Cyberpunk RED Actual Play Chapter 11: Get Out (S4E27)
Season 4 · Episode 27
Friday, June 20, 2025 • Duration 01:20:39
In this episode of the Cyberpunk campaign, the Edgerunners navigate the treacherous Elysium HQ after awakening Hera, a vengeful AI.
They embark on a mission to plant AI-spawned seeds across the city, facing various challenges including combat with scavengers and the emergence of the Glow Boys amidst a radioactive sand storm.
Get more Cyberpunk RED:
Cyberpunk RED Actual Play @ Lair of Secrets
Cyberpunk RED Role-Playing Game Resources
Cyberpunk RED Frequently Asked Questions
Cyberpunk RED Screamsheets
Chapters
00:00 The Awakening of Hera02:41 The Mission to Plant the Seeds07:06 Combat and Chaos in the Garden Level11:41 The Escape Plan28:02 Exploring the Map and Game Mechanics35:23 Encountering the Glow Boys43:12 Inside the Building and Tactical Decisions48:50 The Growl of Danger52:40 A New Challenge Emerges01:00:41 Critical Moments01:07:13 Tactical Decisions in Close Quarters01:08:47 The Aftermath of Battle01:10:55 Resource Management and Vehicle Repairs01:20:15 Conclusion and Future Adventures
Listen to the Episode
Watch to the Episode
Watch Cyberpunk RED Chapter 11: Get Out on YouTube.
Show Notes
Recap: Edgerunners awaken Hera, the vengeful AI, and agree to her mission
Objective: Plant AI "seeds" in three Hercules Industries locations
Immediate goal: Escape Elysium HQ on foot without a vehicle
Encounter: Hostile scavvers attacking cyber-corvids for chrome
Tactical choices: Split between sneaking out and running headfirst into danger
Surprise threat: A radioactive storm arrives mid-escape
Retreat to shelter: Players take refuge in a ruined garage
Combat: Coydogs attack—Bob attempts diplomacy with kibble
Atlas falls dramatically out a window
Bob uses glow sticks and a flashlight to reveal threats
Players defeat coydogs and trick the Glow Boys into thinking they’re dead
Final escape: Hotwire a barely-working car and roll out of the Hot Zone
Featured Image Meta
The glowing ruins of downtown Night City, as depicted in the Cyberpunk RED core rule book. Credit: R. Talsorian Games.
d8 ShadowDark Monster Resources (S4E26)
Season 26 · Episode 4
Friday, June 13, 2025 • Duration 22:52
With help from the Lair community, we collected eight house rules for Shadowdark. On this episode, we run through them, offering our thoughts on how they might impact the game (most of these are not rules we've tried ourselves, so we'd love some more field reports!) Leave them in the comments, or email us at podcast@lairofsecrets.com.
Want more ShadowDark? We've got more ShadowDark!
d8 ShadowDark Mistakes We Made (S4E19)
d12 Ways ShadowDark is Awesome! (S4E15)
Shadowdark Impressions (Campaigns & Coffee)
Unboxing Cursed Scrolls 3: Midnight Sun for ShadowDark
Chapters
00:00 Introduction00:54 Monster 2403:02 VALHOLL!04:21 Shadowfinder Complete Bestiary05:24 Creating and Adapting Monsters for ShadowDark14:16 The Monster Overhaul15:12 Ruincairn Bestiary17:20 ShadowDark Monster Tools19:34 Conclusion and Future Discussions
Listen to the Episode
Watch to the Episode
Watch d8 ShadowDark Monster Resources on YouTube.
Show Notes
ShadowDark specific Monster Resources
Monster 24
Cost: $2 (pay what you want)
250 monsters by Tom Phillips, who spent 2024 creating monsters and publishing them to Reddit. This compiles his various critters into one document. Includes gaggles of hags (forest hags, tomb hags, venom hags), plenty of plants (carnivorous cave moss, blood orchid, vampire grass), and oodles of oozes and slimes (chaos pudding, green slime, umber jelly)
VALHOLL! Nashcraeft #1
Cost: $6.99
A fanzine that builds on Cursed Scrolls #3: Midnight Sun. Introduces a bunch of monsters as well as a “lot system” as alternative to carousing, new magic items, new blessings, and 4 classes.
