Posts Tagged ‘Crime Blotter’
Episode 532: In Which Ken Is Shot
January 27th, 2023 | Robin
In the Gaming Hut we remember our friend and colleague Darren Watts, prolific Champions designer and former head of Hero Games.
The Crime Blotter comes a little too close to home for comfort as Ken tells the story of his recent shooting.
We kick off a new series in the Cinema Hut, Science Fiction Cinema Essentials. Due to the porousness of the genre we train our radium oscilloscopes on some definitions and ground rules before getting started with earliest examples.
Finally another undead bloodsucker sneaks into the Eliptony Hut, this time of the relatively recent urban legend variety, as we profile the Richmond Vampire.
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.
Rejoice, fans of Atlas Games and Ken and Robin. Atlas Games is running its most Ken and Robiny promotion ever. Atlas publishes books from both of us and for a limited time only you can get 20% off those books with the promo code KENANDROBIN23 at the Atlas Games store: https://atlas-games.com/product_tables/.
Track down foul sorcerers in a corrupt city, clamber through underground ruins and investigate the intrigues of your decadent rivals in Swords of the Serpentine, the GUMSHOE game of swords, sorcery and mystery, now available from Pelgrane Press.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
![](https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Thunderbird_blue_border.png")
Delta Green Iconoclasts, a campaign of horrors modern and ancient, brings a team of Agents to a scene of horrors all too real: Mosul in 2016, held by the self-styled Islamic State in a reign of depraved brutality. From a small base at the Kirkuk airfield, the Agents must research the horrors to come and prepare for a harrowing infiltration. Terrors and new supplementary material await, now in PDF, hardback now in preorder.
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Episode 505: Move Them Back to the Fun
July 15th, 2022 | Robin
The next time you’re about to design a situation where the players can’t do what they want to do, you’ll recall this week’s Gaming Hut segment and think, “How do I let them do that without wrecking everything?”
The Crime Blotter investigates a string of rhino horn thefts attributed to the Dead Zoo Gang.
In Ripped from the Headlines, beloved Patreon backer Craig Maloney seeks the arcane secrets of Tik Tok tics.
In a previous installment of Ken’s Time Machine, while fixing the Greek War of Independence, our hero preserved the life of Lord Byron. Now he tells us about the horror novel that resulted from this previous intervention.
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.
Get ready to solve your Christmas present problems early as Atlas Games brings the kid-friendly social deduction game Weird Little Elf to Kickstarter, until August 11th.
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021. 
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Delta Green Iconoclasts, a campaign of horrors modern and ancient, brings a team of Agents to a scene of horrors all too real: Mosul in 2016, held by the self-styled Islamic State in a reign of depraved brutality. From a small base at the Kirkuk airfield, the Agents must research the horrors to come and prepare for a harrowing infiltration. Terrors and new supplementary material await, now in PDF, hardback now in preorder.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 502: Aramaic Mutterer Whisperer
June 24th, 2022 | Robin
Surprisingly often, mysteries in other genres show clues landing in the detective’s lap. The Gaming Hut asks how to do this at the roleplaying table without leaving players feeling that they’re being led through the scenario.
In our first combo segment of the episode, we find the Crime Blotter in the Architecture Hut, as beloved Patreon backer Joshua Randall asks how the torso murders connect to the developers of his Cleveland neighborhood, Shaker Heights.
Ripped From the Headlines mines the scenario potential of the latest anti-vaxxer craze, creeping through cemeteries looking for Bluetooth signals.
Finally at the behest of tart and tannic backers Fridrik Bjarnason and Tim Vert, the Consulting Occultist joins us in the Food Hut to survey the esoteric side of wine.
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.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Delta Green Iconoclasts, a campaign of horrors modern and ancient, brings a team of Agents to a scene of horrors all too real: Mosul in 2016, held by the self-styled Islamic State in a reign of depraved brutality. From a small base at the Kirkuk airfield, the Agents must research the horrors to come and prepare for a harrowing infiltration. Terrors and new supplementary material await, now in PDF, hardback now in preorder.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 482: I Never Really Got Rid of Her
February 4th, 2022 | Robin
The launch pad has been positioned uncomfortable close to the Gaming Hut, as beloved Patreon backer Neil Barnes seeks ways to center a game around the Soviet Space Program.
