Compare & Campaign (2024)

20/02/2024

New episode! This time, in Coyote's Aegis, the team has to assault an enemy flagship on the water, saving a hostage and interrogating a demon in the process! A fire breaks out on board, and chaos ensues! Meanwhile, on Magill's side of the podcast, we're covering Skate Wizards! Check it out!

The Coyote's Aegis campaign comes to the end of its massive naval battle, only to prepare for the next phase of the epic-length operation! Expect butt stabbing. Then Magill takes a look at Skate Wizards, a steezy roleplaying game about radical and arcane shredding of the gnar. Plus some nautical kno...

06/02/2024

This week, we're going over an article about basic DnD etiquette before jumping into Coyote's Aegis with more combat among the enemy naval defensive platforms! Then on Magill's side of the pod, we go over Outsiders, the new expansion for the solo Space Bounty Hunter rpg Notorious!

The huge naval battle continues in Coyote's Aegis as the heroes have commandeered a ship called the Bloody Fury and are using it to take out rafts, capture enemies, and encounter robots that aren't in rowboats. In the RPG Danger Room, Magill is reviewing the new Outsiders expansion for the solo RPG....

31/01/2024

In this week's episode, the party in Tom's 5e game Coyote's Aegis are still engaged in a big naval combat, jumping from ships to defensive platforms using their jetpacks! Meanwhile, Magill is still talking about GOZR, the awesome rpg from James V West. In the end, we come back to the classic old debate - which part of the rpg is the meat!?

Coyote's Aegis continues its intense multi-session naval battle as the heroes move from sinking warships to sparring with enemies on floating rafts! But no robots in rowboats, unfortunately. And then Magill wraps up his profile of GOZR, the awesome, gnarly fantasy RPG that's made of random tables an...

21/01/2024

This week we've got two big topics - first, in Coyote's Aegis the heroes are engaged in a major naval battle, forced to jump from ship to ship in the chaos. Then, we begin to cover GOZR, a fantastic rpg from James V. West. Random tables galore!

In Coyote's Aegis, Operation Riverbed continues with a huge naval battle as the heroes move from ship to ship, looting them, freeing captives, sinking vessels and shooting enemies in the butt! Then over in the RPG Danger Room, Magill does a deep dive into GOZR as he and Tom admire the insane artwork...

15/01/2024

This week, Tom's kicking off yet another huge battle operation for the heroes in Coyote's Aegis, while Magill talks about Magnagothica Maleghast, Baldur's Gate 3, and a solo game called Scrap!

Following the major military victory at the Battle of Ashgrain Output, the liberation of Agalloch continues as the Coyote's Aegis party launches into a huge naval battle - the start of an operation where Tom will use the whole meat! Then Magill revisits Magnagothica: Maleghast and shares his thought...

08/01/2024

BOSS FIGHT! It's the end of the Battle of Ashgrain Outpost, so you know what that means - A big boss fight! Meanwhile, it's a whole new year, so Magill is taking us through the year in review, and then later, taking us through a tour of the DnD multiverse!

It's the big finale of the Battle of Ashgrain Outpost and the party from the Coyote's Aegis campaign are facing off against everything from lions to Azers! And hey, 2023 came to an end, so Magill gives a rundown on key pieces of D&D news from the year (and what a wild year it was), as well as going....

25/12/2023

Merry Xmas from Compare & Campaign! This episode is about fightin' robots and xmas adventures! Check it out!

Hey it's Christmas time! And to celebrate, Tom's busting out the D&D Mad Libs and Magill is listing off a bunch of holiday-themed one-shot adventures that you can run in your campaigns. And over in the Coyote's Aegis campaign, the party gets into a big fight with some kinda robots as the Battle for....

20/12/2023

New ep! New ep! In this one, the heroes in Coyote's Aegis fight to add some Stone Giant artillery to their side of the Battle for Ashgrain Outpost, then take the fight to the kennels! Meanwhile on Magill's side of things we check out Magnagothica: Maleghast, a while new game from Tom Bloom! It gets METAL!!!

Coyote's Aegis gets into some giant-sized combat involving Stone Giants and Fire Giants! Magill profiles a game that he thought was an RPG but is in fact a tactical skirmish game (Magnagothica: Maleghast)! But most importantly, your two hosts contemplate RPG systems and wonder if there are just too....

