Old-school RPG talk from the messy table.
Gothridge Manor follows Tim Shorts through the working mess of old-school tabletop gaming. Campaign prep, product unboxings, random encounters, player consequences, and drive-home reflections all get judged by what actually happens at the table.
PRESS PLAY
Gothridge Manor is an old-school tabletop RPG show built from the practical clutter of actual play. Tim Shorts talks while driving home, grabbing lunch, running errands, or getting ready for another game, and the setting matters because the episodes feel thought-in-motion rather than staged. The pace is brisk. The shape is messy in a useful way. A Shadowdark campaign update might start with regional maps, move into Session Zero, detour through player character prep, and end on how gnomes should work in his home setting. That looseness is part of the value. The show keeps asking what game material does once it reaches real players. Campaign talk centers on the Komorow Forest, short sessions, live play, torchbearers, henchmen, pre-campaign character scenes, and consequences that return later. Advice arrives through examples. A hag’s bargain, a missing torchbearer, a paranoid reaction to a child in the woods, or a ghoul collecting shirts all become small lessons in old-school pressure, discovery, and memorable encounter design. Product episodes have the same ground-level feel. Knave 2, The Rats of Oogool, Shadowdark-compatible adventures, Kickstarter books, maps, fonts, art, layout, and hardback usefulness are judged with enthusiasm but not polish. Praise is specific. Gripes are allowed. Gothridge Manor also has a human edge, with episodes that mention medical fatigue, stalled writing energy, YouTube plans, and the struggle to keep creative momentum going. The show is not trying to sound like a formal review outlet. It sounds like a seasoned hobbyist opening the book, remembering the last session, and deciding aloud what is worth stealing for the next one. Its best moments are concrete: how a Session Zero can introduce characters to a world, how random encounters can offer bargains instead of only fights, and how a supposedly small logistical choice can turn into a total party disaster. The result is funny, blunt, and surprisingly practical.
Made for: Best for tabletop RPG players, GMs, and OSR-minded hobbyists who enjoy Shadowdark, retro-clone design, campaign prep, and candid product talk. It especially suits listeners who prefer table-tested anecdotes over polished theory.
What sets it apart: Gothridge Manor stands out because its reviews and advice are tangled with live campaign experience. Books, rules, maps, monsters, and session habits are judged by how they behave in play, not by how impressive they look in isolation.
Become a Paid Subscriber: https://anchor.fm/gothridgemanor/subscribeWelcome to my Anchor channel. You'll find nothing serious here. I talk about tabletop RPG gaming with a focus on the older editions and retro clones. Some folks call it the OSR, I just call it gaming. If you like rolling weird dice, talking in weird voices and just being weird, pull up a chair and stay a while.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Gothridge Manor makes old-school campaign craft practical through candid play reports, design ideas and close examinations of tabletop releases.
Tim Shorts turns old-school tabletop gaming into an easygoing workshop, often talking through ideas during drive-home recordings and occasionally examining books from his office.
A shirt-collecting ghoul might be exactly what your next random encounter table is missing.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A candid Knave 2 review where rules, item slots, delving turns, and Peter Mullen's art all get their turn.
Tim Shorts gives Knave 2 a practical lunchtime review, moving from ability scores and role checks into item slots, relic magic, travel, delving turns, maps, and Peter Mullen's artwork.
A practical Shadow Dark hardback unboxing, strongest on map use, format, and one measured printing caveat.
A routine Saturday errand becomes a hands-on look at The Rats of Oogool, a full-size hardback from Menagerie Press, as Tim Shorts works through its Shadow Dark fit for levels one through five and the six additional adventures packed around it.
A hag's bargain follows the party out of the first layer of hell and into a village where consequences begin to bite.
Gothridge Manor tracks the fallout from a hag's bargain, a gateway, and a young girl found wandering in the Comoran Forest. Its best stretch comes as the party understands how badly outmatched they are, takes the deal, destroys the gate, escapes the first layer of hell, then…
Random encounters work best when a roll gives the table a situation it can actually use.
Random encounters feel more useful when they carry a little history and still leave space for the GM to decide what matters. Tim Shores moves from a ghoul collecting victims' shirts to goblins who may be starving, lost, or willing to talk, making the case that a roll can become…
A casual campaign report where dark caves, random treasure, and rotating GMs make the system blend feel table-ready.
Tim Shorts frames the new short campaign as a hands-on trial of blending Shadowdark with another old-school system, shaped by an old friend coming back to gaming and a three-person table trying to keep play balanced.
A loose Lulu haul where cheap OSR adventures spark table-minded speculation.
A Lulu haul turns into a compact tour of hobbyist browsing, with Tim Shorts and Ivy, The Happy Whisk, working through an already-opened package of low-cost OSR adventures.
Actual-play chaos with real table momentum.
Crunchy Pathfinder chaos with table-side rules insight.
Old monsters, carefully inspected.
Rules text turned into table advantage.
Actual play with sharp, chaotic table talk.
Kiwi fantasy chaos with heart and dice.
Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor announces he is starting a ShadowDark campaign set in Komorow Forest after completing several one-shot sessions.
Tim Shorts unboxes seven budget OSR adventures from Lulu in his new office with Ivy.
Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor unboxes Knave 2, a Kickstarter zine-size hardback by Ben Melton and Jacob Hurst with Peter Mullen art.
Tim Shorts unboxes Menagerie Press’s The Rats of Oogool and notes that the Kickstarter was funded in February and delivered quickly through DriveThruRPG.
Tim Shorts discusses his upcoming challenge of running a tabletop RPG for 18 teenagers in 90 minutes.
Tim Shorts discusses his plans for a YouTube channel, including an unboxing of Shadow Dark RPG, and shares his struggles with health and motivation while working on writing and a Kickstarter.
A hag trade, a destroyed gate, and a promised favor turn into months of campaign consequences.
Tim Shores of Gothridge Manor argues that random encounters should be “random situations,” not just “1d6 skeletons” or “1 ghoul.” He uses examples like a ghoul that wears victims’ shirts, starving goblins who drop their weapons for food, and a cleric escaping the dungeon with information or healing.
Tim Shorts discusses hexploration in tabletop RPGs, comparing old school editions to 5th edition, inspired by a recent Kickstarter.
Tim Shorts says he was torn between Shadowdark and OSE, then borrowed Shadowdark's gear slots and simple 10 XP advancement for his new game.
Tim Shorts discusses Wizards of the Coast's upcoming release of a new Dungeon Masters Guide for D&D's 50th anniversary and shares his critical views on designers Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford.
Tim Schwartz unboxes and previews the Dragons of Stormwreck Isle starter set for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.
Tim Shorts discusses the difference between rule-set oriented and freeform role playing, focusing on cleric abilities like turn undead in old school RPGs.
Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor discusses tabletop RPG gaming, focusing on older editions and OSR, and responds to a listener's call about rules and procedural play.
The host shares listener feedback and discusses undead mechanics in old school tabletop RPGs.