Audio EXP Podcast: #210 – For your feet!

Welcome home.

This is Audio EXP for the 16th of September, and the episode title is “For your feet! “

[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #211]

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Coyote and Crow is in the Spotlight this month, as voted for by Patreons.

Good news: Connor Alexander of Coyote and Crow is a total sport, and we’re nearly at the end of the Q&A. I expect to get this live before the end of next week.

I just want to pester the RPG designer with a few questions first.

I’ve a question for you first. Where do you follow Geek Native? Did you stumble randomly onto this podcast? Apple, Spotify or someplace else?

Do you read the blog? You can also find, by name, the site on Google News or Apple News, but we’re not big enough to be up there in head headline suggestions.

The blog is also on Mastodon, Twitter-sometimes-called-X, Pinterest, Facebook, Threads and Instagram. There’s a Discord and Telegram, the latter a broadcast only, the second a hilariously long soft launch.

There’s TikTok sometimes, but generally only when we’re at places to film from, like conventions.

Is there anywhere you think Geek Native should be? BlueSky? Maybe. Is that taking off?

So, feet. Yes, I’m doing a short podcast this weekend about geeky discoveries and feet. I’ve three reasons for this.

Firstly, there’s official D&D licensed adult slippers on Fun.com. Lefty and Righty are two identical and goofy cute red dragons.

The slippers have little wings, felt horns and D&D stamped on their backside. If you’re like me and sometimes end up in slippers before you remember you have to take the trash out, you’ll be pleased to know they have rubber soles, too.

Secondly, and from my favourite sock company, Stance, there are official Starfield socks.

You heard that right; this blogger does have a favourite sock company. I think Stance socks are worth the few extra quid they cost since they’re thick, robust and comfortable.

I walk a lot so this is a subject I’m invested in. If you’ve ever had feet troubles, you’ll know its important.

Oh yes, and the Starfield bit, that sci-fi game everyone has been talking about, comes to life as socks with the official logo, some rainbow banding and either a white background of a dark blue cosmos.

Lastly, my third reason is purely selfish. Tomorrow, I’m getting up early to join a charity talk. It’s known as The Kiltwalk, and I’m raising money for the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home. It’s not as long as a marathon, but only by a few miles.

The weather has flirted with storm warnings, but at the last check, no rain is predicted until night, so as long as I don’t get lost along the Scottish coast and stay with the pack, I should make it back dry. Well, dry-ish.

It’s my first Kiltwalk, and I like it because it’s low-cost, inclusive, has shorter walk options, and supports many charities. I think there are over 70. That’s a contrast to some of the high-profile sporting events with big charity headliners.

High-profile deals are often money deals. If your mind is sliding back towards official D&D slippers and the required deals, then I’m there with you. Mine does that, too.

I often wonder about IP licenses in games. As it happens, I spoke to Sherwin Matthews of Steamforged Games this week. That’s a publisher with titles like Elder Ring, Dark Souls, Monster Hunter, and a new Resident Evil board game coming soon.

I asked Sherwin how the board game industry has changed since Steamforged’s first Resident Evil board game. He quickly pointed out that once IP games struggled to get gamers enthusiastic but now that’s beginning to change.

It’s taken a while.

Castle Zagyg has also taken a while.

The D&D adventure was first published by one Gary Gygax but got lost in an IP tussle. Now, Troll Lord Games can and have published it. You can buy the classic as a PDF download from DriveThruRPG.

However, this Castle Zagyg is for Castles and Crusades, not D&D.

Say Gygax backwards, by the way, the X and Z swap around, but that G-Y-G letter combo is easy to spot.

Also easy to spot was the blip in Kickstarter. Last week, Geek Native’s Heat Tracker recorded 585 points. That’s calculated from how much campaigns ask people to pledge and with a modifier for each campaign launched that week. The running average had been around 150, so that’s about a 400% boost. This week, despite some big targets, we dropped back to a much more sensible 187.

It’s just a short Audio EXP podcast this week as I’ve been out on business trips, threading my way through the staff shortages of Brexit Britain and Gatwick airport.

However, there are some bundles worth knowing about and especially with October sneaking ever closer, with Halloween in tow. Yes, really, because GMs need weeks to prepare for their Halloween one-offs.

So, with that said, there’s the sci-fi horror of Hostile in the Bundle of Holding.

There’s also Pelgrane Press’s Trail of Cthulhu in Humble. That’s 1e Trail of Cthulhu because that’s all you can buy, but 2e is on the radar.

And on that note, I better think about wrapping up ahead of tomorrow’s stamina challenge for charity. All being well, I’ll see you next week.