The GROGNARD Files – Groggies Review of 2025 (with Kalum)
Podcast: The GROGNARD Files
Host: Dirk the Dice
Guests: Kalum (from The Rolistes), Judge Blythe
Date: February 2, 2026
Theme: A reflective, wide-ranging review of the RPG year 2025, delving into international RPG cultures (especially French-speaking), unique games, memorable player/GM experiences, and the annual "Groggies" awards.
Overview
This episode of The GROGNARD Files is a two-parter:
- Interview with Kalum (The Rolistes) – A discussion of French-speaking RPG culture, classic games like Nephilim, and Kalum’s journey as a publisher and designer.
- The Groggies 2025 – Dirk, Blythe, and Callum look back on the year in gaming, reliving highlights, reflecting on GM/player experiences, discussing new games, and handing out the annual Groggy awards.
The episode is characterized by warmth, introspection, and humor, offering listeners insights into both the international world of RPGs and the lived experience of long-time tabletop gamers in the UK.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Exploring International RPG Cultures (with Kalum)
[03:28]–[11:00] Kalum’s Background and The Rolistes Podcast
- Kalum, originally from Belgium, founded a French-English crossover podcast in 2015, highlighting connections between French-speaking and English-speaking RPG communities.
- Discusses formative gaming experiences in Belgium: early exposure to Star Wars RPG, difficulties finding groups, eventual entry into the hobby via theater friends and French RPG magazine Casus Belli.
- Emphasizes RPGs as a way to build cultural bridges and discover varied styles.
“For me, role playing has always been about making connections between different people, different hobbies, different interests. You know, you like Star Wars, there's a role playing game that's based on Star Wars... I always liked that about The GROGNARD Files, mixing the old and the new.”
— Kalum [05:22]
[08:45]–[11:00] Casus Belli, White Dwarf & French RPG Culture
- Casus Belli is likened to the French White Dwarf: covered a wide range of games, not tied to one publisher, and offered adventures for all sorts of systems.
- In the 1990s, French RPG culture favored a broad mix of games, with Vampire: The Masquerade hugely popular (“Do you play Chicago or Paris?” was the question, not just ‘do you play Vampire?’).
- D&D less dominant than in Anglo gaming circles, replaced by games like RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu, and home-grown systems.
[12:44]–[24:00] Nephilim – A French Occult Classic
- Kalum provides a deep overview of Nephilim: a French game where players are immortal occult beings moving through human history, using a BRP-derived system.
- Explores themes unique to European cultures: layered history, secret societies, and occult symbolism embedded in real-world settings.
- Contrast with Vampire: In Nephilim, you play truly ancient creatures, gaining memories and skills by inhabiting human hosts across ages.
“In Nephilim you played beings... older than humankind itself... you lived through Napoleonic War, you were there in the Neolithic, war, fire, ancient Egypt, then you got trapped into an artifact for centuries until you get activated again and you possess a human.”
— Kalum [14:00]
- A negative (and misunderstood) US adaptation of Nephilim: Focused more on action, made questionable narrative choices (including making Hitler a Nephilim), and missed the core concept of the European game.
“The idea is always it's still humans who make history. It's not in secret Nephilims control everything.”
— Kalum [21:00]
- Kalum invites Dirk and listeners to try Nephilim, referencing his actual play, which blended French and British perspectives.
[24:57]–[27:38] Landscape of French RPGs and Narrative Focus
- Describes the 1990s mix: many French games (Night Prowler, Dark Earth, In Nomine Satanis / Magna Veritas) alongside translations from English. Indie scene in France is active but more fractious than in the UK/US: “People can be even more aggressive towards one another.”
“People were quite big on story, the writing, the art of it. The French speaking [scene] seem quite on the narrative side of things.”
— Kalum [27:54]
2. Game Design, Publishing, and the Magic of Inventoring
[29:39]–[33:40] Kalum’s Journey as Designer & The Magic of Inventoring
- Traces the origin of his game from reading Marie Kondo’s tidying philosophy—blending self-help, humor, and RPG mechanics into a dungeon crawl about decluttering inventory.
