As this block's capstone, we've got one satisfyingly self-contained episode as the Reading Rangers--yes, that's what they've been called the whole time--have their HQ shenanigans interrupted by an attack on Sylvan Beach's biggest attraction: the beach! As Rowan rushes in, Cy calculates a plan, and Jackie gets creative (for good or for ill), will they be able to withstand... THE SANDMAN?

Content warning for immersion in sand.

Music is "Kenkegi" by Peritune www.youtube.com/watch?v=az3GMGIO4fM under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Big Gay Nerds: Episode 251 (Henshin! 1.4)

The New Wave are back on Earth, but the worst of their troubles may not yet be behind them! The agents of A.E.G.I.S. are very curious about just what transpired up in that spaceship, and they don't seem to fond of our young heroes' independent streak. They may have fought themselves out of seemingly impossible odds, but can they talk themselves out of some pointed questions? Read on!

Content warning for detainment by law enforcement.

Music by Perennial Sounds LLC

Big Gay Nerds: Episode 252 (Masks 5.1)

It's time for intrigue, drama, and maybe a throwing star or two with Shinobigami! Elly inducts Owen and Jonix into a world of ninja warfare in the shadow of modern-day Japan as we get the hang of an RPG from overseas. Meet two very different ninja with one common goal: get their hands on a really cool knife.

Shinobigami is a game by Toichiro Kawashima and can be purchased here: https://shinobigami.com/

Music is "Cyber_Noir" by Peritune https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vtxrVyaHuc under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Big Gay Nerds: Episode 260 (Shinobigami 1.1)

We've had stealth, seduction, secret plans upon secret plan, but now there's no more skirting around it: it's time for the climactic ninja battle to determine who's going home with the scary ancient dagger! Will it be the straight-laced Jiro, the free-spirited Seiko, or the mercenary Mina? There's no backing out, and any one of them might just be forced to use... *that technique*!

Content warning for gunfire in a public establishment, bodily control, and stabbing.

Shinobigami is a game by Toichiro Kawashima and can be purchased here: shinobigami.com/

Music is "Cyber_Noir" by Peritune www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vtxrVyaHuc under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Big Gay Nerds: Episode 262 (Shinobigami 1.3)

Our tale of supernatural intrigue continues as characters start uncovering each others' secrets and finally making moves to secure the prize of esoteric ninja lore for themselves. Motorcycles, garrote-whips, shadow crows, and stink bombs will fly as the cold war heats up! Also, unrelated to that, the podcast founder transed her dang gender.

Content warning for stalking, poison gas, and explosives.

Music is "Cyber_Noir" by Peritune www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vtxrVyaHuc under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode 270 (Shinobigami 2.2)

The final battle begins! After one of the NPCs--I won't spoil which--manages to secure both halves of the prize, the only thing to do is come together for one big ninja throwdown! Will Seiko and Jiro be able to work together long enough to take out the competition, even when said competition is a samurai biker and a witch who can summon giant skeletons? 

Content warning for hallucinations, decapitation, toxic gas, and bodily control.

Music is "Cyber_Noir" by Peritune www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vtxrVyaHuc under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Big Gay Nerds: Episode 272 (Shinobigami 2.4)

If you wanted an easy way to pitch Big Gay Nerds to friends and/or family, we've got just the thing for you! Our founder/editor gives you an overview of what BGN is all about, and backs it up with two prime examples of the kind of stuff we get up to.

Clips are taken from Big Gay Nerds Episodes 255 and 260.

Content warning for brief drugging mention and alcohol.

Big Gay Nerds Sampler Packet 2024

Look, stuff like corporate partnerships, faerie curses, revolutionary praxis, and shadowy deals are important, I guess, but that's nothing compared to trying to have a nice date in your city's weird regional Valentine's Day variant! Which is what this episode is about. I'd blabber more but I wouldn't want to spoil all the romantic surprises, or the fact that Pate is goth now. Wait forget that last part.

Music by Perennial Sounds LLC

BGN 286: AND BURNHEART DAY'S TODAY! (Masks 6.13)

It's time for the final episode of Masks: a New Generation! At least for now. Just how big of a bang will it go out with? Will the New Wave become ascendant torch-bearers for superheroism or a bunch of vilified outlaws? What move will Agent Tan pull next? And what about that freaky robot? Forget all that, what the hell is a skrull? Listen on to find out, dear big gay nerds!

Content warning for police and gun violence, stabbing, and melting humanoid figures.

