This week the word is Scottish, since Keith was just in Scotland. He talks about some of his travel experiences, including the Student Nationals, his first stay in a bonafide flea-bag motel, and getting to meet the Minister of Cats of Scotland. Then the nerds spend a lot of time talking about the trailer for Star Wars episode 9. After the Spoiler Warning they discuss Star Trek: Discovery and the first couple of episodes of the new Twilight Zone.
SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
This week the word is crabgrass. The nerds talk about what they mean by this writers’ term and wonder where it came from and how well known it is. Along they way they discuss the early days of LARPing, issues with The Last Jedi, “Mystery Box” stories, unreliable narrators, and their favorite movies in the Marvel franchise. Andy rants about an issue he had with Ant Man and the Wasp. Keith talks about Gloom of Thrones, and Andy talks about his first colonoscopy. After the Spoiler Warning they water-cooler the most recent episodes of the Orville and Star Trek: Discovery, and also discuss Captain Marvel.
SPOILER WARNING:CONTAINS SPOILERS
This week the word is Cruisin’, since Keith has just returned from the JoCo Cruise and has many stories to tell. Of particular note is the enormous D&D game he ran, with 70 DMs and over 400 players. He also reports on how the concert by TMBG was affected by a huge storm, and a new James Ernest card game he learned on the cruise. Andy talks about a movie he’s been hearing about called The Wandering Earth and one he just saw, called Apollo 11. After the Spoiler Warning they discuss the most recent episodes of the Orville and Star Trek: Discovery.
SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
This week the word is thirteen. Andy talks about his progress on designing an expansion for Doctor Who Fluxx about the 13th Doctor, and Keith talks about the significance of the number in Eberron. Keith talks about the events he’ll be running on the Joco Cruise. Then they discuss a bunch of media topics at a non-spoiler level, including The Umbrella Academy, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Us, Get Out, Yesterday, The Twilight Zone, “head-banger” movies in general, and a strange 70’s film called All This And World War II. Then they drop the spoiler curtain to discuss the first two episodes of Russian Doll, and the most recent episodes of the Orville and Star Trek: Discovery.
SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
This week the word is travel. The nerds discuss various aspects of traveling as much as they do. Andy talks about his experiences at Pensacon and shares thoughts about giving copies of his games to celebrities who portrayed characters in those games. Keith talks about his upcoming trip to the UK. Other travel topics include really long trips, traveling alone, logistical planning, the window vs. aisle debate, and watching movies and trying to sleep on planes. Andy talks about progress on Jumanji Fluxx and tells the story of meeting the actor who played Peter in the original movie. Keith reports on his Action Pups! Kickstarter. Then they drop the spoiler curtain to discuss the latest episodes of the Orville and Star Trek: Discovery.
SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
This week the word is bird-dog, bird because Looney Labs just announced a new partnership with a company named Cardinal, and dog because Keith just launched a Kickstarter for Action Pups! Andy talks about two new games he’s working on for Cardinal to publish, Marvel Fluxx and Jumanji Fluxx. Keith wonders where the phrase “quitting cold turkey” comes from, and Andy wonders how you say angst in German. Andy talks about finally reading Snow Crash. Moving on to media, Andy recommends a film called Future ’38, and they discuss Bandersnatch. Then they drop the spoiler curtain to discuss the latest episode of Star Trek Discovery at great length.
SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
This week the word is love. The nerds discuss unusual romantic relationships, in particular stories in which robots and humans fall in love. Then they talk about romance in role-playing games. Keith tells stories about playing a bear in a game of Blue Rose, and they talk about love stories in LARP games. They talk generally about Brooklyn Nine-Nine and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, and then they drop the spoiler curtain to discuss the latest episodes of The Orville, Star Trek: Discovery, and Future Man.
SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
This week the word is afterlife. The nerds discuss all the various types of afterlife stories, including recent shows like The Good Place and Dead Like Me, other forms of life after death such as zombies, vampires, and ghosts, resurrection in role-playing games, and the question of whether or not people in Heaven have cell phones or Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Keith ponders a world where dead can routinely be brought back to life for a fixed price, and talks about the hard limit on extra lives he built into his game Phoenix: Dawn Command. Then they talk about changing forms during resurrections and other fantasy situations, and Andy recommends a couple of books and movies with unusual afterlife ideas. Then they discuss a recent theory that Luke was dead the whole time. After the spoiler warning, they talk again about the last episode of Babylon 5, along with the season 3 finale of The Good Place, and the newest episode of Star Trek Discovery and the Orville. Keith also talks about starting to watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
This week the word is optometry, as in Keith’s Sci-Fi Optometry Test. Then they discuss other equipment-less games like 20 questions, French Toast, and Battle of the Quote-Masters. Further topics include Rod Serling as a LARP character, tales from the Over the Edge RPG, magic shows, and hypnotism acts. Then they lower the spoiler curtain to discuss the starts of season two of Star Trek: Discovery and the Orville. Lastly, Andy shares his thoughts on the final episode of Babylon 5.
SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
This week the word is Beginnings. They talk about how difficult it can be to get a new story started, and discuss a few successful and unsuccessful first episodes. Keith gets into the tricky issues of starting an RPG campaign, and describes some of his approaches to “session zero.” Andy mentions a memorable LARP they both played in called Tabula Rasa, then he talks about his experiences on the Star Trek Cruise. Lastly they lower the spoiler curtain to discuss Travelers and other time travel shows, and Andy speculates about what will happen in the last episode of Babylon 5.
SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS