Episode 115: Creature Feature: Sin-Eaters

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Idle Red Hands

Have a bunch of hungry of listeners and only one hour to prepare? Well, if you have a corpse in the fridge and a few human foibles in the cupboard, you can satisfy even the most demanding guest with this zesty variation of our Creature Feature series.

Sin-eater Steaks

1 corpse, brined in the tears of a condemned man
a splash of wasted ability
seven vulgarities, diced
1 cup of the last words of a dying man (For a low-fat alternative, use the last words of a toddler.)

Cover the corpse in a sauce made from the ingredients.
Pass through the flames of Hell until the sinner recants or the meat is pink in the middle.
Slice into steaks and serve with sprigs of parsley, uh, from the damned.

Episode 114: Weapons: Long Guns

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Idle Red Hands

Our second installment of Weapons looks at the role long guns (muskets, arquebuses, rifles, carbines and shotguns) in battle, society and games. It is also our first drinking game episode*.

Take a drink:
Whenever you hear the words “trade-off” or “interesting”.
Whenever “cavalry” is pronounced “Calvary”.
Take a shot:
Whenever Chris mentions his daughter. (I think we cut those out.)
Whenever Lyal makes a mistake. (I’m pretty sure he cut those out.)
Chug while:
Wayne complains about D&D Next. (You’ll probably tune those out. We do.)

*We highly recommend non-alcoholic drinks – otherwise this game would probably kill off most of the audience.

Episode 113: PvP Games

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Idle Red Hands

With Lyal unavailable to record this week, Chris and Wayne talk about something they do almost constantly: intra-party fighting. We discuss player vs. player conflicts, both in games designed to pit the characters against each other and in games where they’re expected to act as a team. We use The Hunger Games (which Chris finally found the time to watch) and The Avengers as our running examples. While we try not to give away any big secrets, there may be a few minor spoilers for these movies in the episode.

Episode 112: True Blood

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Idle Red Hands

With Chris unavailable to record this week, Wayne and Lyal talk about one of their favorite TV shows (and one that Chris refuses to watch), True Blood. Instead of focusing on character archetypes as we’ve done in other TV related episodes, we talk about the lessons we’ve learned from five seasons of True Blood and how you can apply them to your games.

Episode 111: Warriors: Mongolian Horsemen‏

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Idle Red Hands

Genghis Khan is the name, I’m ahead of my game
Still, drinking from teats, still with hoof beats
Still not loving the Caliphs (Uh hun)
Still rock my kharash in battle and a seige
Still got love for the steeeppes, repping one one one
Still the hooves bang, still arrows twang
Since I left, ain’t too much changed, still

Got a whole Tumen ridin’ at my back, you won’t even see when I’m coming to attack
Cause you think that we be a fleein’, yeah looks like we be retreatin’
But soon you’ll be seein’; that it’s you who is get beaten
You think we all dressed in fur, but I got fine lacquer armor and a bling silk shirt.

Still history won’t be bored,
Still have all the rage we have stored,
Still yo you gonna get served,
Still by the Mongol Horde!
Since I left, ain’t too much changed, still

For our next installment of Warriors, we look at the Mongolian Horsemen. A group who, even 700 years later, still represents the idea of an unstoppable, all conquering juggernaut.

Episode 110: Magic: Stage Magic

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Idle Red Hands

Our third installment of Magic is focuses on real-life magicians; entertainers, illusionists, and escapologists like Harry Houdini, David Copperfield, and Criss Angel. This may appear to be a strange topic for a series that usually assumes that magic is “real”, but hopefully we manage to conjure up some interesting ideas of how to use these consummate performers in your games.

Wayne starts the episode off with another rant against D&D Next. Chris joins in the discussion, but Lyal obviously wishes he could just waggle his fingers, say a few magical words and make the pair of them disappear.

Marvel Heroic finished! Nuff said!

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Idle Red Hands

We were absolutely crushed to learn that Margaret Weis Productions have canceled their Marvel line. The licensing costs were high, as you would imagine, and turned out to be too steep. If you don’t have one of the books in this line, we encourage you to get one.

While we’re sad to see the Marvel flavour go, it was the Cortex Plus Heroic system that really grabbed us. Hopefully, we’ll see a few generic genre books coming out from MWP using the Heroic system. In the meantime, we’re looking forward to their Heroic fantasy rules in the soon to be released Cortex Plus Hacker’s Guide.

Episode 109: Deus Ex Machina

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Idle Red Hands

You’d think that the most contrived literary device around would not make for gaming magic, but that doesn’t stop the Idle Red Hands (A.K.A. the thickest guys on the Net) from trying to figure out how to make it work. Do we succeed? Well, at some point, you may wish that a god would come down to give us a hand, and Chris repeatedly tries to slip in examples of Chekov’s gun. (His sleight of hand provided the inspiration for our next episode.) However, by the end, the answer to whether or not a deus ex machina has any place at your gaming table is firmly answered.

Episode 108: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Civil War

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Idle Red Hands

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Civil War! Listener mail! Bosozoku! Soft prostitution! (?) This episode has it all.

We review the Civil War event book. We also answer a listener’s email about a game of vampires, secret agents and bosozuku set in Tokyo. During this discussion, Chris explains what “soft” prostitution is, which Lyal believes is still illegal.

Episode 104: Creature Feature: Politicians

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Idle Red Hands

“Four score and seven days ago, I did not have sex with that woman. My opponents have brought forth these allegations to distract the nation from the problems of slavery and secession.” – Abraham Lincoln

In this episode, we talk about politicians, the media, and bureaucracy.

Idle Red Hands

A Podcast From Japan About Games and Gamer Culture

Category Archives: General (RPG)