AUTODUEL!?!?! >:ONews: Base Raiders is in layout! Hooray! Raillery is on hiatus until Base Raiders is complete. Boo!

Synopsis: Tom and I once again dive into the “Pile of Broken Dreams“to look at two old modules, Zombietown USA for GURPS and All Fall Down for Cyberpunk. Adventure design was quite different back then. For example, a brutal dungeon crawl was apparently required for every scenario, regardless of genre. Railroading was very popular as well. Regardless, there are useful elements from each scenario. Also, Tom does not care for the needless inclusion of Autoduel stats for a horror scenario. Oh and Tom has a letter too. Plus, shout outs and anecdotes!

Shout Outs

  • Channel A: A truly fun game for anime fans AND haters. Listen to our special Actual Play!
  • Fate Core: The new edition of the Fate RPG system and it comes in a handsome book.
  • Boss Monster: A new 8-bit video game inspired card game. Kill the heroes before the other monsters do.
  • Nazi Occult: A fictional recounting of the Nazi’s experiments with the occult. Werewolves and djinn, oh my!
  • The Curse: A modern retelling of the Colour out of Space.
  • VHS 2: The third segment is creepy as hell. I enjoyed the second segment. The first and fourth ones…eehhhhhhhh.

Song: Zombietown by the Midnight Peacocks

“Just being in here is a humbling experience for me, because you’re looking through all these records and it’s sort of like a big pile of broken dreams…Whether you want to admit it or not, 10 years down the line you’ll be in here. So keep that in mind when you start thinking like, ‘I’m invincible and I’m the world’s best,’ or whatever. Because that’s what all these cats thought.” DJ Shadow

In this episode, we focus on looting the pile of broken dreams that is the bargain bin of your friendly local game store. Many times you can find a hidden diamond in the rough or at least something you can exploit for a game in the system of your choice. By going over some of the bargain we’ve enjoyed like Little Fears, Waste World, Mutazoid, Teenagers from Outer Space, and Hunter the Reckoning, you can begin to see what lurks in the used game shelf. Plus, a letter from Tom and anecdotes! Oh and you must watch Common Law Wife. As always, post your comments on our forum and we appreciate donations. Also, if you are an artist, Tom wants a werewolf drawing or something like that. I think. He’ll pay like five bucks for it. Listen to the episode if you want the details. Also, this thread in the Something Awful forums is hilarious and disturbing.

NEWS: Some of our listeners love the actual play sessions. Some don’t. IF you do NOT want to get Actual Play sessions in your RSS feed, then please switch your feed to this new one. http://slangdesign.com/rppr/feed?cat=-12 It has everything EXCEPT Actual Play sessions. The main feed still has everything. If you like the Actual Play sessions you are fine. Nothing needs to be changed.

Shout Outs:

  • Wushu: A free and open RPG of fast action-Great for a one shot game when you have no time to prep.
  • Operation Darkness: A crazy alternate history WW2 RPG for the Xbox 360 where you fight Nazi vampires with Allied Werewolves. Seriously.
  • George Carlin: All My Stuff. A big ole collection of Carlin’s work. If you’re a fan, you need this box set. Well, you don’t but it is a goddamn lot of stuff.
  • The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra: If you like Mystery Science Theater 3000, cheesy movies from the 50s and 60s or B movies in general, then you must watch this movie. Tom used the Skeleton as a villain in a Mutants and Masterminds game because his players demanded it after seeing the movie.

Music: Nuclear War by Los Podankos – a Russian street punk band with no homepage and this is all I could find. Oi!

Tarn Adams
Interviewer: Ross Payton

Synopsis: Dwarf Fortress is a one of a kind computer game. Part roguelike, part RTS, part fantasy world simulator, this game has to be played to be believed. With no graphics (everything is represented by ASCII symbols), the player is charged with building a mighty fortress with only seven dwarves and a wagon load of supplies. Murderous monsters and animals, temperamental workers and countless other challenges stand in your way. And you will lose. But that’s okay, because losing is fun.  I talk with DF’s programmer and creator, Tarn Adams about his experience with role playing games, game design philosophy, beards on dwarves and other pertinent topics.