A loose, funny DM chat about party planning and tablecraft.
This episode starts with a joke about not splitting the party, then settles into a clear-eyed look at how Andy Looney thinks about running a table.

The Download
365 episodes listed below
One word, many nerdy side roads.
The Download follows Andy Looney and Keith Baker through relaxed, topic-hopping conversations sparked by a single word. D&D parties, tarot decks, holiday songs, fictional schools, ice cream, pets, and Star Wars table games all become reasons to tell stories and compare notes.
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The Download is a conversational nerd-culture show organized around a single weekly word. That word can be party, tarot, haggis, academy, song, dejarik, costume, or pets. From there, Andy Looney and Keith Baker let the subject expand at a human pace. The result feels less like a segment rundown and more like two longtime conversational partners sorting through memories, games, media, and little design questions in real time. A party can mean a D&D adventuring group, an actual social event, or a Daggerheart scenario set among rich dangerous people. Tarot can mean mystery, art, Morgan's tarot, Edward Gorey's Fantod pack, and the pleasure of strange interpretive systems. Academy can mean an award, DM University, Starfleet Academy, Battle School, or schools in Eberron. The show is comfortable being specific. It names the deck, the fictional school, the holiday song problem, the milkshake style, the convention, or the tiny bit of Star Wars lore that started the thought. It is not trying to explain fandom from a distance. It sounds like it lives there. The strongest episodes move from play to feeling without making a production out of the shift. Pet episodes linger on Sensei Ping and Haggis with real tenderness, then find a way back toward cat cafes, ice cream, or the ordinary routines around loss. Pop culture sits beside tabletop craft. A mention of Starfleet can slide toward school rivalries, prank structures, and campaign design. A Halloween episode can move from wizard hats and renaissance festivals to an honor-system candy bowl. The pace is measured, with room for callbacks and gentle corrections. Jokes land softly rather than loudly. The appeal is cumulative: the listener gets a weekly record of what these two voices are thinking about, playing with, mourning, watching, and remembering. For fans of tabletop games, speculative worlds, odd media footnotes, and friendly digressions, The Download has the feel of being invited to the table after the formal session has ended.
Made for: For listeners who enjoy tabletop games, fantasy settings, pop-culture tangents, and relaxed conversations that let stories breathe. It especially suits people who like design talk mixed with personal anecdotes.
What sets it apart: The show turns a tiny prompt into a loose but surprisingly rich chain of associations. Its strength is the blend of tabletop fluency, gentle humor, and everyday feeling rather than hot takes or polished segments.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Andy Looney and Keith Baker bring playful, associative conversation to a broad cultural mix, though music is only a peripheral presence.
Andy Looney and Keith Baker build each episode around a single prompt, then follow its associations wherever they lead. Tarot decks open into card mechanics and favorite designs, parties lead to tabletop scenarios and game-master decisions, and academies become a route through…
Tarot, game shows, ice cream and D&D wander into your next favorite conversation.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A loose, funny DM chat about party planning and tablecraft.
This episode starts with a joke about not splitting the party, then settles into a clear-eyed look at how Andy Looney thinks about running a table.
A loose tarot chat that finds mystery in the details.
The Download settles into a loose tarot conversation that treats the cards less as doctrine than as a source of fascination. Andy Looney and Keith Baker open with the death card and its rebirth idea, then circle through childhood curiosity, skepticism, and the pull of a system…
A gentle, conversational episode that moves from grief and memory into dessert talk and a brief game-world detour.
This episode opens with a check-in about Haggis before easing into desserts, keeping the mood soft and personal as Andy Looney and Keith Baker move through loss, memory, and comfort food.
A loose, concrete tour of fictional schools and the world-building they carry.
The conversation treats academy as a loose but useful frame for talking about fictional schools and institutions, moving from Starfleet Academy to DM University and then into setting design.
A loose game-show conversation that moves from Jeopardy to Press Your Luck to SNL parody.
Andy Looney and Keith Baker start with Jeopardy and use it to get at a simple question: what makes a game show feel risky when the stakes are tiny?

Actual play, aftertalk, and tactical table chatter.


Lore-heavy campaigns, live-table chaos.

Table chaos, sharp play, bad plans.

Dry banter, bad odds, real dice.

Grim fantasy, bad plans, live-table chaos.
Andy Looney and Keith Baker open with a joke about parties, both the adventuring kind and the social kind.
Andy Looney and Keith Baker start with tarot.
Andy Looney and Keith Baker open with a check-in about Haggis, Keith's beloved cat.
Andy Looney and Keith Baker open with the word “academy” and use it as a starting point for a loose walk through fictional schools, teaching, and world-building.
The hosts discuss the word 'song' and explore holiday music, its cultural significance, and personal experiences with it during the holiday season.
The hosts discuss the Star Wars holographic chess game dejarik, its name, and its appearance in Rogue One.
Two hosts banter about costumes, Halloween traditions, and their lack of trick-or-treaters, with a playful tone.
The hosts discuss the emotional challenges of pet ownership, including the death of a pug and health concerns for a cat.
Two hosts discuss their first day in Tokyo, including visiting teamLab Borderless and planning future stops like Osaka and Kyoto.
Two friends chat about their upcoming trip to Japan and one's recent experience at Burning Man.
Keith and the host discuss their experiences packing up and shipping products after Gen Con, a tabletop gaming convention.
The hosts discuss the departure of their cartoonist Good Low and the need to find a replacement.
Two hosts discuss their current TV show re-watches, including Strange New Worlds, Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul.
Two hosts engage in a comedic debate about the different types of ice cream cones.
Andy Looney and Keith Baker discuss the YouTube series 'Smarty Pants,' describing it as a funny Ted-like show with slide presentations and Q&A sessions featuring comedians exploring scientific and humorous topics.
Andy Looney and Keith Baker start with Jeopardy and quickly get into why a show with such a harsh name feels so familiar and harmless.
Two hosts casually discuss the definition of snacks, their preferences for savory vs.
Two hosts engage in a humorous discussion about surplus stores, recalling quirky items like gas masks and army hats, with playful banter.
The hosts discuss the TV show 'The Twilight Zone' and the concept of twilight as a magical time of day.
The hosts discuss the differences between American and British terms for baked goods like cookies, biscuits, and scones, including a humorous anecdote about Idaho's interpretation of scones.
Two hosts engage in lighthearted, comedic conversation about who prefers to drive versus be a passenger in a car.
Two hosts engage in a comedic, free-form discussion about the number 11, touching on pop culture references and trivia.
The hosts discuss time travel movies, focusing on Back to the Future Part II as a favorite.
Keith Baker recounts his experience as a Dungeon Master at a D&D event held in a castle, discussing the setup, gameplay, and atmosphere.
Two hosts engage in humorous banter about calendars, advent calendars, and a Buffy the Vampire Slayer character.
Hosts Keith and an unnamed co-host discuss time travel TV shows, including Bodies and Loki, and the concept of paradoxes.
Two hosts chat about charcuterie boards, sharing their evolving opinions and enjoyment of this food trend.
Hosts Keith and Baker discuss a potential Breaking Bad sequel and the concept of remixing stories.
This episode discusses the phenomenon of non-musical TV shows doing musical episodes, focusing on examples like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Buffy the Vampire Slayer's 'Once More with Feeling'.
This episode celebrates Layla's birthday by sharing interesting facts about her life, including her upbringing in the Panama Canal Zone.
The hosts discuss their contrasting personal feelings about wearing face masks, with one expressing intense hatred and the other finding them tolerable or even likable.