Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

In the Gaming Hut, Ken introduces us to the meta-textual, meme-filled wonderland that is his Fall of Delta Green player group. The Crime Blotter visits the wild mobbed-up years when Montreal Quebec was the Vegas of the north. In How To Write Good a question from beloved Patreon backer Daniel Gill prompts a look at […]

On August 3, 2012, Ken and Robin debuted into a podcast-starved world the first edition of their weekly podcast. Stuff we talked about incluuuuded a brand new game called Night’s Black Agents, the Continuum convention in the UK, the role of the GM in game design, and the Golden Dawn. Eightish years later, we bring […]

The Gaming Hut goes below the depths for beloved Patreon backer Hector Trelane, who seeks tips on adapting the feel of Wolfgang Petersen’s 1981 classic Das Boot into a roleplaying setting. How to Write Good revisits the issue of prose style in RPG books with more tips to strengthen and clarify your work. Fun With […]

In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer wants to know about arc-sized endgames for player characters. Your Call of Cthulhu characters may have wound up in a sanatorium, but did your D&D heroes ever become feudal lords? The Cinema Hut is even more of a hut than usual as we conduct a folk horror 101. […]

If the hairs on the back of your neck are tingling, you must be in the Gaming Hut, and we may be providing tips on using Sense Trouble abilities. In Fun With Science beloved Patreon backer Chris Sellers seeks the skinny on fatbergs. He sends Robin’s players on missions in his current game, so it’s […]

In the Gaming Hut we fulfill a Tell Me More Request from beloved Patreon backer Bryan, who wants us to wring gaming ideas from the most recent version of The Invisible Man. Ask Ken and Robin finds estimable Patreon backer Scot Ryder asking if Robin would decrease the number of abilities in Ashen Stars, given […]

The Cartography Hut gets smart as beloved Patreon backer Gerald Sears asks us to riff on intelligent maps. Esteemed Patreon backer Sibel Permann urges the History Hut to find gaming gold in the Guelphs and Ghibellines. The Horror Hut looks at a paper by Francis T. McAndrew on the social-evolutionary psychology of Bad Places. Finally […]

In the Gaming Hut we help beloved Patreon backer Jamie Twine as he seeks to adapt scenarios written for standard GUMSHOE to the QuickShock version of the system found in The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. The Tradecraft Hut conducts an investigation into spying charges laid against a Major General of Ukraine’s security service. In Ken […]

Remote play is all the rage and we’ve convened in the Gaming Hut, physically distanced as always, to provide our tips to smooth your sudden conversion to the format. In the Archaeology Hut, beloved Patreon backer Mikko Airaksinen wants us to get to the bottom of museums locking away their 3D artifact scans. In the […]

You are getting sleepy very sleepy in the Gaming Hut as we look at ways to make being mind-controlled fun for players. The Yellow King Roleplaying Game profiles move back to the Culture Hut for a look at Ken’s favorite Belle Epoque figure, photographer, cartoonist, spy and balloonist Nadar. In Ask Ken and Robin we […]

The aroma of a damn fine cup of coffee wafts through the Gaming Hut as beloved Patreon backer Drew Eicholz asks us to pitch a non-frustrating version of Lynchian roleplaying. In Fun With Science we look at Marie Curie as a figure in The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Home cooking with leftovers is on our […]

In the Gaming Hut we spitball ideas for GUMSHOE One-2-One scenarios enterprising listeners might turn into self-published PDF products under the auspices of its Creative Commons license. We enter the History Hut to find rocker Frank Black prompting beloved Patreon backer to ask us about the Llano del Rio commune of the 1910s. The Cinema […]

In the Gaming Hut we ask when a historical event the players can research might also be a spoiler. Ripped From the Headlines allows beloved Patreon backer Chris Lydon to discover the hidden significance of Las Vegas’ political hat wearing pigeons. Our round of Yellow King Roleplaying Game Belle Epoque biographies shifts to the Culture […]

In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Peter McAveney asks how to set up a Night’s Black Agents game as if it is, at first, some other less vampire-infested game. The Tradecraft Hut goes to 50s Canada, a tale of a KGB mole turned double agent and the corrupt RCMP officer who gave him up […]

In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Trung Bui asks us for tips and tricks on running open-ended games without interfering with player agency. The Food Hut remains just as crispy, with a fraction of the calories, as Robin discovers air fryer cooking by way of the Breville Smart Oven with Air Fry. Our tour […]

In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Gray St. Quintin asks us to expand on our past fleeting discussion of the various voices and modes used in a roleplaying session. The Tradecraft Hut has no choice but to address recent reminders that Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger, whose story is already wild enough, was subjected […]

