RPGFan's panel compares notes on games they've actually played.
RPGFan's Random Encounter gathers a rotating panel from RPGFan to talk through role-playing and adventure games its members have actually played. The talk runs from Code Vein 2 and the character-driven Aether and Iron to the Game Boy era, when the Final Fantasy name was stamped on the SaGa trilogy and the first Mana game.
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RPGFan's Random Encounter is a conversation show from RPGFan, and it keeps its lens on role-playing and adventure games while leaving room for the odd outlier. The format is a small panel. In the recent episodes John O'Logan handles the introductions and brings in a rotating cast, with Audra, Matt, Patrick, Hillary, Ben and Bob all taking part. Zach is thanked for hosting a Best of 2025 episode, which is described as a way to spot what belongs at the front of a backlog before the next wave of releases. The guests do the legwork. They are thanked for playing the games under discussion, and it shows in how specific the talk gets. On Code Vein 2, the panel sets the sequel against a first game whose anime-inspired take on the soulslike drew a middle-of-the-road reception. That talk sits in an episode titled 'Cause and Effect', where two new releases are paired because both, as the introduction puts it, turn on cause and effect. Aether and Iron draws a warmer response: a New York City held aloft on floating islands, a down-on-her-luck smuggler at the center, and a cast one panelist calls the real driving force of the game. The same panelist admits to talking about characters every time, with a reminder that RPGs and adventure games tend to lean that way. Mechanics get the same scrutiny. A game that turns Pallet Town into an open building sandbox is placed on a middle ground between Minecraft and Animal Crossing, with the panel wondering how much time real construction would take. A Zelda-style adventure is judged on whether its areas keep rewarding a return trip once new tools are in hand. The retro thread is just as pointed. One conversation turns to the Game Boy RPGs, from the SaGa trilogy sold as Final Fantasy Legend to Final Fantasy Adventure, the first Mana game, and chews on why the Final Fantasy name went on games that were not Final Fantasy at all. Events surface too: 'PAX East 2026 Roundup!' carries show-floor impressions, including a game with no demo available, and a hope to bring more RPGFan people to PAX to write it up. Around the games the mood stays loose, from a guest's 'Howdy' being teased as very Texan to a closing joke about needing so many chocobo sound effects. Episode titles like 'Life is Strange: Carmageddon', 'Pokémon vs. The World' and 'Proud RPGFans' sketch the range. Recent episodes sign off the same way: whatever you're playing, have fun.
Made for: Suits a listener who plays role-playing and adventure games and wants opinions from people who have put real time into them, with room for retro history and friendly tangents along the way.
What sets it apart: The panel is drawn from RPGFan and plays the games before the conversation, which keeps the talk on specifics like character writing, exploration design and building mechanics, with Game Boy-era history sitting alongside new releases.
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