Tavern Watch Podcast

This week on the Tavern Watch Podcast, we discuss some exciting news for fans of all things that go bump in the night: a new Vampire: the Masquerade project was teased for GenCon 2026, including a commitment to "human-created" art, as opposed to AI slop. Elsewhere, several of the new and returning Darklords from D&D's upcoming Ravenloft book were revealed, including an all-out stat block for Cthulhu, Darklord of Innsmouth -- does this mean all of Massachusetts is in the Domains of Dread?We also discuss a sorely lacking element of today's tabletop RPG landscape, deeply in-depth city or area guides that don't also feel the need to be an adventure module in and of themselves, and discuss graceful retirements of intellectual property and the community as stewards, in the case of Modiphius ceasing development on Achtung! Cthulhu and turning it over to the community (along with a big bundle of official art for use in your products). Also, are the marbles in Jelle's Marble League sentient? Are they actually capable of making decisions? You make the call. (No, I don't know what this has to do with tabletop either.)If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Tavern Watch's finale of our three-part run of See You Space Cowboy, our tenacious bounty hunters have tracked the NFTHound and his remaining cronies to an unmarked warehouse, full of cheaply-paid goons and a bunch of impressionable youth that the villain is trying to sway to the side of his sleazy world of electronic currency and extremely expensive digital pictures of ugly apes. Will our heroes win the day, or will we discover that in the end, there must alwaysbe a Crypto King?You can probably guess how this'll go. Joe Perez as GM keeps the action rolling and never lets up for our team of bounty hunters:Trish Olson as Kit Brooksfield, who's all brains, a little cool, and maybe some kind of hacker (but for all the right reasons!)Chris Chesno as Colt Sterling, a hard-smoking professional chaos gremlin who maybe looks like Temu ViciousJoan Albright as Veronia Graves, a former housewife whose bad run-in with the law now has her on a missionLiz Harper as Jen, who is definitely not the crew's kleptomaniacPhil Ulrich as Luke Navarro, a brick wall of a man who's ostensibly the ship's captain but mostly the team dadThis is the third in a three-part actual play series of See You Space Cowboy; the first part is here, and the second one is here! You can also pick up a copy of See You Space Cowboy yourself on Tidal Wave Games' itch.io page; it's only five American dollars to bring all this fun to your own table!The intro and outro songs for this episode are both by Phat Phrog Studios; the intro is "Mech Imperium," while the outro is "The Pain Unwritten."If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's time for a brand new game on Tavern Watch, called See You Space Cowboy; this one takes place in a solar system that looks a lot like famous anime Cowboy Bebop's but with the serial numbers... well, not even filed off, just kinda smudged a little bit. If you're willing to get your hands dirty, talk to people who always know something for a cost, and hunt down some of the most notorious criminals this side of Ganymede, bounty hunting is definitely one way to make that big payday (and/or just pay the bills) However, in the universe of See You Space Cowboy, there's only one crime that rewards hunters for bringing in their prey dead rather than alive: possession of cryptocurrency and NFTs. So of course this ne'er-do-well is our target (and it doesn't hurt that he's a litterbug, either).The band leader for these shenanigans is the enthusiastic and creative Joe Perez, and our motley crew of hunters is played by:Trish Olson as Kit Brooksfield, who's all brains, a little cool, and maybe some kind of hacker (but for all the right reasons!)Chris Chesno as Colt Sterling, a hard-smoking, hard-bitten hot dog and gunplay enthusiastJoan Albright as Veronia Graves, a former housewife whose bad run-in with the law now has her on a missionLiz Harper as Jin, who is definitely not the crew's kleptomaniacPhil Ulrich as Luke Navarro, a brick wall of a man who's ostensibly the ship's captain but mostly the team dadThis is the first in a three-part actual play series of See You Space Cowboy; watch for new episodes to come out every Monday! You can also pick up a copy of See You Space Cowboy yourself on Tidal Wave Games' itch.io page; it's only five American dollars to bring all this fun to your own table!The intro and outro songs for this episode are both by Phat Phrog Studios; the intro is "Mech Imperium," while the outro is "The Pain Unwritten."If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's just another average day in Ternion City: four agents of the Triangle Agency, paragons of order keeping reality safe from anomalous activity that wants to rend it asunder, find themselves confronted with the job of what to do with the remains of a Wuhan-Baxter corporate killsquad, while their final member comes face-to-face with her biggest challenge so far: an extremely well-presented business pitch slide deck. Will the rest of the team reunite with Louisa in time? Will they become minor corporate overlords (or at least franchisees) themselves? And just what the heck is a pizza rat?All those questions and more are part of the narrative being spun by Director Phil Ulrich. Our highly competent team hunting for answers is:Liz Harper as Louisa Gibson, a perfectly normal vampire working in a perfectly