Advertise on podcast: Episodic Adventures: TTRPG Module Reviews

Beware, ye who enter “The Crack’d and Crook’d Manse”! In this spooky seasonal episode, Jordy, Lisa and Sean investigate a classic module republished in Call of Cthulhu 7th Editition’s Mansions of Madness, Vol 1. We discuss the murder house trope, copious red herrings, mysterious letters, and whether the players should know the name of their fears. Note: Chaosium recently made the decision to change the original name of Shub-Gorath. You can read more about the update here. CW: sanity, harm to animals Mark Morrison’s Blog where he describes the creation of this module  “The Crack’d and Crook’d Manse” is written by Mark Morrison and published by Chaosium as part of Mansions of Madness, Vol 1. Call of Chthulhu 7th Edition is published by Chaosium. Intro excerpt from “The Crack’d and Crook’d Manse”. Theme music credited to Zane Little. New to the show? Check out our links: https://linktr.ee/episodicadventures Have gaming opinions or questions? Email us at [email protected].

This week, Jordy and Lisa are all about the money. We discuss Jordy’s foray into quantum quest-writing, crowdfunding (and Kickstarter fatigue), and personal hobby economics.  Note: Academia Arcana is available for pre-order!  As a supplement to this convo, Bright Bard Games recently blogged about their successful experience vending at GenCon with a group of other indie publishers–it’s a worthwhile read for small games creators and the people looking to see them thrive. CW: finances  Pax Deorum  Plus One Exp GenCon sales recap  Patchwork Paladin Kickstarter whales  Theme music credited to Zane Little. New to the show? Check out our links: https://linktr.ee/episodicadventures Have gaming opinions or questions? Email us at [email protected].

Kneel before us, mortals, as Sean, Jordy and Lisa chase immortality in Lichdom, a solo roleplaying game about sorcerers reaching for eternal life. We discuss inciting events, pesky interlopers, the highs and lows of probability, mastering your own game, and playing with fate. Note: A limited print rerun of Lichdom: Immortal Edition is Kickstarting soon, for ye nefarious mages. CW: undeath, suicide Lichdom is written by Adrian Lopez Sanjuan and published by Feral Wizard. Intro excerpt from Lichdom. Theme music credited to Zane Little. New to the show? Check out our links: https://linktr.ee/episodicadventures Have gaming opinions or questions? Email us at [email protected].

For this doubly special episode, Lisa and Sean convene with special guest Mel the GM to review our first-ever system agnostic adventure: Broken Heart of the Castle! We discuss beastly curses, burying your gays, a hair-trigger confrontation, and, inexplicably, another duck. Note: “Sleeping Heart of the Garden” is Cloud Curio’s woodsy system neutral entry CW: “Bury your gays” trope “Broken Heart of the Castle” is written by SC Ormond and published by Cloud Curio. You can find Mel at @MeltheGM on Instagram! Intro excerpt adapted from “Broken Heart of the Castle.” Theme music credited to Zane Little. New to the show? Check out our links: https://linktr.ee/episodicadventures Have gaming opinions or questions? Email us at [email protected].

Welcome back to another Sidebar with Lisa and Sean! This week, we discuss our gaming family tree and how our roots spread. Theme music credited to Zane Little. New to the show? Check out our links: https://linktr.ee/episodicadventures Have gaming opinions or questions? Email us at [email protected].

This week, Sean, Jordy, and Lisa descend into a downright Jaquaysian tangle of tunnels in search of the “Dark Tower,” a fantasy game aid for AD&D. We discuss the joy, humor, and mischief of Jaquays’ design, leading with artifacts, the horrible hall of the silent ball, and a super-secret hidden (main) boss, plus the hosts share their hot slash fic of the dungeon denizens. “Dark Tower” is written by Jennell Jaquays and originally published by Judges Guild in 1980. It was restored and re-released by Goodman Games in 2024. Theme music credited to Zane Little. New to the show? Check out our links: https://linktr.ee/episodicadventures Have gaming opinions or questions? Email us at [email protected].

Grab a blade from the pile and join Jordy, Lisa, and Sean in arms with Temple of 1000 Swords, an adventure module for Old-School Essentials. We discuss rusty swords, random swords and secret swords, the maternal instincts of cannibalistic duck-men, and playing god (of swords). CW: body horror “Temple of 1000 Swords” is written and published by Brad Kerr. Old-School Essentials is designed by Gavin Norman and published by Necrotic Gnome. Theme music credited to Zane Little. New to the show? Check out our links: https://linktr.ee/episodicadventures Have gaming opinions or questions? Email us at [email protected].

Join Jordy and Sean, Masters of Shadow and… Daggers, as they bring you another Sidebar! We discuss Origins Game Fair, Free RPG day, metacurrency in Daggerheart and Draw Steel, Shadowdark and donating blood (O Bros for life). Note: Legends in the Mist won multiple 2026 ENNIE categories, including Best Game (silver). The DCC Free RPG Day offering this year was Pretenders to the Rat King’s Throne. American Red Cross First Aid Comics Free RPG Day Wires in the Woods - solo and duet RPG Theme music credited to Zane Little. New to the show? Check out our links: https://linktr.ee/episodicadventures Have gaming opinions or questions? Email us at [email protected].

