Rene Plays Games

Rene Legault

Hi! I’m Rene (pronounced Rainy) and I want to share my love of roleplaying games with you! Join me as I play through smaller publisher games, talk design and gaming topics with friends, and explore all the ways you can be a better game master or player.

  1. 2D AGO

    Perspective Checks | Il Fantasma Del Giallo with Laurence Phillips (Hardy Roach Games)

    Apologies for Laurence's Audio in this episode, the recording was a little strange when it exported from our video call, but I did the best I could. If you have any questions, please message or email me! (Or reach out to Laurence!)   Welcome to another episode of Perspective Checks where I sit down with friends and folks from the TTRPG world and discuss what they love about this wonderful hobby!   This episode is an early interview for Laurence's upcoming Kickstarter for his Italian horror/mystery cinema inspired Il Fantasma Del Giallo, a game about the actors, their roles, and the thinning line of reality and fiction! It's a neo-noir slasher inspired TTRPG that has some really interesting framing and mechanics, I am looking forward to see how it plays at the table!   You can find more of Laurence's games on the Hardy Roach Games itch.io page, or check out his BlueSky thread about giallo movies on his BlueSky.   Some movies to watch if you want to experience classic giallo include: Deep Red by Dario Argento The Bird With The Crystal Plumage by Dario Argento Blood & Black Lace by Mario Bava The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Mario Bava   ----more---- Join the DMs After Dark Discord channel!   I made a Ko-Fi if you feel absurdly generous and want to help cover podcast hosting costs & all the upkeep. I'm still working on whether I want to offer anything special over there or just give my extreme gratitude (maybe some stickers or something in the mail) to those who donate, but no pressure whatsoever :)   Where to Follow Rene Plays Games: LinkTree |  BlueSky | Threads | Instagram | Facebook | DMs After Dark Rene's Games: MECH | MECH Cities 2 | One Last Quest | I Know I Know You, But I Don't Know How... email: RenePlaysGamesPod@gmail.com   Music in the Episode (in order of appearance): Rene Plays Games Theme written & produced by Dan Pomfret | @danfrombothbands

    1h 13m
  2. FEB 24

    Design Diaries | Gardens of Rust Part 2 - Character Creation

    Welcome back to the monthly design diaries series of 2026 where I am holding myself accountable toward putting out more games.   We're back to talk more Gardens of Rust, the post-catastrophe survival and community rebuilding game by myself and Christian from the DMs After Dark.    In episode 2 I walk through the Character Creation process and create two different characters to try and show the breadth of characters you may be going into this game with!   Hopefully this gets you excited and thinking about the types of characters you'd want to bring to the post-collapse world who can rebuild a community and new life in the Rust. Definitely join the DMs After Dark Discord or email me to tell me about a character idea, we can build it together!   ----more---- Join the DMs After Dark Discord channel!   I made a Ko-Fi if you feel absurdly generous and want to help cover podcast hosting costs & all the upkeep. I'm still working on whether I want to offer anything special over there or just give my extreme gratitude (maybe some stickers or something in the mail) to those who donate, but no pressure whatsoever :)   Where to Follow Rene Plays Games: LinkTree |  BlueSky | Threads | Instagram | Facebook | DMs After Dark Rene's Games: MECH | MECH Cities 2 | One Last Quest | I Know I Know You, But I Don't Know How... email: RenePlaysGamesPod@gmail.com   Music in the Episode (in order of appearance): Rene Plays Games Theme written & produced by Dan Pomfret | @danfrombothbands

    37 min
  3. FEB 14

    [Bonus] Call of Cthulhu | Love You To Death Valentine's One-Shot

    We're back again for another totally romantic Valentine's Day one-shot!   The annual tradition continues as my wife Lynn joins me for a tangentially-love-related one-shot of a TTRPG session. This year we go back to Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu to play the 2nd scenario in the Does Love Forgive? collection of 1-GM-1-Player mysteries!   One day after Chicago's St. Valentine's Day Massacre in February 1929, a simple dog retrieval turns into a long-simmering love triangle gone very, very wrong!     ----more---- Join the DMs After Dark Discord channel!   I made a Ko-Fi if you feel absurdly generous and want to help cover podcast hosting costs & all the upkeep. I'm still working on whether I want to offer anything special over there or just give my extreme gratitude (maybe some stickers or something in the mail) to those who donate, but no pressure whatsoever :)   Where to Follow Rene Plays Games: LinkTree |  BlueSky | Threads | Instagram | Facebook | DMs After Dark Rene's Games: MECH | MECH Cities 2 | One Last Quest | I Know I Know You, But I Don't Know How... email: RenePlaysGamesPod@gmail.com   Music in the Episode (in order of appearance): Ragtimers - Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate from Archive.org Heavy Machine Gun F by Monument Studios An Unbreakable Bond by Vindsvept Survivors' Bivouac by Tabletop Audio Interrogation Room by Tabletop Audio As Time Passes from ZapSplat.com Nordic Noir by Tabletop Audio Vault of Terror by Tabletop Audio Futile by Monument Studios Lament of the Leaves by Vindsvept Rene Plays Games Theme written & produced by Dan Pomfret | @danfrombothbands

