Rene Plays Games

Perspective Checks | Sharing With The Community with RP Deshaies (Fari RPGs)

Bonjour! Salut! Ça va? Bienvenue a un autre Perspective Checks episode where I sit down with friends and folks from the TTRPG Community to talk about all the things we love about this wonderful hobby.
 
Today you're getting not one but TWO Renes! I'm joined by Rene-Pier (RP) from Fari RPGs, creator of so many incredible games that almost all have free SRDs so you can learn the rules and make your own games with them! We're finally linking up to talk about RP's amazing effort to consistently share all of his own knowledge and experience making indie TTRPGs with the community, as well as
 
Breathless: Frightmare Edition funding now on Kickstarter!
 
RP is a designer who actually walks the walk, and he's created an amazing community of people through his free releases of his games SRDs, running game jams, putting out Affinity Publisher tutorials to help new designers with layout, and more! It's no surprise that his Breathless system has been used to make over 300 games and his other games continue to inspire others.
 
Hope you enjoy this episode, I apologize for my French, and I want to hear from everyone what game they have waiting to be made so we can get to playing it!
 

The One Ring 2e | Episode 1 - Spring in the Shire

The adventure begins.
 
Iorlas, Ranger of the North, Dunedain, descendant of Numenor, leaves the Grey Havens in spring on a quest from Cirdan, the Shipwright to investigate a blight on the sacred trees with which the elves build the ships that ferry the elves on to Valinor upon their departure from Middle Earth.
 
On his way through the Shire to head south to the ruins of Eryn Vorn, Iorlas runs into Gandalf the Grey, who has his own quest for the Ranger. To the north, in the ruins of Fornost Erain, the ancient capital of the Dunedain, the shadow has lured other Men, Rangers who have not returned.
 
Iorlas opts to head north to save the Men who have less time than the trees to the south, but quickly runs into opposition once he leaves the Shire...
 
Learn more about The One Ring 2e by Free League Publishing.
 

Tabletop Tutorial | Dick Wizards

Another episode of Tabletop Tutorial, where I'm joined by a guest to learn a new game together, one-on-one!
 
This time I'm joined by my wife, Lynn, for more Lynnsanity. She recently bought me a zine by Wolf Manzella a.k.a. Wyrd Wolf Entertainment called Dick Wizards! Yes, you read that right, and what a title! It's provocative, it gets the people going!
 
Now temper those thoughts, because this is a game about apprentice wizard detectives in the city of Providence, Rhode Island investigating Lovecraftian Cthulhu mythos in the form of crime and strange happenings around the city. On brand, Lynn keeps it real wild, and I think we had a great time playing this game.
 
I highly recommend checking this zine out, it has some really cool mechanics with tarot cards, spellcasting, and creating enemies!
 
Hope you enjoy, and I hope it makes you crave some Rhode Island specific food (somehow we didn't mention our amazing seafood even once, just the junk food).
 

The One Ring | Character Creation

Good day to you, I say, fair folk of the internet, and welcome to the character creation episode for my next solo podcast series of The One Ring 2e by Free League Publishing.
 
This is a short episode I'm putting out because things have gotten a little out of control here in March for me, and will continue to be for April, so please be patient with my episode releases for the next month and a half, but!
 
Let's make a character for a new game! If you want to add ideas or throw out potential cool locations/scenes/anything from your favorite bits of Middle Earth lore, be sure to join me for my 2nd Twitch Stream coming up Monday March 30th!
 
Anyway, hopefully I get the rules of this character creation right, but we have the following cool guy for this upcoming series:
 
Iorlas, Ranger of the North, Dunedain & descendant of the Numenoreans that sailed to the shores of Middle Earth fleeing the fall of Numenor. He is a capable Ranger, a Messenger that travels the land to spread word and ensure that the Free Folk of the world are ready for the spreading shadow from Mordor...
 
He wields a famous ancient blade of the Numenoreans known as Nimloth's Tear, foe-slaying blade to Evil Men and Undead, forged to harken the silver light of Telperion of old, what would be the light of the white tree of Gondor.
 
