Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

In the Gaming Hut we get started quickly by asking how much background detail players want in a pregenerated character. Making good on a promise from episode 696, the Archaeology Hut checks out another possible inspiration for the labyrinth, the complex at Gortyn. Beloved Patreon backer Nicolaj convenes the Narrative Hut for a look at melodrama and how it differs from drama. Finally the Eliptony Hut gives you what you need to know to discourse knowledgeably about the recent drop of Pentagon UFO files. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; di

Ken and Robin celebrate the astounding 700th episode milestone of their eponymous podcast by once again answering listeners’ LIGHTNING ROUNNNNDD!!! questions. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. Big news from mission control! If you missed out the first time, don’t panic. The wait is over: the CatStronauts board game is finally back in stock at Atlas Games! The first printing disappeared at lightspeed! Don’t let this reprint of CatStronauts slip through your claws. Make room on your shelf and in your heart for Page Turners, Robin’s game of dramatic interaction for one player and one GM, coming soon from Pelgrane Press. Explore the intensity of emotional storytelling driven by a single protagonist with scenarios rang

We’re really in the Gaming Hut, honest, as beloved Patreon backer Ben Brighoff asks for deepfake plot hooks. Estimable backer Alexander Arebalo requests an Architecture Hut look at Berkeley CA’s People’s Park. The Stock Character Hut looks at the history and symbolism of the big lug. Finally the Consulting Occultist fulfills a previous promise to cover Arabic geomancy. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <hr

The Gaming Hut looks at the key difference in scenario design, between what happens to the player characters, and what they can do. The Tradecraft Hut checks into a classic London spy world location, St. Ermin’s Hotel. Still in London, the Food Hut unpeels the 1633 banana astonishment. Finally Conspiracy Corner engages in flightless Canadian content by unpacking the curious tale of the British Columbia ostrich cull. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/0

Taking inspiration from a previously dropped idle phrase, the Gaming Hut proudly presents Dinosaur Flying Aces. At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Jake Maas, a home state edition of the Crime Blotter investigates Chinese mob involvement in Oklahoma grow farms. Estimable backer Mark K convenes the Cinema Hut to ask Robin to expand his comment about the structural issues of movie whodunnits. Finally, the Eliptony Hut seizes the chance to cover a fresh new example of alleged US military super-tech, the Ghost Murmur Device. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-lef

The Gaming Hut advises players assigned the role of ringer or traitor. The Archaeology Hut tours the Papoura Hill Circular Structure in Crete, recently added to the list of possible inspirations for the labyrinth myth. Ripped from the Headlines looks at Nepal’s fake mountain rescue scam. Finally Ken’s Time Machine reveals what 11th century England looks like without one of history’s most notable murderous weasels, Eadric Streona. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutst

In the Gaming Hut we wonder what encumbrance rules would look like if they were fun. The History Hut profiles a figure who appears in Ballad Hunters, the servant who passed herself off as a Javanese royal, Princess Caraboo. The Horror Hut looks at the installation horror sub-genre. Finally the Consulting Occultist gives us the lowdown on frequently arrested Elizabethan magician Simon Forman. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Robin-Spacer.p

The Gaming Hut provides tips for staying true to the path of the doom as a player in Page Turners. The Monster Hut ventures into the forest for a meeting with its protector, the curupira. Finally Ken’s Bookshelf paws over a mere half of the plunder from Ken’s recent Bay area shopping excursions. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. Meowtropolis, the brand-new superhero setting for the Magical Kitties Save the Day RPG is Kick

In the Gaming Hut Ken recaps his just-concluded, seven year long FALL OF DELTA GREEN campaign. At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Sam Harris, the Culture Hut reveals why there had to be two separate blues titans named Sonny Boy Williamson. The Narrative Hut wonders if a credible motivation for murder is necessary for a proper whodunnit. Finally the Eliptony Hut profiles Edwardian parapsychologist Harry Price. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05