Look out for dirigibles as the Gaming Hut looks at the process of selecting your tech level when building an alternate timeline. The Aftermath sequence of The King in Yellow Roleplaying Game serves as our case in point. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Somebody Else, we chat with game designer and writer Sarah Saltiel. […]

Longtime listeners know that “Start with Earth” is a Thing Ken Always Says. But in the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Nicola Wilson wants to know exactly where. In the Conspiracy Corner estimable Patreon backer Steven Roman seeks bookshelf recommendations for all things recent and conspiratorial. The Consulting Occultist continues to wear suspiciously Robin-like facial […]

In the Gaming Hut we come to the rescue of beloved Patreon backer Keelan O’Hea, whose players have conceived the inexplicable desire for a version of GUMSHOE with more die rolling in it. The Food Hut, of all huts, contains the first of this episode’s two Yellow King Roleplaying Game shout-outs, as we savor the […]

They tried to suppress it. They tried to contain it. They left it for months on a loading dock in Estonia. But now The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has made its final crack in reality by heading to retail. We celebrate with an all-Yellow King edition of Robin’s ambitious new game. In the Gaming Hut, […]

In the Gaming Hut, we show you how to turn otherwise inert scenes in a sandbox game into prompts for activity. With the Academy Awards creeping up on us yet again, it’s time for us to sashay into the Cinema Hut to list our favorite films of 2019. Finally the Consulting Occultist returns to matters […]

That knife you smuggled into the Gaming Hut will finally pay off as we provide tips on playing the secret assassin character. Patreon backer Tom Abella provides us a story Ripped From the Headlines, in which a baffling GPS-spoofing technology deployed on the Yangtze at Shanghai might be a cover for sand thieves. Or, you […]

With a wave of his chainsaw hand, Patreon backer Walter Manbeck summons us to the Gaming Hut for tips on running comedy horror games. Inspired by a recent New York Times Magazine piece, the Tradecraft Hut examines the implications of the OSS’ impact on graphic and industrial design. Patreon backer Marc Kevin Hall asks us […]

In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Tom Shaw asks us to even the odds when strong PCs fight weak opponents. A gruesome find in the History Hut prompts estimable backer Polydamas to seek guidance on portraying the Sandby Borg Massacre in a game. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Robin chats with […]

Pull up a comfy chair and get your fireballs back in the Gaming Hut as we look at the timing of resource refreshing. In the Tradecraft Hut we peer into the espionage activities of William Playfair, now better known as the inventor of the pie chart, not to mention most of your other favorite charts. […]

In our final episode of the year, we unwrap the annual Christmas present that is our episode recorded live at Dragonmeet in London. Join us for the nerdtroping of the Norman Conquest and Hindu mythology, this podcast’s alternate timeline, writing to drink by, annoying tannoy interruptions, and the real intervention in the 2016 election. Want […]

Freshly home and invigorated, or perhaps exhaugorated, by our annual trip to Dragonmeet in London, we issue a Travel Advisory for the William Blake exhibition at Tate Britain. Rocketed by the power of recording technology back to the day before Gen Con, Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else finds us in conversation with Colby […]

In the Gaming Hut we figure out what people are really talking about when they take sides in the system matters debate. The Tradecraft Hut peers into a classic tabloid spy scandal, 1961’s Profumo Affair, to see what one might make of it in The Fall of Delta Green. Beloved Patreon backer Timothy Coram steps […]

Join us not midway through but at the top of the podcast as the Gaming Hut finds ways to introduce a new player to a long-running series. In the Television Hut beloved Patreon backer Jeromy French asks Robin to expound on the problems of the series finale. Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else features […]

In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Elias Helfer asks us how to invent great magical artifacts. The History Hut exits pursued by a bear, and also flying bricks, as we look at New York City’s 1849 Shakespeare riots. Phil Masters leads a cane-toting pack of his fellow Patreon backers into the Horror Hut, demanding […]

, We show up in the Gaming Hut with our usual punctuality to look at ways of handling player absences. Crime Blotter looks at video games as a platform for money laundering. Beloved Patreon backer Steve Dempsey invites us to the Food Hut for a bowl of chili, or at least some palaver and history […]

In the Gaming Hut, Patreon backer Jacques de Villiers wonders how one might use The Armitage Files or Dracula Dossier in The Fall of Delta Green. Then Ken convenes a Cinema Hut to talk about his discoveries from the Chicago International Film Festival. He’s been a character in the Kartasverse for ages, but now he’s […]

