Around the Hearth

In our sixth episode of Roll for Mutation, we talk about one of the greatest modern post-apocalyptic games: Mutant: Year Zero (and the rest of the Mutant line). We talk about mechanics, important since this engine ends up powered a ton of Free League games in various versions. We talk about the publication history, drawing heavily on Magnus Seter's masterful book Outside the Box, and the media spin offs and properties associated with the franchise. Finally we talk about our thoughts and impressions of this game and the line as whole.
References
Outside the Box: How Sweden Conquered the World of Role-Playing Games
Marc's MYZ AP Playlist
Lowell MYZ AP Playlist
Mutant: Year Zero: 36 Mood Elements for the Zone
Mutant: Year Zero: 36 Plots for Roles
Help Rae Recover Links
Support or donate at https://patreon.com/swordqueengames or https://ko-fi.com/matthewarcilla

For other shows like this, check out Roll for Origin: Supers TTRPG History.
Marc Majcher is an award-winning game designer, performer, educator, director, woodworker, writer, and all-around goblin-man recently relocated from Austin, Texas to East Lansing, Michigan. You can find their RPGs and LARPs inspired by the works of Philip K. Dick, a bird apocalypse, eldritch startup cults, viral videos, and much, much more at https://majcher.itch.io/ and everything else at https://majcher.com/.
Lowell Francis is the designer and co-author of Hearts of Wulin. He's the ENnie-winning creator of the Age of Ravens blog and community manager for the Open Hearth Gaming Community.
You can find Lowell's work on YouTube, on Itch.io, and on DriveThruRPG.
Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @[email protected]
Music: Here Comes the Night Karl Casey @White Bat Audio
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:01 Premise and Mechanics
10:46 Publication History
17:52 Media Context
23:57 Thoughts and Impressions

In this episode of the Open Hearth Podcast, host Tea talks with a couple of community members about their gaming. This time maiya and Sina discuss things they recently played, cover three RPGs in more depth (Under Hollow Hills, Raccoon Sky Pirates, and CAIN), and then the group finishes up with some things they've been digging recently.
Links:
maiya on the OH Discord
Sina is Beatingaroundthebooks on Discord
You can also check out their work at https://adhdandme.kit.com/
Tea is Tea_amat on Discord and @tea-amat.bsky.social 

Help Rae Recover Links 
Support or donate at https://patreon.com/swordqueengames or https://ko-fi.com/matthewarcilla
Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @[email protected]    
00:00 Introduction
02:07 maiya & Under Hollow Hills
09:54 Sina & Raccoon Sky Pirates
17:57 Tea & Cain
32:24 Giving Me Life

Ian, José, and special correspondent Danny put the knowledge we've gained from past episodes into practice. We talk about figuring out what you actually like in a game and advocating for it, playing to lift our fellow players, and Danny's 4-step method for iterative improvement through play.
Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Our website - May the 4th is coming soon!
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @[email protected]
Our info:
Email: [email protected]
Music: https://lloydeaves.bandcamp.com/album/a-different-kind-of-hex
0:03:38 - Pick Your Poison
0:17:10 - What does it mean to develop as a player?
0:38:14 - Reflection & Table Feedback
0:45:05 - Danny's 4-Step Method
0:52:14 - How we handle "bad scenes"
0:58:46 - Outro

Roll for Origin: Supers TTRPG History looks at two closely linked licensed supers games: Smallville and Marvel Heroic. To dig into this pair, Lowell and Jay bring on Rich Rogers (Hit the Streets: Defend the Block; +1 Forward) to give his perspectives as a GM and player. We talk about the system mechanics of the two games, including the big differences, the publication history of MWP, the media touchstones for these properties, and then give our general thoughts-- including wondering where our Smallville retroclones are...
If you dig this series, please rate, review, and subscribe.
Jay's the author of By Aecer’s Light, The Clockwinders for Fate, Cortex Prime's Supers, and a contributing author on Pathfinder’s Mwangi Expanse, Trophy Gold, Hit the Streets: Defend the Block, and the upcoming Lifted: Indomitable RPG, a supers game about everyday folks with extraordinary powers in a tech-aggressive world.
Check out Mad Jay's work at Play.Fearless and at the Diceology Podcast.
You can find Rich's game, Hit the Streets here.
Lowell is the designer and co-author of Hearts of Wulin. He's the ENnie-winning creator of the Age of Ravens blog and community manager for the Open Hearth Gaming Community.
You can find Lowell's work on YouTube, on Itch.io, and on DriveThruRPG.
Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @[email protected]
00:00 Intro
01:48 Pitch and Mechanics
12:11 Publication History
17:46 Where these Licenses Were
23:28 Thoughts

In this episode of the Open Hearth Podcast, host Lowell Francis (edige23) once again talks with a couple of community members about their recent gaming. This time we have veteran community couple Tyler and Patrick. We talk preparations for an upcoming Ars Magica campaign and how it fits with past campaigns, the challenges and joys of long-running story campaigns, and the intersection of current events and modern superhero gaming. We finish up with some of the things we've been digging recently.
May the Fourth: Star Wars Minicon 2026
Ars Magica Manager
Tyler's YouTube
Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @[email protected]    
00:00 Introduction
01:40 Patrick & Ars Magica
16:22 Tyler & long-running story campaigns
29:33 Lowell & the challenges of modern supers games
40:52 Giving Me Life