Tavern Watch Podcast

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And our agents definitely have a doozy of a case on their hands this time: some contractors who had been working on an outdated shopping promenade (conveniently located in the basement of one of Triangle's business competitors) disappeared, only to reappear perfectly fine a few days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.

On this episode of the Tavern Watch Podcast, the team gets a win -- a win in naming things, it turns out, as Wizards of the Coast (in addition to finally announcing some products for 2026) also has started referring to the 2024 revision of D&D as "D&D 5.5e." Considering it ended up being more a balance update than the massive revolution in tabletop gaming that we were originally sold, we're all of the opinion this is for the better (and is easier to say, to boot). On top of that, Joe's really, really excited about the Godzilla Roleplaying Game both due to a general all-abiding love for Toho's kaiju but also because of some of the titans of the tabletop industry that are featured in its staff list now, Phil has been completely enamored with Cairn (and its creator Yochai Gal's podcast, Between Two Cairns) as far as things in the OSR tabletop gaming space goes, and Liz has a thought or two about Wizards CEO Chris Cocks' statement that they're keeping generative AI out of some of their biggest product spaces -- namely D&D, Magic: the Gathering, and video games -- because the creatives and the audience don't want it. Hopefully they can stick to that, though we've got bad news if you're a fan of Peppa Pig as far as AI in your intellectual property space goes.

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.

With a lead in their hot little hands freshly pried from the storage of a hijacked murder-drone, our crew of Starfinder adventurers -- brought together first to meet their friend Tier-99-Professor, then by happenstance to investigate his murder -- dive into the back alleys and data storage centers of Striving to see if they can pin down any clues as to why someone would want the good Professor dead. What they find may put themselves (and others!) in danger instead as they get embroiled in matters way out of their pay grade.Liz Harper is here to GM for us yet again, and our group of intrepid investigators (one of them is even an actual detective!) 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 second 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 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.

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.

Keeping things tense and exciting in tabletop games without just resorting to throwing the players into a fight is a central part of our discussion today on Tavern Watch -- we're talking torches burning down in Shadowdark or Crows, using the spotlight like a TV show director to keep things tense in Monster of the Week, or the Chaos mechanic in Triangle Agency that makes every roll a balancing act. Do you really want to let the director get enough Chaos to flat-out kill an agent?Before we even broach that idea, though, we have so many upcoming games to talk about. We can't help ourselves! There's EN World's most anticipated games of 2026, of course -- we're all especially anxious to see #10, the Legend of Zelda and Dragon Quest-inspired Twilight Sword, do well -- as well as a number of Kickstarters; everything from the Dungeon Death zine, a 90s video-game-based isekai "setting" for Shadowdark to the Dark Matter Mega Box that gives the deluxe treatment to the 5E science fantasy setting (and includes a crossover with cutesy animal setting Humblewood by way of firing one of its cities into space).If you're interested in something closer to the games you're more familiar with, you might want to try some new mystical classes for D&D 5E, check out Paizo's upcoming releases for Pathfinder including the return of four fan-favorite 1st Edition classes, or kick back and watch a Baldur's Gate TV show on HBO.... someday. Or you can be like Liz and continue vibrating excitedly over the idea that the Fallen London TTRPG might make it into your hands this year. You never know!

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.

There's an old chestnut about how if you confront an average D&D party with a door, they'll try anything except going through it. Luckily, our merry band of Artificers who trekked into the Mournlands aren't just any old adventurers: they're extremely intelligent ones. This doesn't prevent them from being rude to talking doors and getting in fights with weird, goopy creatures (portrayed by DM Matt Rossi) that don't have any business on land, all in the name of getting their hands on something called an Annihilation Gauntlet.I'm sure that's nothing to worry about.The players juggling one collective braincell like an army of orange cats on this adventure 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 ArtificerJoin our band of merry crafters as they finally start to dig into the heart of this little adventure into one of the worst corners of Eberron, and find things they probably weren't expecting lurking in the heart of the Mournlands.This is the second of a D&D 2024 game played with an all-Artificer party; if you missed episode 1, you can check it out 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.