PastMaster: Reshaping History With AI

PastMaster

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Could you survive and thrive if you were sent back in time? Would you invent electricity in ancient Rome, or perhaps teach Napoleon rock & roll? Well now you can find out! Join our hosts Ryan, Tan and Keon in PastMaster – the time-travelling, history-bending, role-playing show. It’s simple. We've given an AI the rules of the game and it acts as our narrator and guide. Each week we navigate to a different era and find out if we've got what it takes to reshape history. Will it be historically accurate? Will any of it make sense? Will we master the past...

S4E11: Matthew Crosby and the Satanic Cult

Comedian and writer Matthew Crosby steps out of his bathtub time machine to join us on a murder mystery adventure in Victorian London. When mysterious ritual murders start appearing across the city, Matthew is called up to ivestigate.Posing as French detective 'Inspector Pompidou,' Matthew discovers a satanic cult attempting dark and mysterious deeds in the centre of London. Armed with holy water, a crucifix, and his quick wit, he must infiltrate the cult before darkness consumes Victorian Londo

Apr 21, • 1:01:50

S4E10: Who can build the best Trojan Horse?

What if the Trojan Horse...wasn't a horse at all? In this epic battle of wits, Tan and Keon compete to design history's greatest deception at the walls of Troy.The siege of Troy has dragged on for a decade when our contestants arrive with modern minds but Bronze Age materials. Under the watchful eye of a science-obsessed Game Master (channeling Bill Nye), Tan and Keon's increasingly desperate attempts to create the perfect Trojan deception face the harsh scrutiny of historical accuracy. From tit

Apr 14, • 54:40

S4E9: The Haunting of Henry VIII, ft Fetch the Smelling Salts

Oh hey girl hey, its the diarrhea service!That's how to convince a maid in Henry VIII's royal palace that you're just one of the staff and not a time travelling spy on a mission. At least according to Kim and Alice from Fetch The Smelling Salts podcast who are back in PastMaster hot seat this week. Their mission – save Henry VIIIs wives from divorce and beheadings. Equipped with a smoke machine, Halloween makeup, and their Catholic background, their plan is to infiltrate the castle, ga

Apr 7, • 1:02:04

S4E8: Ancient MesoPOOtamia... – Death Wish Speed Run ft Nick Horseman

In this unseen episode, from PastMaster’s darkest vault, rapper and comedian Nick Horseman sets course for Ur in the ancient kingdom of Mesopotamia.He has one thing on his mind: cause mayhem and achieve Game Over as quickly as possible.It's a death wish speed run. Can you play Grand Theft Auto in Mesoptamia? What’s the best way to insult the guard captain’s mother? And how quickly can Horseman be thrown into jail? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 24, • 37:29

S4E7: Danny Dyer calls The Void a slag. The Big Bang, Garden of Eden and the East End

The Thots TV team are back in the hot seat with the most impossible challenge yet. Travelling back to before the Big Bang. Embodying a "heat-resistant" Danny Dyer, can they survive in a place where the rules of physics don't even exist? Plus what would the Garden of Eden have been like? We took a quick trip over their to check out the local boozers. We also debut Chinese upstart DeepSeek as GameMaster, bringing a unique flavour to proceedings. Join us for a hilarious journey through cre

Mar 17, • 44:35

S4E6: AC/DC and The Battle of the Bots – ChatGPT vs Claude

It's a battle for the ages as Keon and Tan go head-to-head in a shocking two-player PastMaster showdown! In this electrifying episode, we travel back to 1890s America to determine the fate of electricity itself during the infamous War of the Currents.With Keon channeling Nikola Tesla (backed by ChatGPT) and Tan embodying Thomas Edison (powered by Claude), they'll square off in a proper technological tussle that'll make your hair stand on end. Marvel as they deploy utterly mental promoti

Mar 10, • 48:03

S4E5: Claudanum-dreams. A gothic literature revolution, featuring Thots TV

The Thots TV podcast join us for a gothic adventure full of literary titans, a 'haunted house' and lashings of laudanum.It's 1816, the year without a summer. Lord Byron, Mary (not yet) Shelly and friends are stuck in Villia Diodati for 3 days in stormy weather. The party that inspired Frankenstein's Monster, The Vampyr and Darkness is in full swing. Meg, Elsie and Laura arrive as the mysterious Lady Thottringham. Their mission? Stop Mary Shelley from writing Frankenstein and inspire her

