Episode 142: Magic: Blood Magic

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Idle Red Hands

“Do you believe in magic in an enemy’s heart?
How the blood can free you, whenever it starts,
And it’s magic, if the blood is flowing.
It makes you feel fertile like a crop you’re sowing.
I’ll tell you about the magic, and it’ll free your soul,
But too many blood rituals can take their toll.

If you believe in magic, come along with me.
We’ll dance until morning ’til there’s just you and me.
And maybe, if the blood is right,
I’ll meet you tomorrow, sort of late at night.
And we’ll go dancing, baby, then you’ll see
How the magic’s in the blood and the blood’s in me.”
-The Bloody Spoonful

Episode 141: Review: Blood and Smoke: The Strix Chronicle Part 2

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Idle Red Hands

In our first Vampire: The Requiem game, one player found that his character didn’t feel like a vampire, which apparently meant being able to beat up random gangsters and using the promise of alcohol to “seduce” high school girls. (We were kind of creeped out by the second one as well in our pre-Twilight innocence.) The disappointment drove him to Savage Worlds.

Do we think that the rules in Blood and Smoke: The Strix Chronicle will help to avoid such a tragedy in the future? Listen to find out.

Episode 140: Review: Blood and Smoke: The Strix Chronicle Part 1

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Idle Red Hands

Before True Blood, Twilight, Underworld and Vampire Diaries (but a little after Dracula), there was Vampire: The Masquerade. It was a time when email was exotic and we didn’t really have a name yet for those kids that wished for more mall-friendly goth music. Years later, we got Vampire: The Requiem, a game that was lighter on mythology and tighter on rules. Now, in the post-Twilight era, Onyx Path Publishing, who Lyal insists on calling “Onyx Publishing”, gives us Blood and Smoke: The Strix Chronicle.

In Part 1, we focus on the setting. What clans are in it? Who are the Strix? Can you play Edward? All these questions and more will be answered.

Episode 139: Creature Feature: Mummies

Posted on February 8, 2014 by Idle Red Hands

Archaeologist #1: The inscription reads, “As for all men who shall enter this my tomb impure, there will be judgment. An end shall be made for him. I shall seize his neck like a bird. I shall cast the fear of myself into him.”
Archaeologist #2: Actually, I think the “bird” is silent in this case.
Archaeologist #1: Ah. I think you’re right. Still, not so good for us, is it?
Archaeologist #2: True.

In this installment of Creature Features, we discuss mummies, the triple threat.

Episode 138: Review: The God-Machine Chronicle Part 2

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Idle Red Hands

“I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in.”
– First Edition

The God Machine. A powerful and mysterious entity that was only hinted at in a short story in the New World of Darkness book. It’s been spawning questions and rumors for over a decade. What is it? How does it relate to the World of Darkness? Now, with the release of this book, none of these questions are answered.

In this episode, Wayne and Lyal continue their review of The God-Machine Chronicle.

Episode 137: Review: The God-Machine Chronicle Part 1

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Idle Red Hands

This is how you do edition rage, Internet: you don’t.

In this episode, World of Darkness superfans Wayne and Lyal review The God-Machine Chronicle, which includes the World of Darkness rules update. Chris also claims to be a fan. Yet, he can never remember the rules, and when it comes time to record the episode, his daughter gets “sick”.

This turned out to be a really long episode, so we broke it into two parts. This part covers most of the character rules. The “story” rules (e.g., combat) and the setting will be discussed in Part 2.

Episode 136: Warriors: French Foreign Legion

Posted on January 18, 2014 by Idle Red Hands

“We can certainly risk a few Legionnaires for France. After all, they are mostly foreigners.”
–March or Die

Those that make jokes about the French’s inability to fight forget the elite, battle-hardened French Foreign Legion. This collection of Germans, Eastern Europeans, Latin Americans … aaaaand that doesn’t help. Never mind.
In this installment of warriors, we look at the French Foreign Legion, a gang of murderers, rapists, and thieves, until Interpol stepped in with background checks. Now, it’s home to alimony-escaping ex-spouses, the unemployed, and probably still thieves (at least Interpol left us with that one).

Episode 135: Holiday Giveaway

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Idle Red Hands

In our last episode of the year, we have a contest with the prizes being PDFs of two of our top 2013 gaming recommendations: Pelgrane Press’s 13th Age and Margaret Weis Productions’ Cortex Plus Hacker’s Guide. These PDFs come courtesy of the companies themselves, so a big thank you to them. We’ll kick off the episode with the contest rules to minimize your time away from friends and family (though we do continue to discuss WotC’s official announcement of the D&D Next release for a bit). The first two listeners who email us with the correct answer to the trivia question(s) will receive the PDFs.

Good luck! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us here at Idle Red Hands.

Episode 134: Resolutions

Posted on December 21, 2013 by Idle Red Hands

With 2013 coming to an end, we decide to make gaming resolutions, the geekiest kind of all. Listen to find out what games we will strive to play and make in 2014. Chris’s first resolution opens with an apology of sorts. Unfortunately, as usual, no one can remember what he said before to warrant the apology. Wayne’s resolution kind of comes out of nowhere, as if he made it up just for this episode. It will be interesting to see if he’ll ever bring it up again. Lyal’s resolution is a repeat from an earlier episode. However, if 2013 has taught us anything, it’s that Lyal can and will repeat himself.

Episode 132: Review: Numenera and 13th Age Part 2

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Idle Red Hands

“Part 2 and there seems no end in sight to this episode. Will my children recognize me when we finish? Will my wife? I had cats. Two. How long do cats live for? Oh god.
I hear voices. No, it is not madness. It is the other hosts. Something about a 13th Age. When did we start? The 1st Age? I can’t remember. I do remember two books with such promise. Will this second deliver? Is it what we’ve been seeking? I’m so tired.”

In this episode, we review 13th Age. Is it worth the 3 a.m. bedtime that the hosts suffered to bring you this review?

Idle Red Hands

A Podcast From Japan About Games and Gamer Culture

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