Between Two Cairns

Join two dads, Brad and Yochai (the titular cairns), as they teach their young skull boy, Sam (the void between the cairns), life’s important lessons through the medium of old-school-style table top role-playing game adventure modules. In these 60-90 minute (AKA a tight 45) episodes, they explore concepts important in both life and module production: art, writing, layout, and design. But the trio also go beyond the bounds of TTRPGs and discuss other important life topics: music (thank you Bobby!), physical fitness (have you done your 60 push ups today?), community (is moderation), and cooperatives (worker-owned, of course). And if your greedy ear holes still crave more, rest assured. You are undoubtedly going to hear a crazy and only tangentially relevant anecdote from Mr. Hollywood’s past and, to conclude each episode, the Hitman will perform a loving stream of consciousness rivaling the likes of James Joyce and leaving you feeling warm and fuzzy on the inside. Folks, in short, if you have even a passing interest in TTRPGs and lack the free time to actually play them (presumably due to parenthood), do yourself a favor and click on that play button. Then, when you’ve finished all 150+ episodes, come back to this review and chuckle to yourself now that you are a member of the elite few who understand all of the inside jokes contained within.

The podcast provides great exposure to modules and systems that might be missed otherwise. The insight the hosts provide, especially when they don’t agree, are thoughtful and articulate. This is a great listen if you have a hard time describing your gaming likes and dislikes. Or you could take it as a preface to the true work of art that is the Brad Kerr Sign Off.

This is one of those podcasts that’s so good that you can listen and be entertained even if you don’t care about the subject matter.

The spaces between the content are as important as the content. This podcast is TTRPG jazz.