Mar 3, • 1:05:13

S4E4: Claude of the Rings

We're breaking out of the historical timeline for a quick trip back to Middle Earth. Back in Season 1 we took ChatGPT on a quick excursion here, so how will GameMaster Claude react when we try and break the rules of PastMaster and venture into the realm of fiction?Co-host Keon is notoriously not a fan of films, especially fantasy ones. So today we thought we'd educate him all about "Bo Bo Baggins" and the gang. But Claude is a little reluctant to change Tolkien's masterpiece without a b

Feb 24, • 39:30

S4E3: One Giant Mess for Mankind. Hitching a ride on Apollo 11

Return guest Chris Dillon joins us for another historical misadventure as he attempts to infiltrate one of humanity's greatest achievements - the Apollo 11 mission. Armed with nothing but confidence and his character "Buzz Cauldron," Chris discovers that impersonating Buzz Aldrin is considerably more challenging than anticipated, especially when the real Buzz Aldrin shows up.What follows is a cascade of increasingly chaotic events featuring fights, airlocks, spacecraft control mishaps,

Feb 17, • 41:07

S4E2: The Social Network Stealer. Founding Facebook First

In this episode, the Zuck stops with us. Journalist and writer Chris Dillon joins us in the recent past to reshape tech history! The year is 2003, and a young Mark Zuckerberg is skulking the corridors of Harvard, his mind deep into plans to create TheFacebook. Will our tallest guest ever succeed in his mission to derail Mark Zuckerberg's social media empire, or will Harvard's surprisingly zealous campus security get in the way?Chris discovers that changing the course of tech history is

Feb 10, • 49:38

S4E1: Sense and Shootability with Micky Overman

Comedian Micky Overman joins PastMaster for the Season 4 premiere, heading to Pride & Prejudice times to give sexism a punch on the nose.Micky steps back into Georgian-era London for a tale of romance, social intrigue, and pistols at dawn. Taking on the role of the mysterious "Lady Hemming-Trout," She must navigate a delicate matchmaking mission to unite two star-crossed lovers while outmaneuvering fortune hunters and sharp-tongued society matrons.When a shooting contest with an arr

Feb 3, • 50:44

The Ghost of Christmas PastMaster

It's that time of the year and the PastMaster crew have pulled out all the stops to go on a festive adventure for the ages. Tinsel ✅ Santa hats ✅ Christmas Ghosts delivering time travel rebukes ✅ Returning guest, comedian Nick Horseman narrates the three Christmas Ghosts of Past, Present and Future. Ryan, Tan and Keon are set a series of festive challenges across three different eras. Can they make their mark on Christmas history? Or is it lumps of coal and eternal banishment to the n

Dec 16, 2024 • 56:10

The Truth Behind Stonehenge – [REPLAY S2.E5]

The countdown to Christmas continues with another PastMaster replay special. We've turned back the clock to this episode from Season 2 where we uncovered the mysteries of Stonehenge... Keon’s always wanted to know who built Stonehenge and why. So Ryan used PastMaster to find out (of course). In what is possibly the trippiest episode of PastMaster yet, our AI GameMaster concocts a Neolithic adventure for the ages. It all goes pear-shaped when Ryan encounters a mysterious man called Elron

Dec 9, 2024 • 53:22

True Crime Special – Jack the Ripper's identity revealed [REPLAY S2.E3]

In true PastMaster style we're turning back the clock to revisit the past. In this case, our own podcasting past. In this episode from Season 2, Tan travels back to the slums of Victorian Whitechapel in a bid to catch Jack the Ripper and solve one of the most notorious unsolved crimes ever. If AI has access to all the knowledge in history, could it spot patterns in the data that mere humans have missed? Will GameMaster have a convincing theory as to who Jack the Ripper was? And can Tan

Dec 1, 2024 • 38:22

S3E14: PastMaster Live – How to become worshipped as a god

In our first-ever live show, Ryan tries to persuade a boatful of explorers that he is a deity. Plus our live studio audience attempts to "bake a gun" in revolutionary France. If you were sent back in time you could persuade people of all sorts of things given your advanced knowledge of future events. But could you persuade them to worship you as a deity? This is the victory condition set out by GameMaster in today's episode of PastMaster.  It turns out GameMaster (powered once again by

Nov 11, 2024 • 1:00:54

S3E13: Freaking out the Founding Fathers of America [1775 CE]

With American politics constantly in the news right now PastMaster heads back in time to visit the first presidents of the USA to see what they were like. The year is 1775. Colonial America is on the brink of declaring independence from Britain. Ryan has arrived on the scene with two goals in mind: 1) Can he make some changes to the constitution before it gets enshrined?  2) Can he make such a big mark on history that they put his face on Mount Rushmore? Continuing our exploration of Cl

