Ken And Robin Talk About Stuff

  In the Gaming Hut we cover ways to design monsters to star in investigative scenarios. We tromp into the Command Hut at the behest of Patreon backer Thomas Vallejos, who wants to know the deep secrets behind a proposal to revive the US Army’s iconic WWII-era uniform style. In Ask Ken and Robin, backer […]

  Picking up a thread left hanging a few episodes back, the Gaming Hut looks at ways to make a mundane solution to an apparently occult mystery work satisfyingly for your players. The Tradecraft Hut peers behind the headlines of the Skripal poisoning case. In the Cinema Hut Patreon backer Chris Camfield asks for the […]

Another all-request episode begins in the Gaming Hut, as Patreon backer Ruth Tillman asks us how we might game Annihilation in both its film and novel iterations. We head into the Book Hut at the behest of backer Sean Gomez, who wants to know more about Ken’s recent William Haggard fixation and spy thriller inspiration […]

Robin tries out a new maxim in That Thing I Always Say: in a game RPG session, the only way to go off track is a dead end. In The Culture of Gaming, we look at gatekeeping, which rears its head once more with the rise of streamed play. Finally, in Ken’s Bookshelf, our resident […]

  Keep a close eye on your open beverage as the Gaming Hut spins a Fall of DELTA GREEN arc from that most notorious of covert programs, MKULTRA. The Food Hut goes sequel for Instant Pot II: The Instant Pottening. Look over your shoulder for copycats as the Horror Hut investigates doppelgangers and body snatchers. […]

You have nothing to lose but your chains, and also your handcuffs, and possibly also your orange prison scrubs, as the Gaming Hut shows you what to do the next time your PC gets captured. The Tradecraft Hut probes off-books financial arrangements in covert operations, as inspired by a request from Patreon backer Chris Sellers. […]

Ken dons raffish 60s-vintage headgear to give The Fall of DELTA GREEN, now available for preorder, the Among My Many Hats treatment. Robin reviews ways to shape a dramatic scene in How to Write Good. We look at the science of choice and its implications for tabletop design in the Gaming Hut. Referenced in this […]

  We gather suspiciously in the Gaming Hut to ask if and how GMs can assist players in horror games who want their characters to exercise a Scully-like skepticism. We break into the History Hut at the behest of Patreon backer Andy Young, who seeks the scoop on fresh-faced 19th century burglar Edward Jones. In […]

In the Gaming Hut we put up our dukes and look at ways to frame fights that advance the story. Oscar time is upon us, so as is our annual wont we pop into the Cinema Hut for a look back at our favorite films of 2017. Recovering from the red carpet, we visit the […]

We swear we didn’t plan this, but Patreon backer Chris Sellers showed up unexpectedly in the Gaming Hut to ask about improvising GUMSHOE scenarios. The location of the Tradecraft Hut has been dangerously exposed, and only our look at fitness apps as a threat to operational security will save us. In an equally sudden turn, […]

  February loses its rep as the cruelest month when we confront it with an all-hut, all-request episode, in tribute to our fabulous Patreon backers. In the Gaming Hut, Tom Bagatelle seeks guidance on a sandbox time travel campaign. Peter Williamson adds reclining couches to the Food Hut as we consider the Roman cookbook attributed […]

  Brace yourself for musical metaphors as we head into the Gaming Hut and find that Patreon backer Brian Thomas has left us the logical analogy Orchestra: jazz combo :: play’s ensemble cast : role playing gaming group. In Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, Ken and Robin talk to Delta Green writer and […]

  In Among My Many Hats Robin talks about Beating the Story, which gears the story beat system you may know from Hamlet’s Hit Points to fiction writing in all of its forms. Pre-order the print book now and get it in electronic form immediately! As the world continues to turn into one big Conspiracy […]

Ladies and tigers abound as the Gaming Hut looks at story choices and how players respond to them. Then Patreon backer Scott Wachter dusts off the Archaeology Hut to ask why King Tut armed himself with a meteor dagger. Move over, Project Blue Book. There’s a new defunct US government effort to investigate UFOs in […]

  Yeah verily and anon, the Gaming Hut goes iambic pentameter as Patreon backer Chris Camfield asks us how to add Shakespearean flavor to a roleplaying campaign. Then your sweet and savory hosts venture into the Food Hut to reveal unbeatable flavor combinations. Sandhogs and aqueducts turn from research into terror as Ken and Robin […]

  In the Gaming Hut we mull the process of scenario writing, specifically the differences between writing first, or playing first. Backer Fred Kiesche takes advantage of his Patreon priveleges in Ask Ken and Robin, seeking deeper info on Ken’s current 13th Age campaign, Poikila Hellenistika. We take our seats in the Cinema Hut to […]

  It’s 2018 and we’re back, starting as usual in the Gaming Hut. Within its cozy confines we answer a question from a mystery backer on achieving genuine emotional investment in roleplaying. The History Hut unfolds its secret plans at the behest of Patreon backer Antti Elomaa, who wants to know why military operations have […]

  Our final episode of 2017 arrives with bells a-jangling in the form of our traditional live show from Dragonmeet. Learn about Stalin and Atlantis, what elements of our work we think other designers have picked up on, which beverages go with which iterations of a beloved nerd franchise, why Nazis are stupid, and much […]

Our throats showing the wear of travel to that most lurghy-inducing of wonderlands, we issue a Travel Advisory on Dragonmeet and the Modigliani show at the Tate Modern in London. In the Gaming Hut we compare and contrast two ways of structuring mystery scenarios: Robin’s Maze of Clues and Ken’s Ocean of Clues. Longtime listeners […]

  Hey, it’s an all-request episode! Patreon backer Joshua Trowbridge entreats us in the Gaming Hut to return to a perennial puzzler: how to convince change-averse players to try the awesome new thing you want to run for them. Patreon backer Josh Mannon summons us to the Cartography Hut, to explain that hole where the […]