Welcome to the first episode of a new series on the Around the Hearth podcast feed: Known Territory: GMs Talk Games. Each episode we sit down with an experienced game facilitator who has played a specific TTRPG extensively. They will discuss how they pitch the game, best practices for running, useful tools, potential pitfalls, and more. We hope this will be a useful primer for both GMs and players interested in this game.

For this first episode we have on Jim Crocker to discuss Band of Blades, Evil Hat's military fantasy Forged in the Dark TTRPG. Jim's run complete campaigns of this striking and complex story game of military survival and horror.

Jim on itch.io

Games Mentioned
Band of Blades
Band of Blades on Roll20
Blades in the Dark
The Watch
Night Witches

If you dig this series, please rate, review, and subscribe.

This episode's host is Lowell Francis, designer and co-author of Hearts of Wulin. He's the ENnie-winning creator of the Age of Ravens blog and community manager for the Open Hearth Gaming Community. He's the co-author of the Transverse Noir series of Shadowrun novellas. You can find Lowell's work on YouTube, on Itch.io, and on DriveThruRPG.

Help Rae Recover Links

Support or donate at https://patreon.com/swordqueengames or https://ko-fi.com/matthewarcilla

Music: ‘Mission Control’ by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio

Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
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Roll for Origin: Supers TTRPG History looks at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness, one of the earliest and most successful licensed supers games, kicking around for many more years than any competitors. We talk about the game's mechanics, how it conveys the pitch, and the unique approach to splitting combat and skills. We then cover the publication history of the line and how it helped cement Palladium's role in the TTRPG industry. We talk a little about the Turtles themselves and how important this game is to the history of the TMNT licensing behemoth. We finish up by giving our general thoughts about TMNT and the recent Kickstarter reprint.

If you dig this series, please rate, review, and subscribe.

Jay's the author of By Aecer’s Light, The Clockwinders for Fate, Cortex Prime's Supers, and a contributing author on Pathfinder’s Mwangi Expanse, Trophy Gold, Hit the Streets: Defend the Block, and the upcoming Lifted: Indomitable RPG, a supers game about everyday folks with extraordinary powers in a tech-aggressive world.

Check out Mad Jay's work at Play.Fearless and at the Diceology Podcast.

Lowell is the designer and co-author of Hearts of Wulin. He's the ENnie-winning creator of the Age of Ravens blog and community manager for the Open Hearth Gaming Community. He's the co-author of the Transverse Noir series of Shadowrun novellas.

You can find Lowell's work on YouTube, on Itch.io, and on DriveThruRPG.

Help Rae Recover Links

Support or donate at https://patreon.com/swordqueengames or https://ko-fi.com/matthewarcilla

Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @openhearthrpg@dice.camp

00:00 Intro
01:36 Pitch and Mechanics
07:22 Publication History
17:33 Media History
21:39 Thoughts

Love, lust, friendship, strong attachment-- the emotional beats which support drama and play. In this community talk, we consider romance in TTRPGs: running it, playing it, planning it. Drawing on experiences we explore break ups, cool mechanics, the line between system and play, objects of affection, good romance GM moves, and more. This is part of our Open Hearth series of community RPG talks.

Selected Links
Eyes on the Prize
Girl by Moonlight
Thirsty Sword Lesbians
Apocalypse Keys
Star Crossed
Good Society
Masks
Urban Shadows
Pasión de las Pasiones
Escape from Dino Island
Apocalypse World 3e
Hearts of Wulin
DIE Rpg
Image mentioned during talk

Help Rae Recover Links

Support or donate at https://patreon.com/swordqueengames or https://ko-fi.com/matthewarcilla

Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @openhearthrpg@dice.camp

Ian, José, and special guest Elle discuss the inner worlds of our characters and of ourselves! How do we as players express interiority and why would we want to, anyways. Along the way, there are guilty confessions, moments of uncertainty, and unexpected plot twists.

Elle’s work: https://bloodygorgeous.carrd.co/

Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Our website
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @openhearthrpg@dice.camp

Our info:
Email: adifferenthex@gmail.com
Music: https://lloydeaves.bandcamp.com/album/a-different-kind-of-hex

Help Rae Recover Links

Support or donate at https://patreon.com/swordqueengames or https://ko-fi.com/matthewarcilla

0:02:16 - Pick Your Poison
0:16:05 - What is Interiority?
0:25:50 - Why do it?
0:28:01 - Plot twists & interiority
0:33:20 - José’s guilty confession
0:38:05 - Can opaqueness be good?
0:54:52 - How to show interiority
1:07:21 - Encouraging it in other players
1:18:00 - Pearl of Wisdom
1:21:01 - Outro

In our seventh episode of Roll for Mutation, we look at a game series originally from a Spanish publisher, translated and released in English by Fantasy Flight. We talk about mechanics, how each book is structured, and the presentation of "mid-" and "post-" apocalypse. We then talk about cross-company publication history and Fantasy Flight's swingy history with TTRPGs. Lastly we talk about some media touchstones, the five scenarios in each book, and our thoughts and impressions of this line-- including our favorite concepts.

References
Edge Entertainment
Edge Studio (where the FF RPGs went)
The End of the World: Alien Invasion
The End of the World: Revolt of the Machines
The End of the World: Wrath of the Gods
The End of the World: Zombie Apocalypse
Our Last Best Hope

Help Rae Recover Links

Support or donate at https://patreon.com/swordqueengames or https://ko-fi.com/matthewarcilla

For other shows like this, check out Roll for Origin: Supers TTRPG History.

Marc Majcher is an award-winning game designer, performer, educator, director, woodworker, writer, and all-around goblin-man recently relocated from Austin, Texas to East Lansing, Michigan. You can find their RPGs and LARPs inspired by the works of Philip K. Dick, a bird apocalypse, eldritch startup cults, viral videos, and much, much more at https://majcher.itch.io/ and everything else at https://majcher.com/.

Lowell Francis is the designer and co-author of Hearts of Wulin. He's the ENnie-winning creator of the Age of Ravens blog and community manager for the Open Hearth Gaming Community.

You can find Lowell's work on YouTube, on Itch.io, and on DriveThruRPG.

Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @openhearthrpg@dice.camp

Music: Here Comes the Night Karl Casey @White Bat Audio

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:09 Premise and Mechanics
07:55 Publication History
13:19 Media Sources
17:20 Apocalyptic Scenarios
24:19 Thoughts and Impressions

In this episode of the Open Hearth Podcast, Lowell (edige23) talks with a pair of community members about their gaming. This time Chrys Sellers (Defy the Gods) and Jolene discuss things they recently played, cover three RPGs in more depth (Raccoon Sky Pirates, the Masks hack Capers, Star Wars Citizen for Mongoose Traveller 2e), Lowell worries about complexity, and then the group finishes up with some things they've been digging recently.

Links:
RSP Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hecticelectron/raccoon-sky-pirates-total-chaos-edition

Chrys Central: https://hecticelectron.com

Itch: https://hecticelectron.itch.io/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hecticelectron.bsky.social

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hecticelectron/

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/hecticelectron

Stag Dance: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/708446/stag-dance-by-torrey-peters/
Capers (Masks Hack): https://www.reddit.com/r/PBtA/comments/due766/masksvillainous_hack_capers_improved_pdf_files/?rdt=45538

War Rocket Ajax: https://zencastr.com/War-Rocket-Ajax
Star Wars Citizen (Traveller hack): https://www.reddit.com/r/traveller/comments/1ezh01l/beta_release_full_conversion_guide_for_star_wars/

Help Rae Recover Links

Support or donate at https://patreon.com/swordqueengames or https://ko-fi.com/matthewarcilla

Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @openhearthrpg@dice.camp

00:00 Introduction
01:50 Chrys & Raccoon Sky Pirates
11:05 Jolene & Capers (Masks)
24:52 Lowell & Star Wars Citizen (Traveller)
36:30 Giving Me Life

Powered by the Apocalypse games still remain a strong force in the indie TTRPG space and heavily represented here on the Open Hearth. For this talk we're going to consider where PbtA has been, where it is now, and where it could go. We'll talk broadly about PbtA as a system and specifically about folks' experience with different PbtA iterations. Lowell has ideas, and he'll be leading this discussion group– relying mostly on the participation of folks who join us and desperately filling dead air in between points. This is part of our Open Hearth series of community RPG talks.

Selected Links
Ryne
Stonetop
Rapscallion
Masks
Urban Shadows
Pasión de las Pasiones
Vale of the Failed and the Fallen
Escape from Dino Island
Apocalypse World 3e
Under Hollow Hills
Armour Astir: Advent
Hearts of Wulin
The Cluster

Help Rae Recover Links

Support or donate at https://patreon.com/swordqueengames or https://ko-fi.com/matthewarcilla

Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @openhearthrpg@dice.camp