviews. We talk about Delve RPG , his passion-project meditation on d20 fantasy games. How he doesn’t agree with 5E’s advantage/disadvantage rules. Growing up in San Francisco, playing D&D as a kid, and using the Battleship board as a GM screen. Buying Tomb of Horrors , and learning a Gygaxian vocabulary. Working at Wizards of the Coast, combing through novels like...
Oct 27, 2024•18 min
The Vat Spawn take out the final elite goblins. We meet Lotto, a 10-foot demon dog. Bat Alchemist sucks venom out of Warlock Roc. They explore further into the goblin museum, finding horrific paintings of former goblin kings, before discovering the current Goblin King’s chambers. ANNOUNCEMENTS Gamehole Con : October 17th through 20th in Madison, Wisconsin. We’ll have a booth right up front in the Podcasters and Press section. Come say hi to Dragon Warrior and pick up some Dungeon Cats and Mad Du...
Oct 17, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Our guest this week is David “Zeb” Cook as we continue our Gary Con 2024 series of 50 years of Dungeons and Dragons interviews. We talk about his involvement in 49 of the 50 years of D&D’s existence and how satisfying it’s been for him to see his work impacting generations of people. We discuss his late 1970s start at TSR by editing Queen of the Demonweb Pits (Q1), writing Slave Pits of the Undercity (A1) as the first project that he wrote at TSR, running tournaments at the very earliest Gen...
Oct 15, 2024•17 min
309 Balls: Crystal, Disco & Fire - Rise of the Vat Spawn The Vat Spawn finish their fight with elite business goblins that includes disco floors, Weekend-at-Bernie’s-ing a dead goblin to find true love in secret nap spots, and lots of Nitar’s Fireballs were a’flyin’. A crystal ball houses a goblin spirit to find down-on-their-luck victims as part of a larger goblin conspiracy. And a fire-breathing demon dog is awakened. ANNOUNCEMENTS THE MEGA DUNGEON MEN EP : Our new TTRPG fantasy meets hip ...
Sep 26, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Our guest this week is John “Hambone” McGuire as we continue our Gary Con 2024 series of 50 years of D&D interviews. We talk about his 321 Action core book and the adventures he’s written to go along with it, including upcoming Hotel Exorcist , Braineaters! that he’s working on with Brian Shutter ( Neon Lords of the Toxic Wastelands ), and his love of Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978). We discuss playing Mystic Punks together at Gary Con, the community built playing RPGs compared to playing i...
Aug 08, 2024•14 min
The Vat Spawn follow beefy elite goblins into a room of swords with a goblin museum curators arguing about presentation. The head curator laughs as Dragon Warrior touches a cursed codeine razor and is weakened with magical addiction. A big ole fight breaks out with Tiger Wizard trip attacks and a fun knife-in-the-head polymorph into goblin hipsterdom. Bat Alchemist finds some mystically placed stanchions & velvet ropes, and he corrals in the curators behind the ropes to watch the fight. Warl...
Jul 20, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Our guest this week is Banana Chan as we continue our Gary Con 2024 series of 50 years of Dungeons and Dragons interviews. We discuss her upcoming The Darkness At The Brink Of Ohio , a solo journaling game with a soundtrack with a full cast. You’re one of three late shift workers listening to the radio, while being consumed by a parasite. She discusses her inspiration from the Juggernaut LARP by Jason Morningstar. We talk about her history with Dungeons & Dragons , writing for D&D , and ...
Jul 04, 2024•19 min
307 Goblin Guards & Credit Cards - Rise of the Vat Spawn The Vat Spawn peruse the lobby of the goblin museum when the alarm button gets pushed after Tiger Wizard is caught trying to steal trillmatic rings. A negotiation starts up on either side of a force field with a goblin on stilts named Snax. An elite goblin named Meat Fists swallows a cat whole and pulls out its skeleton to intimidate the crew. Bat Alchemist and Tiger Wizard calm the situation down with successful converse rolls. Tiger ...
Jun 13, 2024•1 hr 17 min
Our guest this week is Elisa Teague as we continue our Gary Con 2024 series of 50 years of Dungeons and Dragons interviews. We discuss her history with the game, including a 13-year D&D campaign! We discuss her work with Founders and Legends , The Crooked Moon : Folk Horror in 5E by Legends of Avantris, Surviving Strange Hollow , Gloomhaven RPG , Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game ( Cataclysm of Kang and the upcoming X-Men Expansion Sourcebook . We get into our favorite X-people. Elisa has ...
