The Vintage RPG Podcast

Back in October, Stu ran "Chariot of the Gods," the cinematic scenario in the Alien Starter Set. Not once, but twice! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast we talk about how it went. Who survived? What was left of them? Well, we aren't telling because that would spoil the fun. But we do dig into Stu's general impressions of how the game works and the experience it delivers.

It's a little late for a holiday gift guide, even without the worldwide supply chain issues and shipping delays, so let's call this episode of the Vintage RPG Podcast "Cool RPG stuff that came out this year (and is maybe made by our friends)." While it may be too late for the December holidays (though PDFs make for fine gifts, too!), the monopoly December has on gift giving is silly. Give your tabletop pals a cool book in January or February, it'll make their month! Those dreary months need some good cheer too!

We did Fighting Fantasy last week, so this week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, it seemed like a fun idea to take a look at a board game inspired by Fighting Fantasy, the spectacular Escape the Dark Castle, from Themeborne. So many great things about this game: the gnarly throwback art, the punishing difficulty, the narrative focus, the incredible ease of learning it. Snag it, throw it on the table, learn while you go and die, repeatedly. Fantastic stuff! We also chat with Henry Taylor about his psychedelic, system agnostic RPG sourcebook about Bronze Age Celts, Caer Mundus: The Lost Realm. Here be magic mushrooms, folks! Buy a physical copy, housed in a handsome slipcase, direct from Henry's store, or check out the sneak peek PDF Votive Offerings on DriveThru for a taste of what the main book offers.

On the Vintage RPG Podcast this week, the guys talk about the famed adventure gamebook franchise, Fighting Fantasy, developed by Ian Livingstone and (English) Steve Jackson. Hambone also has a chat with Ryan Verniere about his forthcoming RPG, Blackbirds, now up for pre-order on BackerKit. This forthright post is brought to you by Stu's head cold. We'll return to our regular number of exclamation points next week. * * * Correction: Ryan discovered Berserk in 1992 not 1982.

Did you know that there's a Rocky and Bullwinkle RPG? Yup: the Bullwinkle and Rocky Role-Playing Party Game! Do you even have a clue who Rocky and Bullwinkle are? Did you get that the first line of this post is a reference to their cartoon? Maybe you did, maybe you didn't, but that doesn't change the fact that this particular cartoon license is a bit of a head-scratcher for TSR circa 1988, and doesn't get any less odd here in 2021. We get into that and check out the game itself, which has some surprising similarities to modern game design, particularly in storytelling games. Only on the Vintage RPG Podcast, folks!

Ships and desert islands and sea shanties and secret treasures: we're getting nautical on this week's episode of the Vintage RPG Podcast. First up, N4 — Treasure Hunt (1986), one of the finest introductory scenarios for first edition Dungeons & Dragons. It's one of the only modules to successfully pull of the "you've been captured and lost all your stuff" trope and introduces the underloved idea of zero-level characters (at least until Dungeon Crawl Classics came around). Good stuff all around! We also chat with Tristan Zimmerman about his unusual nautical RPG, Shanty Hunters, in which you attempt to preserve sea shanties that magically defend themselves by manifesting the subjects of their songs to stop you. It's pretty wild and on Kickstarter right now! * * * Be sure to check out Tristan's Ennie-nominated RPG blog, Molten Sulphur.

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we're talking 3, 2, 1… Action! with 3, 2, 1… Action! creator Hambone! You probably remember Hambone kickstarted an adventure for the system, Rocket to Russia, back in February during ZineQuest. That scenario is a prelude to Point Nemo, which is hitting Kickstarter on Tuesday. Follow now to be notified on launch! We chat a little bit about Point Nemo and a lot about the underlying system, which is rules light and aims to be welcoming for players of all levels of experience. Check it out!

Halloween is nearly upon us! For the last few years, we've reserved this week to chat about Ravenloft, but this year we thought we'd talk about a game that seems truer to the spirit of the season: Babes in the Wood, from World Champ Game Company. It's a delightfully spooky game about being a child lost in the woods on an endless Halloween. What could be better? But that's not all! Comic writer Mark Sable is back for a chat, this time to tell us about his new comic, Chaotic Neutral, which ponders the question: what if Dungeons & Dragons was everything the Satanic Panic thought it was? It's on Kickstarter now!

Have you seen the Yellow Sign? We sure have. This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we tackle the massive new Delta Green campaign Impossible Landscapes (2021). It instantly takes its places as one of the definitive RPG takes on Robert W. Chambers' infamous King in Yellow, delivering an unprecedented, mind-bending experience — and that's just reading the book. Playing the campaign is likely something the folks at your table will never forget. A solid gold modern classic. Stu doesn't generally care about spoilers but in this case tried to minimize discussing them. Still, if you're planning on playing this, or think you might down the line, maybe be ready to stick your fingers in your ears while listening. We've also got a new Indie Elevator Pitch! Sadia Bies and Banana Chan pop on to chat about their anthology of live action horror RPGs that tackle themes of suburbia, food and consumption. Coming to Kickstarter soon!

This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we have such sights to show you. Wait, no, wrong horror franchise. But pretty close — we're talking about Kult, the mature existential urban horror RPG imported from Sweden by Terry Amthor and Metropolis Ltd. The designers clearly had Clive Barker on their minds. We honestly barely scratch the surface, though, talking more about the edginess of the 90s, the trend of investigating secret histories in RPGs and all that pre-millennial tension that was in the air. We'll be taking another, closer look at Kult down the line for sure.