Our Patron Party
Hello and welcome to episode two seventy three of Effect Patron's Party. I'm Dave.
Matthew:And I'm Matthew.
Frank:And I'm Frank.
Thomas:And I'm Thomas.
Douglas:And I'm Douglas.
Paul:And I'm Paul.
Jed:And I'm Jed.
Bruce:And I am Bruce.
Matthew:And everybody here are patrons of the show. Not all our patrons. We got loads more patrons to which thank you all. Those of you who are on the Discord and and, those of you who aren't on the Discord,
Dave:if you're not here. If you're a patron and you're not on the Discord, get on the Discord. We always say this, but it is the nicest place on the Internet, TM.
Matthew:Cool. And since we're no longer allowed to say we've got a packed program for you, we can wholeheartedly and honestly say I have no idea what's gonna happen over the next hour because we're just gonna have a chat, which is gonna be a bit of a review of the year and a bit of a look forward to what's happening in 2026.
Dave:But we do have a packed hamam for you today.
Matthew:So Pacham. Nice.
Dave:See what I did there? Yeah. Getting around getting around
Matthew:Luckily, we're not streaming this, but so you guys who are listening aren't seeing this, but we are all naked.
Paul:We are not.
Frank:We are just so not. So He's trying to get the sponsorship of the male grooming business again.
Dave:Why are we on our own all of a sudden?
Paul:The whole thing won't go down in your part of the world, Matthew.
Matthew:Right then. So I guess shall we shall we just kick off with gaming highlights of last year? And I think we might split this into two quickly go round. First time, what was your favorite product released or maybe even just obtained by you in 2025? And I'm gonna start off with you, Bruce.
Dave:I want my hot seat.
Bruce:I'm I'm in a little thinking about it. I mean, I know I got a nice Tales of the West stuff. Got everybody's favorite We've got to
Thomas:kick that in. West. Yeah.
Frank:That's that's the of the West eight
Dave:times, don't we?
Matthew:Yeah. Just to confirm I want everybody to actually say that. We're not assuming.
Bruce:Yeah. But but I'm Scottish so I pick another thing as well. So we try and get as many into. I'm gonna speak actually one of the things that surprised me was the Planet of the Apes role playing game just for the quality that was produced and the speed from something from over The States that came over. So I quite actually liked that what I got in the materials.
Bruce:Jessica certainly has been a fan of the Planet of Apes and that work certainly reflects in the books.
Matthew:So Magnetic's production Magnetic Press released down at the x, didn't they? And you're impressed as impressed with the load of Freeling products by the Magnetic Press effort production?
Bruce:I I think so from the the way it's just come out, the way it's been delivered, especially from reach The UK. It was something I didn't go in super excited with. I just thought, I'll get this. And then when I arrived, went, this is actually a lot better in the materials, because there's a lot of the old cutaway of the ships and artwork. There's a lot of background material.
Bruce:There's obviously extended the lore from the films. I'm sure we've all commented what our opinions of those films are. But it has put the passion into that and quite enjoy it. It's something I actually wasn't thinking I was going to run, but I'm thinking I might actually be more tempted to try and get this to the table now. See if I can.
Matthew:Well, if it inspires the play, that's great. Jed, what was your favorite product of last year of this year?
Jed:You know, beyond, of course, the, you know, tales of Old West Yeah. Which needs no mentioning.
Matthew:Needs mention it at
Thomas:the time.
Frank:Mention it.
Matthew:That's the law.
Jed:I think, like, I think it came at the beginning of last year was a Harn master Kathira,
Matthew:which
Jed:really impressed me and got me very enthusiastic about Harn and that whole setting again. Cool. I mean, I don't know. I like a whole idea now about, like, crunchy games is like a misnomer and it's really more like a nuanced game. But I think, like, the big difference there really is using, like, Google's Notebook LM to be able to comprehend, like, a whole big complex setting and rules and everything else and being at the table, being able to just simply ask it, like, how does grappling work?
Jed:Because, you know, we all play, like, 16 different game systems. So it's And
Matthew:now now just Phil, is this just the power of AI now for any game, or have the guys at Heimmaster actually loaded all this stuff into into Google to make it happen? Or No.
Jed:This is something go Notebook LM, you can just upload its your PDFs into it and then ask it and AI basically only reads what you give it. So it it's pretty good at not making up stuff like other AI things do. So you can it's because it was designed for research, and it gives citations when it gives you an answer. So it could be like, how do you do this in the game book? And it says, here's how you do it.
Jed:I'm like, are you sure? And you click on the little annotation, and it shows you the text in
Frank:the page.
Matthew:In the book that explains it. Yeah. Pretty good.
Jed:But, yeah, Cardmaster. Digging it.
Matthew:Paul, your favorite product of last year?
Paul:I didn't get much last year. I was I've had a busy year, but the one thing I did get was Modiphius, Space nineteen ninety nine, which is a really lovely book. I just hope the rules are as good. I mean, they seem okay, but but sometimes I
Dave:think it's pretty standard two d 20, isn't it? I think that one. Yeah.
Paul:Yeah. I mean, I hope they've not taken anything from Star Trek Adventures, which I hate the rule system for them. Sorry to say even though the rest of the material was glorious. Yet again, glorious material, but I just hate the rule system. So, yeah, Space nineteen ninety nine.
Paul:Love the book. They've they've done some really nice work there keeping it in, and it even prompted me to start rewatching space nineteen ninety nine. And, lord, it doesn't stand the test of time.
Douglas:Yes. It doesn't, but it
Dave:Well, I I never sat with them with Planet of Yapes because when I I was
Frank:I did a little bit of
Dave:work on it, and I got sent all the files by Drew to to watch the movies. And, I mean, they are crap. Even the first one, as brilliant as it is, is still a bit crap, actually. But, yeah, the others are just god awful.
