Inside The Table: A Tabletop RPG Talk Show

But first, some news: Riley Daniels is creating an Itch Bundle to support her local Trans Youth charity! If you have a game and want to support a great cause, join the google form here! Or if you want to donate directly, click here.

Speaking of bundles, Jex Thomas of Bump in the Dark has created a itch bundle to donate to Pathfinders, a local, Milwaukee-based organization dedicated to connecting youth with housing and mental health support. Please offer your support and check out the bundle!

Claymore has set out with the FIST JAM IV currently live and ask you to finish your supplement! Create your offering to the FIST community and submit to the FIST jam.

Marley finds the joys of Project Zomboid! Cole tries to find 10 candles during New Years and fails to!

On to TTRPGs, Marley shares his experience with Evil Hat's Playtest of Abyssal by Ash Cheshire and Lara Paige Turner, a new refreshing take on Forged in The Dark about humans, monsters, and those in between. Abyssal provides new takes on playbooks, and has 3 times and settings from which the players can explore the horrors of the abyss.

Cole checks out the Fall of House Prosh by NotWritingGames, a sci-fi tragedy and melodrama that is staged similarly to a play. Join one of 3 factions and gain or spend tokens in order to bring your faction (or yourself) to power after the death of the Emperor.

Finally, on to the main topic: The games of 2023! We had 5 categories to consider this year, and we want to know: What was your favorite TTRPG of the past year?

Featuring Cole (⁠⁠⁠@IceColeBrew⁠⁠⁠) and Marley (⁠⁠⁠⁠@Mynar_Lenahan⁠⁠⁠⁠).

Produced by Cole, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on ⁠⁠your Social Media of Choice⁠⁠ and be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, send in your Listener Questions to ⁠InsideTheTable@gmail.com⁠! 

And support us via ⁠our Patreon

After reading Mothership last episode, Marley has been on an OSR kick and stumbled across RAD by ¡Hipólita!, a Metro 2033-inspired post-apocalypse TTRPG. It’s everything he wished Mothership was, particularly given how it’s clearly inspired by non-OSR systems. GMs have a lot more agency and it's thrilling to see a modern iteration.

Meanwhile, Cole stumbled across The Marvelous Children of Inang-Uri by Momatoes, a generational world-building game set on the back of a living chimera. The game is itself a chimeric mix of Avery Alder’s The Quiet Year, Ben Robbins’ Kingdom, hidden role games, and even those complicated board games where you add up prestige at the end to figure out who won.

Then onto the main topic!

We both recently binged the gut-punch that is Hbomberguy’s recent video Plagiarism and You(Tube), which investigated several popular Youtubers who flagrantly stole their scripts from other creators and didn’t bother to credit them. So we take a moment to think about how that video fits in the context of the TTRPG space. How does hacking an existing game fit into that? How should we approach being inspired by other designers? And how does drawing heavily from an existing IP fit into that? 

Also, shout outs to the Ind of the Year Bundle, which has Rad, Planet Fist, and a bunch of games we’re very excited for! 

Featuring Cole (⁠⁠@IceColeBrew⁠⁠) and Marley (⁠⁠⁠@Mynar_Lenahan⁠⁠⁠).

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on ⁠your Social Media of Choice⁠ and be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com! 

And support us via our Patreon!

Cole talks about Outward Bound by Penflower Ink (26:00), a Four Points System Sci-fi game about researching and exploring an asteroid belt known as the Teyn Belt which falls to a mysterious effect known as The Tide. Penflower Ink make a strong setting to support their new system, and it gives space to explore the relationships of your crew and of space itself.

Marley discusses Mothership by Sean McCoy of Tuesday Knight Games, a sci-fi horror game based on films such as Alien (48:30). Mothership offers a rule-heavy set of explanations for clocks, items, and skill trees. The rules of the game provide a mechanic or dice roll for almost every situation, and the skill tree is far-reaching, diverse and covers every situation.

Then, in the main topic, in which Cole points out the variety of approaches where games applied TTRPG styles to their games (1:10:02).

Then, on to shout outs (1:41:00):

• Cole is continuing to work on CalazCon a Beam Saber Mega Actual Play project. Keep an eye on their Patreon for more!
• Cole is broadcasting more esports matches on their Twitch channel! Follow them on Twitch and turn on notifications to be alerted for when he goes live!
• Marley has released a new game: LET JUSTICE BE DONE, a one-shot murder mystery where you play as Consulting Detectives who use their skills of deduction to discover (and invent) Clues to frame the wealthy for crimes they absolutely didn't commit.
• Games for Gaza Bundle has concluded and raised a lot of money for a great cause.
• Marley is a part of the Strange Squad Kickstarter as a writer and designer for Code V!

Featuring Marley (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Mynar_Lenahan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) & Cole (⁠⁠⁠@IceColeBrew⁠⁠⁠)

Produced by Cole.

Follow Inside The Table on ⁠your Social Media of Choice⁠⁠ and be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com! 

And support us via our⁠ Patreon⁠!

In this episode, Cole asks Marley for a post-mortem on his most recently released project: Salvager's Isle, a Bump In The Dark supplement made for the Iron Country Autumn Bump In The Dark Jam.

But first... Cole talks about how they found a kitten and brought it home (08:00)! Now it has moved in and refuses to pay rent! He then goes on to talk about his past weekend producing and commentating for a charity tournament in Rocket League over the previous weekend (18:00)

Marley shares his sorrows in finding the perfect game (21:00). Here is a hint: it is not Fortnite, nor Quantum Break, nor even The Lamplighters League. Please, assist Marley on this grand quest to find the perfect game, and send your recommendations to InsideTheTable@gmail.com

As for TTRPGS...

Marley talks about Crush Depth Apparition by Amanda Lee Franck (0:29:00), a survival horror game about enduring deep sea travel as a spectral labyrinth grows out from inside your submarine. It's a unique d20 game with fantastic tools for horror, but how does it hold up as a system?

Cole explores The Hidden Isle by Causa Creations (0:39:00), a Kickstarter project that boasts a re-imagined Forged In the Dark system utilizing tarot cards instead of dice. With a fresh take on how to approach consequences, downtimes, companions, and even magic, this game offers a whole new perspective on how FitD systems can be approached.

Finally, Marley talks about Eat The Reich by Grant Howitt & Will Kirkby (1:08:00), a d6-based TTRPG about vampire commandos killing Nazis in Paris. This game has high stakes action, cool moves, and is the most beautiful fucking TTRPG we've ever seen.

Then, in the main topic, in which Cole asks some questions about Marley's latest project, Salvager's Isle (1:17:00). Where did the idea come from? What inspired him to make this supplement? What is his end goal, creating so many supplements for games?

Then, on to shout outs (1:48:00):

• Cole is currently producing Rocket League matches and commentating tournament series! If you would like to have them cover a match for you, reach out to them through their social medias!
• Cole also wrapped Fire in The Dark, a Blades in the Dark actual play on Huntsmen's Hydra! Check out the series finale on their twitch!
• Marley released Salvager's Isle! Try the demo for free!
• Strange Squad, a paranormal investigation game that Marley wrote an adventure for, will be launching its Kickstarter soon! Make sure to follow it to find out when it's live!
• Game Master Monday released an episode playing Marley's Paranormal Inc. mystery, The Ghost Storage Facility!
• Marley also submitted games for the Games for Gaza Bundle to support Palestinians in danger in Gaza. We'll let you know when it's live!

