System Mastery

Latest episodes

Showing 20 · updated from the feed

337 - Double Cross

#50 trending · Games

Big old anime RPG, and actually from Japan for once! Vaguely superhero but realistically sorta shonen, let's talk about Double Cross. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi

Oct 1
1 h 25 min

336 - MisAdventures

Finally, everyone's favorite thing, a universal OSR system! And in such a straightforward and simple 36 pages! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoi

Sep 18
1 h 15 min

335 - Tide Breaker

It's a rules light game! By which of course we mean it has like several hundred rules, but none of them are especially heavy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit mega

Sep 5
1 h 33 min

334 - Delta Green

Well, at least now people can't keep asking us to talk about it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 20
1 h 07 min

333- Marvel Heroic Roleplaying LIVE

Recorded live at GenCon 2026, this episode sounds like fuzzy butt because we didn't have a way to test the house equipment. If you can endure it, you're the true Marvel H

Aug 5
1 h 26 min

332 - 13th Age

Well, I guess it's better than 5e. How's the 2nd edition of this? Obviously we're taking them in order. Sound off in the comments and smash that like and subscribe or wha

Jul 22
1 h 17 min

331 - Blood and Vigilance

Shoot, we accidentally made a supplement episode. I thought this was a core book! Oh well, it's basically a superhero patch to be applied to D20 Modern, so at least it's

Jul 9
1 h 00 min

330 - Justice League Unlimited Preview

We've been pretty clear in our Marvel fanboy natures, especially when it comes to comics (we're pretty equal opportunity with films and cartoons), but that doesn't mean w

Jun 26
1 h 21 min

329 - Jukebox

Hey how about we let Jon pick a game, that's what I said. And then of course the moment I said okay we get a game with a karaoke mechanic. Learn more about your ad choice

Jun 13
1 h 15 min

328 - Heavy Metal Thunder Mouse

I still can't remember if this is our first FATE game or not, I think it might be? It's about mice, that are bikers. There's also frogs and stuff. It's fun. Let's talk ab

May 29
1 h 10 min

327 - Alternity

Sci-fi, TSR style. I can't figure out why I thought this would be D&D based, maybe because it came out so late in the TSR lifecycle that I thought it was WOTC? Anyway, it

May 14
1 h 21 min

326 - Ryutaama

Okay at this point I think it's starting to get obvious that the two of us are down with the cozy games. This one is cute as heck. Get on a little journey. Jef is only mo

May 1
1 h 36 min

325 - Root RPG

Sure it's PBTA but really we want to talk about the rare-ish process by which specifically board games become specifically RPGs. Plus these animals kill each other and ar

Apr 17
1 h 19 min

324 - Zenescope Presents: The Dark Age RPG

Western boob comics! Remember these? They've long since supplanted by that single mega milk manga image, you know the one. Anyway somewhere between the original Vampirell

Apr 1
1 h 20 min

323 - Dragonbane

Let's take a look at a game out of Sweden, née as Drakar Och Demoner, a classic dungeon crawl game with fairly simple mechanics, sleek layout, and pretty nice art. But do

Mar 19
1 h 11 min

322 - Incursion

Find out which one of us gets mad enough to break the no research rule as we dive in to discuss this game of alien abduction and intergalactic comedy exploration from the

Mar 5
1 h 20 min

321 - Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai

Just one of your everyday run of the mill licensed games made out of Jim Jarmusch movies. Can't tell you how sick I am of playing Palladium's version of Down By Law. Lear

Feb 19
1 h 06 min

320 - Amazing Engine, Bughunter

Fine you want major trash that time forgot? You got it, buster. You're gonna sit write there while we review the whole pack. Of Amazing Engine, from TSR Games in 1993. An

Feb 5
1 h 23 min

319 - Red Dwarf

Who's ready for licensed comedy property RPGs? These are always the best, am I right? Today is Red Dwarf, an RPG based on a British comedy sci-fi series. And boy is it ev

Jan 23
1 h 13 min

318 - Man, Myth & Magic

Two games in one box? What a bargain! MM&M here comes with basic and advanced rulesets for its historical fantasy Earth setting, though the differences are so odd that it

Jan 9
1 h 25 min

Chart trend

Position in the Games chart (US), last 90 days.

#1#100#198JulAugSepOct

#52

all-time peak

days in the top 100 since Nov 2024

Chart positions

Where System Mastery ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Oct 3, 2026).

#178 NEW Games US

What listeners say

A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.

All the news you can’t use about old, usually bad tabletop RPGs! I came for the reviews and stayed for the humor.

Ulphen · Nov 2022

They give you everything you need to know to feel like you know the game, condensed down into one funny hour. It’s a great way to go from knowing about only a handful of rpgs to knowing about a vast array of weird games.

Hamburger Helpful · Sep 2021

Jon and Jef have taught me a lot about designing TTRPGs over the years, and made it fun along the way. To clarify: they don't provide instruction on good game design, but they do point out the many and varied errors of RPG design over the years. If my own RPG ever is published, I'll at least be making all-new design errors!

Somedude, Just · May 2021

Great discussion of the good and the bad in RPG games. Well-deserved roasts of the worst games, and well-deserved praise for the best features of many games. The hosts are, of course, highly opinionated, but it's easy to disregard their dumber opinions because they honestly do provide a lot of useful detail, and it's easy to use that to figure out what will work well in your games. Perhaps it's intended ironically, but the humor is 100% straight-college-bro humor. So many dick jokes. It gets tiresome fast.

Selylidne · Jun 2020

We strive to present a balanced view by showing a diverse range of reviews from Apple Podcasts.