Episodic Adventures: TTRPG Module Reviews

Beware, ye who enter “The Crack’d and Crook’d Manse”! In this spooky seasonal episode, Jordy, Lisa and Sean investigate a classic module republished in Call of Cthulhu 7th Editition’s Mansions of Madness, Vol 1. We discuss the murder house trope, copious red herrings, mysterious letters, and whether the players should know the name of their fears. Note: Chaosium recently made the decision to change the original name of Shub-Gorath. You can read more about the update here. CW: sanity, harm to a

This week, Jordy and Lisa are all about the money. We discuss Jordy’s foray into quantum quest-writing, crowdfunding (and Kickstarter fatigue), and personal hobby economics. Note: Academia Arcana is available for pre-order! As a supplement to this convo, Bright Bard Games recently blogged about their successful experience vending at GenCon with a group of other indie publishers–it’s a worthwhile read for small games creators and the people looking to see them thrive. CW: finances Pax Deorum

Kneel before us, mortals, as Sean, Jordy and Lisa chase immortality in Lichdom, a solo roleplaying game about sorcerers reaching for eternal life. We discuss inciting events, pesky interlopers, the highs and lows of probability, mastering your own game, and playing with fate. Note: A limited print rerun of Lichdom: Immortal Edition is Kickstarting soon, for ye nefarious mages. CW: undeath, suicide Lichdom is written by Adrian Lopez Sanjuan and published by Feral Wizard. Intro excerpt from Li

For this doubly special episode, Lisa and Sean convene with special guest Mel the GM to review our first-ever system agnostic adventure: Broken Heart of the Castle! We discuss beastly curses, burying your gays, a hair-trigger confrontation, and, inexplicably, another duck. Note: “Sleeping Heart of the Garden” is Cloud Curio’s woodsy system neutral entry CW: “Bury your gays” trope “Broken Heart of the Castle” is written by SC Ormond and published by Cloud Curio. You can find Mel at @MeltheGM

Welcome back to another Sidebar with Lisa and Sean! This week, we discuss our gaming family tree and how our roots spread. Theme music credited to Zane Little. New to the show? Check out our links: https://linktr.ee/episodicadventures Have gaming opinions or questions? Email us at episodicmailbag@gmail.com.

This week, Sean, Jordy, and Lisa descend into a downright Jaquaysian tangle of tunnels in search of the “Dark Tower,” a fantasy game aid for AD&D. We discuss the joy, humor, and mischief of Jaquays’ design, leading with artifacts, the horrible hall of the silent ball, and a super-secret hidden (main) boss, plus the hosts share their hot slash fic of the dungeon denizens. “Dark Tower” is written by Jennell Jaquays and originally published by Judges Guild in 1980. It was restored and re-released