Featuring Marley (⁠⁠⁠⁠@Mynar_Lenahan⁠⁠⁠⁠) & Cole (⁠⁠@IceColeBrew⁠⁠)

Produced by Cole.

Follow Inside The Table on your Social Media of Choice⁠ and be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com! 

And support us via our Patreon!

Cole talks about their experience playing the new souls-like game "Lies of P" from Round 8 Studios (10:50). They talk about the aesthetics of the world and the early costumes that have shown up so far. Lies of P is based on the Pinocchio lore and cannot wait to stream it on their Twitch channel.

He also talks about wedding plans and how they are actually moving forward (19:00)!

As for TTRPGS-

Marley talks about Bump in the Dark by Jex Thomas (22:50) a Forged in the Dark Monster hunting tabletop rpg with a upcoming game jam. Bump in the Dark is about a group of people who have dedicated to their lives to monster hunting and solving cryptid mysteries. The game tackles the Forged in the Dark system with unique mechanics, new ideas on how to interact with the community, and a darkness that permeates all levels of the game.

Cole talks about Songbirds 3e by Snow (47:00) a d20 based tabletop roleplaying game about undeath, supernatural powers, and blue dreams of the moon. A eldritch game that focuses on gifts, curses, and pacts guide the players through a land that has lost their god of love and the god of death sleepers forever in a moon. This game provides a variety of tools to lean on to explore a world that the characters can expand and fall in love with.

Then, on to the main topic (1:04:00), we take a listener question (Thanks again Laurie!) about the depictions of queerness in tabletop roleplaying games! From how the game interacts with characters who are queer explicitly in their game text and mechanics, to those who do not do so except for the slightest subtlety. We even talk about our own experience in queerness both at the table and in our own lives as well.

Then, on to shout outs (1:45:55)

• Marley has his game, Paranormal Inc Mystery- the Ghost Storage Facility, appearing on the October 16th episode of Game Master Monday podcast! Hosted by Jenny AKA DatKooby, PondPlays, and The RPG Goblin.
• Cole is getting back into streaming with their partner! Come watch Cole play games on their Twitch! Or check their socials below for game announcements!

Featuring Cole (⁠⁠@IceColeBrew⁠⁠) and Marley (⁠⁠⁠@Mynar_Lenahan⁠⁠⁠)

Produced by Cole.

Follow Inside The Table on ⁠your Social Media of Choice⁠ and be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com! 

And support us via our Patreon!

• Cole’s taking part in an Org Battle for Rocket League on September 14th at 8pm. You can check it out on The Swordfish Esports Twitch channel.

• Additionally, Cole will be doing Rocket League commentary for Rocket Underground.

• Marley, meanwhile, is working on a Vampire: The Masquerade thing and is under NDA, so can say no more…

• Marley’s also writing an adventure for Strange Squad, which has just had a new adventure come out: Anti-Reality Dumpsite.

• And if you liked our last episode on the top-selling games on itch.io, be sure to check out Thomas Manuel’s excellent breakdown on the top-selling categories on DriveThruRPG.

Featuring Marley (⁠⁠⁠@Mynar_Lenahan⁠⁠⁠), Cole (⁠⁠@IceColeBrew⁠⁠), and Eric Silver (@El_Silvero)

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on ⁠your Social Media of Choice⁠ and be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com! 

And support us via our Patreon!

But first, Marley has been checking out niche YouTubers (00:03:21), including a stealth camping expert who gives advice for camping in roundabouts and a fast food reviewer who uses slo-mo, house music, and multiple cameras to review mediocre burgers and tacos.

Cole, meanwhile, went to a convention in full Sailor Moon cosplay and has endured the highs and lows that come with that experience (00:10:04). They offer useful tips for the best way to avoid paying the extra four bucks on a plastic cup and talk about how many great events they were able to see…

We also spend some time not talking about movies, but continuing our discussion of the writers' and actors' strikes in Hollywood (00:14:15).

Then, onto TTRPGS!

Firstly, we check out the kickstarter for Eat The Reich by Grant Howitt and Will Kirkby (00:17:12). (This is the vampire-commandos-drink-hitler TTRPG, for those unaware.) With no game preview released, we scour the kickstarter page for info about the characters, the setting, the sensitivity consultants, and the mysterious new Havoc Engine that this game will be using…

Cole’s also been gifted The Deck of Stories by 1985 Games (00:31:37), a card game which boasts that it “helps you create a legendary adventure in fifteen minutes.” But can it really? (Spoiler: Cole tries it live on the pod and comes up with a chapter from Lord of the Rings, so probably the answer is pretty much yes.)

Then, Marley talks about Thinly Veiled by Chloe Sobel (00:38:48), an expansion of Good Society that adds ghosts, mediums, and spiritualists. Marley’s intrigued by it since it provides a lot of really interesting historical context to the belief in ghosts and how they might influence traditions and class relations.

Then, onto the main topic (00:47:16), in which we take a look at the top selling physical games on itch.io and speculate what makes them rise to the top of the charts. Good art, community copies, a known brand, game jams, popular streamers taking interest, and, perhaps, a certain je ne sais quoi… 

(Marley also gives a little background from his experience as a game designer as he accidentally got in the top 8 one time.)

Then, on to shout outs (01:08:35)!

• Cole is about halfway through recordings for the CalazCon actual play (which you can follow along at their patreon).

• We also want to shout out our own Patreon, which has a bonus episode coming out in the next few days…

• Prolific designer Meguey Baker is also looking for support in her fight with breast cancer. You can send through donations here!

• Finally, Marley is gonna be writing for Vampire The Masquerade - Milan Uprising, a crowd-funded board game which has made over $750,000 USD!

• And Marley has also been writing and playtesting a vampire mystery for Strange Squad.

Featuring Cole (⁠⁠@IceColeBrew⁠⁠) and Marley (⁠⁠⁠@Mynar_Lenahan⁠⁠⁠)

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on ⁠your Social Media of Choice⁠ and be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com! 

And support us via our Patreon!

You can show your support right here: patreon.com/InsideTheTable!

Anyway, Cole’s been reaching The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin (0:05:34), which is a magical realist novel with vibes of Neverwhere and Dimension 20’s The Sleeping City. Cole is just beginning to make their way through it and Marley unintentionally spoils an early plot beat (so be warned…).

And despite our mutual dislike of D&D, we’ve also both been playing Baldur’s Gate III a bunch (0:10:33). We talk about how it’s probably the best way to experience D&D, the characters we made, the way the game responded to… certain choices, and the kind of racist plotlines we know are waiting ahead of us.

Then, onto TTRPGs!

Cole did a big read through of Band of Blades (0:22:59), a game we’ve wanted to check out for a good while, and has found quite substantial changes to the core FitD ruleset. It’s no longer a game about daring rogues in a sunless city, instead focusing on grimdark soldiers retreating from an undying army stuck in an endless war. It has infamous chosen heroes who are helpful most of the time, a Crusader Kings-like management game, classes of soldiers who graduate into other playbooks, and a particularly grim ending…

Meanwhile, Marley checked out an early version of Planet Fist by Jess Levine (1:10:27). It’s a hack of FIST made for the recent FIST ULTRA Jam focusing on… undying soldiers stuck in an endless war?? However, unlike the grimdark fantasy of Band of Blades, Planet Fist feels like a game that you might have played on the original xbox. It features space soldiers with nanomachines and respawn points, killing enemies two, three times in a single mission, and even has bond mechanics which permit you to fight alongside your ex...