The Crime Blotter has to wait a little while longer for that immersion blender as we look at the recent media flap over package thefts from Union Pacific’s Los Angeles railyard.
Our Mythos Hut series wraps up as we outline a gaming scenario to feature our newly spawned deity, Qotha-Nhur’rin, the Destruction at the Heart of Creation.
Finally estimable Patreon backer Robert Wolfe asks the Consulting Occultist about Mary Poppins creator P. L. Travers and her association with mystical philosopher George Gurdjieff.
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.
Human problems are out of hand, so thank goodness, and Atlas Games, for Magical Kitties Save the Day, a fresh, fun roleplaying game for players of all ages, and for GMs from age 6 and up!
Score a blood-drenched special bonus from Pelgrane Press when you order the print edition Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook or any of its associated bundles. A new 50-page Cuttings PDF of deleted scenes and horrors that didn’t fit is now available for a limited time with the voucher code VAMP2021.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Delta Green: Black Sites collects terrifying Delta Green operations previously published only in PDF or in standalone paperback modules. They lock bystanders and Agents alike in unlit rooms with the cosmic terrors of the unnatural. A 208 page hardback by masters of top secret mythos horror Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Caleb Stokes.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 471: They Called Him Johnny Polymorph
November 12th, 2021 | Robin
Our Gaming Hut series on the axes of tabletop RPG design concludes, we think and hope, with an opposition separately suggested by beloved Patreon backers Nicola Wilson and Lauberfen: Randomness vs. Choice.
Crime Blotter goes old-timey with a profile of con artists Tim Oakes and Larry Summerfield, inventors of the wire game.
The Monster Hut delves deep into the World of Below to find the Peruvian mining goblin known as the muki.
Finally Conspiracy Corner takes us to Elbert County, GA, for the expensively manufactured mystery of the Georgia Guidestones.
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.
Dig out your plastic T-Rexes and get them ready to stomp and chomp on your players’ character miniatures as our pals at Atlas Games announce the Kickstarter for Planegea, their dino-filled 5E setting of prehistoric fantasy adventure.
Uncover the secrets that teem beneath the surface of your happy home, with Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous, now on Kickstarter from Pelgrane Press. Explore food, consumption, and the extraordinary ordinary with this an anthology of American freeform live action horror roleplaying games by game designer Banana Chan and designer and illustrator Sadia Bies.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 455: Ambush Us With Ghosts
July 23rd, 2021 | Robin
The Gaming Hut hits the streets, many of them, for a look at designing scenarios to introduce a city.
We find the Crime Blotter is covered in ancient leather and animal glue, our cue to find the gaming in the fake Biblical scrolls purchased by the Museum of the Bible.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Louis Sylvester asks for a rundown of generational issues found in fiction and movies.
Then numerology takes on a TikTok twist as the Consulting Occultist examines Grabovoi numbers.
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.
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 444: Axe Democracy
May 7th, 2021 | Robin
Prepare to reverse polarity as the Gaming Hut looks at scenarios that revolve around science mysteries.
Beloved Patreon backer Tennant Reed asks us to unfurl the Crime Blotter for the story of penal colony escapee and confessed cannibal Alexander Pearce.
In Ask Ken and Robin, estimable Patreon backer Kaijuthulu seeks tips on running a Mutant City Blues game with hardboiled 30s private eyes.
Finally in a thrilling Food Hut / Ken’s Time Machine crossover event, perspicacious Patreon backer Martin Rundkvist assigns Ken to change American condiment history.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Bears need hairstyles! Lumberjacks need beards! Be friends to both in Yukon Salon, a quick, humorous, family card game in a tin, from our snow-dappled pals at Atlas Games. Take Your Place at the Frontier of Style !
