Playing at the Hearth

Leaving their friend Angie behind with the Remnants, the caravan continues, tracing their way across one lake before realising they need a guide across the next one. They meet one of the Crossers who promises them help, though with a price...The Last Caravan is a cars and aliens tabletop role-playing game about a midwinter road trip in the wake of an alien invasion. Starting from the East Coast, you and your fellow travelers will navigate a shattered North America. You’ll explore landscapes transformed by xenoflora, search abandoned towns and crashed spaceships, discover the otherworldly technology called Harmonics, negotiate with newly-formed factions both human and alien, outrun hostile pursuers, and fight for the future of your world.Your story is about normal people finding heroism under extraordinary pressures. It’s about relationships tested by a crisis, and rediscovering what matters when the world is ending.Your people need you. Will you join the caravan?The Last Caravan is by Ted Bushman and is available here https://tedbushman.itch.io/the-last-caravan-a-cars-and-aliens-roleplaying-game***Find me on itch.io: https://donogh.itch.io or on Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@donoghFind the Open Hearth gaming community: https://openhearthgaming.com/#ActualPlay #TTRPG #OpenHearth #ForgedInTheDarkOriginal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhP2U2Oufc4 ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Alun R facilitates session zero of a series of 'The Cluster', his own PbtA space opera game.This session was organsied as part of The Open Hearth Gaming Community (https://openhearthgaming.com/ RPG) using our Gaming Calendar (https://app.playabl.io/communities/the_open_hearth/overview).We create our Cluster, it's Societies, signficant Factions, Crew and their Ship. Then we play to find out what happens when Serena Travers (haunted by what she did for the Authoritarian Directorate); Gort (formed by endless war on the Harsh world of Gladius and pursued by the Neural Sisterhood); Jade Meadows (disillusioned by the 'Cosmic Duty' of her Sequestered society and caste out ); and Keil Beckett (running from his guilt over the death of a colleague while he was making money on the side) leave the HUB for the Geshan system to recover a device from an overdue ship for the RGA. There's the disorientation of Ring Space, the crippled mining ship and an attempt to board ... which doesn't go perfectly ...Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxfw7yy4gio ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The stakes rise as:-Crossing Paths, as Andromeda and Portia reacquaint themselves on a voyage, ruminating on past attempts to bring the Flickering Isles into the Rebellion. -Meeting Blade to Stave, as Selenetta blocks Caravel's entrance to the lair of the Dark Sorcereress!It has been twelve years since the Legion came down from the stars and began to colonise Athera, and a new generation of princesses are beginning to see the need for another Accord. The Legion has been attacking towns again. The Kingdoms are sending out dance invitations. And the Tangled Woods have been getting stranger and stranger. You, the princesses and warriors of factions at odds, will fight, quarrel, and flirt in your efforts to sway Athera in your favor. For The Honor is an anthology game inspired by She-ra and the Princesses of Power. It's based on the Firebrands Framework by Vincent Baker and Meguey Baker. It's by Quinn Vega and is available here https://crtgirl.itch.io/for-the-honorFind me on itch.io: https://donogh.itch.io or on Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@donoghFind the Open Hearth gaming community: https://openhearthgaming.com/#ActualPlay #TTRPG #OpenHearth #FirebrandsOriginal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NdKz6SAH6Q ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Alun R facilitates the first of a two-shot of his own game. Alien Dark (available free from https://gallusgames.itch.io).This session was organsied as part of The Open Hearth Gaming Community (https://openhearthgaming.com/ RPG) using our Gaming Calendar (https://app.playabl.io/communities/the_open_hearth/overview).As a marine squad ferries a Weyland-Yutani Rep around the oil fields of Ariarcus they receive an emergency recall message from HQ. A UPP fleet places the colony at risk and they are ordered to cut short their mission and return for immediate evac. With an inexperienced and insecure commanding officer the Company's Rep, Wynne, offers confident advice, but things get complicated when UPP dropships start landing troops and an orbital bombardment ensues. The LT seeks fresh orders but blizzard conditions restrict comms. Then 'Doc' Reina hears the thump of dance music and heads off to investigate. Assault marine Ray Mercer shadows him while Pvt Volk calls it in. Mr Wynne offers to chekc it out. There's screaming club goers, rumours that 'he ate her!' and the disorientation of flashing lights and thumping bass. Then, blood and two bodies, slime and a pulsing sac, a decision to 'light it up' and a grenade ... then it leaps ...Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti39ZZgavZs ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