Then, onto an extended interview with game designer extraordinaire Riley Daniels (1:26:52), as we talk about her experience starting out as a game designer in the pandemic, her design inspirations for As The Sun Forever Sets, making a queer historical TTRPG, and what it was like pitching to (and getting accepted by) Evil Hat Productions.

(Also, you can join in with the As The Sun Forever Sets playtests by clicking here!)

Featuring Marley (⁠⁠⁠@Mynar_Lenahan⁠⁠⁠), Cole (⁠⁠@IceColeBrew⁠⁠), and Riley Daniels (@msmcnevertweet).

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on ⁠your Social Media of Choice⁠ and be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com! 

And support us via our Patreon!

Cole has also been getting into TTRPGs that have faction game mechanics (00:28:30) after seeing how things have gone during the Beam Saber CalazCon actual play recordings (which you can also support on Patreon) and listening to Friends at the Table play Armor Astir. 

Then, onto TTRPGs we’ve been checking out!

Marley starts off with Blades in ‘68 by Tim from Old Dog Games (00:31:34), which is an in-progress setting book for Blades in the Dark which explores Duskvol in its own version of the swinging sixties. Currently, it exists only as a Twitter thread (and a Substack), containing some playbooks, faction details, maps, and really solid art.

Cole has been reading Hunt by Spencer Campbell (00:51:11), in which you play as a knight going out to fulfill oaths and slay a terrible beast. Much like Campbell's previous game, Rune (which we played on our Youtube channel), Hunt is narrative-based with combat like a tactics game, only this time it has no dice rolls, so players decide what their move is going to be themselves.

Then, we begin our main topic, which is What is the best way to price a TTRPG? (01:06:19) We discuss Jess Levine’s recent twitter thread about increasing the price of her TTRPGs. The thread has a number of interesting takeaways, including the common wisdom that the charging less for a TTRPG makes it less desirable for the consumer.

We discuss that idea, along with the role that charity bundles, community copies, demos, free games, game jams, and discounts influence which TTRPGs we actually spend money on.

We close with a shout out to Oathsworn (01:44:50), a new actual play podcast for Band of Blades, which looks to be a great introduction to a FitD system we've really wanted to check out for a while now!

Featuring Cole (⁠@IceColeBrew⁠) and Marley (⁠@Mynar_Lenahan⁠).

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on your Social Media of Choice and be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com!

With world-building complete (see previous ep), we jump in to our Star Wars-y noir one-shot of Ironsworn: Starforged by Shawn Tomkin, featuring an insect-like robot and a grub-like jedi-like!

(⁠⁠⁠And yes, you can also watch this full episode with visual accompaniments on our Youtube channel!)

Of course, we take the time to briefly go over the facts of the galaxy (and our characters) that we came up with last time (0:02:18), before outlining the communities and factions we came up with in between episodes (0:24:19), before finally jumping into the game itself (0:43:39)!

And gosh, this one-shot has everything:

• A sabotaged vending machine containing the leader of spy network and a trade hub
• A techno dance-club which inexplicably offers hotel accommodation
• A Wheel of Fortune-based convenience store, hiding an illegal auction house somewhere deep within...
• And yes, a Space USB that everybody wants to get their hands on, even though nobody (not even us) knows what's on it...

With a lovely three hour and forty minute run-time, we even had the time to give our final thoughts about the system (03:25;39) and give Shout Outs (03:35:35) to some projects we've been checking out while making this extra long ep!

Featuring Marley (⁠⁠@Mynar_Lenahan⁠⁠) and Cole (⁠@IceColeBrew⁠).

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on your Social Media of Choice and be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com!

In this episode, we just start playing Ironsworn: Starforged by Shawn Tompkin!

It's a rad PbtA Star Wars-y game that Cole has been extremely excited to play. Marley, meanwhile, is approaching it with an empty head and an open mind, curious to learn what an Ironsworn game is... (⁠⁠And yes, you can also watch this episode on our Youtube channel!⁠⁠)

Now, as one of our longest episodes and so you might be wondering, "Hey, is this both world-building, character creation, and a full game??"

Nope!

Honestly, we just take our time introducing the system (0:01:06), establishing the truths of the setting (0:16:31), and create some characters who exist within the world we built (1:39:50).

It was an absolutely delightful experience and we look forward to jumping into full gameplay in the next episode!

Featuring Cole (⁠@IceColeBrew⁠) and Marley (⁠@Mynar_Lenahan⁠).

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on your Social Media of Choice and be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com!

Marley has been checking out Wreck This Deck (0:25:50), a game about defacing playing cards and summoning demons. His big takeaway is that it feels legitimately occult in a really interesting way.

Cole has been checking out Starforged (0:37:45) in preparation for a potential let's play we might do... It's a scifi hack of Ironforged which gives you and opportunity to create your own galaxy to exist within. And, as Cole learned a little too late, it has an app which streamlines that relatively crunchy process.

In preparation for a writing thing, Marley has been checking out Skyrealms (0:44:25), a system-less setting set on floating islands in a sea of mist. It's also a coloring book? With Adventure Time vibes? It's reminded him how much he loves almanacs and the subtle connections that world-building books can have.

Then, we reply to an excellent email from listener Laurie about how two different systems Vaesen & Darington Press's Candela Obscura approach santity mechanics (0:51:26), using it as a springboard to talk about our feelings about sanity mechanics in general.

We close with Cole shouting out doing shout-casting with Swordfish eSports & ML eSports, and maybe getting back into twitch streaming??

Marley has also released a Lasers & Feelings hack of complicated 4x strategy games, Explore! Exploit! Expand! Exterminate! which he did because he thought was funny.

Featuring Marley (⁠⁠⁠@Mynar_Lenahan⁠⁠⁠) and Cole (@IceColeBrew).

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on your Social Media of Choice and be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com!

Cole has gotten their hands on getting the Spindlewheel deck (0:32:01) he kickstarted from Tea Cabbage Studios, aka Sasha Reneau. It's a really fun tarot-like storytelling game with some very beautiful cards that can work with any setting. We've also thought about using them to guide the structure of a podcast at one point...

Marley then talks about the excellently named The Devil City & its Seventy-Seven Vicious Princes (0:39:50) by Alex D. It's a game where you play as a aristocratic house meddling around in a cut-throat city, concocting schemes, putting your nose where it doesn't belong, and syphoning power from demons. This book is worth it for the world-building alone, but it is fascinating to play as an entire faction that uses (and perhaps sacrifices) player characters to achieve its goals.

Cole has also been reading through the preview for Stoneburner (0:52:49) by René-Pier Deshaies-Gélinas and Galen Pejeau. It's a solo-friendly game that asks the question: "What if some dwarves dug too greedily and too deep... IN SPACE?" The result is a Dwarf Fortress-inspired system as they try to safely rebuild a community, while dealing with rival dwarves, demons, and growing responsibility. Also, there are DOOM vibes.