Music by Perennial Sounds LLC

BGN 296: Back to Where It All Began (Masks 6.23)

Our Masks campaign may have reached its conclusion, but the stories of our four young heroes have only just begun! For this episode we're squarely in Freeform Mode as we explore the immediate and long-term futures of our cast. What kind of hero will Pate become with her newfound powers? Will Luka be able to have some normality? Which ties will Juno cut, and which will she cherish? Who's going to stop Pipa from recruiting every quirky robot they meet for a workplace sitcom? Where will any of them live if their landlords aren't cool with cop-punching for some reason? And can you believe it's been FOUR YEARS since we started this game???

Content warning for housing eviction, piercing weapons, and discussion of parental death.

Music by Perennial Sounds LLC

BGN 297: Evicted! (Masks Epilogue)

As the clandestine cruise gets underway, the ninja of the Shadow War begin to clash, with tenuous alliances and deadly rivalries forming in instants. Blood will be drawn, secrets will be revealed, and the phrase "platonically cucked" will be uttered. Listen, things take a turn, I don't really know how to explain it without context, you'll just have to listen.

Content warning for body disposal, toxic gas, gun violence, and surveillance.

Music is "Cyber_Noir" by Peritune www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vtxrVyaHuc under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

BGN 299: Ninja Fights and Frought Nights (Shinobigami 3.2)

For our three hundredth episode, we have almost three hours of intrigue and conflict both supernatural and interpersonal! There's almost too much to really summarize it, just rest assured that this really is one of our biggest, gayest, and nerdiest episodes yet. And this is coming from the person who ran MASKS, so the bar is pretty high.

Content warning for character death, toxic gas, gun violence, explosives, sinking ship, paralyzation, surgical scars, cut throat, bodily control, rats, maybe some others this is a BIG episode and all these ninja are trying to kill each other.

Music is "Cyber_Noir" by Peritune www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vtxrVyaHuc under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


BGN 300:  (Shinobigami 3.3)

Back in the 90s, we were in a whole new tabletop campaign led by returning cast member Elliot! Genny, Elly, Sara, and Saturn are gearing up to play Kids on Bikes Second Edition, a game about strange goings-on in small-town America. This episode is mostly about designing the quirks of the specific small town we'll be playing in, and then working out our (possibly quirkier) cast of unattended minors. We end up with a former uranium-mining hub inhabited by two diametrically opposed sisters, a boy detective, and a "spacey" Southern gal. Hopefully none of them get eaten by monsters anytime soon but, you know, things happen.

Content warning for discussion of cults, food poisoning, abandoned mineshafts and falling into them, family member death, genetic disease, and pet death.

Kids on Bikes is published by Hunters Entertainment and can be purchased here: https://www.huntersentertainment.com/kidsonbikesrpg

Music from "Come Play with Me" and "Anxiety" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com/) License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

BGN 301: Welcome to Davis (Kids on Bikes 1.1)

It's time for a good old-fashioned autumnal street fair in Davis, Washington! While Shelly works a fortune-telling side hustle and Terry tries to sniff out a case for Knife Money, the Whitehurst sisters literally stumble into a seemingly mundane incident that will lead all four of them down an unexpected path... Surely there isn't anything mysterious or sinister happening in this quiet Pacific Northwest town? Also, stay tuned 'til the end for a preview of Issues, Elliot's upcoming Masks AP!

Content warning for memory alteration and humanoid monsters.

Intro and outro music from "Come Play with Me" and "Anxiety" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com/) License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Issues theme is Hero by I Fight Dragons, used with permission off their album Sidequest: B-Sides and Rarities. Issues can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/show/5mMQpxH5haO0hPm89YUZdZ?si=4872c633a1174749

BGN 302: The Mystery of the Scraped Knee (Kids on Bikes 1.2)

The meddling kids of Davis, WA are hot on the trail of a mysterious winged creature that may or may not have a sinister power over memory! But will their trusty bicycles be enough to help them when they're drawn into the woods and unsure of their own minds? Also what if one of them goes over a tree root and wipes out? There's so much at stake, and things are only going to get stranger, right up to the CLIFFHANGER TWIST ENDING!

Content warning for memory alteration, humanoid monsters, getting lost in the woods, and subterranean facilities.