- Inspired by absurdist comedy (Monty Python, Airplane) and the emotional weight of in-game items (does the “ring spark joy?”).
- Game evolved from zine to a full, international Kickstarter project (launching January 27): Magic of Inventoring (formerly Paris Gondo).
[33:49]–[39:29] Explaining the New Game
- Game starts at the end of the dungeon crawl: deciding what loot to keep with limited space, weighing sentimental vs. practical value (“Do you keep the piano of Red Sonja or your broadsword?”).
- System is built for no prep, no GM, short play time, and structured entirely by dry-erase cards and prompts.
“One of the things I found out running it... you can really play it without a game master... without preparation.”
— Kalum [33:49]
[39:29]–[41:01] Shortening the Title and Marketing
- They re-titled to Magic of Inventoring to make it more accessible and appealing, especially at conventions: “Magic Inventory—people click on the link and look at the description.”
- The game’s “decluttered” title matches its core theme!
The GROGGIES: Annual Retrospective and Awards
1. Meta-Reflections, Transcripts, and “AI Hallucinations”
[41:28]–[46:13] Playing with Transcription Errors
- The hosts riff humorously on common podcast transcription mistakes (“Oboe” for “Owlbear”; “Lesson Gary” for “Lasso, Gary”).
- Commentary on AI “hallucination” and the grandiosity of tech marketing:
“If you listen to the AI gurus, what they'll say is... this is a form of hallucination... It's a market spin so you can have a 4 trillion market capitalization value.”
— Host [44:09]
2. Groggies Review and Award Categories
GM Moment of the Year
[50:27]–[53:21] Blythe’s Nomination
- Blythe highlights a tense Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) session where the GM required a literal “save or die” roll for the first time in his career:
Scenario: Floating on a magical platform, wizard loses concentration, everyone must save or fall to their deaths (“May as well save you, so otherwise that's it. I was astonished.”) - Reflects on the emotional courage needed for a GM to enforce lethal risk.
[55:08]–[60:13] Dirk’s Take & GMitis
- Dirk reflects on experiencing “GMitis” (loss of enthusiasm for GMing), noting it’s not always a crisis—life ebbs and flows, and it’s okay to alternate roles for balance and wellbeing.
“People, when you read discourse over RPGs, beat themselves up a bit too much about how much they do and how little they do. Just enjoy it.”
— Host [60:05]
Player Experience of the Year
[72:04]–[74:41] Blythe’s Player Highlights
-
Blythe celebrates being allowed, for the first time, to truly play a rogue as intended in Brendan LaSalle’s X-Crawl Classics game:
“Every room we went in, I said, can I try and hide in the shadows? And he went, yeah, yeah, try it... I apologized, ‘I'm not ruining the game am I?’ and he said, ‘No, that's what you should be doing as a rogue.’”
— Blythe [73:36] -
Both hosts enjoyed the DCC Lankhmar campaign (longest for Dirk), and Eddie’s Han (OpenQuest) campaign is highlighted as a nostalgic experience.
[76:37]–[80:48] Unknown Armies & Real-World Bleed
- Dirk describes being immersed in a modern-day Unknown Armies campaign involving exploding Rotary Clubs, Boris Johnson as “the clown prince,” and real-life activism blending into gameplay.
- The game's events started to “bleed into real life," with players’ real activities mirroring their in-game lobbying.
“It starts to overlap into our lives... you see Boris Johnson as the clown prince... in the game we're lobbying the council at Hereford, and I was at an event the next day with a Hereford councillor sitting next to me!”
— Host [79:17]
Best New Game Experienced
[81:59]–[85:42] Mythic Bastionland
- Chosen for its Pendragon-esque, hex-crawl experience but using the Into the Odd system with rich playbooks and emergent play (“quite an achievement, actually”).
- Combat tweaks, magical knights, playbooks offer replayability; feels best for campaign play but works in one-shots too.
