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

Let’s start with my favorite Vin Diagram. Roleplayers and Cat Owners. It’s a perfect circle. And to prove it we are going to start with the King of Crits, 2025 Dice Advent Calendar.

https://dnddice.com/products/dice-advent-calendar-2025?variant=46949401395426&country=US¤cy=USD&utm_source=chatgpt.com

The dice are cute as hell and if you or someone you know is into advent calendar’s then this is perfect.

Mike, what do you think about the King of Crits 2025 Dice Advent Calendar.

[Kick to Mike]

Christina, you love dice are you in on this one?

[Kick to Christina]

The King of Crits isn’t the only dice advent calendar on the market this year.

https://diceenvy.com/products/advent-calendar?currency=USD&variant=47074082324723&stkn=1f01dd7311e3&utm_source=chatgpt.com

Dice Envy has gotten into the game with their 2025 dice advent calendar. The twist on this one is you get to decide if you want the Nice version with Santa and all the traditional happiness that comes with that or the Naughty version based on Krampas with the darker side of Christmas dice. They also have an option to let the Christmas goblin decide which one you get when you order, which I think is pretty cool.

Christina, the more dice the merry I assume, but which one of this do you like better? And I’m not Christmas shopping, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

[Kick to Christina]

Mike, I’m going to assume you like the cat dice, but which one is it for you?

[Kick to Mike]

Next up we have the Glass Staff Player Journal.

https://forgedgaming.com/products/glassstaff-player-journal?variant=47958671098087&country=US¤cy=USD&utm_source=chatgpt.com

I love these player journals. They are faux leather bound with gold foil and premium paper. They look great and inside they have almost 200 pages to keep track of your character. From pages with all of the little boxes for character stuff to open pages to write about your adventures. The only problem for me is that they all seem to be made for D&D5e and since I don’t play that…oh well.

Finally, how about a little fantasy glass ware. Nobody can have enough glass ware and if you settling down with your friends after storming the duke’s castle and sharing some of your favorite adult beverage then you need something cool to put it in.

https://www.fantasyglassworks.com/

Fantasy Glass Works can pretty much custom make whatever you want from beer mugs to coffee cups and most things in between. And they are family owned out of Rockford Illinois so that’s a bonus. I think I would get a Tankard Beer Mug with the Sigil from our Conan Campaign.

Mike, how about this as a Christmas gift?

[Kick to Mike]

Christina, any favorites?

[Kick to Christina]

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

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The internet is filled with hobby advice. From podcasts, to YouTube channels, you can probably find what you’re are looking for very quickly. Or not. That’s part of the problem. With so much out there it’s hard to figure out what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s really bad.

Our friend Jen and Oddfish Games hooked me up with John Glavin. John is the creator of Two-Gun Pixie a Youtube channel that focuses on board games and roleplaying game reviews and he’s been at it for a while. And by awhile, I mean over 8 years. John is also jumping into the professional GM world with his new Adventurers Union: Local 218.

I had a chance to chat with John about roleplaying, Two-Gun Pixie, and his personal style.

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Let’s start off with one of my favorite things…D&D Licensing.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/d-ds-beer-collaboration-continues-with-special-edition-beer-dice-tower-combo.715575/

We have talked about D&D’s collaboration with Mythical Meats a jerky company, I can remember one of Nabisco’s breakfast cereals having a D&D tie in. And, I think one of my friends had a D&D wood burning set. You know the thing that got hot and you could burn designs into wood. Yea D&D did that. And let’s not forget they licensed D&D to a predatory online gambling site.

This time we are talking beer. I like beer. New Holland Brewing has announced it’s bringing back it’s popular D20 Brew and this time it’s going to come with a dice tower and special edition dice.

Doc, what do you think about D20 Brew

[Kick to Christina]

Mike, New Holland is also bringing back their Mead Cask Bourbon. Is that more up your ally?

[Kick to Mike]

If you were in charge of D&D Licensing and you were looking for something weird to license, what would it be?