Shadowfinder Complete Bestiary
Cost: $25 (PDF) $29 (POD+PDF) as part of the Kickstarter
Every PF 1E bestiary, #1-6, converted for Shadowdark RPG. The kickstarter is over; hopefully they’ll release this for sale when the Kickstarter-created book releases in October 2025.
Creating and Adapting Monsters for ShadowDark
Cost: $5 (pay what you want)
Very handy, fan-created rules for making your own monsters (or converting them from other systems).
Advice on creating monsters including “VIBES OVER COMPLEXITY”, “USE NATURAL LANGUAGE”, “MONSTER SPELLS ARE WEIRD”, and “RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN”
Options include:
BUILD BY EQUIVALENTS
If your monster is like a knight, bugbear, or zombie … just use the stat block as is.
BUILD BY ADAPTATION
Say you want to recreate the 5e Bandit Captain, you take the ShadowDark bandit, and beef it up.
BUILD BY BENCHMARK
E.g. converting Yakfolk warrior. Look at the CR (in this case, CR 3, compare it to CR3 monsters in ShadowDark, and start building.
It has a talent bank describing all kinds of monster capabilities and a big list of monster spells.
It includes a bunch of horrors as well, including blink dogs, ettins, pseudodragons, unique horrors like the “Eyeball Wall”, and a number of NPCs (pyromancer, cultist, etc.).
ShadowDark adjacent Resources
Runecairn Bestiary
Cost: $13.49
100 Norse-inspired monsters for Runecairn, an Old School Renaissance RPG. The OSR stat blocks are close enough to ShadowDark to make conversion pretty easy. Includes sabertooth cats, grave newts, ogres, and giant octopi.
The Monster Overhaul
Cost: $30.00 (PDF) $60 (PDF+Print)
Come for the 200+ monsters, stay for the ecology and random table pieces. Uniformly praised online. It’s got entries for NPCs (adventurers, barbarians) each with d100 names and character traits. For monsters, it delves beyond the stat block.
Goblins get the same d100 names and traits PLUS physical descriptions, motivations, mounts, elite weapons, and loot.
Plus there are random tables like “50 mercenary jobs” and generic maps of locations like a wizard tower and a village.
ShadowDark Monster Tools
ShadowDark Tools: Monster Reference
Filter monsters from the ShadowDark core rules + the first three Cursed Scrolls. Criteria include monster level, environment, type (e.g. angel, aberration), movement type (burrow, climb, fly), attack (blood drain, petrify, venom), effect (blindness, charm), and trait (corrosive, damage reduction, immune non-silvered weapons)
Ken the DM’s Shadowdark RPG Monsters By Level
A PDF index of ShadowDark core monsters by level. It includes each monster's special abilities and its page number.
Featured Image Meta
A list of monster stat blocks generated using ShadowDark Tools.
d8 ShadowDark Mistakes We Made (S4E19)
Season 4 · Episode 19
Friday, April 11, 2025 • Duration 33:01
On this episode, we talk about the top mistakes we made running ShadowDark (aka "how Ken accidentally enabled hard mode for his campaign").
Our mistakes include "overly complicate torch management", "create deadlier rat diseases", "don't use Luck points", and more!
Looking for more ShadowDark content? Check out these Lair episodes:
d12 Ways ShadowDark is Awesome! (S4E15)
Shadowdark Impressions (Campaigns & Coffee)
Chapters
Listen to the Episode
Watch to the Episode
Watch d8 ShadowDark Mistakes We Made on YouTube.
Show Notes
1. Overcomplicate Torch Management
You don't need to do torch gymnastics to light a new one. If your old one is burning down, and the players want to start a new torch, they do it. The timer is reset to 60 minutes, and the old torch is discarded.