Jun 06, 2024•15 min
The Vat Spawn leave the colosseum of mutilation and head to Goblintown. There they infiltrate a secret epicenter of commerce in Def Jamisus called The Goblin Museum. Behind security doors, trades and saves are happening. Tiger Wizard, Bat Alchemist, and Warlock Roc make cash money deposits with an anxious goblin while Dragon Warrior admires a sculpture exhibit of famous goblin busts before all hell breaks loose. ANNOUNCEMENTS THE MEGA DUNGEON MEN EP : Our new TTRPG fantasy meets hip hop album, T...
May 30, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 6
This week our guest is Luke Stratton , creator of Pirate Borg and we talk about his history with D&D and roleplaying, getting into the OSR and MÖRK BORG , a birthday surprise involving the film The Game , and how he assembled his pirate crew to make the game a success. Follow Luke, Limithron & Pirate Borg: Website - IG - Facebook - X - YouTube - LinkTree — ANNOUNCEMENTS THE MEGA DUNGEON MEN EP is out now on all streaming platforms. Our new TTRPG fantasy meets hip hop album features Mega ...
May 15, 2024•17 min
MD 305 Mutilations & Standing Ovations This week the Vat Spawn, dressed as Def Jamisus Garys (that’s the police), have infiltrated the colosseum just in time to view the public mutilation of ten people, who were then dropped to the Necropolis below. The cops, who’s clothes they stole, found the Vat Spawn and a brawl commenced in the side hall of the arena. ANNOUNCEMENTS THE MEGA DUNGEON MEN EP : Our new TTRPG fantasy meets hip hop album, The Mega Dungeon Men EP is out this Friday. It feature...
May 08, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Season 3Ep. 5
This is an abbreviated version of our episode last summer with Joey Royale. Be sure to check out the map on our website .
May 01, 2024•15 min
This week our guest is Sarah Moore, host of Sarah's Table on GenConTV where she spotlights RPGs created by indie designers and small publishers. She's the co-designer of The Crowned , an RPG by Formerly Feral Games , where you play a god of a small slice of reality. Sarah is also the production coordinator for Actoroke and wears many hats for Peter Adkison's World of Chaldea . We also discuss what “joyful gaming” means to her. Follow Sarah (Pixies and Pins): Website - IG - Facebook - X - Sarah's...
Apr 29, 2024•16 min
This week Stefan Pokorny of Dwarven Forge is our guest from our Gary Con 2024 series focusing on the question, “What has 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons meant to you?” We discuss his childhood in NYC and growing up with D&D, his journey from artists to sculptor of the most popular modular terrain for tabletop roleplaying, The Dwarvenaut (the 2016 documentary about him), and his latest venture Starforged (his new collection of hand-painted, modular sci-fi terrain cast in Dwarvenite). Follo...
Apr 17, 2024•21 min
This week the Vat Spawn are at the Rock Ride station platform with The Coroner. They’re stopped while trying to pass through a DJPD checkpoint. The fuzz find a joint on Warlock Roc and they’re detained. They unsuccessfully attempt to bribe the officers, and the cops call in backup. Tiger Wizard uses the Mad Dungeon word “sneakily” to create a cartoon style fight cloud, and they come out with their clothing swapped. The Vat Spawn escape in their new police uniforms, make their way through the mun...
Apr 10, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Our guest this week is Brigitte Winter of Scryptid Games . Brigitte (she/her) is a writer, photographer , and game designer based in Maryland. She consumes and creates stories and games that are queer, feminist, intimate, and deliciously weird. We talked about Scryptid Games , Psychic Trash Detectives , Ball of the Wild and their Kickstarter for Against the Gloom where you play punk pirate troubadours who fight against the Gloom. We’re excited to announce that we, Epic Levels, will be providing ...
Apr 03, 2024•20 min
This week our heroes meet The Coroner in the basement of his mortuary. We learn that the dead bodies of Def Jamisus city are sent down chutes to the Necropolis below. The Marshal of Mummies explains that astral markers are needed to re-up their magical powers before leaving them with The Coroner to take them to view today’s public executions, and will meet them in goblin town later. The vat spawn move through the streets of the walled city, learning more about tone-stone, that there’s venders se...
Mar 27, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 3Ep. 3
This week we talk with Anthony Meloro and Jay Domingo about their kickstarter for the Mystic Punks TTRPG , OUT TODAY exclusively through Exalted Funeral . https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/exaltedfuneral/mystic-punks-table-top-roleplaying-game We talk about all the fun things that come with the Mystic Punks Tabletop Roleplaying Game Kickstarter: All the rad art, including some from our very own Tiger Wizard. Weird Wanderings Vol. 1 - Mystic Punk adventures written by our own Dragon Warrior St...