A murderous mystery lies beneath the gladiatorial arenas in the majestic, dragon-patrolled city of Axis. Only your first level 13th Age characters can confront it, in Crown of Axis, by Wade Rockett, now available at the Pelgrane Press shop.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 436: Needs to Have a Lith
March 12th, 2021 | Robin
In the Gaming Hut we parse the differences between crunch and simulation, as we examine the yen for complexity and the various related but separate impulses behind it.
At the behest of beloved Patreon backers Will Ferguson and Felicity Pyatt, the Crime Blotter heads to 1827 Suffolk to open the case files of the notorious Red Barn Murder.
The 80s keep on coming as our Cinema Hut Horror Essentials series gets burned in a furnace room and goes on a dreamscape rampage of wisecracking vengeance.
Finally, at the behest of estimable Patreon backers Tennant Reed, plus Tim Maness and Jean Bauer, and frankly everyone else too, the Eliptony Hut finally tackles the 2020 monolith outbreak.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Return to your favored doomed manor for Gloomier: A Night at Hemlock Hall, now Kickstarting from your mordant pals at Atlas Games. More Guests! More Stories! Compatible with all Gloom games. Stir yourself from your fainting couch and grab it today!
The second edition of Mutant City Blues, by Robin D. Laws, and now with added Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, is now in print from Pelgrane Press. Grab your Quade Diagrams and solve the crimes of a near future where one per cent of the population wields super powers. Use the voucher code DIAGRAM2020 to get 15% off at the Pelgrane Store.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Fear Is a Fractal …and your world is a lie. A horror freed from an antique book reverberates through reality. But don’t despair. There is hope. A King waits for us. And Impossible Landscapes, the first campaign for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game waits for you. In PDF now, hardback in May. Hailed as “one of the best RPG campaigns ever made” and “a masterpiece of surreal horror!”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 423: The Mysterious G
November 27th, 2020 | Robin
In the Gaming Hut, Lisa Steele and Neil Fortier ask how to adjust Robin’s police procedural superhero game, Mutant City Blues, in the wake of the George Floyd murder.
George III’s topographical collection has gone online, prompting a Cartography Hut focused on one of its treasures—a very RPG-looking map of the fort and barracks at Mount Pleasant, Maryland.
Beloved Patreon backer Jesse Lowe calls for a Culture Hut field trip to the Maryhill Museum, founded by Queen Marie of Romania and Yellow King Roleplaying Game historical figure Loie Fuller.
Finally in a crossover between the Crime Blotter and Eliptony Hut we examine the case of Ira Einhorn, the paranormalist 60s scenester later known as the Unicorn Killer.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
The second edition of Mutant City Blues, by Robin D. Laws, and now with added Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, is now in print from Pelgrane Press. Grab your Quade Diagrams and solve the crimes of a near future where one per cent of the population wields super powers. Use the voucher code DIAGRAM2020 to get 15% off at the Pelgrane Store.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 419: Five Hour Haste
October 30th, 2020 | Robin
We risk mixing up our aromatics with our alembics as beloved Patreon backer Jason Gorkisch enters the Gaming Hut to ask which ingredients and cooking styles make the best basis for magic.
Peter McAveney calls upon the Crime Blotter for the scoop on the Potosi Mint Fraud.
Ironically, among many other things, it has indeed become rain on your wedding day. We sashay into the Word Hut to tell you what irony is.
Finally the Consulting Occultist goes literary as Thomas Casey seeks info on the supernatural leanings of Portuguese modernist writer Fernando Pessoa.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Fans of Robin’s action movie roleplaying game, Feng Shui 2, can now have more gun fu, martial arts and sorcery in their lives as the Feng Shui 2 subscription series blasts its way into your mail slot. Score free PDFs, early access to new adventures, and 10% off cover price by joining Atlas Games’ band of scrappy underdogs today.
It’s hard to believe that British Intelligence would make this mistake yet again, but all the secrets of their vampire dalliances have returned to the Bundle of Holding. Score the entire Dracula Dossier line, from Ken and Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan line for a terrifyingly low price!
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Suit up, agents of Delta Green. Your battle to save humanity from unnatural horrors is going beyond the Beltway. Delta Green: The Labyrinth is now shipping to a secure dead drop near you. Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations dives deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
