All posts filed under “Project Ex

Episode 202: The Adventure Place

This week the word is Adventure. The nerds talk about the definition of adventure and early computer games by that name. Keith talks about his progress on his Adventure Zone game, and Andy talks about converting the cardframes for older versions of Fluxx to the newer standard. A lengthy (and spoilery) discussion of Ken Grimwood’s book Replay then follows. Other topics include upcoming media, weird videos on the internet, and games by fast food restaurants. Lastly, they lower the spoiler curtain to discuss the first couple of episodes of season 4 of The Good Place.

SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

Episode 181: Talk to the Hat!

This week the word is travel. The nerds discuss various aspects of traveling as much as they do. Andy talks about his experiences at Pensacon and shares thoughts about giving copies of his games to celebrities who portrayed characters in those games. Keith talks about his upcoming trip to the UK. Other travel topics include really long trips, traveling alone, logistical planning, the window vs. aisle debate, and watching movies and trying to sleep on planes. Andy talks about progress on Jumanji Fluxx and tells the story of meeting the actor who played Peter in the original movie. Keith reports on his Action Pups! Kickstarter. Then they drop the spoiler curtain to discuss the latest episodes of the Orville and Star Trek: Discovery.

SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

Episode 178: Just Don’t Die

This week the word is afterlife. The nerds discuss all the various types of afterlife stories, including recent shows like The Good Place and Dead Like Me, other forms of life after death such as zombies, vampires, and ghosts, resurrection in role-playing games, and the question of whether or not people in Heaven have cell phones or Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Keith ponders a world where dead can routinely be brought back to life for a fixed price, and talks about the hard limit on extra lives he built into his game Phoenix: Dawn Command. Then they talk about changing forms during resurrections and other fantasy situations, and Andy recommends a couple of books and movies with unusual afterlife ideas. Then they discuss a recent theory that Luke was dead the whole time. After the spoiler warning, they talk again about the last episode of Babylon 5, along with the season 3 finale of The Good Place, and the newest episode of Star Trek Discovery and the Orville. Keith also talks about starting to watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

Episode 168: Deep Babylon 15

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This week the nerds talk about the number nine. They have at least nine thoughts about it. Andy has elaborate ideas for what he would do if he suddenly got the job of writing Star Wars Episode 9, then Keith tosses out his own ideas for how to finish the trilogy of Star Wars trilogies. Moving on to other media, Keith talks about a new show called Homecoming, and Andy gives his reactions to season 2 of Babylon 5, which they compare with Deep Space 9.

SPOILER WARNING: INCLUDES VINTAGE SPOILERS

Episode 167: What Do We Need Dice For?

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This week the nerds talk about the use of dice, or lack thereof, in role-playing games. Keith just got back from AmberCon with many tales of the games he played and ran there, and they discuss various RPG systems and how they use — or eschew — the roll of the dice. Media discussions include Homecoming, Babylon 5, and First Man.

Episode 164: The Quicksilver Dilemma

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This week the nerds take on the topic of time, and stories about characters who can stop time, slow time down, or, of course, travel through time. Specific subjects include Doctor Who, Hiro from Heroes, the Flash, Quicksilver from the X-men, Voyagers, the First Men in the Moon, Manifest, Seven Days, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Man in the High Castle, Fringe, Sliders, and others. At the end they lower the spoiler curtain to discuss the most recent episodes of The Good Place and Manifest.

SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

Episode 135: I Was a Teenage Scamp

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First Keith reports on his recent trip to his hometown of Ithaca NY. Andy mentions that this year’s Burning Man theme is “I, Robot” and Keith tells Andy about a new game being designed by friends of his called Inhuman Conditions, which is about trying to determine if your opponent is a robot or a human. Then they talk about tattoos people have gotten featuring images from their games. Andy tells Keith about a memorable hand of Action Cats! Then they spend more than half the show talking about Star Trek: Discovery, which Keith has finally gotten caught up on.

Episode 134: The Kevin Test

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First Keith talks about how things went in the first session of his new D&D campaign, and about a D&D event he just returned from called Level Eater 8. Keith mentions a couple who went looking for a dog they could call Kevin. Andy mourns the passing of Joe Frank, recommends a book by Roz Chast called Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, and asks if Keith has thought about going to Burning Man. Keith tells a morbid story, then they get into a big discussion about Star Trek Discovery, including some minor spoilers. Behind the spoiler curtain they also discuss The Good Place, Electric Dreams, and Black Mirror.

SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers inside.

Episode 133: The Waffle Report

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First Keith talks about a new D&D campaign he’s starting up, which he’s going to be running “sandbox-style,” and Andy mentions At Your Service, a book of sandbox-style adventures Keith wrote for the Over The Edge RPG system. Andy talks about sending Get the MacGuffin and Anatomy Fluxx off to the printer, and Keith talks about the Action Cats! expansion for which Andy submitted a new photo. Then Andy follows-up on the story he told last week about a mysterious cat that showed up on his doorstep. Andy also announces the pending release of Russian Star Wars Fluxx. This inevitably leads to another round of Star Wars discussions, followed by some talk about Star Trek, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5, 24, and the endings of TV series in general. Lastly, behind the spoiler curtain, they discuss several episodes of Electric Dreams.

SPOILER WARNING: Spoilers Inside!

Episode 130: The Abandoned Universe

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First Andy and Keith talk about various subjects ranging from Harry Potter, the holidays, role-playing character motivations, The Twilight Zone, Over the Edge, and the concept of a Mary Sue character. This gets them talking again about the new Star Wars movie, which they discuss at length, again, mostly avoiding spoilers until near the end. Other topics along the way include Star Trek, The Sarah Conner Chronicles, Thor: Ragnarok, Knights of the Old Republic, Battlestar Galactica, and Lost.