Keeping fractional torches around ("But we had 15 minutes left on this torch!") is a natural impulse given the importances (and potential scarcity) of light, but fractional torches make things complicated. And the mechanic isn't meant to be complicated.
A reasonable house rule I've seen for torches that go out less than halfway through their burn cycle is to round down to 30 minutes. Keeping track of "half torches" is still work, but less work than breaking it down further.
That said, if you’re under threat, then yes, there are torch gymnastics. There’s a DC 12 Dexterity check to ignite a torch under such conditions. - If it’s dark, same DC, but with disadvantage. We’ll talk more about that in our ShadowDark house rules episode coming up. (Sly Flourish - https://slyflourish.com/shadowdark_house_rules.html)
2. Create even deadlier rat diseases
The common rat in ShadowDark is infected with a fast acting disease that immediately saps the adventurer's Constitution. Depending on how you interpret the rule, it either prevents all healing until the adventurer makes a saving throw OR the adventure can't recover their lost Con until they make a saving throw.
Ken chose the latter.
3. Don't use luck points
For Ken’s first few games, he didn’t use Luck points at all. Which, given how deadly ShadowDark is, can be a pretty big difficulty upgrade for players.
Running the same scenario at a convention (and swapping in a Seer character from Cursed Scrolls #3) revealed just how helpful Luck tokens are (the seer being able to create Luck tokens 3x per day).
4. Get Spell Mishaps Wrong
Ken’s game made spell failure MUCH more dangerous by rolling on the mishap chart whenever a spell casting attempt failed (and not just on critical fumbles, as per the rules).
This makes it much more likely your 1st level character is going to get killed when failing to cast a spell.
5. Don't Plan for Carousing
Carousing is a big part of the game. During downtime, players can spend gold to have adventures in town, earning XP, acquiring allies (and maybe an enemy). But to do it, they need gold … so it helps to make sure that they’ll actually have that gold when they got home.
Also, read the carousing and “learn skills” downtime activities before you start the adventure, so you know what the players can do at the end.
6. Get Stuck in D&D 5e Mode
ShadowDark is a cousin of D&D 5e … and 5e has a rule for everything. It’s easy to bring in default 5e assumptions (I’m looking at you, opportunity attacks) rather than looking for the ShadowDark equivalent.
7. Stress about when to level up
Do you level up at session's end or in the middle of the session? This is more a preference than a mistake (though your mileage may vary). Leveling up is super easy in ShadowDark, but it does slow things down a bit.
8 Wasting time looking up rules that don't exist
ShadowDark is a rules-light game. D&D or Pathfinder fans may come in looking for detailed rules for, well, just about everything.
Most of the time, ShadowDark doesn’t have them. Like “Learning” during downtime. The book provides some guidelines for what they can’t do (learn another class’s or ancestries’ unique talents) and two examples of what they can (a new language, how to ride a sandworm using a harness). There’s no big list of skills (but though you could steal from backgrounds).
Don’t worry. Just roll with it.
Featured Image Meta
The background image is the map from Lost Citadel of the Scarlet Minotaur, featured in the ShadowDark quick-start rules.
I’m David Moore and I’ve been sailing in a boat, which is bumpier than a dirigible, and digging heavily into my books pulled from several of the libraries here in the Lair.
I’m Ken Newquist and I’m happily buried underneath the many books of my summer reading list.