Intro and outro music from "Come Play with Me" and "Anxiety" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com/) License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

BGN 303: Mothmen Don't Build Secret Underground Bunkers (Kids on Bikes 1.3)

It's the finale of our first Kids on Bikes episode! The kids (sans bikes) literally descend once more into the strange conspiracy beneath Davis, risking their own hides for the good of their new weird little friend. Can they free Duende's "parent," and when they do, could some kind of complication somehow arise from freeing a giant tentacled memory-eating alien? Listen and find out!

Content warning for underground facilities, tentacles, strangulation, accelerated time, and winged monsters.

Intro and outro music from "Come Play with Me" and "Anxiety" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com/) License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

BGN 306: It's Scary to Talk Back to Your Parents (Kids on Bikes 1.6)

Take a glimpse of the future's past. A fungal acolyte examines an alien specimen. A weary turncoat recounts a brutal war. A soldier of fortune leaves his fortune behind. A captive outlaw takes some time to reflect. An uplifted entertainer sets foot among the stars. They do not know it, but their fates are intertwined...

BGN Preview: Yonder Star

It's time to get our most ambitious campaign yet underway! In the wake of brutal oppression and bloody rebellion, a coalition of different species and cultures attempts to repurpose the tools of violence for discovery and diplomacy. One such tool, Captain River La Rosa, is being led to his first command under the Alliance's peacetime navy, and he's about to find that just being a former Hegemony soldier isn't enough to make him the oddest officer aboard. But the whole motley crew will soon have much more to worry about than first impressions...

Content warning for discussion of imperialism, corpses, and blood.

Music is "Whistling Winds" by Peritune https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVjSLiLF0RY under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Big Gay Nerds 307: Motley Crew (GURPS Yonder Star 1.1)

GASP! There's been a murder upon the Melchior! Unless her blood just Did That somehow. But just in case it IS murder, we'd better lock down the ship and look for suspects! The officers scramble to unravel this shocking mystery; will all their technology and training be enough to keep the maiden voyage on schedule?

Content warning for discussion of imperialism, surveillance, corpses, and blood.

Music is "Whistling Winds" by Peritune www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVjSLiLF0RY under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Big Gay Nerds 308: What if General Grievous Was a Cool Dude (GURPS Yonder Star 1.2)

The Melchior's officers keep looking for answers to the mysterious death, but the more information they unearth, the less sure they are of anything, including the victim's own identity! With a ticking clock hanging over them, the expedition itself could be in jeopardy--and might their own lives also be in danger? 

Content warning for discussion of imperialism, surveillance and espionage, autopsy, and possible body horror.

Music is "Whistling Winds" by Peritune www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVjSLiLF0RY under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Big Gay Nerds 309: Fishing For Clues (GURPS Yonder Star 1.3)

Start up the music, it's time for the biggest space-captain fight since Kirk took on that lizard-man! River must survive an attempt on his life while he and Max grapple with an unexpectedly zealous foe--and the GURPS grappling rules. Will The Girls get there in time to help? And will this spell disaster for the Melchior's maiden voyage? Listen and learn!

Content warning for light body horror, threat of gun violence, assassination attempt.

Music is "Whistling Winds" by Peritune www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVjSLiLF0RY under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Big Gay Nerds 310: Ripsnake (GURPS Yonder Star 1.4)

Your favorite game of ninja espionage returns, and this time we finally have what BGN scholars would refer to as our current "core cast" in play! When rumors of a cursed artifact in a rural village surface, agents of the Shadow War converge like sharks, but could someone be chumming the waters to draw them out? Jiro, Seiko, and Mina return, alongside a new face played by Sara! Listen in for cliff-side fights, idol routines, shadow clones, and surprise reappearances!

Content warning for surveillance, the undead, dangerous falls, and brain trauma.

Music is "Cyber_Noir" by Peritune www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vtxrVyaHuc under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Big Gay Nerds 311: Rookie of the Year (Shinobigami 4.1)

In this episode, the four rival shinobi go about gathering intelligence and preparing for the inevitable confrontation. Jiro makes an aggressive play thanks to insider information, Seiko goes on a reverse field trip to Ninja School, Mina goes on the hunt, and Shiori commands her girl goons.

Content warning for the undead and surveillance. 

Music is "Cyber_Noir" by Peritune www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vtxrVyaHuc under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Big Gay Nerds 312: Ghosts and Girl Goons (Shinobigami 4.2)

It's our biggest, WILDEST PvP session yet! All four of our shinobi antiheroes, plus an evil undead witch, commit to a decisive battle for the cursed artifact! We've got SECRET MOVES! We've got TENSION! We've got DESPERATELY SCRAMBLING TO LEVERAGE EVERY ADVANTAGE SO YOU CAN MAKE AN IMPORTANT ROLL! We've got JIRO SPEAKING THROUGH GENNY LIKE THE GREEN GOBLIN MASK AND MAKING HER GET KIND OF TOXIC! This is an all-timer, folks.

