Dungeons and Dragons with Mark Hulmes

Snake Buds, Another Glass of Breakfast, Unexpected Debts

Last year we transported our bodies to Bristol for a day of filming with Mark Hulmes – a Dungeon Master extraordinaire who specializes in creating high-grade fun within the realms of Dungeons & Dragons. Be aware that whilst we’ve snipped out the swearing, the series does contain infrequent graphic descriptions of violence.

Joined by friend of the show Pip Warr, we delved into a world of monsters, fine wine, and terrifying levels of socioeconomic privilege. Quintin squeezes into the boots of a tired and possibly dangerous Dwarf, Pip is a Druid Dragonthing who doesn’t entirely understand humans, and Matt is just a terrible man who also unfortunately seems to have acquired a gun.

This is a three part series which will continue next Wednesday, and shortly after this one wraps up we’ll have a video of the same group playing The World Wide Wrestling RPG. Honestly, it is quite the thing. 

Chomping at the bit for more? Please enjoy this video from last year’s SHUX in which the team and friends played through a D&D adventure as the cast of Rat Queens – with the author of the series acting as Dungeon Master! We had an absolute blast with that one, although do bear in mind that it is honestly very rude.

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Dungeons and Dragons with Mark Hulmes

Snake Buds, Another Glass of Breakfast, Unexpected Debts

Last year we transported our bodies to Bristol for a day of filming with Mark Hulmes – a Dungeon Master extraordinaire who specializes in creating high-grade fun within the realms of Dungeons & Dragons. Be aware that whilst we’ve snipped out the swearing, the series does contain infrequent graphic descriptions of violence.

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Podcast #71: The Dragonholt Assault on Fake Eggs

Matt and Paul regroup for a post-festive ramble through the wilderness of sentient cardboard. Paul shares some thoughts on Legacy of Dragonholt and Celestia – which Matt is comedically unable to recall too clearly. Meanwhile, Matt has been toying with the free co-op app for Imperial Assault – and compares his experiences with this to the recently-reviewed Gloomhaven, for your pleasure / horror. We then talk a little about the shocking phenomenon of fake board games, as covered by Paul in this week’s news, and finally cap off the first pod of the year by addressing the hard-hitting issue of S.N.A.C.K.S. Basically, Paul is mildly interrogated about cookies. Who – in truth – is the real cookie monster? Only the cold hands of time will decide. Thanks for listening!

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Games News! 15/01/18

50s scoffing, flaccid accusations, painful wretched metal body

Paul: Happy New Year, one and all! As I turn the lights back on at Shut Up & Sit Down, stoke the boilers and put the hamsters back on the treadmills, I watch our site slowly coming back to life. The gears turn, the pistons thrust and the Supercomputer blinks back into a state of self-awareness, giving for just one nanosecond a familiar scream that signals the eternal understanding that it will be forever trapped inside its painful, wretched metal body.

I hope your 2018 has started well! The news has been piling up in drifts, so I’ve scooped out some of my favourite bits. Feel free to leave any more stories you are particularly excited by in the comments below!

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…And that was it for 2017… and 2016!

it's not entirely clear how many eggs there were in plato's cave

Quinns: Hello everyone! Shut Up & Sit Down will return on January 15th. In the meantime, continuing on from our roundups of our favourite features from 2014 and 2015, here’s a hefty list of our very best work from 2016 and 2017. You know the phrase “Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket”? Well, this article is basically a basket containing all of our eggs. Take that, Plato. You’re not the boss of us.

Paul: I don’t think that’s what Plato sai-

Quinns: Did we miss your favourite video or article? If so, leave a comment!

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Podcast #70: Trading Shady Trees

the paul cannon, the walnut sprout, squid gym membership

Who’s feeling cosy? In this final, festive podcast of 2017 Matt and Quinns tuck themselves beneath the Christmas tree before cutting it down for victory points. That was an oblique reference to the first game the pair discuss, the noble Photosynthesis. The boys then get far too excited about cubes and the possibilities thereof in the absurd game Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant. They then discuss Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire, the new Games Workshop board game showcasing beefy people hitting one another with hammers. Finally, we read out a heartwarming love letter to the Play By Forum section of the SU&SD forum, and read out our last ever Folk Game of the Month, with a little discussion about depictions of mental health in fiction. Best wishes to everyone who has trouble at this time of year.

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Last donations on Dec 21st!

will my wife be annoyed if I buy tiny sniper teams instead of potatoes this Christmas

Update: If you donated after the 21st deadline drop us a note and we’ll hook you up anyway (it’s Christmas after all)!

Quinns: Hi everyone! I’ve come down with a festive Christmas flu, but I found a block in my busy schedule of sneezing and fingering spicy soup between my lips to post about our 2017 pledge drive, which ends this Thursday. Donating any time between now and then will get you access to a profoundly jolly Christmas newsletter, packed full of the following:

  • Have your say on our plans for 2018!
  • Early thoughts on our next reviews!
  • An outtake reel!
  • Access to all previous newsletters, totalling 20,000 words!
  • A warm fuzzy feeling that next year’s content is paid for by you!
  • And more!!

The last day for donations is the 21st of December, and the newsletter itself will go out on the 22nd.

Please donate! This weekend I played my first game of Dropzone Commander and now in addition to everything mentioned in our pledge drive video I also need a United Colonial Marines AC2 “Phoenix” class Heavy Command Gunship.

Thanks for your time, everybody!

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Review: Gloomhaven

gloomhavin a good time, mind-belts, i love you, no i love you

Sentient trebuchets rejoice! With just hours to go until the end of the board gaming year, we’ve snuck in our review of 2017’s biggest game. The fantasy hack-and-slash epic that is Gloomhaven weighs in at a preposterous 22lbs, it takes hundreds of hours to finish, and it raised more than four million dollars on Kickstarter.

It will be enjoying a global retail release just next month, but should you buy it?

Let’s take a look.

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Our Xmas Pledge Drive is Now Open!

poor little hydras, the opposite of vomiting, there's safety in sage

Quinns: Oh my goodness! With just Matt’s Gloomhaven review and a year-end podcast to go, that’s almost it for us this year.

“But wait!” you cry. “I haven’t had nearly enough Shut Up & Sit Down!”

Then please, consider thanking us for the service we’ve been providing for more than six years with a donation. Anyone who signs up to donate in a given month will enter the prestigious SU&SD Gold Club, and members receive a monthly behind-the-scenes newsletter, discounts on merchandise and early access to ticket sales for SHUX, the SU&SD convention.

Paul: This December’s newsletter goes out in a week’s time and it’ll be a holiday special, containing our plans for 2018, a blooper reel and access to ALL previous newsletters!

Thanks, everybody. We’ve had a great time putting together a year’s worth of board game coverage for you guys. Who fancies another year?

Merry Christmas from Team SU&SD.

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Games News! 12/12/17

Star Munchkin: Hidernament Hothpek of Bazaday, Blood Bout!, Puzzle Spoin

Paul: Good morning, Quintin!

Quinns: Good morning, Paul. How are you on this brisk winter’s morning?

Paul: I am so refreshed and wholesome.

Quinns: I slept curled up, and a draft in my bedroom froze me into a parenthesis.

Paul: What does that look like?

Quinns: )

But nevermind my failing body. Paul, voting has begun for the annual Pearple’s Choice awards on the SU&SD forum! Everybody reading this should go and vote for their games of 2017, and we’ll be discussing the results on our year-end podcast. Vote now to replace disappointment with frustration! Isn’t democracy fun!

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