Sunday marked a significant Anniversary for theGROGNARDfiles podcast. Last year, @dailydwarf filed his first submission on 22nd May, selecting his favourite RUNEQUEST material from the hey day of the magazine.
It matters, because it was the moment that I realised that I needed to actually *do* something about the crazy notion of producing a podcast, as someone else had put time in to contribute to the idea. Someone who I didn’t really know. Someone who had put the work in, based on a speculative e-mail I’d sent to him.
Having White Dwarf at the cohesive centre of the podcast was essential, as it was such an important element of our experience of the hobby in those early years. I didn’t count on the quality of the submissions from @dailydwarf, for which I am eternally grateful.
My nasal drone and slightly pompous characterisation of the dwarf, doesn’t do justice to the quality of the writing in @dailydwarf’s submissions, so I’m pleased that we have decided to offer a pamphlet containing the collected essays. We’ll produce it as an insert to the ‘zine that we’re putting out in November. If you want to be assured of getting a copy, then please give us a tip in the beret.
One of the great consequences of producing the podcast has been meeting lots of great people. It’s possible that the GROGNARD files would have never had happened if I hadn’t got that submission in May ’15. I count @dailydwarf as one of the great ‘virtual’ friends I’ve made over the past 10 months.
I’m looking forward to publishing the collected works, in the meantime, these are the references to articles/ scenarios covered in the podcasts so far (as requested by some listeners):
RUNEQUEST
Oliver Dickinson: Lucky Eddi #29 Griselda Gets Her Men #30
John Bethell: Lair of the White Wyrm #14
Michael Cule: Rumble at the Tin Inn #33
CALL OF CTHULHU
Review of Call of Cthulhu in Open Box #32
Andy Bradbury: The Heart of the Dark # 75
Marcus Rowland: The Paddington Horror #88
Graeme Davis: Ghost Jackal Kill #79
Simon Nicholson: Ghosties & Ghoulies &… Squid? #91
TRAVELLER
Review of Traveller in issue #6
Andy Slack: Backdrop of Stars #24
Neil Cheyne: Amber to Red #26
Bob McWilliams: We Have a Referee Malfunction! #35
STORMBRINGER
Review of Stormbringer #29
Matt Williams: The Madcap Laughs #95 to #98.
ADVANCED DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS
Roger Musson: The Dungeon Architect #25 to #27.
Martin Hytch: Gamesmanship #75
Lew Pulsipher: The Necromancer #35.
Abbie Fiore: The Lichway #9
Marcus L Rowland: The Eagle Hunt #40
Graeme Davis: The City in the Swamp #37
Venetia Lee and Paul Stamforth: Castle in the Wind #76
Janet and Peter Vialls: Terror at Trollmarsh #74
Lew Pulsipher: Khazad Dûm #38
Abbie Fiore: The Halls of Tizun Thane #18
Paul Vernon: Troubles at Embertrees #34
To be continued!
We are all grateful to Daily Dwarf for nudging you along! Seeing the list of things you have covered makes me want to suggest other products.
Thank you for the kind words Dirk.
I’d like to express my own thanks to you too. A few years back, I was having some personal difficulties. As things started to improve, I decided to start the @dailydwarf twitter account as I always enjoyed chatting about White Dwarf back in the day, and hoped other like-minded people on twitter would join in. I was really blown away by the friendliness of the RPG and gaming community on twitter – Dirk and the Armchair Adventurers in particular.
I’d been thinking I ought to blog about White Dwarf and try and write more, but hadn’t really done much about it. It was Dirk’s drive and infectious enthusiasm about the Grognard files podcast that gave me the impetus. Contributing is good fun, but the credit for the Grognard files is all Dirk’s. And I’d like to say a huge thank you for the fact that you’ve got me gaming again.
I very much now regard Dirk as a good friend. I can’t wait until Grogmeet later in the year (the organisation of which is another example of Dirk’s creative drive) when we can all finally meet “for real”.
Thanks Dwarfy. The GROGNARD files is very much a team effort and it’s great to have you on the team. Anyone that knows me would by flabbergasted by the thought of me and ‘organisation’ being in the same sentence, but it’s the involvement of everyone that has kept me going.
Cheers, your comments warmed my cockles, and everyone loves hot cockles, right?
Dirk
I’d like to chime in here and say a big thanks to Dirk ,Blythy, Eddy, and of course the Daily Dwarf. Through The grognard files podcast, Twitter, and our online roll20 RPG sessions, I’ve had the opportunity to reengage with an old hobby, and discover there is still much fun to be had in playing RPG’s.
Making The White dwarf magazine central to the podcast was a stoke of genius. The magazine was central to RPG industry in the UK in so many ways. I also feel in many ways The Grognard files are taking on the role that was the preserve of the RPG magazines in the 1980’s. The Grognard files podcast is forming a culture and arena of discourse around the hobby, and whipping up us Grognards into frenzy that is transcending the nostalgic, and becoming current once more.
As Dirk & Blythy humorously mentioned in the last podcast, I’ve been taking out of RPG “deep freeze”, to discover that the games I enjoyed as a teenager, are still relevant, and indeed are undergoing a massive revival. The new D&D 5e is immensely successful ( and fun to play), and Chaosium is going from strength to strength with their new Cthulhu 7ed, and the upcoming new Runequest set in Glorantha. Looks like the stars are aligned for something special in the RPG world, feels like a new golden age of RPG’s. Good time to get involved again.
Thanks Grognard files. I look forward to more nostalgic and current RPG goodness