Oct 7, 2024 • 47:34

S3E12: Plato's Wrestlemania & the Search for Atlantis [355 BCE]

Is Atlantis real? That's the question we've been pondering as Tan takes to the PastMaster hotseat to try and uncover the truth. Travelling back to ancient Athens, the first priority is to seek out a man who is a philosopher, and yet most famously known by his wrestling name - Plato.Will Plato give us the answers? Will GameMaster Claude be any better at solving mysteries than GameMaster Chatty G? Is Plato any good at wrestling?Tune in and find out.Don't forget, tickets are onsale now for

Sep 30, 2024 • 38:29

S3E11: HardMode 3.0 - Hard Claude with a Vengeance

Is Claude a more realistic GameMaster than ChatGPT? This week we're bringing back 'Hard Mode' to PastMaster. We've crafted a particularly difficult prompt that requires full realism, or else... It turns out, Claude is very hard indeed, so much so that we had enough time for 3 cracks at it! Keon heads to the Victorian era to claim some lands from a nobleman. Tan has a little jolly in the ancient Aztec empire.And Ryan brings a throwback to Season 1, Episode 15 where we tried to 'take out'

Sep 23, 2024 • 40:29

Important PastMaster Announcement(s)!

We've been a little quiet over the summer, but fear not, the wheels of time are still turning at the PastMaster HQ! We've got 3 exciting announcements: 1. Next week PastMaster Season 3 returns. We're having another crack at making the show even harder, only this time using Claude instead of ChatGPT. But how hard is too hard? Tune in on Monday 23rd to find out. 2. PastMaster is going live!! We've been invited to perform at the Cheerful Earful Podcast Festival. Catch us live and in pe

Sep 17, 2024 • 1:52

S3E10: ‘Lady Claudius’ vs Robin Hood (ft Heidi Regan) [1152 CE]

Comedian Heidi Regan joins the PastMaster team for the chance to meet her hero Robin Hood. Sent on a mission to steal the Sheriff of Nottingham’s treasure and free the Merry Men from jail, will she use stealth and cunning or brute force (or a little of both?) Expect lots of tickling, plenty of gold and if all goes to plan a good bath and a giant celebratory bonfire in Sherwood Forest. This is PastMaster’s debut with Claude 3.5, currently the chattiest, slickest chatbot in the game (a

Jul 9, 2024 • 1:00:13

S3E9: Claude is back! Cockney GameMaster vs Samurai Warriors. [~1336 CE]

GameMaster Claude is back and is as weird as ever! Tan has always wanted to return to feudal Japan to meet some Samurai warriors. He finally gets his chance, but will GameMaster let him play? Tan finds himself in a battle against the Samurai warriors and GameMaster itself, who insists on inserting into the story with main-character energy. Who can win in a battle of wit and brawn? In concocting a special prompt for this Claude-powered episode Ryan inserted one simple line: "GameMaster

Jul 1, 2024 • 52:22

S3E8: Does AI believe in Aliens? The Truth behind Area 51 (ft Sunil Patel) [1988 CE]

Aliens. Living amongst us. Possibly. What does GameMaster think? Surely with access to all the knowledge on the internet, our AI-powered guide has parsed the data, found the patterns and come up with a convincing theory? Comedian and actor Sunil Patel (Alice & Jack (C4) The Witchfinder (BBC), This Time with Alan Partridge (BBC), Stath Lets Flats (C4))  joins us again to explore the murky goings-on inside Area 51. Get in touch with us: Instagram 👉 @PastMasterPod (check out our AI-

Jun 24, 2024 • 41:40

S3E7: Infiltrating Pablo Escobar's Cartel. "El contacto y las tartas" [1973 CE]

This week Keon takes the reins to explore 1970s Medellín, Colombia. The mission: Become Pablo Escobar’s right-hand man with a 50/50 split of all the takings. Ambitious as ever, but Keon has… a unique plan to get his way. First, how do you prove your worth to the biggest cartel leader in history? A lavish party may be in order... Nick Horseman joins us once again to lend his voice to GameMaster, which returns to ChatGPT after our crazy diversion to Claude last week. Get in touch with

Jun 17, 2024 • 42:14

S3E6: Move over ChatGPT, Clever Claude is the new GameMaster (ft Nick Horseman) [~1350 CE]

GameMaster - the AI-powered narrator of PastMaster adventures - gets a makeover in today's episode. ChatGPT has been benched and replaced by a competing tool known as Claude.ai We've given Claude the same starting prompt we usually feed to ChattyG. So how will it compare? Well, it turns out Claude brings a unique energy to the proceedings! Friend of the show Nick Horseman returns to the hot seat for another crack at the past, only this time he's being guided by a radically different (p

