System Mastery
422 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 days ago - ★★★★★ - 215 ratingsJef and Jon review old roleplaying games
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Episodes
Kult – System Mastery 137
December 19, 2018 01:19 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/System-Mastery-137-Kult.mp3 We’ve seen a lot of requests for this game, and now we understand why. Come along, won’t you, on the game preachers in the 80s wished actually existed so they had something to condemn beyond nerds doing math about elves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Expounded Universe 64 – Forever 21 Eye Spiders
December 12, 2018 07:24 - 42.3 MBI have to be honest here, I’m sick and pretty well wiped out on Nyquil, so I only vaguely remember what we even talked about in this episode. I remember […]
Expounded Universe 63 – Blackmail Airmail
December 07, 2018 01:50 - 41.4 MBOh sweet, new characters! And we’re starting to learn stuff about the official zombie rules in this universe. Pretty good ones! Can anyone survive?
The World of Species – System Mastery 136
December 05, 2018 01:30 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/system-mastery-137-the-world-of-species.mp3 The World of Species! Finally an RPG with a glossy photo of a young Alfred Molina in it! This Masterbook licensed setting is rife with information about the sex-sci-fi thriller that appears to have all been pulled from the trailer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Expounded Universe 62 – 28 Parsecs Later
November 28, 2018 03:21 - 44.7 MBWhoa, zombies have entered the building! They’re coming in! Hold on, is that a quote from a horror movie or something? I should ask Jon. In the meantime, here’s some […]
Age of Ruin – System Mastery 135
November 21, 2018 01:59 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/system-mastery-135-age-of-ruin.mp3 1990 seems to be a downer year for RPGs as far as we can tell, but just you wait, someone’s gonna pop in any second and say that’s the year the greatest game of all time came out. Anyhow, Age of Ruin is one of those “You either live long enough to die a dumbshit or die a grimfuck early” type post-apoc slogs. With “art.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Expounded Universe 61 – It Means Red
November 13, 2018 21:42 - 68.4 MBYet more characters! Today we’re meeting the snooty Lieutenant Norch, the surprisingly forward Captain Ansgar, and the stoic badass of the olden years, Rojo Trace. Will any of them meet […]
Expounded Universe 60 – Fried Pickles
November 09, 2018 01:44 - 75.9 MBIt’s like reading a whole new book as none of these chapters seem to be about the same people as the last series! Let’s meet such Star Wars luminaries as […]
Renegade Legion: Legionnaire – System Mastery 134
November 06, 2018 15:15 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/system-mastery-134-renegade-legion-legionnaire.mp3 It’s Romans. In. Spaaaaaaace on today’s episode of System Mastery. Thrill at the game designed to be compatible with a bunch of other games! Marvel at page after page of legion construction flowchart! If you’re a fan of the game, ready your emails about the stuff we forgot to mention (hint, Edge)! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Expounded Universe 59 – Prelude to a Sith
October 30, 2018 15:53 - 71.5 MBLet’s do the time warp again! In Red Harvest, the narrative takes place nearly 3,500 years before the Battle of Yavin IV. Will we see beloved fan characters like Party […]
Expounded Universe 58 – How Ya Doin
October 26, 2018 03:04 - 65.6 MBWe sit down to try and piece apart what happened in this book, and really come to an agreement as to thesis and tone and so on. No, just kidding. […]
Nightbane – System Mastery 133
October 23, 2018 20:37 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/system-mastery-133-nightbane.mp3 OLD WEEN to you all! We’re covering the very weird Palladium title Nightbane this ween’s eve, so ready yourself for one piece of beautiful Brom art and 200 pages of … well, sloppy editing and fun ideas, basically. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Expounded Universe 57 – Kiss My Wookiee
October 11, 2018 14:21 - 66.8 MBAnd with hungry hearts, we close this chapter of Expounded Universe. Seriously, we must have been starving, this episode is pretty food heavy. The climax has come, and you know […]
Beyond the Supernatural – System Mastery 132
October 09, 2018 14:49 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/system-mastery-132-beyond-the-supernatural.mp3 It’s Ween again, my friends! Joyous Ween to you all! But sadly this year White Ween was simply out of the question. So we searched far and wide for a suitable replacement, and settled on a company that we already had two horror books from! Surprising indeed! Come along with us, won’t you, on a tour of the Palladium take on Call of Cthulhu sort of, packed with bizarre, ineffectual character c...
Expounded Universe 56 – The Jedi Knightfall Saga
October 03, 2018 00:04 - 59.3 MBThe demipenultimate episode! Luke is missing! Teneniel is just working that dark side/light side divide! King Solo finally goes full Princess Bride! And most exciting of all, with two chapters […]
Expounded Universe 55 – Gethzerion and On and On
September 27, 2018 03:46 - 66.6 MBThe story really heats up! There’s cool rancor fights and jedi battles and Gethzerion is super in play! But of course we find ways to keep making fun of it. […]
With Great Power – System Mastery 131
September 25, 2018 14:30 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/system-mastery-131-with-great-power.mp3 Join us and our new friends the Bay City Informanauts on a tour through With Great Power, a game of superheroic discussions, mostly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Expounded Universe 54 – The Nightwitches of Jacksonville
September 18, 2018 05:20 - 71.3 MBThe story heats up as the team raids the prison! Will they find Gethzerion? Will they find love? Is Chewie gonna do anything this episode (spoiler: no).