normal PR gigEric O'Dea as Tad Silverfield, always here to lend a friendly ear and find what you needChris Chesno as Roger Hensley, for whom the struggle is real but cleaning up messes is just businessNick Marino as Case, Company R&D man who's always right on timeJoan Albright as "Dotty" Blackthorne, a time-and-space displaced intern in the right place at the right timeThis is the finale in a three-part actual play series of Triangle Agency; if you haven't listened to part one yet, you'll definitely want to do that first, then follow it up by listening to part two next. New episodes come out every Monday! If you like what you hear and want to pick up a copy for yourself, you can pick up Triangle Agency from Haunted Table Games or Modiphius.Music from this episode is "Inspired" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under the Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to beautiful Ternion City, where the agents of the Triangle Agency are looking out not just for your best interests, but all of reality. We love reality! That's where all our stuff is! And our agents definitely have a doozy of a case on their hands this time: some contractors who had been working on an outdated shopping promenade (conveniently located in the basement of one of Triangle's business competitors) disappeared, only to reappear perfectly fine a few days later... well, other than the fact that all their bones are missing. Seems like just the kind of anomalous activity that our team is trained and ready to handle.Director Phil Ulrich is here to guide our team of corporate ladder-climbers through their case; that team, of course, is:Liz Harper as Louisa Gibson, a perfectly normal vampire working in a perfectly normal PR gigEric O'Dea as Tad Silverfield, always here to lend a friendly ear and find what you needChris Chesno as Roger Hensley, for whom the struggle is real but cleaning up messes is just businessNick Marino as Case, Company R&D man who's always right on timeJoan Albright as "Dotty" Blackthorne, a time-and-space displaced intern in the right place at the right timeAnd a special guest appearance by Joe Perez as Terrance Howard Mothicus, the mothman barista who knows exactly what you need, even if he's out cleaning up a different team's messThis is the first in a three-part actual play series of Triangle Agency; check back every Monday for new episodes! However, this is not our first time playing Triangle Agency; in fact, if these characters seem familiar, it's because we're picking up with the same team as last time! If you like what you hear and want to pick up a copy for yourself, you can pick up Triangle Agency from Haunted Table Games or Modiphius.Music from this episode is "Inspired" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under the Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The team of adventurers-turned-detectives in our playthrough of Starfinder's Murder in Metal City has the body of Tier-99-Professor on their hands and the assumed murderer hot in their trail for getting too close -- but does anyone think they're really going to stop before they get answers about what happened? They'll delve into the depths of the Striving university archives and uncover something much bigger than a simple hit before it's all said and done, but that's because sometimes finding the answer is just the first step, not the last one.Liz Harper is the GM for this exciting finale; the group of intrepid folks who keep finding themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time are:Joe Perez as "Nitpick" Bennit, Ysoki Witchwarper, who always knows a guy, and is a daft hand with both magic and technologyPhil Ulrich as Lunar-17, Android Mystic, who's so terminally online that it gave her magic powersMatt Rossi as Tooth Hug, Skittermander Solarian, who could really use a snack right nowSpecial guest Trish Olson, a.k.a. AwkwardishPanda, as Jaedana, a Kasatha Operative gamer who's uncannily good with a gun, but doesn't know why she's hereThis is the final part in a three-part actual play series of the Starfinder 2E published adventure Murder in Metal City -- you can check out the first episode here and the second episode here, and be on the lookout for new episodes every Monday!This game was played using the second edition of Paizo’s Starfinder, which expands their Pathfinder game into space. We're really fond of this rollicking science-fantasy game system -- so much so that we've even played it before on the show -- and if you like what you hear today, you can easily pick it up for yourself!Music from this episode is “Start a Trek,” by Edgar Henderson; you can check out more of his music on Soundcloud.If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A group of strangers gather in a dimly lit bar in the mechanical megalopolis of Striving at the behest of one Tier-99-Professor, who promised them some incredible news. Unfortunately, Tier-99-Professor -- "Tierney" to his friends -- has already experienced an unexpected shutdown, and now it's up to his group of friends to hunt down who would want to take out Tierney and why on the mean streets of a metal city. Was this just a robbery gone wrong, or is there some deeper conspiracy at play?Luckily, Liz Harper as GM is here to guide our group through their investigations, and we've got a crack squad on the case:Joe Perez as "Nitpick" Bennit, Ysoki Witchwarper, who always knows a guy, and is a daft hand with both magic and technologyPhil Ulrich as Lunar-17, Android Mystic, who's so