Very excited to tell a story in Middle Earth! I hope you're excited to hear :)
 

Design Diaries | Gardens of Rust - GM's Guide to the Rust

Welcome back to the monthly design diaries series of 2026 where I am holding myself accountable toward putting out more games.
 
We're back to talk more Gardens of Rust, the post-catastrophe survival and community rebuilding game by myself and Christian from the DMs After Dark. 
 
In episode 3 I go over the usual responsibilities and role of the GM. Calling for rolls, how to prep (minimally, because I'm not a prep kind of GM), and the kinds of things a GM would be doing during the Player & Community Phases.
 
This episode also has a mini-example of play with the two characters we made in the last Design Diaries. Nothing crazy comes up, but maybe next time (the last time for Gardens of Rust?) we'll do a combat or more involved example of play.
 
Please email or join the DMs After Dark Discord server to tell me about the kind of character you'd make for a post-collapse game so we can make it together! I want to start playtesting this game more with new players, so maybe we can set something up on the Discord.
 

Perspective Checks | Il Fantasma Del Giallo with Laurence Phillips (Hardy Roach Games)

Apologies for Laurence's Audio in this episode, the recording was a little strange when it exported from our video call, but I did the best I could. If you have any questions, please message or email me! (Or reach out to Laurence!)
 
Welcome to another episode of Perspective Checks where I sit down with friends and folks from the TTRPG world and discuss what they love about this wonderful hobby!
 
This episode is an early interview for Laurence's upcoming Kickstarter for his Italian horror/mystery cinema inspired Il Fantasma Del Giallo, a game about the actors, their roles, and the thinning line of reality and fiction! It's a neo-noir slasher inspired TTRPG that has some really interesting framing and mechanics, I am looking forward to see how it plays at the table!
 
You can find more of Laurence's games on the Hardy Roach Games itch.io page, or check out his BlueSky thread about giallo movies on his BlueSky.
 
Some movies to watch if you want to experience classic giallo include:
Deep Red by Dario Argento
The Bird With The Crystal Plumage by Dario Argento
Blood & Black Lace by Mario Bava
The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Mario Bava
 

Colostle | Dungeons Finale - Names & Places

Sybil's time in the Dungeons comes to an end. She leaves with a friend on a new journey.
 
Learn more about Colostle and the Dungeons supplement here! If you like all of the new additions and ideas constantly being added to the world of Colostle, I highly recommend checking out Nich's Patreon page!
 

Design Diaries | Gardens of Rust Part 2 - Character Creation

Welcome back to the monthly design diaries series of 2026 where I am holding myself accountable toward putting out more games.
 
We're back to talk more Gardens of Rust, the post-catastrophe survival and community rebuilding game by myself and Christian from the DMs After Dark. 
 
In episode 2 I walk through the Character Creation process and create two different characters to try and show the breadth of characters you may be going into this game with!
 
Hopefully this gets you excited and thinking about the types of characters you'd want to bring to the post-collapse world who can rebuild a community and new life in the Rust. Definitely join the DMs After Dark Discord or email me to tell me about a character idea, we can build it together!
 

Colostle | Dungeons Episode 11 - The Rookling Forge

Welcome back for another episode of Colostle - Dungeons!
 
Sybil and friends explore the Rookling Forge and discover a dark secret. They follow the spectral chains down to the source to save a friend.
 
Learn more about Colostle and the Dungeons supplement here! If you like all of the new additions and ideas constantly being added to the world of Colostle, I highly recommend checking out Nich's Patreon page!
 

[Bonus] Call of Cthulhu | Love You To Death Valentine's One-Shot

We're back again for another totally romantic Valentine's Day one-shot!
 
The annual tradition continues as my wife Lynn joins me for a tangentially-love-related one-shot of a TTRPG session. This year we go back to Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu to play the 2nd scenario in the Does Love Forgive? collection of 1-GM-1-Player mysteries!
 
One day after Chicago's St. Valentine's Day Massacre in February 1929, a simple dog retrieval turns into a long-simmering love triangle gone very, very wrong!
 
 

Perspective Checks | Ian (Undercommon Taste) - Homebrew Is Design

Welcome to another episode of Perspective Checks where I sit down with friends and folks from the TTRPG world and discuss what they love about this wonderful hobby!
 