[Kick to Mike]

[Kick to Christina]

Gary Gygax, the creator of Dungeons and Dragons passed away in 2008. His widow Gail Gygax has been working to create a memorial for Gary in his hometown of Lake Geneva Wisconsin.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/theyre-building-a-memorial-game-table-sculpture-in-honor-of-gary-gygax.715511/

The memorial will be set in Library Park, and it will be a stone table with benches, and a statue of Gary Gygax himself seated at the table. The table will feature a bronze map of Gygax's first ever D&D dungeon level, scaled for use with miniatures.

What a cool thing that you could sit down and play with Gary, long after he has passed.

Doc, what are your thoughts on this one?

[Kick to Christina]

How about you Mike

[Kick to Mike]

This one made me think of all the new spaces going up that are roleplaying friendly. Coffee shops offer not only coffee, but roleplaying games for sale and tables where patrons can sit and play their favorite game. There are several here in Indiana and if you do a search, you will be blown away by how many exist across the US. Coffee shops aren’t the only venue. Bars are getting into the scene with some even offering game masters, table rentals, and weekly events with prizes. I mean this is really cool. I always said I wanted to open a vinyl record store, but now maybe I could open a vinyl record store and gaming space. I could call it Critical Spin!

Mike, what would your public games space look like?

[Kick to Mike]

What about you Doc?

[Kick to Christina]

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

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I can still remember the first time I stood in front of a classroom filled with my peers. I had spent the time researching and learning, writing and organizing, and now it was time to teach. A dozen of my co-workers, people that I spent hours with, ate lunches with, and worked with every day. But this was something different. Standing in front of the classroom. All eyes on me, the looks on their faces were somewhere between anticipation and boredom. I could almost see their thoughts, “Why do I have to be here?” “Why should I listen to this guy?” “This is going to suck.”

I remember telling myself, It’s no different than running a game, Steve. Grab their attention, make your point, and give them what they came for.

I’ve been doing that now for over 25 years.

I wasn’t born a good communicator. I stuttered as a child, and because of that I was not outgoing in the classroom. I rarely asked questions and would damn near run away screaming when it came to making any kind of public statement. But when I would sit down and roleplay with my friends, that changed. It was like I was a different person. I was able to communicate and I wasn’t scared. I actually enjoyed it. Soon I would become the forever game master and that just meant more practice. Because that was what it was, practice.

I know for a fact if I didn’t roleplay I wouldn’t be a national instructor today. That class with 12 people in 1999 was only the beginning. I have done 2-hour presentations to auditoriums with over 1200 people. All of those hours of gaming and communicating gave me the skills and confidence I needed for my future.

We can learn a lot from roleplaying.

Last time, Mike and I talked about the Satanic Panic and all the things the haters said was wrong with roleplaying so today, Mike, Dr. Christina and I are going to talk about all of the good things you get by table top roleplaying.

Let’s start with you Mike, What’s one thing that you can do today because of roleplaying?

[Kick to Mike]

Christina, you literally got your doctorate in this stuff so when we talk about the things we can learn from table top roleplaying, where should we start?

[Kick to Christina]

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Let’s start off with one of my favorite things…D&D Licensing.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/d-ds-beer-collaboration-continues-with-special-edition-beer-dice-tower-combo.715575/

We have talked about D&D’s collaboration with Mythical Meats a jerky company, I can remember one of Nabisco’s breakfast cereals having a D&D tie in. And, I think one of my friends had a D&D wood burning set. You know the thing that got hot and you could burn designs into wood. Yea D&D did that. And let’s not forget they licensed D&D to a predatory online gambling site.

This time we are talking beer. I like beer. New Holland Brewing has announced it’s bringing back it’s popular D20 Brew and this time it’s going to come with a dice tower and special edition dice.

Doc, what do you think about D20 Brew

[Kick to Christina]

Mike, New Holland is also bringing back their Mead Cask Bourbon. Is that more up your ally?

[Kick to Mike]

If you were in charge of D&D Licensing and you were looking for something weird to license, what would it be?

[Kick to Mike]

[Kick to Christina]

Gary Gygax, the creator of Dungeons and Dragons passed away in 2008. His widow Gail Gygax has been working to create a memorial for Gary in his hometown of Lake Geneva Wisconsin.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/theyre-building-a-memorial-game-table-sculpture-in-honor-of-gary-gygax.715511/

The memorial will be set in Library Park, and it will be a stone table with benches, and a statue of Gary Gygax himself seated at the table. The table will feature a bronze map of Gygax's first ever D&D dungeon level, scaled for use with miniatures.