Paul:Yep. And then, of course, there was tales of the old West, which was a welcome addition to my collection.
Matthew:Excellent. And, of course, the excellent forge well, foundry interpretation Yeah.
Douglas:Very much.
Matthew:Which you did, Paul.
Paul:Did I?
Dave:He's he's he's been having therapy to forget all about that, I think. Yeah. So much. Yeah.
Paul:Yeah. It's called alien involved, but there you go. Different subject. But, yes, that that's my year summed up, really. Thank you.
Matthew:Brilliant. Douglas, what is your favorite product of the last year?
Douglas:Well, that life path system in Tales of the Old West. That's just so sweet. Sweet. I actually, discovered something. It was very surprising to me.
Douglas:It was Age of Vikings by Chaosium. And, I really have enjoyed, looking through the art is great. The system is, BRP, basic role play. It's, it's just great. I want to get it to the table.
Douglas:I'd like to play in it. So I need to find somebody to GM it. But absolutely beautiful book, really well laid out. Art is great. Just fantastic, fantastic product.
Douglas:Love it.
Matthew:And I remember, because I edited the last episode, that we said at the beginning of last episode, oh, we'll talk about that some more before the end of the episode. And, of course, we never did. So here's an opportunity to talk about it some more. How similar it's BRP. Mhmm.
Matthew:But in BRP, we've got Cthulhu. We've got Rune Quest. We've got visitors of London. We've got the one I'm trying to remember. Pendragon, that's the one that Thomas has been playing a lot of.
Matthew:We well, we've been playing a lot of with Thomas. Which of those or other systems does it tend towards? Is it at all Pendragon like is really my question? No. No?
Matthew:Thomas, you got it as well?
Thomas:Yeah. I've got it. I've read it end to end. I've had quite a lengthy debate with one of the key editors for it. It's much heavier rules wise, much more like RuneQuest.
Thomas:I actually think and this is a opinion I probably shouldn't share too broadly, I feel like someone went, oh, what if I took all of the rules out of basic role play and put them into a single game and saw how that worked? And the answer is it's very overloaded with rules. It's got the classic, what if there was another metacurrency that I could use to change how dice rolling worked in the system? I'm not I actually not to disagree with Doug too broadly, but I'm not a fan. I think it's overloaded with rules.
Thomas:I think the person who was putting it together just got a little bit excited by how many different rules from basic role play can I use in this system?
Frank:But you loved the setting, didn't you?
Thomas:I did like the setting, actually. And I like the magic system. It's good. But
Douglas:It's it's bloated. I think Jed would call it a nuanced game. Yep. It's it's it's certainly not sim lite, but I'll give you an example on page 73 where they talk about cold exposure and give rules of damage to hit locations. They give 12 examples from zero to minus 10 all the way to minus 91 to 100 by increments of 10.
Douglas:So that's how precise it is. So I I assume have brought
Dave:it to
Matthew:Fahrenheit here or centigrade?
Douglas:I would imagine that that's centigrade for cold.
Matthew:Oh yeah,
Frank:yeah. Does Fahrenheit not work?
Douglas:It's, but it, it, I just I I guess I just like the setting aspect. Haven't gone into the rules, but, I can see Thomas's point. I have another one that I really like. A solo game. It's it's a solo game called Kinless, but there are I'll shut up now.
Matthew:I I was just gonna say as get talking more on on Vikings, the the thing that came up in conversation in the last episode was Andy saying he'd like to run Vikings using Pendragon rules. Thomas, you've been immersing yourself in Pendragon rules.
Frank:Too much. Too much.
Matthew:Would you run the setting with rules more akin to Pendragon?
Thomas:Yes. You'd have to completely let go of the kind of Christian the Christian pre Raphaelite motif of Mallory and other things. But, yeah, absolutely. I think as a matter of fact, if you buy Land of the Giants, it's a thirdfourth edition expansion for Pendragon. There are explicitly rules for running Beowulf Oh, nice.
Thomas:In Pendragon. So and then there's also Saxons, which is a fifth edition expansion. Have once again collected all of them, as I do, in hard copy.
Matthew:Saxon dogs.
Thomas:Saxon dogs, exactly. Yes, I have a group who hates Saxons with a living passion. But yeah, no, I think you could I think any I'm going to take a bold opinion. I think any game that revolves around a sort of moral or ethical frame where people are forced to act against their own best intentions at times and where magic is deliberately something that sits outside of the normal frame of reference, like it happens to you rather than you enact it yourself, I think Pendragon can do a pretty decent job of. You have to manipulate it a bit, but I think it can get you there in most circumstances.
Thomas:I saw someone talking about running a Three Musketeers game with Pendragon. And I actually thought, yeah, you know, kick free of the religious aspect and focus on the question of traits for, am I for the king? Am I for the country? Am I for the people? And then play that forward with passions.
Thomas:You could absolutely do it. And just honor is honor and just allow people to shoot each other with muskets and get over that particular issue, and then you're rolling.
Matthew:Excellent. Without risking making this the The Thomas Show, what was your favorite product of last year?
Thomas:Oh, well, other than tales of the old West.
Dave:Well done. Everyone's got the memo.
Thomas:Which is, of course, a given. Actually, I mean, look. For elegance and for quality of output, Coriolis the Great Duck, without a shadow of a doubt. Fantastic product. Really, really pretty, really well put together, artistically gorgeous.
Thomas:And I've run a lot of it and I find it better. I actually think, and once again, as much as I've really, really, really gotten into Pendragon again, I mean, the rules are heavily, there's a lot of text to find the rule that you want to find. Coriolis Great Dark doesn't have that problem.
