Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Episode 183: Eaten By a Ghost
March 25, 2016 9:06 AM - Subscribe

Pull your swords out of your stones and step into the Gaming Hut for a consideration of the Chosen One trope.

How to Write Good explores a phenomenon Robin calls Nigeling, when you make one character look good by painting others as rubes.

You’ll place great stock in… no, I’m sorry, I can’t. Let’s just say the Food Hut is talking soup and leave it at that.

Then we close on an most unusual Ken’s Time Machine mission: getting a notorious criminal cast as James Bond before he commits his famous crime.
posted by graymouser (7 comments total)
 
The Gaming Hut seemed perfunctory, like they didn't really want to go into the Chosen One but had to out of some sense of obligation. So it was a rehearsal of a lot of points that both Ken and Robin have clearly thought about without any real twist on it. If you've read the Buffy RPG, as Robin hints at the top, you've literally gone through everything they manage to cover here.

I wasn't sure Nigeling would go anywhere other than Robin ranting a bit, but Ken really took it to an interesting place by talking about what a good contrast character looks like. Of course it was Lucy from Dracula, but it was a really good example of the idea being done well.

The Food Hut holds almost no interest for me, this didn't change that.

Ken's Time Machine had a funny dilemma - it was interesting in the details but weak on the execution. Also tantalizing about changing up later Bond films.
posted by graymouser at 9:23 AM on March 25, 2016


Still waiting for my scheduled housecleaning time to listen to podcasts... But I have liked almost every Food Hut-- both the advice and idea of stepping away from gaming for a moment to just have two friends talk about stuff they like.

Is this the first podcast since Toronto mayor Rob Ford died? Ken and Robin used to talk about him almost every episode. I wonder how they will bring those stories to a close. I'm sure they'll find a classy way to do it.
posted by seasparrow at 12:23 PM on March 25, 2016


Is this the first podcast since Toronto mayor Rob Ford died?

Possibly not, since they wisely record with a buffer of a few weeks.

Ken and Robin used to talk about him almost every episode. I wonder how they will bring those stories to a close. I'm sure they'll find a classy way to do it.

I always found the Rob Ford stuff deeply hampered by Robin's liberal condescension and the soft touch required by Ken's political beliefs (I feel like I've heard maybe one conversation where it was clear that Ken felt Robin was treading on his beliefs too much and Robin backed off---something related to public housing in Chicago, I think). Cheap laughs, I guess. But I guess a very KaRTAS conclusion would be to discuss pre-Modern or Early Modern examples of deeply fallible, unworthy rulers of established polities around whom some sort of popular cult developed after they died, and how to apply that to an "F20" game, where, for example, the heroes are partisans of that cause, or have to interact very heavily with it. With all the differences that hereditary succession bring, maybe it could delve into the weirdness of legitimist movements, like the fact that "left Carlists" exist (admittedly that example does not have its roots in the Early Modern).
posted by Gnatcho at 1:32 PM on March 25, 2016


And like graymouser, I am not into the food hut at all. Whenever Robin mentions that the audience enjoys it, I'm surprised, but I guess you are part of that audience, seasparrow.
posted by Gnatcho at 1:35 PM on March 25, 2016


I'm sure some folks like the Food Hut, just not my bag. I'm curious what you like from this one when you get to it, seasparrow.

The lead time for KaRTAS seems to be about 10 days, so I'd expect a Rob Ford hut probably next week. It was such a fixture for a while to hear Robin lament Toronto politics that I'm looking forward to the conclusion.
posted by graymouser at 6:04 PM on March 25, 2016


Whenever Robin mentions that the audience enjoys it, I'm surprised,

A lot of people love sharing and hearing cookery tips. AskMe is testament to that, and the cookery hut is usually pretty much identical in content to a lot of food Asks.

I generally enjoy them, and I think they're the sort of thing that might be encouraging for people who aren't that confident with cooking but want to enjoy it more. Simple tips and enthusiasm from friendly amateurs is the format of a lot of very successful cooking shows, after all.
posted by howfar at 8:36 PM on March 25, 2016


While I'm not a foodie, I think a lot of my reaction to the Food Hut segments is basically because I like podcasts to be focused on specific niches.
posted by Gnatcho at 1:26 PM on March 26, 2016


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