The Vintage RPG Podcast Vintage RPG

Stu’s ongoing West Marches-style Old-School Essentials campaign is a year old, so this week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we thought we’d see how things are going (and how many characters have died). And since you can’t really trust the Dungeon Master, we invited two of the players — Justin Wigard and Clay Fleischer — on to share their impressions of the 34-session “mystery crawl.”
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Wanna play? We've got ten spots open. Sign up at the D10 tier on the Vintage RPG Patreon!
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Check out Justin's interview with the 321-Action lads and his review of Stephen Graham Jones' latest, The Angel of Indian Lake.
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Stu’s book, Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground is for sale now! Buy it!
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This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we look at Shadowgate (1987, 1989), the point-and-click fantasy adventure videogame. Explore a mysterious castle while trying to find a way to stop the Warlock Lord from destroying the world! Tremble in fear as your torch burns low! Get eaten by every monster! Have a soundtrack-induced panic attack! All this and more awaits you in Castle Shadowgate.
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Stu’s book, Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground is for sale now! Buy it!
Patreon? Discord? Cool RPG things to buy? All the Vintage RPG links you need are right here in one place!
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This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we chat with Gavriel Quiroga about his new game, Black Rainbow Society. A sequel of sorts to Hell Night, this game doesn’t feature players in the roles of fiends from hell, but rather normal humans grappling with the knowledge that there is more to existence than the mundane world (a staple theme of ’90s RPGs, many of which are clear inspirations here). Gavriel brings his signature intensity to the project, with heaps of random tables, gnarly zine art and buckets of blood. Now on Kickstarter!
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Stu’s book, Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground is for sale now! Buy it!
Patreon? Discord? Cool RPG things to buy? All the Vintage RPG links you need are right here in one place!
Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Vintage RPG Podcast!

At the very end of last year, Bryan Ansell, a man who played a pivotal role in the world of tabletop games, passed away. To understand just how important Ansell was, this week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we chat with Timothy Linward, Wargamer staff writer and author of the forthcoming Grimdark: A Very British Hell. Tim walks us through the early days of Citadel Miniatures, his rise to prominence at Games Workshop and his role in shaping the various flavors of Warhammer that emerged during his tenure from 1985 to 1991, culminating with Realm of Chaos. We also nearly spin off into a tangential discussion of the Horus Heresy, but luckily we pulled back from tumbling into that abyss. Another time!
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Stu’s book, Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground is for sale now! Buy it!
Patreon? Discord? Cool RPG things to buy? All the Vintage RPG links you need are right here in one place!
Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Vintage RPG Podcast!

Where does the game end and real life begin? This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we look at Gameplayers, Stephen Bowkett’s 1986 novel. At first blush, it seems to belong in that silly microgenre of panicky novels dedicated to wondering about how kids can cope with fantasy as powerful as tabletop RPGs (see Mazes & Monsters and Hobgoblin, both 1981). What we get, though, is a coming of age story in which a D&D-like game plays a prominent role in helping the grade-school protagonist deal with the increasing complexities of real life. And not in a corny After School Special way, believe it or not! The kids talk like kids, the game feels like a plausible game and the forays into fantasy are peppered with clever monsters and interesting encounters.
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Stu’s book, Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground is for sale now! Buy it!
Patreon? Discord? Cool RPG things to buy? All the Vintage RPG links you need are right here in one place!
Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Vintage RPG Podcast!

Set phasers to stun! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we check out FASA’s 1982 Star Trek RPG. It’s an interesting game in it’s own right — a hack of Traveller, when it comes down to it — but is also super interesting in regards to fandom, IP canon and licensed RPGs. Climb on board as we explore these strange old worlds!
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Stu’s book, Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground is for sale now! Buy it!
Patreon? Discord? Cool RPG things to buy? All the Vintage RPG links you need are right here in one place!
Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Vintage RPG Podcast!