Idle Fashion Weekly
Turn Excalibur to ExFABulur in 7 easy steps
How to tell if they love you for you or for your power ring
HOT summer magic items that will make you the envy of your party
Plus: Choosing the right +3 sword for your face shape
In this episode, we look at how to make your equipment the stuff of legends. We also give a few underrated items some much needed attention.
It’s only our second Creature Feature and we’re already pushing the premise to include occupations. We discuss criminal organizations and how to include them in your games.
Oddly, we don’t mention Scarface at all. While this means we don’t mine this rich source of ideas, you’re spared listening to our versions of “Say hello to my little friend.” Chris does do The Godfather 3 quote. Yeah, that one.
To law enforcement: This episode is not an endorsement of crime or an attempt to glamourize it.
To criminal organizations: We’re obviously not talking about you. Are we cool?
Oscar Wilde once said, “(A)ny fool can make history, but it takes a genius to podcast about it.” At least, he would have said that if he’d listened to this episode (and had known what a podcast was).
In this episode, we look at how to give your setting a history and a background by using names, prejudices, quotes, forgotten monuments and other tricks.
Wayne reveals a trick of his own when he uses his precognition to critique Lyal’s points before Lyal actually makes them.
There are three things you don’t bring up at the Idle Red Hands dinner table: religion, politics, and the definition of a sandbox game. (Actually, you could probably bring up the first two.)
In this episode, we compare sandbox games to ball of twine games, and the analogies and metaphors fly. (Hey! Another metaphor.) I think we even manage to work in a snowclone. We talk about what these types of games are (and, boy, does that get heated, metaphorically speaking) and the pitfalls (metaphor) to avoid.
In a land very much like your own, but with more Sailor Moon uniforms, three podcasters did an episode on Changeling: The Lost. Lyal thought it was too dark. Wayne thought it wasn’t dark enough. Chris thought, well, that was never quite clear.
So, the three podcasters decided to look for gaming inspiration from real fairy tales. Chris collected ladies’ shoes until his wife caught him. Wayne looked for his sleeping beauty until hospital security barred him from the coma ward. Lyal ordered a “living doll” from the Internet, but he never actually said what happened with that.
Then, the three little trolls found the comic Fables and a podcast episode took shape.
The only thing darker than the Changeling: The Lost setting is our review of it.
In this episode, we review the latest incarnation of White Wolf’s Changeling game and discuss Wayne’s campaign. In between Lyal’s ranting and Chris’s waffling, you’ll hear how Wayne used gold-painted puzzle pieces (and two or three slightly different ways to describe them) and how he introduced game mechanics through his story.
After listening to this episode, you might be surprised to learn that we will probably continue playing Changeling; however, you’ll have to wait until episode 16 to find out how.
No Changeling books were harmed during the recording of this episode.
Another Idle Red Hands first (for us, at least)! We debut Mashups, where we blend different elements to make new(ish) game settings. In this episode, we add twists to fictional and historical settings.
It’s an extra long episode (or as the Japanese say, plus alpha) because we had so much fun doing the first two mashups, we decided to do a third one. How much fun they are to listen to is up to you. The consensus is that the first one is the weakest link (or as the Japanese say, the red-headed stepchild).
Corrections:
The Hyborian Age is set after Atlantis sank, not before. Kull is part of the Thurian Age, not the Hyborian Age, and is actually from Atlantis. Both were created by Robert E. Howard. Lyal has since turned in his Conan Fan Club card.
Kirk Douglas was a contemporary of Burt Lancaster, not Kurt Russell. Yes, Lyal again. He refuses to turn in his Kurt Russell Fan Club card, however.
Jason Straham was in Crank, not Crash. Chris was going to turn in his Jason Straham Fan Club card until he was reminded that it was the only one in existence.
In our debut Creature Feature, we shine the moonlight on werewolves. We discuss werewolf legends and movies and how to run werewolf antagonists and protagonists. We also talk about The Werewolf of Washington a lot. Never heard of it? There’s a reason for that.
Lyal forgot his notes at home, so “skin-walkers” become “skin-changers” and “The Beast of Gevaudan” becomes “The Beast of B-something”. Chris’s research seems to have consisted of after school specials on safe sex. Wayne is allegedly from the “ghetto”, which explains why Lyal and Chris lose it when he tells his wrapping tube story.
Despite this, we come up with a pretty decent setting to play werewolves in. Can you handle the Werepocalypse?