Then onto the main topic in which we basically brainstorm and troubleshoot a brand new TTRPG (0:58:37) based on stuff we've talked about in the episode and ideas that are floating around. It's a fun look into the process of making stuff, asking (and answering) questions, and throwing spaghetti at a wall to see what sticks.

We close up with some shout outs:

• Marley has a system-less random encounter supplement coming out with this month's Let's Role Play Pass.
• Cole is getting back into streaming with a bunch of interesting games planned...
• Cole's fiance Holly has contributed to Soaring Heart, a Tifa Lockhart Zine that is now crowdfunding! She's a dope artist and it's absolutely worth checking out!

Featuring Cole (@IceColeBrew) and Marley (⁠⁠@Mynar_Lenahan⁠⁠).

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on your Social Media of Choice and be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com!

In this episode, Marley plays a TTRPG all by his lonesome, as Cole has been feeling under the weather (P.S. You should send them your well-wishes to @IceColeBrew on Twitter...). In any case, Marley takes this opportunity to explore the 110 year history of the Spaceship Theseus with a really good world-building game.

See, the world-building game in question isThe Ground Itself by Everest Pipkin. It's an evolution of The Quiet Year with some Microscope thrown in. And yes, it's not technically a solo game, but the game's prompts make it easy to play with as a journaling game (even though collaborating with friends is far more fun).

The episode closes out with shout outs to the Sci-Fi Is The Best vs Fantasy Is The Best bundles, which are currently competing to settle the issue once and for all.

(Btw: Sci-Fi is the best, even though we are perhaps biased on that front given that Marley's Apocalypse Roadtrip is one of the games in that bundle...)

And also, The Awards (an indie TTRPG awards show that presents itself as an Ennie-alternative for weird, alternative TTRPGs) is looking for designers to submit their TTRPGs and judges to judge them. Last year's winners included some stone cold bangers, so be sure to read through them...

Featuring Marley (⁠@Mynar_Lenahan⁠).

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on your Social Media of Choice and be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com!

But first, Cole talks about their experience with Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, which was a joy to watch, even if it was a little Marvel-y. We also chat about the surprising behind the scene videos showing the incredible puppets and practical effects that were used in this film, especially given the industry's focus on CGI in recent years.

Marley has been excited for the latest fishing survival horror game, Dredge. It's a game with three things he loves: Inventory management, cool maps, and eldritch horror. It's also a great, if sometimes stressful way to while away a few hours and damn, it would be sick to write a TTRPG like this.

On the tabletop side of things, Cole revisits Scum & Villany by Stras Acimovic & John Lebouf-Little – it's the sci-fi space drama hack of Blades in the Dark, swapping out crew playbooks with different ship types to use on their space escapades. Also, Cole is about to use it as an introductory game for his D&D group, so that should be interesting!

Marley jumps feet first into Skyfarer: The Sunless Skies Role-Playing Game by Grant Howitt and Christopher Taylor. It's a TTRPG set in the Fallen London universe, in which you play as a crew of a spacefaring locomotive who have lost their captain for one reason or another and must delve the High Wilderness themselves or die trying. It's a really neat game with some solid mechanical ideas, if perhaps a little inaccessible for the non-Fallen London-heads among its players (as might be expected).

Finally, Cole looks at Briar Sovereign's April Fool's joke and new Armour Astir supplement: Amor Astir, which allows you to elope with your rival, have sex with your buds, and become a poster child for the revolution. (And also in the game.)

Then, on to the main topic: "What The Hell Brings Player Characters Together??"

In this, we have an extended discussion about how TTRPGs build up relationships between player characters (mechanically and narratively), building connections to the game-world, and what we do when some TTPRGs don't include rules for teamwork. We also answer the vital question: Which TTRPG has the TTRPG world's greatest approach to player bonds??

Featuring Marley (⁠@Mynar_Lenahan⁠) and Cole (@IceColeBrew).

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on your Social Media of Choice and be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com!

In this episode, we talk about the TTRPGs for Trans Rights in Florida bundle which collects 505 games for $5, and the TTRPGs which caught our interest.

But first, Marley talks about recently finishingThe Wire then immediately finding out about the death of Lance Reddick. Cole talks about the influence the show has had on them and they both talk about how the show has got them so excited for seeing the cast in other things.

Cole checked out the poorly-advertised Strange World and was refreshingly surprised to see that it was a pulp adventure story about the dangers of exploiting the earth, rather than instilling a legacy on the young.  And it has Disney's first queer protagonist. Again.

In TTRPG talk, Cole went to Tanuki Games and got some cool physical TTRPGs, including:

Beak, Feather, and Bone, a map-labelling ttrpg about factions of cute corvids shaping the city they live in. Cole got into it to try and convince their DM to mess with the D&D module they're playing.

Cole also checked out Anamnesis by Sam Leigh. It’s a journaling game that uses tarot cards to piece together a character’s identity after losing their memory. We knew about it from the Anamnesis Jam, but we also had the sudden realisation we heard it on Friends At The Table, too.

Meanwhile, Marley checked out The Between by Jason Cordova, a Victorian gothic mystery game inspired by Penny Dreadful, League of Extraordinary Gentleman, and Blades in the Dark. It’s a game with no set solution to a mystery, but the players brainstorm a solution themselves through play. There is also a long-term mystery involving a Moriarty-type figure who masterminds everything from behind the scenes?? It's sick.

Apocalypse Keys has released it physical copies, and so Cole takes this opportunity to talk briefly about this Hellboy-inspired PBTA game. 

Then, we talk about our favourite games from the TTRPG Bundle for Florida Trans Rights, which has over 500 games, but we sat down to talk about 10 games we were excited about (or roughly 2% of the total), including:

• die RPG by Nala J. Wu - A very charming game written while Nala was alseep.
• Sherwood | A Game of Outlaws and Arcana by R. Rook Studio, which Marley loves specifically from reading Page 4, which encourages you to smash down many pre-existing notions from Robin Hood depictions and also Fuc... not give a damn about the True King.
• Thirsty Sword Lesbians by April Kit Walsh- A flexible system that can give Revolutionary Girl Utena vibes to any setting. It’s a game that Cole may or may not have done an actual play of at some point. 
• Lighthouse At The End Of The World by Bannerless Games - The kind of nautical horror journaling game that Marley has been looking for recently, especially after watching a lot of Dredge and thinking about The Lighthouse. 
• Serious Reading by Jordan Boschman - A game in which you play as an opinion columnist ostensibly writing about one topic, but sneaking in another topic on the sly. Very “Don’t Even Get Me Started!” vibes.
• ECO MOFOS by David Blandy - An optimistic and non-grimdark OSR game. It’s specifically Weirdhope, about punks building up communities after the end of the world. 
• FIST by CLAYMORE - A paranormal paramilitary hack of Offworlders, which we get so hyped about during the recording that we vow to do an actual play of it in future. 
• Boondock Cartomancy by Hook, Line, & Sinker - Which Marley declares his favourite game in the bundle based on vibes alone.
• Maharlika RPG by Makapatag - A Meka game built around Filipino mythology, which just has such a distinct sense of place to it.
• Errante by Mundos Infinitos - One of those games which takes the perspective of characters who don't often appear in a TTRPG, which Marley appreciates.

Featuring Cole (@IceColeBrew) and Marley (⁠@Mynar_Lenahan⁠)

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on your Social Media of Choice and be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com!