At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Manfred Gabriel, the Gaming Hut shows how to keep the heat on the PCs when they’re on the run. Whether he’s a legend, an alias, a symbol, or as in Ballad Hunters, a supernatural being, the Mythology Hut knows all about General Ned Ludd. The Stock Character Hut withers under the gaze of the stern matriarch. Finally, under orders from estimable backer Anders Gabrielsson, Ken’s Time Machine arranges the wider adoption of Sherlock Holmes’ favored martial art, bartitsu. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margi

The Gaming Hut entertains a salty take as we wonder whether GMs who say rules don’t matter are actually using them in the first place. Beloved Patreon backer Pagurus unrolls a Cartography Hut segment on maps and deception, as revealed in Mark Monmonier’s How to Lie With Maps. Equally beloved backer Irène Delse invokes her Tell Me More powers for a Book Hut segment on the theft rings that preyed on northeastern US libraries in the 1930s, as detailed in Travis McDade’s Thieves of Book Row. Finally the Consulting Occultist regales you with miracles attributed to Pythagoras. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Ken-spacer.png"

The Gaming Hut takes you through the process of devising a supporting cast for a Page Turners scenario. At the behest of beloved Patreon backer bt, the Crime Blotter ponders the ritual significance of the flower-bedecked effigy at the funeral of Chicago mobster Mike Merlo. Finally, as is their wont at awards time in the Cinema Hut, Ken and Robin share their top ten movies of 2025. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. Meowtropolis, the brand

In the Gaming Hut we explain why idiot plotting is an even bigger problem in tabletop rpgs than fiction or movies. At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Ginge the Tradecraft Hut rips the lid off of the submarine exploit that was Project Azorian. The Mythology Hut goes to the woods to reveal the surprising truth about the Green Man. Finally the Eliptony Hut profiles recently departed pseudoarcheaology promoter Erich von Daniken. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff

In the Gaming Hut we create a Page Turners protagonist. At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Charles Picard the Architecture Hut examines the work of Julia Taylor, from the Chapel of the Chimes to Hearst Castle. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Robin talks to Tristan Zimmerman about his game Ballad Hunters, a GUMSHOE Labs game Kickstarting soon from Pelgrane Press. Finally estimable backer Sam Harris assigns Ken’s Time Machine to find out what would have happened if Sun Records music producer Sam Phillips’ peace overture to Cuba had worked out as he hoped. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.</p

The Gaming Hut starts us off with a contemplation of introductory adventures. The Horror Hut unearths the surely vampiric backstory of a loin-cloth clad 4th century Saracen warrior whose spectacular blood-drinking turned the Visigoths from the gates of Constantinople. The Stock Character Hut celebrates the release of Page Turners with a look at the disapproving father. Finally at the behest of beloved Patreon backer Bart Mallio the Consulting Occultist reveals all about the magic of chess. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: bloc

We start in the Gaming Hut by looking at providing clues to players. In the History Hut we ask which saint had the highest body count. Was it Norway’s heavily armed St. Olaf, or someone else? Finally the Ken’s Bookshelf recalls a previously undocumented raid on NYC’s Strand Books. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. Roleplayers need new GMs and thanks to Atlas Games they have the purr-fect way to celebrate New GMs month, as if it is a piece of paper tied to a string: the Magical Kitties Roleplaying Game. Go to NewGameMasterMonth.com to sign up for the totally free seminar. <img decod

Before beloved Patreon backer Sikander can betray us, the Gaming Hut answers his question about the Mr. Johnson trope in roleplaying games. Special guests Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and James Wallis join us in the Mythology Hut for a paradoxology quiz. Which weird beliefs from ancient Greek and Roman texts are authentic to those texts, and which were made up by Robin to fool our contestants? How to Write Good shows you how to write compelling exposition, by giving it emotional significance. Finally at the behest of estimable backers Paul and Clio Bushland, the Eliptony Hut studies the Greenbrier Ghost case, alleged to be the only instance of testimony from beyond the grave leading to a murder conviction. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/0

Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More. Recommended Blue Moon (Film, US, Richard Linklater, 2025) Needy lyricist Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) struggles to keep his insecurities in check at the Sardi’s after-party celebrating the Broadway opening of Oklahoma!, for which his erstwhile partner Richard Rogers (Andrew Scott) replaced him with a new, less brilliant, more reliable collaborator. Contemporary acting’s greatest talker masterfully and movingly holds court as Linklater uses close-ups and movement to alchemize an apparently stagey script into crackling cinema.—RDL Chain Reactions (Film, US, Alexandre O. Philippe, 2025) Five horror authorities—comedian Patton Oswalt, critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, writer Stephen King and filmmakers Takashi Miike and Karyn Kusama—discuss the personal and cultural impact of Tobe Hooper’s convention-shattering Texas Chain Saw Massacre. In a fruitful formal move, Philippe, rather than intersperse the commentary of many talking heads, shapes each interview into its own separate spoken essay.—RDL Good News (Film, South Korea, Byun Sung-hyun, 2025) When excitable young Red Army Faction hijackers try to divert an outbound Tokyo flight to Pyongyang, an oddball KCIA fixer (Sul Kyung-gu) enlists a straight arrow army air traffic controller (Hong Kyung) in a scheme to land them in the south. Satirical docudrama takes jabs at official opportunism while also bubbling away as a process thriller.—RDL Left-Handed Girl (Film, Taiwan/US, Shih-Ching Tsou, 2025) A beleaguered noodle stall owner (Janel Tsai) with two daughters, one a headstrong young adult (Shih-Yuan Ma), the other an adorable moppet who has been convinced one of her hands serves the devil (Nina Ye), struggles to get by in Taipei. Brightly digital slice-of-life drama ineluctably builds into a classic explosion of family secrets. Tsou makes her feature debut after acting for many years as producing partner of Sean Baker, who serves here as co-writer and editor.—RDL The Secret Agent (Film, Brazil/France/Germany/Netherlands, Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2025) A man (Wagner Moura) hiding out in Recife, Brazil, during the military dictatorship tries to keep attention off him long enough to get out of the country with his son. Deliberately told in several narrative modes, including weird urban legend, 70s crime flick, and bald (almost soap-operatic) declamation, this movie depends on Moura’s chameleon, low-key acting for the viewer’s trust. Throughout, Mendonça Filho plays with film and time, layering information slowly, but always communicating the most through his shots. I suspect this will repay multiple viewings.—KH Till Death Do Us Part (Fiction, John Dickson Carr, 1944) Richard Markham discovers his fiancee is a serial killer, or is she? And if she’s innocent, who killed the man who fingered her, with her own supposed m.o.? (Which is of course a seeming suicide in a locked room.) Carr pulls at least four complete narrative U-turns in this short novel, with Gideon Fell simply outraced rather than out-thought by the killer. A vertiginous tour de force of misdirection, its sheer artificiality of structure almost foreshadows the admittedly contrived solution to the murder.—KH Good Short Night of Glass Dolls (Film, Italy/Yugoslavia, Aldo Lado, 1971) American reporter Gregory Moore (Jean Sorel) is found dead in Prague—but he’s actually alive inside his corpse, and trying desperately to remember how he got killed! With a setup like that and Barbara Bach as the mandatory vanished girlfriend, this plays less like a typical giallo and more like a conspiracy thriller, although the stop-and-start pacing mitigates the thrill quotient. I hear the new 4K version cleans up the muddy dialogue dubbing, which would be a distinct improvement.—KH Swoon (Film, US, Tom Kalin, 1992) Sexually obsessed with uncaring sociopath Richard Loeb (Daniel Schlachet), weak-willed ornithology student Nathan Leopold (Craig Chester) joins him in the thrill murder of a local boy. The first Leopold Loeb film to foreground the killers’ sexuality (although Compulsion hints at it as strongly as 1959 would allow) suffers from an inevitable lapse in focus after the two are sentenced and separated. Kalin makes a virtue of his scanty budget, weaving artificialities and staginess into his stark black-and-white shots and theatrical performances.—KH Okay The Running Man (Film, US, Edgar Wright, 2025) In an authoritarian near future, a screwed-over prole (Glen Powell) agrees to become the target in a deadly reality show run by a slick exec (Josh Brolin.) Satirical action remake is fun when it feels like an Edgar Wright movie, which isn’t often enough. Casting Powell as angry and intense leaves no room for the breezy charm essential to his star power.—RDL Seeing is Believing (Fiction, John Dickson Carr, 1941) Under hypnosis, and watched by four witnesses, Victoria Fane kills her husband with a dagger that minutes ago was harmless rubber. For once, Henry Merrivale isn’t the worst thing about a ‘Carter Dickson’ novel, although he’s plenty insufferable here. In addition to a fairly unbelievable howdunit, Carr also profoundly cheats in the opening section, ruining the whodunit as well. It’s a shame because the murder setup itself is vastly clever and original, but it’s wasted.—KH

In the Gaming Hut we reluctantly rouse ourselves to answer beloved Patreon backer Toonspew’s request for a look at the Church of the Sub-Genius. At the request of estimable backer Neon Fox, the History Hut finds the real story between the alleged temporal straddling of the S. S. Warrimoo. In the Food Hut we flavor the podcast with a dash of bitters. Finally Conspiracy Corner is just asking questions about the island of Bermeja, which some say was killed by the CIA. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="https://

In the Gaming Hut we look at the sorts of stories that work as Page Turners scenarios. The Archaeology Hut digs into the case of the Russian archaeologist arrested in Poland for damaging the Crimean site of Myrmekion. In Ask Ken and Robin, beloved Patreon backer Fred Kiesche asks Robin to talk about his role as Creative Director at Pelgrane Press. Finally Ken’s Time Machine peers into the alternate timeline where Bugsy Siegel wasn’t talked out of rubbing out Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Goering at an Italian party. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right:

The Gaming Hut follows up a previous pedagogical segment by wondering what a course syllabus for tabletop rpg development and editing might look cover. The Crime Blotter peers at the surprisingly long list of criminal forensics techniques that fail to meet scientific standards. The Stock Character Hut looks at that perennial force for narrative chaos, the wastrel. Finally the Eliptony Hut makes good on our earlier prediction that we would profile cartographic prophet of pole shifting Gordon-Michael Scallion. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float:

As you may have heard in our previous episode, a mysterious technical event ate our recording of our live episode at this year’s Dragonmeet. In the face of this tragedy we prevail with a not at all convincing recreation of the in-person event, with better sound quality and much worse applause. The Nerdtrope Deck demands that Ken explain the connection between Moses and Space Opera. Reconstructed Gaming Hut questions include how games reflect the current zeitgeist, ideal GM screens, overcoming first time GM jitters, and non-traditional cultist plots. Other huts dealt with the iconic nature of ducks, fantasy film guilty pleasures, the Dubai pistachio fad, and nice things to put in bread. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise <a href="https://www

The Gaming Hut wonders what would happen in an F20 world where the smoke from burned magic scrolls produced a potent intoxication? Thanks to the Secret Maps exhibition at the British Library, the Travel Advisory veers into the Cartography Hut. Which means we must be back from London, occasioning our annual UK edition of Ken’s Bookshelf—this time with a shocking twist! Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. The official CatStronauts board game features cooperative play that’s only 30-45 minutes long, for 1-4 players ages 10+. Designed and illustrated by Cat

Beloved Patreon backer Ben A. takes the Gaming Hut to New York’s Chinatown in 1973 for tips on a game that mixes triads with the Bruce Lee legacy. Estimable backer Philip Masters gains access to the Tradecraft Hut for an account of a recently busted spy ring run by previous subject Jan Marsalek. How to Write Good provides tips on cutting an rpg submission when you’ve run over the assigned word count. Finally the Consulting Occultist fills us in on Douglas MacArthur’s role in Korean shamanism. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <

In the Gaming Hut we look at a core part of the rpg designer’s skill set, table sense, or the ability to predict what players will do with your material. The Mythology Hut tells the story of a historical figure reputed to turn invisible, Qin Dynasty consort Zhongli Chun. The Word Hut hosts a game of Jonson, Marlowe, or Shakespeare, in which Ken must guess which Elizabethan playwright claims the first attested use of various common words. Finally Ken’s Time Machine answers the question: which of Morton the Regent’s murders would, if prevented, exert the greatest change on the timeline? Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="h