14/12/2023

In this week's episode, we talk some brief rpg news points - Pathfinder 2e Remastered and new products from Everyday Heroes! Then Tom takes us back to his Coyote's Aegis campaign, in which the battle for Ashgrain Outpost finally begins! Then we finish with Tom Bloom's "Goblin With A Fat Ass"!

Some new RPGs popped up in Magill's feed, so he quizzes Tom to see which of them appealed, if any. Would you play a game set in the universe of The Crow? Highlander? Pacific Rim? What about the Kieron Gillen comic Die? Then we check in with the Coyote's Aegis campaign as the battle of Ashgrain Outpo...

03/12/2023

In this week's episode we jump around a bit, from the heroes in Tom's 5e campaign Coyote's Aegis liberating salamanders, dragons, stone giants, and more, to Magill musing on different systems before taking a look at a new game on Kickstarter, Wilderfeast.

Tom had COVID, so we start things off by pondering the effects of COVID-19 on roleplaying gamers. In the Coyote's Aegis campaign, the heroes infiltrate Ashgrain Outpost to free some serpentine slaves and look great doing it! Then Magill has too many ales at the tavern and goes on a ramble contemplat...

28/11/2023

In this week's episode, Magill is musing on the Forged in the Dark games we've been checking out lately, while the heroes in Coyote's Aegis take care of some secondary objectives before the big battle. Can some mad drow be dissuaded from causing trouble in the ranks? Also, Tom talks a bit about his recent experience running World of Darkness.

Coyote's Aegis has a bunch of objectives to take care of, starting with the task of dealing with their Drow allies, and then heading off to Ashgrain Outpost! Then Magill and Tom revisit Wicked Ones, since their Wicked Ones campaign is about to start, and ponder the differences and similarities betwe...

14/11/2023

Tom has Covid! But back when Tom DIDN'T have Covid, they did this episode with Magill! Tom recounts the tale of their Notorious solo adventure, while Magill leads us down a few meandering paths - we talk a bit about Dune, Mork Borg, Terminus, Dino Car... Have a listen!

Tom's feeling low energy and Magill's kinda punchy so it's a goofy, lazy episode of Compare & Campaign as your hosts dive further into Notorious! Tom tells the tale of his bot's quest, Magill rattles off a list of zine RPGs that he found, and then they both take a look at official and unofficial ver...

07/11/2023

In this week's episode, it's a fiery battle with a bunch of Azers over in Coyote's Aegis as the party scouts out the back door to an enemy outpost. Then Magill brings Bucket of Bolts and Notorious to the show TOGETHER AS ONE! By combining the two games, Magill cooks up not just a story of a galactic bounty hunter, but of the history of the hunter's ship as well! Come check it out!

The Coyote's Aegis campaign is fighting a giant fight! This episode sees them face off against a bunch of Azers, prompting Magill to ponder a thought experiment: does fire resistant armor impart its bonus when the wearer bites something that deals fire damage? 'Cause like, that armor's not in the we...

30/10/2023

In this week's episode, Djent needs to decide what to do about a troublesome magic item, and the team needs to do some forward recon in Coyote's Aegis, Tom's 5e campaign. Then we get Notorious on Magill's side of things, talking about solo rpg space bounty hunting and also touching on Palladium's kickstarters, both the successful and unsuccessful.

The Coyote's Aegis prepare to enter a multi-level base and chow down on the delicacy Army Stew. Then Magill goes all Star Wars as he sings the praises of the solo RPG Notorious! Plus a rabbit hole of RPG news that you'll have to listen 'till the end to hear... Find us on Facebook! All music composed...

24/10/2023

In this week's episode, we learn about using smoke grenades and a Deck of Illusion to deal with patrols of Azer, Fire Giants, and Hellhounds - it's all about the luck of the draw! Then, Magill brings a whole bunch of new games to check out, and hints at what we may be covering in the near future...

Tom continues describing Operation Failing Moon, and now that the Coyote's Aegis party has gathered their allies for the coming battle, they have to get back to the army...but aw dangus, there are patrols everywhere! Then over in the RPG Danger Room, exhausted after doing a deep dive on The Gates, M...

21/10/2023

In this week's episode, Tom is wishing he wasn't so grumpy on past episodes! We talk about keeping combat interesting as Tom's players take on a number of Drow death cultists in Coyote's Aegis, then we wrap up our ongoing discussion of The Gates! We even give a little preview of things to come!