Water-born Dirigibles
David is moving forward with ASA sailing trainingASA 101 complete!Erin and David studied and watched three of the newer Deathrace moviesSailing with friends on Lake Erie did not go as planned
Library 67
A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky ChambersHas some definite Firefly vibesMuch more about the characters rather than a larger plotWas good, thinking of picking up book twoSavage Legion and Savage Bounty by Matt WallaceRead the first one and immediately wanted to read the second oneFantasy civilization that is gobbling up all of the other countries around it to feed itselfEmergency Skin by N.K. JemisinSci Fi novella - a civilization sends back a scout to Earth to get materials that it cannot get. The scout encounters a surprise from a supposedly dead and dangerous planet.Highly recommended, warning - David's kind of politicsA Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. KingfisherA great young adult fantasy that has a carnivorous sourdough starter
The Garage of Doom
A vacation with some friends provided a good opportunity to satisfy David's Deathrace/Mad Max gaming with GaslandsThink: Fury Road meets Matchbox cars
Underworld Arcade
Hades - an addictive roguelike game with a good story
Dyson Fall Updates
David's working on oracles to help GMs or groups create where they will exploreStuck a bit on how to make the community building fun, interesting, and easy to track
Self-Healing Gaming Machines
Ken's Switch healed itself while he was a PhilmontNow he's playing far too much Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Summer Reading
Ken finished 11 of the 14 books on his summer reading listGained two books ...Alien: Bug Hunta collection of short stories involving Colonial Marines dealing various alien (but not Alien) threats. Includes one by Scott Sigler (who wrote Alien: Phalanx)If you like Aliens and Colonial Marines, you’ll like this book.Children of Ruin by Adrian TchaikovskyFollow up to Children of TimeFirst book was so good, I had to add the sequel to my list.Great world building book about first contact, accidental evolution, and overcoming barriers to communication.... but lost oneInhibitor Phase by Alastair Reynolds. The new Revelation Space novel was set to release July 27, 2021, but is now set to come out on October 12, 2021.
The Closet of Outdated Tech
Ken bought his daughter a new computer for college, so he gets her old Surface Pro.About 4 years old … but it can run Campaign Cartographer (so Ken can finally use that mapping Humble Bundle he got…)Might have enough heft to let him play a few PC games on Steam. If he can free up some disk space (only 8 GB remains…)
S1E19 Finally Philmont
Season 1 · Episode 19
Monday, October 4, 2021 • Duration 59:11
Ken made it to Philmont and back. That's it. Summer's done. Meanwhile, David traveled to a castle in Ohio, moderated a death race on the track in the Lair, and started on his quest to sail the seven seas.
Finally Philmont
Ken when to Philmont Scout Ranch, a high adventure camp in Cimmeron, New Mexico. You know, the place Ken's been talking about for the last year and more.What is Philmont?15 day trip (two days getting acclimated in Colorado, 12 days on the trail, 1 day traveling back) In Colorado, went to Pike’s Peak, Garden of the Gods, and whitewater rafting on the Arkansa River (Class 3 and 4 rapids)Then a 69 mile trek in PhilmontBase camp is 6,430 ft. The highest we got was about 10,500Amazing views - you can see for dozens of miles at a clipLegitimately dangerous.The crew got there in “monsoon” season, when it rains almost every afternoon.Lightning almost every day.It’s a desert, so it’s dry.But it’s raining a lot, so everything’s greenLegitimately hardHiking at altitude is difficult when you are a flatlanderDrank so much water.Good thing the crew trained.HighlightsAstronomy at Ring Place.Tomahawk throwing and black powder muskets at MirandaRock Climbing at Chase CowCowball at Chase Cow (it is definitely not volleyball).Sketching is fun.Some RPG ThoughtsThere’s a reason we don’t simulate every mile of an overland trek; it’s boring.Interesting landmarks that dominate the terrainMount Baldy is visible from much of northern Philmont. Everytime you get closer to it, and it gets bigger, it feels like you’re making progress.The Tooth of Time dominates the view at Base Camp. You know you’re at Philmont when you can see the Tooth.Interesting terrainTrails carved by floods.Are the floods a historical feature, or something a little more relevant?Unusual rock formations e.g. Garden of the Gods … what if was created by actual gods.Weather is dangerous.Remember to include it in overland treks (lightning, flash floods, massive hail, etc.)Weather transforms safe terrain into dangerous terrain. Think about that when a group fails a survival check to find a good camp.There are seasons. And some regions may have their own seasons you don’t expectUnexpected enemiesMini bears. Just as hungry as bears, but way bolder.