Beloved Patreon backer Darcy Casselman summons us to the Gaming Hut in search of tips on playing a gestalt or troupe-style leader character, such as a starship captain. The Architecture Hut peers at Sibiu, Transylvania, the town of 7,300 eyes. Try to keep a lid on it as the Stock Character Hut looks at the hothead. Finally the Ken’s Time Machine finds out what happens when Magellan fails to quell a 1520 mutiny against him. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/wp-content/uploads

In the Gaming Hut we examine the principle of design by subtraction. The Crime Blotter investigates the career of thief turned detective Eugène-Francois Vidocq. We wrap up the Cinema Hut Fantasy Film Essentials series with some late-breaking indie titles and a look back at what we learned. Finally the Eliptony Hut tunes into Bernard Kazhinsky’s brain radio. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. The official <a h

The Gaming Hut continues its preview of Robin’s new game Page Turners with a demonstration of scene calling choices. The History Hut takes a garden stroll to look at ornamental hermits. A great wasteland is traversed in the Cinema Hut as the Fantasy Film Essentials series shoots from 2011 to nearly the present day. Finally at the behest of beloved Patreon backer Irène Delse, Fun with Science reveals the real truth behind the Grue Jay. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/wp-co

With the print run imminent for Page Turners, Robin’s new game of dramatic interaction for one player and one GM, the Gaming Hut takes it for a spin, with Ken defining the unmet needs of his jazz age protagonist. Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else features Ken’s chat with Matt Orr of Wet Ink Games. The Cinema Hut Fantasy Essentials Series reaches this century, and the trilogy that brought the genre to its apex—and maybe also killed it? Finally the Consulting Occultist, at the behest of beloved Patreon backer Jason Thompson, looks at the esoteric side of filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky. CW: sexual assault. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise <a href="https://www.teepublic.com/use

The Gaming Hut pays tribute to Halloween by envisioning a game pitting classic monsters against the non-Euclidean horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos. The Cinema Hut Fantasy Film Essentials series rounds out the 1990s. And the loss of Portland bibliophiles is our hero’s gain as Ken’s Bookshelf groans with his recent Powell’s Books purchases. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. The official CatStronauts board game features cooperative play that’s only 30-45 minutes long, for 1-4 players ages 10+. Designed and illustrated by CatStronauts comic book creator Drew Brockington and available now from Atlas Games! <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="https://www.kenandrobintal

Now that Ken has finally seen it, beloved Patreon backer Justin Mohareb can pitch his Kpop Demon Hunters question to the Gaming Hut: how could it be used as a game, and how would that be a Feng Shui campaign? Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else features a chat with Richard Ruane, designer of Sherwood and Moonlight on Rosewood Beach. Fantasy Film Essentials of the late 90s screen in the Cinema Hut. Finally estimable backer Mark Kenney assigns Ken’s Time Machine to keep Benedict Arnold on the side of the American Revolution. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style

The Gaming Hut examines parallels between killer dungeons and horror movie slashers. Impelled by beloved Patreon backer Jurie Horneman, the Tradecraft Hut looks at the career of financial fraudster turned Russian operative Jan Marsalek. The Cinema Hut’s fantasy film essential series continues to bask in the golden era of the 1990s. Finally the Conspiracy Corner takes a good squint at the medbed theory. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/20

The Gaming Hut looks at the peace paradox, in which players successfully negotiate their way out of a conflict and then feel let down by the anti-climactic result. Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else features Lyla Fujiwara, project lead on the Cosmere RPG. The fantasy film essentials series returns to the Cinema Hut for a bumper crop of late 80s classics. Finally at the behest of beloved Patreon backer Gray St. Quintin, the Eliptony Hut explores the rich weirdness of Cambridge. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block

The Gaming Hut becomes a pit stop as beloved Patreon backer Aser Tolentino asks how a tabletop game might reproduce the spectacle of Formula One racing. In the History Hut we ask if Elizabeth Bathory was framed. Robin shares his KARTAS-friendly discoveries from this year’s Robin and Valerie International Film Festival in the Cinema Hut. Finally at the behest of estimable backer Bob J. Koester, Ken’s Time Machine gets mixed up with that most fossilized of controversies, the Prototaxites Feud. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: blo

In the Gaming Hut we wonder what might appear on a tabletop roleplaying design course curriculum. At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Charles Picard the History Hut looks at the Welsh settlement in Patagonia. Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else features Elliot Davis, designer of Rom Com Drama Bomb, and such solo games as Paint the Town Red: Mourning After and HUNT(er/ed) – ACCEPT(deny). Finally the Consulting Occultist answers a request from estimable backer Michael Maneval for a profile of cosmically illuminated sculptor and painter Walter Russell. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.

