Posted on

16❦ Weaponized Hospitality

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

“Remarkable! I’ve only seen that color once before… in a pair of gems set deep within the pupils of an entity named Esthanas. Last I knew, they were living under the light of the Silver.”

In which the Proprietor tells tales of one of his favorite half-worlds, a place of distant memory and deep dreams, far beneath the surface of the sea.

Richard Kreutz-Landry and Rich Howard stop in to discuss the impending Kickstarter for Descent into Midnight — which you heard about long ago, in episode 5.

The discussion also winds (inevitably) toward memory, origami, hospitality, technology, live theatre, and bedsheets.

HONORED GUESTS
Richard Kreutz-Landry (@RKreutzLandry)
Rich Howard (@UmbralWalker)

SHOW NOTES
Find out more about Descent into Midnight at DescentIntoMidnight.com, which will soon redirect to a shiny new website, or follow the DiM Twitter feed (@DiMRPG).

In the meantime, feast your eyes on the recently-announced cover for the book, featuring lovely artwork by Devon George (@DGeorgeStudios).

Richard’s site, OrigamiGaming.com, features thoughts and musings and… origami diagrams! Don’t miss the seminal TIE Fighter he spoke about in the interview.

I stumbled into Secrets of the Magdalen Laundries in October 2000, where it was first exhibited by Gallery Henoch on W 25th St in Manhattan.

The installation was designed by Diane Fenster, with audio design by Michael McNabb. You can see some images and video on the exhibition’s page — and I highly recommend it. Haunting.

This Wikipedia article, or this one, are a fine place to start learning about the Magdalen(e) Laundries.

Rich Howard has several works published on DriveThruRPG, and a list of podcast appearances pinned to his Twitter account.

You can find This is a Game About Fishing, and other games by Taylor LaBresh (@LeviathanFiles), on his Itch page.

SPONSORS

Gamers Giving logo: heart, inscribed on a d20, with angelic wings

This episode was sponsored by Gamers Giving (@gamersgivingco), a Denver-based 501(c)3 charity by gamers, for gamers. Gamers Giving organizes events and fundraisers which benefit members of the gaming community who have experienced tragedy.

Sign up for their quarterly newsletter to keep up with their good work.

AUDIO DESIGN

Casey Ross (@caseyrawz)
https://www.rawzstudios.com

Sound Effects ©2018 BBC

Monte Cook Games (@montecookgames)
http://MonteCookGames.com

Invisible Sun
http://InvisibleSunRPG.com

Invisible Sun is the intellectual property of Monte Cook Games, with whom Zeros.Bar and the Secret Cellar have no affiliation.

Posted on

15❦ A Hundred and Seventy Seven Emotions

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

“The Triumvirate has always been rumored to track intersombral travel — shipping, especially — but I never expected THAT.”

In which the Proprietor, bleary from travel and a bit out of sorts, welcomes two new guests, who seem nonetheless somehow familiar.

John Harness and Takuma Okada discuss their experiences creating and curating the Emotional Mecha Jam on itch, and ruminate on the role of game design in communicating personal experiences.

Time and place, memory, mortality, melancholy, identity, sexuality, and Giant Robots are all on the menu tonight. It’s a frank conversation, and in moments an adult one.

(Marked explicit for language and adult sexuality)

HONORED GUESTS
Takuma Okada (@takuma_okada_)
John Harness (@cartweel)

SHOW NOTES

Jason mentioned Dungeons & Dragons, GUMSHOE, Invisible Sun, and Bluebeard’s Bride as shining examples of game systems which incentivize very distinct stories as a result of their design.

The Emotional Mecha Jam closed with 177 unique entries, exploring 177 unique emotions and stories about “GIANT ROBOTS AND THE SAD PILOTS THAT DRIVE THEM”. Please do visit, take a look, support some art, play some games, feel things.

Specific jam games mentioned in this episode include:

You can download John’s game Welcome to Paradise, Baby! (and other projects) on his itch page, or follow him on Twitter at @cartweel. You didn’t add an ‘h’, did you? Try again.

Takuma’s No Road Home empire extends across itch.io and SoundCloud — and you should absolutely check out her Patreon for regular musings and projects.

You can also hear John’s episode OR Takuma’s episode of Taylor Labresh’s Game Closet podcast, or hear more from Takuma on Women Loving Wednesdays and RPG Design Friends.

