Compare & Campaign

This episode was recorded ten days before 4/20 and is coming out a week after 4/20, but you'd better believe this is somehow our 4/20 episode. We're not covering anything weed-related though. Anyway, Magill is talking about the G.I. Joe-like fast-action RPG called F.I.S.T., which sounds pretty darn cool. And then there's a big twist in the Coyote's Aegis campaign as the players wake up in a prison surrounded by NPCs from their past! Where the dangus mangus are they??

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Magill's got another selection of bite-sized RPGs for Tom to sample - this time they're all from Exeunt Press, and there are some pretty neat ones involving alien plantlife and cave people! Then Tom wraps up the liberation of the Mantle in Coyote's Aegis, bringing to an end the multi-session siege! Also we're a fast food review show now. Roll 1dFood.

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What happens when multiple rules in D&D contradict each other...and it happens within one module?! D&D needs a Stack like the one from Magic: The Gathering. Anyway, on this episode, the Coyote's Aegis heroes continue securing the Mantle against the demonic hordes and put to rest a Mummy! Then Magill summons up the Highland Paranormal Society in the RPG Danger Room to look at a bunch of mini-RPGs and RPG accessories from Nate Treme.

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It's a big ol' sandwich of RPGs on this episode, as Magill starts things off by profiling 6e. Not Dungeons & Dragons 6th Edition, stupid! Just a game called 6e by Jared Sinclair. Then Tom gets into the final operation of this act of Coyote's Aegis, which sees the heroes defending a besieged city against a huge variety of enemies, all influenced by the demon lord Graazt! And finally, Magill comes back to wrap things up by looking at a storytelling RPG about a seemingly endless house.

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Dangus Mangus! That's the name of Tom's Meat Mech in the game Extreme Meatpunks Forever, which Magill is looking at in the RPG Danger Room. Over in Tom's campaign, the story of Coyote's Aegis, the heroes find themselves in a big ol' arena battle with fire giants, gorgons, a chained pegasus, and other such vile opponents!

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The Coyote's Aegis heroes enter the final arena of their epic-length operation in the penultimate mission of the liberation of Agaloch! Giant spiders and beholders abound! The Magill continues the deep dive into Extreme Meatpunks Forever starting with a review of the visual novel video game series that inspired the whole thing.

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The party in the Coyote's Aegis campaign has found themselves in yet another boss fight! They've gotta take on some demons in a room shaped like a spider - creepy! Then in the RPG Danger Room we're getting weird in a different way as Magill talks about Extreme Meatpunks forever, the queer, anti-fascist, Cronenberg-mech game.

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The Coyote's Aegis party encounters some drow - but can they be trusted?! Also there's a suspicious Tiny Fart Demon! Talk about Paranoia, which is also something Magill and Tom engage in. Then Magill profiles four more Zine RPGs that were part of Zine RPG Month on Kickstarter! Expect ghosts, mechs, bodybuilders, and disc jockeys.

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The combat continues in Coyote's Aegis as the party finds themselves in another big ol' fight, this time against undead Drow! Connor floats along the ceiling, they bathe in magic water, there's a fart demon...good times. Then Magill profiles four different zine RPGs that are party of Kickstarter's Zine RPG Month celebration. Wanna be a Power Ranger in a Jane Austen novel? How about a punk rocker at the end of the world? We've got you covered!

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What do you call a plurality of bats? A cauldron? A cloud? Apparently there are no wrong answers! On this episode, the heroes of the Coyote's Aegis campaign speed through a dark forest on the backs of Cloakers as they enter the next phase of their operation. February is Zine RPG Month, so Magill profiles a bunch of zine RPGs from Kickstarter and Backerkit! Also, how do you pronounce vichyssoise? How many campaigns is too many campaigns? And did they ever catch the guy who rode a dirt bike down the Carleton University tunnels?

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The Coyote's Aegis campaign comes to the end of its massive naval battle, only to prepare for the next phase of the epic-length operation! Expect butt stabbing. Then Magill takes a look at Skate Wizards, a steezy roleplaying game about radical and arcane shredding of the gnar. Plus some nautical knowledge and a cameo from Magill's wife's sneezes.

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The huge naval battle continues in Coyote's Aegis as the heroes have commandeered a ship called the Bloody Fury and are using it to take out rafts, capture enemies, and encounter robots that aren't in rowboats. In the RPG Danger Room, Magill is reviewing the new Outsiders expansion for the solo RPG Notorious, and he's also contemplating some D&D etiquette from a Dicebreaker article. Listen to us blather on now!

