Category: Podcast

Liminal Inspirations Ep.63 (with C.K.McDonnell) (Part 2)

Continuing to find inspiration from urban horror/fantasy, in this episode we look at The Stranger Times and Children of the Stones

In this episode, we continue looking for inspiration from urban horror/fantasy.

C.K. McDonnell joins the book club to talk about his career and his series of novels set in Manchester, The Stranger Times, about a newspaper covering the supernatural. There are three books in the series, with another coming in a couple of months, and a podcast that supports the novels.

Dirk and Blythy are in the Las O’Gowrie discussing the seventies children’s TV Classic, The Children of the Stones.

If you want to find out more about the book club, including the forthcoming guests, then follow the page on this site.

Please support us on Patreon.

Liminal (with Paul Mitchener) Ep.63 (Part 1)

Join us as we discover the places and people ‘between’ with Paul Mitchener, creator of Liminal RPG

Welcome to the world of Liminal. Dirk and Blythy are in the throes of discovering a world where the ordinary and extraordinary interact.

Joining us in the Room of Role-Playing Rambling is the creator of Liminal, Paul Mitchener who has provided an insight into the game and its influences.

Support the GROGNARD files on Patreon.

Call of Cthulhu Ep.2 (Part 2) – REMASTERED

Another repeat! This the next in the ongoing campaign to remaster the files from the early GROGPODs. Some of the early ones are difficult to hear, so this has been equalised. It does result in some strange gaps and distortions, but nothing too distracting I hope. The roll of dice are missing from here because I got complaints about it hurting peoples’ heads.

I mention Improvised Radio Theatre with Dice, which is still going strong.

GAMESMASTER’S SCREEN

Behind the screen I have a table of Call of Cthulhu supplements. I’m joined by Judge Blythy who rolls the 1D100 to select 5 for detailed discussion.

ED’S BARGAIN SHED

Ed, The Armchair Adventurer’s Chief bargain-hunter provides an e-Bay price index for the supplements under discussion.

POSTBAG

A selection from listener comments, including a fascinating look at The Lovecraft Variant – an early Cthulhu adaptation for Tunnels and Trolls.

The Lovecraft Variant is now a fully fledged game.

Follow me on Twitter @theGROGNARDfile

UK Games Expo Report 2023

You’ll need at least two brews and a whole packet of Hob Nobs while we go on and on about UK Games Expo 2023.

It’s that time again! We went on the road in a charabanc and headed to England’s 4th City, Birmingham, for the UK Game Expo 2023.

We report on the games we played, the people we saw and the stuff we bought in a spectacular weekend.

Learn how we became Pookie Porters carrying his impressive haul, which can be seen revealed on this video.

There is also news from our bar-side chat with Paul Fricker and his podcast recommendation of Filthy Ritual, the true crime podcast. He has also written about it on his substack.

Dirk participated in a panel of fellow podcasters with the RPG Repair Shop. There is an edited sample featured here, but if you want more, then listen at Frankenstein’s RPG.

If you would like to support the podcast, then please support us on Patreon. Thanks.

Tale of the Manticore (with Jon Cohen) ep.62

Join Dirk the Dice, climbing to the top of Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh for an episode that we used to label ‘extra’ but who cares if they have an episode number?

Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore joins us to share his First, Last and Everything. He mentions Mythic and The Quiet Year in a conversation recorded at this year’s virtual GROGMEET.

Blythy and Dirk are in the Las O Gowrie answering listener questions in a Thunderphase! segement.

Join our Patreon to support the podcast and get a ‘a little extra’.

Call of Cthulhu Ep.2 (Part 1) – REMASTERED

The early episodes are steadily being remastered with an extra segment reflecting on the episode eight years on.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. This is a remastered version of episode 2 (part 1) with some additional edits and the levels balanced and an extra segment reflecting on the episode eight years later.

Open Box – reliving the memories of playing the game for the first time and the faltering start.

Judge Blythy Rules! – The Armchair Adventurers’ Resident Rules Lawyer discusses the finer points of the rules and style of play. We also speculate on what horrors have faced British Prime Ministers.

