RPG Bookclub
171 episodes listed below
Queer RPG tangents after the main quest.
RPG Bookclub Members Only is the room-after-the-room companion feed, where the conversation keeps moving after the main show. It runs on RPG memories, handheld-console tangents, queer mod talk, comics, TV, workplace stories, and jokes that suddenly turn into real criticism.
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RPG Bookclub Members Only is a companion feed for the kind of RPG and fandom discussion that thrives outside a tidy main-show structure. It has the feel of a panel that has already warmed up and is happy to keep talking. The Victory Lap episodes are loose, quick, and reference-dense, with personal stories and media criticism occupying the same conversational space. A work trip to Los Angeles can sit beside a long game memory. A birthday breakfast burrito can become the prelude to a Sonic or comics tangent. A blizzard check-in can slide into Golden Sun Dark Dawn without the show treating the turn as strange. Games are the main gravitational pull. Recent excerpts circle Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth, Digimon Adventure, Mega Man Battle Network, Fire Emblem Awakening, Fates, Ace Attorney, Golden Sun, Link Between Worlds, Sonic comics, and Doom Patrol. The conversation is especially good when it gets into how games feel, not just what happens in them. Ace Attorney’s move into 3D becomes a discussion of animation restraint, character design, localization, cultural specificity, and why some cases feel thinner when there is no room for misdirection. Fire Emblem becomes a space to talk about queer modding and the pleasure of making a game match the play style already happening in someone’s head. Digimon prompts questions about what monsters are actually doing inside a story. The show is also comfortable letting ordinary life interrupt the media talk. Registration tickets, childcare schedules, work travel, food rituals, housing hopes, and local weather all become material. Its politics surface in the same blunt register, with anti-police remarks, frustration about poverty, and jokes about artificial intelligence sitting inside the casual flow rather than separate segments. That looseness is the point. RPG Bookclub Members Only is for listeners who enjoy niche game criticism when it sounds social, crowded, and a little unruly, with queer fandom treated as a normal lens rather than a special topic.
Made for: Best for RPG Bookclub supporters who like dense, informal fandom talk with queer media criticism folded into everyday banter. It also suits listeners who enjoy RPGs, handheld-era nostalgia, TV, comics, and long side conversations that reward deep reference memory.
What sets it apart: The show’s strength is how easily it turns overflow chatter into real criticism. It does not separate life updates, jokes, queer play, politics, and game design; it lets them collide until a sharper point appears.
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Based on 5 episodes we listened to · August 2026
A conversational gaming show where design opinions, retro hardware, and hobby tangents feel social and lived-in.
RPG Bookclub Members Only fits Leisure as a loose, talk-first gaming hangout, the kind of show where the side argument is often the point. In the sampled episodes, it drifts from Digimon and books for younger readers into Banjo Kazooie routing, Ace Attorney animation, Tomodachi…
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A loose, funny conversation that links Digimon nostalgia with fantasy digression in the same breath.
The episode opens in Digimon nostalgia and keeps widening into a discussion of why stories linger, from first impressions of Digimon Adventure to the pull of an absurd fantasy novel with librarians, conspiracies, and paper money made of books.
A registration gripe gives way to a sharp, mostly persuasive defense of Ace Attorney's 3D style.
A car-registration headache opens the conversation, and it becomes a tidy way to show how the same problem can be easy to overlook depending on where a sticker sits.
A brisk, digressive conversation that turns handheld talk and literary trivia into an easy listen.
This episode moves from retro handheld talk into Chinese novel canon, worldbuilding jokes, and a detour through etymology, and it holds together because the conversation keeps folding its digressions back into the point.
Queer openness, lost games, and a stranger side of Nintendo.
The episode looks at how Tomodachi Life made room for gay, non-binary, and pansexual choices, and uses that shift to complicate Nintendo's usually conservative image.
Smart chaos that turns technical confusion, Banjo-Kazooie frustration, and AI regret into one sharp hangout.
The episode opens in a messy, self-correcting pass through RAID, MergerFS, and SnapRAID, then settles into a hangout about how people try to make sense of technical clutter while they are still in it.
