Jim Likes Games
33 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 4 ratingsJim Likes Games is an ongoing audio diary of the many, many role-playing sessions of Jim Crocker, longtime tabletop RPG retailer, curator, author, and community organizer. Each episode will feature a bite-sized breakdown of a recent tabletop role-playing session, including a mercifully succinct plot synopsis, high points of play, and an observation about the game or scenario's design that might help listeners with their own gaming.
Each regular episode should clock in at 20-30 minutes or so depending on the complexity of the game and the length of the session. Special episodes may run longer.
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Episodes
Writers Workshop: Hacking The Between
November 16, 2021 04:46 - 152 MBThis is the full audio track of the November 14, 2021 Writer's Workshop for Hacking The Between. The Between is a tabletop RPG of Victorian monster hunters by Jason Cordova. It's inspired by media like Penny Dreadful, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and From Hell as well as period literature like HG Wells, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, et al. In this online workshop, Jason lays out the design philosophy that underlies the game, guiding discussion and taking questions from other game designers...
Trophy Gold Writers Workshop March 2021
March 15, 2021 21:11 - 2 hours - 150 MBThis is the audio for a meeting of designers for the Trophy Gold role-playing game. Trophy designer Jesse Ross and Gauntlet Publishing owner Jason Cordova moderated, and offered general advice for creating adventures and hacks of the Trophy Gold system as well as specific feedback on individual projects submitted by some of the designers in attendance. My own work will be appearing in both Trophy Dark and Trophy Gold. It's a wonderfully rich system, and Jesse has gone out of his way to make ...
2021.01.12 Last Fleet Episode One
January 13, 2021 21:07 - 12 minutes - 11.8 MBLast Fleet is a tabletop RPG that follows the remnants of humanity as they flee an implacable alien foe. It's a PBTA love letter to Battlestar Galactica. We organized and played this game via the Gauntlet Gaming Community. You can watch the Actual Play video of this session on YouTube. You can support Jim by subscribing to his YouTube Channel or buying his gaming writing on projects for Gauntlet Publishing. A couple of other podcasts on Anchor that I recommend as inpsirational: Ray Otus' ...
Trophy Dark: Devil, Aim for Me (Actual Play)
December 09, 2020 17:00 - 2 hours - 153 MBThis is another Actual Play special. In this episode, Jason Cordova facilitates a session of the Trophy Dark Weird West incursion Devil, Aim for Me. You can find Devil, Aim for Me on itch.io. The full Kickstarted version of Trophy (Including Trophy Dark, and my own incursion The Flocculent Cathedral) is now available for pre-order. Please note this is raw audio pulled from a YouTube video with no post-production editing. It's a real-life actual play session.
Just Played (By Someone Else!) Trophy Dark: Devil, Aim for Me Actual Play
December 09, 2020 17:00 - 153 MBThis is another Actual Play special. In this episode, Jason Cordova facilitates a session of the Trophy Dark Weird West incursion Devil, Aim for Me. You can find Devil, Aim for Me on itch.io. The full Kickstarted version of Trophy (Including Trophy Dark, and my own incursion The Flocculent Cathedral) is now available for pre-order. Please note this is raw audio pulled from a YouTube video with no post-production editing. It's a real-life actual play session.
Brindlewood Bay Writer's Workshop
November 24, 2020 21:07 - 142 MBThis is another departure form the standard format: it's a design workshop for Brindlewood Bay. If you're not familiar with it, think Murder She Wrote meets The Shadow Over Innsmouth. It's got a really innovative and elegant system for presenting mysteries that can carry over into other genres outside the cozy/horror base setting. This is a discussion /Q & A with folks interested in writing hacks and variants for the game. It's facilitated by Brindlewood Bay designer Jason Cordova. As wit...
Just Played (by someone else): Kieron Gillen runs DIE for his comic industry friends!
November 16, 2020 05:40 - 2 hours - 140 MBPLEASE NOTE: This is a departure from my usual (hah!) format, but these are crazy times. This is an audio presentation of a full session of a full AP Session. If listeners enjoy these, I'll post more as the opportunity arises and folks give me permission (including for my own games). In any event, big thanks to Kieron for giving permission to covert it to audio and present it. Go buy his comics, they're great! Accompanying the Image comic book series DIE, writer Kieron Gillen has developed a...
2020.06.03 Bluebeard's Bride: The Boarding School
June 03, 2020 18:03 - 14 minutes - 16.1 MBBluebeard's Bride is a game of feminist body horror and haunted exploration. Its from Magpie Games. Support these shows by getting it from Jim. We organized and played this game via the Gauntlet Gaming Community. You can support Jim by purchasing games from his web site or visiting his booth at one of the many conventions he attends (whenever that starts happening again). A couple of other podcasts on Anchor that I recommend as inpsirational: Ray Otus' Plundergrounds, and Judd Karlman's D...
