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Clarice emerges from the bathroom in a half-crouch, arms

out, both hands on the gun, extended just below the level of

her unseeing eyes. She stops, listens. In her raw-nerved

darkness, every SOUND is unnaturally magnified - the HUM of

the refrigerator... the TRICKLE of water... her own terrified

BREATHING, and Catherine's faraway, echoing SOBS... Moths

smack against her face and arms. She eases forward, then

stops again, listens... She eases forward again, following

her gun, and creeps directly in front of, and then past -

MR. GUMB

That excerpt from the script to Silence of the Lambs showcases the power of the thriller. I can remember sitting in a dark movie theater, glued to the big screen trying to will Jodie Foster’s character, Clarice Starling to turn and shoot the killer. I miss those days at the movies.

But we are not here to chat about the fall of modern cinema, no, we are here to talk about the Thriller. What it is and why you should try to incorporate elements into your roleplaying game.

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15 years ago, the TTRPG world as we new it came to an end and a new era began. The postapocalyptic era, an era powered by the apocalypse. In 2010 Apocalypse World changed everything. The new take on traditional RPGs quickly changed the landscape from crunchy numbers-based games to one that flowed with the narrative and allowed players the freedom to affect the game unlike anything we have ever seen before.

Well, they are back.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/apocalypse-world-to-get-third-edition-kickstarter-launching-soon.715124/

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lumpleygames/apocalypse-world-burned-over

Apocalypse World is releasing a 3rd edition of the game.

The newest edition doesn’t have a set release date at the time of this recording and the Kickstarter page only says coming soon.

Christina, I know you weren’t necessarily a fan of Apocalypse World, but you are a massive fan of the Powered by the Apocalypse systems. What do you think of this news? Will we see anything revolutionary in the newest edition?

[Kick to Christina]

Since Apocalypse World could be viewed as one of the big games, at least with name recognition, why are they releasing it through Kickstarter? Is every new TTRPG going to come out through Backerkit or Kickstarter in the future?

[Kick to Christina]

Next, we have a new game announcement from over at Rascal News.

https://www.rascal.news/new-release-posting-through-it-a-social-media-futures-game/

Posting Through It is a new roleplaying game from Diegetic Games. The press release describes the game as follows;

Posting Through It explores how modern public discourse has changed our experience of global disruption and redefined what it means to “win” and “lose” in an uncertain future. It’s played over a group chat platform like Discord or WhatsApp.

The game is free to download and looks like it could be very interesting for those of you obsessed with social media.

Christina, what do you think of this new game?

[Kick to Christina]

With Critical Role announcing their Campaign 4 will be a “West Marches” Style game the internet is a tizzy with descriptions of West Marches. That style of play seems to be built for social media. Bigger Question, how has social media changed the way we roleplay?

[Kick to Christina]

And there you have it, all the news you’ve already heard?

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One of the things we are passionate about at the Epic Adventure Podcast is spontaneous story telling. I have been a low prep game master for a very long time, preferring to let my players actions push the narrative and typically filling in the gaps between the sessions to make it feel like I’ve pre written an epic storyline, when in reality I’m just making it up as I go along.

Christina is the same way, playing in her games is a lesson in be careful what you ask for, because you will likely get it.

And then we have Mike, the most regimented of the three of us. He loves to spend hours pouring over the perfect game story, layers within layers and mysteries within mysteries, only to have us, the players, show up and burn it all to the ground in minutes.

Funny enough, Mike, the planner was the one to come up with the Radiance Adventure Engine.

For those of you not familiar Radiance was designed to allow you to solo roleplay any roleplaying game in existence. It is a set of cards that are based on traditional story telling methods that help you create a story for your game, then you use the rule system from your favorite ttrpg to resolve the conflicts that occur. It’s amazing as a solo game, but it’s story engine design makes it, in my opinion, the greatest GM toolkit ever created. If you are stuck and need a quick story or idea in your adventure because the pure beings of chaos called your players did something different, just pull a Radiance card, and there you go.

Instant adventure.

We’ve used Radiance before on this podcast to create adventures on the fly, but today we are going to do something different.

We are going to generate a world on the fly.

That’s right, a world to adventure in. More specifically a Fantasy World to adventure in.

Recently we pontificated on the fact that the worlds and settings of D&D sucked. I don’t have to read minds to know that the fans of D&D were shouting “Oh Yea, can you do it better?” Well let’s find out.

On this episode I’m going to pull some Radiance cards and surprise Mike, Christina, and myself with the prompts. From there, we are going to build a Fantasy World for you.

So, You guys ready for this?

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Welcome to You Heard it Here Last where we talk about news, you’ve already heard.

Ever since Critical Roll announced that Brennen Lee Mulligan would be taking over as GM there has been a ton of buzz around the long running Actual Play show. We were going to see Daggerheart played by its creators, the Critical Roll team, with one of the best Actual Play game masters around at the helm.

Then Critical Roll Announced they would be using Dungeons and Dragons, 2024 as the rule system for the upcoming season.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/critical-role-to-use-d-d-2024-rules-for-campaign-four-expands-to-three-tables-and-thirteen-players.714934/

I don’t know about you, but that took the wind right out of my sails.

Let’s start with you Mike, What’s all this then?

[Kick to Mike]

Christina, your thoughts?

[Kick to Christina]

Now on to Mike’s favorite Post Apocalyptic setting, Fallout. Recently Amazon released the trailer for Fallout Season 2. Last year’s hit streaming series is back for another season and this time they are headed to New Vegas.

https://youtu.be/7TsP09cZA7o?si=6ryklSJ-C3G1MIen

https://www.enworld.org/threads/modiphius-reveals-new-art-for-new-vegas-themed-fallout-rpg-expansion-exclusive.714947/

Not to be left out Modiphius plans to release Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Royal Flush in the last quarter of 2025. Modiphius just released some art from the upcoming release which is scheduled for the 4th quarter of 2025 which brings the Fallout setting to, you guessed it New Vegas. I love synergy, or at the very least organization. With the second season of the streaming show dropping in December and the new source book coming out at roughly the same time it looks like I should dust off the powered armor and head back out to the wasteland.

Mike, since it’s your favorite we will lead with you

[Kick to Mike]

Christina, Thoughts on the new Fallout stuff.

[Kick to Christina]

And there you have it, all the news, you’ve already heard.

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In 1982 Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped into the sandals of one of pulp’s most celebrated heroes and, what was likely the most on point casting in the history of cinema, became legend. Conan the Barbarian.

There is a common quote from that film, bandied about by fans, but it’s not my favorite. My favorite quote from the film and my favorite scene come at the end of the picture.

“Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, or why we died. All that matters is that two stood against many. That's what's important! Valor pleases you, Crom... so grant me one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, then to HELL with you!”

To me, that was Conan

Over the years the Conan archetype has been shoehorned into many games, Of course I’m looking at the very poor attempt in D&D called the Barbarian class. You might like the class, but it’s not Conan, and make no mistake it was supposed to be Conan when it was introduced.

In 1985 TSR tried to cash in with its own Conan RPG. In 1989 Steve Jackson Games came out with a Conan supplement for GURPS. In 2004 Mongoose Publishing launched their Conan: The Roleplaying Game which was a d20 variant. And in 2017 Modiphius released a 2d20 version called Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of.

All of these games had various levels of success. I mean it’s Conan, it doesn’t take much for people to pick up the book and several of them were held in high regard. Personally I never found one that really clicked for me. I gave the GURPS version a try, but it just felt a little flat.

Then Monolith Board Games Kickstarted Conan the Hyborian Age. This rules light system approached the barbarian and Robert E. Howards tales differently then the other versions. In Conan the Hyborian Age the story mattered. The rules were simple and left the door open for narrative to push the story. Or at least that’s what the Kickstarter said.

So I backed it and when I downloaded a copy of the core rulebook something special happened.

I got excited. I don’t know what it was, maybe it was the fantastic art, maybe it was a focus on Robert E. Howard’s stories, maybe it was the very simplistic combat system, maybe it was the magic system that pulled your own life to fuel the spells, or maybe they just found the perfect combination.

I had to play this thing. So I hit up the Thursday night group and said “What do you guys think about playing a Conan game?”

The rest as they say is history.

On this episode Mike, Christina and I are going to talk about the new Conan: They Hyborian Age TTRPG. We will talk about the core rules, the book itself and the good, the great, and the bad we’ve come across after playing it for a couple of months.

And just to give you a little heads up for the episode.

I absolutely love this game.

Christina, let’s start with you. What’s your history with Conan and what did you initially think when I suggested playing it?

[Kick to Christina]

Mike, same question, what did you think about Conan going into the game?

[Kick to Mike]

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We have talked about AI a lot on this podcast and we plan on talking about it more. It’s the future, whether you like it or not. Personally, I don’t think the problem is going to be AI. I think the problem, as usual, is going to be people.

https://youtu.be/86nhP8tvbLY?si=179uCtun2WcHLHNz

I am a music fan and watch many of the big music theory channels on YouTube. Rhett Shull is a musician and YouTuber who has been around the platform for a very long time. In one of his most recent videos, he noticed that YouTube seems to be adding some type of AI filter to his videos and it’s not just his videos. In this video he shows several examples and while it looks like YouTube might be using the AI filter to enhance video clarity the most interesting part about it is that he didn’t approve it.

That’s right, it looks like YouTube is adding AI to people’s video without their permission or notification.

And that to me is the rub.

Mike, you’re our AI guru what do you make of this?

[Kick to Mike]

Christina, from an ethics standpoint, what are your thoughts?

[kick to Christina]

Next, we are back to the world of TTRPGs with a little fun article from EN World.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/with-alien-earth-about-to-hit-our-screens-here-for-free-are-a5es-xenid-monster-stats.714828/

In preparation for the new Alien series Alien Earth on Hulu, EN World shows some screen shots from the just kickstarted Voidrunners Codex. This new 5E supplement from EN Publishing, the same company that brings you EN World, is a Sci-Fi supplement for D&D Fifth Edition and in their upcoming release they have not one, not two, but 6 pages dedicated to our favorite space monster.

Now I bring this up, because some of you might be interested in just such a supplement, and that’s cool. But personally, I wanted an opportunity to yell at the Disney Corporation and 20th Century Fox for completely ruining what should have been one of the greatest film franchises in the history of film. I mean seriously, Alien is a masterclass of storytelling and Aliens flipped the script by turning horror into an action/thriller. Then the studio dropped the ball on what should have been a solid David Fincher directed Alien 3. What little good was in that movie was completely excised in Alien Resurrection, then the god-awful Alien vs. Predator films, don’t get me started on Prometheus, and Covenant and Romulus just doubled down on the Prometheus crap…And then I tried to watch Alien Earth. It’s written by children. Stupid, lazy, and barely literate children.

Christina, talk me off the ledge.

[Kick to Christina]

Mike, what are your thoughts?

[Kick to Mike]

And there you have it, all the news you’ve already heard.

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I waved goodbye to Mike and Christina and made my way through the throngs of people getting their last chance to shop in the exhibit hall. By 1pm on Sunday of GenCon 2025 I was tapping out.

I was exhausted, hungry, and my capacity for patience was at an all-time low.

By the time I got back to my car and put Indianapolis in the rearview mirror I started to settle down and even though GenCon was only an hour behind me I realized I was already starting to miss it.

For those gamers out there not familiar with GenCon, shame on you. For the rest, here is a quick rundown.

GenCon is the largest and longest running tabletop gaming convention in North America. It was started by Gary Gygax and friends in 1968 and was originally called the Lake Geneva Wargames Convention. The name was quickly shortened to GenCon and in the early years the convention bounced around from location to location, but in 1985 it landed in Milwaukee Wisconsin. GenCon called Milwaukee home until 2003 when the convention moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, and that’s when it really blew up. If it is even close to the tabletop gaming space, it’s at GenCon.

Fast Forward to 2025 where the convention once again broke previous attendance records with over 72,000 people, 595 unique vendors, and nearly 30,000 events. Our friends at the Finding Attoria Podcast described it aptly as “Butts to Nuts” But GenCon just uses the tagline “The Best 4 Days of Gaming” and for once, they’re underselling it.

In this episode Mike, Christina and I are going to do a little wrap-up of GenCon 2025. We’ll throw out some observations, complaints, kudo’s and maybe even chat about what’s planned for next year.

Christina, let’s start with you. Give me your big takeaway from GenCon.

Kick to Christina

Mike, what about you. What’s your big takeaway from the con.

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/godzilla-franchise-enters-new-era-with-multiple-sequels-in-the-works/ar-AA1ISBUf

Oh No, there Goes Tokyo, Go Go Godzilla.

No, this story isn’t about Blue Oyster Cult, but we could do a full episode on the Long Island Psychedelic Rock Band that gave us Don’t Fear the Reaper and of course Godzilla. No, this story is about Godzilla himself. There are 33 Japanese movies about Godzilla with another 5 English language films.

Currently a sequel to the fantastic Godzilla Minus One is in development along with a sequel to 2016’s Shin Godzilla. There is also collaboration with Legendary Pictures upcoming Godzilla x Kong Supernova and Monarch: legacy of Monsters Season 2 on Apple TV.

With that much Godzilla out there I can actually hear Chrsitina smile. We will start with you Christina, what do you make of all the Godzilla love?

Kick to Christina

Mike, why do you think Godzilla is back dominating the box office again?

Kick to Mike

Next, we have a major announcement from Critical Role. Matt Mercer will be stepping aside as the GM for the 4th campaign and Brennan Lee Mulligan will be stepping in.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/brennan-lee-mulligan-to-gm-critical-role-campaign-4.714671/

This was announced right before Critical Role’s live show in Indianapolis during GenCon.

Matt Mercer has been the only GM behind the first 3 campaigns of Critical Role so this is a big departure for the series, but Brennan Lee Mulligan is no stranger to Critical Role and the Live Action Play space himself. Mulligan is a writer, actor and comedian who has been featured as the gamemaster on Dimension 20 and has also run several short spin-off adventures for Critical Role in the past.

Mike, what are your thoughts on this. Good, Bad, Indifferent?

Kick to Mike

Christina, I believe you’ve been a fan of Mulligan for a while, what do you think this move means for him and critical role.

Kick to Christina

And there you have it, all the news you’ve already heard.