While Madam Doctor Swindrake spends the day at Hargrave House's new library, Mr. Pike goes to the Limehouse Lurker's Lair. There he has some near-death experiences that reward all of us with new insight into his past. Meanwhile, Mx. Latimer consorts with Fanny and the Man in the Sun Mask and is invited to a secret party at Catherine's. All in a day's work.Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WgVT02Rp8A ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

A shootout at the salonOriginal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jCd-AtRx4w ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

...in which the monsters descend into the depths of Base 0001 and uncover disturbing secrets about DIVISION and one another.Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBjj5RuKwTM ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Alun R facilitates a one-shot of Cold City 2nd Edition (Malcolm Craig, Handiwork Game).This session was organsied as part of The Open Hearth Gaming Community (https://openhearthgaming.com/ RPG) using our Gaming Calendar (https://app.playabl.io/communities/th...).Come join us (https://www.patreon.com/openhearthgaming.com).With a new, largely unknown, colleague the Agents begin their mission at Cafe Boheme, where we, the audience, know they aren't getting the full story from their contact. However, based on what they *are *told they aim to shadow a Stazi operation that will lead them to their quarry. Then, there's third party interference, a frightened guide and death in the tunnels beneath the ruins of Anhalter Bahnhof ... before different agendas begin to manifest ...Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8gxb2J9h6k ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The party entered the ruined city of Rustbucket and found ancient systems still grinding along long after their builders were gone. Mechanical figures hunted animals, rendered bodies into wax and candles, and fed towering light pylons that once illuminated the streets. Birds in the ruins warned of nearby dangers: a toxic lake where nothing survived, underground complexes called “the god’s tunnels,” enormous cables hauling the dead into the clouds, and massive shelled creatures roaming the region.In the city’s outskirts, the group encountered a rival scavenger crew—armed, tense, and clearly hunting the same salvage. Outside the ruins proper they met Jal, a chalk-using magician trying to restore a shattered plastic-book library. Jal offered knowledge, magical training, shelter, and a chance to build a long-term base if the group would help rebuild and defend the archive.Alongside the exploration, personal threads surfaced. Moss voiced her growing distrust of the expeditions, Neus raised concerns about a missing farmling, and Momma’s forbidden genealogy book remained a dangerous secret. By the end of the session, the group debated their next move: press deeper into Rustbucket, investigate disappearances, commit to restoring the library, or steer clear of expedition forces entirely.Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVbtMS9O1m8 ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Mr. Pike goes to Whitechapel to investigate Mrs. Yarbrough's apartment. Mx Latimer meets the Dapper Boy and Madam Doctor Swindrake helps the sick and the poor (and the small).Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y_D4qrg0Vw ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