2020.02.07 Derby Drama
February 07, 2020 20:46 - 14 minutes - 16 MBDerby Drama is a story game that captures the thrills, spills, and feels of Roller Derby, It's on Kickstarter right now! We organized and played this game via the Gauntlet Gaming Community. You can support Jim by purchasing games from his web site or visiting his booth at one of the many conventions he attends. I mentioned a couple of other podcasts on Anchor that I recommend: Ray Otus' Plundergrounds, and Judd Karlman's Daydreaming About Dragons. Check them out, they're both wonderfully ...
2020.01.04 Checkpoint Midnight
January 10, 2020 06:19 - 17 minutes - 18.3 MBCheckpoint Midnight is a game supernatural espionage in Cold War Vienna, currently in development by Alexi Sargent of Cloven Pine Games. We played this session at 'SargeCon' a one-day house con held in honor of Alexi's birthday. We didn't record it, but here's a nice pic of our table layout. Prior to running this one-shot, I played in a 3-game run MCed by Alexi on The Gauntlet gaming community. You can support the show by rating and reviewing it wherever you found it, and/or by purchasing ...
2019.10.15 Night Witches: Rudnya 1943
October 16, 2019 05:11 - 17 minutes - 18.9 MBWe organized and played this session on the Gauntlet Gaming Community. Check my YouTube Channel for Actual Play video of this games and dozens of other full-session tabletop RPGs. Check out the cool Jewish TTRPG Anthology that our player Eli appears in. Learn more about the actual historical Night Witches. Support the show by purchasing games including many featured on this podcast at Jim Likes Games.
2019.10.10 Visigoths vs Mall Goths: Goat to Hell!
October 10, 2019 04:46 - 16 minutes - 17.6 MBWe organized and played this session on the Gauntlet Gaming Community. You can find info on Visigoths vs Mall Goths at its Kickstarter page. Check out an Actual Play video of this game on YouTube, and subscribe to Jim's channel. Support the show by purchasing games including many featured on this podcast at Jim Likes Games.
2019.09.04 Girl Underground
September 04, 2019 05:50 - 23 minutes - 25.6 MBWe organized and played this session on the Gauntlet Gaming Community. You can find info on Girl Underground at its Kickstarter page. Support the show by purchasing games including many featured on this podcast at Jim Likes Games.
2019.08.22 Autmumn Triduum Playtest at GenCon
August 22, 2019 18:43 - 20 minutes - 22.8 MBWe played this session at GenCon, the self-styled 'home of tabletop gaming'. Autumn Triduum is a game in development by Cloven Pine Games. Support the show by purchasing games and following my blog at Jim Likes Games.
2019.08.14 Monsterhearts 2: Once Again, We Return: The Musical!
August 14, 2019 20:14 - 23 minutes - 24.2 MBWe organized and played this session on the Gauntlet Gaming Community. The Once Again, We Return playset for Monsterhearts appears in Codex: Glamour 2 (currently only available to Gauntlet Patrons, look for it on Drive-Thru RPG soon!) Here's a Spotify playlist for my character Hathor if you're into that kind of thing. Support the show by purchasing games including Monsterhearts 2 at Jim Likes Games.
2019.07.29 Mothership
July 29, 2019 04:57 - 15 minutes - 16.4 MBLearn more about Mothership from Tuesday Knight Games. We organized and played this session face-to-face as part of RPG Roulette, an NYC-based game day with a random GM. Support the show by purchasing games at Jim Likes Games.
2019.07.23 Velvet Glove Playtest
July 23, 2019 05:08 - 14 minutes - 15.3 MBWe organized and played this session on the Gauntlet Gaming Community. Support the show by purchasing games including the ashcan edition of Velvet Glove at Jim Likes Games.
2019.07.17 Night Witches: Trud Gornyaka 1942
July 19, 2019 07:38 - 14 minutes - 15 MBLearn about the actual real-life 'Night Witches'. We organized and played this session on the Gauntlet Gaming Community. Check out a full session video on Jim's YouTube channel. Support the show by purchasing games including Night Witches at Jim Likes Games.
2019.07.07 The Fleet (At DexCon 2019)
July 10, 2019 06:27 - 14 minutes - 15.2 MBFind info on The Fleet RPG. Attend the Double Exposure tabletop and LARP conventions, three times a year in Morristown, NJ. Buy games from Jim (and support the show!) at Jim Likes Games.
2019.06.26 Hearts of Wulin (Part 2 of 2)
June 27, 2019 04:25 - 13 minutes - 14.9 MBHearts of Wulin just completed a successful Kickstarter and is scheduled for release in Q4 2019. We played this game on the Gauntlet RPG Community. Support the show by shopping at Jim Likes Games.
2019.06.19 Hearts of Wulin
June 20, 2019 04:01 - 10 minutes - 12 MBHearts of Wulin just completed a successful Kickstarter and is scheduled for release in Q4 2019. We played this game on the Gauntlet RPG Community. Support the show by shopping at Jim Likes Games.
2019.06.07 Visigoths vs Mall Goths Playtest
June 07, 2019 17:15 - 15 minutes - 17.1 MBA dating sim-adjacent freeform RPG that dramatizes the lives and loves of rival groups of 1996 LA spooky teens and the barbarian warriors who sacked Rome. In this session, Raven Goldberg has been held for ransom, and the Mall Goths want him back, in a scenario entitled "Quoth the Raven: whatEVER..." Check out a session video of the entire game. We organized this game and played with members of The Gauntlet RPG Community. Check out other wired, queer games by game designer Lucian Kahn. Sup...