Ian and I met playing in a short TTRPG series for previous guest of the show C.R. Rowenson's LitRPG series New Eternity and knew we had to chat more from our brief interactions and roles as the tankybois of the party.
 
Ian is one-half of the podcast Undercommon Taste, a TTRPG Homebrew podcast, so it's perfect that he's coming on to talk about all things homebrewing! This is a big umbrella in the TTRPG space. House rules are homebrew, technically, but so are some games that hack existing systems, so when do you know it's time to make something new? How much do you need to do? What do you need to consider?
 
We barely scratch the surface of the topic, but there's a lot of great nuggets of wisdom in this chat!
 
Also, you best believe that there's a Powered by the Aporkalypse file in my Google Docs now...
 

Colostle | Dungeons Episode 10 - Return to Castle Revolving

Welcome back for another episode of Colostle - Dungeons!
 
Sybil returns to the major labyrinth Castle Revolving to reach the heart of the dungeon and find what lies within. Then, a new friend leads the crew straight to the Rookling Forge.
 
Learn more about Colostle and the Dungeons supplement here! If you like all of the new additions and ideas constantly being added to the world of Colostle, I highly recommend checking out Nich's Patreon page!
 

Design Diaries 2026 | Gardens of Rust Part 1

Helloooooo my favorite nerds.
 
Welcome to the first episode of my monthly design diaries series here in 2026 where I am holding myself accountable toward putting out more games.
 
I have already pivoted! The first episode was supposed to be about my upcoming playing card-based 2-player buddy cop TTRPG Decktectives, but the state of the modern world made me really not want to talk about any kind of law enforcement, so instead we're talking about a post-societal collapse game, which is way more fun.
 
I know you've heard me talk about this one before, but I can promise big things are happening and you can expect it sooner than later. In this episode I'm talking about Gardens of Rust, the post-catastrophe survival and community rebuilding game by myself and Christian from the DMs After Dark.
 
I'll be doing a few episodes about this one, but in this I just tell you about what the game is going to be, how it's going to feel, and give the basics of the core resolution mechanic we've designed known as the 2dDifference System.
 
Next month I'll make a character and do some solo actual play previewing of the game, and after that we'll dive into how the GM role will play out in Gardens of Rust, as well as ideas for the future beyond that.
 
Get excited, it is coming. (The game, not the collapse of society. I hope)
 

Colostle | Dungeons Episode 9 - Stillnights

Welcome back for another episode of Colostle - Dungeons!
 
After escaping the Castle Revolving major labyrinth, Sybil recovers back in Oubliette during a festival known as Stillnights.
 
Learn more about Colostle and the Dungeons supplement here! If you like all of the new additions and ideas constantly being added to the world of Colostle, I highly recommend checking out Nich's Patreon page!
 

Perspective Checks | PJ (Solo Roleplayers Podcast) - Get Those Games Off Your Shelf

Welcome to another episode of Perspective Checks where I sit down with friends and folks from the TTRPG world and discuss what they love about this wonderful hobby!
 
We're kicking off 2026 with PJ Sack, a fellow solo podcaster and host of the excellent A Wasteland Story Fallout 2d20 solo AP as well as the incredible The Solo Roleplayers Podcast, which you will absolutely love if you're listening to me.
 
PJ and I sat down to talk about solo roleplaying in general and PJ's oft-repeated advice: "Get those games off your shelf." A fellow fan of variety, PJ often has 8+ stories and games going on at any time, and sometimes it's just because opening that new rulebook and getting ideas means taking 20 minutes to just give it a shot. And once that happens, you've got a story going that you can always come back to. We talk about his fantastic framing for A Wasteland Story, wanting to interview and connect with more likeminded people, and just how wonderful solo gaming can be.
 
Some Games Mentioned In The Episode:
Modiphius Fallout 2d20
Beetle Knight
The One Ring 2e
Boromir Lives! (Solo Variant Rules for The One Ring by Will at the End of the World)
Dolmenwood
Daggerheart
Forbidden Lands
Crown & Skull
 

Colostle | Dungeons Episode 8 - Castle Revolving

Welcome back for another episode of Colostle - Dungeons!
 