A showdown over a box and a revelation of another box.Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYXQc1vJwLo ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The Monsters travel to [redacted] to help Alecto's old friend Gorimel protecting the first (!) door.Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgvHPTj_sjI ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The streams begin to cross, as:-Mincing Words, Selenetta's trades barbs with the undercover Captain Caravel as he listens to her play music -Taking the Dance Floor, as Andromeda surprises Caravel with a request to dance and her direct manner, as he wonders where the spy he is meant to meet is...It has been twelve years since the Legion came down from the stars and began to colonise Athera, and a new generation of princesses are beginning to see the need for another Accord. The Legion has been attacking towns again. The Kingdoms are sending out dance invitations. And the Tangled Woods have been getting stranger and stranger. You, the princesses and warriors of factions at odds, will fight, quarrel, and flirt in your efforts to sway Athera in your favor. For The Honor is an anthology game inspired by She-ra and the Princesses of Power. It's based on the Firebrands Framework by Vincent Baker and Meguey Baker. It's by Quinn Vega and is available here https://crtgirl.itch.io/for-the-honorFind me on itch.io: https://donogh.itch.io or on Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@donoghFind the Open Hearth gaming community: https://openhearthgaming.com/#ActualPlay #TTRPG #OpenHearthOriginal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFSo0k2y7As ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Dahlia and Cloud investigate the mystic car alarm going off, confronting someone who desperately wants something in their car. Back in the bar, they delve deeper into the lighthouse keeper's past and his future. But eventually the gig wraps up on a triumphant note, the only discordance coming with the mysterious Steiner who offers something too enticing to reject outright...****Wayfaring Strange is a diceless tabletop roleplaying game about hidden highways, folk magic, urban legends, and the concept of liminality in America. The characters who populate the world of Wayfaring Strange have fallen between the cracks of society, often unseen because the rest of the world chooses to ignore their existence. These Wayfarers have formed transient communities that depend on one another for survival.America is ripe with untold power; like a river or stream, there are places where it pools and directions that it flows. People have been tapping into these channels of power for centuries, and eventually someone thought to map US highway routes on top of them. Wayfarers using the Hidden Highways can bend distance and time, build Waystations that possess protective or healing properties, or use their Wayfaring abilities to track, hide or elude pursuit.In Wayfaring Strange, you play one of these Wayfarers; traveling the Hidden Highways and coming in contact with the Strange, the magical and the otherworldly. If you're a fan of American Gods, Alice Isn't Dead, or Gravity Falls, then Wayfaring Strange might be the game for you....Wayfaring is by Joie Martin and is available here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/504013/wayfaring-strangeFind me on itch.io: https://donogh.itch.io or on Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@donoghFind the Open Hearth gaming community: https://openhearthgaming.com/#ActualPlay #TTRPG #OpenHearthOriginal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmmGC1kEoYc ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The group woke near the Wall low on supplies and were soon joined by Moss, a courier recently pushed out of Acorn Village by cloudling pressure. Tears reunited with Momma after surviving the Bean Barge wreck, and Moss was folded into the group’s eastward plan: reach salvage, avoid expeditions, stay alive.They chose to pass through Fort Snek, a cloudling-held gate in the Wall crowded with displaced farmers and couriers barred entry by exhausted soldiers. Lord Rook attempted to leverage mourning etiquette and authority to gain passage. After an initial failure, he succeeded, though only after being summoned to meet the fort’s commander.Inside the fort, discipline was visibly decaying. Soldiers dueled listlessly, morale was low, and sickness was widespread. Rook met Commander Pepon the Crestless, a scholar-officer overseeing the fort. Pepon proudly described blue pills he had developed—alchemical treatments meant to poison soldiers’ bones so Imago would avoid eating them. He dismissed concerns about side effects and presented the pills as a breakthrough, gifting Rook a box and asking him to spread word of his success.Stormy, with Moss’s help, examined the soldiers and quickly determined the sickness was systemic. The medic confirmed Pepon’s claims without confidence. Pepon himself was healthy. The soldiers were not. Stormy suspected the pills were the cause and later swallowed one herself to confirm it.Tears and Momma tried to lift spirits with music outside the fort, but the soldiers were hollow and uninterested. A confrontation between Rook and a resentful soldier nearly turned violent. The group decided to leave immediately.Traveling south along the river, they encountered a grass fire trapping three arguing sellswords. Momma swam the river without hesitation, and with Stormy’s help sedated and dragged the non-swimmer to safety. No reward was asked or offered.That night, the group talked around the fire. Moss spoke openly about her distrust of the expeditions. The early arrival of the Century Brood was discussed, possibly tied to the disappearance of the Cloud Empress. Silver challenged Rook’s restraint and honor; Rook maintained that discretion and survival mattered more than righteous violence. Rook also made contact with sellswords who spoke of ancient devices capable of manipulating emotions on a massive scale.By morning, Stormy felt the effects of the pill—fatigue, weakness, a heavy dullness. Snow fell, travel worsened, and Momma and Tears suffered from the cold before the group found shelter in an abandoned farmhouse to rest and recover.Pressing northeast into the Weeds, the party avoided observation balloons and moved through old battlefields. Stormy and Moss scouted ahead and witnessed a cloudling camp being overrun not by Imago, but by human-sized figures wearing chitin armor and wielding chitin weapons, bleeding from the mouth and howling as they slaughtered soldiers. They withdrew without intervening. Moments later, full-grown Imago descended on the site.Finally, the group found their goal: a wrecked cloudling tank torn open by Imago. They salvaged plastile and usable parts, confirming the chalk engine had been eaten. They camped beside the wreck.Morning broke clear and blue. The group now carried proof the expedition was poisoning its own soldiers, valuable salvage, and knowledge of something new and monstrous moving through the Weeds. They packed up and prepared to move on.Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8TRQNE62Ew ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