Expounded Universe 53 – Star Eugenics Wars
September 13, 2018 19:43 - 67.4 MBThe gang’s all together! And now they’re fighting! Like first graders! Let’s check in on proud naked Tenenniel, Isolder and Han splashing each other, and Luke afraid of cooties in […]
Marauder 2107 – System Mastery 130
September 11, 2018 18:03 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/system-mastery-130-marauder-21071.mp3 A game that dares to ask the question “What if Bubblegum Crisis?” Seriously, that’s the question. The answer, surprisingly, is “No one gets the mech suits, everyone is a dirty cop shooting at a dirty punk, and the smug must flow.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Expounded Universe 52 – Groove is in the Boob
September 04, 2018 21:44 - 61.7 MBWe get to step in the wild head and untamed boobs of everyone’s new favorite force witch Tenenniel Djo today! There’s fights with Nightwitches, battles of wits (Han is terribly […]
Expounded Universe 51 – Divine Secrets of the Dark Side Sisterhood
August 30, 2018 16:27 - 74.3 MBTurns out this book can actually be pretty good when it’s not about the scintillating Han/Leia dynamic, so these two chapters, which don’t let the two of them anywhere near […]
Tekumel: Empire of the Petal Throne – System Mastery 129
August 28, 2018 19:58 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/system-mastery-129-tekumel-empire-of-the-petal-throne.mp3 We felt a little dirty doing a “new” book last episode, so here’s our course correction. The 1975 version of Tekumel: Empire of the Petal Throne, with all acute accents left pointedly missing from all accompanying text because I am lazy (plus come on in the book you can literally tell he was adding them by hand). This is a weird old game about aliens and humans all sort of doing an a...
Expounded Universe 50 – The S is for Sucks
August 21, 2018 19:00 - 59.1 MBHan continues to be the absolutely worst, but at least he’s a handsome king now (thanks Threepio), and we finally encounter some hotnsexy rancors in today’s thrilling installment! Plus, Luke […]
Expounded Universe 49 – Drakmar Noir
August 16, 2018 23:48 - 61.4 MBWe took a week off for GenCon but we’re back and the story just keeps getting weirder! We finally meet Ta’a Chume! We finally set down on Dathomir? And is […]
Shadowrun 5e (Live!) – System Mastery 128
August 14, 2018 17:56 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/system-mastery-128-shadowrun-5e-live.mp3 We went to GenCon and we made this show and now we hope you enjoy this show we made at GenCon. Next time we talk about Shadowrun we’ll try to find something older. Special guest Gannon Reedy of NeoScum is here to talk Shadowrun and what his group does with it. Find NeoScum on the One Shot Podcast network! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Expounded Universe 48 – Character Assassin’s Creed
August 08, 2018 00:53 - 45.6 MBOh for the love of god Han, no. Stop. Everyone just stop. Chewie, obviously you’re cool, but the rest of you just cut it out. This is it, the moment […]
Justifiers – System Mastery 127
July 30, 2018 19:56 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/system-mastery-127-justifiers.mp3 Have you ever wanted to explore space but it’s just ever so slightly too difficult for you? Exactly the range of too difficult where it’d suddenly be possible if you were like one-third albatross? Well, have we ever got the hot 80s sci-fi game for you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Expounded Universe 47 – Wookie Clicker
July 25, 2018 05:44 - 50.5 MBFinally things start to pick up steam as Han deploys his standard gambling skills, Leia ruffles his hair like an adorable dog, and Chewie just sorta checks out entirely.
Expounded Universe 46 – Isolder, Isoldhat
July 19, 2018 01:36 - 43.5 MBThe novel begins to search for a groove as we settle in for some deeply bodice-ripping action-free times. Isolder used to be a pirate! Han and Leia have the worst […]
deadEarth – System Mastery 126
July 16, 2018 21:18 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/system-mastery-126-deadearth.mp3 Often considered in the top ten worst RPGs ever made, there’s a lot of weird choices in here. A lot of bad, weird choices. Thrill at the majesty of a D1000 table with maybe 500 ideas on it with us as we tackle the grim dystopia of deadEarth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Expounded Universe 45 – Hapes Simplex
July 10, 2018 17:03 - 46.2 MBExpounded Universe is going back to basics. Let’s talk about Leia, Han, and their dumb stupid relationship for idiots. Let’s talk about woot horns! And what’s Luke up to? Something […]
Expounded Universe 44 – Mos Eisley Roundup
July 06, 2018 16:20 - 47.3 MBIt’s over! We discuss the best and worst of the characters, chapters, and themes of the Mos Eisley Cantina anthology, answer some listener questions, and look to the future!
Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition – System Mastery 125
July 03, 2018 22:02 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/system-mastery-125-dd-4th-edition.mp3 It’s high time that someone on the internet had an opinion about this edition of this game, and you know what, it might as well be us. Please enjoy this review of the famous 4th edition of Dungeons and Dragons. The game that killed imagination. Oh and happy 125 episodes of the show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Who Eats This Cheap Shit 1 – System Mastery Special
July 01, 2018 04:12 - 28 minuteshttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/who-buys-this-cheap-shit-1-the-travails-of-simple-men.mp3 Ugh we ate Oreos so nasty that we had to tell someone about it, and guess what, you’re someone. Enjoy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Expounded Universe 43 – Eat Lamprey Love
June 26, 2018 19:55 - 36.2 MBNow this is the kind of weird shenanigans we WANT from our Expanded Universe. Thrill to the love story of a wet sock puppet and a cheap werewolf costume! Can […]
Expounded Universe 42 – Hot Wet Tatooine Summer
June 22, 2018 03:50 - 41.2 MBSo this chapter is about maps. It’s about maps and moisture farmers and Jawas and Tusken Raiders and a surprising amount of Norwegian Star Wars folks. Got Star Wars questions? […]
Albedo: Platinum Catalyst – System Mastery 124
June 19, 2018 17:29 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/system-mastery-124-albedo-platinum-catalyst1.mp3 Behold a galaxy of unchecked exploration and progress, as made by very fussy little animals that don’t like to be touched. It’s sort of like if the Wind in the Willows was about space, and also Mr. Toad wasn’t there because he was too excitable. Also, Jef’s back! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Expounded Universe 41 – The Make an Aqualish Foundation
June 12, 2018 17:19 - 40.5 MBA long long time after the cantina, on a planet far, far away from the cantina, a new story is unfolding. It’s the Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba show, and […]
Expounded Universe 40 – BoShek Spaceman
June 07, 2018 21:43 - 40.7 MBOh man, get ready for excitement folks, because today’s story is about a guy in the movie that kinda has a line, sort of! It’s BoShek, and is he a […]
Mekton Zeta – System Mastery 123
June 05, 2018 20:36 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/system-mastery-123-mekton-zeta1.mp3 Longtime friend of the show and fan-favorite guest Claire comes by to discuss Mekton Zeta with Jon, who knows nothing whatsoever about your precious animes. This episode sadly concludes Jef’s paternity leave, so we’re afraid he’ll be back next time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Expounded Universe 39 – With Unlimited Salad and Breadsticks
May 29, 2018 19:31 - 39 MBFinally, we get to meet the hookah-smoking man. The mysterious figure that everyone knows to be scared of, the … dude who’s obsessed with soup. It’s the tale of Dannik […]
Expounded Universe 38 – Davin Busters
May 25, 2018 00:28 - 40 MBBack at it again with the story of a the rise and fall of one of the Empire’s finest. Follow the story of Davin Felth as he goes through basic […]
System Mastery 122 – Seven13: Cycle of Existence
May 22, 2018 21:11 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/system-mastery-122-7thirteen.mp3 It’s another week of special guests with friend of the show, Quinn, stopping by to help discuss this inscrutable book with an unhealthy obsession with the numbers 7 and 13. There are 12 hours of existence and factions fight for control and your characters will definitely somehow interact with this setting, probably. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Expounded Universe 37 – Jawa Nman
May 15, 2018 20:47 - 42.6 MBIt’s a super special episode as we finally reach the chapter by the man himself, Kevin J. Anderson. He asks the tough questions like “what do Jawa smell like” and […]
Expounded Universe 36 – Elephant Tales
May 11, 2018 01:49 - 40.6 MBThis week at the cantina we are following around that guy in the dollar store devil costume to see what he is up to. Turns out, he is balls deep […]
System Mastery 121 – Dragon Lines
May 08, 2018 20:02 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/system-mastery-121-dragon-lines.mp3 While Jef is too occupied with baby to do the time consuming prep on the show, we are kicking off the first of our guest appearance series. Joining me to talk about fantasy China is Josette from the Swallows of the South podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Expounded Universe 35 – He’s a Goat, Yall
May 01, 2018 22:43 - 39 MBWhile Mos Eisley has been described as a den of “scum and villainy”, so far the book hasn’t been too full of real scumbags. All of that is going to […]
Expounded Universe 34 – Wuher, I Got You All in Check
April 28, 2018 01:43 - 38.7 MBThough weary and facing insurmountable odds, our heroes manage to put together a podcast this week. Jef is baby-tired and Jon is slowly turning into pure mucous. However, we still […]
Book of Erotic Fantasy – System Mastery 120
April 25, 2018 22:40 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/system-mastery-120-book-of-erotic-fantasy.mp3 It’s the Supplement Spectacular again! Or, it was going to be before a child was born into this world who ate all of Jef’s time. Luckily (for you, not for him), he got most of the way through The Book of Erotic Fantasy, one of those things that seem like the sad logical outgrowth of the OGL being mined just a little too heavily. Get awesome critical pride t-shirts right here. Learn more about ...