Outro
Thanks for listening. If you have feedback, we love feedback. You can send it to us at podcast@lairofsecrets.com or via Twitter @lairofsecrets. You can also visit lairofsecrets.com and leave us some feedback, topic ideas, or your own thoughts on what we’ve talked about.
Featured Image
S1E18 Dyson Fall, 3D Printing, Wilderness First Aid, Disc Golf, Mass Effect Returns
Monday, September 27, 2021 • Duration 44:31
On this episode of the Lair of secrets, David reports out on his productive stay-cation, while Ken hikes, runs, swims, and bikes his way along the final stretch of the trail to Philmont (and he could really use a nap)
Back in the Printerium
David's new printer arrived - Prusa i3 - MK3S+He printed a D20 wall medallionDIY stream deck, will we stream our show live in the future?Multipass vaccination card holder
Dyson Fall update
Community buildingPlaytest group running wellDefinitely more Kipo and the Wonderbeasts than character churning 1st and 2nd edition *Gamma World, it still retains the same exploration fun.
Battery-powered Leaves
David' s getting a New battery for the Nissan Leaf
The Chamber of Turnings
Woodworking and pen turningTurned several pens for a friend Natalie, who also did our logo!Turned several seam rippers
Trail to Philmont
Ken's on the final stretch.The crew went on their last shakedown hike:17 miles over two days on the Appalachian Trail in New Jersey.Cold and rainy the whole time.We learned a lot. Like NeutronLad needs better rain gear, my rain gear is too loose, we need waterproof compression sacks for a sleeping bag, I may need a thermal sleeping bag liner, Philmont food will be hard on the stomach, and oh yeah, my boots aren’t nearly broken in enough. Next up:6 a.m. swim times with NeutronLad.Eating bad food now to prepare our stomachs for later.
Wilderness First Aid training
How to treat someone for an injury when you’re miles from anywhere (or more than a few levels deep in the lair...)Practical skills that you will hopefully will never use.Two 9-hour days that include training and role-playing (but no dice)
The Back Nine
Ken wants to get back to Disc GolfThrowing discs at metal baskets.He started playing disc golf in 2015 during a massive website redesign project.He stuck with it (though didn’t get much better)Ken's got some great courses nearby - Hackett Park in Easton, South Mountain in Bethlehem, Lake Nockamixon in Bucks CountyOne of the things that fell by the wayside with the pandemic.Hoping to get back to it now that folks are getting vaccinated.
The Archive of Games Video
Ken's playing Mass Effect Legendary EditionMastered versions of the 3 games.Does not come with any time to play it.Looks great, though it does meander a bit.Took Ken a while to get his Shepherd back.
Outro
Thanks for listening. If you have feedback, we love feedback. You can send it to us at podcast@lairofsecrets.com or via Twitter @lairofsecrets. You can also visit lairofsecrets.com and leave us some feedback, topic ideas, or your own thoughts on what we’ve talked about.
Featured Image
Cover art for Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. Credit: Electronic Arts
S1E16 Super Science, Dwarven Delves, Magic Skeletons, Work-cation, Horizon Zero Dawn
Season 1 · Episode 16
Monday, September 20, 2021 • Duration 53:21
The Lair of Secrets get a super-science expansion as David and Ken take a look at the new super-sized edition of Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. We also check out the new book You Can Do Anything Magic Skeleton!, talk about work-cations, venture once more into the outdoors, and delve too deeply (or not nearly deep enough) with the drawing/journaling game DELVE.
Trail to Philmont
Running!Camping!Backpacking!Physical Therapy!
Puppy S is coming
The puppy is a male. His name begins with S. We’ll know more soon!
Scientific Barbarian
A megazine dedicated to our glorious mutant, high-science, post-apocolyptic futue.Check out the kickstarter page.
DELVE
DELVE is Anna Blackwell's drawing game of dwarves digging deeply.Because the Lair is never deep enoughKen's foray's into the dungeon:First dungeon … killed by a skeleton king and his minions.Second dungeon … killed by green meanies.Third dungeon ... Ken realized he had to stop playing spade cards on the first level. Now he's on his third level, having defeated two giant worm-things and snuck past a slumbering dragon.
