All posts filed under “Time Travel

Episode 117: You Really Don’t Need ‘em When You Don’t Need ‘em, But When you Need ‘em, You Really Need ‘em!

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Andy & Keith are back from GenCon and begin by telling GenCon stories, with Keith’s including Traveler’s Rest beforehand plus general life-in-a-van-with-a-pug stories, and Andy describing the total eclipse of the sun he got to see on the way home. In between they discuss they ups and downs and reading reviews of their games, and Andy talks about a small gameplay issue he’d like to make to the Creepers in Firefly Fluxx. They also talk about the samples of fantasy money they picked up at GenCon from a game called Shadows of Esteren, which leads to a discussion of currency design, and of course, game design. Later topics include Space Age Bachelor Pad Music, the newer works of They Might Be Giants, and the differences between dogs and cats. Then they brainstorm ideas for a game about cryonically frozen heads hoping their investments allow them to buy good replacement bodies upon resuscitation, and an idea for a Star Trek sitcom starring the cryonically-revived trio of characters from 20th century who appeared in TNG Season 1, Episode 26. Lastly, the guys give non-spoilery reactions to the newest episodes of Rick & Morty and Game of Thrones.

Episode 116: Sorry Bob, You’re the Cleric

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Keith talks about his Vanagon and the summer tour he and Jenn are about to embark upon, and Andy talks about his upcoming travel plans, including GenCon, the eclipse, and Burning Man. Keith talks about getting his hands on his first real copy of his Scott Pilgrim game, and about the status of Action Cats! Andy talks about a totally new card game he just invented, which uses just 23 cards and which he’s really excited about. They drop some Rick & Morty references, including the meaning of Getting Schwifty, and Keith mentions the most recent Game of Thrones. Andy talks about his aversion to depicts of violence, and how animation somehow makes it more tolerable. Keith goes off on a bit of a rant about Clerics, which includes stories from an Over the Edge campaign in which Kristin played a particularly fascinating character. This leads to a discussion about how to deal with “Alpha gamers,” in RPGs as well as regular tabletop games. Lastly, they discuss the most recent episode of Rick & Morty at length.

Episode 110: Eyeballs or Vomit of Death?

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First, Keith talks about his new van, the first real copy of Illimat. and the upcoming start of his Action Cats kickstarter. They yammer about the issues around owning an older car. Keith talks about an unpublished role-playing game which employs Tarot cards, called The Nightwood Society, by a friend of his friend named Dan. Keith talks about a new board game called Potion Explosion, which leads to a discussion of the vintage 3DO videogame called Trip’D. Media topics include Moana, The Man in the High Castle, Twin Peaks, Dreamland, Falling Water, and after dropping the spoiler curtain, they talk about the finale of Fargo. Andy again reminds Keith that he really needs to watch Rick & Morty, and further calls him out for having an attitude against animation.

SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers inside!

Episode 109: Sentient Poodles

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First, Keith talks about the van he just purchased, which they named Knut. They then get into a lengthy discussion about the rules of an imaginary world in which a role-playing game takes place and the role of the game-master — if any — in such a game. They compare RPGs to Improv and discuss how limitations versus openness-to-anything are both important. Keith talks about how he and his wife both enjoy costume dramas, and Andy talks about how much he enjoyed the fifth season of Orange Is The New Black. Keith talks a little about shows he thinks little of (Legends of Tomorrow, American Gods, and the new Twin Peaks) and shows he loves (Legion and Fargo).

Episode 106: Detachable Sleeves

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First the guys get kind of heavy and serious, discussing the aging process as it is affecting each of their fathers. They also talk about the process of choosing titles for these shows. Then they talk about work stuff, and fake-work stuff, and they each discuss their plans for seeing the total eclipse of the sun this summer, along with GenCon, Burning Man events Andy attends, and Keith’s Illimat Road Tour. Andy talks for awhile about a cool woman he’s been hanging out with lately, named Sleevs. Keith talks about how awesome the Google Translate app is when on travel in a foreign country, and also describes hearing a performance on a musical instrument called a handpan. This leads to Andy discussing one of his favorite objects, a pocket-sized sound sculpture by Reinhold Marxhausen called Stardust. Media topics discussed this time include The Americans, Twin Peaks, Fargo, True Detective, The White Princess, and the trailer for the new Star Trek series (with its strange new Klingons).

Episode 105: Time Spanks Tom Hanks

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First Keith talks about his recent trip to Portugal, where, among other things, he enjoyed seeing the roof cats of Porto. They discuss the mystery of why we have different names for foreign geographic locations than the names used by the people who actually live in those places. Keith mentions a couple of books including Anno Dracula and Last Call. Andy reports on some of the stuff going on at Looney Labs, then talks about TARDIS technology and the time traveler known as The Plumber. They discuss Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 without being very spoilery, along with The Americans, Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans, Rouge One, and the BBC series from the 80’s called The Tripods.

Episode 101: Ready Player 101

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First the guys talk about cats. Then they talk about playing video games, with Keith rambling on about the Mass Effect series. Then they talk about cats some more. Next, they discuss time travel shows, specifically the just-canceled Time After Time, Making History, and episode 3 of Dimension 404. Next, they talk about cats again. After that, they get into a lengthy, spoiler-filled discussion of the book, Ready Player One, followed by a spoilery discussion of the most recent episode of the Americans. Lastly, they talk about racism in fantasy worlds, with one more mention of cats.

SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers inside.

Episode 99: Time Travelers Are The new Vampires

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After a short discussion of sci-fi conventions both recent and long ago, Keith and Andy spend most of the episode discussing media. First, Keith points out just how many time travel shows are currently on the air, comparing this time travel overload to the overuse of vampires in recent media. Then they spend a lot of time discussing the new series Time After Time, followed by an in-depth discussion of Legion. Spoilers abound throughout most of this episode!

SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers Inside!

Episode 97: The 7th Voyage of JoCo

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Keith and Andy are fresh off the boat having had a grand time on the seventh Jonathan Coulton Cruise. Topics include the new improved game room, Andy winning Andy vs Everybody, Keith playtesting his new games (Project Ex and Action Cats), Andy playtesting his newest Fluxx prototype (Space Fluxx), and of course, the onboard entertainment, with particular shout outs to Song Exploder, the What’s Your F***ing Problem panel, and Greg Benson’s Morning Show.

Episode 96: Designer Whiplash

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First the guys talk about the JoCo cruise, for which they depart in just a few days. Then Andy talks about Toy Fair and the newest products Looney Labs was showing off there, including Andy’s Amsterdam Coffeeshop coffee table book, which he’s been working on a lot recently. Andy talks about “Designer Whiplash,” a game inventor’s problem in which playtesters get burned out by too many rule changes. Keith talks about his newest RPG project, which he’s hoping to have more replayability than most RPGs which can only be played once. He also talks about Project Ex, which will no longer be secret within weeks, and Andy teases his new game Time Breaker. Moving on to media, they discuss the Batman Lego Movie, Legion, Powerless, This is Us, Emerald City, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.