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Coyote's Aegis continues its intense multi-session naval battle as the heroes move from sinking warships to sparring with enemies on floating rafts! But no robots in rowboats, unfortunately. And then Magill wraps up his profile of GOZR, the awesome, gnarly fantasy RPG that's made of random tables and has a fantastic art style. Plus you can listen to Tom slowly get the hiccups until it derails the episode!

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In Coyote's Aegis, Operation Riverbed continues with a huge naval battle as the heroes move from ship to ship, looting them, freeing captives, sinking vessels and shooting enemies in the butt! Then over in the RPG Danger Room, Magill does a deep dive into GOZR as he and Tom admire the insane artwork in the sourcebook and rolling up a character. Hey, how do you pronounce "aegis" anyway?

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Following the major military victory at the Battle of Ashgrain Output, the liberation of Agalloch continues as the Coyote's Aegis party launches into a huge naval battle - the start of an operation where Tom will use the whole meat! Then Magill revisits Magnagothica: Maleghast and shares his thoughts on the first few hours of Baldur's Gate 3. Then it's off to the tavern to play the solo game Scrap!

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It's the big finale of the Battle of Ashgrain Outpost and the party from the Coyote's Aegis campaign are facing off against helmed horrors, azers, and a giant boss! And hey, 2023 came to an end, so Magill gives a rundown on key pieces of D&D news from the year (and what a wild year it was), as well as going over the best D&D campaign settings. Join us as we bid good riddance to last year!

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Hey it's Christmas time! And to celebrate, Tom's busting out the D&D Mad Libs and Magill is listing off a bunch of holiday-themed one-shot adventures that you can run in your campaigns. And over in the Coyote's Aegis campaign, the party gets into a big fight with some kinda robots as the Battle for Ashgrain Outpost continues!

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Coyote's Aegis gets into some giant-sized combat involving Stone Giants and Fire Giants! Magill profiles a game that he thought was an RPG but is in fact a tactical skirmish game (Magnagothica: Maleghast)! But most importantly, your two hosts contemplate RPG systems and wonder if there are just too darn many of them. Hey does anybody else want a new edition of Rifts?

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Some new RPGs popped up in Magill's feed, so he quizzes Tom to see which of them appealed, if any. Would you play a game set in the universe of The Crow? Highlander? Pacific Rim? What about the Kieron Gillen comic Die? Then we check in with the Coyote's Aegis campaign as the battle of Ashgrain Outpost has finally arrived! Will the heroes liberate the slave-driven industrial centre of Agaloch? And things wrap up in the RPG Danger Room as we look at Goblin With a Fat Ass.

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Tom had COVID, so we start things off by pondering the effects of COVID-19 on roleplaying gamers. In the Coyote's Aegis campaign, the heroes infiltrate Ashgrain Outpost to free some serpentine slaves and look great doing it! Then Magill has too many ales at the tavern and goes on a ramble contemplating the best bits of different RPG systems that we've discussed on the show before. In the Danger Room, Magill talks about the monster hunting-and-eating RPG called Wilderfeast while a bunch of hammering happens in the background (sorry about that). Also, does anyone besides Magill use Skill Challenges anymore?

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Coyote's Aegis has a bunch of objectives to take care of, starting with the task of dealing with their Drow allies, and then heading off to Ashgrain Outpost! Then Magill and Tom revisit Wicked Ones, since their Wicked Ones campaign is about to start, and ponder the differences and similarities between it and other Forged in the Dark games. Plus: we learn one of Tom's favourite spells!

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Tom's feeling low energy and Magill's kinda punchy so it's a goofy, lazy episode of Compare & Campaign as your hosts dive further into Notorious! Tom tells the tale of his bot's quest, Magill rattles off a list of zine RPGs that he found, and then they both take a look at official and unofficial versions of the Dune RPG. The official version is ridiculously expensive!

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The Coyote's Aegis campaign is fighting a giant fight! This episode sees them face off against a bunch of Azers, prompting Magill to ponder a thought experiment: does fire resistant armor impart its bonus when the wearer bites something that deals fire damage? 'Cause like, that armor's not in the wearer's mouth, right?? Then in the RPG Danger Room, Magill continues his exploration of solo RPGs with a spaceship-generating mini-game called Bucket of Bolts!

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The Coyote's Aegis prepare to enter a multi-level base and chow down on the delicacy Army Stew. Then Magill goes all Star Wars as he sings the praises of the solo RPG Notorious! Plus a rabbit hole of RPG news that you'll have to listen 'till the end to hear...

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Tom continues describing Operation Failing Moon, and now that the Coyote's Aegis party has gathered their allies for the coming battle, they have to get back to the army...but aw dangus, there are patrols everywhere! Then over in the RPG Danger Room, exhausted after doing a deep dive on The Gates, Magill does a round-up of RPG topics that he read about recently - previews of episodes to come, no doubt! Plus we ponder what Hellhounds eat and celebrate International Women's Day (yes, we know it's not any time near now).

