Amusing, fond-memory inducing nostalgia-thon
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“To say that I sit squarely within the 'target demographic' of this podcast would be somewhat understating it.
If, like me, you are from the UK, and started gaming in the early eighties, and in your early teens, then you'll find much to recognise and enjoy here. Like the two regular hosts, Dirk and Blythie (spelling??) I was born in 1968 and started gaming (Basic Set D&D) around 1979/80 and was soon trying every rpg then known to man (unlike the hosts, we didn't struggle to find fellow gamers and our small West of Scotland town seemed blessed with an abundance of older brothers and/or wargaming enthusiasts who owned lots of different rpgs). RuneQuest, Traveller, Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer and of course AD&D - all games discussed in the opening episodes - featured to some extent or another in our gaming mindscape (although our Runequest GM only ran a few intriguing sessions before essentially confining himself to creating his own version of Glorantha - generating village after village, populated with NPC after NPC - without actually going into the trouble of actually running this material with anyone)! I believe Tunnels and Trolls is up next and I've heard other games like 'Gangbusters' and 'Top Secret' intriguingly mentioned (both games we also played, with the latter being completely and mystifyingly forgotten about until I heard it mentioned it again in the podcast)
Like Blythie, I decided to buy 'Traveller' and experienced many of the same issues in trying to run a game. I think he had better luck than me as I was rather dismayed about how open the possibilities were. Purchasing 'The Kinunir' didn't really help - there was no sci-fi equivalent of a 'dungeon' in there (unless you counted the floor plans of the ship itself) and am afraid to say that my attempt to run a session, with me lacking the skill to deploy plot hooks to engage the characters, soon descended into a murder spree as the players got bored and decided to Kill Things and Take Their Stuff. There was also a disconnect between what I expected from a sci-fi game - i.e. 'Star Wars' - and what Traveller actually offered - which I later jokingly summarised as 'Science Fiction Adventure in the Far Future .... with crap guns'. Of course it was just a case of the game being a little bit too 'advanced' for me/us and we did get to appreciate it in full later.
But I digress. Back to the podcast. Like I said, if you are a long term rpg fan, you'll find much to appreciate here. The format is simple, the pace leisurely and the tone one of affection. Quite rightly, they identify 'White Dwarf' as a key feature of the eighties UK rpg fan experience: as the guys say, that was essentially the sum total of the 'internet' for gamers in the pre-www days (that, and the very occasional copy of 'Dragon' we were lucky enough to snag). Listening to the guys talk about the various articles and scenarios therein has me tempted to get my copies out of storage again.
So to summarise: it's a really enjoyable podcast about early experiences with early rpg and is of particular interest to UK/Irish gamers of a similar vintage to the hosts.
PS - Even the very opening line of each episode, a wheezy utterance of 'Where's me dice bag?' has additional personal significance - I have indeed, in my ever advancing state of whisky soaked senility, misplaced my own beloved dice bag - or to be more precise, a battered old spectacle case containing same - if anyone out there can peer into a crystal ball and divine the location of said case, I'd be ever so grateful :)
Graham
Follow me on Twitter: @kinnygraham”Read full review »
Graham of Thrones via Apple Podcasts ·
Great Britain ·
07/22/16
More reviews of The GROGNARD Files
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“Illuminating recount of experiences playing Runequest 2 in the mythical world of Glorantha. The Author is from Bolton in the UK, and explains the impact of Runequest and the significant influence of the famous RPG magazine White Dwarf.There's a comprehensive nod to the history of the game...”Read full review »
Jovial josh via Apple Podcasts ·
Great Britain ·
09/08/15
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“Fantastic podcast. I started playing a little earlier than these guys, but it's like listening to me and my mates talking after the game. Only, you know, they're Northern, and no-one's been drinking beer, and you can't argue with them when they get something Very Important wrong.”Read full review »
Woodscanner via Apple Podcasts ·
Great Britain ·
05/30/16
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“Binge listened to the first 12 shows and I'm left feeling like I've had a delicious warm crumpet by the roaring fire with my toasty old box sets and crayoned dice. Dirk and Blythy plough a furrow close to my heart; pen and paper roleplaying the way it was, and how it is now with all the...”Read full review »
Baz Stevens via Apple Podcasts ·
Great Britain ·
05/06/17
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