terminally online that it gave her magic powersMatt Rossi as Tooth Hug, Skittermander Solarian, who could really use a snack right nowSpecial guest Trish Olson, a.k.a. AwkwardishPanda, as Jaedana, a Kasatha Operative gamer who's uncannily good with a gun, but doesn't know why she's hereThis is the first in a three-part actual play series of the Starfinder 2E published adventure Murder in Metal City -- look for new episodes every Monday!This game was played using the second edition of Paizo’s Starfinder, which expands their Pathfinder game into space. We're really fomd of this rollicking science-fantasy game system -- so much so that we've even played it before on the show -- and if you like what you hear today, you can easily pick it up for yourself!Music from this episode is “Start a Trek,” by Edgar Henderson; you can check out more of his music on Soundcloud.If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Things are getting even weirder for our party of all Artificers as they wrap up their sojourn into the Mournlands in the name of... doing something. It's a little brain-bending. There's Kuo Toa, there's weird brain-sucking devices, there's dragon turtle friends, there's a lot going on here, honestly that I think we just managed to scratch the surface of. Also, someone turns into a kaiju, and it's not an enemy like you might expect!Our party of maybe slightly befuddled inventors in this session are:Joe Perez as Luther Benedict Greensmith, Esq., a Shifter Armorer ArtificerAnne Stickney as Coriell Kahz, a Changeling perfectly normal Halfling Artillerest ArtificerLiz Harper as Lionelle, a Kalashtar Cartographer ArtificerNick Marino as Royial, a High Elf Alchemist ArtificerI'll be honest, I'm not sure these Artificers managed to figure out what was going on, but at least they had a lot of fun doing it, and got to show off some of this extremely flexible class. This is the finale of a three-episode actual play; if you missed episode 1, you can check that out here, and if you missed episode 2, that one's here. If you enjoy our game, you can grab Eberron: Forge of the Artificer for yourself for your D&D book collection today, adding the species of Eberron and 2024-compatible Artificers -- including the all-new Cartographer Artificer -- to your array of character options. Artificers are always a rollicking good time and can really fill any gap in a party, plus Eberron is just frankly one of the coolest worlds ever developed for any edition of D&D, so I definitely recommend checking it out.Music from this episode is "Crossing the Chasm" by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is there any D&D 5E class more flexible without a single multiclass level than the Artificer? Frontliner, support, pet class, magic gunsmith, weird mapmaker, Dr. Frankenstein, whatever your fantasy of "techno wizard who builds thing" is, the Artificer has a way to help you live it out. In celebration of that, this edition of Tavern Watch Plays goes to the original home of the Artificer class, Eberron, as DM Matt Rossi guides a ragtag crew of adventuring tinkerers through an adventure into the dark and blighted expanse of the Mournlands. Our players for this adventure:Joe Perez as Luther Benedict Greensmith, Esq., a Shifter Armorer ArtificerAnne Stickney as Coriell Kahz, a Changeling perfectly normal Halfling Artillerest ArtificerLiz Harper as Lionelle, a Kalashtar Cartographer ArtificerNick Marino as Royial, a High Elf Alchemist ArtificerJoin our band of merry crafters as they set off into an adventure that might end up a little spooky, a little ominous, and probably a lot more waterlogged than anyone was properly planning for.If you enjoy our game, you can grab Eberron: Forge of the Artificer for yourself for your D&D book collection today, adding the species of Eberron and 2024-compatible Artificers -- including the all-new Cartographer Artificer -- to your array of character options. Artificers are always a rollicking good time and can really fill any gap in a party, plus Eberron is just frankly one of the coolest worlds ever developed for any edition of D&D, so I definitely recommend checking it out.Music from this episode is "Crossing the Chasm" by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a valid question for our group of little old lady detectives, who have learned more than they expected about the strange history of their little town on a casual visit to the Brindlewood Bay Whaling Museum... with a little side of murder.It happens a lot in Brindlewood Bay. It's probably fine.This is the last episode of our game of Brindlewood Bay, a cozy mystery with a few dark twists. I'm running this game, along with some excellent role-players on the team who have taken well to mystery solving. Here is our party of little old ladies:Joan as Louisa, resident gardener who loves getting her hands dirty and has seen absolutely every episode of MacGyver. Always carries her Swiss Army knife (the TSA hates her).Matt as Ludmilla, an ex-powerlifter who has retired to a peaceful life in Brindlewood Bay. She keeps an indeterminate number of cats (and is never seen anywhere without at least one of them).Mitch as Bordy, a collector of all things, who has never seen a bauble she didn't want to add to her collection. She's also been getting mysterious messages on her answering machine lately, but it's probably nothing.Confused about what's going on? You should listen to the first episode and the second episode before starting this one!If you enjoy our game, you can give it a try yourself! You can pick up the Brindlewood Bay rulebook from from The Gauntlet, including the Nephews in Peril supplement which includes the adventure we're playing here! The whole thing is a little bit Murder, She Wrote and a little bit X-Files, and a whole lot of roleplaying. We had a lot of fun with it, so check the game out!Music from this episode is "Villainous Treachery" by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Brindlewood Bay, a peaceful New England village on the sea with picturesque views, cozy bookshops, and quaint B&Bs. It also has an unusually high murder rate, and that's where today's adventure comes in to play, as our party of sleuths attempt to untangle a mysterious death.And, of course, our adventurers are all little old ladies. Let me introduce them:Joan as Louisa, resident gardener who loves getting her hands dirty and has seen absolutely every episode of MacGyver. Always carries her Swiss Army knife (the TSA hates her).Matt as Ludmilla, a retired powerlifter who has retired to a peaceful life inBrindlewood Bay. She keeps an indeterminate number of cats (and is never seen anywhere without at least one of them).Mitch as Bordy, a collector of all things, who has never seen a bauble she didn't want to add to her collection. She's also been getting mysterious messages on her answering machine lately, but it's probably nothing.So let's dive into today's adventure, where our little old ladies talk about the first mystery they solved... and head to the whaling museum. Probably no one's going to get murdered. (Probably.)If you enjoy our game, you can give it a try yourself! You can pick up the Brindlewood Bay rulebook from from The Gauntlet, including the Nephews in Peril supplement which includes the adventure we're playing here! The whole thing is a little bit Murder, She Wrote and a little bit X-Files, and a whole lot of roleplaying. We had a lot of fun with it, so check the game out! Music from this episode is "Villainous Treachery" by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's time to take to the stars in search of interplanetary adventure as Tavern Watch plays Starfinder's newly-released second edition. This system blends the crunchy, high player choice character building of Pathfinder with a wholly original science fantasy setting, and there's really nothing like it. If you've ever wanted your space wizard to cast doom scroll (and yes, it does exactly what you think it does), this is the game for you.In this exciting finale, our crew of completely licensed and insured adventurers is faced with their foe in the computer core -- and has no choice but to turn up the heat. We also discover that a door, once locked really well, sometimes has to be unlocked equally as hard. Our hard-fighting core technician team include:Liz as Zee, a Skittermander Witchwarper, which means she's about three feet tall, has six arms, is covered in fur, and is just the most adorable reality-warper ever.Joe as K'sol, a Shirren Mystic, making him a psychic bug-man from the stars.Phil as Sobok, a Vesk Soldier, who is seven feet of scaly lizardman with a two-handed chainsword.This is the last in our three-part actual play series of Starfinder -- look for new episodes every Monday, and listen to episode 1 to start from the beginning!This game was played using the second edition of Paizo's Starfinder, which expands their Pathfinder game into space. The core books are all released at this point (and they're starting to release their more compact "pocket editions" of the core books), so if you like the game you hear on this podcast, you can check it out for yourself!Music from this episode is "Start a Trek," by Edgar Henderson; you can check out more of his music on Soundcloud.If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's time to take to the stars in search of interplanetary adventure as Tavern Watch plays Starfinder's newly-released second edition. This system blends the crunchy, high player choice character building of Pathfinder with a wholly original science fantasy setting, and there's really nothing like it. If you've ever wanted your space wizard to cast doom scroll (and yes, it does exactly what you think it does), this is the show for you.In this case, our crew of completely licensed and insured adventurers returns to a spaceport to sell some very legitimately obtained goods and stumbles almost facefirst into a plot to take over, or destroy, the station! We can't have that, now can we? After all, we haven't even sold this weird statue yet. Our intrepid spacefarers include:Liz as Zee, a Skittermander Witchwarper, which means she's about three feet tall, has six arms, is covered in fur, and is just the most adorable reality-warper ever.Joe as K'sol, a Shirren Mystic, making him a psychic bug-man from the stars.Phil as Sobok, a Vesk Soldier, who is seven feet of scaly lizardman with a two-handed chainsword.This is the first in our three-part actual play series of Starfinder -- look for new episodes every Monday!This game was played using the second edition of Paizo's Starfinder, which expands their Pathfinder game into space. The core books are all released at this point (and they're starting to release their more compact "pocket editions" of the core books), so if you like the game you hear on this podcast, you can check it out for yourself!Music from this episode is "Start a Trek," by Edgar Henderson; you can check out more of his music on Soundcloud.If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.