Expedition to the Grizzly Peaks staggers to a close. This is it - really - really, the final episode. Thanks to everyone that has listened, called in, contributed, inspired, befriended, castigated, chastised, humoured, loved, hated, but mostly put up with, this collection of mostly meaningless ramblings, which will now sit on Spotify's servers gathering dust until someone one day decides to unplug the life support. 

You've all been awesome. Except for Barney.

If you want to hear more from me (and Barney and many others) head over to Grizzly Peaks Radio

Peace!

Immersed in the dark murky depths of roleplaying

Let's talk about sex. Romance in RPG's and rumpy pumpy

What can you say about trees

Paying tribute to better people than us

I'm beginning to see the light

The ties that bind

A deep cut on Mike's work on 7th edition Call of Cthulhu. We talk Chases, Combat, Masks of Nyarlathotep and Insanity.

In the fourth part of an ongoing series the investigators are in a fight to death with a monstrous creature at the Church of St Barnabé. If they survive will they get any closer to finding out the terrifying secret behind the play that haunts their dreams.

Join me and Nicky, Kenneth and Archie as we explore the Arkham Horror card game inspired campaign The King in Yellow

Music and Editing by the maestro TJ Drennon. https://www.patreon.com/TJD/posts

They say you never want to see the sausage get made - but we are making a horror game so a bit of intestine and gristle is par for the course. This may not be everyone's cup of tea but I think it's interesting to hear how we are collaboratively building the setting and characters for our forthcoming delve into real horror (or as real as you can get it). Listen in as Scott Dorward (Good Friends of Jackson Elias), Spencer Game (Keep off the Borderlands), Barney Dicker (Loco Ludus), and TJ Drennon join me for our session zero of (Name Pending) horror game.

Listener discretion advised: There is an actual real life monster attack at about the 40 minute mark - so anyone of a sensitive disposition may want to skip.

Fun can be a serious business. But fun is such a throwaway and insipid word that it hardly seems adequate to describe what happens to us at the table. I for one, though, can't help using it because after everything else is gone what keeps me coming back is the pure joy of the experience of running and playing Role Playing Games.

Call ins from Che Webster, Jason Connerly, Lieren, Spencer, TJ and Colin Green

In Call of Cthulhu there are worse things than death. Last night we found out what one of those things was.

I forgot for a while how welcoming and warm the Anchor podcast community was. Here are some of the call ins I received upon my return from exile. Thanks to Joe, Che, Barney, Colin, Jason and Spencer. You are all lovely lovely people and I'm glad I have got to know you.

This one will probably raise a few hackles in the community. In this episode I outline why acting out your character, first person, with accents and all leads to a better game experience for everyone at the table. Right I'm going to hide in my basement.

An interview with the Jim Wampler owner of Mudpuppy Games, writer of Mutant Crawl Classics, creator of Marvin the Mage, and in the midst of a super successful Kickstarter for his deluxe fanzine Scientific Barbarian https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/checkthisartifact/scientific-barbarian-1
http://mudpuppycomics.com/games/

Last week I had the huge privilege of spending some time with Scott Dorward, who as a writer and editor for Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu has helped breathe new life into one of the best loved games of all time. In this deep dive into Scott's work we range across his gaming history, his podcast The Good Friends of Jackson Elias, and amazing update he did for Masks of Nyarlathotep, still tagged "The Greatest Campaign Ever Written", You can find Scott at blasphemoustomes.com or on Twitter @sdorward

How to meet gamers and influence people. A look at the unique friendships that can be made through gaming and why they are so fragile.

A somewhat scattershot trawl through some past episodes courtesy of a panoply of call in from the singular Roy Lourenco of Chaoses Limb podcast. Music as always by TJ.

About 3 months ago I did this Interview with Judd Karlman one of the creators of Sons of Kryos. Along with Jeff Lower and Storn Cook they put out one of the very first gaming podcasts ever made and one that was hugely influential I believe to many podcasters who came after. I'm a huge fan of those early days of RPG podcasting, when things were more innocent and iPhone's and D&D 4th edition didn't exist. If you want to download and listen to that amazing run of 62 episodes - here it is:
https://archive.org/details/SonsOfKryosPodcast

Are the GM and Players playing the same game? The answers obvious isn't it?

