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Tavern Watch Podcast
Tavern Watch is devoted to tabletop roleplaying games news, discussion, and group play sessions brought to you by the people behind the Blizzard Watch and Lore Watch podcasts.
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3. Tavern Watch Plays Pigeon's 11, Episode 3: All the pretzels you can eat (just gotta steal them first)
01:19:39||Ep. 3It's a once-in-a-lifetime heist: to sneak into the biggest game convention around (celebrating much loved baking sim and MOBA Heroes of the Dough) and steal the esports trophy (which happens to be made of pretzels) from under everyone's noses (both literally and metaphorically). But that's not enough for our fine flock of feathered felons, who want to make off with the recipe for the limited edition pretzels that conventioneers are gobbling down, turning one heist into two heists. (Trust me, it all makes sense in context. Well, it all mostly makes sense in context.)Join GM Liz Harper and a cast made up of Blizzard Watch's bird alter egos for our last game of Pigeon's 11! Here are our players:Phil Ulrich as Frankie Two-Talons, a boat-tailed grackle.Joan Albright as Professor Beakley, an African gray parrot.Eric O'Day as Thurston Owl III, a barn owl.Matt Rossi as Drom, an emu.Joe Perez as Bennie the Blast, a white-throated sparrow.Anne Stickney as Cecilia Cabana Banana Von ChiChi (Cece for short), a pigeon disguised as a peacock.This adventure is just as wacky as it sounds. So join our crew of birds quest for pretzels, cause chaos, and see how many twists they can pull out of the biggest pretzel heist of their lives.This is the final game in a three-part series of Pigeon's 11 by 9th Level Games. It uses the Polymorph system for a game that's straightforward, narrative focused, and rewards you for rolling a one (to Matt's unending surprise). This is the second Polymorph game we've played — check out our game of Sentai & Sensibility if you want to see more of the system in action — and we've really enjoyed it!Intro music for this episode is "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.
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2. Tavern Watch Plays Pigeon's 11, Episode 2: Stealing the coveted pretzel trophy
50:59||Ep. 2This week we're bringing you another game Pigeon's 11, in which our feathered cast of criminals dives into the world of esports and culinary delights at MetzlCon. The plan: to steal the coveted pretzel trophy in the middle of a packed house of gamers and amateur chefs. It may be the biggest gaming convention of the year, but our pigeons only have eyes for the pretzels. (Well, most of them anyway.)Join GM Liz Harper and a cast made up of Blizzard Watch's bird alter egos:Phil Ulrich as Frankie Two-Talons, a boat-tailed grackle.Joan Albright as Professor Beakley, an African gray parrot.Eric O'Day as Thurston Owl III, a barn owl.Matt Rossi as Drom, an emu.Joe Perez as Bennie the Blast, a white-throated sparrow.Anne Stickney as Cecilia Cabana Banana Von ChiChi (Cece for short), a pigeon disguised as a peacock.And yes, this adventure is just as wacky as it sounds. So join our crew of birds as struggle through the game convention crowd to see that pretzel trophy first hand and pick out the only one on the convention floor who has a gluten allergy.This is the second game in a three-part series of Pigeon's 11 by 9th Level Games. It uses the Polymorph system for a game that's straightforward, narrative focused, and rewards you for rolling a one. This is the second Polymorph game we've played — check out our game of Sentai & Sensibility if you want to see more of the system in action — and we've really enjoyed it!Intro music for this episode is "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.1. Tavern Watch Plays Pigeon's 11, Episode 1: A fine flock of felonious fowl
01:04:59||Ep. 1This week we're playing Pigeon's 11, an adventure where our fine flock of felonious fowl are getting ready for the heist of a lifetime. (Spoiler: it involves a lot of baked goods and bread puns.) Join GM Liz Harper and a cast made up of Blizzard Watch's bird alter egos:Phil Ulrich as Frankie Two-Talons, a boat-tailed grackle.Joan Albright as Professor Beakley, an African gray parrot.Eric O'Day as Thurston Owl III, a barn owl.Matt Rossi as Drom, an emu.Joe Perez as Bennie the Blast, a white-throated sparrow.Anne Stickney as Cecilia Cabana Banana Von ChiChi (Cece for short), a pigeon disguised as a peacock.And yes, this adventure is just as wacky as it sounds. So join our crew of birds as they plan their big score, start a few fights, and chase down some baked goods.This is the first in a three-part series of Pigeon's 11 by 9th Level Games. It uses the polymorph system for a game that's straightforward, narrative focused, and rewards you for rolling a one. This is the second polymorph game we've played — check out our game of Sentai & Sensibility if you want to see more of the system in action — and we've really enjoyed it!Intro music for this episode is "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.20. Are TTRPGs taking a turn away from crunchy to bring us more narrative-focused one-shots?