Recorded live at Gen Con, Ken, special guest co-host Darcy Ross and a cameo from Robin’s disembodied voice, this extra-special episode features the obligatory nerdtrope deck plus meatloaf secrets, Templar channeling points, Indiana’s mythos patron, and onesies for goth infants. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. The official CatStronauts board game features cooperative play that’s only 30-45 minutes long, for 1-4 players ages 10+. Designed and illustrated by CatStronauts comic book creator Drew Brockington and available now from Atlas Games! A global mythos conspiracy ensnares the player characters in The Borellus Connection, Pelgrane Press’ new Fall of DELTA Green mega-campaign by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and Kenneth Hite. Journey in the guise of federal narcotics agents to Saigon, Beirut, Prague and Bozukepe. Buy it for your GM and demand that she run it today! <img decoding="async" style="marg

In the spirit of the episode number, we kick off a demons and devils special in the Gaming Hut. Robin pitches Ken three ideas for a game with demon PCs; Ken picks one and we flesh it out. In the Mythology Hut we figure out what the big deal is with the number 666 anyway. The Monster Hut provides a modicum of shelter from the tree dwelling winged spirit/demon of Akan folklore, the sasabonsam. Finally the Consulting Occultist recounts the career of prolific author and demonologist Jacques Collin de Plancy, author of the Infernal Dictionary. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margi

Clutch your stakes and polish your silver bullets as the Gaming Hut looks at the special vulnerabilities that allow player characters to defeat monsters. In the Stock Character Hut, we look at a key type essentials to Robin’s upcoming game Page Turners, the confidant. The Cinema Hut Fantasy Essentials series returns to solid footing as it reaches the late 80s. Finally beloved Patreon backer Allen Wilkins demands Fun With Science as he asks if sterile neutrinos are in fact the mysterious elipton. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/wp-content/upload

In the Gaming Hut we look at how the unsatisfying nature of real life persuasion leads to player dissatisfaction with social combat systems. In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Ken sits down the Pat Mooney of Flagbearer Games. The Cinema Hut Fantasy Essentials Series reaches the heartbreaker era of the mid 80s. Finally the Eliptony Hut gazes at incoming celestial object 3I/Atlas, which to the eyes of one maverick astronomer looks like maybe an alien technology. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="https://www.ken

Beloved Patreon backer Sikander orders and/or bribes the Gaming Hut into a discussion of game mechanics that require players to take in-genre actions versus those that offer rewards for doing so. At the behest of estimable backer David Sowa, the Tradecraft Hut peers into the world of private espionage organizations. Wielding Excaliburs both silly and serious, the Cinema Hut forges on with its Fantasy Essentials series from the 70s into the 80s. Finally Conspiracy Corner examines Mozart murder theories. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; d

Ken is back from Gen Con to share his main takeaways from the 2025 show in OUR latest Travel Advisory. The Cinema Hut fantasy film essentials series covers the early 1970s. Speaking of Gen Con, the ENnie Awards just celebrated their 25th anniversary. Organization director Stacy Muth joins Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else for a much-deserved victory lap. Finally Ken’s Time Machine gives our chrononaut the tricky assignment of adjusting one border change as the WWI allies conference after the war to reshape the map of Europe and beyond. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style

In the Gaming Hut we look at ways to run prelude scenes in scenarios, set before its main objective becomes apparent. The Word Hut gets judgmental as we look at archaic, obscure and rarely used words and decide which of them deserves to enter the general lexicon. Our Cinema Hut Fantasy Film Essentials Series covers all of the 1960s in one bold segment. Finally the Consulting Occultist fulfills beloved Patreon backer Christopher Hatty’s request for a profile of Theosophist turned Buddhist, opera singer turned suspected anarchist spy, Alexandra David-Néel. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="