Asian American lives, told with room to breathe.
Queer stories with room to breathe.
Nilay Patel presses tech and media CEOs on how they actually run their companies.
Physician Shoshana Ungerleider pairs TED talks with interviews on aging, drug prices, and menopause.
Digimon opens the conversation.
It kicks off with a traffic stop over an out registration.
The hosts discuss inconsistencies in the digital world concept of a game while comparing their experiences replaying Mega Man Battle Network.
The host recounts a frustrating work trip to Los Angeles during a heat wave, where they worked in a warehouse without power due to a miscommunication with their boss.
The host celebrates their birthday by treating themselves to a large breakfast burrito from a local Mexican restaurant and plans to make it a weekly indulgence after receiving a raise.
The host talks about replaying Fire Emblem Awakening with a queer mod and plans to do the same with Fates, praising the 3DS's 3D function.
The hosts excitedly discuss Doom Patrol, Sonic comics, and other media in a victory lap segment.
Two friends chat about playing the video game Golden Sun Dark Dawn and share personal anecdotes.
The panel opens with the oddly specific thrill around the RG Vita and the long-running joke of simply hacking a Vita.
The host discusses a creative monitor setup idea involving a sideways 4K screen to simulate three stacked 1080p screens.
The crew starts with Tomodachi Life and the quiet surprise that it lets players set gay, non-binary, and other attraction and identity combinations without making a fuss.
The crew starts with a hard-drive mess and quickly turns it into a long, slightly teasing explanation of RAID, mergerFS, and SnapRAID.
The host discusses playing a randomized version of Ocarina of Time and the challenges of not having the Kokiri sword.
The host talks about reading Gideon the Ninth with his wife and discusses DC's new Absolute Universe comic line.
The hosts discuss recent video game news from State of Play, including new games from Housemarque and a Wolverine game trailer.
A group discusses the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode 'Passion', analyzing its quality and the contributions of various writers and directors.
The hosts discuss their recent gaming experiences, including Claire Obscure and Dragon Quest, and mention a Nintendo Direct.
The hosts discuss their experiences playing Hollow Knight and Clare Obscure, analyzing the appeal of Metroidvania games.
A group discusses strategies and tips for playing the video game Donkey Kong Bonanza.
The hosts discuss watching the first episodes of Bubblegum Crisis and Cowboy Bebop, praising the opening of Bubblegum Crisis and noting its robot villains called boomers.
The hosts discuss a previous episode's awkward start and share excitement about a game called Clear Obscure.
A transgender person shares a story about receiving compliments on their voice and the effort they put into it.
A group of RPG enthusiasts discuss video game music, specifically vocal themes in classic RPGs like Tales of Fantasia and Star Ocean.
The hosts discuss Danganronpa executions and characters, debating which execution they would choose and analyzing the Monokuma and Monokids.
A group of RPG enthusiasts discuss their experiences with a game, including a tangent about the anime Trigun's surround sound.
A group discusses an obscure Super NES RPG that received a high-quality western remake, comparing it to other remakes and noting its influence on Undertale.
The host discusses how Pokemon Scarlet and Violet runs better on the Switch 2, praising the improved performance and frame rate.
This episode discusses the Nintendo Switch 2's improved game performance, including updates and frame rates, and covers the process of transferring games from the Switch 1 to the Switch 2.
This episode discusses how the gameplay mechanics in a samurai-themed open-world action adventure game are uniquely integrated with its story, where the protagonist reluctantly adopts stealth tactics against a Mongolian invasion.
The host shares a humorous personal anecdote about polyamorous household dynamics and discusses video games like Nier and Ace Attorney.
The host discusses discovering Dragon Quest through Nintendo Power magazine and reflects on the experimental nature and storytelling of the Dragon Quest 4-5-6 trilogy, comparing it to The Canterbury Tales.
This episode discusses video games, parental trauma, and the complexities of language and identity in the queer community, sparked by a YouTuber's content on reappropriated slurs.