Then, Cole chats about Bleak Spirit by Chris Longhurst, a GM-less game where players alternate between describing the world and describing the strange, unknowable protagonist moving through it. It's really fun in how it approaches the mystery of a Soulsborne game, encouraging players to flesh out the history of a ruined location and what kind of adversary waits at the centre of it, while never saying for certain if the story is true or not.

Marley got his hands on The Score by Steve Dee, an exciting heist card game out now on Kickstarter! In it, players plan a heist with simple prompts, build and create your character from random trait cards, then jump into a heist. The game is quick, and fairly easy to pick up and can lead to some fantastic heists all in under 18 minutes! (unless you're us, in which case it's a 47 minute Actual Play on YouTube).

Then, onto the main topic, where Cole leads us through their history of playing in and pitching campaigns both at home and online. This broadens out into a discussion about how pitches change for different TTRPG systems, our favourite pitches that we wish we could play, how missing out on playing campaigns can lead to writing TTRPG systems, and what a chemistry test is. 

Closing up, we have a bunch of shout outs, including The CalazCon Indiegogo campaign (ending soon!), Marley's appearance playing Ghoul Boys for The Fiction First Network, and a Pentiment-inspired Cosmic Horror mystery he wrote for the Let's Role Play Pass. 

Cole meanwhile is about to begin a new season of Fire In The Dark at Huntsmen's Hydra, continued working on MLE Sports, and shouts out the incredible work done by The Roll Plus Bond community raising over $8,404.98 for Trans Lifeline!

Featuring Marley (@Mynar_Lenahan) and Cole (@IceColeBrew).

Produced by Marley, as well.

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This week Cole plays Alone in The Station Remnants by Caro Ascercion, a solo journaling game about exploring the ruins of a station you grew up in as a scout with a mission to fulfill for your base, while also remembering the good, the bad, and the painful memories associated with a place you once called home.

Content Warning: This episode contents references to the following-
- Blood
- Mentions of dismemberment
- Being crushed by rubble.

In this game, Cole takes on the role of his rookie, Dorian Branch, before the events of CalazCon! A Beam Saber Actual Play hosted by Austin Ramsay.  Join Dorian as they remember the station they sat and learned to pilot their Balisong, Our Lady of Means, learn of his past squadmates and friends, and discover a mystery that arrives in a familiar package.   

To learn more about CalazCon and support the crowdfunding go to their Indiegogo page. Donate NPC names, or sponsor an episode! OR donate to get a copy of Beam Saber and The Growing Conflict Supplement.  

Check out Caro's Alone in the Station Remnants and other games here. 

Featuring Cole (@IceColeBrew).

Produced by Cole, as well.

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This episode, we are joined by special guest Emma to talk about All The Witches (an upcoming deck-based TTRPG they wrote about the diversity of witches in a fantasy world) that's coming to Kickstarter on March 16!

But first, we spend some time chatting about Hi-Fi Rush, Tales of Arise, Kingdom Hearts 3 (once more), Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Forespoken, and, for some reason, The Quiet Man.

To kick off the TTRPG stuff, Emma talks Cryptid Creeks by Hatchlings, a game about kids investigating mysteries with the help of a local cryptid. It’s kind of like "What If Monster Trucks (2017) was a TTRPG?" Plus, who doesn’t like cryptids? And creeks?

Emma also chats about Fleet Detrik's My Mother’s Kitchen, a solo journaling game about tradition and cooking, in which you play as the spirit of the family cookbook itself. It features beautiful art by Fabian Lelay and Hailee Smith, and you can find a preview here.

Marley chats about the preview of Cassi Mothwin's Tangled Blessings, an tarot-based witch school game, inspired by (among other things) graduate school. In it, you play two rival students who compete to get the magic school equivalent of tenure, which is amazing. 

Cole has been looking at See You, Space Cowboy by Tidal Wave Games, and it has been scratching a scifi itch that he got thanks to the new Trigun series.

Emma also chats about Splat #4: Frights, a collection of essays on horror, horror TTRPGs, safely playing horror, and more. It's got an all-star cast of people working on it, including Jay Dragon, Casper Oliver, CeeJay (AKA ScholasticDragn), Josephine (AKA scarydogfriend), and more!

Emma also shows off Witchbound, a really interesting solo game, where you make your way through a series of illustrated environments. It’s an incredible way of doing a choose-your-own-adventure type book, which has blown us away with its design.

Marley also talks about Riley Daniels new game, Trophy Warp, which is a horror scifi game about freelancers surviving on the very edge of the galaxy. It feels like an Alien, a Blade Runner, a Citizen Sleeper, or, yes, a Mothership, but Riley has made some very interesting design choices, which Marley made a thread about...

Finally, we have an extended interview with Emma about talking about the origin of with All The Witches, running her first kickstarter, the joy of collaborating, adding deck-based rules, and witch sports. 

Featuring Marley (@Mynar_Lenahan), Cole (@IceColeBrew), and Emma (@emmapanada)

Produced by Marley, as well.

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Then, breaking from the usual format, we jump straight into the main topic, which is an in-depth discussion of what has happened with D&D over the last little while. We, of course, draw heavily from the great reporting done by Linda Codega along with illuminating interviews on the most recent Brainwaves episode.

We also list off some games that are great introductions to the indie TTRPG space for people escaping D&D. It's a great discussion about the pros and cons of each (especially coming from two people who escaped D&D themselves), but for simplicity's sake, they're all listed here:

• Quest
• Ryuutama
• Root
• Fellowship 2e
• Aether: Heroic Fantasy RPG
• Stewpot: Tales From A Fantasy Tavern
• Venture & Dungeon
• dungeonpunk
• Heart: The City Beneath
• Fate
• Blades In The Dark
• As The Sun Forever Sets
• Band of Blades
• Gubat Banwa
• Brindlewood Bay

Finally, Cole chats about To Change, a tarot-based game about transformation in body and mind. It also has terrific art

We close with a shout out to the Huntsmen's Hydra's Subathon, happening this weekend! It'll feature us both and a bunch of great creators playing various TTRPGs and video games. It should be a load of fun.

Featuring Cole (@IceColeBrew) and Marley (@Mynar_Lenahan)

Produced by Marley, as well.

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On this episode, Cole & Marley sit down with game designer Austin Ramsay for an extended interview about Beam Saber, working as a tabletop designer, and his upcoming Mega Actual Play Project CalazCon.

But first, we chat a lot about the video games we've been checking out over the break. Card Shark, Suzarain, Pentiment... Folks, it's been a good Christmas.

We also have a brief, spoiler-free chat about Glass Onion, since damn that movie was fun and it's interesting that we're starting to see Pandemic-era media that actually depicts the Pandemic.

In Tabletop talk, Cole returns to the Emotional Mecha Jam to talk about Reizor's Live. Love. Die. Remember., a GM-less game about mechs that fall in love with their pilots and the lengths they will go to for them. It is a fascinating GM-less game filled with great prompts and thoughts of what love could be.

Marley, meanwhile, talks about playing in Cole's home game of Beam Saber. Marley played Emmeryn's time-traveling Looper playbook and had a bunch of fun messing with the wild mechanics in that. He also really enjoyed how good Beam Saber feels to play. 