Work-cation
Remote-er remote work?
Baker’s Dozen Mystery in a Box
David played the game with his family while on work-cation.Check out the "Baker’s Dozen" Mystery in a Box webpage
You Can Do Anything Magic Skeleton!
Written by Chuck Wendig. Illustrated by Natalie Metzger.Check out You Can Do Anything Magic Skeleton on GoodReads.
And you thought The Lair of Secrets was big ...
David looks at the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks 5e conversion by Goodman Games.Multiple versions of the classic scifi-meets-fantasy module that show it's evolution from tournament game to its current incarnation.
Horizon Zero Dawn
David ventures into a world where you hunt mechanical animal hybrids and try to unravel the secret of past human mistakes in Horizon Zero Dawn (PC)
Dyson Fall Update
David's progress on Dyson Fall (Gamma World inspired game)Building mutationsLocal game this weekend
Omega Mart
Omega Mart commercialsIf Aperture Science ran a supermarket...
As the Pen Turns
David is turning more pens on his lathe.
Dead Phone, New Phone
Meet David's new phone, acquired after the unexpected, untimely, and tragic death of his old phone.
Meanwhile, in the Printerium...
David repaired his 3D printer ... and there's a new one on the way.Printers printing printers. What could go wrong?
Outro
Thanks for listening. If you have feedback, we love feedback. You can send it to us at podcast@lairofsecrets.com or via Twitter @lairofsecrets. You can also visit lairofsecrets.com and leave us some feedback, topic ideas, or your own thoughts on what we’ve talked about.
Featured Image
Artwork from the D&D 5th Edition conversion of Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. Credit: Goodman Games
David and Ken stumble out of Episode 14's time shift to find the temporal demon known as "Daylight Saving Time" playing havoc with reality.
In this episode, they talk about the new video game Valheim, catch up on Alan Tudyk's latest sci-fi offering, venture down alternative timelines with Roger Zelazny's Roadmarks, encounter a librarian hive mind on a Savage Ringworld, discuss late-spring exercise options, and check out Apple+'s space race drama For All Mankind.
Valheim!
David and the crew are playing the heck out of this early access game (which is actually pretty good for an early access game)
David's Gaming Life
Playing with Owlbear Rodeo, a quick-and-easy virtual tabletop.Dungeon Scrawl, quick-and-easy dungeon generation. Noticing a theme here?Friday gaming and Sunday gaming - both doing well
Dyson Fall
David gives an update on his Gamma World-esque game, tentatively called Dyson Fall, with Mythic d6 as the base rules.Worked up several powers and have some fiction for the setting written
In the Streaming Theatre
Critical Role - last two episodes have hooked me (C2E126 & 127)
Getting Creative
David is trying out Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, which provides inspiration and prompts for being creative every day.
Resident Alien
No, we're not talking about the colony of Greys who've taken up residence in the 13th level of the Lair.It's a new SyFy TV series, based on a graphic novel of the same name, starring Alan Tudyk.Resident Alien on SyFy
Close Encounters of a Highway Nature
Student driver and car accidentsPhone dying
Doubling back through History
David is reading Roger Zelazny’s Roadmarks.
Savage Ringworld
Ken finished running his first arc in his gaming group's Savage Ringworld campaign for Savage WorldsHe's still getting his head around balanced encounters in Savage Worlds. (partly becuase they're playing higher-powered characters, partly because Savage Worlds doesn't care about balanced encounters)
At the Edge of the Map
Ken's lunchtime hexcrawl campaign reached the edge of the map.They’re finally heading out to the Caverns of Kazeal. Guess Ken better draw them.
Library 64
Saints of Salvation by Peter F. HamiltonFar-future transhuman space opera.
