Thankless Roll Players: a TTRPG actual play podcast

A saxaboom plays a forlorn space jazz tune as the sun fails to rise yet again over the sprawling technopolis known as the Wash. Our band of operatives undertake their first heist, stealing a cult guarded processor from a shadowy corporation, in our continuing playthrough of Cities Without Number.

Harold the Forest Druid, the thief Tomi Tynglefingers, aided once more by Timothy the Immolator, and their new friend Growly Pete, are hired on by a high priestess of the Iron King to breach a mysterious stone demon head atop a hill overlooking a village and retrieve an artifact she apparently can't just get herself. What could go wrong?

Download the free rulebook and form-fillable character sheet (https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/449873/Cities-Without-Number-Free-Version), and follow along as Rob guides us through character creation in Kevin Crawford's sandbox cyberpunk TTRPG "Cities Without Number".

After almost half a century has Gary Gygax's legendary demilich Acererak finally met his match at the hands of the fearless and cunning Thankless Roll Players? What do you think?

The party honor Gary Gygax by making some spectacularly bad decisions in the second episode of our three part (so far...) playthrough of "Tomb of Horrors".

For our 100th episode, and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, we tackle Gary Gygax's classic 1975 dungeon crawl "Tomb of Horrors". But why tackle this notoriously unbeatable dungeon as high level D&D characters, when you can send in a bunch of Dungeon Crawl Classics zeroes? Will our heroes survive? Of course not. But we guarantee a rollicking good time while they do!

We descend one last time into the stench-filled caverns beneath the Curwen Homestead to find out once and for all the fate that has befallen the family, in our fumble-filled final fling of Daniel J. Bishop's "The Arwich Grinder" for Dungeon Crawl Classics TTRPG.

The party decides to explore the Curwen House in our second of our three episode playthrough of Daniel J. Bishop's "The Arwich Grinder" for Dungeon Crawl Classics. NOTE: This episode is not for the squeamish.

Better bring a sick bag, as the party heads deep into the pines to come to the aid of a family in peril, in the first part of our playthrough of Daniel J. Bishop's genuinely unnerving zero level funnel, "The Arwich Grinder".

Up to their necks in beastmen, the party slash their way onwards and upwards through the mysterious obelisk threatening the village of Hirot. Unlucky dips, a showdown with the bizarre Lantern Master, and wedding bells are in the air, as we conclude our playthrough of Harley Stroh's level 1 adventure "Shadow of the Beakmen".

We kick off our FIFTH season fashionably late and up to our necks in the blood of our enemies, as our heroes return victorious to Hirot with the head of the monstrous Hound in hand, only to find the village ablaze and overrun with giant lizard mounted knights and hideously deformed humanoids, as we play Harley Stroh's level one adventure "Shadow of the Beakmen".

For our final episode of 2023 we leave you with our double length Holiday Thumptacular - Marzio Muscedere's Christmas cracker, "The Doom That Came To Christmas Town" for Dungeon Crawl Classics. Hope to see you all in 2024. Bring your friends!

Armed with the fabled wolf spear, the party returns to the village of Hirot to face down the Hound, in the conclusion of our playthrough of Harley Stroh's "Doom of the Savage Kings" for Dungeon Crawl Classics.

Our thief - and consequently our good listeners - learns a valuable lesson about luck, and our elf and cleric get quite salty in our swearingest, most hair raising (literally) installment so far, as we play part 4 of our "Doom of the Savage Kings" 5 parter.

Come celebrate Thanksgiving with us as our flock of turkeys descend into the Serpent Tomb of the Ulfheonar and discover the magic of the season...or something...in part three of our playthrough of Harley Stroh's "Doom of the Savage Kings" for Dungeon Crawl Classics.

More than a little worse for wear after their misguided attempt to follow the Hound into the Sunken Fens, our heroes seek aid at the village of Hirot. Much intrigue, and more singing than should be allowed, ensues. The mystery deepens, in episode two of our playthrough of Harley Stroh's "Doom of the Savage Kings" for Dungeon Crawl Classics.

The Hound of the Baskervilles meets Beowulf meets a group of big dumb nerds, as we delve into Harley Stroh's classic level 1 adventure for Dungeon Crawl Classics, "Doom of the Savage Kings".

Join us as we go everywhere except the safety of the village, and gasp as we bungle our way incorrectly through the DCC "recover the body" rules (spoiler alert - there will be casualties).

Our hopeless band of peasants continue to press their luck in "The Hole in the Sky". It's episode 13. What can go wrong?