As we finish our first Night Phase, Ms Swindrake meets the Lurker. Mr. Pike gets into a scuffle and they all meet up at breakfast and compare notesOriginal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3NHPfdrLxQ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

a courier arrives and a salon happensOriginal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-w5IEkgqPU ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

We meet another character: Andromeda of the Kingdoms.-Crossing Paths, as Andromeda receives Selenetta's embassy-Giving Chase, as Caravel evades Portia and Nerika aboard the Sky Ship-MangroveIt has been twelve years since the Legion came down from the stars and began to colonise Athera, and a new generation of princesses are beginning to see the need for another Accord. The Legion has been attacking towns again. The Kingdoms are sending out dance invitations. And the Tangled Woods have been getting stranger and stranger. You, the princesses and warriors of factions at odds, will fight, quarrel, and flirt in your efforts to sway Athera in your favor. For The Honor is an anthology game inspired by She-ra and the Princesses of Power. It's based on the Firebrands Framework by Vincent Baker and Meguey Baker. It's by Quinn Vega and is available here https://crtgirl.itch.io/for-the-honorFind me on itch.io: https://donogh.itch.io or on Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@donoghFind the Open Hearth gaming community: https://openhearthgaming.com/#ActualPlay #TTRPG #OpenHearthOriginal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bvt5zzJI1A ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

A generational space epic ttrpg inspired by Dune, Foundation, Fading Suns, Coriolis, and more. Throne of Suns is an adaptation of Free from the Yoke/Legacy: Life Among the Ruins (UFO Press). In this playtest session establish the minor factions, create our empertrix, define her history, create protagonist characters, select the imperial project, and begin our four PCs on stage at the Imperial Senatorial Assembly. UFO Press: https://ufo-mina.itch.io/This is part of Open Hearth Gaming Community, you can find out more at openhearthgaming.comOur audio version of these episodes can be found here: https://playingatthehearth.openhearthgaming.com/Follow us on https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpghttps://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg@openhearthrpg@dice.campYou can support my channel and website at patreon/ageofravensFor more APs subscribe to the channel. For more on gaming in general, check out my site at ageofravensgames.comOriginal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMuBsc2ZrCA ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

After a long holiday break, we finally get back to playing. We recap where we're at and play out the last of the downtime scenes. Then our students head out to confront the entity which has been drawing in their peer, Eugene. But shorthanded, they must face something they've only partially begun to understand...This is part of a playtest for a new Series Playset for Girl by Moonlight, in which protagonists have been drafted into a school of magic which is trying to change, manipulate, and even destroy them. It is inspired by The Scholomance, The Magicians, Vita Nova, Harrow the Ninth, Babel, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and more. This session includes our series and character creation. This is part of Open Hearth Gaming Community, you can find out more at openhearthgaming.comOur audio version of these episodes can be found here: https://playingatthehearth.openhearthgaming.com/Follow us on https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpghttps://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg@openhearthrpg@dice.campYou can support my channel and website at patreon/ageofravensFor more APs subscribe to the channel. For more on gaming in general, check out my site at ageofravensgames.comOriginal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFiQMi7JEAg ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★