Ken And Robin Talk About Stuff

In the Gaming Hut we ponder a meta-terminology games designers might use to describe the purpose and function of the various sub-systems they build into roleplaying rules sets. Now that Donald Trump has sewn up the Republican nomination, we head into  the Politics Hut to ask Ken what happened to his party, and whether he […]

Patreon supporter Tim Brandis kicks us off with an Ask Ken and Robin question about which of our core design beliefs might have evolved over time. In the Tradecraft Hut we reach way back to that most classic of espionage scandals, the Dreyfus Affair. The Cinema Hut finds us in Stetsons and spurs for an […]

Patreon backer Graham Wills starts us off in the Gaming Hut by asking how to balance conspiratorial genres, like the spy thriller, with group trust. Among My Many Hats finds Ken laying down some wisdom—some Starry Wisdom, that is. In the Horror Hut, Patreon supporter Cardboard Sandwich asks us how to adapt the ghostly works […]

Patreon backer Kevin J. Maroney gets us started with an Ask Ken and Robin question about other designers’ mechanics we consider to be under-stolen. The Tradecraft Hut takes on a recent story claiming that infamous Nazi military officer Otto Skorzeny ended his career as a Mossad assassin. In the Food Hut we heroically accede to […]

In the Gaming Hut, Patreon backer Bill Sundwall wants Ken to mash up two of his projects, The Madness Dossier and Night’s Black Agents, into one. The Business of Gaming looks for the best ways to combat harassment within our community. The Book Hut responds to backer Frank King’s request for a look at the […]

The Gaming Hut gets organized as we answer Patreon backer Samwise Crider’s question about tracking clues in GUMSHOE and other investigative games. Backer Adam McDonald enters the Politics Hut for the 101 on machine politics—particularly that of Ken’s beloved Chicago. Backer and colleague Hal Mangold grabs his popcorn in the Cinema Hut with his request […]

Ask Ken and Robin gets especially educational as Patreon supporter Brent Brown asks us for tips for using RPGs to teach history, home school style. Tradecraft Hut peers into the espionage scene in Brussels. How To Write Good looks at influences and how to incorporate them well. Finally the Consulting Occultist slakes the hankering of […]

Among My Many Hats is an Egyptian headdress with a distinctly feline aspect, as Ken talks about his installment of Ken Writes About Stuff devoted to Bast. The Gaming Hut looks at ways to write scenarios to present the information about Game Master Characters GMs need to run their games. Thanks to Patreon Patron Jeff […]

We start with Ask Ken and Robin, as Patreon supporter Ross Ireland asks us to tell our best crazy game stories. Then it’s off to the History Hut to consider the troubled Presidency of a guy who really couldn’t get a Supreme Court nominee approved, John Tyler. In our inaugural edition of Tell Me More, […]

Pull your swords out of your stones and step into the Gaming Hut for a consideration of the Chosen One trope. How to Write Good explores a phenomenon Robin calls Nigeling, when you make one character look good by painting others as rubes. You’ll place great stock in… no, I’m sorry, I can’t. Let’s just […]

Now that backers of our exciting and handsome Patreon campaign get priority access to pose questions for the show, we have a bunch of great questions in the hopper. So let’s get to four of them in a special celebratory all-request episode. In the Gaming Hut Paul Stefko asks us for tips on running games […]

In this special theme episode, we start in the uncharted waters of the Cartography Hut, to look at the struggle to accurately measure longitude at sea, and its underdog hero, clockmaker John Harrison. We shift to the Gaming Hut to ask ourselves how to introduce navigational uncertainty into magic-rich F20 worlds. Then the Consulting Occultist […]

Sneak up on us very carefully as Ask Ken and Robin responds to a Josh Kroger question regarding stealth systems in RPGs. Recent events force us to reconsider past Politics Hut pronouncements as, with increasing trepidation, we ask once more, is Donald Trump America’s Rob Ford? In the Mythology Hut we pry under the ecclesiastical […]

Let’s schmooze a while in the Gaming Hut as we spitball a game based on social experience points. Get in touch with your inner cave dweller as the Conspiracy Corner checks out Neanderthal conspiracy theories, most notably those of painter and sculptor Stanislav Szukalski. Finally it’s that time of year again: in a bumper segment […]

Long have we teased it! Now it’s finally here, for your keeping-the-show-alive convenience: our Patreon campaign. In this special mini-episode we talk the whys, the wherefores, and the long-coveted extra stuff we can do if we hit particular milestones. Jump on board to make show notes, transcripts and the new Ken and Robin Consume Media […]

There’s a rat looking at us and a hawk flying overhead as Ask Ken and Robin fields a Michael Shreeves question on making familiars narratively satisfying. Our lead time prevents the Politics Hut from engaging in prognostication, so instead we step back to look at ways of understanding this most chaotic and suspenseful of US […]

Can you make it through the terrors of Ask Ken and Robin, when Sean Maclean asks us how to run survival horror? If so, the Tradecraft Hut awaits, where we deliver our promised full segment on legendary M15 counterintelligence honcho Maxwell Knight. Go down to the basement and get made small as Horror Hut zooms […]

Get your chlorophyll on as we enter a vine-choked version of the Gaming Hut to riff an alien species that feeds via photosynthesis. Ken gets you started on your collection of books about maps in a bibliographic  Cartography Hut. It’s been a while since Ask Ken and Robin had a lightning round, so let’s have […]

Oh, the humanity! How do we characterize being a human in F20 games and settings? Answers lie inside the Gaming Hut. You think the media is bad today. Back during Chicago’s circulation wars you could get shot for reading the wrong paper on the subway. Elucidation waits in a hard-to-target corner of the History Hut. […]

Roll the dice with us as Among My Many Hats finds Ken headed to Las Vegas 68. Grant our dramatic petition while How To Write Good breaks down dramatic scene construction. Join us for a plate of tamarind-infused noodles as the Food Hut looks at the politics of pad thai. Finally, narrowly avoid drowning not […]