Back to the Gym (or something like it)
Ken got a bike rack for the Jeep … finally.He and his son re-upped their Y membership.Lots of swimming and biking in Ken's future as he preps for Philmont.
Beyond the Moonshot
For All Mankind on Apple+
Outro
Thanks for listening. If you have feedback, we love feedback. You can send it to us at podcast@lairofsecrets.com or via Twitter @lairofsecrets. You can also visit lairofsecrets.com and leave us some feedback, topic ideas, or your own thoughts on what we’ve talked about.
Featured Image
The hexcrawl map for Ken's Scales of Truth campaign. Credit: Ken Newquist
S1E13 Venturing into the RPG Vault
Season 1 · Episode 13
Monday, September 6, 2021 • Duration 01:10:18
It may be early fall in the current timeline, but in the Lair of Secrets winter's freezing grasp can still be felt. In this episode, Ken and David venture into the digital halls of the RPG Vault to see what hidden treasures can be found in their DriveThruRPG collections.
David's adding more books in LIbrary 64
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn MuirEnjoyable, but not as fun as Gideon the NinthWill be reading the next book in the seriesDamoren by Seth SkorkowskySeth - YouTube gaming adviceFun book of urban fantasy, interested in the next onePenrick and the Shaman by Lois McMaster BujoldSecond novella of Penrick in the world of the Five Gods setting
Bullet Journaling
New bullet journal - first time doing the milestone of going from one journal to the next and reviewing the last year
In the Vandermore Game Room
David's gaming woes have seemed to be lesseningGames are going off more regularlyFound a group of old friends who had room in their groupJust ordered Burning Wheel after hearing about it for years
The Arcade
David is playing State of Decay 2 with friends and venturing into Cyberpunk 2077
The RPG Book Pile
Ken may have too many books...Scum and VillainyPublished by Evil HatKen bought it based on David's description - Blades in the Dark … IN SPACE!Tome of Beasts IIPublished by Kobold PressMore monsters for D&D 5e. So many more monsters...Icewind Dale: Rime of the FrostmaidenPublished by Wizards of the CoastHorror meets D&D in the frozen north of the Forgotten Realms.Destroyer of WorldsPublished by Free LeagueBoxed set adventure for Free League’s Alien Role-playing GameFate of CthulhuPublished by Evil HatTime travelers try to prevent the rise of a Great Old One. Once again, Ken has David to thank for wanting to get thisThose Dark PlacesPublished by Osprey RoleplayingIndustrial Science Fiction RoleplayingMonster of the Weekpublished by Evil HatThink Buffy, Supernatural, and other ongoing creature feature serials
The Chamber of Fate
Our Army Corps of Engineers: Special Operations Group campaign continues.Ken Got to run hisfirst game of Fate.He's still getting his head around world building via Aspects.It’s easy to fall back into simple skill checks (e.g. aid another - that’s a check that creates an Aspect - something that is true in the setting - that players can use). Instead of “make a skill check” in Savage Worlds or “you help them” (no check) in D&D.Mystery writing is hard.
Venturing into the RPG Vault
In which David and Ken sort through the unknown treasures lurk in their DriveThruRPG collections.Ken’s Vault590 items413 never downloaded172 core rulebooks250 fantasy titles165 science fiction titles117 horror titlesSourcesRelief bundles and Black Lives Matter fundraisers from the summerThe occasional KickstarterInteresting findsArchives of the SkySigils in the DarkCreatures of the Wastelands: A Menagerie of Mutants and MutationsTwilight 2000 (original edition)David’s Vault487 items254 never downloaded80 core rulebooks225 fantasy titles126 science fiction titles37 horror titles43 STL (3d printing) bundlesSourcesRelief and other bundlesKickstarterIndividual purchasesInteresting findsHocus Focus: A Dresden FiascoZine of Wondrous Power (out of print)A Spark in Fate CoreGodsend AgendaShaolin Squirrels: Nuts of FuryNinja Burger: The RPG
Outro
Thanks for listening. If you have feedback, we love feedback. You can send it to us at podcast@lairofsecrets.com or via Twitter @lairofsecrets. You can also visit lairofsecrets.com and leave us some feedback, topic ideas, or your own thoughts on what we’ve talked about.