01:10:37||Ep. 20While there are still plenty of crunchy tabletop games out there, lately we're playing a lot of shorter TTRPGs that lean into narrative elements — and are easier to schedule than long form campaigns. We talk about our recent Pigeon's 11 game, the cozy fantasy of Legend in the Mist, and the Nebula-nominated Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast. Also, we're apparently going back to Eberron this year in a surprise D&D book that wasn't part of the original 2025 release slate.Plus the speedy demise of Sigil, Wizards of the Coast's Unreal-based VTT that launched and laid off its staff within a month. Yikes.If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!3. Tavern Watch Plays Triangle Agency 03: That's fine, Get in the briefcase
01:01:11||Ep. 3It's a tough day for the employees of Triangle Agency, but our skilled Agents are always ready to beat back any challenge — even when that challenge is a mass of anomalous electrical wires intent on their deaths! But don't worry about them, because Triangle Agency is always here to help Agents who help themselves. They've really earned their paychecks today! (At least those of them who get paid.)In this episode, GM Phil Ulrich does his very best to get all of our Agents killed (or at least rack up some demerits). But if you want to know how it goes, you'll have to listen to the episode yourself.This is the last episode of a three-part series in which we play Triangle Agency, an extremely triangular TTRPG by Haunted Table Games. If you enjoyed this game, you can pick up your own copy from Haunted Table Games or Modiphius. We welcome your future contributions to Triangle Agency!Intro music for this game is Business Training Background Music By Alec Koff. What a great productivity-boosting tune!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!2. Tavern Watch Plays Triangle Agency 2: An unintended (artistic) detour
01:00:46||Ep. 2Triangle Agency's agents are on the case — with a little help from corporate HQ, of course! Our highly skilled team of experts is in the process of tracking down a dangerous anomaly, but don't you worry (or you might become a loose end we have to deal with).In this episode, GM Phil Ulrich helps the Agency's best make some art, earn the high score in their favorite video game, and untangle some extremely dangerous wires. It's all in a day's work for the employees of Triangle Agency!This is the second of a three-part series in which we play Triangle Agency, an extremely triangular TTRPG by Haunted Table Games. (Here's the first episode if you haven't listened to it.) If you enjoyed this game, you can pick up your own copy from Haunted Table Games or Modiphius. We welcome your future contributions to Triangle Agency!Intro music for this episode is Inspired by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!1. Tavern Watch Plays Triangle Agency 1: The Agency has your very best interests at heart!
01:03:16||Ep. 1Welcome to beautiful Ternion City, home of the Triangle Agency. In our corporate headquarters, agents are hard at work — right now! — to preserve reality. You like reality, don't you? Of course you do. And your friends at Triangle Agency are here to keep the reality you love safe... preferably without you noticing any of those pesky breaks in reality in the first place! What breaks in reality? We certainly haven't seen any!GM Phil Ulrich helps the Agency's latest employees with their new field assignment: to investigate a string of strangely similar and equally unexplained deaths. Sounds like a potential break in reality to us!This is the first of a three-part series in which we play Triangle Agency, an extremely triangular TTRPG by Haunted Table Games. If you enjoyed this game, you can pick up your own copy from Haunted Table Games or Modiphius. We welcome your future contributions to Triangle Agency!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!Intro music for this game is Inspired by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.