Content warning for the undead, violence (all kinds), decapitation, mind control, and smoke.

Music is "Cyber_Noir" by Peritune www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vtxrVyaHuc under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Big Gay Nerds 313: Let's All Punch Each Other At Once (Shinobigami 4.3)

That's right folks, the dramatic climax of this arc was so big it took up two whole episodes! With Seiko and Shiori down for the mutual count, Jiro squares off against Mina as the animosity between them erupts into a drag-down knockout brawl, but with guns and cyborg stuff. It's MLM vs WLW at its most action-packed!

Content warning for the gun violence and body modification.

Music is "Cyber_Noir" by Peritune www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vtxrVyaHuc under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Big Gay Nerds 314: Toxic Sunday (Shinobigami 4.4)

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Big Gay Nerds, an LGBT RPG podcast! Join Owen, Levi, Sara, and Saturn as they discuss and play tabletop roleplaying games.

Today we're getting started with Monsterhearts, a game about young adults in paranormal romance. Three strange figures emerge from the swirling mists, and it turns out they're all petty jerks.

Content warning: explicit language, Sex Moves.

Big Gay Nerds: Episode 1

Class is in session at Mater Dolorosa College! Not that any of the students care. Bishop, Jessamine, and Mark are too busy chasing money, blood, family heirlooms, and the cheapest beer they can illegally obtain.

Intro and outro music courtesy of Aesop Rock: https://soundcloud.com/rhymesayers/aesop-rock-the-blob

Big Gay Nerds: Episode 2

Let's get this party started! Our band of young monsters arrives at their first-ever college party to mingle with their peers... and advance their dark agendas. Jessamine sinks her claws into Jake, Bishop and their minions start a heist, and Mark gets some mixed signals.

Big Gay Nerds: Episode 3

Levi leads Owen, Saturn, Ian, and newcomer James into the wide wrestling world of World Wide Wrestling! When the rough-and-tumble Billy Crystal is pitted against the fallen rising star Reverend Greyskull, an intense rivalry instantly forms, and no one will emerge unscathed!

https://ndpdesign.com/wwwrpg/

Intro and outro music courtesy of Aesop Rock and his free track, The Blob: https://soundcloud.com/rhymesayers/aesop-rock-the-blob

Big Gay Nerds: Episode 27 (World Wide Wrestling 1.1)

Now that they're all rested up--or at least as rested as career criminals in a haunted city can hope to be--the Resurrectionists take some time to pick their next score and settle on driving out local competition. If they could steal a huge gem from one of the most zealously-guarded buildings in Duskvol, driving out some squatters should be a walk in the park, right? Well, it might be, if the dice weren't out for our blood.

Big Gay Nerds: Episode 62 (Blades in the Dark 2.2)

Almost two thousand years after the Resurrectionists pulled off their final score, a new collection of misfits with tragic pasts gather...

That's right: we're playing a sequel to our Blades in the Dark campaign, with a system that builds on BitD by adding giant robots to it! Can a squad of spies and diplomats employed by an embattled monarchy make a difference in the War, or at least reach their own disparate goals? More importantly, can they settle on a name?

We know it's a big timeskip, so here's a handy setting guide by our beloved Saturn: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pmQ2YqTi-Hwzol25LR0jTmYtcx7fRaVsjbbSrSzwytI/edit

Beam Saber is a game by Austin Ramsay and can be bought here: https://austin-ramsay.itch.io/beamsaber

Intro/outro music from Aesop Rock's The Blob

Big Gay Nerds: Episode 174 (Beam Saber 1.1)

Our young heroes return, only to face the most frightening foe this roleplaying system has to offer: the opinions of others! Can the team survive getting fashioned police? Who will stand their ground, and who will try to reinvent themselves? And how will their complete lack of budget effect this? Listen on to find out!

Music by Perennial Sounds LLC

Big Gay Nerds: Episode 187 (Masks 2.1)

Big Gay Nerds is an LGBT RPG podcast where a handful of queer friends play tabletop roleplaying games! Episodes are weekly, and every month or so we switch systems to try something new.

Big Gay Nerds Podcast

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