Dirk’s Honourable Mention: Fall of Delta Green (Gumshoe system)
- Enjoys real-world lethality, sanity/hardening mechanics, and Vietnam setting but finds Gumshoe’s points/spend mechanics odd in practice.
Community Awards
[94:04]–[96:02] Grog Community and Grog Law
- Grog meetups bridge online and real-world friendships.
- Award to Dave Patterson & Jim Mosley for creating the London “Grog Law” meetup:
“For creating that [community], so I’m going to nominate Dave Patterson and Jim Mosley.”
[96:08]–[98:15] Grog Pod of the Year (Listener Vote)
- Joint second place: DCC with Brendan; Ten Years of The GROGNARD Files.
- Joint first place: Magic in RPGs with Stu Horvath (“listening to David Bowie and Kate Bush talk about RPGs”), Swedish RPG with Magnus Sita.
“I'd like to think I'm Kate Bush.”
— Host [98:15]
Notable Quotes
“In Nephilim you played beings... older than humankind itself... you went in ancient Egypt and then you got trapped into an artifact for several centuries... and you possess a human. The human becomes part of you and you become part of the human...”
— Kalum [14:00]
“If you listen to the AI gurus, what they'll say is... this is a form of hallucination... It's a market spin so you can have a 4 trillion market capitalization value.”
— Host [44:09]
“I think it's just important... when you read discourse over RPGs people just beat themselves up a bit too much about how much they do and how little they do... Just enjoy it.”
— Host [60:05]
“Every room we went in, I said, can I try and hide in the shadows? And he went, yeah, yeah, try it... I apologized, ‘I'm not ruining the game am I?’ and he said, ‘No, that's what you should be doing as a rogue.’”
— Blythe [73:36]
“It starts to overlap into our lives... you see Boris Johnson as the clown prince... in the game we're lobbying the council at Hereford, and I was at an event the next day with a Hereford councillor sitting next to me!”
— Host [79:17]
“I'd like to think I'm Kate Bush.”
— Host [98:15]
Timestamps & Memorable Segments
- 00:12 – Dirk’s whimsical introduction: “The Grognard Files hello, my name is Dirk the Dice and this is the Grognard Files podcast where we talk bobbins about tabletop RPGs from back in the day.”
- 03:28 – Kalum’s introduction and podcasting journey.
- 08:45 – French RPG magazines, differences from UK, and Vampire “Paris by Night.”
- 12:44 – Deep-dive into Nephilim and its unique European flavor.
- 29:39 – Game design: Magic of Inventoring inspired by Marie Kondo.
- 41:28 – Transcription games and AI “hallucinations.”
- 50:27 – Blooper: Save or die old-school GM moment in DCC.
- 55:08 – GMitis and the shifting role of GM/player over time.
- 72:04 – Player experience: Being truly allowed to play a rogue.
- 81:59 – New games: Mythic Bastionland and Fall of Delta Green discussions.
- 94:04 – Community Awards and the value of grassroots meetups.
- 96:20 – Listener-voted podcast highlights and humorous self-deprecation (”I'd like to think I’m Kate Bush.”).
Summary
This Groggies Review episode is both a celebration and a meditation on the enduring, mutable joys of tabletop gaming. It weaves together international perspectives (especially through Kalum’s insights into French RPGs and design), personal gaming highlights, and the idiosyncratic culture of The GROGNARD Files’ community. The show is suffused with camaraderie, nostalgia, and self-deprecating humor—making it a must-listen for long-time RPG fans and newcomers alike.
Recommended for:
- Anyone interested in the history and culture of RPGs beyond D&D.
- Listeners looking to broaden their gaming horizons into French and European scenes.
- Veteran gamers seeking relatable, thoughtful discussion about the personal rhythms of GM-player life.
For further information:
- See links to Kalum’s Magic of Inventoring Kickstarter and recommended French RPG resources in the show notes.
- Community members are encouraged to suggest international guests for future culture-spotlight episodes.