Mar 20, 2024•45 min
This week, the Vat Spawn chat about crime and punishment before smoking a joint to heal their wounds. Dr. Dre-colich shows the vat spawn to their very specific apartments and they get geared up for their intense four-part mission. First, infiltrate a goblin enclave to find CleRick Rubin's missing daughter. Second, cozy up to CleRick Rubin and the Mayor to find out where they are keeping the dragon orbs. Third, get the dragon orbs. Lastly, Party. We learn about tone stone, the musical building bl...
Mar 13, 2024•1 hr
Our guest this week is Luke Gygax and we talk Founders & Legends (Mar. 15-20), Gary Con (March 21st-24th) and Gaxx Worx : Okkorim, G20 shoes and G20 magazine, Gooey Cube. The Tomb of Gyzaengaxx: Mega-Adventure & Campaign , 50 Years of Adventures - Essays collection. Follow Luke at: website – IG – FB – Twitter Follow Gary Con at: website – IG – FB – Twitter – TikTok – YouTube – Twitch ANNOUNCEMENTS DUNGEON CATS : Tiger Wizard’s rules-fluffy mini-RPG Dungeon Cats is live on Kickstarter for...
Mar 07, 2024•41 min
Welcome to episode one of Rise of the Vat Spawn! In this episode, our protagonists are birthed from colorful vats before fighting some undead skeletal animals. Dragon Warrior gets stabbed in the guts. Warlock Roc gets sprayed by goo. Bat Alchemist manipulates that same liquid goo to freeze the baddies in places. Tiger Wizard tames a skeletal tiger. They’re introduced to Anoop, the Marshal of Mummies, and their creator, an undead dragon named Dr. Drecolitch, explains the necropolis they’re in, th...
Feb 28, 2024•58 min•Season 3Ep. 1
This week we chat with Justin Sirois of Severed Books & Toys to discuss the first Game Face Con in Baltimore on March 9th & 10th at Peabody Brewery. Sign up to be notified of his BackerKit to make Mork Borg Action figures that launches April 2nd. This is a collab with Johan Nohr & Pelle Nilsson . The 7-inch fully articulated figure of the skeleton from the cover of the MÖRK BORG . It will also include a zine written by Pelle and art by Johan, Dread Risen Zine . Listen to our Mad Dung...
Feb 20, 2024•28 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Welcome to session zero of our season 3 actual play Rise of the Vat Spawn where fantasy and hip hop culture are smashed together to create an epic urban adventure. Here we'll discuss what to expect for the season, including format, tone, safety tools, and we'll utilize Mad Dungeon words as we have in our previous seasons. We'll create and introduce the characters (Tiger Wizard, Dragon Warrior, Warlock Roc and Bat Alchemist) using the Mystic Punks RPG system. Steve gave the team his inspirational...
Feb 15, 2024•1 hr 51 min0
Welcome to our first episode of Season Three! This week we talk with Anthony Meloro and Jay Domingo about their upcoming kickstarter for the Mystic Punks TTRPG , out exclusively through Exalted Funeral . Pre-save the Mystic Punks Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/exaltedfuneral/mystic-punks-table-top-roleplaying-game?ref=clipboard-prelaunch We discuss our season three actual play in which mash fantasy and hip hop as we explore the city-state of Def Jamisus using the Mystic P...
Feb 07, 2024•26 min•Season 3Ep. 1
For part two of our grand season 2 mega dungeon finale, this week we talk with: Marc Miller , legendary creator behind Game Designers' Workshop (GDW), Traveller and owner of Far Future Enterprises . Shanna Germain , award-winning author, editor, game designer and co-founder of Monte Cook Games . We talk The Magnus Archives and her next novel. Follow Shanna: Website - Patreon - Instagram - Twitter - Facebook Chris Lindsay , product Marketing Manager at Wizards of the Coast , head Dungeon Master f...
Dec 29, 2023•55 min
For part one of our grand season 2 mega dungeon finale, this week we talk with: Monte Cook of Monte Cook Games talks about D&D 3E , Numenera , Cypher System , Old Gods of Appalachia RPG and his upcoming The Magnus Archives . Follow Monte Cook: Website - Twitter - Facebook Mike Mason of Chaosium talks Call of Cthulhu , Alone Against the Static , Arkham Unveiled , the upcoming/updated Cthulhu By Gaslight and his podcast Eldritch Stories . Follow Chaosium: Website - Instagram - Twitter - YouTub...
Dec 20, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 40
