Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

Episode 710: USS Self-Awareness

Our Hamlet’s GM Screen series continues in the Gaming Hut with a look at the prelude sequence in an adventure where the PCs poke around time shopping and bartering. Keeping us in mind of the upcoming Nations and Cannons: Dark and Bloody Ground Kickstarter, the History Hut tells the tale of river pirate James Rivington. Beloved colleague Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan enters the cozy confines of Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else for a chat about his new GUMSHOE game Merryshire Detective Club, now on Backerkit. Finally the Eliptony Hut wonders what’s up with alleged psychohistorian Jiang Xueqin, who successfully predicted that people would call him the Chinese Nostradamus. 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. Big news from mission control! If you missed out the first time, don’t panic. The wait is over: the CatStronauts board game is finally back in stock at Atlas Games! The first printing disappeared at lightspeed! Don’t let this reprint of CatStronauts slip through your claws. In a hole in the ground… they found a body! Solve this mystery and more in the most adorable, yet murdery, GUMSHOE game yet, Merryshire Detective Club. Fantasy mystery master Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan brings you all the clues and crumpets your tiny frame can handle in the ultimate game of halfling sleuthing, crowdfunding soon on Backerkit. The play The King in Yellow has haunted imaginations like a dirge since its first appearance in 1895. Now ask it to predict the future and run your life with Arc Dream’s King in Yellow tarot deck. Daniel Harms and John Scott Tynes, famous clairvoyants, divined the forms and portents of this Carcosan deck. Painter Kurt Komoda, in a fevered fugue of inspiration, reproduced designs thought long lost. Add it now to your accursed Arc Dream shopping cart. Sign up to be notified of the upcoming crowdfunding campaign for The American Crisis: Dark and Bloody Ground at YourDadWillLoveThis.com. Download a free copy of the Nations & Cannons core rules using code KENROBIN.

Episode 709: From Sling to King

We open in the Preamble Hut for an important announcement. This year, along with the rest of the Pelgrane Press crew, we will be attending Tabletop Scotland in Edinburgh. The show runs from September 4 to 6; we’ll both be there with a live show. Note that we will not be at Dragonmeet in November as we have been for so many years. Tabletop Scotland is your chance to see us in the UK in 2026. Our series inspired by Robin’s new book Hamlet’s GM Screen continues in the Gaming Hut with a look the beats of scenario premises. The Archaeology Hut finds unexpected answers to the question: how did Elgin get his marbles? The Stock Character Hut undergoes a journey from innocence to experience as we examine the Kid. Wrapping up, the Consulting Occultist looks at the occult side of Renaissance polymath and automaton builder Athanasius Kircher. 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. Big news from mission control! If you missed out the first time, don’t panic. The wait is over: the CatStronauts board game is finally back in stock at Atlas Games! The first printing disappeared at lightspeed! Don’t let this reprint of CatStronauts slip through your claws. In a hole in the ground… they found a body! Solve this mystery and more in the most adorable, yet murdery, GUMSHOE game yet, Merryshire Detective Club. Fantasy mystery master Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan brings you all the clues and crumpets your tiny frame can handle in the ultimate game of halfling sleuthing, crowdfunding soon on Backerkit. The play The King in Yellow has haunted imaginations like a dirge since its first appearance in 1895. Now ask it to predict the future and run your life with Arc Dream’s King in Yellow tarot deck. Daniel Harms and John Scott Tynes, famous clairvoyants, divined the forms and portents of this Carcosan deck. Painter Kurt Komoda, in a fevered fugue of inspiration, reproduced designs thought long lost. Add it now to your accursed Arc Dream shopping cart. Sign up to be notified of the upcoming crowdfunding campaign for The American Crisis: Dark and Bloody Ground at YourDadWillLoveThis.com. Download a free copy of the Nations & Cannons core rules using code KENROBIN.

