Episode 213: Campaign Confessions: D&D 5E Part 2: Pirates

Posted on November 20, 2018 by Idle Red Hands

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me
We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot
Drink up, me ‘earties, yo ho
~~We kidnap and ravage and don’t give a hoot~~
We definitely give a hoot about our players’ comfort levels at the table
Drink up me ‘earties, yo ho (If you want to drink. No pressure.)
– “Yo Ho (A 21st-century Pirate’s Life for Me)”

In the second part of our discussion of Dungeons and Dragons 5e and our pirate campaign, we talk about how to play pirates in a fantasy roleplaying setting. We also discuss our collaborative world-building session.

Avast ye! Here be piratey accents. Yuv bin warrn’d. Arrrrrr!

Episode 190: Festivals

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Idle Red Hands

“Memento mori.” (Remember you will die.)
-the famous phrase whispered in the ear of a victorious general during a triumph
“Shut the f**k up.”
-the less famous response

With hanami (cherry blossom viewing) still fresh in their minds, Wayne and Lyal discuss festivals and the questions you need to ask yourself when including them in your game. We also discuss Savage Rifts (guitar riff), the game that threatens to break the Internet.

Episode 145: Crap Movies, Great Games

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Idle Red Hands

We’ve all been there. Your evening starts with such promise. Then, ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes into a movie, you realize that the movie is going to suck – hard. A crap movie hurts in so many ways: sadness, loss of time and money, boredom.
Idle Red Hands can help. Idle Red Hands is a prescription podcast that treats many symptoms of crap movies by showing you how elements of them can be turned into great games. Don’t let crap movies crap on you.

*Tell your doctor right away if your boredom worsens, you have unusual changes in behavior (besides better games), you have thoughts of suicide, or you find Wayne’s jokes funny. Side effects may include backache, earache, and nausea. If you have an allergic reaction, such as hives, rash, or swelling of the lips, stop listening and consult your doctor.

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 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 103: Prequels

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Idle Red Hands

Peter Parker before being bitten by a radioactive spider, the first 33 years of Frodo Baggins’ life, moisture farming on Tatooine. Aren’t these the stories that we should be telling?

In this episode, we discuss the benefits and drawbacks of running a prequel and the different ways that you can do so.

Episode 97: Creature Feature: Fairies

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Idle Red Hands

In this installment of Creature Features, we get in the Christmas spirit (kind of) and talk about fairies, except for elves (okay, not at all). We discuss different elements you can use in your game, which apparently includes David Bowie’s bulging crotch (all that Wayne remembered from Labyrinth).
We also finally settle the question of which was the best superhero movie of 2012: The Dark Knight Rises or The Avengers.

Lyal tries a new microphone and literally sounds like he’s phoning it in instead of metaphorically (as usual). Funny how the microphone picks up the sound of ice dropping into a glass from three metres away with perfect clarity, but struggles to pick up a voice from three centimetres away. Looks like it’s back to the sound board.

Episode 76: Rogues: Black Marketeers

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Idle Red Hands

“In the criminal Idle Red Hands system, Rogues will be separated into two separate yet equally important groups: the crimes and the people who commit them. These are their stories.”

The month of debuts gets another debut! This time, it’s Rogues, a look at criminals and the crimes they commit. We look at the proud noble tradition of deal dealers, gunrunners and pimps (and those guys that sold jeans and Beatles records in the Soviet Union). Believe it or not, we actually suggest how to play black marketeers. Chris tries to cheat by recommending a “black” marketeer who provides food to the starving, but Wayne and Lyal put a stop to that nonsense.

Episode 72: Pantheon Pandemonium: Egypt

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Idle Red Hands

A lion, crocodile and hippopotamus walks into a bar. Oh, did I mention that this is just one demon?
In this addition to Pantheon Pandemonium, we look at the Egyptians. As you would expect, we don’t talk about pyramids and mummies barely get a mention. Instead, we discuss ma’at, ka, ba, the Book of the Dead, some hippopotamus-lion-crocodile demon, and gay marriage.

Plus: D&D Next Diary

Episode 68: Apocalypse Part 2

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Idle Red Hands

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
– Winston Churchill

Was Churchill talking about World War Two or a game of Axis and Allies?
With an apocalypse, the end is not really the end either. In fact, it’s where the fun really begins, if radiation sickness, starvation and sterility could be called “fun”.
In this episode, we talk about the post-apocalypse, including zombies, vampires, farmers, and Sam Gamgee’s second favourite topic.

Special Note: The Novel which Chris refers to, in which weapons are used to remove information from matter, is titled “The Gone-Away World” by Nick Harkaway.

Idle Red Hands

A Podcast From Japan About Games and Gamer Culture

Tag Archives: Changeling: The Lost (RPG)