Rene Plays Games

LOOT | Sleigh Down Slayground - Holiday One-Shot

Happy holidays! I'm a sucker for holiday themed one-shots, so here we are taking the very cool LOOT by GilaRPGs and reskinning all of its West Marches fantasy goodness into cartoon holiday movie shenanigans!
 
I'm joined by Troy and Jess from the DMs After Dark, friend of the DMs Eileen (@comradeeileen.bsky.social), and home group homie returning to the show Raso (Raso's Beacon) as we play through a holiday themed LOOT sleigh down event.
 
Santa has crashed the sleigh in Tinsel Town (really?) and the locals have taken advantage of the magic of his toy bag to create chaos. Our freelancers are supposed to be on the easiest shift of the year for their interplanar security detail, but now they have to go rescue Santa, his sleigh, and find that toy bag before things get worse and Christmas is ruined...
 

Bucket of Bolts | Sleigh Full of Santas Holiday One-Player-One-Shot

Happy Merry & hope your holidays are going wonderfully cozy, easy, and not at all stressful.
 
In this Christmas Eve solo holiday special, I'm reskinning Jack Harrison a.k.a. Mousehole Press' Bucket of Bolts from a futuristic spaceship POV experience to inhabiting the iconic sleigh of St. Nicholas himself, instead playing as the sleigh for the many Santas throughout the centuries.
 
It's short, simple, and fun, but definitely made me think about how I would run this game if I was playing in a sci-fi game, especially because it opens up such interesting ideas for sentient ships, AI co-pilots, and just fleshing out the story of an oft-overlooked member of any spacefaring party - the ship itself.
 
Other contributors to Bucket of Bolts whose tables I used included: 
Riley Rethal
Matt Sanders a.k.a. Sealed Library
Anna Blackwell a.k.a. Blackwell Games

2024 Retrospective | Rene Plays Games, Year 1

Fill out the Google Form here!
 
It has been 1 full year of my foray into the world of podcasting all on my own, and wow has it been a fulfilling one!
 
I go over some stats, numbers, achievements, goals met and yet to be accomplished, and talk about some more I have for 2025.
 
I am so grateful for anyone out there listening, and I really hope I've shown you a game that makes you want to explore a new way of playing games, or introduced you to a creator you've come to love, or anything that you feel like made your time spent listening to me this year worth it. 
 
See you in 2025.
 
Music in the Episode:
Theme Song written & produced by Dan Pomfret | @danfrombothbands

Sundered Isles Season 2 | Episode 0 - Campaign Creation

We're back for season 2 of Ironsworn: Sundered Isles and this time the story will be taking place shortly after the conclusion of Dyne's story from last year in a very different location - The Heart of the Kyrody Dominion itself!
 
Rene goes through the campaign creation steps to adjust some of the Truths from season 1 to reflect for the new part of the world this story takes place in, creates his character for the game - Cassidy McCabe, a Haunted Cutthroat Spy - and makes a map of the Myriads we'll be exploring in this season!
 
TTRPG Charity Event for Doctors Without Borders!
Please please please check out friend of the podcast Star from Characters Without Stories and her friends' charity event going on all through January over at: https://tinyurl.com/TabletopTitan . You can donate however you'd like, but you can also redeem great things with your donation like TTRPGs, a seat at professionally GM'd tables, and more! It's a great cause, so consider going and donating. If you do, send me proof and I'll send you a free copy of MECH or some stickers or something!
 

Perspective Checks | Amber & Jess (DMs After Dark) - Getting Into TTRPGs

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 month's episode is a late upload from last year, but it fits perfectly well to kick off 2025 - we're talking about getting into TTRPGs with Amber & Jess from DMs After Dark, my original RPGs on the internet homies! We talk about how to approach playing as a new player, where to find games, how to best communicate and find a good group, as well as tips for new GMs to avoid common early pitfalls.
 
Go check out the EXTENSIVE backlog of great RPG actual plays on the DMs After Dark channel (podcast & YouTube)! 
 
TTRPG Charity Event for Doctors Without Borders!
Please please please check out friend of the podcast Star from Characters Without Stories and her friends' charity event going on all through January over at: https://tinyurl.com/TabletopTitan . You can donate however you'd like, but you can also redeem great things with your donation like TTRPGs, a seat at professionally GM'd tables, and more! It's a great cause, so consider going and donating. If you do, send me proof and I'll send you a free copy of MECH or some stickers or something!
 

Sundered Isles Season 2 | Episode 1 - Threads Take Shape

Aaaaand it's officially begun! Ironsworn: Sundered Isles season 2 is underway with the first episode of this series. Cassidy makes her way to the Talan Flotilla, a neutral collection of traders dealing in vice and smuggling in Kyrody waters, to track down the captain of the Enduring Blade, who may or may not have valuable information toward achieving her goal of ridding herself of her ex-lover's ghost haunting her.
 
Learn more about Ironsworn here.