The Vintage RPG Podcast

Stu's got a full plate, so that means a rerun! This week, please enjoy a remastered version of our 2021 interview with legendary RPG artist Erol Otus!   * * * Keep up to date on Erol's RPG work by following him on Facebook. Definitely keep an eye out for restocks of his currently sold out line of tees and prints at Bay Merch! Big thanks to Skinner for putting us in touch! * * * Stu’s book, Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground is up for pre-order now! Get in Regular or Deluxe, but maybe consider getting it via Bookshop, yea? 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 take a look at the strange world of the unknown. We chat about a bunch of books (like Time/Life’s Mysteries of the Unknown) and television shows (somehow In Search Of didn’t come up?), and how the “Unknown” as a topic seemed to have wafted away or transmogrified into “New Age” at the turn of the millennium. And then we get to the main course, Adam Allsuch Boardman’s glorious Illustrated History of Ghosts and Illustrated History of UFOs. Hopefully these recent and gorgeous books mark the start of an Unknown revival! * * * Stu's book, Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground is up for pre-order now! Get in Regular or Deluxe, but maybe consider getting it via Bookshop, yea? 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 take a look at The Dragon #1 (1976), the first issue of one of the most important RPG-focused magazines (also known as Dragon and Dragon Magazine, on and off through its run). We talk a little bit about the magazine’s run, but focus mainly on the issue itself, how simultaneously amateurish and professional it is, and how sad it is that there is nothing really like it in the world anymore. Stu also takes a minute to explain just what a house organ really is. * * * 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!

Waaagh! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we look at orcs. Particularly pig-faced orcs, but also monstrous humanoid orcs and mushroom people orcs. We also talk about Pig-Head from the Yla Eason’s Sun-Man toy line, the swine-things from House on the Borderland and door-shaped shields. It’s another odd-ball episode! * * * We only scratched the surface here. Of particular further interest, Stu neglected to mention William Blake’s diabolical character Orc, who likely also influenced Tolkien in the creation of creatures that wholly embody conceptual evil. Also missing is the demon Orcus, who has interesting folkloric connection here, though we did cover that in a previous podcast episode. And while we discussed some of the ways orcs can be seen as perpetuating racial stereotypes, we totally neglected to talk about how some folks, particularly in queer communities, have reclaimed the orc. Grant Howitt’s Big Gay Orcs is a good example of, well, gay orcs. It’s right there in the title.   * * * 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!

Turn on all the lights! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we delve into Reach of the Roach God, the new, massive hardcover installment of the Thousand Thousand Islands series. It’s pretty gross (in the best ways?) and, unlike the previous ATTI publications, Reach is structured like an RPG books, which clearly defined adventures and source material (it’s all still system agnostic, though, never fear). The result is something that seems pretty groundbreaking and exciting! * * * Reach of the Roach God will be available for purchase in the US at Spearwitch, once Kickstarter fulfillment is finished! 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 Stephen King and Bernie Wrightson’s Cycle of the Werewolf (1983). Born as a concept for a novelty calendar, it blossomed into an illustrated novella that is one of the finest modern werewolf stories and contains some of Wrightson’s best illustrations. We also talk more broadly about King’s career and unearth a surprising fact or two about the 1985 film adaptation of Cycle, Silver Bullet. * * * 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!

Which flesh is your flesh? This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, well, we don’t find out the answer to that question, but we DO check out the mysterious RPG-inspired art book Vermis I, by Plastiboo. This gorgeous artifact takes the form of a strategy guide for a videogame that doesn’t exist and draws clear inspiration from the Souls games, early videogame RPGs like Shadowgate and a whole wealth of tabletop games. It’s gorgeous and unsettling and deeply intriguing and, hands down, one of my favorite things I’ve added to the shelf in a long time. * * * 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!

The best of the first wave of TSR-produced D&D modules? Certainly the quirkiest! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we check out S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. It’s the one with the crashed spaceship full of aliens that, wouldn’t you know it, look and act like classic D&D monsters! Even though this was published in 1980, it actually saw play as early as the summer of 1976 at conventions, so as outside the norm as Barrier Peaks may seem, it also shows how early silliness had come to be core to the D&D experience. We dig into that, scratch at the complex legacy of Gary Gygax and even talk a little bit about the spooky stuff that happened down by the railroad tracks when we were kids. Check it out! * * * 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 discuss the concept of the West Marches, a style of play for large groups of players and on-demand GMs (mostly intended for D&D and its derivatives). West Marches was developed by Ben Robbins (Microscope, Kingdom) and offers a pretty unique framework for RPGs that puts a lot of the onus of play on players rather than GMs, and weaponizes the dread Fear of Missing Out. Stu’s starting up a West Marches game for Patrons, so it’s been on his mind! * * * There are tons of resources for and musings about West Marches games, but the place to start, if you’re interesting, is Robbins’ own blogs on the subject. Note: while Stu has personally decided that the “Marches” part of the name refers to military walking, and refers to it as such in the episode, a march in this context is actually a kind of borderland. In medieval Europe, these were used as neutral zones between regions, often for military purposes. A whole lot of names and words derive from the concept (including marquis and Denmark), to the extent that once you’re aware of it, you see a lot of Europe differently. * * * 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 Fred Saberhagen’s classic science fantasy trilogy. The last volume, Changeling Earth, got name-checked in Appendix N, but all three provided plenty of clear inspiration for Dungeons & Dragons. And they’re pretty great reads on their own! * * * 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!