Show Notes for Of Steam, Steel and Murder

Session 20

Players: Abel, Jams, Jon, Markus, Nick

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Part 1 of 2 can be found here
Part 2 of 2 can be found here

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A long overdue group confrontation out in the middle of nowhere leads to … what, exactly? After the recriminations are over and the ink is drying on the inter-character peace treaty (wherein the characters agree that Gavin has the right to live, etc.) the car ride home is made pleasant as the conversation turns to talk of murder and mayhem. Our fearsome five do manage to make it to Stormhaven in this episode and begin their exploration of this new sandbox.

I've gotten the opportunity to play test a few scenarios for different RPG systems lately. I'm not sure how I want to handle the recordings of these though, should I put it in the regular feed or start a new feed? If you have an opinion on the matter, let me know at For now, I'm just going to offer this direct link:

The Dance In The Blood is a scenario for the Trail of Cthulhu system by Pelgrane press. The author of this adventure is Graham Walmsley.

In a forgotten, secluded place, in the North of England, lies a village of many secrets and terrors. When the Investigators find this village, they uncover a mystery that has killed many and doomed others.

Session 19 Players: Abel, Jamas, Jon, Marcus, Nick

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Here is the first of two parts to this recording.

Here is the second of two parts to this recording.

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Bob Starlings confession begins in full swing as our heroes batten down the garage. A timely escape to visit Dr. Barba’s clinic with: 1 dead body, 1 duct-taped woman, 1 badly burned spy and 1 Power agent with a sucking chest wound leads to a midnight remodeling of the clinics waiting area. Dr. Barba is on vacation for this episode, won’t he be surprised when he returns? With Metapol and the world at the brink of a catastrophe, our heroes still find the time to bicker over hidden pasts and loyalties. Some good cigars are smoked and some good brandy is sampled.

This was a fun, but difficult one. Unlike most RPG’s, FATE has a mechanic whereby a PC or NPC CAN persuade another through social or mental conflict to change his opinion or sides in a verbal battle. The duct-taped seductress has claws in this regards and is able to mind-whip most of the boys into seeing things her way. My big take away from this plot was: the game isn’t about winning or loosing for your character. We’re all building a story together and sometimes loosing or changing your mind or sides of a battle makes for interesting story. Roll with it and play up your new conviction as if you had decided on it for yourself! As a game note, players may NEVER force another player into social or mental combat. You can ask for it, but the other side has to agree upon it and the stakes of winning or losing should be clearly defined before you start.

Players: Abel, Jamas, John, Marcus, Nick, and briefly - Richard

here Is part one of two.
here is the second and last part

Constantine’s rampage continues. This time, our heroes have to find and disarm a ticking time bomb or the city will suffer greatly. We are introduced (in brief) to the new rising boxing champ of Metapol…at least he wants to be! Topping off the episode, the enigmatic Bob Starling makes his debut.


Richard joins us for a bit of this adventure but due to the evils of technology is unable to finish the session. Inspiration for this adventure was taken from the book "Binary" by Michael Chrichton.

Players: Ben, Jon, Marcus and Nick

Here is the first part of session 17.

Here is the second and final part of session 17.



I've been having some problems getting Maptools to run on my new Linux system, so we have resorted to using a web based dice roller. This web app is pretty simple and allows all the players to see each others rolls. Full props to the authors for this nifty web roller.

We've also been discussing if making the game a weekly event instead of a bi-weekly event would allow us to have a wider mix of players in the game.

...and finely, would you listeners like to hear more of the before and after table talk for the episodes? I tend to cut out a good 30-40 minutes worth of conversation to make the file sizes smaller and to keep the time around 4 hours. If you have an opinion, leave them at

Players:Abel, Ben, Jamas, Jon and Nick

Session 1 can be found here
Session 2 can be found here


The underground politics of Metapol come to a head as an old friend needs help out of a sticky situation. The spy-counter-spy action is so thick a casually thrown brick is sure to hit an undercover agent! Guaranteed to provide the U.S.R.D.A recommend amounts of plot threads, loose ends and player complications. A new recording computer was used on this session, so let me know if the quality and ability to hear the players has improved.

SSM now seems to have a stable player base of 6 people. It's going to be a challenge to get 6 people and the GM in a Skype game, but I'm willing to try!

Players: Abel, Ben, Jamas, Marcus, Nick

Part 1 to this session can be found here
Part 2 can be found here


A new player joins us for this one. Nick plays the noir detective Raymond Marlowe. In this session teleporting sailors meet a bad end, the good Dr. Klempt is no longer comatose, and the craftiness of Metapol’s villains are discussed.


A lot of ideas for this scenario came from the Philadelphia Experiment conspiracy/urban folklore. The Call of Cthulhu system also had a great supplement for the Delta Green setting called: Project Rainbow that I borrowed heavily from as well.

Of Steam, Steel and Murder had it's first podcast episode on 10-31-2009. Since then we have averaged a game every two weeks and have just completed episode 14. The cast has changed here and there with some quite regular players. Some have played a single game or a handful then disappeared, we hope not for good. We have a pretty good sized crew now but due to real life and scheduling not all episodes are full, so we always encourage listeners to try out a game. As of this post we have had 1,523 downloads across all episodes and as near as I can tell an average of 55 people that stay subscribed compared to those that downloaded just a few episodes. Feedburner shows that we have subscribers world wide: Canada, New Zealand, Finland, Ireland, the U.K., Brazil, Japan and the U.S. We are glad to share our game with everyone who cares to listen, but I'd greatly like to get to know more of you! If you listen and enjoy our podcast, please take a moment to send us email at and tell us a little about yourselves. Though they aren't used very much, we do also have a public forum at http://blumagic.com/steamsteelmurder. The Obsidian portal website also allows anyone to post a comment in the comments tab of the campaign. Rating us on Itunes also helps to make the podcast more visible. At any rate, thanks to all of you playing and to those of you who listen along!

Podcast direct links
1st part direct link
2nd part direct link
3rd and final part direct link
Players:Abel, Ben, Jon, Jamas and Marcus.

A much abused Mr. Bishop brings trouble to the Erbauer’s door. Flying men with guns and a dark silhouetted zeppelin assault the garage! The stout-hearted Faedor protects the children as Drena and company clear the house. Gavin goes Zeppelin hunting from a nearby roof top, the doctor and his mystery gas minimize the firearm damage as the rest of the party go toe-to-toe with The Flying Men! In the end the Erbauer garage remains proudly standing if a bit rough around the edges, and after a celebratory night of being Alive: Drena may soon be the mother of 9.

This episode was packed with players. The first time with 5 players and one GM went over pretty well. I'd like some listener feedback on this though. Did you feel it hard to keep up with which character was speaking? Did the overall audio quality seem to suffer? Let me know at

Podcast Episodes
1st part direct link.
2nd part direct link.



Players:Abel, Ben, Jamas and Jon.

In this episode – from blood sport to The Sweet Science, our investigators learn the history of boxing and how it relates to murder in Metapol. Tingle at hot robot on robot action! Be shocked as the good Dr. takes Cocaine! Be astounded as Gavin drives really, really fast! All this and more in this exciting episode.