The party in Tom's Coyote's Aegis campaign is engaged in an epic combat encounter that lasts multiple sessions...but how can we keep that much combat exciting? And over in the Danger Room, Magill wraps up The Gates! Plus: we contemplate whether Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is, in fact, a Saw mo...

09/10/2023

Presenting our very first episode with a guest! Following up on our previous episodes' discussions of The Gates, we have the creator Lukayo on to talk about their game! Afterwards, Magill takes a little time to tell us about Tin Helm, another game from The Game Crafter! Check it out!

Tom and Magill are thrilled to be joined by a guest on the podcast for the first time ever as they welcome Lukayo Estrella, creator of The Gates, to the show! Expect much discussion of World of Darkness, the Wachowskis, The Invisibles, and more! At last, with Lukayo here to answer our burning questi...

01/10/2023

This week, Tom talks about his ongoing 5e Campaign "Coyote's Aegis" - how his players went looking for allies, but maybe ended up making an enemy! Then Magill takes us back to The Gates, to talk about some of the HEAVY STUFF that you might get into while playing RPGs! Along the way we talk briefly about games we have on the go, and at some point we get into talkin' dreams!

The Coyote's Aegis team encounters a death priestess and fights cultists of Ishyr! Magill continues his deep dive into The Gates! Plus Tom tries to find inspiration for one of his games, Magill talks about an adventure module based on The Terminator, and they both discuss their dreams. Not like thei...

16/09/2023

On Tom's side of the podcast, the players in his 5e campaign Coyote's Aegis continue to round up allies for the upcoming battle in the forest of Agalloch. Meanwhile, Magill brings something to the pod at Tom's suggestion, but it makes him wonder - IS THIS A GAME!?

Having gained allies in myconids and illithids, the Coyote's Aegis party continue their search for the waterfall that was shown to them in their minds. And they meet a kooky goblin and some giants! Then in the RPG Danger Room, Magill finally dives into The Gates: an RPG inspired by Nobilis and City....

13/09/2023

In this week's episode, Magill finishes covering Wicked Ones, an rpg in which you play as monsters running a dungeon! But before that, on Tom's side of the pod, the player's of Tom's 5e campaign "Coyote's Aegis" are tasked with gathering whatever allies they can for a coming battle!

In the Coyote's Aegis campaign, the party departs from Omega Base in style and take their vehicles (plus a bunch of soldiers) to the Dralic front. And they make friends with some illithids - weird! Then in the RPG Danger Room, Magill finishes his overview of Wicked Ones, the Dungeon Keeper-inspired....

01/09/2023

In this week's episode, the heroes in Tom's ongoing 5e campaign "Coyote's Aegis" sort through a whole bunch of intel, and get some objectives for their new operation, Operation Failing Moon. It's demons, man! Meanwhile, we've got a real treat as Magill brings Wicked Ones to the danger room. Also, been having some technical difficulties with our wordpress, so not sure when we'll be able to update that.

The Coyote's Aegis campaign continues with a briefing session where the players learned some Important Illithid Information, and Tom and Magill talk a bit about Liberty's Kids, the Dic cartoon that Tom uses for NPC portraits. Then in the RPG Danger Room, Magill talks about the Forged in the Dark gam...

23/08/2023

In our new episode, we talk about a brief one-shot of Kult: Divinity Lost that Tom played, the 1 page rpgs of Oliver Darkshire, The Beyond Earths Megaversal Podcast, and of course, check in with Tom's DnD 5e campaign Coyote's Aegis, to find our heroes coming to a shocking revelation!

It's a short, sweet, and silly episode this week as Magill whips out a whole bunch of single-page RPGs by Oliver Darkshire that let you play as space wizards, Roman citizens in a burning city, or even just someone who owns a mastodon! Then it's on to the Coyote's Aegis campaign where the party learn...

18/08/2023

And here's another one! Tom stumbles his way through recounting the tale of Lord Dio's assassination, and then basically says that he would do a Rifts liveplay podcast. THEY'RE AFTER ME DEMON CHARMS!!! Note: No puppies were harmed in this episode.

The party in the Coyote's Aegis campaign continues their attempted assassination of Lord Dio as part of Operation Goldeneye, and it all culminates in a scene out of a Bollywood movie! Then Magill forgoes the RPG Danger Room in favour of the Tavern of Many Corners where he talks about some ridiculous...