Inspired by Jason of Nerd's RPG Variety Cast, and an epic battle of wills between Joey of Hindsightless and Daniel of Bandit's Keep, I lumber into the ring and give a good pounding. After all who doesn't like to see grown men take a pounding in the ring.

I am a chastised and humbled GM. I was wrong on all counts about chases and specifically chases in Call of Cthulhu 7th edition. They are great. Thanks to the Lonely Adventurer, Colin 'Spikepit' Green and Joe from Hindsightless for making me a better person.

I finally get round to addressing some call ins I got after my interview with Joe Richter where I happened to mention that I fudge dice. There's also a deep dive into my game of Scott Dorward's amazing(ly disgusting) Blackwater Creek scenario for Call of Cthulhu

A winding trail leads us to the conclusion that I don't know how to write mysteries. Also I pick up a bunch of new players on the way so it isn't a complete wash out. Also the Fantasy vs Modern cauldron is bubbling away with call-ins from Joe Richter of Hindsightless

Wherein I discuss and review the 4 starter boxes that Wizards of the Coast created for D&D 5e. 

Setting matters, perhaps more than system. That's one man's one opinion. In this episode I explore the benefits of setting your game in the modern world and how clichés become powerful when translated from other mediums. There's also a ton of spoilers for our 'Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home' actual play.

During Lockdown I've found a game that seems to push all the right buttons for me and my long time D&D group. Tales from the Loop is a game of kids on bikes in the 80's that never was. The system is elegant and simple, the setting is soaked in nostalgia, and the stories are fantastic. In this episode I go into some detail on how the game system is designed to pull out the best roleplaying from you and your players and it doesn't hurt.

I've decided to call it The Deluge. The flood of games that nearly drowned me. But in a good way. Here's the breakdown of Traveller Mongoose 2nd Edition. And in some ways one of the first "failed" systems that I've run.

I'm Baaaaaack

Grizzly Peaks Radio presents: The fifth episode of our new mini-series.  Barney from Loco Ludus, Jason from Nerds RPG  Variety Cast, Edwin the  Diplomatist, Ian (w/o podcast), Lieren from Updates From The Middle Of Nowhere, and Jeff from Tome  of All Dooms. Edited by TJ Drennon -  https://www.patreon.com/TJD/posts - Music clips  from The Miraculous Mandarin by Bela Bartok.

I have just finished reading Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson. Recognized as one of the key texts that inspired and shaped D&D. I ponder how different D&D would be if we had never had heroic fantasy and been stuck in the mire with these wonky and delightful Appendix N novels. Call ins from  Rob (Menion) Barney Jason Karl Rodriguez David Henry

The Investigators get more than they bargained for when they look at Miles Shipley's masterpiece which he keeps locked in a cupboard. Meanwhile Dr Grieves in a blind panic has run down to the basement where she is joined by the kindly old Bertha Shipley.

Grizzly  Peaks Radio presents Masks of Nyarlathotep actual play. Written  by  Larry DiTillio and Lynn Willis, new version by Mike Mason,  Lynne Hardy, Paul Fricker and Scott Dorward, for Call of Cthulhu 7th edition.

The beginning of a new Call of Cthulhu adventure. After Professor Henry Roades and his wife Abigail went missing in the Miskatonic Valley, a ragtag team of investigators are called in to find out what happened in the creepy backwaters of Blackwater Creek. This classic adventure penned by the inestimable Scott Dorward is a great introduction to the joys of the grand daddy of horror roleplaying games.

In  the third part of an ongoing series the investigators head to Paris to seek the truth from Nigel Engram, the director of the sanity shattering play, The King in Yellow. 

Join me and my guest players, Nicky, Kenneth and Archie as we explore  the Arkham Horror card game inspired campaign The King in Yellow

Music and Editing by the maestro TJ Drennon. https://www.patreon.com/TJD/posts

Meet Jack "The Hat" McVitie, a new recruit to the Investigative gang as they take an interest in the art world of 1920's London. Salvador Dali hasn't got anything on the bizarre paintings they find in the attic of a certain Mr Miles Shipley.

Grizzly  Peaks Radio presents Masks of Nyarlathotep actual play. Written  by  Larry DiTillio and Lynn Willis, new version by Mike Mason,  Lynne Hardy, Paul Fricker and Scott Dorward, for Call of Cthulhu 7th edition.