2019.06.05 Pasion de las Pasiones
June 05, 2019 07:28 - 16 minutes - 18.1 MBCheck out The Gauntlet RPG Community. Follow Brandon Leon-Gambetta for info on his games and quality corgi-related content. Check out my blog and buy games from Jim Likes Games.
2019.05.27 Fall of Magic Home Game
May 28, 2019 20:58 - 22 minutes - 23.8 MBYou can play with me at the Gauntlet Gaming Community. Chat with me about game design and play at The Gauntlet Forums. Check video of out my earlier Gauntlet run of Fall of Magic mentioned in the show: Session 1, Session 2, Session 3.
2019.03.20 MASKS Gauntlet Quarterly S12 (3/4)
April 22, 2019 22:17 - 15 minutes - 18.4 MBThis is the third game of a 4-game weekly run of the teen superhero RPG Masks I'll be playing in March. It's part of a larger continuing series that started in January. You can check out video of the full game on YouTube. Lowell, our MC for this episode, writes an Ennie Award-winning gaming blog called Age of Ravens. Learn more about the Gauntlet RPG Community.Read about the ever-expanding Gauntlet Comics shared role-playing universe at the official Gauntlet Comics WIKI. Masks is publish...
2019.03.13 MASKS Gauntlet Quarterly S11 (2/4)
March 26, 2019 06:26 - 8 minutes - 9.03 MBThis is the second game of a 4-game weekly run of the teen superhero RPG Masks I'll be playing in March. It's part of a larger continuing series that started in January. You can check out video of the full game on YouTube. Lowell, our MC for this episode, writes an Ennie Award-winning gaming blog called Age of Ravens. Learn more about the Gauntlet RPG Community. Masks is published by Magpie Games. And of course, you can find Jim on Twitter: @jimlikesgames and buy games, including Masks,...
2019.03.08 Trophy: The Forest Queen
March 09, 2019 18:38 - 12 minutes - 13.2 MBHere's a video recording of the entire session. Trophy can be found in The Gauntlet's monthly zine Codex, in the December 2018 issue entitled Dark 2. Learn more about the Gauntlet RPG community. Follow Jim on Twitter: @jimlikesgames and support the show by purchasing Indie RPGs from him at jimlikesgames.com. Check out Jim's full-length recorded RPG sessions on YouTube.
2019.03.06 Masks: Gauntlet Quarterly S10 (1/4)
March 07, 2019 06:03 - 13 minutes - 15.2 MBThis is the first game of a 4-game weekly run of the teen superhero RPG Masks I'll be playing in March. It's part of a larger continuing series that started in January. You can check out video of the full game on YouTube. Lowell, our MC for this episode, writes an Ennie Award-winning gaming blog called Age of Ravens. Learn more about the Gauntlet RPG Community. Masks is published by Magpie Games. And of course, you can find Jim on Twitter: @jimlikesgames and buy games, including Masks, a...
2019.03.04b The Bat Hack: All-American Girls (2 of 2)
March 06, 2019 19:43 - 11 minutes - 13 MBYou can check out the full-length game session on YouTube. The Bat Hack is based on the OSR retro-clone The Black Hack. This session courtesy of The Gauntlet online gaming community. You can find more from Jim (and buy games!) at his web site, Jim Likes Games.
2019.03.04a Noir World: GC Confidential
March 06, 2019 19:06 - 8 minutes - 10.3 MBNoir World was recently Kickstarted, and you can pre-order it here. This game comes courtesy of The Gauntletonline gaming community. You can buy games from Jim if you'd like to check out other story games and small press RPGs.
2019.03.02 Jinkies! (Playtest): The Ghost Pirate of Lake Winnemuck
March 04, 2019 07:10 - 7 minutes - 7.29 MBI play The Smart One and get to solve a mystery in this Apocalypse-powered hack for playing out Saturday morning mystery cartoons in the mode of Scooby-Doo, Josie & The Pussycats, and Jabberjaws. We played this session on Roll20, an online tabletop platform for RPGs. Jinkies! is on Kickstarter through mid-March. You can find more gamer stuff from Jim (and buy games!) at Jim Likes Games.
2019.03.01: Doctor Who RPG: The Many Doctors
March 04, 2019 07:03 - 11 minutes - 10.9 MBIn this episode, my first foray as The Doctor in a semi-regular campaign of the officially-licensed Doctor Who RPG I am playing online via Zoom. We're using the current edition of the official Doctor Who RPG from Cubicle 7 Games. You can find more from Jim )and buy games) at Jim Likes Games.
Just Played: Session Zero
March 04, 2019 06:52 - 3 minutes - 3.02 MBJust Played is an audio diary of my tabletop role-playing sessions, both online and face-to-face. Episode Zero breaks down the topics I'll cover in each session report. Listen to Daydreaming About Dragons. Check out the Gauntlet Gaming Community. You can find my blog and buy some of the games I'll be talking about at Jim Likes Games.