Ahoy! Join Sean, Jordy, and Lisa for another nautical escapade in “The Temple of Endless Sea,” a Dragonbane adventure location from Arkand – City of Waves and Flame. We discuss water cult anthropology, a rowdy cityscape, trying not to drown, and swan men of mystery. CW: Cults, demons, drowning, self-harm (drowning), thalassophobia Arkand – City of Waves and Flame and Dragonbane are published by Free League Publishing. Theme music credited to Zane Little. New to the show? Check out our links: https://linktr.ee/episodicadventures Have gaming opinions or questions? Email us at [email protected]

Weekend bonus episode Surprise Round! In this con special, Sean follows up with three of the wizards of Wizard Staffing Co., a cohort of tabletop roleplaying game enthusiasts and event runners, to discuss their time at Gen Con 2026. Mel, Jonah, and Evan discuss games played and ran, con highlights, and lessons learned. Note: A database of the ENTIRE, LIFETIME catalogue of Gen Con events is available through the Best 50 Years in Gaming! Enjoy, fellow lookie-loos! Wizard Staffing Co. Mel’s IG: @MeltheGM Jonah’s links  Evan’s links Evan’s IG: @lecture.stone and @linguaarcanattrpg Theme music credited to Zane Little. New to the show? Check out our links: https://linktr.ee/episodicadventures Have gaming opinions or questions? Email us at [email protected].

Follow Lisa, Jordy, and Sean as they stumble into nostalgia with the DIE RPG quickstart. We discuss multi-layered characters, improvised encounters, and memory–in both a poetic and practical sense. Note: While we do not refer to it in the review, the name of the module in the quickstart is “The Dreams We Had As Children.” Also, in the comic, the dictator can affect the other players with her ability. Scary! CW: Derealization, toxic friendship dynamics Interview with Kieron about DIE the comic and DIE the RPG  DIE: The Roleplaying Game and its quickstart are created by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, and published by Rowan, Rook and Deckard. Intro excerpt adapted from “DIE RPG Quickstart”. Theme music credited to Zane Little. New to the show? Check out our links: https://linktr.ee/episodicadventures Have gaming opinions or questions? Email us at [email protected].

On this week’s Sidebar episode, Sean and Lisa examine - gasp - GMs who don’t run modules. We discuss when to run or bail on a module, creativity challenges, and our con updates. GMs who never run prewritten adventures Theme music credited to Zane Little. New to the show? Check out our links: https://linktr.ee/episodicadventures Have gaming opinions or questions? Email us at [email protected].

Hail, listeners! This week, Jordy, Lisa, and Sean seek the myths, honor the seers, and protect the realm in “What a Horrible Knight,” an introductory “choose-your-own-adventure” module for Mythic Bastionland. We discuss hyperlinked, spiral-bound, higgledy-piggledy caves, the quest for glory, brutal traps, and rolling on the ominous noises table. Note: While we are no longer active on Instagram, we have a shiny new YouTube channel, complete with all of our episodes! You can also find us on Bluesky. Quinns Quest Review of Mythic Bastionland “What a Horrible Knight” is produced by Afterthought Committee and published by Plus One Exp. Mythic Bastionland is written by Chris McDowall and published by Bastionland Press. Theme music credited to Zane Little. New to the show? Check out our links: https://linktr.ee/episodicadventures Have gaming opinions or questions? Email us at [email protected].

Welcome to Season 2 of Episodic Adventures! Lisa, Jordy, and Sean are kicking things off with a sci-fi noir investigation in “Murder In Metal City,” a deluxe introductory boxed set adventure for Starfinder Second Edition. We discuss adventure paths, lore dumps via handouts and frantic Wikipedia scrolling, and an evasive, shadowy villain. Note: With Meta sinking to new lows (what’s new?), we are planning to move away from Instagram and towards Bluesky as our social media platform of choice. Catch us in the skies! “Murder In Metal City” is written by Jenny Jarzabski and published by Paizo. Starfinder Second Edition is published by Paizo.  The Gaming Gang flip-through and review of the box set Intro excerpt from “Murder In Metal City.” Theme music credited to Zane Little. New to the show? Check out our links: https://linktr.ee/episodicadventures Have gaming opinions or questions? Email us at [email protected].

For our final summer bonus episode, Lisa joined Chase on Gamestorm, a game design podcast from Storygames Chicago, to build an impromptu larp/board game about multilevel marketing using Yahtzee's dice mechanics. Calling all boss bros/babes! You can find all the Gamestorm-developed RPG releases on Itch! Chase on Bluesky  Storygames Chicago on DriveThuRPG New to the show? Check out our links: https://linktr.ee/episodicadventures Have gaming opinions or questions? Email us at [email protected].