    1h 34m
  4. FEB 10

    Perspective Checks | Ian (Undercommon Taste) - Homebrew Is Design

    Welcome to another episode of Perspective Checks where I sit down with friends and folks from the TTRPG world and discuss what they love about this wonderful hobby!   Ian and I met playing in a short TTRPG series for previous guest of the show C.R. Rowenson's LitRPG series New Eternity and knew we had to chat more from our brief interactions and roles as the tankybois of the party.   Ian is one-half of the podcast Undercommon Taste, a TTRPG Homebrew podcast, so it's perfect that he's coming on to talk about all things homebrewing! This is a big umbrella in the TTRPG space. House rules are homebrew, technically, but so are some games that hack existing systems, so when do you know it's time to make something new? How much do you need to do? What do you need to consider?   We barely scratch the surface of the topic, but there's a lot of great nuggets of wisdom in this chat!   Also, you best believe that there's a Powered by the Aporkalypse file in my Google Docs now...   ----more---- Join the DMs After Dark Discord channel!   I made a Ko-Fi if you feel absurdly generous and want to help cover podcast hosting costs & all the upkeep. I'm still working on whether I want to offer anything special over there or just give my extreme gratitude (maybe some stickers or something in the mail) to those who donate, but no pressure whatsoever :)   Where to Follow Rene Plays Games: LinkTree |  BlueSky | Threads | Instagram | Facebook | DMs After Dark Rene's Games: MECH | MECH Cities 2 | One Last Quest | I Know I Know You, But I Don't Know How... email: RenePlaysGamesPod@gmail.com   Music in the Episode (in order of appearance): Rene Plays Games Theme written & produced by Dan Pomfret | @danfrombothbands

    1h 20m
  5. JAN 27

    Design Diaries 2026 | Gardens of Rust Part 1

    Helloooooo my favorite nerds.   Welcome to the first episode of my monthly design diaries series here in 2026 where I am holding myself accountable toward putting out more games.   I have already pivoted! The first episode was supposed to be about my upcoming playing card-based 2-player buddy cop TTRPG Decktectives, but the state of the modern world made me really not want to talk about any kind of law enforcement, so instead we're talking about a post-societal collapse game, which is way more fun.   I know you've heard me talk about this one before, but I can promise big things are happening and you can expect it sooner than later. In this episode I'm talking about Gardens of Rust, the post-catastrophe survival and community rebuilding game by myself and Christian from the DMs After Dark.   I'll be doing a few episodes about this one, but in this I just tell you about what the game is going to be, how it's going to feel, and give the basics of the core resolution mechanic we've designed known as the 2dDifference System.   Next month I'll make a character and do some solo actual play previewing of the game, and after that we'll dive into how the GM role will play out in Gardens of Rust, as well as ideas for the future beyond that.   Get excited, it is coming. (The game, not the collapse of society. I hope)   ----more---- Join the DMs After Dark Discord channel!   I made a Ko-Fi if you feel absurdly generous and want to help cover podcast hosting costs & all the upkeep. I'm still working on whether I want to offer anything special over there or just give my extreme gratitude (maybe some stickers or something in the mail) to those who donate, but no pressure whatsoever :)   Where to Follow Rene Plays Games: LinkTree |  BlueSky | Threads | Instagram | Facebook | DMs After Dark Rene's Games: MECH | MECH Cities 2 | One Last Quest | I Know I Know You, But I Don't Know How... email: RenePlaysGamesPod@gmail.com   Music in the Episode (in order of appearance): Rene Plays Games Theme written & produced by Dan Pomfret | @danfrombothbands

    32 min
5
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

Hi! I’m Rene (pronounced Rainy) and I want to share my love of roleplaying games with you! Join me as I play through smaller publisher games, talk design and gaming topics with friends, and explore all the ways you can be a better game master or player.

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