Traveller RPG Revisited (with Marc Miller) Ep 69

In this episode, we have a very special guest. Marc Miller is the creator of the Traveller Role-Playing game and in this interview he talks to Dirk the Dice about his first encounter with Dungeons and Dragons. He also talks about the origins of Traveller and his trip UK Games Day.

Judge Blythy, our resident rules lawyer, revisits the rules that we looked back at in Episode Three and assesses the changes that have been developed in the latest version. We are playing Traveller regularly again, and really enjoying it.

Space Ship art by Ian Stead (thanks for making the contact!).

The outro music is My Face will Murder Me by The Static Music Club (Omari)

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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.

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Review of 2022 (with Bud’s RPG Reviews) Ep 58

The Armchair Adventurers have had another incredible year of gaming. Dirk and Blythy roll out the red carpet to the GROGGIE awards. At the Book Club, Bud talks about Viral: A Modern Call of Cthulhu Scenario.

It has been another incredible year for The Armchair Adventurers. We review the experiences that we have had with games old and new and reflect upon the year in general. There may be some irrelevant Beatles chat too.

INTRO – A new review and a breakdown of what to expect in the latest issue (including a ‘less’ v ‘fewer’ subtext).

GROGGIES Part 1. (4.10) Find out more about Red Markets in our appearance on Orlanth Rexes Gaming Vexes.

Bookclub (31:00): We were joined in the Book Club by the You Tuber Bud from Bud’s RPG reviews to talk about Viral the Modern Day Call of Cthulhu scenario.

GROGGIES Part 2.(51:00) Banging on about The Beatles for the UNIT campaign and awarding GROGGIE of the year for an amazing experience.

Outro. The annual round up of the new podcasts that have been added to the roll call this year. Appearances on The Smart Party Podcast, twice on Frankenstein’s RPG and performing on Tale of the Manticore. Recommendations include Baz’s incredible RuneQuest Year Zero, Ludo and Joerge’s The God Learners, The Titterpigs RPG Podcast, Beatles Books, and The Video Archive.

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Full Fathom Five (with Paul Fricker) Book Club – Extra

“Moby Dick as a Slasher pic” Paul Fricker talks to The Great Library of RPGs Book Club about Full Fathom Five for Call of Cthulhu.

Art by John Sumrow

INTRO: Welcome to another Book Club Extra. We take break from the usual format to give you a little something extra. The Great Library of RPGs Book Club meets on the first Sunday of the month between 9:30 – 11:00. You can join at the Bookclub app if you are interested and follow developments on the discord server (contact me for an invite).

Full Fathom Five (2.30) – Paul Fricker talks to us about his scenario Full Fathom Five which is available at the Miskatonic Depository. He has recently contributed to the Story Telling Collective, giving guidance on writing Call of Cthulhu adventures. We look at some of the influences on Full Fathom Five including Moby Dick, the story of The Essex, and Master and Commander. Paul is one of the hosts of The Good Friends of Jackson Ellias (I appeared on there, talking about Gangsters and Gozu).

Actual Play (46.16) If you are a Patreon of the GROGNARD files, you can take part in the monthly one-shot club. This is a bit of sample play of Full Fathom Five. The rest will be released on The Patreon feed later in September.

GROGGLEBOX (56:23) Blythy and Dirk talk about The Thing (1982)

Tale of the Manticore advert (1.32)

I’ll Get mi Coat 1.32 – The end of one campaign and the start of another.

King Arthur Pendragon RPG (with David Larkins)

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In this episode, we finally draw the sword from the stone and examine a game that had an enormous impact on gaming in the 80s: King Arthur Pendragon.

David Larkins, the Pendragon line editor for Chaosium, joins us to tell us about the history of the game, how it works and the future developments.

Judge Blythy, our resident rules-lawyer, reviews the mechanics and we discuss how the game works conceptually.

We also have some closing time chatter about hot topics on our table top.

Extra – It’s a con! GROGMEET preparation

It’s that time of year when we are preparing for the GROGMEET convention in Manchester and, this time, online.

Blythy and Dirk discuss the history of the meet-up, give some tips on how to start one yourself, discuss the thorny issue of ‘player sign-ups’ and run through the games they are running at the event.

Ottawa Tom shares the first game he played, the last game he played and the game that means everything to him.

Why not catch up on Frankenstein’s RPG before the GROGNARD files meets up with it!

GROGMEET art is by Simon Perrins.

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Episode 47 – Dr Who RPG (with Dave Chapman)

As the Final Score recedes (great result between Arbroath and Queen of the South) it’s time to grab a Tizer and sit down to an episode all about Dr Who.

We speak to Dave Chapman, who is the lead writer on Doctor Who Roleplaying Game from Cubicle 7 about his history with the Doctor, his career in game design.

Michael B has sent his First, Last and Everything from Down Under.

In the zoom of roleplaying rambling we watch Dr Who, Pyramids from Mars on the GROGGLEBOX

Please show your support for the podcast over at Patreon.

White Dwarf Book Club – Issue 37

A random roll on the d100 as thrown up 37 (4 issues later than the first one) which was dated January 1983. The magazine had started to get into the stride as a monthly publication after years of coming out every two months.

This was the month that wearing a seat belt became compulsory in the UK, despite protests from people bemoaning their loss of the civil right of being thrown through a windscreen. BBC launched its Breakfast Time programme with Frank Bough jazzed out in his jazzy jumpers and the Green Goddess preened in green.

ET won the Golden Globes for film drama (with Tootsie winning the comedy) and Hill Street Blues won the TV awards. Steve ‘interesting’ Davies won the Snooker Classic in St Helens. Superman: The Movie is shown on TV for the first time.

Let’s look at this together: What did you make of the cover? Did Alan E Paul’s FAERIES appear in your games? Did you learn your Traveller referring ropes from Andy Slack? Some classics appear in Open Box … did you play Crasimoff’s World? Vampire tables! Don Turnbull is getting cross on the letters page… How did you make use of issue 37?

Episode 10 (Part 2) More RuneQuest RPG (with Rick Meints)

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INTRO Blimey Charlie! This is the twentieth podcast!

1:53 GAMESMASTER’S SCREEN Rick Meints, President of Chaosium, joins us once again. This time we roll on a special ‘plunder’ table to search his fabled collection as he recounts past adventures from back in the day.

42:08 OPEN BOX Borderlands is Chaosium’s classic campaign from 1982 – we’ve played it twice, once in ’83 and again in ’13 – find out why this is very much our ‘foundational document’.

1.25 POSTBAG We’ve revamped the Patreon campaign – join now and get access to the ‘zine PDF  – also, you can join the Valhalla agents at Convergence