Pressing on and into the major labyrinth Castle Revolving, Sybil and the rooklings (and Zorn) quickly realize this is not like the rest of the Dungeons. This labyrinth is hostile and brutally punishing on top of being a confusing maze to navigate.
 
Sybil begins to figure out the way through, but the elemental attrition and Bastion defenders of the labyrinth force her to make an early exit back to Oubliette... 
 
Learn more about Colostle and the Dungeons supplement here! If you like all of the new additions and ideas constantly being added to the world of Colostle, I highly recommend checking out Nich's Patreon page!
 

2025 Retrospective//Plans for 2026

Another year of the podcast is in the books! In this short episode I mostly just want to thank everyone for listening and share some insights from the year.
 
Some big ones were:
Over 10,000 downloads in 2025 (whoa, thank you)
Better gender diversity in Perspective Checks (working on racial diversity, I promise)
15 different games on the podcast in 2025 (same as 2024, weird)
 
And for 2026, I have small plans to slightly adjust the regularly scheduled offerings from the last 2 years by making 4th week releases strictly design diaries, but specific to near completion/release games to hold myself more accountable, as well as a monthly Twitch stream where I just hang out with folks who want to come chat about games and what goes on behind the screen.
 
I hope your personal 2025 wasn't on par with the dumpster fire that was this year, and I hope your 2026 is going to be incredible with many many many many great games :) <3
 

Christmas Is Coming | DMs After Dark Family Holiday One-Shot

Happy Holidays!
 
DO YOU HAVE THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT IN YOU?
 
Welcome back to another DMs After Dark holiday one-shot! This year we decided to do a sequel to a previous holiday special - the Thursday time loop cheesy holiday movie set in a strange little bean tree town that we have appropriately named Beantree! This year, a group is traveling to avoid holiday get-togethers in a one-shot of Grant Howitt's Christmas Is Coming, a folk horror RPG, which, honestly tracks for how our holiday one-shots tend to go...
 
In all seriousness, though, we at the DMs After Dark/Rene Plays Games family of nerds sincerely wish all of you a safe, happy holiday season and the best 2026 full of peace, prosperity, and most of all... games. 
 

Tabletop Tutorial | The Time We Have with Troy from DMs After Dark

Time for another Tabletop Tutorial, the series where I play two player TTRPGs with friends and we learn them together.
 
BIG OL' CONTENT WARNINGS FOR THIS EPISODE: Death, Alcoholism, Inappropriate Crude Body Humor, Body Horror, and probably a whole lot more, be careful with this one, please. It's heavy.
 
I'm once again joined by Troy from the DMs After Dark to play the heartbreaking two player TTRPG The Time We Have by Elliot Davis, a.k.a. moreblueberries, an excellent game designer as well as tabletop roleplaying mind from podcasts such as Talk of the Table and My First Dungeon, both regular staples in my podcast audio diet.
 
The Time We Have is a game about brothers in the post-apocalypse. There are a lot of potential settings provided with the game that cover more genres than near-future Earth, but the truth of the game is that one of you has been infected and only has 6 days to live. The two brothers sit on other side of a closed door and have conversations until the end or a hard decision must be made. 
 
No spoilers for our episode, but safe to say Troy and I were both very moved by the session. The game has a rule that at the end of the game, you open the door and hug the other player, and for a game that gets this heavy, it's a very nice touch. Go get The Time We Have.
 

Perspective Checks | Kat The Dungeon Mom - TTRPGs as a Village

Welcome to another episode of Perspective Checks where I sit down with friends and folks from the TTRPG world and discuss what they love about this wonderful hobby!
 
The last Perspective Checks of 2025 is a wonderful conversation with Kat The Dungeon Mom, a GM, actual play performer, teacher, mom, and so much more as a community member. We sit down to talk about raising the next generation of nerds, maintaining a curiosity and interested approach to new things in familiar spaces, and recontextualizing the concept of the broad, internet-sized TTRPG community more in terms of "the village," a smaller scope, more intimately involved group of people playing games and helping one another.
 
I cannot recommend the actual play All Our Faults that Kat is on enough, it is an amazing Monsterhearts 2 show that will make you feel things, and you should not shy away from feeling big things!