Episode 708: A Threat and a Metaphor

The Gaming Hut tour through Robin’s new book Hamlet’s GM Screen resumes with a look at the beats of Session Zero. The Tradecraft Hut peers into the dossier of Revolutionary War era newspaper publisher James Rivington, who may have been a spy for the Patriots. Pendragon line developer David Larkins takes a seat in the special guest chair as Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else. Finally Ken’s Time Machine finds out what the world would look like if Portugal had retained its independence after 1580. 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. Big news from mission control! If you missed out the first time, don’t panic. The wait is over: the CatStronauts board game is finally back in stock at Atlas Games! The first printing disappeared at lightspeed! Don’t let this reprint of CatStronauts slip through your claws. In a hole in the ground… they found a body! Solve this mystery and more in the most adorable, yet murdery, GUMSHOE game yet, Merryshire Detective Club. Fantasy mystery master Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan brings you all the clues and crumpets your tiny frame can handle in the ultimate game of halfling sleuthing, crowdfunding soon on Backerkit. The play The King in Yellow has haunted imaginations like a dirge since its first appearance in 1895. Now ask it to predict the future and run your life with Arc Dream’s King in Yellow tarot deck. Daniel Harms and John Scott Tynes, famous clairvoyants, divined the forms and portents of this Carcosan deck. Painter Kurt Komoda, in a fevered fugue of inspiration, reproduced designs thought long lost. Add it now to your accursed Arc Dream shopping cart. Sign up to be notified of the upcoming crowdfunding campaign for The American Crisis: Dark and Bloody Ground at YourDadWillLoveThis.com. Download a free copy of the Nations & Cannons core rules using code KENROBIN.

Episode 707: What Animal Did That to You

Beloved Patreon backer Hyperlexic summons us to the Gaming Hut to propose alternate eras for Fall of DELTA Green. Fun with Science reveals the gnarly details of animal attack forensics. Estimable backer Mike Coleman Asks Ken and Robin how they prune their book and DVD libraries. Finally the Conspiracy Corner looks at the latest team-up of urban legend and paranoia, the fear that pilots are dropping ticks out of planes. 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. Big news from mission control! If you missed out the first time, don’t panic. The wait is over: the CatStronauts board game is finally back in stock at Atlas Games! The first printing disappeared at lightspeed! Don’t let this reprint of CatStronauts slip through your claws. In a hole in the ground… they found a body! Solve this mystery and more in the most adorable, yet murdery, GUMSHOE game yet, Merryshire Detective Club. Fantasy mystery master Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan brings you all the clues and crumpets your tiny frame can handle in the ultimate game of halfling sleuthing, crowdfunding soon on Backerkit. The play The King in Yellow has haunted imaginations like a dirge since its first appearance in 1895. Now ask it to predict the future and run your life with Arc Dream’s King in Yellow tarot deck. Daniel Harms and John Scott Tynes, famous clairvoyants, divined the forms and portents of this Carcosan deck. Painter Kurt Komoda, in a fevered fugue of inspiration, reproduced designs thought long lost. Add it now to your accursed Arc Dream shopping cart. Sign up to be notified of the upcoming crowdfunding campaign for The American Crisis: Dark and Bloody Ground at YourDadWillLoveThis.com. Download a free copy of the Nations & Cannons core rules using code KENROBIN.

Episode 706: A Thing I Seemed to Be Wrong About

Our Gaming Hut tour of concepts from Robin’s new book Hamlet’s GM Screen continues with a look at up and down beats, the lifeblood of narrative engagement. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Ken chats with Than Gibson and Derek White about their Darkspace RPG. The Word Hut quizzes Ken on slang terms that came into use in the Revolutionary War period. Would Nations and Cannons characters use them, or do they come along a little later? Finally the Eliptony Hut gets into crank linguistics with the Sun-Language theory of Hermann Feodor Kvergić. 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. Big news from mission control! If you missed out the first time, don’t panic. The wait is over: the CatStronauts board game is finally back in stock at Atlas Games! The first printing disappeared at lightspeed! Don’t let this reprint of CatStronauts slip through your claws. In a hole in the ground… they found a body! Solve this mystery and more in the most adorable, yet murdery, GUMSHOE game yet, Merryshire Detective Club. Fantasy mystery master Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan brings you all the clues and crumpets your tiny frame can handle in the ultimate game of halfling sleuthing, crowdfunding soon on Backerkit. The play The King in Yellow has haunted imaginations like a dirge since its first appearance in 1895. Now ask it to predict the future and run your life with Arc Dream’s King in Yellow tarot deck. Daniel Harms and John Scott Tynes, famous clairvoyants, divined the forms and portents of this Carcosan deck. Painter Kurt Komoda, in a fevered fugue of inspiration, reproduced designs thought long lost. Add it now to your accursed Arc Dream shopping cart. Sign up to be notified of the upcoming crowdfunding campaign for The American Crisis: Dark and Bloody Ground at YourDadWillLoveThis.com. Download a free copy of the Nations & Cannons core rules using code KENROBIN.