Frank:So,
Thomas:yeah. Coriolis of Great Dark, without a
Matthew:doubt. Frank.
Frank:Yeah. I mean, many of the things we already mentioned, it's this tales of the Old West thing, which actually, I have to say, I've got the actually exactly there. See it on the pile there? That is act I'm actually touching the the right book there. So there you go.
Douglas:And it has a great screen as well.
Frank:Great screen. Yeah. I didn't get that one. A bit self indulgent. Can you identify it?
Matthew:Oh, yes.
Frank:Yeah. It's the Book of Beasts, but in German for Forbidden Land. Oh. And it only just came out in November. And the only reason why I'm I'm holding this in my hand, because it's got a special significance for me, it's my first credit Officially published.
Frank:Congratulations.
Matthew:And also what did you do for the Book of Beasts?
Frank:I did set I translated about half of it into German. Cool. And I also have an editing credit because I was reviewing some people other some other people's work.
Matthew:Oh, brilliant.
Dave:Congratulations for that.
Matthew:Congratulations for that.
Frank:But beyond that, other than self indulgent, I think one that needs to be mentioned, think arrived this year, I think, still. It's it's been time. Yeah. Because I really enjoyed that that book. It's just gorgeous quality, almost as good as tales of the old ways.
Frank:The art is is brilliant in it. The writing is pretty good. It's very evocative, and I just wish we had played more of that. We've played a bit of it, but we didn't play all of it. So maybe that's something to return to.
Frank:But, yeah, they are the products of my year to keep it short. Of course, there's Dreams and Machines, yeah, which I love as well as the setting, but I still haven't got to the table either.
Matthew:Too many games, not enough time.
Frank:Yeah. Imarato no. Imata. Imata Barlow, for example, is just standing there.
Matthew:So I was going to briefly ask, apart from products, what was everybody's favorite gaming experience? What what was their gaming highlight? We're kinda short of time, but I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna go with it still. Maybe just if we can keep it short and not a great big character biography.
Dave:Mhmm.
Matthew:And I'm gonna go center out this time on my screen. So, Paul, you're up first.
Paul:Mine I finally got to run The Expanse, which I actually really enjoyed. First time I've ever run the age system. I didn't like stunts. No. But I I've got to be that was the There's too many of them.
Paul:Yeah. But but as as you know, it's it's all there. And the guys, we ran two I ran two short scenarios, and the guys really enjoyed it. So that's a winner for me for this year.
Matthew:And is that the new trade edition or whatever they call it? No. That's the
Paul:old It it so we at the moment you said I couldn't take very long. We at the moment are at that piece in in the timeline just before the Ganymede incident. So I'm sort of tracking it along with that at the moment with their adventures. So probably the next time they meet, the Ganymede incident will occur, but we'll move towards the rings and things like that.
Frank:The transport union edition is essentially rules wise. It's the same. It's just about thirty years later, the setting. Yeah.
Matthew:I see.
Paul:So it's after the, after people have been going through the ring gates and things.
Matthew:Jed, shall we do you next? Your favorite actual play well, actual play. No. It's got a different term. At at experience actually playing?
Dave:I think
Frank:running Call of Cthulhu
Jed:using the Arkham setting. Actually, using that to run that this year has been really great. I've loved that. I love the Arkham Unveiled book back from the nineties. And, and then the new one that came out, I think, in 2023 is just a fantastic, you know, update.
Jed:But, I don't know. Like, Douglas, like, you're in that game. It feels like it's really clicking well with just, like, this kind of tight setting, that, has a lot of, like, mystery and a really strong vibe of, like, Lovecraft stories like Dreams and the Witch House or the thing on the doorstep. The ones that are very, very focused on Arkham as a setting.
Douglas:Yeah. I it it's it's awesome because you've got character development and we're not rushing through it. We're really getting into the mystery and stuff. Bruce?
Bruce:Yeah, I'm certainly enjoying that.
Matthew:All good. And Douglas, any other highlights apart from playing in Jed's game?
Douglas:Oh, by far and it it didn't even need any thought. Thomas' enthusiasm earlier on was the reason why I chose Coriolis The Great Dark. Absolutely fantastic. The experience playing with many of you, who were on, it was just, it was a highlight and it was the one that said, okay, you've got to run this for your after school program. I did and 12 and 13 year olds just get it.
Douglas:It clicks immediately, no rules, that are weighty or heavy. Just fantastic game. Excellent.
Matthew:Excellent. Bruce?
Bruce:I'm not gonna pick a an actual play, but I do agree with the Cusillo game. I'm gonna pick the end of both Nils and Ricard and yourself and Dave when you're at that table at Tabletop Scotland, just sitting and having a chat about the gaming experience and just having a great conversation face to face. It's been one of my highlights, going through talking to people within the industry, just that friendly sitting over with a nice pint and just talking about gaming systems and theories in general.
Dave:That was a great, a great moment. Yeah. Yep. Mhmm.
Matthew:Dave, I realized I didn't even come with you with your gaming highlights, but I guess we get to talk all the time.
Dave:I know. I I I was entirely offended, obviously, but the one thing I'll say very briefly is in terms of the things that I've received, I don't think I've played anything new this year, which is really sad. I can't think of anything. But Apart
Matthew:from tales of the old west, Dave.
Bruce:I mean, I
Dave:know we've
Matthew:been playing it for six years, but it's new this year.
Dave:Apart from obviously that, but the things that landed on my doorstep that I've really loved just getting and having a look at, Great Dark, yeah, stole my thunder on that one. I've really liked the new Conan game. I mean, I'm not sure the rules. I'm not sure how well they'll play. I haven't played it.