The episode starts with a retreat to the Gaming Hut as we talk about the importance of a safe headquarters for player characters. The Command Hut looks at Aggressor, Krasnovia, and other fictional geopolitical adversaries used as targets in US military training maneuvers. The Cinema Hut’s Fantasy Film Essentials Series makes its way through the rest of the 1950s. Finally the Eliptony Hut recalls the Hammersmith ghost murder case. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/wp-content/

In the Gaming Hut we consider the two meanings of the term roleplaying. Through the joint auspices of Travel Advisory and the Culture Hut we profile surrealist occultist painter Ithell Colquhoun, subject a career retrospective show current at Tate Britain. The power of fantasy becomes the subject as the Cinema Hut’s Fantasy Essential Series turns the corner into the 1950s. Finally Ken’s Time Machine receives its most important mission ever, convincing Victorian arts critic John Ruskin to change a key term that really annoys Robin. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. <img decoding="async" style="margin-

Beloved Patreon backer Tennant Reed seeks Gaming Hut tips on scenarios where  the player characters discover that they’re not who they think they are. The Crime Blotter profiles Old West cattle rustler and creative evader of consequences Climax Jim Nephew. The Cinema Hut Fantasy Film Essentials series focuses on postwar tales of ghosts, love, and at least one beast. Finally the Consulting Occultist suggests traditions of immortality estimable backer Bob Grider might include in his Yellow King game.  Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; flo

Settle back for some Gaming Hut disambiguation as beloved Patreon backer Bart Mallio asks us to explain the difference between a setting and a campaign frame. The Mythos Hut listens to a conch and screams when estimable backer Ludovic Chabant seeks the Deep One shenanigans behind the Margate Shell Grotto. The Cinema Hut Fantasy Essentials series looks at wartime movies about ghosts, supernatural bureaucrats, and an exaggeration-prone Baron. Finally the Eliptony Hut examines the surely entirely verifiable legend of the Michigan dogman. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto;

The Gaming Hut gets informative as beloved Patreon backer Daiv Barr asks for campaign frames built around the librarian answer-seeking list Stumpers-L, aka Project Wombat. The Mythology Hut looks at St. Cuthbert, the historical Anglo-Saxon saint who became a D&D god.  Our Cinema Hut fantasy essential series continues with the early 40s. Finally Ken’s Time Machine surveys alternate histories that postpone Attila the Hun’s ignominious death. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. Stop gazing lovingly a

As assigned by an anonymous beloved Patreon backer, the Gaming Hut ponders a university urban fantasy campaign where the syllabuses matter as much as the sylphs. The History Hut retreats to the high ground to meet estimable backer Robert Wolfe’s request for the esoteric and gaming ramifications of Dayton’s Great Flood. Our Cinema Hut Fantasy Film Essentials series continues in the late 30s and rounds the corner into the 40s. Finally backer and sponsor John Kovalic asks the Consulting Occultist about 1960s blues rock musician Graham Bond, who considered himself the son of Aleister Crowley and feuded with rival magicians. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise <a href="https://ww

The Gaming Hut has stacked up the non-perishables and gas masks to answer beloved Patroen backer’s Jason Thompson about a campaign that starts on the day of the apocalypse. The Stock Character Hut returns to examine a trope with a truly ancient provenance, the wily servant. Part two of the Cinema Hut Fantasy Essentials Series picks up in the mid 1930s. Finally the Eliptony Hut ponders the chalky, suspicious artifact that is the Grime’s Graves Goddess. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="https://www.kenandrobintalkabo

In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Michael Cule wants to know more about the role dice play in roleplaying games. Fun With Science answers estimable backer Jurie Horneman’s request to look into a case of brain diagnosis by inner voices. The Cinema Hut kicks off our tour through Fantasy Film Essentials with the formative titles of the silent era. Finally in Ken’s Time Machine our resident chrononaut reveals the dread timelines prevented by his intervention in the sinking of the galleon San Jose during Wager’s Action. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic. <img decoding="async" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: