This episode, we're talking about Prep-less Tabletop RPGs: The Tabletop RPGS that you can just sit down and play without any fuss. Most of the time.
But first, Cole's been enjoying baby-faced Ewan McGregor in Moulin Rouge! and has somehow managed to pick up Star Wars trivia while watching it. He has also been inspired by watching his partner, Holly, "get her ass kicked in Mario Kart live on stream."
On the other side of things, Marley has been checking out Embed With Games by Cara Ellison (currently available at StoryBundle). It's a non-fiction book about the year Ellison spent couch-surfing on various game developers' couches. It was the last thing Cara Ellison wrote before quitting games journalism entirely to become a game developer.
Marley came across it after listening to The Inspirational Quarterly, a hilarious podcast by Cara Ellison and Davey Wreden (which sort of inspired him to make this podcast).
For this week's TTRPGs, Marley starts by talking about the playtest of Ryne by Furtive Shambles, a beautifully-written PbtA game about communities living around gigantic, crumbling gods. Marley says it feels (in his words) "like taking a deep breath" in comparison to the fast-pace of most games out there.
Marley's also been checking out Bloodclotte by Sillion L and Nick Duff, which is a Sparked by Resistance game set in a war-torn hospital. Unlike so many Resistance games, the game has no combat and is mostly a medical drama, which fits in so nicely with the ruleset.
Cole's been looking at the opening pitch of NovaCross by Yuri Runnel & SniperSerpent, which is a scifi, sports-based Forged in the Dark game. Marley is blown away that a game like that is out there, so they spend some time talking about Riley Hopkins' Extracurriculars, too.
Cole also reminisces about their experiences playing Songs for the Dusk by Kavita Poduri. It's a post-apocalyptic Forged in the Dark game which introduced much softer rules when it came to trauma and harm. The latest version of the game now has some cool maps by Annie Johnston-Glick, too.
Finally, we spend some time talking through our experiences playing through fun Tabletop RPGs that don't require any prep to get started. We mainly talk about Avery Alder's The Quiet Year, which Cole just finished running a session for Huntsmen's Hydra. It's a fun chat.
And at one point, we discuss Air Bud eSports. But I won't say when.
Featuring Marley (@Mynar_Lenahan) and Cole (@IceColeBrew)
Produced by Marley, as well.
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