16/08/2023

We've been posting episodes as usual, but Tom's been pretty busy, so he hasn't had time to share them here! To that end, here's our episode from a couple weeks ago - in which Tom tries to explain what he understands Nobilis to be like, and the players in Tom's game finally come to a decision regarding their imminent planned assassination!

In this Danger Room-centric episode, Tom and Magill dive further into Nobilis to see if they can figure it out and Tom makes a character that's the embodiment of swarms and infestations! Magill also recommends a cool solo card-and-dice game called Doom Machine, and Operation Goldeneye gets underway....

17/07/2023

Do you use music when you run rpgs? Tom and Magill explore this and other questions this episode, in which Tom's DnD party is scheming away about an assassination while Magill is puzzling over the flowery writing of Nobilis. Tom creates Everett Dangler, The Swarm Inside, but there's some confusion over which edition we're even playing!

There's schemin' a-plenty as the Coyote's Aegis party engage in Operation Goldeneye! And in the RPG Danger Room there's confusion a-plenty as Magill and Tom dive into Nobilis, desperately trying to find some clarity in amongst the florid prose of the sourcebook. I think it's like Sandman? Also, Tom....

08/07/2023

In this episode, we talk about how Tom finds it hard to keep up with rpg controversies, and remembers Neil Gaiman's work fondly but doesn't have much of a relationship with it anymore. THEN Tom talks about the schemes of players surrounding an ASSASSINATION MISSION they were presented with. Magill wraps up his thoughts on Don't Rest Your Head, the rpg where you have insomnia, then we finally get to talk Nobilis, which Magill is kind of confused by!

Operation Goldeneye continues in the Coyote's Aegis campaign as the party does some elaborate scheming! Magill talks more about the RPG Don't Rest Your Head and gives an introduction to Nobilis (at long last)! And there's much talk of Neil Gaiman, Tim Burton, and accidental Facebook hearts. Listen.....

03/07/2023

Having finally finished talking about Tom's take on the 5e module Writing in the Dark, we move on to his reskin of the following module in the series, Death on the Wall! On the side, we also talk about Tom's modern military Forged in the Dark hack, Boots on the Ground. Then on Magill's side of things, we check out Don't Rest Your Head, a game of insomnia where your roll simultaneously determines both the result of your action and the KIND of result of your action. It's a bit much for Tom in the moment! Check it out!

Having finished up the deep dive into Writhing in the Dark, Tom proceeds to the next mission in the Coyote's Aegis campaign, based on the module Death on the Wall! Then in the RPG Danger Room, Magill once again puts off tackling Nobilis in favour of talking about Don't Rest Your Head, a game of para...

25/06/2023

I worry these transcripts of old sessions aren't much to listen to, but nobody's been complainin'! I'm runnin' down the defeat of a bunch of alien bad guys, complete with stun effects and critical hits, while Magill is takin' us to a goofy side of rpgs with RANDOM games like PRAWN and SEA DRACULA. NOT ME!

Tom wraps up his deep dive into the now-classic module Writhing in the Dark - finally the party will meet the big bad illithid in the middle of the brain bucket! And over on Magill's side of things, he shares some cool D&D resources he found, talks about a cool solo card game called Dustrunner, and....

19/06/2023

Can you really trust the same people who told you that dinosaurs had brains in their butts, when they say that lizards get sleepy in the cold? They don't even know the truth about predator! Anyways, in this crazy episode we go from talking about a botched puzzle in Coyote's Aegis, to LARPing and the essence of RPGs, to a crazy ol' game called PRAWN. Keep an eye on that starfish!

Tom continues his deep dive into the Writhing in the Dark module as the Coyote's Aegis party continues their exploration of the Brain Bucket. And speaking of deep dives, over in the RPG Danger Room, Magill is talking about the swimming pool LARP called Prawn! Plus we debate the differences between r...

12/06/2023

In this week's episode, Coyote's Aegis gets gooey with a big mess of alien creatures, gore, and grenades! Then on Magill's end we talk about Nomic games, which leads us to WTF: WTF - Wisher, Theurge, Fatalist! It's weird, but it gets Tom excited to talk about some related games down the road!

We made it to 150 episodes! Can you believe it? What a nice, round number. On this show, Tom continues his deep dive into the Writhing in the Dark module, and things get really crazy in the RPG Danger Room as Magill tries to make sense of the truly unusual game Wisher, Theurgist, Fatalist. How does....

Compare & Campaign