Jun 10, 2024 • 42:02

S3E5: Pheasants & Phlatulence. The best drama. Period. (ft Kim and Alice from Fetch the Smelling Salts) [1813 CE]

Brace yourself. We're heading to rural Derbyshire in 1813 with Alice Nagle and Kim Marsh from ⁠@fetchsmellingsalts⁠ for a romp through Regency England's high society. While all eyes are on the debutantes and bachelors, it is the wily elder generation calling the shots. Alice and Kim take on the roles of pushy aunts with a mission – can they find an eligible bachelor for their nieces? Expect a full helping of dashing bachelors, an ensemble of blushing debutantes and lashings of devious

Jun 4, 2024 • 1:05:46

S3E4: Sunil Patel's Roman Rampage [~150 BCE]

Comedian and actor Sunil Patel (Alice & Jack (C4) The Witchfinder (BBC), This Time with Alan Partridge (BBC), Stath Lets Flats (C4) is back in the hot seat for another blast through the past. As our first guest back in Season 1 Sunil is a veteran of exploring the markets and brothels of history’s muddy waters. This time he’s headed back to Rome to make a name for himself amongst the Roman elite. But will GameMaster allow him to wander around punching senators without consequences?

May 27, 2024 • 47:03

S3E3: AgathAI ChristiGPT – Can we make a compelling murder mystery drama? [1928 CE]

First Sherlock Holmes then Hercule Poirot and now Inspector Klaus. Keon pits himself against the greatest crime-solving detectives in a special MurderMysteryMaster edition of PastMaster. We've powered up GameMaster to deliver a veritable Cluedo feast of a whodunnit. But will we ever find out who delivered the fate of the recently deceased Lord Jasper Cavendish Brown? Tune in and find out Get in touch with us: Instagram 👉 @PastMasterPod (check out our AI-generated art illustrating wh

May 20, 2024 • 35:32

S3E2: “A Whole New (smoke-free) World” - Saving Walt Disney (ft Verbal Diorama’s Em McGowan)

Disney's "Dark Ages" typically encompasses the late 1960s to the late 1980s. During this time the quality and success of Disney animated films suffered and it wasn’t until 1989’s The Little Mermaid that things turned around. But what happened? Why was one of the most successful studios of all time in decline? The answer likely lies with the man himself, Walt Disney, whose untimely death at 65 left the company struggling to find creative leadership that could fill his shoes. It turns out

May 13, 2024 • 41:51

S3E1: Hard Mode 2.0 – Can Tan become a god in Ancient Sparta? [~500 BCE]

We're back with Season 3 of PastMaster! This week's episode is PastHard with a Vengeance as Ryan tries to turn the tables on Tan with his version of a harder, stricter game. Tan gets sent back to Ancient Sparta against his wishes and has to survive amongst the muscle-bound warriors with only the movie 300 starring Gerard Butler as his reference point material. Will he survive? Or will he be smited and ridiculed? Tune in and find out. Get in touch with us: Instagram 👉 @PastMasterPod

May 6, 2024 • 47:59

Season 3 Trailer – The Past and the Furious

The PastMaster crew are back with Season 3. And it's promising to be more Past-ery and more AI-y than ever before. Featuring upgraded GameMasters, Murder Mystery solving, Regency period dramas, Walt Disney, Samurais, Area 51, Cockneys, Drug Lords and so much more. We've also got a whole slew of guests this season including fellow podcasters Verbal Diorama and Fetch the Smelling salts. Plus comedians Sunil Patel, Nick Horseman and more. You can also see our lovely faces as we attempt

May 3, 2024 • 5:44

S2E13: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly - Season 2 Finale

Looking back on highlights of season 2, Ryan, Keon and Tan pick out the good, the bad and the tremendously ugly. Phallic AI art and GameMaster’s double standards feature prominently, alongside successes such as ‘hard mode’, the mission to dismantle the Berlin Conference and improvements in AI over the course of the series. ‘King George’ makes his debut as the voice of GameMaster, and we also hear stories of chilli disaster from our hosts. Also includes as a teaser for what is coming up

Feb 19, 2024 • 39:27

S2E12: The Mary Celeste - Mystery Solved (kinda) [1872 CE]

The PastMaster team joins the fateful final voyage of the Mary Celeste, the merchant ship whose crew vanished without a trace in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872. Determined to find out the truth behind one of the world’s great unsolved mysteries, ‘Third Mate Tan’ joins the crew and bears witness to the events leading up to the abandonment of the ship. Everything from mutiny and insurance fraud to a giant squid, calm or stormy weather and even aliens has been proposed as a possible cause of t