Dave:But, actually, there's a product. It looks lovely, and the the artwork is really nice. And actually, Alien Evolved book. I didn't like it when I first saw it, but actually looking more into it, I think that's really nice, the core book for that. Gaming experience, I am delighted to be back into Coriolis, the third horizon.
Dave:So I've restarted the Spectral Corsair campaign, which we first started many, many years ago. Had a couple of sessions, and I've absolutely loved getting back into that old that old universe.
Matthew:Frank.
Frank:So many to mention. So many, but I don't have a lot of time. So, actually, a standout from all the the great games online as well. The standout was probably me running the enrichment day at school for RPG. We had, I think, 26 students in turn up.
Frank:So lots of them basically assigned, you run that table, you run that table, so they run tables. But one of them flaked out, so I had to run the one ring myself. So I did the one ring, the starter set, the new one, the overhill and underhill one. And just picking it up, like, the day before reading it as a standby and then running it right there with young kids from 11 to about 15, but very enthusiastic kids who really got into it. That was really good experience.
Frank:Yeah. As much as I like playing with the old hands like you lot, you know, seeing that firsthand enthusiasm, that was really, really good fun.
Matthew:Yeah. I've gotta say, I it's it's nice as well sometimes to be somebody's first role playing experience as well. Mhmm. Were they really enthusiastic for Lord of the Rings?
Frank:A couple of them knew Lord of the Rings quite well, but a couple of them didn't know them at all in the stories. So they were just enthusiastic about the role playing, getting into it, and then getting into their characters. And that was good fun. And, basically, we had about, yeah, school days of five hours minus lunch and breaks of, let's say, four hours playtime on that. We actually did a little bit of shortcut right at the end.
Frank:We basically finished the whole box set at the time. So it was just fitted in really nicely.
Douglas:Mhmm. Brilliant.
Matthew:And, Thomas, finally, on this topic.
Thomas:I've run a really large number of games this year, and they've all been actually excellent. And the great dark was one of my favorites. But best without probably without a shadow of doubt. I rocked up to a con really randomly. The KSM guys asked me if I'd come around Pendragon.
Thomas:Said yes. And I ended up with an all deaf group, which I had never done before, and I don't sign. So I had two translators who took half and half time, because it was a four hour session. And it was awesome. They had a fantastic time.
Thomas:They really got into it. And yeah, it was super interesting to run a game for people who are obviously hearing impaired. And so, you know, waving my hands around. Anyway, it
Matthew:was good.
Thomas:It was great.
Frank:Was a fantastic session, they had a great time. And translators seemed to carry it off pretty well. So, yeah, it was fantastic. Genuinely fantastic.
Matthew:That's fair. I've worked with
Dave:That is cool.
Matthew:With deaf people before, and I, you know, and I know the the idea of pairing up translators because it's hard work, basically. So they they need to do it for a bit. Who organized all of that sort of background? Was that organized by the con? Or
Thomas:No. They turned up with them. So they had matter of fact, but I've seen it's quite random because it's it's a little con near my house. So I've actually seen one of my play one of the guys who played, and they were describing running games. Like they run games, obviously, and they're all hearing impaired, so they do it and they do it all on video.
Thomas:So you can imagine how much more intensely they're paying attention to what's going on in the video. But anyway, no, they turned up
Frank:with two translators that was all preorganized, and I just rocked
Thomas:up and they said, by the way, we're hearing impaired. And I went, okay. Back outside. Let's go. It was great.
Matthew:It was fantastic. That was brilliant. Okay then. So
Douglas:What about you?
Matthew:What about me?
Douglas:Yeah haven't you mentioned yours? I don't think so.
Matthew:Okay so yeah my favorite new product of last year was the one we put out for having these days. I
Frank:thought I thought it was going to be invincible.
Douglas:What was that one?
Matthew:That was tales of the old west.
Douglas:Oh, yeah.
Dave:I didn't say anyone missed it. Yeah.
Jed:Is it available in stores?
Matthew:I still think I mean, you know, let's just talk briefly, Dave, about some of the highlights of that. The lack of typos, for example, which I'm putting mostly down to your hard work and that of Neil because, obviously, you know, I'm great at spotting typos, not. But seriously, you know, it's been out for months now. We did spot a few. We had a a probably about nine in the in the first in the PDF.
Matthew:We I think I corrected a couple of typos in this second print that we've just done, but and we did that new paragraph, Dave, that you rewrote about the
Dave:start of
Matthew:the civil war. But, seriously, you know, given the number of typos I've seen in other role playing games, I am so impressed that nobody yet has spotted some dreadful mistake that we've made. I think the worst one and it wasn't even a typo. I think it was just us kind of in one place saying one thing and then another place saying another thing and that was about how long it takes to reload which again we fixed in the second edition. Yeah.
Matthew:A bit and we've we've spoken about it on the server.
Frank:Second edition? Well, the second edition. The the reprint. Breaking news.
Dave:Yeah. Yeah. They're they're kickstarter later, you know, early next year for the second edition of TayTay. But no, with that, that took, that took a week, a week of effort. That was like thirty odd hours of just going through the text line by line, word by word to try and, you know, I I got a bit obsessed by trying to expunge the text of of typos.
Dave:But it obviously worked. Again, so I was quite, yeah, I was pretty pleased with that.
Matthew:And kind of connected to that, I, oh, god. So, you've already heard me blather on in the last episode about one of my favorite role playing experiences was just rolling a really good role and sometimes for all the role playing one does actually rolling dice and getting a really good score feel great. Yeah. So but, actually, I think my in in terms of and it's not a playing experience, but, again, a gaming experience, getting that review in tabletop Scotland that was not tabletop Scotland.
Dave:Tabletop gaming. Gaming. Yeah.