Grizzly Peaks Radio presents: The fourth episode of our new mini-series.  Barney from Loco Ludus, Jason from Nerds RPG  Variety Cast, Edwin the  Diplomatist, Ian (w/o podcast), Lieren from Updates From The Middle Of Nowhere, and Jeff from Tome  of All Dooms. Edited by the boy genius TJ Drennon -  https://www.patreon.com/TJD/posts - Music clips  from The Miraculous  Mandarin by Bela Bartok.

In the second part of a (maybe) ongoing series the investigators the socialite Jenny Barnes, the ex-Soldier Mark Harrington and the gravedigger William Yorick make a horrifying discovery in the confinement wing of Arkham Asylum. Can they escape with their lives and their sanity.

Join me and my guest players, Nicky, Kenneth and Archie as we explore the Arkham Horror card game inspired campaign The King in Yellow

Music and Editing by the maestro TJ Drennon. https://www.patreon.com/TJD/posts

Our investigators finally arrive in Old London Town. Hot on the trail of the brutal cultists that have brought death and insanity into their lives they decide to do a bit of sightseeing. I mean it's the sensible thing to do.

Grizzly  Peaks Radio presents Masks of Nyarlathotep actual play. Written  by  Larry DiTillio and Lynn Willis, new version by Mike Mason,  Lynne Hardy, Paul Fricker and Scott Dorward, for Call of Cthulhu 7th  edition.

For our 50th episode a very special treat. This adventure was intended to be showcased at GaryCon XII and was the second part of a scenario based on the amazing Path to Carcosa story cycle from Arkham Horror the card game by Fantasy Flight Games. Well we all know why that didn't happen, so instead we gathered on Roll20 and recorded the game for Grizzly Peaks Radio. Join me and my guest players, Nicky, Kenneth and Archie as they pay a pleasant visit to Arkham Asylum in search of answers.

Music and Editing by the maestro TJ Drennon. https://www.patreon.com/TJD/posts

Grizzly Peaks Radio presents: The third episode of our new mini-series. Barney from Loco Ludus, Jason from Nerds RPG  Variety Cast, Edwin the Diplomatist, and Ian (w/o podcast) are joined by two new players this week Lieren from Updates From The Middle Of Nowhere and Jeff from Tome of All Dooms. Edited by the multifarious TJ Drennon - https://www.patreon.com/TJD/posts - Music clips  from The Miraculous Mandarin by Bela Bartok.

Our investigators are zeroing in on the perpetrator of the horrific murders on the RMS Mauretania en route to England from New York. But will they be quick enough to save their companion Marcus Abate who is having an intimate conversation with the sadistic Count Korasov.

Grizzly  Peaks Radio presents Masks of Nyarlathotep actual play. Written  by  Larry DiTillio and Lynn Willis, new version by Mike Mason,  Lynne Hardy,  Paul Fricker and Scott Dorward, for Call of Cthulhu 7th  edition.

Many moons ago Barney sent me some messages. I am not a good friend but I try to make amends here.

The Space Dicks are deep in trouble, no ship, surrounded by alien enemies, no idea where they are meant to be headed, situation normal.

We're playing the Mongoose Second Edition starter box adventure - Fall  of Tinath. Join me Andy Goodman and the gang Hugo, Jesse, Danny, and Lester as we find out just how many vehicles a team can crash in one  adventure.

Music by TJ Drennon: https://www.patreon.com/TJD/posts

To tide you over until Season 2 here is a, hopefully, illuminating chat with my friend and gaming virgin Bert who recently joined my Masks of Nyarlathotep game. Watch out for more Bonus treats in the weeks to come.

Ending season 1.  All things end, some go out with a bang, others with a whimper. Let's see how much sh*t we can blow up with one episode.  In these strange times I'm going to be taking a little pause on the "classic" Grizzly Peaks episodes for a while to take stock and think about what season 2 should be. So to see us out, here's a kind of special dedicated to the Leonardo Da Vinci / Lenny Bruce of RPG podcasts, a man of unbounded talent TJ Drennon. Check out his Patreon here https://www.patreon.com/TJD/posts.

Special thanks also to Che Webster and Lieren for their calls as well. 

https://anchor.fm/rpgrescue

https://anchor.fm/lieren