Crime

Film noir, cops & robbers, detective stories, etc.

22
May
2025

454 – Catch Me If You Can with Mike Rugnetta

Mike is a longtime writer, host, producer and sound designer, who has been working in digital media since 2007. Currently, he hosts Never Post, a member-supported, employee-owned podcast about and for the internet, and GMs Fun City Ventures, a fully sound designed cyberpunk narrative play RPG podcast set in a post climate catastrophe New York City, in the year 2102. We sat down to engage in the cat and mouse drama of a criminal and investigator in Catch Me If You Can, to try and answer the question:

What is a criminal, if not a mirror-image of a detective? And what is a crime, if not the setup for its investigation?

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Posted by Admin in Actual Play, 0 comments
16
Apr
2025

449 – It Takes Two to Tango with Mark Vertlib

It Takes Two to Tango is a 2-player, rules-lite, GM-less tabletop RPG about rival spies sent on a mission together. Two rival spies. Two rival agencies. One major job. And unfortunately, one way through the door: Pretending to be a married couple.

I sat down with the game’s designer, Mark Vertlib, for a superheroic espionage-filled game to see how it all works.

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Posted by Admin in Actual Play
04
Apr
2025

447 – Scene Thieves With Taylor Moore

Taylor, beyond being one of the funniest humans I know, has worked on some of my absolute favorite podcasts, including Worlds Beyond Number and Fun City. We sat down to play Scene Thieves by Possible World Games, telling the story of a band of 80s Cronenberg-esque shadowrunners stealing a top-secret super-drug the only way they can: By staging a Norman Lear-style message play about “Is It Possible to Forgive Someone for Selling Out?”

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Posted by Admin in Actual Play
13
Mar
2025

445 – Blister City with Malcolm Critcher

Malcolm is the Creative Director at BRINK Media, and co-creator of This Is Propaganda, a narrative nonfiction podcast that breaks down the hidden influence of propaganda in our modern lives, and how propaganda (or as it would come to be known, Public Relations) have shaped our entire culture today. We sat down to play Blister City, a game about the bloody realities of Martian revolution, and about taking back the world from the fascists who control it.

The folks who ruined Mars have names and addresses. You have a crowbar, and a dream. Make them pay.

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Posted by Admin in Actual Play
23
May
2024

410 – Eyes on the Prize with Audrey

The plan is simple. Pretend to be married. Infiltrate the town festival. Locate the target. Murder the target. Get out. Murder each other. Easiest job in the world.

Most important thing. Don’t fall in love. Do not under any circumstances fall in love.

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Posted by Admin in Actual Play
14
Sep
2022

339 – Ithaca in the Cards with Aaron Lim

The target: Priceless artifacts, pulled from the surreal dreamscapes that live inside the world’s greatest paintings. The crew: An elite group of magical thieves trained in passing through the rift. The problem: Someone betrayed the group, and now everyone needs to get home safe. Continue reading →

Posted by Admin in Actual Play
04
Aug
2022

337 – Working the Case with Randy Lubin

Something deadly has occurred on Vacation Station. A body was found amidst the hydro displays and the glitz and glamour. The cops aren’t going to be of any help. Which means it comes down to two park engineers to crack the case once and for all.

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Posted by Admin in Actual Play