The Vintage RPG Podcast

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we chat with Michael Monaco about his new book excavating the history of Fantasy Wargaming called The Highest Level of All. The game is a very idiosyncratic RPG created in the late ‘70s in the UK. I’ve talked about this game before, both in a previous episode of the podcast and in a post a million years ago — this is one of the RPGs from the early days that’s interested in “realistic” simulation. It has a reputation for being unplayable (which Mike dispels) and for having silly things like stat blocks for the Virgin Mary. But it is also a deeply intriguing game, partly because it was one of the first to hit shelves in mainstream bookstores, partly because it’s primary creator Bruce Galloway died not long after its publication. We try to get to the bottom of Fantasy Wargaming’s unusual, but enduring appeal! * * * Buy the The Highest Level of All, or grab a free PDF from the publisher. You can also check out Mike's blog, Swords & Dorkery for more on Fantasy Wargaming and other RPGs! * * * Our friends at Cadabra Records are excited about their imminent Nightlands Festival. Come to New Jersey and join in a celebration of some of the greatest weird fiction through words, music and art. Tickets are on sale now! New year, new Noble Knight discount code! Use VRPG23 for 10% off all your purchases online or in the store! Hang out with us on the Vintage RPG Discord! If you dig what we do, join us on the Vintage RPG Patreon for more roleplaying fun and surprises! Patrons keep us going! Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Vintage RPG Podcast!

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we check out Merlin Publishing’s BattleCards, a neat, if doomed, combat card game that came out in 1993. Design credit goes to Steve Jackson (UK) and has players picking cards to square off, then scratching off hit locations to see if they score wounds. The winner claimed the defeated card (they have a gold value) and could send it in to “purchase” special treasure cards. There are puzzles and quests as well, but the real star is the artist pool, which includes heavy hitters like Iain McCaig and Led Edwards. Even then, it didn’t stand a chance against Magic: The Gathering. * * * This week we shout out Dean Browell: check out his in-development space exploration RPG, Response! New year, new Noble Knight discount code! Use VRPG23 for 10% off all your purchases online or in the store! Hang out with us on the Vintage RPG Discord! If you dig what we do, join us on the Vintage RPG Patreon for more roleplaying fun and surprises! Patrons keep us going! Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Vintage RPG Podcast!

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we check out A Time to Harvest, a recently released campaign for Call of Cthulhu where players take the role of Miskatonic University students on an ill-advised field trip to Vermont. We talk in vague terms about why it is a cool campaign, the after a clear “beyond this point is spoilers” warning we get into some of the nitty gritty. A future classic of the system, I think! * * * New year, new Noble Knight discount code! Use VRPG23 for 10% off all your purchases online or in the store! Hang out with us on the Vintage RPG Discord! If you dig what we do, join us on the Vintage RPG Patreon for more roleplaying fun and surprises! Patrons keep us going! Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Vintage RPG Podcast!

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we descend into The Maze of Peril (1986), a fantasy novel by Dr. John Eric Holmes. Holmes is best known for creating the first D&D Basic Rules box set (1977), but he also wrote fantasy fiction (in addition to his day job as a neurologist). At a glance, Maze of Peril doesn’t inspire much confidence as to its quality, but it winds up being a fun adventure that captures something of the spirit of the early days of Dungeons & Dragons — something countless other hard-trying fantasy novels have failed to do. * * * New year, new Noble Knight discount code! Use VRPG23 for 10% off all your purchases online or in the store! Hang out with us on the Vintage RPG Discord! If you dig what we do, join us on the Vintage RPG Patreon for more roleplaying fun and surprises! Patrons keep us going!

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we’re talking to James Wallis about his forthcoming book Everybody Wins. It’s a fantastic book that charts the recent history of board games through the lens of the forty-three winners of the German Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) award, from 1979 to 2022. We also talk a little bit about RPGs as well — how could we not, as James was behind Hogshead Publishing and their New Style series of RPGs (we’re going to have him back to talk at length about The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen, promise). * * * Everybody Wins is in stores on March 14 — pre-order it now on Amazon (and pretty much everywhere else, too). You can also check out the Everybody Wins Podcast. James has a couple other audio/visual projects of interest. Ludonarrative Dissidents, with Greg Stolze and Ross Payton, is a podcast that looks at a different RPG every episode, while Inside the Rookery, is a weekly stream on RPG and storytelling in geek spaces.  You can further interface with James on Twitter, on Mastodon, through his outdated website or on Drive-Thru.

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we’re looking at The Unspeakable Oath, the Call of Cthulhu fanzine from Pagan Publishing (and later, Arc Dream). Debuting in 1990, the zine feel emblematic of its time, while also illustrating a continuity of DIY tradition from the early days of the Amateur Press Associations into the current RPG zine scene. All that plus tentacles!

Stu took a sick day so this week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, Hambone called in Tony Vasinda of Plus One Exp, Adam Vass of World Champ Game Co. and Levi Combs of Planet X Games to chat about what’s going on and what’s cool this Zine Month. Hot damn! * * * New year, new Noble Knight discount code! Use VRPG23 for 10% off all your purchases online or in the store! Hang out with us on the Vintage RPG Discord! If  you dig what we do, join us on the Vintage RPG Patreon for more roleplaying fun and surprises! Patrons keep us going! Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Vintage RPG Podcast! Available on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, Spotify, YouTube and your favorite podcast clients. Send questions, comments or corrections to info@vintagerpg.com. Follow Vintage RPG on Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook. Learn more at the Vintage RPG FAQ. Follow Stu Horvath, John McGuire, VintageRPG and Unwinnable on Twitter. Intro music by George Collazo. The Vintage RPG illustration is by Shafer Brown. Follow him on Twitter. Tune in next week for the next episode. Until then, may the dice always roll in your favor!

Old friends, new looks! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we’re looking at NECA’s Ultimates versions of the LJN Dungeons & Dragons action figures Warduke and Grimsword. We also check out Hasbro’s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon series figures — Venger, Dungeon Master, Hank, Diana, Bobby and Uni. All these toys are honkin’ BIG, but are they all GOOD? How much nostalgia is too much? Find out wherever pods are cast!

Dying malls and office buildings corrupted by extradimensional entities? Sounds like this week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we’re talking about Liminial Horror. A hack of Cairn from Goblin Archives, Liminal Horror takes the barely-there D&D framework of that earlier game and applies to the tropes of investigative horror. It works shockingly well! We also touch on The Mall and The Bureau, two scenario zines. The Mall has intriguing mechanics for introducing stress-related agendas in play that are particularly exciting.

Here we are in the brambles. This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we’re looking at Cairn, Yochai Gal’s ultra-lite hack/remix of Into the Odd and Knave. How few mechanics can you have and still have a D&D-esque RPG? It’s both more and less than you expect, probably. Cairn actually highlights Into the Odd’s differences from D&D by pulling the Odd mechanics in a more old-school direction (Into the Odd lacks a recognizable spellcasting system, for instance). We run it all down. Next up: Liminal Horror!