On top of that, Marley released a new game over the christmas break, Apocalypse Roadtrip. It's a game about driving a red convertible through a kaiju, UFO, and cryptid infested highway which was on the top 8 physical games on itch?? Somehow?? Marley takes a moment to talk about making the game (itself a hack of Riley Daniels' As the Sun Forever Sets), his touchstones, and weird things you can do in it. 

Like, you can play a dog in it. If you want.

Continuing on the apocalypse theme, Cole dug into Binary Star Games' Apocalypse Frame! It's Lumen-system mech game that caught their eye especially with the excitement around Armored Core 6...

Finally, Austin Ramsay joins us for the aforementioned extended interview, talking through some of his side projects, his occasional love of crunchy tabletop games, the origin of Beam Saber, how the game changed over time, and finally discusses some of the fascinating new political mechanics in CalazCon. We also find out about his favorite Gundam series and the small handful of projects he has coming up...

Featuring Marley (@Mynar_Lenahan) and Cole (@IceColeBrew)

Produced by Marley, as well.

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Content Warnings for:
Serial Killing
Violence against Sex Workers and Homeless
Cults

Sworn by Ghostlight: The Ebon Woods Effigies is a mystery adventure game by Matthew John (@yuigaron) that utilizes tables and dice rolls to throw out the threads to solve a mystery as an occultist detective in a parallel Victorian London. Oh and the moon is dripping an ominous fluid called Ghostlight. 

In this adventure, Cole takes on the role of Lucille Deleuc, a reluctant Warden in the work of the Occult Detectives, with no memory of their past before working in the occult. Follow their adventure as they explore the murders happening in Monaþstone and more.

Sworn By Ghostlight is a lot of fun, the tables give you more insight in the Ash District as you play, and the items can let you infer on where to go next. Progress tracking also lets you define your success and your obstacles in your investigation as you follow your “thread” of thinking on how the culprit comes to be revealed and the mystery around why they choose their method.  

Featuring Cole (@IceColeBrew)

Produced by Cole, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on your Social Media of Choice and be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com!

First, Cole chats about AEW Wrestling, finishing Norco, and Scarlet Hollow. Marley, meanwhile, has been getting into gangster films since working on his own Goncharov game and found Boardwalk Empire to be an oddly different way of telling a gangster story. 

We also spend a bit of time talking about The Game Awards and the video games we're excited about and video games we're not excited about.

In tabletop games, Cole talks about the physical beauty of the game Our Queen Crumbles by Jason Brown, the feeling of exploration and uniqueness of a game, in which a Queen is murdered, and the only mystery to be solved is to find why the Assassin did the deed.

Marley talks about his experience playing Partners by Steve Dee. It's an episodic mystery game where you build the gimmick and the main cast of a police procedural, yet outright states that it might be too much work to play more than one episode. Marley chats about what he loved about the game and how it approaches the challenge of improvising a mystery in a TTRPG.

On that note, Cole has returned to the city of Mónaþstone to read through Sworn By Ghostlight: Wings of Rot by Yuigaron. He has enjoyed the idea of bringing the previous location to a brand new location, The Rift, in order to seek the mysterious and purposely undefined Wings of Rot. It also showcases how the spirits interact with the Occult Detectives and whisper hints and clues to solve a case that has yet to be started.

Briefly, Marley shares his excitement in writing his own over-elaborate prep notes for a one-shot of Red West. Having been a player in a one-shot, he finds it really fun to outline themes and make his own settings and overall really enjoys the game. 

Then, onto the year in review: We chat about the most unusual, the most satisfying, the most on-our-bullshit, the what-mechanic-would-be-fun-to-take-from-one-game-to-another, the kind of games we missed out on, and finally our game of the year. 

Featuring Marley (@Mynar_Lenahan) and Cole (@IceColeBrew) 

Produced by Marley, as well.

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Cole kicks off tabletop talk by chatting about playing Skelpielimmer's Desperado Playbook in a Blades in the Dark oneshot and had a wild, bloody time playing a gunslinger in Duskvol. Marley audibly gasps at one point. 

Cole has also gotten interested in Rathayibacter's [BXLLET>, another fascinating gunslinger game about violence, and the responsibility it brings. Also, the name of the game is aparently a core mechanic?? They will report back on that...

Marley chats about his experience playing AlwaysCheckers' Notorious for last week's episode (which you can watch on our YouTube!). He's come away blown away with the possibilities that random tables can offer and has become a massive Jason Price fan.

He also checked out Mörk Borg, which is worlds away from the games he usually plays. He alternated between being enchanted by the world-building to being kind of underwhelmed by some of the random tables to once more being enraptured in the possibility of owning a monkey in-game. He also wrote a whole copost about his thoughts as he read through the book.

Cole finishes up tabletalk by returning to Sworn by Ghostlight: The Case of the Ebon Wood Effigies by Yuigaron. He's had a lot of fun with the mechanics and seeing how the game uses random tables (including the fantastic ), to build up a murder mystery from scratch. Cole also teases that this may become a future episode/YouTube video for Inside The Table...

Finally, we take some time chatting about breaking games or, rather, how people change existing games to suit them. We discuss aesthetic changes, making homebrew items, breaking games to make them accessible, and The Fail Forward Blog's Three Rules Rule: How much should you break a game before you decide you should just play something else?

Featuring Cole (@IceColeBrew) and Marley (@Mynar_Lenahan)

Produced by Marley, as well.

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In this very special episode, Marley is playing through a solo game of Notorious by Jason Price as Cole was feeling a little under the weather.

Now, Notorious is a game about a bounty hunter (or a nomad in the parlance of this game) tracking down their target on a strange planet. They mess around with the local factions, cause trouble, build reputation, and eventually come face to face with their target in a dangerous showdown. It's also a game that feels so much like an episode of The Mandalorian with its incredible random event tables that are unlike anything Marley has seen before...

Note: This episode is a TTRPG actual play and it does involve a lot of tracking of stats, rolling on tables, and reading off of character sheets. If you want to see what's going on, this podcast is also available as a YouTube video.

Featuring Marley (@Mynar_Lenahan)

Produced by Marley, as well.

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Then, Cole kicks off Tabletop Talk by discussing Atsuhiro Okada's Ryuutama, a Table-Talk RPG game which feels like a video game brought into a tabletop environment. Also, the GM gets to choose what kind of dragon they play as.

Marley changes the tone completely by discussing Liminal Horror by Goblin Archives. It's a cosmic horror hack of Into The Odd, in which players generate fragile investigators by rolling on random tables. The recent Tales from the Void jam caught Marley's eye in particular, as it showed how easy it was to hack together expansions and adventures for the game (and inspired him to write a hack of his own).

Then, Marley continues chatting about paranormal investigators by talking about Riley Daniels' Ghoulboys: Paranormal Investigators. It's a Belonging Outside Belonging game that combines Buzzfield Unsolved: Supernatural and Phantasmophobia to create what feels like a solid improv comedy party game?

Cole talks about his experience with Cortex Prime, which is a Fate-like tabletop system that allows you to run a game set within any genre. Cole talks about how he feels about a system like that, as opposed to seeing how systems like Belonging Outside Belonging or Forged in the Dark can approach genres with more substantial hacks.

Finally, we chat art. Specifically how much influence art has on the game a GM ends up running, how artists can sell you on a game, and whether games without art hinder our experience playing a game. 