Matthew:Yeah. That was so good. Although I think I gave it I gave a copy to the reviewer in Tabletop Scotland, so they are connected in a way.
Dave:That was true.
Matthew:That was just that was that was great. So I think that's Yeah. My best experience. Although I have to say we've been you know, a lot of games with you guys that I've been in have been really great games. And I'm thoroughly enjoying, we're still halfway through it, the ecumenical matters, whereas we might all be anti Saxon, but we definitely don't agree on what Christian is in our neck of the woods when we're we're running in the game you're running for us currently, Thomas.
Matthew:That I'm I'm probably enjoying that. So next year, what are your objectives for next year? We've all got too many games, too little time. What's the thing you most wanna get to the table? What's the thing you most want to achieve?
Matthew:What's the second credit you wanna get, Frank? Let's do this in a oh, I don't know. An outward zen or Thomas, you're gonna have to pack up and go quite soon. So let's start with you.
Thomas:Gee whiz, that's hard actually. Because I haven't settled on an answer to that question. You know what? So hot take, I'm reducing my hours at work by not being a partner in a firm anymore, which will be a significant change. And so I just want to run more games, think.
Frank:Or maybe not run more games, but
Douglas:The friends recording.
Thomas:Run better games. Just doing audio. Yeah. Yeah. Just running games.
Douglas:Yeah. I'm gonna be finished in about twenty five minutes.
Frank:In fact, because we can hear you. Let me mute you.
Matthew:More muted, Douglas.
Thomas:I mean, you muted now, Douglas.
Dave:So it's all good. After you had a conversation with the wife,
Frank:I've just had it here.
Matthew:So it's
Frank:all good.
Thomas:Awesome. It's awesome. It's awesome. So, actually, that's given me the chance to do that again because Matt will have to edit that bit out. So that's beautiful.
Thomas:I think next year my goal will be to really push the Great Pendarragon campaign as hard as I can into the weird and the wonderful mythology mythological setting as opposed to the historical setting. There you go. That's it.
Matthew:Brilliant. Brilliant.
Thomas:Thank you.
Matthew:And let's go Frank next.
Frank:I have a vague plan, I have to say. I want to run a bit more sci fi because I also ran The Expanse recently, and we started a German game of Careerless the Great Dark. We only had one session, and somebody broke their hip and couldn't play for a few weeks. So, hopefully, we get back to that. And I would like to run some sort of mystery stuff.
Frank:So either maybe Cthulhu or, if it's out in time, Folklore Americana, which is essentially like Old Gods of Appalachia, but use your engine. So they are the big ones. And, of course, I'm looking forward to continuing to, our various campaigns like the blood march we're currently starting on, but and maybe some dreams and machines. So that's that's plenty already for you, I think.
Matthew:Excellent. Bruce?
Bruce:I I've been, having a think about, a lot more because I've been getting him more involved in running games at conventions, so we're trying to improve my skills for running that. But I quite like running on learning, I like mystery games or police procedural. And I'm having an attempt at trying to create or write rule ones for near future police procedural one inspired from a TV seriesaudio drama The Star Cops. So it's getting its first face to face run next year. So we'll see how that does.
Matthew:Brilliant, Phease, brilliant. And what's your system for that? What are you using as a core?
Bruce:It was kind of, it's at the moment I'm using clone of the Rivers of London one because I've been running a lot of Rivers of London still will be with that because I think that works fine. It was a contest between that or the step dice system and Blade Runner and I'm going to go with the BRP because I think it's easier at the moment players to get into just because they recognize a BRP system. But again, I might not end up being that at the end of it. It could revert back to the step down.
Matthew:Terrific, terrific. Jed.
Frank:Let's see. I think in
Jed:the coming year, I want to write a gaming product, like, actually not just think about writing one, but actually get one out. So I'm trying to decide which of the 37 ideas in my head I wanna actually try to act upon. Yay. ADHD. But as far as gaming goes, I'm really excited about and I know I'm stealing Douglas's answer, broken empires and trying
Matthew:to do
Jed:and I'm also really excited about this knight of seven empires. So knight of seven, kingdoms show that's coming out. Mhmm. And so trying to do, like, a low fantasy medieval, you know, harness style game about just, like, knights and jousting and, like, you know, the hard scrabble, you know, almost like tales of the Old West style game, but medieval
Paul:Yeah.
Jed:Is an idea that I just, you know like, trying to get that to the table is something that has been stuck in my head for quite a while.
Matthew:I must admit, I love the trailer for that. I was kind of I thought I was done with Game of Thrones stuff after season eight, but this one might just drag me back in.
Jed:I just rewatched A Knight's Tale, which still I think holds up fantastically.
Frank:Yeah. That that's a great film.
Jed:Yeah. Mhmm.
Matthew:Yeah. That is not only a favorite film in our house, but a running gag as I keep asking my son whether he's seen it or not. But he has I should say. Douglas. What are you all still doing?
Matthew:I
Douglas:am unmuted. Well you bastard.
Frank:Jed,
Douglas:Jed stole my thunder because, both of us, have very similar aspirations because we both want to get our ADHD ideas out and we also both, are really enthusiastic about The Broken Empires. Jed and I had met once, very sad that we only met once, online, but we're planning on doing it regularly and doing a lot of brainstorming and trying to be more creative and focused. That's, that's my main goal.
Matthew:So you're gonna be study buddies for each other.
Douglas:We're gonna be study buddies. We're gonna be bouncing ideas off of each other and stuff. So that's gonna be lots of fun. I'm I'm looking forward to that. Actually, my daughter bought me, I didn't receive any presents, but I got a lot of Kickstarters that are coming out this year from my kids.