What a cool thing that you could sit down and play with Gary, long after he has passed.

Doc, what are your thoughts on this one?

[Kick to Christina]

How about you Mike

[Kick to Mike]

This one made me think of all the new spaces going up that are roleplaying friendly. Coffee shops offer not only coffee, but roleplaying games for sale and tables where patrons can sit and play their favorite game. There are several here in Indiana and if you do a search, you will be blown away by how many exist across the US. Coffee shops aren’t the only venue. Bars are getting into the scene with some even offering game masters, table rentals, and weekly events with prizes. I mean this is really cool. I always said I wanted to open a vinyl record store, but now maybe I could open a vinyl record store and gaming space. I could call it Critical Spin!

Mike, what would your public games space look like?

[Kick to Mike]

What about you Doc?

[Kick to Christina]

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

Send us a text

It’s weird just how much of my life can be traced through television. As much time as I spent as a kid riding my bike down the gravel roads to friends houses and playing in the woods, I spent at least that much time watching TV. From the early years of Sunday Morning Cartoons and The Wonderful World of Disney to my teenage years, cruising North Park in Evansville Indiana and going to the movie theater every Friday and Saturday night. I guess it’s no surprise that I can remember the first time I watched a movie about Dungeons and Dragons.

It was Christmas Break, no school, Rainy but mild weather and based on the newspaper it looked like CBS was going to have a movie about roleplaying. This was going to be pretty cool. I was into roleplaying, but didn’t get a chance to play much. For some reason nobody wanted to talk about roleplaying and if you ever brought it up you got funny looks. I was really looking forward to it.

It was called Mazes and Monsters and it stared that funny guy from Bosum Buddies…That was a great show.

I remember settling in with Orvil Redenbacher Popcorn.

And Wow, that didn’t go the way I thought it would.

For you younger folks out there, roleplaying is cool. ComiCon draws in well over 100,000 people, all dressed up in crazy costumes. GenCon brings in over 70,000 people and that’s a convention designed for roleplayers and gamers.

Being a roleplayer is cool. Movie stars talk about doing it. Rock Stars play D&D. Jocks at your school play D&D. I mean it blows my mind.

Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s if you played D&D you were a Satan worshiper.

Mike and I lived through those days and on this episode, we are going to talk about the Satanic Panic, walk you through some of the low points and generally make you all realize that you don’t know how good you got it.

Mike, did you watch Mazes and Monsters?

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I swear they are listening to us?

Who is “They”?

You now, “Them”!

On Season 3 Episode 16 of You Heard It Here Last, Christina and I talked about the fact that somebody at EN World really loved Deathstalker.

I just found out that by the time you hear this episode Deathstalker will once again be in movie theaters. That’s right they are remaking the campy Conan rip-off, and it looks like they are doing it the proper way…with another “B” Movie version.

But that’s not what this one is about. In our episode I said that if we were going to have a Roger Corman TTRPG it should have been Death Race 2000 and look what EN World did. They have written another 2 part piece about Death Race 2000 as a TTRPG.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/where%E2%80%99s-the-death-race-2000-roleplaying-game-part-one.715287/

Mike, I know you are not a big “B” Movie fan like Christina and I, but I can’t help but feel like we are starting to see some throwback themes in roll playing to the 80’s and even 70’s. The 80’s makes sense with Stranger Things, but what’s your take on roleplaying games starting to mine our childhoods for inspiration?

[Kick to Mike]

Since I’ve got Mike here, we might as well dive into his favorite genre.

Cyberpunk Legends: Into the Night is a solo or cooperative card game set in the world of R. Talsorian’s Cyberpunk. It’s an officially licensed game and just premiered on Kickstarter…and it blew past it’s funding goal in 19 minutes.

https://www.rascal.news/cyberpunk-legends-hacks-the-system-500k-raised-in-under-a-day/

At the time of recording this it is at 3 quarters of a million dollars and it doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down much.

Mike, why do you think Cyberpunk in general is so popular and is this just an example of a game riding the coattails of other games or is it something else?

[Kick to Mike]

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

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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.