Featuring Marley (@Mynar_Lenahan) and Cole (@IceColeBrew)

Produced by Marley, as well.

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Cole, on the other side of the planet, talks hanging with AshenWorks and playing fun games in person. They've also been getting into commentating for MLE Esports GG and using Word of the Day to expand their vocabulary. Also, Witch In Mercury is good, so he's been watching that.

Marley starts the tabletop talk with As The Sun Forever Sets by Riley Daniels. It's a Forged in the Dark game that's also a hex-crawl and also set within the world of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds? Marley is facinated by the idea of playing in the dying days of the British Empire of the 1890s, but is also amazed by the mechanical innovations the game makes in the FitD genre.

Then, noted board-game-disliker Marley brings up his most anticipated board game of the past few years: Monopoly: Fortnite Edition. Initially brought in by just the bizarre concept, Marley has found himself bizarrely sold on an adaptation that's more than a re-skin that plays fast and loose with what we know of Monopoly to create... a tactical shooter? It's a deeply fascinating thing.

Cole meanwhile has been checking out GM-less games with astounding art.

First of which is Dialect by Kathryn Hymes and Hakan Seyalioglu, which is a game about a community that strived to create their own culture, and the language that remains after a dominant culture assimilates them. Cole found it to be a great introduction to entirely new kinds of tabletop games.

Then, Cole chats about Cantrip by Misha Panarin and Celeste Cruz, a fun Belonging Outside Belonging game about young witches getting up to trouble at a magical school. It reminded Cole of Little Witch Academia and Kiki's Delivery Service and was just a fun, chill time.

Then, we move onto our main topic of Pitching Games. We've chatted with members of assorted TTRPG communities about what sells them on games and how they sell games to other people. Marley also chats about his reflections from spending a weekend seeing tabletop game developers pitching their games at a huge games convention. Then we take a moment to be real with y'all and talk about what interested them about the four tabletop games they discussed on this episode of the podcast...

Featuring Cole (@IceColeBrew) and Marley (@Mynar_Lenahan)

Produced by Marley, as well.

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So instead, Marley's playing a solo game of Anomaly: Containment Breach by Sniper Serpent. It's a really fun Quiet Year-hack inspired by the SCP Foundation and video game Control, and it's one of Marley's absolute favourites.

Now, it is a light horror game, so content warning for mind control, mild violence (including supernatural violence and implied murder), and uncaring bureaucracy. So be warned!

But it's a lovely fun episode, so enjoy!

Featuring Marley (@Mynar_Lenahan), and a shout out toCole (@IceColeBrew)

Produced by Marley, as well.

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As for Tabletop Games, Marley chats about Riverhouse Games' Machine Gun, an avant garde jazz game which expanded his notions about what kind of experiences tabletop games can provide.

Cole then talks about Mythopoeia'sThe Quotidian, an unofficial Blades in the Dark playbook who is just a normal, boring person who has their life sorted out and helps the crew by annoying anyone they come up against. We then use this as an opportunity to revisit the spectacular Unusual Suspects Jam, which features a number of great unofficial playbooks. 

Offworlders by Chris Wolf and Olivia Gulin is next. It's a fast-paced, easily hackable scifi game (with great art) that fills the niche between the rules-lite Lasers and Feelings and a more complex FitD game like Scum & Villainy.

Speaking of fast paced games, Cole's been checking out GilaRPG's Slayers, which he says is a fun mix of Bloodborne and Monster Hunter. It's interestingly distinct from RUNE, which we checked out previously, and Cole feels its the kind of game they could just pick up and run with. 

For our main topic, we talk about the weirdness of racial modifiers, games that cast you in a specific role, being restricted from playing anybody, and TTRPGs as an opportunity for fanfiction.

We close with a shout out to Thomas Manuel's Indie RPG Newsletter, which has been checking out some fun corners of the indie rpg scene recently. Huntsmen's Hydra's show Fire in the Dark has also been nominated for a GameHERS award and you can still vote for it here!

Featuring Cole (@IceColeBrew) and Marley (@Mynar_Lenahan)

Produced by Marley, as well.

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This episode, we're joined by special guest Brandon AKA AshenWorks (@Ashen_Works) of Huntsmen's Hydra (@HuntsmensHydra) to talk about Blades in the Dark and the Forged in the Dark genre as a whole. 

But, to start with, Cole is stumbling back into Destiny 2, finding too much story and a crafting system? We also spend some time talking about Lance Reddick, because of course we do. 

Then, Marley chats about... doing book layouts in Google Docs? Making a work look nice before writing it has gotten him inspired, and helped him finish a horror game, The Night of the Scarecrow.

Meanwhile, Brandon has been playing the Commander format of Magic: The Gathering, and he's found this hero-focused way of playing has been scratching his character-creation itch and has been inspiring some TTRPG projects he's been working on.

Cole has also been messing around in Google Forms, and Marley takes the opportunity to let Google know where they went wrong...

Then, Tabletop RPGs!

Cole's been checking out Jason Price's Last Sentinels, a game about a doomed mech pilot protecting a ship escaping a besieged planet. We spend some time chatting about tragic games as an interesting alternative to most games, since...

...Marley is talking about a non-verbal Larp he's read about relationship coming to an end, specifically Wilt by Mads Jøns Frausig and Karete Jacobsen Meland. New to nordic larps, Marley found himself blown away by what's happening in it, fascinated by the safety tools, and, at one point, began tearing up a little while reading it. 

To lighten the mood, Brandon chats about Zak Barouh's Animon Story, an adorable game inspired by Digimon & Pokemon, that made all three of our co-hosts pause the episode to look at all the cute animals pictures it has in it.

To close, we spend a good time discussing John Harper's Blades in the Dark and Forged in the Dark games, including Austin Ramsay's Beam Saber and Briar Sovereign's The Brightest Things We Know. We talk how we got into it, its lineage in TTRPGs, how it looks as a PbtA game, and how we feel about the stress and trauma mechanic.

Featuring Marley (@Mynar_Lenahan), Cole (@IceColeBrew), and Brandon (@Ashen_Works).

Produced by Marley, as well.

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Today, we're talking Sparked by the Resistance games with game designer Scampir!

But first, we chat about the strange things RadioTVsolutions have been up to (something about Half Life with self-aware AI?), the weirdness of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, ethical quandries in Cult of the Lamb, and thick thick fantasy book, The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon.

Marley also revisits Jennifer Park's Discandying Cleopatra: Preserving Cleopatra's Infinite Variety in Shakespeare's "Anthony and Cleopatra", a fascinating essay he read in university which uses the metaphor of food preservation to examine Cleopatra's position in that play. 

Scampir talks about Brock McCord's Record of Twilight War, an industrial fantasy mech TTRPG that is also a musou game??  

Then, we check out two games by the prolific Briar Sovereign: Armor Astir: Advent & the Red West playtest.

Scampir talks about their love of Armor Astir and spends some time discussing the unofficial playbook he wrote for the game, The Baccentian Guide, a shield maiden with a colossal mech that is half-temple, half-Godzilla, enslaved into becoming a machine of war. It's also kind of about living around a literal embodiment of climate change.

Cole on the other hand, enthuses about Red West, a hack of Grant Howitt and Christopher Taylor's Heart: The City Beneath, featuring cowboys and portals to Hell on Mars. Imagine Doom mixed with Westworld and you're most of the way there. It's a wild, outlandish game, which is also so funny it's almost a shitpost.

