In their last episode of 2021, Ken and Robin talk the King in Yellow at White Castle, Sir Thomas Cochrane, the Edwardianness of ghost stories, and UMMO.
Author Archives: Robin Laws
Omicron travel restrictions scratched Ken’s Dragonmeet trip, taking with it the annual highlight that is his London book haul. So in addition to our talking Christmas ghost stories, scenarios that highlight cool locations, and many-eyed Argus Panoptes, Ken took his time machine to many timelines for a very special extradimensional edition of Ken’s Bookshelf.
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Dec
Dec
A scenario hook for The Gaean Reach The highest holy day on Jernki’s World occurs on the 23rd day of its seventeenth month. On that day the Ship of Blessed Delivery descends from the stars over its capital, Jernki City. This S-Class bioship gives birth to the megaworm, a genetically engineered organism that plays a […]
In the latest episode of their ever-shifting podcast, Ken and Robin talk playtesting and the designer’s GM skill, the bug wizard that rivaled Dracula, how Robin chooses projects, and Lenin as mushroom.
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Dec
Dec
A column about roleplaying by Robin D. Laws This picks up where last month’s column left off, sketching out the second half of a Wars sequence for The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Espionage Build a change of pace episode by injecting some wartime spycraft into the proceedings. For example: Military intelligence concludes that a mole […]
In the latest episode of their ummissable podcast, Ken and Robin talk unskippable F20 encounters, esoteric secrets of the London Eye, dream sequences in film, and that time pirates stopped the metric system.
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Nov
Nov
A scenario hook for The Yellow King Roleplaying Game: This Is Normal Now The investigators step into the path of the rubbery yellow entities called hazmats when they look into the disappearance of an environmental activist. They discover that she had planned to go undercover as an employee of a toxic waste disposal company called […]
In the latest episode of their inchoately terrifying podcast, Ken and Robin talk conclusive endings to ambient horrors, Barrett’s Privateers, Haunted West, and the Dead Man’s Hand.
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Nov
Nov
On the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff podcast we recently wrapped our series on the various axes or oppositions that distinguish tabletop RPG designs. For future reference, here’s the list: A game has Elegance if all of its subsystems work in the same way, stemming from a central resolution mechanic, or is Ornamented if […]
In the latest episode of their furtive, pheasant-eating podcast, Ken and Robin talk compensating for GM skill when playtesting, Hassan-i Sabbah, Mutant City Yellow King, and alien big cats.