The Gaming Hut chunks a double-double in the pentacle as Patreon backer Louis Sylvester asks us to riff on regional linguistic magic. Backer Nikolaj Hansen runs into a Mythology Hut shaped like a phone booth, asking Ken why Umberto Eco was wrong about Superman. Things get hairy in the Cinema Hut as we look at […]

The Gaming Hut warms up its blue bolts as we mull the exasperated Dungeon Master trope. Beloved Patreon backer Corey Pierno asks the Book Hut for tips on researching the everyday lives of historical people. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, we chat with Ellie Akers about her online equestrian management game Hunt […]

We hunker down in the mud and fear of the Gaming Hut to answer beloved Patreon backer Bill Durfy’s request to combine WWI and ghouls. Impeachment is in the news, the 1867 news that is, as the History Hut covers the attempt to remove Andrew Johnson from the White House. In How to Write Good […]

Our forces muster outside the Gaming Hut as Patreon backer Robert Dean asks us how to fold mass battles into D&D. Thanks to a redaction failure the Tradecraft Hut discovers ICE’s requisition for a replica Chicago at Fort Benning. Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else gets a 13/10 as we chat with multi-hat wearing […]

The PCs are being pursued! Run to the Gaming Hut to learn how to make this fun! A sinister substances drips in your direction! Creep into the Horror Hut for an examination of ooze horror. Fill your cart with processed junk as the Food Hut contemplates objectively terrible comestibles at least one of us loves. […]

Beloved Patreon backer Timothy Daly meets us in the Gaming Hut to ask why D&D remains the most popular roleplaying game. Speaking of D&D, Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, specifically Jim Zub, about the Young Adventurers’ Guide series of D&D kids’ books. Finally the Cinema Hut hosts its annual look back at the […]

In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Walter Manbeck asks how to do El from Stranger Things as a player character. Expressionistic shadows flit across the Cinema Hut as we take a look at F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu. Then Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, this time Atlas Games’ Michelle Nephew, who shares her […]

We take a closer look at Ken’s new Pelgrane Press book Hideous Creatures by way of the Monster Hut, which seems to be full of our pals, the Deep Ones. In How To Write Good we talk about foils and how to use them. The Culture Hut hosts a discussion of a painting by none […]

This week’s Gaming Hut comes to you by telegram as Patreon backer Jay Tea asks us how to research and deploy historical communications technology, oh let’s say, FALL OF DELTA GREEN. Patreon backer Jeff Kahrs gathers us to in the Cinema Hut to ask why there is only one good Arthurian movie. In Ken and/or […]

The Gaming Hut shows up with its usual punctuality as Patreon backer Ken Ringwald asks to hear about time as a resource in RPGs. It’s dark out. He has a full tank of gas. He’s wearing sunglasses. Patreon backer Chris Camfield drives his 1974 Ford Monaco sedan to Ask Ken and Robin about the […]

Present your badges for scanning and take a seat as we present our annual episode recorded before a live audience bursting with Patreon backers. Join us as we talk squishy Habsburgs, chron0-suppressed rebellions, donut heresies and the proverbial so much more. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access […]

Voices weary and brains bleary, Ken and Robin return from Gen Con 2019 to take their annual look at the state of the industry through the lens of the convention that invented roleplaying. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Snag […]

Our annual Indianapolis hotel room episode begins in the Gaming Hut, where we find ways to be a lone wolf PC the rest of the players won’t hate. In the Food Hut we look at our favorite cooking shows and why they make the list. Patreon backer Bryan invokes his Tell Me More powers to […]

In the Gaming Hut, we build on some recent articles by Robin to further explore a crossover between the surrealist adventures of Dreamhounds of Paris to the psychedelic spycraft of THE FALL OF DELTA GREEN. Speaking of expanding on recent articles, How to Write Good provides tips for keeping your brain in gear for that […]

An all request episode kicks off with a co-production between the Gaming Hut teams and our Tell Me More benefit for Patreon backers. Backers Mike Marlow and Kevin J. Maroney, seeing the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff capsule review of Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans’ graphic novel DIE, want to hear more. This expands […]

In the Gaming Hut we deconstruct scenarios where the PCs have to wait for certain events to take place. How to Write Good comes to the aid of Patreon backer Dustyn Mincey, who seeks guidance on the naming of people and places. The Politics Hut gets drunk on codeine and loco root with a look […]

The Gaming Hut starts us strong as we look for ways to avoid stock scenario openings. In the Culture Hut we examine the way critical terms lose their meaning when they penetrate popular consciousness. Ask Ken and Robin satisfies Mrs. Obed Marsh’s need to know how to run The Fall of Delta Green with 60s […]