The swift and unexpected finale of our playthrough of Goodman Games' classic murder dungeon "Crypt of the Devil Lich" for Dungeon Crawl Classics.

Having survived the first chamber, our valiant party ventures even deeper into the Crypt of the Devil Lich. Spinning rooms, pressure plates, confused ghosts, and more traps than you could shake a ten foot pole at. We continue our second of three playthroughs (spoiler alert) of Goodman Games' classic murder dungeon for Dungeon Crawl Classics.

We recklessly plunge into Goodman Games' notorious murder dungeon, "Crypt of the Devil Lich" with little to no preparation. The inevitable ensues. Part one of three. Our GM was battling the effects of Canadian wildfire smoke, so apologies for the occasional hoarseness and lozenge sucking.

Finally the finale of the grand finale. Unedited, so apologies in advance for dead air, mumbles, tangents and cusses.

Befitting the trend of splitting all series finales in two (and not at all due to lack of time to do any editing), and making the audience wait an unduly long time for those parts, we present the first part of the final installment of our playthrough of "Court of Blades". It's probably worth the wait.

The gang continues their task of destroying the good name of another house via the weapon of theatre, but not before discussing how to once and for all rid themselves of a particularly bothersome thorn in their side, as we continue our playthrough of a Couple of Drakes' "Court of Blades".

Our sporadic games of Dungeon World continue, as our druid, thief and barbarian tackle a shimmering mage's tower in the middle of a forest. Trampolining, rapping, Cronenberg-esque body horror? This episode has everything. But definitely not an owlbear. Apologies in advance for some choppy audio here and there.

Sixteen foolish peasants who foolishly believe they were born for greater things, foolishly take the word of a mysterious woman in blue that if they foolishly step off a cliff onto an invisible bridge and go to a prison in a hole in the sky, and foolishly fight a titan, then all of their wishes will come true.  The foolish peasants foolishly do so.  The fools!

Given that two of our favorite games of the last year were Greg Stolze's "Dueling Fops of Vindamere" and John Harper's "Blades in the Dark", how could we resist a beast such as Shawn & Navi Drake's "Court of Blades" - a game of scheming nobles, court magicians, and dashing duelists, set in the fantasy Renaissance-era (or as Jenni calls it "Opera") city-state of Ilrien.  Rob gives us an overview of the game, and leads us through house and character creation - all in just under an hour - in our session zero of "Court of Blades"

https://acoupleofdrakes.itch.io/court-of-blades

The magi of Tagalyn and their rescue party arrive at the plague-stricken covenant of Ad Vis Per Veritas, but do not receive the welcome they were expecting, as we continue our learn-to-play playthrough of the classic Ars Magica adventure "Black Death".

https://www.atlas-games.com/product_tables/AG0205
https://www.atlas-games.com/product_tables/AG0813

A lonely stone cottage in a clearing in the woods.  Some overly aggressive birds with some very unpleasant egg-laying habits.  A marvelous monster, and a heinous magical trap.  All in under an hour.  What more could you ask for?

The magi of Tagalyn reach the outskirts of Whitchurch, in our playthrough of Thomas Kane's classic "Black Death" for Ars Magica.

https://atlas-games.com/arsmagica

The magi of Tagalyn heed the call & come to the aid of their plague-ravaged sisters and brothers, only to find much darker forces at play, in our playthrough of Thomas Kane's classic "Black Death" for Ars Magica.

https://atlas-games.com/arsmagica

Possibly setting a new world record for terrible cat puns, we set out to rescue our humans from very strange events at the River City Library in Magical Kitties Save The Day from Atlas Games.

https://www.atlas-games.com/magicalkitties

"You're more like the Thom Yorke of the 13th Century"

In this episode we demystify, hopefully, character creation in Ars Magica 5th Edition as we create two companions from scratch.  We also discuss our upcoming adventure and Ars Magica in general.

https://www.atlas-games.com/arsmagica/

"Marius would feel a lot better if we didn't burn down a cathedral"

Our long-awaited (by us anyway) return to Mythic Europe.  Marvel at our grasp of history, geography, language, and rules, as we track down some very dubious spell scrolls in 13th Century Ireland in "The Cathedral and the Bizarre" for Atlas Games' Ars Magic Fifth Edition.

https://www.atlas-games.com/arsmagica/

"You know how ducks are once they get the scent of flesh"

The thrilling conclusion of our playthrough of Dungeon Crawl Classics' 2022 Free RPG Day funnel by Michael Curtis.

http://www.goodmangames.com

"If anything this is too much of a plan!"