Douglas:The one yeah. That I'm looking The one that I'm looking forward to is, the Ronin expansion. It's called, Den Zetsu. And, it is an expansion for, Ronin by, Reckless Games, slightly Reckless Games. And, it's a Markborg clone.
Douglas:Very nice. Just quick and easy. Lovely game. Looking forward to it. Cool.
Matthew:And finally then, turning to you, Paul, what are your turning to you, Paul, what are your ambitions or objectives for the coming year?
Paul:Not run any role playing games.
Dave:Not do any foundries. Well,
Paul:yeah, that's not gonna hap yeah. It's I I having done a campaign this month, there are three in our group, we've got three GMs. So the idea is that we we split it up. So I'm really looking forward to not actually running the game. As far as things dropping through my letterbox, I am mostly looking forward to getting Neon City Outlaws by Rodney Thompson.
Paul:He's done a role playing game. He did Spectaculars, and he did Dust City Outlaws, which is both really good sort of boardrole playing games. I was actually on the Kickstarter because one of the stretch goals, it was the next stretch goal, was me writing a system and the module. But unfortunately, I didn't hit that goal. So I'm probably going to write the system in Foundry because I'm really looking forward to it.
Paul:It's got a if you've not seen it or looked at it, it's basically you're a criminal gang in the in the future, in a futuristic cyber world, and and it's it borrows bits from oh god. I can't remember now. Altered carbon. Mhmm. So you can you can switch bodies.
Paul:You can have a character and just switch to another body. Yeah.
Dave:Yeah. So so
Paul:that's that's that's quite nice. I'm looking forward to that. And and Toon version two, which is coming out in December, which I'm back to the other day.
Dave:Mhmm. Yeah. Too.
Paul:Great great lover of two. It's my year.
Matthew:Well, I gotta say, I think, Dave, they're all wrong, aren't they? Because what they should have said was they want to run more tales of the Old West.
Dave:That is a complete failure on this round, guys. I mean, come on.
Matthew:I mean, Jed, you mentioned
Frank:it. I
Matthew:ran Tales
Frank:of the Old West last year for about like three months, but I've never actually played it because I'm still waiting for you guys to run a game.
Dave:Yes. I'm not okay. That that is a good comeback, frankly. That is a very good comeback.
Paul:You did just remind me that my group have told me they want me to run Tales of the Old West. And I said, well, that rubbish. But, yes, I have got to run Tales of the Old West in the New Year. Thanks for the reminder.
Matthew:And, Frank, you're you're too polite to actually say so out loud, but Frank said you are still running, tells of the old worst at conventions in the coming year. So, obviously, not an objective because you're gonna do it anyway. It's just Yeah. It's like eating and breathing now, isn't it, running tells of the old worst
Frank:for you? Of course.
Douglas:And Bruce as well.
Bruce:Do wanna point
Matthew:out that people wanna get creative stuff done. You know, Jed, if you've got a campaign, what you have written and, you know, you wanna publish some of that stuff, you can publish it under our made in the Old West banner and if you need any help and encouragement to do that do Dave and I can see what we can do.
Dave:Absolutely gladly help yeah completely
Matthew:awesome thank you
Dave:yeah so for me I think Number one is get the gold country sorted and going. Get that Kickstarter out there and get that produced. Number two, I wanna do some more on Romeo Zero. So in terms of producing stuff. In terms of gaming, I think I just wanna play a bit more, I think.
Dave:I mean, I I have my my weekly Wednesday group which is which is great but I'm I'm conscious of of I don't I hardly played any with you guys this this last year. So which is a real miss. On my part. So I definitely wanna do more of that. And Jed yes I will I will take it on the chin and run a tales of the old West.
Dave:I'll start I'll start a game of that for those who might be interested because I love running it. I love playing it. So, yeah. I guess those are.
Matthew:'91 set in the '17 sorry, not 1750. Eighteen fifties. Yeah. In California.
Dave:Yep. Yep. That would be cool. Yeah. Yeah.
Dave:Thanks. Yeah. Cool. What about you then, Matt?
Matthew:We'll work on that. Well, my overriding ambition is to get the solo rules that tells the Old West published, or no. First of all, written and then published.
Dave:We do need to finish the Kickstarter stretch goals from the first Kickstarter, don't we? So yeah.
Matthew:And, also, I've got two artists who promised me covers for, the last two adventures, but have since disappeared into the so I need to pin them down. Mhmm. And this is this is what happens when they say, oh, don't worry about paying me a deposit. I'll get it all done for you next week, and you can pay me the whole thing. And then and then they don't, and I haven't got the deposit to hold over their heads now.
Matthew:So No. Yeah. We'll sort that out. But then, obviously, get those two campfire tales out. That won't that's not much massive work.
Matthew:The big work is the
Dave:Solo rules.
Matthew:Solo rules. But I'm making good I've been making good progress on that this Christmas holiday. So I hope to have something to share actually with with our qualifying patrons on on Patreon's thing.
Dave:Yeah. Cool.
Matthew:Playing wise, I I don't I don't wanna sound like a fucking broken record.
Dave:But you are?
Frank:But the only thing
Matthew:I really, really want to play is Mortars of the Up West. I'm such a shill for myself. I love this game so much.
Dave:We did have a good session at the at our getaway, didn't we? That was that was a good that was a good game, that one.
Matthew:Yeah. I I love it. And you see, this is why, Dave, you've got to run eighteen fifties California for Jed because I don't want to stop our campaign and move to the 1850s with a new character.
Dave:No that's fair enough.
Frank:It'd be like Red Dead Redemption where you start off and then you play your father.
Dave:And then he'd go back to it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's not a bad idea, actually. Oh.
Dave:Generational play. My father's
Frank:not gonna
Matthew:be having a great 18, though.
Dave:No. Because he he was a slave. That's true. I mean, interestingly, there was a lot of interesting stuff about slaves in California in the eighteen fifties.
Matthew:Mhmm.
Dave:Because because, there was a, the law was that you it was a non slave state.
Frank:Yeah.
Dave:There weren't no slaves there. But if you were a slave owner and you took your slave there, then that person was still strictly a slave. So you had quite a lot of runaways in, in California because it's a slave free state. So you could play your father
Matthew:Mhmm. In
Dave:in that kind of setup. That that would that might work really well. Yeah.
Matthew:Well, we might consider that at some future point. Other games that I want to play, I'm really enjoying Spectaculars. I'd like to finish that campaign. I I gotta say I I should be more enthusiastic for Invisibles. Not Invisibles.
Matthew:Invincible. Invincible. But I am not at all,
Dave:which Yeah. I didn't I didn't back that at all.
Matthew:Which is a bit disappointing then. Not nor did I.
Frank:Did I spoil it for you by running it?
Dave:Nothing about your GM style, Frank.
Matthew:Actually, I think you did a good job of running it. You know, obviously, that's kind of as a quick start, that's kind of limited in that, you know, we're playing known characters in a very much a starter adventure sort of thing. But, no, it didn't sadly, you didn't I didn't go, wow. These are the best superhero mechanics I've ever seen. And and, actually, I do think what the although, Paul, you talked about Spectacular as being a kind of part role playing, part board game thing, which it kind of is.
Matthew:It's kind of more formulaic and not necessarily quite as free form as a role playing game. But, actually, what it does in terms of getting everybody around the table effectively writing not just a comic, but a series of comics. You know, we're becoming a effectively a publishing house with a shared universe if we go off and do other adventures. You know, sometimes people can pop in with their characters from this adventure into other campaigns. I feel that gets across the spirit of superhero comics better than how tactically you can punch somebody into a zone and destroy some scenery.
Frank:Yeah.
Paul:I I I agree with you there. That he's he's done a nice job in in making it playable as opposed to overpowered, you know, people doing bad things. You know? And and there are consequences, and that's another that's another good thing about that that game.
Matthew:Yeah. No. I'm I'm I'm thoroughly enjoying that.
Frank:I mean,
Dave:I'm really enjoying Spectaculars. It it has taken a bit of an effort to get my head around the way the game works because it does limit you in some role playing senses whilst helping you create this comic style story. Which is great. But I think it it took a little while to get my head around the limitations it places on you as a player. Whilst trying to embrace what it does offer.
Matthew:Yeah. Yeah.
Dave:But it's but it's good. I'm really enjoying it.
Matthew:But it does
Dave:It a slightly different slightly different style of game. Yeah.
Matthew:And I think you're probably right, Pauline, that it isn't actually strictly a role playing game, and that's probably why you're struggling with it or you were struggling with it a bit, Dave. Mhmm. A little bit. It's not quite as free form as a role playing game, but it is a thing. I don't know what thing it is.
Matthew:I guess it's a story game.
Dave:It is. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah.
Dave:And I love the way it creates the story as, you know, around the table as you go. Yeah. I think that was really that session zero we did when we created the the Blackstone City was fabulous. It's one of my most fun sort of narrative gaming experiences ever. Think that was really, really cool.
Matthew:Cool. So what are our last thoughts if we're if we're gonna end this program in time for Thomas to go to lunch at Morrow Mhmm. Not being in Australia at the moment, but rather being here in the home of culinary excellent excellence before heading off to drab old, tasteless France.
Frank:Very good fault.
Dave:Take take the butter out of France and see what they've got left. Hey?
Paul:I'm actually just been given a sausage sandwich.
Thomas:This this may not be a surprise, but I've booked a restaurant in every city that we're staying in in France. And I've gotta say, I'm I'm pretty happy with the choices. I'm I don't wanna just don't wanna debate you guys, but, you know, the North African cuisine in Nimes looks particularly impressive if I
Dave:can say so.
Matthew:Okay okay France might be quite good at cooking but yeah have we got any other final thoughts you wanna give to our listeners who and and other fellow patrons who weren't able to join us?
Frank:Be here next time.
Dave:That's right. Yes.
Matthew:Oh, there's another ambition actually that I I think I I I can't promise this, Douglas, but I'm gonna try really hard to make this happen. Douglas, you suggested a quarterly get together for patrons. So let's see if actually I I was crap at making a monthly one last year. We didn't get anywhere with that
Douglas:that's why I said quarterly because I thought it might be more manageable
Matthew:yeah it may it may be less scary to do it quarterly season
Frank:if you
Matthew:will that would be another ambition to do
Dave:yeah excellent you could call it the turn of the season cafe
Matthew:Turn of the seasons.
Douglas:Yeah. But do one at every Equinox.
Matthew:Oh, maybe. Yeah. Yes. That's a good idea. Suggestions or things you want final words?
Douglas:I want to mention the dice for Tales of the Old West. I don't know if you still have any but those dice are literally some of the best rolling dice, balanced, beautiful, nice weight for plastic or whatever it is. It was they they really are a delight. So that was kind of a surprise that I didn't expect, and it was wonderful.
Matthew:Cool. I because I've heard I've heard precisely the opposite thing from some people around this Perry video call. Not least you, Dave, I seem to remember.
Dave:No. Tony was complaining about that.
Matthew:Tony. Tony was. Wasn't it? Yeah.
Dave:Yeah.
Matthew:But Bruce, I think you've had uncomplementary things to say about the dice, haven't you? In terms of the way they roll?
Bruce:Well, that that's because I run the run the conventions. I have to let the players roll it, and they roll well. And it's awful as being a game master running you'll see them use my dice to roll well and when I use them I roll terribly bulky dice bulky dice man!