Feb 5, 2024 • 47:29

S2E11: The Sausage of World Peace (Dinner Party Master Special)

This week the team head to the Palace of Versailles to host a fantasy dinner party attended by the good (Jesus and Gandhi), the bad (Hitler, Stalin and Mao) prominent historical female leaders (Elizabeth I and Cleopatra) and wild card Liz Truss. Roleplaying the Hostess with the Mostest, Tan unveils a tempting but symbolic menu for the assembled guests, trying to get them to see eye to eye. Breaking the ice with a question about wrestling, Tan gets the party off to a good start, but wi

Jan 29, 2024 • 38:29

S2E10: Two Mad Dogs, a Swan Burger and a Fighting Bear [1613 CE] (ft. special guest Marc Zakian)

In the ultimate battle of man vs machine, we pit our human guide against artificial intelligence for an adventure through time. But who will emerge as more insightful and knowledgeable? In the human corner we have the excellent Marc Zakian from Extraordinary Stories of Britain podcast, and in the machine corner we have our trusty AI GameMaster. Marc is a Blue Badge Guide and runs regular tours in the British Museum and the Tower of London and counts Shakespeare among his specialities. F

Jan 22, 2024 • 1:25:16

S2E9: Harder, faster, Past-ier – Royal Rumble in the American Revolution [1773 CE]

Besieged by PastMaster fans asking for the game to be made harder, Tan updates the rules of the game, giving us all new ‘hard mode’. This is an attempt to revert to the original concept of the game: to test whether you could truly survive and thrive in the past armed just with the knowledge in your head and the shirt on your back. Ryan sets out to test this new game with his unique brand of death-wish chaos. Jumping into Boston 1773, with the colony itching to break free from the Engl

Jan 8, 2024 • 40:45

S2E8: Operation: Save Jesus [~30 CE] (ft. special guest Nick Horseman)

Returning to PastMaster for another crack at the past is rapper and comedian Nick Horseman. Nick (AKA Cat R Pillar) and Keon (AKA Colin Winkleforth) face off in a two-player competition to save Jesus from being arrested and crucified by the Romans. Our AI Game Master, perhaps predictably, struggles to run a game with two players in the same scenario, instead creating two co-existing realities. But to spice things up our heroes try to sabotage each other’s efforts. Keon reverts to type a

Dec 18, 2023 • 31:55

S2E7: FutureMaster – We've been to the year 3000. Can confirm, they don't live underwater [2985 CE]

Keon flexes his muscles and updates his Insta profile pic before jumping into the time machine and darting off to the 30th century. Landing in a year when data is apparently more valuable than gold, Keon must find a way to stop the ‘Great Data Breach’ before it can happen. (TBF the Great Data Breach sounds like something very plausible at Northamptonshire County Council in the 21st century.) Egged on by his sci-fi-friendly teammates Tan and Ryan, Keon heads to a local cybernetic cafe to

Dec 11, 2023 • 1:08:26

S2E6: Stop the Conference! Berlin 1884 (ft. Chinny Ukata & Astrid Madimba from It's a Continent)

Special guests Chinny Ukata and Astrid Madimba from It’s a Continent podcast join the PastMaster crew for a mission at the Berlin Conference of 1884. Taking aim at the event widely regarded as the point when European nations gave themselves the green light to seize Africa for themselves, Chinny and Astrid plunge into the heart of the action. Aiming to disrupt the conference and put a stop to the European colonisation of Africa, our heroines must first think of a way to get inside withou

Dec 4, 2023 • 59:19

S2E5: Solving the Mystery of Stonehenge [~3000 BCE]

Keon’s always wanted to know who built ⁠Stonehenge⁠ and why. So Ryan used PastMaster to find out (of course). In what is possibly the trippiest episode of PastMaster yet, our AI GameMaster concocts a Neolithic adventure for the ages. It all goes pear-shaped when Ryan encounters a mysterious man called Elron (alarm bells already ringing). It turns out the secrets of Stonehenge are much bigger than anybody ever realised. Alliances will be forged, secrets will be revealed, and crystal toil

Nov 27, 2023 • 54:49

S2E4: Labour of Time [1959 CE] (ft. special guest Tom GK)

Comedian and writer Tom GK returns to the PastMaster studio, taking the hot seat for his first time as a player. Heading to the Labour Party conference in Blackpool in 1959, Tom plans to alter the course of British politics and improve life for everyone in the country for decades to come. After an initial display of hopeless incompetence from our AI GameMaster, Tom finally gets to take the microphone. With a deft surgical incision into the Labour Party’s home ownership policy, Tom sets

Nov 20, 2023 • 45:22

S2E3: TrueCrimeMaster – We solved the Jack The Ripper case!

