Posts Tagged ‘Consulting Occultist’
Episode 643: Not Even Enough Gnomes
April 4th, 2025 | Robin
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Sikander asks us to tackle a scenario where the PCs have to figure out whether their boss’ secrecy is sinister or mundanely selfish.
The Crime Blotter reviews the case of Barbara “Golden Boos” Erni, the 18th century thief who robbed Swiss inns aided by her prodigious strength and mysterious trunk.
Ripped from the Headlines finds the mythic truth behind the shooting of a white stag in Merseyside.
Finally the Consulting Occultist reveals the career of Albin Grau, ritual magician and production designer for the 1922 Nosferatu.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Stop gazing lovingly at that seed catalogue and start pre-ordering Vicious Gardens from Atlas Games. This contemporary, distinctive, choice driven card game combines the joy of gardening with the thrill of being a total jerk. Strategically cultivate your garden, harvest plants, and sabotage others in a cut-throat competition.
Fear Itself, Pelgrane Press’ groundbreaking GUMSHOE game of personal and psychological horror, has returned from the swirling torment of the Outer Dark in a hauntingly beautiful premium hardcover format. With The Shattered Veil Edition, stunningly beautiful full-color artwork brings fresh terror to your table. Grab it alongside the highly anticipated Ocean Game expansion in its current Gamefound campaign.
Brace for more Delta Green Mythos horror with Dead Drops, Arc Dream’s latest bone-chilling anthology of black bag scenarios. From a secret Missouri church to a frozen Alabama town, the top secret terrors keep on unfolding. Acquire the 288 page full color hardback from the Arc Dream store, or purchase, download, rate and review the PDF at DriveThru.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 639: This Appendix Should Not Have Been Printed
March 7th, 2025 | Robin
In the Gaming Hut we look at optional rules. What does it mean to designate a rule as optional, and what rules are we likely to put in that bucket?
The History Hut profiles 19th century utopian sect leader Barthélemy-Prosper Enfantin, who advocated for free love and the Suez Canal.
Prompted from a question by beloved Patreon backer Ross Ireland, How to Write Good reveals the software tools and online resources we use in our work.
Finally, at the behest of estimable Patreon backer Steve Dempsey, the Consulting Occultist fulfills its Canadian content requirements with a look at William Lyon Mackenzie King, who served for a total of 21 years as Prime Minister while secretly engaged in spiritualist inquiry.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Gaming Hut
2nd segment
3rd segment
4th segment
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
The sorrowful solo gamebook Unhappy Birthday at Castle Slogar now dolefully awaits you from the frightening folks of Atlas Games. Packed with maps, riddles and dire dilemmas, it is sure to lure you to a delightfully solitary spiral of gloom!
A global mythos conspiracy ensnares the player characters in The Borellus Connection, Pelgrane Press’ new Fall of DELTA Green mega-campaign by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and Kenneth Hite. Journey in the guise of federal narcotics agents to Saigon, Beirut, Prague and Bozukepe. Buy it for your GM and demand that she run it today!
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
A global mythos conspiracy ensnares the player characters in The Borellus Connection, Pelgrane Press’ new Fall of DELTA Green mega-campaign by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and Kenneth Hite. Journey in the guise of federal narcotics agents to Saigon, Beirut, Prague and Bozukepe. Buy it for your GM and demand that she run it today!
Brace for more Delta Green Mythos horror with Dead Drops, Arc Dream’s latest bone-chilling anthology of black bag scenarios. From a secret Missouri church to a frozen Alabama town, the top secret terrors keep on unfolding. Acquire the 288 page full color hardback from the Arc Dream store, or purchase, download, rate and review the PDF at DriveThru.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 635: His Cousin Latte Dick
February 7th, 2025 | Robin
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Tom Abella seeks tips on compiling historical reading lists to players.
We don elaborate ruffs in the Tradecraft Hut to profile Jacobean spymaster Robert Cecil.
Today we look at them as soulful giants of the sea, but to the medieval mind whales were terrifying, diabolical beasts worthy of treatment in the Monster Hut.
Finally the Consulting Occultist looks at collector and art historian Aby Warburg.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
The sorrowful solo gamebook Unhappy Birthday at Castle Slogar now dolefully awaits you from the frightening folks of Atlas Games. Packed with maps, riddles and dire dilemmas, it is sure to lure you to a delightfully solitary spiral of gloom!
A global mythos conspiracy ensnares the player characters in The Borellus Connection, Pelgrane Press’ new Fall of DELTA Green mega-campaign by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and Kenneth Hite. Journey in the guise of federal narcotics agents to Saigon, Beirut, Prague and Bozukepe. Buy it for your GM and demand that she run it today!
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
A global mythos conspiracy ensnares the player characters in The Borellus Connection, Pelgrane Press’ new Fall of DELTA Green mega-campaign by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and Kenneth Hite. Journey in the guise of federal narcotics agents to Saigon, Beirut, Prague and Bozukepe. Buy it for your GM and demand that she run it today!
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 630: Live at Dragonmeet 2024
December 20th, 2024 | Robin
As is our seasonal custom, we close our year with a live episode recorded at London’s Dragonmeet. At the show’s final outing in its longtime Hammersmith Novotel venue, Ken pulls off a revolutionary nerdtrope, and we field questions on the dangers of Tarot deck accumulation, the world’s ineluctable spiral into chaos, and tricking Brussels sprouts into being delicious.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Stop gazing lovingly at that seed catalogue and start pre-ordering Vicious Gardens from Atlas Games. This contemporary, distinctive, choice driven card game combines the joy of gardening with the thrill of being a total jerk. Strategically cultivate your garden, harvest plants, and sabotage others in a cut-throat competition.