Matthew:Let me tell you a thing about the dice, though, Douglas. We did it was just going to be a Kickstarter exclusive because people like to buy dice with Kickstarters. Yeah. It was a hassle. Was the first thing we ordered and the last thing we received and actually slightly delayed the the mailing of the Kickstarter.
Matthew:Luckily, we were ahead of the game anyway, so nobody really noticed that delay, but it was annoying. I tried really hard to get them made in The UK, and it turned out that my UK supplier was going to manufacture it in China.
Dave:China anyway. Yeah.
Matthew:However, I agree with you. They're lovely dice. They they are just lovely dice. And my intention was never to make the dice again, but I think we may include possibly even the same manufactured dice because I I've been looking around for other ones, and they don't come up to scratch in terms of I
Douglas:do remember you specifically saying that you didn't the price point of what you paid and what you received back in terms of, you know, the financing, you know, they were expensive and you didn't charge enough, I think for that.
Matthew:Yeah. Well, and there's other things like particularly could have been luckily, I think we've managed to get away with it around tariffs and the like
Thomas:Yeah.
Matthew:Timing of tariffs. But they would have they would have seriously dented our our our profits, as it were, If-
Thomas:Hey, sorry. I'm gonna have to bounce because I do actually have to pay somewhere in twenty five minutes. No, But I did actually have one last reflection to share if I may. I did want to say I am super excited for how passionate both of you are for your game. And I think that's actually a worthy thing to be.
Thomas:And I think the passion that you've got for your game and I think the fact that you love playing it and that it never gets boring irrespective of all the accolades you've received, which there have been significant and many, most elegant implementation of the Year Zero engine to date, I guess. You
Dave:can quote that as often as you like, Thomas.
Matthew:Can I? Yes.
Thomas:It's I I think it's worthy of note. No problem. It's been a genuine pleasure to spend, what, five and a bit years now hanging out on the Discord and watching you guys bring it to life. So that is my final reflection.
Matthew:Thank you, Thomas. I was saying now show me something about it, please.
Frank:And now I'm leaving. So I'll talk to you all later. Goodbye. Bye, Thomas. Bye, Thomas.
Frank:Bye, Thomas. Bye. How many? Yep.
Thomas:You too.
Matthew:Yeah. But I think we might read we we might do another one of the dice for the next Kickstarter and probably from the same manufacturer, actually, because I don't wanna spoil the magic. Mhmm. Mhmm. But we'll we'll we'll think about that.
Matthew:And we'll think about packaging them differently, which might avoid tariffs Mhmm. Or lower the impact of tariffs. But there, more more what to do on that.
Dave:Yeah.
Matthew:Are we done?
Paul:Throw me in a zucchini and send a zucchini. Don't pay tariffs on faces.
Matthew:I think that might be called smuggling.
Frank:Paul. That's not very
Dave:Oh, yeah. That doesn't work.
Matthew:Somebody tried to stuff zucchini with all sorts of other powdery substances.
Dave:Why don't why don't we stick cocaine in there as well at the same time? It'll be fine.
Jed:Slight zucchini.
Douglas:Isn't there a role playing deck
Matthew:where you can
Douglas:Sorry, Jed.
Matthew:Sorry. We missed you there, Jed.
Jed:I said you you put on the label that it's diced zucchini, and then you're back.
Frank:No. I see. There
Douglas:was a role play wasn't there any a book there was a role playing book that had dice that actually fit inside the pages. And which one? But I don't know if that qualifies still as a book.
Matthew:Yeah. No. It's interesting.
Frank:I a book can have a CD.
Matthew:I remember when Feng Shui got sent to me. They sent it to me as a book and dice. And they'd therefore written game on the box. And I refused to pay the tax, so it got sent back to the Atlas Games or whoever was working at. And I've said, just say book next time.
Matthew:And I did. They then said it
Bruce:just saying book
Matthew:even though it did also contain days. And I avoided attacks. Yeah. Anyway, it's my end My last comment on our episode.
Dave:To say thank you to everyone. Happy New Year. Mhmm. Thank you. It's been a delight having you guys, you know, along with us.
Dave:You know, it's it's It's, it's a fabulous community. And, yeah, just thank you very much and happy New Year. I hope it's a good 2026 for you all.
Matthew:And happy New Year as well to all our listeners who aren't here present. Yes. The fact that you guys still listen to us after all this time
Dave:Is is a source of constant wonder to me, frankly.
Matthew:Are still downloading the podcast. I have no idea. But still, thank you everybody. Yes. And I think send that happy new year to everybody as well.
Dave:Yep. Absolutely.
Matthew:So I don't know what we're doing next episode, Dave. We'll think of something in the
Dave:next Yeah. Clip at the Yeah.
Matthew:And it's, I guess oh, how are we gonna do it's goodbye from you when we've got
Frank:And from all of us.
Dave:Them possibly.
Matthew:Yeah so it's goodbye
Douglas:You from start it and then we say and it's goodbye from us.
Matthew:Top plan.
Dave:Yeah. Well, so So
Matthew:it's goodbye from all our patrons present on this party phone call.
Dave:And it's goodbye from him. I think that was wasn't that what we're supposed to be doing, Matthew?
Matthew:It's goodbye from you.
Frank:Have to
Paul:You've been going this way.
Matthew:And may the icons bless your adventures, isn't it?
Dave:To answer Paul's question, I have no flipping idea, pal. Absolutely none. Yes. Anyway, so it's goodbye for me.
Douglas:And it's goodbye for my boss.
Dave:Presented by Fiction Suit and the RPG Gods. Music stars on a black sea used with permission of Free League Publishing.