Marley talks about Broken by Ben Wallis, a biographical game about doomed romance which encourages you to break ten random objects as you play, and Cole wonders if this game could be theraputic for people processing past relationships.

Then, we do another deep dive into the Sparked by the Resistance system. Scampir talks through their experience playing a 14-session campaign of Spire: The City Must Fall (which he wrote about on Cohost), Cole read through Ascendancy, and Marley compares it to the game's "sequel", Heart: The City Beneath. They talk about what they enjoy about the system and where they felt friction with some of the mechanics the system has. 

They also answer the big question: "What are your favourite Resistance playbooks?" And listener, their answers may surprise you.

Featuring Cole (@IceColeBrew), Marley (@Mynar_Lenahan), and special guest Scampir (@Scampir).

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on Twitter (@insidethetable). Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com!

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.

Follow Inside The Table on Twitter (@insidethetable). Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com!

This episode, we're gonna talk through our experience doing very first actual play recording of the RUNE playtest by Spencer Campbell (@GilaRPGs).

(You can find said actual play recording at bit.ly/InsideTheTableYoutube, by the way...)

But first, Marley talks about being utterly blown away the buck-wild story in Powerwash Simulator's campaign mode, despite still feeling weird about gaming on GamePass. Cole meanwhile has continued their playthrough of Dishonored and he has also gone to a vinyl and cocktail night. 

However, all is not as peaceful and carefree in the lives of our hosts, for they now find themselves in a  now live in a world in which a new Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves trailer has been released! Marley is inconsolable, as he fears it will likely be a passable action-fantasy film that will do okay at the box office. Cole just hopes it's okay, so long as it does contain some legitimate thieves and not just regular old heroes...  But they also make a comparison that shakes Marley to his very core, and might even convince him to watch the film.

Then, Marley has re-visited one of his favourite Tabletop RPGs, Casket Land, a Powered By The Apocalypse game that is brutal, extremely creative, and refreshingly unlike any game he knows of. He just thinks more people in the tabletop scene should be talking about it.

He also talks about Vaesen, which is a Nordic horror game of trolls and fairytale creatures. It uses a more streamlined version of the Tales From The Loop rpg system (a game which he enjoyed anyway) and he hopes Vaesen will be an oportunity to play as a fun Hellboy-type character.

Cole also shouts out occult-detective-em-up game, Sworn By Moonlight, which uses the Ironsworn system to weave a fun, weird mystery in a strange city that's kind of Bloodborne-y... 

Then, we spend a few moments talking about our exciting experience playing RUNE. Let's not spoil it. (Not while you can check out the whole recorded actual play at bit.ly/InsideTheTableYoutube...)

Featuring Cole (@IceColeBrew) and Marley (@Mynar_Lenahan) 

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on Twitter (@insidethetable). Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com!

Specifically: The moral quandries of stealth-em-up Dishonored and some insights he gained from watching the recent Game Masters of Exandria Roundtable, which has got him thinking about the experience of running games as a GM. Then, Marley talks about the experience of watching Netflix's RRR without knowing the first thing about it. According to him, it has the greatest action movie shot of all time and the Fast & Furious franchise should be taking notes...

Then Games: We finally tie a bow on the FATHOM playtest, which, despite causing a few frustrations during our extended one-shot, still clearly has its hooks in us. Then, Marley talks about The Ultimate RPG Character Backstory Guide: Expanded Genres Edition, which could be a useful tool for adding more depth to your player character (although Marley didn't find it as useful as others might). Finally, Marley's had a terrific session zero with Good Society: A Jane Austen RPG (or, more specifically, the Gothic Society expansion) and he's looking forward to seeing how the game plays out. 

Finally, after finding a long-lost copy of the Sailor Moon Role Playing Game and Resource Book from 1999, Cole also proclaims that they will run it, although how that will go is anyone's guess...

We take a moment to talk about our experiences running tabletop RPGs as Game Masters (GMs). How do we prep when we run a game? How do we feel about GMing principles?  When do we feel like we're nailing it as a GM? Does roleplaying come easy for us? And just how overpowered should players be?

We close with a heartfelt thank you to everybody who's supported us and we read our very first (genuine) listener email.

Featuring Marley (@mynar_lenahan) and Cole (@icecolebrew)

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on Twitter (@insidethetable). Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com!

Ah, the FATHOM Playtest (v0.21) deep dive.... A whole episode where we sit down to do a book report on an incredibly interesting and surreal tabletop RPG that we've been reading, playing, and thinking about a whole lot. 

But first, we spend some time talking about similarly weird and surreal media that we've been checking out. Marley's been watching The Truman Show and thinking a lot about the rise of personality-focused media on Twitch, YouTube, and even Podcasts over the past few decades. Turns out, the future is more-cost effective than an elaborate, city-sized film set.

Cole meanwhile has been streaming the absolutely fantastic NORCO by Geography of Robots. It's a strange, Louisiana point & click adventure game that is equal parts melancholy and very funny. In particularly, there is a slimey private eye who utterly rules and a cat you should probably not pet. Cole thinks it has Old Gods of Appalachia vibes, too, and this producer promised to put that in the episode description.

Then, FATHOM by Matthew Guzdial and Brendan McLeod!

Since mentioning the game briefly last episode, Marley's done a twitter thread as he read through the current version of the book, while Cole GM'd a session of the game. They both talk about their feelings playing the game, reading through the book, and thinking about how it exists in relation to games like Blades In The Dark & Heart: The City Beneath. Our feelings are largely positive, but we feel that some things will still need to develop as the book continues developing.

Producer Note: This book is rad. The playbooks in particular are absolutely fascinating (Wanna play as Scooby-Doo? John Wick? Charmeleon from Spider-Man, but also a transformer? Well, now you can!), but the whole thing is worth a read.

Finally, in the closing moments of the Podcast, we give a big shout out to The Indie Bundle For Abortion Funds, which is an upcoming itch bundle supporting The National Network of Abortion Funds, specifically The Collective Power Fund. That bundle is now live as a game jam on itch.io and can be found by clicking here.

Featuring Cole (@icecolebrew) and Marley (@mynar_lenahan)

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on Twitter (@insidethetable). Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com!

Marley opens up the TTRPG talk with journaling game Wandering Dreams by Cody Barr, which he describes as "What if Bloodborne was a narrative rogue-like?" Then Cole discusses The River by Ava Ayers, which uses Texas Hold'Em mechanics to tell a story of people gambling parts of themselves as they die in the woods.

Next is our experimental News segment: We touch on a variety of things on our horizon, including the end of Sangfielle (the latest Friends At The Table season), the latest trailer of the upcoming Sandman TV show, and two very interesting tabletop games which recently released playtests: the surreal FATHOM by Matthew Guzdial & Brendan McLeod and the Dark Souls-y RUNE by Spencer Campbell.

Featuring Marley (@mynar_lenahan) and Cole (@icecolebrew)

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on Twitter (@insidethetable). Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com!

Featuring Cole (@icecolebrew) and Marley (@mynar_lenahan)

Produced by Marley, as well.

Follow Inside The Table on Twitter (@insidethetable). Also, send in your Listener Questions to InsideTheTable@gmail.com!