Our thief and druid cross paths with a menacing mage and his heavily-armed entourage, a wood elf, and delve into an ancient mound beneath a mysterious circle of standing stones, in our third how-to playthrough and review of Dungeon  World.

https://dungeon-world.com/

"The skull mask probably will kill only one person"
Fifteen intrepid peasants and their livestock climb aboard a giant space jellyfish in episode one of our playthrough of Dungeon Crawl Classics' 2022 Free RPG Day funnel.
http://www.goodmangames.com

"Oh boy, is it going to give you a tongue lashing!"

Having escaped the perilous underground temple by the skin of their teeth, our thief and druid stumble upon a wandering immolator and barbarian, join forces, and head right back in again.  I mean, what could go wrong?  Our second how-to playthrough and review of Dungeon World.
https://dungeon-world.com/

A mere nine months on from where we left off, the survivors of our hopelessly ill-equipped band of peasants - along with some new friends they make along the way - bring it to the Chaos Lord and his hordes of beastmen atop his cursed ziggurat, in the classic DCC funnel module "Sailors On The Starless Sea". 

NOTE:  We had some audio issues during the first 20 minutes or so of this episode.  Sorry!

https://goodman-games.com/store/product/dungeon-crawl-classics-67-sailors-on-the-starless-sea-2/

You discern no reality.  But reality discerns you!
This week we tackle Dungeon World, where we go through character creation, a rules explanation, an introductory scenario, and a review in under 60 minutes, because we're awesome!  And Dungeon World is pretty good too!
https://dungeon-world.com/

House Verditius arrives on Arrakis to a rather perilous welcome, as our how-to-play playthrough of Modiphius's "Dune - the Roleplaying Game" continues.

https://www.modiphius.net/pages/discover-dune-roleplaying-game

Strap on your stillsuits and hop aboard a heighliner to Arrakis, as Rob leads us through our session zero of Modiphius' Dune - the Roleplaying Game.  We go through an overview of the rules, step by step character creation, adventure hooks and a whole host of rabbit holes.  We make understanding Dune so easy that even we could play it.

https://www.modiphius.net/pages/discover-dune-roleplaying-game

Just in time for Valentine's Day.  Love, lust and jealousy are in the air.  Faces will be slapped, sabres rattled, honors restored & ruined, accusations levied & refuted, and erotic machinations afoot, as we pull up our tights, fix our powdered wigs & play Greg Stolze's GM'less TTRPG "Dueling Fops of Vindamere" from Crankshaft Constellation.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/368925/Dueling-Fops-of-Vindamere

"Greg Four has seen beyond the veil!"

Stay proomed, clones as we attempt to clear Alpha Complex of its irritable blockage for Friend Computer, as our very first learning game of Mongoose Publishing's "PARANOIA" reaches its sticky, sweet-scented conclusion. 

https://www.mongoosepublishing.com/us/rpgs/paranoia.html?___store=us&___from_store=uk
Additional music "Full of Energy" by code_box used under Creative Commons license  CC0 1.0 Universal(CC0 1.0)

"Get out there, tiger!  You're gonna do fine!"

This is no time to idle gluttonously at the Waffle Squarf!  Proom your clones and join us as we attempt to save Alpha Complex for Friend Computer, or die again and again and again and again and again and again and again trying, in our very first learning game of Mongoose Publishing's slightly mad "PARANOIA".  So take off your U.B.T Hypersense Device, curl up with your K@ Companion Bot as the Thankless Roll Players die and die again for your edification and delight.

https://www.mongoosepublishing.com/us/rpgs/paranoia.html?___store=us&___from_store=uk

"A lot of people died for us to get our hands on this."
"Sure, if you want to be ghastly about it."

Our playthrough of John Harper's "Blades in the Dark" reaches its dramatic conclusion (for now). 

https://www.evilhat.com/home/blades-in-the-dark/

"Another week of skulking and surveying?!  I need to blow something up!"

Our first episode of 2022 finds us laying a carefully-planned ambush in the mist-shrouded streets of Doskval, as we continue our playthrough of John Harper's "Blades in the Dark".  With a plan this detailed and well-thought-out what can possibly go wrong?

https://www.evilhat.com/home/blades-in-the-dark/

"Well...it's insane, but it's wildly theatrical, so I'm on board"

Our playthrough of John Harper's "Blades in the Dark" continues into our final episode of 2021.  With a problematic old friend of Gunn's hot on their tail, the Sun Chasers struggle to come up with an exit plan from the revolting predicament in which they have found themselves.

https://www.evilhat.com/home/blades-in-the-dark/