A global mythos conspiracy ensnares the player characters in The Borellus Connection, Pelgrane Press’ new Fall of DELTA Green mega-campaign by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and Kenneth Hite. Journey in the guise of federal narcotics agents to Saigon, Beirut, Prague and Bozukepe. Buy it for your GM and demand that she run it today!
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 629: Laugh With You Near Them
December 13th, 2024 | Robin
Make sure your ropes are securely fastened as the Gaming Hut asks: have we been doing falling damage wrong?
In Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else, we talk to tabletop game designer of DIE: the Roleplaying Game fame (and sure, comics writer extraordinaire) Kieron Gillen.
The Mythology Hut gets festive for an encounter with the krampus, demonic dispenser of jolly Yuletide punishment.
Finally the Consulting Occultist raps tables and psychically excites the zither for a look at Victorian spiritualist William Stainton Moses.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Stop gazing lovingly at that seed catalogue and start pre-ordering Vicious Gardens from Atlas Games. This contemporary, distinctive, choice driven card game combines the joy of gardening with the thrill of being a total jerk. Strategically cultivate your garden, harvest plants, and sabotage others in a cut-throat competition.
A global mythos conspiracy ensnares the player characters in The Borellus Connection, Pelgrane Press’ new Fall of DELTA Green mega-campaign by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and Kenneth Hite. Journey in the guise of federal narcotics agents to Saigon, Beirut, Prague and Bozukepe. Buy it for your GM and demand that she run it today!
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 626: She Did Say Independent
November 22nd, 2024 | Robin
Get ready for more detail on the shag carpet than ever before as the Gaming Hut looks at the love some players have for non-interactive narration of their environment.
The Crime Blotter investigates the 60s heroin trade and how it forms the linchpin of The Borellus Connection.
At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Gene Ha, the Cinema Hut wonders what can be done with the increasingly tangled continuity of the MCU.
And finally the Consulting Occultist profiles influential 19th century proto-feminist spiritualist Anna Kingsford.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
A global mythos conspiracy ensnares the player characters in The Borellus Connection, Pelgrane Press’ new Fall of DELTA Green mega-campaign by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and Kenneth Hite. Journey in the guise of federal narcotics agents to Saigon, Beirut, Prague and Bozukepe. Buy it for your GM and demand that she run it today!
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 622: In the Interest of Asking a Question
October 25th, 2024 | Robin
In the Gaming Hut we discuss the challenge of revised edition design. When you encounter an element you wouldn’t build into a new system, how do you decide whether to replace it, or to respect the legacy and leave it in?
The Horror Hut gets reflective as beloved Patreon backer Bart Mallio asks for a terrifying look at mirrors.
A new spinoff podcast threatens to break out when Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else features a chat with board gam designer Quinn Brander, designer of Rebuilding Seattle and the upcoming Rebuilding Chicago.
Finally the Consulting Occultist surveys the works of early astrologer Gan De, who catalogued the stars during China’s Warring States period.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
That cult would never die, till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to announce Trail of Cthulhu Second Edition, coming October 1st on Backerkit. Get ready to alert your friends and anyone else you’d be willing to climb into a ghoul pit with.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 619: The Zeppo of the Golden Dawn
October 4th, 2024 | Robin
In the Gaming Hut we build an F20 setting where everyone knows your level.
At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Derrick Yates the Tradecraft Hut profiles baseball player and spy Moe Berg.
In the Food Hut we decide what to order for lunch at the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel in 1933.
Finally the Consulting Occultist delves into the career of coroner and Golden Dawn co-founder William Wynn Westcott.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
That cult would never die, till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to announce Trail of Cthulhu Second Edition, coming October 1st on Backerkit. Get ready to alert your friends and anyone else you’d be willing to climb into a ghoul pit with.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 615: Ranger Problems
September 6th, 2024 | Robin
In the Gaming Hut we look at ways to tell whether your group will thrive in a sandbox game.
Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else features our chat with fast-rising board game designer Clarence Simpson, whose credits include The Wolves, A Message from the Stars, Chomp, and Merchants of Magick.
Part two of our Horror Hut look at reality horror, as spurred by beloved backer Greg, tackles scenario design for this mind-tripping sub-genre.
Finally the Consulting Occultist cracks the code on pioneering steganographer Johannes Trithemius.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
That cult would never die, till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to announce Trail of Cthulhu Second Edition, coming October 1st on Backerkit. Get ready to alert your friends and anyone else you’d be willing to climb into a ghoul pit with.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 611: Terrible Ideas Deflation
August 9th, 2024 | Robin
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Ludovic Chabant asks us what it means when a game mechanic is swingy.
The Word Hut isn’t having any of your cockamamie ackamarackus, because we’re talking 1930s slang.
The Food Hut extrapolates what the food scene in Yellow King: Aftermath looks like. Other than the well-established craze for Belgians, that is.
Finally the Consulting Occultist lays out everything you need to know to placate a Mesopotamian ghost.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.
Reality horror just got realer with three new support products for The Yellow King Roleplaying Game: Black Star Magic, Legions of Carcosa: The Yellow King Bestiary, and Robin’s latest novel, Fifth Imperative.
Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.
Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