Tan travels back to the slums of Victorian Whitechapel in a bid to catch Jack the Ripper and solve one of the most notorious unsolved crimes ever. Donning his detective gear and using the moniker Inspector Nathaniel, Tan marches into Scotland Yard in the summer of 1888 and demands to speak to Chief Insp Fred Abberline. Using his knowledge of future events, such as the eruption of Mt Bandai in Japan, the emergence of touch typing, and a fire at the Main Building in Wells College, New Yor

Nov 13, 2023 • 38:06

S2E2: "The Strategist" sniffs out Napoleon Bonaparte [1805 CE] (ft. special guest Nick Horseman)

Special guest rapper and comedian Nick Horseman returns to PastMaster in the year 1805 for an adventure aboard the HMS Victory en route to the Battle of Trafalgar. With a surreal curveball, Admiral Horatio Nelson’s nemesis, the time travelling Napoleon Bonaparte, turns up below deck on the Victory, blending in among the barrels. Horseman, fearing he might be branded a traitor, uses his keen sense of smell to implicate Napoleon and prove his allegiance to the crown. Next, with a long sea

Nov 6, 2023 • 48:38

S2E1: Sorcery Slam (Hallowe’en special) [~1400 CE] ft. special guest Tom GK.

PastMaster is back for season 2 and for this Halloween special Tan takes on the Witchfinder General himself in a bid to end the persecution of witches. Starring special guest comedian and writer Tom GK as the voice of GameMaster. Tan finds himself in the spooky surrounds of Suffolk town of Bury St Edmunds during the English Civil War it isn’t long before Witchfinder Matthew Hopkins and Tan are locked in a battle of words to decide whether witches really exist and to test whether Tan is

Oct 30, 2023 • 51:55

EP20: A blast from the PastMaster — Season 1 Finale (featuring special guest ‘Dave’)

We’re wrapping up Season 1 of PastMaster with a look back on some of the highlights of our adventures so far. Joining us “live, in-person” for the very first time is GameMaster itself, being voiced by various AI voices ranging from wheeler-dealer ‘Dave’ to creepy, patronizing ‘Thomas’ And finally, in a break from the past, we look ahead to FutureMaster and tease what’s coming up next. We'd love your thoughts and feedback on where to take this in Season 2. Get in touch with us: Instag

Aug 29, 2023 • 37:16

EP19: Barbenheimer (Special 2 Player PastMaster)

Barbie and Ken try to prevent nuclear war by sabotaging the bomb in our first two-player game of PastMaster. Barbie, played by Keon, goes deep undercover in New Mexico, using her knowledge of physics and her charm to get past the US scientists and into the lab. Meanwhile Ken, played by Tan, goes so deep undercover in Germany that he almost forgets his mission and hunkers down into a simple life of farming. Will the pop culture icons get to meet Oppenheimer? Can you use bananas as a subs

Aug 22, 2023 • 40:00

EP18: Cap’n F**k-C**tle’s Sweary Sea Shanty [1756 CE]

EXPLICIT CONTENT WARNING: While we have bleeped out the worst of the swear words, this episode is definitely not safe for work or those who don’t wish to hear bad language Ryan finally gets Chat GPT to swear and puts it to the test in an adventure full of grimy pirates, squawking parrots and buried treasure. After assembling a malodorous crew of cutlass-rattling sea-dogs, Ryan (AKA Captain F*ck-C*ntle) tries his luck wooing Belch-Breathed Bella. Next, he gets serious with a plan to make

Aug 14, 2023 • 50:03

EP17: Olympic wheelbarrow racing (with special guest Louise Banham) [776 BCE]

At the first ever Olympics Keon sets out to win a gold medal and introduce some new sports to the Games, starring special guest Louise Banham as the voice of Game Master. Channelling his ‘inner Jonathan Edwards’ he gets the crowd going, but not before exploring some ancient Greek trash talking, all under the watchful supervision of Game Master’s stern moral compass. Next Keon ditches PowerPoint and uses physical demonstration to persuade the Olympic Committee to accept wheelbarrow racin

Jul 31, 2023 • 48:49

EP16: Elizabethan Jazz Hands (with special guest Louise Banham) [1592 CE]

Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I feature in this episode set in 1592. Special guest Louise Banham attempts to become ruler of England by introducing the land to musical theatre. Beating the Bard to the punch, she writes Macbeth: The Musical and lures the queen into her masterplan with the promise of a role as lead lutist in her show. After securing a face to face meeting with the formidable monarch, Banham uses her famous jazz hands to beguile and bamboozle Queen Liz into considering h

Jul 24, 2023 • 57:06

EP15: Aria of Death, A Mission to kill Hitler (with special guest Nick Horseman) [1911 CE]

Special guest Nick Horseman stars in a time travelling mission to kill Adolph Hitler before he can rise to prominence. Adopting the moniker of Klaus Hörsmann, Nick journeys back to the Habsburg Empire in Vienna, 1911, via a log flume time machine and heads straight to a gun shop. Finding himself penniless, Hörsmann immediately gets to work bartering for a discreet but deadly weapon with which to do the deed. After badmouthing a rival arms dealer’s business, Hörsmann gets his hands on th

Jul 17, 2023 • 37:02

EP14: Death Wish Kitty (with special guest Nick Horseman) [1250 BCE]

The gang head back to ancient Egypt, this time with a cunning plan involving poles, furs and a beatboxing cat-god... With Keon away the team welcomes back special guest comedian and rapper Nick Horseman to take on the voice of Game Master. The game’s difficulty setting has been dialled up with new rules to make it much stricter and more realistic and also more cutting in its criticism of the player. Ryan tries to lose the game as quickly as possible. But will ChatGPT play ball? PastMas

Jul 10, 2023 • 1:13:22

EP13: The Windy City Wedding Whiskey Run (with special guest Nick Horseman) [1926 CE]

Special guest comedian and rapper Nick Horseman stars in a wise-cracking journey to prohibition-era Chicago. With his gangster patter down to a tee and a cunning plan to get in with the local mob boss, Nick sets out to make a name for himself as the new player in town. PastMaster is the time-travel role-playing adventure show where Ryan, Keon and Tan explore a different era of history each episode with the help of our maverick AI GameMaster. Landing in the Windy City in 1926, Horseman b

Jul 3, 2023 • 1:12:33

EP12: When in Rome... [70 BCE]

Tan visits an ancient Roman amphitheatre to try and spruce up their chariot designs with some 21st-century know-how. PastMaster is the time-travel role-playing adventure show where Ryan, Keon and Tan explore a different era of history each episode with the help of our maverick AI GameMaster. The thundering of hooves, the crowd baying, and the clash of steel on steel provide the soundtrack to this week’s episode! Channelling his inner Premiership footballer, Tan baits the crowd before cl

Jun 26, 2023 • 50:53

EP11: Egypt, pt 2 – Are ghosts real or not then? [~1400 BCE]

We rejoin Keon (AKA Kheper) on his treacherous journey to the Egyptian underworld to see if Anubis, the god of the dead, will play ball with his theme park idea or instead extract his still-beating heart from his chest. PastMaster is the time-travel role-playing adventure show where Ryan, Keon and Tan explore a different era of history each episode with the help of our maverick AI GameMaster. It is the year 1400BC and with his plans for world beard domination firmly in mind, Keon must p

Jun 19, 2023 • 46:09

EP10: Egypt, pt 1 – Ancient Egyptian beard modelling [~1400 BCE]

GameMaster gets a makeover from pithy and sarcastic to a bitter, angry old man for this beard-themed trip to ancient Egypt. The game’s difficulty level is also dialled up, with strict instructions to deduct the player’s lives as a punishment for dangerous actions. Despite the increased danger, Keon cheerfully adopts the name Kheper and heads for the land of sphinxes and pyramids where he intends to discover the secrets of the pharaohs’ beard grooming. His attention is distracted by th

Jun 12, 2023 • 48:19

EP9: Galilee, pt 2 – Come on Jesus, what was your best miracle? [25 CE]

Tan finally meets Jesus. Picking up from the knife-edge where we left off last time, we also find out whether Tan’s plan to take over the saffron trade in Galilee circa 25AD will pay off. PastMaster is the time-travel role-playing adventure show where Ryan, Keon and Tan explore a different era of history each episode with the help of our AI GameMaster. With a gang of local tough-nuts and farmers now working for him and making plans to out-do rival saffron trader Mordechai at his own gam

Jun 5, 2023 • 49:19

EP8: Galilee, pt 1 – Baron Saffron sets up shop [25 CE]

Tan journeys to the era of Jesus Christ in Galilee, circa 25AD. After getting caught stealing some bread, he forges an unlikely friendship with a spice merchant before setting out to become a saffron dealer in his own right. With the help of his mentor he meets the fearsome merchant Mordechai to explore business opportunities around town. But things quickly turn sour and it’s not long before Tan is galloping on a stolen donkey to Mordechai’s estate to try and poach his best people befor