Featured Image
Cover art from a few of the RPGs we looked at during this episode. Copyright their respective publishers.
S1E12 So Many Books, So Much Trek, So Many Game Master Hacks
Season 1 · Episode 12
Thursday, September 2, 2021 • Duration 01:13:13
The Lair of Secrets returns as Ken and David delve into their respective stacks of books, contemplate new video game including Gloomhaven, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, and then talk about their favorite game master hacks.
Library 64 (or "Ken has more books than time")
Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline
More video game nostalgia. But not as good as the original (where “good” is a highly subjective term).
Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy (Book I: Chaos Rising) by Timothy Zahn
Who cares what it’s about. More Thrawn!
Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
Fourth book in the epic Stormlight Archives. Prime winter break reading material.
The Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
“epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet.”
The Saints of Salvation by Peter F. Hamilton
Transhumans battle against aliens intent on “saving us” so we can meet their god at the end of time.
The Game Room
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
More JRPG squad-level tactical combat, this time for the Switch
Ken told himself he wouldn’t get it until he completed Fire Emblem: Fates: Birthright.. And then he misplaced his3DS…
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order
Ken's a huge Marvel fanboy, and right now he could use a video game that includes all his favorite heroes (including the X-men)
Meanwhile ... in yet another Library
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
David is currently reading this.
Alex Verus: Forged by Benedict Jacka
If Harry Dresden were British and could divine the future
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold
Seems to be the last of the Miles Vorkosigan series
Penrick’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold
Novella - part of a fantasy series
The Transporter Room
David picked up the trial for CBS All Access for a week
Watched the two seasons of Lower Decks, felt like Futurama meets Next Generation
Inspired David to watch Discovery and have watched all the way up to the part 1 of the two part-er in season 3.
Finished Picard after skipping a few episodes. David definitely enjoyed Discovery and Lower Decks more. Picard just didn’t feel quite like Star Trek to him. .
A Haven for Gloom
David's been playing the Gloomhaven video game
Been playing for a few weeks now with some friends and I am quite enjoying it
It doesn’t replace sitting around a table with friends to play the board game, but it does have the advantage of doing all of the fiddly things for you
In early access, still a bit buggy and the interface could use some polish
Game Master Hacks
Check out the Game Master Box of Holding companion post for photos of the boxes in action.
Plano Cases for real-world gaming supplies - replaces crumbling IKEA box held together by (badly matched) nuts and bolts.
For D&D:
Plastic minis repurposed from Heroquest
Yellow and white crystals for “inspiration”, plot points, etc.
Red and blue gems to represent things. Like “paralyized” or “damaged”.
White and yellow gems to represent other things.
Pool of d6s and my “Ragnorak” travel dice. Plus a few more sets of dice, because who doesn't need more dice?
Index cards for initiative
Wet erase markers
Extra pencils, tape measures, and other misc. tools
Random dungeon dice by Inkwell ideas
Room for two or three hardcovers, depending how much I’m bringing with me to a game.
For Savage Worlds
A smaller case, which holds smaller rulebooks
Most of the same things as above (pencils, wet erase markers, etc.
Modern themed minis from Star Wars, Reaper, etc.
Poker chips for bennies
Oversized playing cards for initiatives
Power cards, status cards, and adventure deck (thanks Kickstarter!)
At the table
Index cards for initiative, global status indicators (“remember, everyone is blessed!”) and note passing.
Dice Cup of Shame (for those who forgot their dice)
GM screen for D&D (but strangely, not Savage Worlds)
Laptop for adventure notes and hit point tracking
Outro
Thanks for listening. If you have feedback, we love feedback. You can send it to us at podcast@lairofsecrets.com or via Twitter @lairofsecrets. You can also visit lairofsecrets.com and leave us some feedback, topic ideas, or your own thoughts on what we’ve talked about.
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