Episodios

  • A Different Kind of Hex Ep. 5 - Playing to Fail
    Nov 11 2025

    Content Advisory: character death, ritual sacrifice

    Ian & José are joined by Wyllora to explore what it means to fail in an RPG, and why we might want to do it on purpose. How do we define "success" in games, and what are the ways we can step outside that limit with agency?

    Wyllora’s Work:
    Art - https://www.artstation.com/wyllora
    Game Design - https://wyllora.itch.io/
    Triangle Agency Holiday-themed Game Jam! - https://itch.io/jam/time-and-a-half

    Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
    Support us on Patreon!
    Our actual play podcast can be found here
    Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
    Mastodon: @openhearthrpg@dice.camp

    Our info:
    email: adifferenthex@gmail.com
    music: https://lloydeaves.bandcamp.com/album/a-different-kind-of-hex

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    1 h y 13 m
  • Talking Space Opera
    Nov 4 2025

    Lets talk widescreen, big idea sci-fi. Games of space fleets, interstellar empires, sometimes aliens-- big ideas and lasers. Games like Star Trek Adventures, Traveller, Fading Suns, Space Wyrm vs Moonicorn, Dune, Coriolis, Scum & Villainy, Ashen Stars, Star Wars, Last Fleet, and the like. Talking Space Opera is another in our series of community discussions. It looks at sci-fi gaming and this tent-pole sub-genre. Our discussion ranges widely but includes: What is Space Opera, Space Combat, Aliens, Space Travel, Making Characters Not Feel Small in a Big Universe, Collaborative Building, and more.

    Selected Games Mentioned
    Once More into the Void
    Cluster
    Rust Hulks
    Fellowship
    Starscape
    Storm Furies
    Rebel Few
    Tachyon Squadron
    Superbandit
    Stars Without Number
    Golgotha
    Through the Void
    Uncharted Worlds

    Recommended Reading: Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction

    Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
    Support us on Patreon!
    Our actual play podcast can be found here
    Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
    Mastodon: @openhearthrpg@dice.camp

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    1 h y 18 m
  • Roll for Origin: Supers TTRPG History: Ep. 5 Base Raiders
    Oct 28 2025

    Roll for Origin: Supers TTRPG History jumps forward significantly in time to just after the d20 boom/bust cycle. Today's focus is Ross Payton's independently produced and Kickstarted Base Raiders. They go over what the game is, its place in the history of gaming, and what was going on in comics media at the time. They then move to general discussion, including what what's weird and what they dug. We talk a little about how you might adapt this elsewhere and its place in the history of Fate.

    If you dig this series, please rate, review, and subscribe.

    Jay's the author of By Aecer’s Light, The Clockwinders for Fate, Cortex Prime's Supers, and a contributing author on Pathfinder’s Mwangi Expanse, Trophy Gold, Hit the Streets: Defend the Block, and the upcoming Lifted: Indomitable RPG, a supers game about everyday folks with extraordinary powers in a tech-aggressive world.

    Check out Mad Jay's work at Play.Fearless and at the Diceology Podcast.

    Lowell is the designer and co-author of Hearts of Wulin. He's the ENnie-winning creator of the Age of Ravens blog and community manager for the Open Hearth Gaming Community.

    You can find Lowell's work on YouTube, on Itch.io, and on DriveThruRPG.

    Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
    Support us on Patreon!
    Our actual play podcast can be found here
    Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
    Mastodon: @openhearthrpg@dice.camp

    00:00 Intro
    00:58 The Pitch
    05:11 Gaming History
    08:12 Comics & Media History
    12:09 Thoughts

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    44 m
  • Talking White Whales and Inadvisable Ideas
    Oct 14 2025

    What's the game you've wanted to get to the table but haven't been able to? What's the campaign premise you've considered but don't know how to make it work? What's the rpg that just couldn't actually function if you tried to run it online? What's the wild concept that you know would crash-out but it amuses you just the same?