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The party in Tom's Coyote's Aegis campaign is engaged in an epic combat encounter that lasts multiple sessions...but how can we keep that much combat exciting? And over in the Danger Room, Magill wraps up The Gates! Plus: we contemplate whether Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is, in fact, a Saw movie.

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Tom and Magill are thrilled to be joined by a guest on the podcast for the first time ever as they welcome Lukayo Estrella, creator of The Gates, to the show! Expect much discussion of World of Darkness, the Wachowskis, The Invisibles, and more! At last, with Lukayo here to answer our burning questions, Magill can finally find out if he has to throw his beer in the river.

Read all about The Gates right here:

https://the-gates.weebly.com/

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The Coyote's Aegis team encounters a death priestess and fights cultists of Ishyr! Magill continues his deep dive into The Gates! Plus Tom tries to find inspiration for one of his games, Magill talks about an adventure module based on The Terminator, and they both discuss their dreams. Not like their aspirations, dreams of being stuck in transit or wandering empty museums.

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Having gained allies in myconids and illithids, the Coyote's Aegis party continue their search for the waterfall that was shown to them in their minds. And they meet a kooky goblin and some giants! Then in the RPG Danger Room, Magill finally dives into The Gates: an RPG inspired by Nobilis and City of Mist. But...is it a game? Or something else? Do I have to throw my beer in the river? Plus: Magill's a caveman!

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In the Coyote's Aegis campaign, the party departs from Omega Base in style and take their vehicles (plus a bunch of soldiers) to the Dralic front. And they make friends with some illithids - weird! Then in the RPG Danger Room, Magill finishes his overview of Wicked Ones, the Dungeon Keeper-inspired Forged in the Dark RPG, and vows to run a game of it sometime.

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The Coyote's Aegis campaign continues with a briefing session where the players learned some Important Illithid Information, and Tom and Magill talk a bit about Liberty's Kids, the Dic cartoon that Tom uses for NPC portraits. Then in the RPG Danger Room, Magill talks about the Forged in the Dark game called Wicked Ones where the players take on the roles of monsters designing a dungeon to trap heroes. And it's free!

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It's a short, sweet, and silly episode this week as Magill whips out a whole bunch of single-page RPGs by Oliver Darkshire that let you play as space wizards, Roman citizens in a burning city, or even just someone who owns a mastodon! Then it's on to the Coyote's Aegis campaign where the party learns a critical piece of information and the story tees up the final act. Big things are on the way!

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The party in the Coyote's Aegis campaign continues their attempted assassination of Lord Dio as part of Operation Goldeneye, and it all culminates in a scene out of a Bollywood movie! Then Magill forgoes the RPG Danger Room in favour of the Tavern of Many Corners where he talks about some ridiculous topics from everyone's favourite RPG: Rifts. Is Glitter Boy really the worst O.C.C.? And why isn't there a Rifts actual play podcast out there?

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In this Danger Room-centric episode, Tom and Magill dive further into Nobilis to see if they can figure it out and Tom makes a character that's the embodiment of swarms and infestations! Magill also recommends a cool solo card-and-dice game called Doom Machine, and Operation Goldeneye gets underway in the Coyote's Aegis campaign. Plus there's a porcupine!

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There's schemin' a-plenty as the Coyote's Aegis party engage in Operation Goldeneye! And in the RPG Danger Room there's confusion a-plenty as Magill and Tom dive into Nobilis, desperately trying to find some clarity in amongst the florid prose of the sourcebook. I think it's like Sandman? Also, Tom wants to know if you play music during your RPG sessions, and Magill gets confused about the definition of "geiss" thanks to young adult fantasy's horniest author.

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Operation Goldeneye continues in the Coyote's Aegis campaign as the party does some elaborate scheming! Magill talks more about the RPG Don't Rest Your Head and gives an introduction to Nobilis (at long last)! And there's much talk of Neil Gaiman, Tim Burton, and accidental Facebook hearts. Listen...NOW!

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Having finished up the deep dive into Writhing in the Dark, Tom proceeds to the next mission in the Coyote's Aegis campaign, based on the module Death on the Wall! Then in the RPG Danger Room, Magill once again puts off tackling Nobilis in favour of talking about Don't Rest Your Head, a game of paranoia and insomnia. And as a bonus, Tom talks about a paramilitary-themed Forged in the Dark RPG that he's created called Boots on the Ground!

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Tom wraps up his deep dive into the now-classic module Writhing in the Dark - finally the party will meet the big bad illithid in the middle of the brain bucket! And over on Magill's side of things, he shares some cool D&D resources he found, talks about a cool solo card game called Dustrunner, and helps Tom build a character in the swimming pool-based LARP called Prawn! Plus: Sea Dracula!

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Tom continues his deep dive into the Writhing in the Dark module as the Coyote's Aegis party continues their exploration of the Brain Bucket. And speaking of deep dives, over in the RPG Danger Room, Magill is talking about the swimming pool LARP called Prawn! Plus we debate the differences between roleplaying games, party games, and improv games, and go on a big tangent discussion Wizards of the Coast's newish logo design.

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We made it to 150 episodes! Can you believe it? What a nice, round number. On this show, Tom continues his deep dive into the Writhing in the Dark module, and things get really crazy in the RPG Danger Room as Magill tries to make sense of the truly unusual game Wisher, Theurgist, Fatalist. How does one even go about playing a game where the gameplay is messing with the rules of the game? Sounds like Nomic, which Magill also discusses!

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Tom continues his deep dive into the module Writhing in the Dark as his players rinse every room of the dungeon on their way to meet an illithid! Then over in the RPG Danger Room, Magill sings the praises of this D&D Lite game called Cairn that promises quick and easy setup! But Tom is less than impressed. Plus more talk about Essence 20 and Magill reviews Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

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The Coyote's Aegis party is headed for trouble as they venture into THE BRAIN BUCKET in one of Tom and Magill's favourite modules: Writhing in the Dark! Then in the RPG Danger Room, Magill mucks around with the borderline incomprehensible improv game Time Wizards, so make sure you wear a big hat and have a big beard. Plus a discussion of the differences between Cookie Monster and Nanalan, and we got worm pile. Oh no, it's gross!

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The Coyote's Aegis campaign wraps up Operation Birth & Death, based on the module Hillsfar Reclaimed, and pull off some ghostly scooting while they're at it. Then Magill dives into the prefab campaign that comes with the Savage Worlds: Low Life RPG and ponders the different ways that you can get your party together at the start of an adventure. Plus, tasty soup and shiny grime!

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Operation Birth and Death continues as the Coyote's Aegis party sneaks their way past some guards to get into a masquerade ball! Then over in the RPG Danger Room, Magill continues the deep dive into Andy Hopp's Low Life by running down all the different religions of Mutha Oitha so Tom can choose one for his Holy Roller. Plus some talk about Tom's Easter-themed game of Essence 20: G.I. Joe!

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It's a jam-packed episode this week! We start off with Tom's review of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, then it's a big ol' installment of the Coyote's Aegis campaign that sees the party infiltrate a masquerade ball! Then over on Magill's end of things, he discusses the multitude of work by Low Life creator Andy Hopp (including Hopp's convention Con on the Cob) and he and Tom ponder how they approach maps as they talk about the various iconic locations of Mutha Oith.

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After a month off, the crew in Coyote's Aegis gear up for Operation Birth and Death (or is it Death and Birth?) and encounter some old friends along the way. Then Tom and Magill use the Savage Worlds: Low Life character creation flow chart to make Tom's character: Crawley the Oldster Croach! Plus thoughts on Tom Clancy and Nanalan. Shoosh!

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The heroes of Coyote's Aegis spend some down time between adventures getting up to shenanigans like Junkyard Wars, and Magill dives into the Savage Worlds RPG Low Life, created by Andy Hopp! Plus we talk about Atlantis stuff and Tom discovers Creepy Freaks unboxing ASMR.

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Tom found the complete transcript of this act of the Coyote's Aegis campaign and so we get to hear the real, actual play-by-play of his session, complete with out of character player commentary! Then over in the RPG Danger Room, Magill busts out the Savage Worlds system as a lead-in to the truly bizarre RPG he'll be covering next episode. Plus, some D&D rules loopholes to torment your DM.

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The Coyote's Aegis party is heading into the land of mushrooms to tangle with some Myconids! Which side will they take in the shroomy conflict? Then Magill talks about a campaign module he was able to create extremely quickly thanks to some help by ChatGPT. Plus Tom roasts Guillermo Del Toro.

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Tom's up to his tricks again, because he got his hands on the game design system being profiled in this episode's RPG Danger Room (a system called Caltrop Core, based around the mighty d4) and he's writing not one...not two...but THREE new RPGs! So on this show we're talking Caltrop Core, Tom's variant called Caltrop MORE, and Tom's new games: Orbserver, Ceremony in Shadow, and Going Cummando. Plus the party from the Coyote's Aegis campaign get sent on a Night Goblin hunt, but as usual there's a lot more going on than meets the eye.

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