The GROGNARD Files

This is the 80th GROGPOD and there is a sense of celebration in the air. We are delighted to have Marcus L Rowland as our guest. He was a stalwart of Whit Dwarf during its hey day. Cthulhu Now! Green Horizon, To Live and Die in Mega City One and the Fear of Flying, his contribution to our gaming imagination back in the day is inestimable. @DailyDwarf provides a retrospective of his work in White Dwarf. The first ever Patreon of The GROGNARD Files was Sam Vail and he reveals the first game he played, the last game he played and the game that means everything to him in a lifetime of gaming. Blythy joins me in the Room of Role Playing Rambling to answer listener questions in the Thunder Phase! Check out Bud’s RPG Review. You can support the GROGNARD files on Patreon.The post Episode 49 – Marcus L. Rowland (with Thunder Phase!) first appeared on The GROGNARD Files.

Please note that ‘Download’ is now part of the Player The GROGNARD files returns with the Return of Call of Cthulhu with the return of Lynne Hardy. This time she faces the Keeper’s Screen to reveal her Arcane secrets. She talks about her contribution to the Dying Earth Role-Playing Game, Cogs, Cakes and Swordsticks, the game she designed, and more news about upcoming Chaosium releases that we can look forward to in the coming months. In the introduction, I refer to it as Episode 47, it’s not, but what are numbers. I have never understood our bizarre numbering system. This show note counts as Errata. We delve into Different Worlds Issue 19 which was a Call of Cthulhu special and features errata, essays by Sandy Petersen and Lyn Willis and more. The Post Bag returns with comments from listeners. If you are interested in hearing more from The God Learners podcast, you’ll find it where you get your podcasts. We share a hoary old story about a trip to Morecambe, where nothing really happened, but it was character forming. This episode features an advert for Tale of the Manticore. Please invest in The GROGNARD Files at Patreon. The post Episode 48 (Part 2) Return to Call of Cthulhu (with Lynne Hardy) first appeared on The GROGNARD Files.

The Armchair Adventurers keep coming back to Call of Cthulhu and we are about to begin Children of Fear, written by our guest Lynne Hardy. In this episode we discuss Lynne’s formative years in role-playing and how she started work with Chaosium with a pitch for this richly detailed and horrific campaign. Tristan Narbrough is a GROGSQUAD member who currently lives in Japan, he tells us about his first, last and everything. Blythy is back from the wilderness and in fine form talking about different Cthulhu mythos settings that we have experienced. You can support the podcast by backing us on Patreon. The post Episode 48 (Part 1) Return to Call of Cthulhu (with Lynne Hardy) first appeared on The GROGNARD Files.

As the Final Score recedes (great result between Arbroath and Queen of the South) it’s time to grab a Tizer and sit down to an episode all about Dr Who. We speak to Dave Chapman, who is the lead writer on Doctor Who Roleplaying Game from Cubicle 7 about his history with the Doctor, his career in game design. Michael B has sent his First, Last and Everything from Down Under. In the zoom of roleplaying rambling we watch Dr Who, Pyramids from Mars on the GROGGLEBOX Please show your support for the podcast over at Patreon.The post Episode 47 – Dr Who RPG (with Dave Chapman) first appeared on The GROGNARD Files.

Tim Harford, economist, columnist, broadcaster, best-selling author, podcaster and role-player was the very special guest at virtual GROGMEET 2021. There were a vast array of games available over the weekend, including a fiendish quiz set by Pookie from Reviews from R’lyeh – thank you to everyone who took part to make it a great event. It was a joy and a privilege to join Tim in the Zoom of Role-Playing Rambling to discuss his formative years in the hobby, his current game and all about the setting that means everything to him. You’ll find Tim’s podcast, Cautionary Tales, over at his website and through all your usual pod boxes. The post Extra – My Role-Playing Games First, Last and Everything (with Tim Harford) first appeared on The GROGNARD Files.

Download Episode Whatever happened to March 2021? We may never know, let’s hope that April restores normal service. In this episode we continue the discussion with Chris Klug about his career in game design: James Bond RPG (which we covered in Episode 15), Aidyn’s Chronicles, and his work for Chaosium, such as The Smoking Ruin for RuneQuest Glorantha. Judge Blythy hands over his gavel for Judge Blythy Rules and we introduce a new segment to discuss Deadlands and other matters. You can support The GROGNARD files by putting a tip in the beret at Patreon. The post Episode 46 (Part 2) DragonQuest RPG (with Chris Klug) first appeared on The GROGNARD Files.

You’ll believe a Dragon can have hair! Download Episode The GROGNARD files opens on one of our favorites from back in the day. Blythy bought it from Northern Games Day while I was playing a great game of RuneQuest and he was feeling sorry for himself. We played a lot of this game as it was our swords and sorcery game of choice. In this episode we are reconnecting with the game. Chris Klug is in the Open Box section talking about how he got into game design and the factors that influenced his design decisions for the 2nd edition of the game. Rob Arcangeli is the GROGSQUAD member who provides an interesting First, Last and Everything. I never expected that The Age of Sigmar would feature in this section. We watch The Sword and the Sorcerer together in the GROGGLEBOX. Join our Patreon to take part. The post Episode 46 (Part 1) DragonQuest RPG (with Chris Klug) first appeared on The GROGNARD Files.

In this episode we review the games that we have played in 2020 – there were so many! During the discussion we cover our experiences of playing Lyonesse, Savage Worlds, Mutant Year Zero and many more. You can see the report on all the games we played by following this link. Dave Morris joins us in the Room of Role-Playing Rambling and discusses White Dwarf and other projects he’s been involved with over his long career in gaming. You can join his Patreon to support JewelSpider and follow his blog. There’s a new twitter account for you to follow @theRPGLibrarian follow it and direct mail me if you’d like to know more about the monthly Book Club, starting in Feb. Follow all of the GROGNARD files projects on Patreon.The post Episode 45 – Review of 2020 (with Dave Morris) first appeared on The GROGNARD Files.

The last GROGPOD of 2020 features a classic British Old School RPG, Dragon Warriors. You can find out more about Dave Morris at his blog and his Patreon. Daily Dwarf has a blog too. Dave Paterson is about to launch a new podcast Frankenstein’s RPG and he’s a regular on Orlanth Rex’s Gaming Vexes. Dragon Warriors is available at Drive Thru RPG (print on demand) as is Casket of Fays. There is a collection of information at The Cobwebbed Forest. If you like what we do, then please like, subscribe, tell someone else or support us on Patreon. The post Episode 44 – Dragon Warriors (with Dave Morris) first appeared on The GROGNARD Files.

This is a bonus episode featuring a ‘Library Use’ segment that we recorded which looks in detail at issue 52 of Dragon Magazine (published in August 1981). The publication was around the same time as the launch of the Moldvay edition of Basic D&D. We discuss an article where the new edition is discussed in comparison with the Holmes edition. We also review some of the other content in this feature rich issue. The bonus edition is dedicated to our Patreons who made it possible. We also mention: Guy Milner’s Blog Burn After Running, and Roll to SaveThe post Episode 43 (Bonus) Dungeons and Dragons first appeared on The GROGNARD Files.