Takuma mentioned Waypoint’s BattleTech coverage as an inspiration — check out this review also — and John rhapsodized about Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

As regards itch.io, here’s that Tabletop Gaming Forum that was created in part by the influence of DC (whom you must also follow immediately).

Oh! And RAINN and Trans Lifeline, who benefited from Emotional Mecha Jam’s charity bundle, both do amazing work.

SPONSORS

Gamers Giving logo: heart, inscribed on a d20, with angelic wings

This episode was sponsored by Gamers Giving (@gamersgivingco), a Denver-based 501(c)3 charity by gamers, for gamers. Gamers Giving organizes events and fundraisers which benefit members of the gaming community who have experienced tragedy.

Sign up for their quarterly newsletter to keep up with their good work.

AUDIO DESIGN

Casey Ross (@caseyrawz)
https://www.rawzstudios.com

Sound Effects ©2018 BBC

Monte Cook Games (@montecookgames)
http://MonteCookGames.com

Invisible Sun
http://InvisibleSunRPG.com

Invisible Sun is the intellectual property of Monte Cook Games, with whom Zeros.Bar and the Secret Cellar have no affiliation.

Posted on

6❦ Changing Shape

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

“One final piece of advice: given the means of your arrival here, you obviously didn’t speak with Quiss when you arrived… if such a thing is even still possible. As such, it’s probably the Triumvirate who are keeping track of your time here. It’s not documented anywhere, but most folks agree 8 days seems a good upper limit.

“You do NOT want to overstay your welcome.”


When The Secret Cellar opened its doors, we quietly spread the word in the expected places: Markus, of course, and Grey Memories; the Castle of the Lie; various prosodies frequented by the Apostate crowd… Our regulars are mostly vislae who take solace in the proximity of this space to the Grey.

But, more rarely, there is another type of guest who finds their way here: the Traveler from Shadow, who has one way or the other taken advantage of the proximity of this space… to Indigo.

Our guest tonight is one such wanderer: Rich Howard (@umbralwalker), whom you may recognize as the concept lead for Descent Into Midnight, of Episode 5 fame.

Role-playing gamers allow us, for just a moment, to change our shape… which can be more impactful than you might realize. I learned a lot from Rich tonight.

ALSO! If you’re the nerdy Invisible Sun type, stick around for my analysis of the structure & signifance of the Sooth Deck. There are still many Secrets to be discovered, but I may just drop some Hidden Knowledge on you. 🤫

HONORED GUEST

Rich Howard (@umbralwalker)

SPONSOR

Gamers Giving logo: heart, inscribed on a d20, with angelic wings

This episode was sponsored by Gamers Giving (@gamersgivingco), a Denver-based 501(c)3 charity by gamers, for gamers. Gamers Giving organizes events and fundraisers which benefit members of the gaming community who have experienced tragedy.

AUDIO DESIGN

Casey Ross (@caseyrawz)
https://www.rawzstudios.com

Sound Effects ©2018 BBC

SHOW NOTES

These show notes can’t hope to capture all of things Rich is involved in, but you should at very least follow him on Twitter, start digging into the podcast archives of Whelmed: The Young Justice Files, Lear more about Descent Into Midnight, and read more about his other work. Also, maybe just ask him impossible questions, point blank and without warning. It worked for me.

Descent into Midnight is an amazing, and deeply human (which is ironic, considering) RPG. Follow @DiMRPG and its creators, Rich Howard (@umbralwalker), Richard Kreutz-Landry (@rkreutzlandry), Taylor LaBresh (@leviathanfiles), and Brandon Leon-Gambetta (@drcaptainkobold).

Rich drinks Jing Tea, and perhaps you should, too. 😉

If you want to learn more about the Sooth Deck, or really anything about Invisible Sun, you should absolutely be listening to Incantations Podcast, hosted by Dr. Scott Robinson (@agonseer; no relation) and Dave Hanlon (@tex_red).

I am honored to be co-GMing the Invisible Sun Actual Play “The Truth Bleeds at Twilight”, in cooperation with Monte Cook Games. We’ll be streaming episode 4 next Friday (September 14) at 7pm on the MonteCookGames Twitch channel, and biweekly thereafter until Thanksgiving. You can also follow The Crepuscule Notion on Twitter or read and contribute at the Notion website.

Monte Cook Games (@montecookgames)
http://montecookgames.com

Invisible Sun
http://invisiblesunrpg.com

Invisible Sun is the intellectual property of Monte Cook Games, with whom Zeros.Bar and the Secret Cellar have no affiliation.