May 28, 2023 • 38:57

EP7: The land before time (and logic) [~65m BCE]

Tan visits the Jurassic era to test whether he can avoid becoming lunch and emerge victorious as leader of the dinosaurs. Pushing the parameters of the game to its limits, Tan makes friends with dinosaurs, first crafting rudimentary armour and weapons for the great lizards before introducing them to the delights of song and dance. Taking his lead from Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, our protagonist divides his new companions into two camps – good dinosaurs and evil ones. How does Tan communi

May 22, 2023 • 33:15

EP6: Inventing ‘the box’ and avoiding Agincourt (with special guest Sunil Patel) [1411 CE]

Special guest comedian Sunil Patel visits a brothel in the mid-15th century. Despite this indulgent opening, his savvy negotiations and surprisingly vague and generic invention soon open the way for victory. But can anyone explain what the invention known as ‘Patel’s Device’ actually does? Bernard Cornwell’s ⁠Azincourt⁠ and Shakespeare’s Henry V are the inspiration for Sunil’s adventure. PastMaster is the time-travel role-playing adventure show where Ryan, Keon and Tan explore a differ

May 15, 2023 • 1:03:02

EP5: On the origin of "On the Origin of Species" [1861 CE]

Ryan gaslights Charles Darwin about who really wrote On the Origin of Species and orders the scientist to give him a piggyback across town. Using the acronym Ryland Mulchroneforth, our anti-hero heads to London during the Victorian Era where he bumps into the eminent scientist in a pub. Just to make things more interesting Game Master this week is played by Marvin the Paranoid Android from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. And oh yes, this week we must also never say the word ‘chees

May 8, 2023 • 48:19

EP4: Fixing Lord of the Rings

Dragging our AI Gamemaster off to JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Tan finds out how orc visitor ‘Thokk the Unthinkable’ gets on in the Shire and whether Gandalf will accept his plan to destroy the One Ring. For a one-off game Tan takes the adventure to The Shire in Tolkien’s Middle Earth, where he tests wizard Gandalf’s tactics as well as his patience. In the guise of friendly orc ‘Thokk the Unthinkable’, Tan proposes an alternative means of destroying the One Ring, but Gandalf becomes defe

Apr 30, 2023 • 21:10

EP3: Headbutting into the Viking Times [~850 CE]

Keon explores his inner murder hobo, journeying to Denmark at the height of the Viking empire where he seeks to be worshipped as a god and to start a feud with a rival. PastMaster is the time-travel role-playing adventure show where Ryan, Keon and Tan explore a different era of history each episode with the help of our AI GameMaster. Heading to Denmark circa 900AD, Keon embraces the brutality of the age, styling himself as Jarl Olaf and headbutting a rival right off the bat to show how

Apr 30, 2023 • 43:29

EP2: Medieval Breakdancing Badgers [~1300 CE]

Ryan give Guns N’ Roses a makeover on the lute and tries to seduce a lord’s wife. But could his animal training know-how prove the real key to success? PastMaster is the time-travel role-playing adventure show where Ryan, Keon and Tan explore a different era of history each episode with the help of our AI GameMaster. Materialising in a medieval marketplace, adventurer ‘Ryanardo’ tests out Johnny B Goode on the locals, catching the attention of a local bard. Introducing his new friend to

Apr 30, 2023 • 32:01

EP1: Kentucky Fried Western [1865 CE]

On our maiden voyage back in time, Keon heads to the Wild West to make a name for himself among the cowboys with a fast food franchise that promises to be finger lickin’ good. PastMaster is the time-travel role-playing adventure show where Ryan, Keon and Tan explore a different era of history each episode with the help of our AI GameMaster. In this episode, meeting up to play PastMaster together for the first time, Ryan, Keon and Tan discuss whether AI is ‘good or bad’, where PastMast

Apr 30, 2023 • 33:01

TRAILER – "Roads? Where we're going they haven't invented roads yet!"

If you could go back 10 years what would you do? Buy a bunch of bitcoin probably. What about 100 years, 200, 500? Could you survive and thrive? Or would you be burnt at the stake for being a witch?Well now you can find out. PastMaster is the time-travel adventure show with a twist. Each week our hosts Ryan, Tan and Keon explore a different era of history with the help of our maverick and benevolent AI GameMaster.It’s simple. We give the AI the rules of the game and then it acts as our n

Apr 28, 2023 • 1:36