    In this group chat for our Shared Hearth Open Gaming Con, community members talk about the ones that got away and the ones they're fearful of pursuing. We talk about a ton of different games including: Mage, Hearts of Wulin, Slugblaster, Good Society, Legacy: Life Among the Ruins, Scarred Lands, Mountain Home, and many more. A great discussion thread on our Discord inspired this conversation.

    Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
    Support us on Patreon!
    Our actual play podcast can be found here
    Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
    Mastodon: @openhearthrpg@dice.camp

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    1 h y 8 m
  • Design Chat: Pedro Barrenechea & Rotted Capes 2e
    Oct 7 2025

    This week we present a bonus episode for both Roll for Origin & Roll for Mutation. Lowell chats with Pedro Barrenechea, lead designer for Rotted Capes 2nd Edition, a post-apocalyptic game of superheroes. They chat early game experiences, how the first edition came about, revising the rules, and more.

    Rotted Capes 2e Backerkit Sign Up
    Rotted Capes 1e on DTRPG
    Pedro aka StatMonkey on Bluesky

    Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
    Support us on Patreon!
    Our actual play podcast can be found here
    Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
    Mastodon: @openhearthrpg@dice.camp

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    56 m
  • Talking One-Shots
    Sep 30 2025

    For this episode we've cleaned up the audio from an older community seminar on running one-shots. Like several of our other "Talking" episodes, this has Lowell Francis giving a talk, mixed in with questions from the chat and a Q&A at the end. We cover pacing, set up, safety, problem players, structure, and more.

    You can check out the outline for the talk here.

    Other Resources:

    • Burn After Running: RPG One-Shots (probably the best resource for this out there)
    • Running One Shots from Age of Ravens
    • One Shot Podcast Network
    • Keith Stetson on Running Itras By as a one-shot

    Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
    Support us on Patreon!
    Our actual play podcast can be found here
    Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
    Mastodon: @openhearthrpg@dice.camp

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    1 h y 4 m
  • Open Hearth Podcast Ep 13: Ex Tenebris, Wise Women, Star Trek Adventures
    Sep 23 2025

    In this episode Host Lowell Francis talks with Becky Annison and Josh Fox of Black Armada games about what they've been playing, herbal witches, the final frontier, their Kickstarter for Ex Tenebris, and much more.

    The Ex Tenebris Kickstarter

    Black Armada Games
    Black Armada on itch

    Josh Bluesky: @armadajosh.bsky.social
    Becky Bluesky: @beckyannison.bsky.social

    Wise Women
    Rapscallion
    Star Trek Adventures 2e
    Secrets of the Silent Witch

    Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
    Support us on Patreon!
    Our actual play podcast can be found here
    Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
    Mastodon: @openhearthrpg@dice.camp

    00:00 Introduction​
    01:45 Josh & Ex Tenebris
    16:25 Becky & Wise Women
    25:02 Lowell & Star Trek Adventures 2e
    36:26 Giving Me Life

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    44 m
  • A Different Kind of Hex Ep. 4 - Bleed
    Sep 16 2025

    Content Advisory: colonialism & imperialism; sexual violence in a horror/vampire context; death of loved ones, including miscarriage; excessive immersion; grief & bleakness.

    Mads joins Ian & José to talk about the relationship between player & character, the Magic Circle that divides them, and how experience can Bleed through from one to the other. Along the way we discuss some of the pitfalls of immersive gameplay, how to dial up or down that immersion, ways to stem the Bleed once it’s already started - and, of course, vampires!

    Mads’ Work!!
    Youtube
    Itch
    Sprigs & Kindling Vol. 2

    Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
    Support us on Patreon!
    Our actual play podcast can be found here
    Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
    Mastodon: @openhearthrpg@dice.camp

    Our info:
    email: adifferenthex@gmail.com
    music: https://lloydeaves.bandcamp.com/album/a-different-kind-of-hex

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    1 h y 22 m