Episode 202: While We’re On the Surface of the Freezing Sun
August 5th, 2016 | Robin
Another all-Patreon backer request episode kicks off in the Gaming Hut as Tom Abella asks what Brexit will do to spycraft in our world and that of Night’s Black Agents.
In The Business of Gaming Wesley Marshal asks about the ethics of working on an IP you don’t care for.
Karl Schmidt wants the Consulting Occultist to spill the astrological and alchemical beans on Rudolf II of the Holy Roman Empire.
Then finally it’s time for another installment of Tell Me More, in which Ken and/or Robin expand their Ken and Robin Consume Media thoughts about Occupied, The Vampire Countess, and The Neon Demon.
Get trapped in Lovecraft’s story “The Call of Cthulhu” in Atlas Games’ addictive new card game Lost in R’lyeh. Take a selfie with your purchased copy of the game at your brick and mortar game retailer and send it to Atlas to claim your special Ken and Robin promo card. 
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter can now sink their fangs into the general release of the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. 
You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish. 
Attention, operatives of Delta Green, the ultra-covert agency charged with battling the contemporary forces of the Cthulhu Mythos! Now everything you need to know to play Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, perhaps extending your valiantly short field life, can be found in the Delta Green Agent’s Handbook. 
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Occupation sure sounds like some right-wing nonsense, but Erik Skjoldbjærg did direct the original Norwegian version of Insomnia (which is superior in some ways to Christopher Nolan’s remake). I suppose perhaps I can give it some sort of benefit of the doubt until I’ve had a chance to check it out.
Oops! Occupied, not Occupation.
In my experience, the entertaining possibility with games writers and licensed properties isn’t so much that they’ll hate the whole thing as that they’ll love (or at least like) it … all except for that one episode/novel/plotline which they’d rather not think about. Usually, they’ll be lucky and most other fans will agree with them about it — but it’s still canon and must be addressed.
Quite often, it really does violate the mood or core assumptions of the setting, in fact; certainly, the game writer may feel it does. The delicate but energetic dance around the subject, involving the search for polite euphemisms for “ghastly aberration”, “horrible mistake”, or “period when the original creator clearly went insane”, is a real test of the adapter’s skills.