This episode is all about “That Guy” we all know and hate (and have likely been at one point ourselves), and how not to be That Guy. Be it riding like an asshole, being a crappy sport at the gaming table, or failing to compose yourself properly at a bar, we talk about many of the variants of That Guy in our mutual hobbies, and how to step back from the precipice when you find yourself about to become him.
We’re once again joined by both Linsel and Poppy, this time to take a delightful romp through the character creation process of a charming new RPG called Pugmire. We drink a continuing variety of dog-themed beers and such, as we make a new pack of Good Dogs to go adventuring in this adorable anthropomorphic role-playing game. This is our longest episode yet, I do believe, but we had so much fun from beginning to end that it was difficult to cut anything at all!
Welcome back fellow geeky road ramblers! This time around we are joined by Skip vonKuske, creator of many wonderful tunes and projects – one of which is our own theme song. In our first segment, we talk about our favorite bike-themed songs over the years, and also briefly catch up with Xander on his daily grueling bicycle commute. After that we reminisce about our experiences growing up with gaming consoles that are today considered of the “retro” variety. In our final segment we talk lovingly about one of Portland’s most well-known still-running dive bars, the Sandy Hut.
Hello again, fellow biker nerds! We’re releasing a few days late this time around, thanks to a half-dozen-plus conflicts of scheduling and other life events. This episode was recorded right after the 4th of July celebrations here in the Pacific Northwest USA, and we had a _vast_ quantity of leftover booze on-hand. With Xander being unexpectedly absent due to a new job, we managed to get our good friend Basem from the hilarious Turtle Power Pod to join us in his place, along with our favorite Wannabe Wine Snob, Poppy Beaujolais. Due to the last-minute change-up, this episode is a bit more “off-script” than usual – although we never have a script in the first place so that’s not really anything new!
Listen to us break Xander’s will to live with the second part (and conclusion!) to our Human Occupied Landfill (HoL) RPG Character jam!
For our tenth episode, our drinks of the evening are a pairing of George Dickel Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey and the “Local Logger” Lager from Everybody’s Brewing. In our bike segment, Just Jacob gives a post-ride report on a recent trip he took through eastern Washington, following it up with a talk about emergency bike maintenance and safety tips. The Game Talk topic is the divisive subject of tabletop RPG character creation methods, specifically the conflict between Point-Buy and Random Roll systems. Finally, during our Bar Talk we share our feelings on Smoking in bars, including discussion of the continual banning of it in bars nationwide.
We’re thrilled to have a very special guest with us this week: Linsel Greene, the former bartender of the legendary Tugboat Brewery, Portland’s oldest independent nano-brewery, which unfortunately closed down for good last year. We start off with a talk about recumbent and electrics bikes, which a lot of local bicycle mavens love to hate for some reason. In our nerd chat segment, we discuss various types of co-op board games, and our experiences playing them. Finally, we close our episode with a deeply heartfelt eulogy for the Tugboat Brewery, which we all miss dearly. It was a beloved icon of Old Portland, and we were all pretty devastated by its loss.
With Xander out due to illness, NPC, Just Jacob, and Poppy spend an evening drinking Kalimotxo and talking about their experiences at the recent Wagoncon event in The Dalles, OR. This episode goes pretty off the reails so we decided to keep it shorter and make it a bonus release. Thanks again for listening, and we hope to see you all at Wagconcon in 2019!
Xander’s back, hooray! Our drink of the evening is one of NPC’s old time favorites, the **Royal Crown Royal**, which is nothing more than [Crown Royal whiskey](https://www.crownroyal.com/canadian-whisky/) mixed with [Royal Crown Cola](https://www.drpeppersnapplegroup.com/brands/rc-cola), over ice. We kick off our topics with a discussion about the joys of Touring on motorcycles and bicycles, including tips for the road and how to pack the necessities. In our second segment, we talk about the concept of the Gaming Group as a major social hub, and then unexpectedly drift into a conversation about using role-playing as a form of self-therapy. We wrap up with a chat about our favorite times at Karaoke bars in the Portland area. And we even recorded a new Character Jam bonus episode afterward, so stay tuned for that to come later!