White Dwarf – @dailydwarf talks about his early experiences of playing Call of Cthulhu and selects his favourite item from the pages from the halcyon days of the UK’s best gaming magazine.

An invitation to listeners to contribute their stories of playing Call of Cthulhu in the early days.

Look out for a Micro Grog Pod coming soon featuring a list of our favourite CoC supplements and a current online pricing guide.

Episode 3 will feature TRAVELLER RPG

Star Frontiers Ep 61 (Part 2)

Star Frontiers returns. This time we are looking for adventure!

Still Dirk. Star Frontiers returns. This time we are looking at the adventures that were created for the game. Dark Side of the Moon and Face of the Enemy were very sophisticated modules produced by TSR.

Wayne Peters joins us to talk about Space 1999 and add it to the every-expanding Appendix G.

We mention a great Call of Cthulhu adventure, Of Sorrow and Clay, which we played at virtual GROGMEET.

Music is Helix by Omari.

Why not support us on Patreon?

Star Frontiers (with Ben Riggs) Ep.61 (Part 1)

This time we look at a TSR classic and consider the history of the company post Gygax

Join the Galactic Legions with Dirk and Blythy as we explore Star Frontiers.

Introduction: An apology for the misreading of the shrine last time. The background to Star Frontiers as a setting explained.

Book Club: Ben Riggs joins Dirk in the Zoom of Role-Playing Rambling to talk about the history of TSR as explained in his book. Slaying the Dragon.

Daily Dwarf: The triumphant return of the Daily Dwarf essay looking at how Imagine magazine covered Star Frontiers.

Speed-Rating: Judge Blythy and Dirk give the low-down on the game including the highlights and the things that don’t quite work.

Save for Half: an advert for our friends at The Save for Half podcast

I’ll get mi coat: Monster of the Week and Planescape, our latest obsessions

Outro: Virtual Grogmeet, the Book Club and join us on Patreon.

I guess I was Never There – new EP from Omari (Dirk Jnr)

Dangerous Games (with Joseph Laycock) Ep.60

Don’t panic, it’s only a game, sit back have a hob nob, as we explore satan, RPGs and Tom Hanks …. Aye!

Introduction: We look at the Satanic Panic in this episode. We have touched on it before, during our interview with Tim Harford. We are part of the Scarred for Life generation, so were met with mild bemusement rather than a moral panic.

I somehow manage to croak through this … apologies … normal service will resume as soon as the Lemsip kicks in.

Open Box (3.45) Author of Dangerous Games, Joseph Laycock, Professor of Religious Studies at Texas State University, joins us in the zoom of role-playing rambling to explain the history of RPG moral panics in America.

GROGGLEBOX (34:41) Blythy and Dirk watch the made for TV Mazes and Monsters (1982) It has been released on BluRay with friends of the show, Scott Dorwood, How we Roll and Seth Skorkowsky

Appendix G (01:11:00) Kehaar aka Clarky adds Dr Who and the UNIT campaign to Appendix G and talks about he became the poster-boy for satanism on The Wirral.

I’ll Get My Coat (1:22:00) Dirk and Blythy look forward to the forthcoming Moorcock Weekender and reflect upon the end of the first season of The Pirates of Drinax.

Outro (1:31:0) sniffle … Bookclub …. Substack ….sniffle …. virtualGROGMEET … sniffle … thanks for being a Patreon. *coughs*

Vaesen (and Moviedrome with Hypnogoria) Ep.59

We enter the strange world of the cult movies and the macabre in this episode with the help of Hypnogoria Podcast.

INTRO – What was one of the triggers that stopped me playing back in the day? The discovery of cult movies. In this episode we explore the late night television schedules in the form of Moviedrome.

Starburst Memories: 4.15 – we are joined in the room of rambling by Mr Jim Moon of the Hypnogoria podcast. We talk about the fabulous first season of the Moviedrome, presented by film-maker Alex Cox.

Speed Rating: 51. Blythy tries to resist the taste of Summer by hiding in the stock cupboard and talking about one of his current favourite games: Vaesen from Free League.

Save for Half – we are proud to advertise one of the greatest vintage games podcasts out there (and a friend of the show).

I’ll Get Mi Coat: Weakness, thy name is Dirk.

Please support us on Patreon.