The word is Eidolon, which is the name of the city where the Ghost Market is located, which is the new setting Keith is creating for Daggerheart, which was announced at GenCon. The nerds discuss how things went at GenCon, as well as ComicCon, which Keith attended this year. Then they discuss their favorite time travel destinations. Moving on to media, Andy comments on the first couple of episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and Keith talks about reading Annihilation. Lastly, they drop the Spoiler Curtain to discuss the first book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.

Episode 365: The Currency of Fear

A World Where Everyone Is Awesome

This week the word is canal, because Andy just had a root canal. The nerds tell stories about both teeth and canals. Then they discuss their favorite dogs! These topics take a lot of time. Toward the end they each report on work stuff and talk a little about TV they’re watching, specifically Rings of Power, Time Bandits, and Agatha All Along.

Space Food Marathon

The word is bars, in particular candy bars. The nerds spend a lot of time talking about their favorites, including limits on what counts as a candy bar, discontinued favorites, and recent trends. They also touch on bars, coffeeshops, and cafes. Then they discuss what topic of favorite stuff to discuss next, and debate the issues involved in naming a favorite movie. Next Keith talks about work stuff, including his patreon RPG that featured a special guest star, and his upcoming appearance on D&D in a castle. Andy mentions that the Looney Oracle just went to the printer, and talks a little about what the Oracle is. Lastly, Keith talks about the You Tube interview show Hot Ones.

The word is charcuterie, so the nerds start by sharing their thoughts on charcuterie boards. Andy announces that Leila is taking over the job of doing the sound editing on this show, then they talk about Hearts and Whist and Icehouse and Magic. Keith reports on GameHoleCon and shares his spoiler-free thoughts about Bodies and Loki Season 2. After dropping the spoiler curtain, they discuss the finale of Season 4 of Lower Decks, with a few added thoughts about the Fall of the House of Usher and The Last of Us.

The Download Podcast Tracks

The word is leftovers so the nerds talk about leftovers of various sorts, including pizza, mac&cheese, french fries, and a TV series from a few years ago called The Leftovers. Andy talks a little about binging Breaking Bad, and Keith gives his impressions of the endings of Succession and Ted Lasso. This ends up leading to yet another conversation about Star Wars, followed by yet another conversation about tarot decks. Other topics include robot baristas, automated emissions testing, and the pending take-over of society by AIs. Lastly, they drop the Spoiler Curtain to get into a more in-depth discussion of The Leftovers.

Spoiler Warning: Contains Spoilers

This week the word is Android. The nerds discuss their favorite androids, the differences between an android and a cyborg, what it means to be an human, etc. Next they discuss Justice League and Doom Patrol. After the spoiler warning, they discuss chapter 7.5 of S., and the first episodes of Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Raised by Wolves.

SPOILER WARNING: contains spoilers.

This week the word is SpaceOpera. First the nerds discuss various types of operas before focusing in on the various types of Space Operas. They also talk about Rock Operas, Horse Operas, Klingon Operas and Planetary Romances. Turning to work, they talk about ideas they’ve been having for running games for people using Zoom and such. Keith talks about the start of season 4 of Fargo, and shares his excitement about the new Right Stuff series that’s about to launch, plus Archer and Bob’s Burgers. Then they drop the spoiler curtain to talk about Star Trek: Lower Decks, before circling back to space operas again. Lastly, Keith complains about Animal Babies.

SPOILER WARNING: contains spoilers.

This week the word is Misunderstanding. Andy explains the point of confusion that led to an odd choice for the cartoon that happened a couple of weeks ago, and yammers about movies featuring VW Beetles, including Bumblebee, the Cars movies, and in particular, Herbie the Love Bug. Keith talks about The Repair Shop and things that make him feel old. He also talks about Knives Out and Rian Johnson’s style as a director, which gets both of them ranting about Star Wars movies again. They each talk a little about their current work projects, then they discuss a book called Ship of Theseus. After the spoiler warning they discuss The Witcher and The Mandalorian.

Spoiler warning: Contains Spoilers!

This week the word is Heist! The guys discuss classic heist movies and stories that follow the heist formula but aren’t usually thought of as heist stories. Keith describes a mind-melding heist RPG he’d like to run someday, and talks about the celebrity D&D game he just returned from filming. After the spoiler warning they discuss Mandalorian episodes 4-6, the season 1 finale of Watchmen, and Rick and Morty.

Spoiler warning: Contains Spoilers!

A note about this week’s cartoon: For those who may not recognize him, that’s Kylie from Fantastic Mr. Fox. But why Kylie and not Bilbo? We were confused too so we asked Goodloe. Turns out that since he just goes by the title and blurb when creating these cartoons, he didn’t realize the title was meant to refer to The Hobbit, and its 13 person team, and instead thought of The Lord of the Rings and the team of 9 that Gandalf anchors there. Then, as Goodloe explains, “Gandalf’s 13 would be playing off the trope of Oceans 11, 12, 13 etc where they add some weird tie in actor each sequel. So by the time they got to sequel 5 from the original 9 members of the fellowship it would be scraping the bottom of the sequel barrel and who else would be the worst member to add to the fellowship of the ring but the least capable member of another heist film.”

This week the word is Atlantis. Andy talks at length about a book called Fingerprints of the Gods. Then they talk a little about game design stuff before moving on to media. Keith talks about Carnival Row, the new Dark Crystal series, and season 3 of Legion. Then Andy talks about camping in his truck and seeing a few sights during his long drive back from Burning Man. Keith reminisces about the time he found himself at a creepy motel in remote Canada, and sends along a few photos. Lastly, Andy talks about another book he read during his travels, called Under the Red Sea Sun.