World Building Episodes

Specifically for creating an engaging and interesting TTRPG world, often including inspiration for pantheons, geography, and spinning epic campaign arcs.
Sept. 8, 2023

Generations

I'm joined once again by John from Double Fox Gaming, but this time, he's bought reinforcements! It's my pleasure to also host Glenn, Matt, and Mike to discuss the legacy of Dungeons & Dragons. The guys take us through five g...
Guests: John Gent , Mikey
June 9, 2023

Ravenloft

John Gent, DM of our D&D one-shot from the RPGaming Faversham event, joins us to discuss everything and anything about his favourite Dungeons & Dragons setting. 03:04 - History of Ravenloft 21:42 - Responsive Bleakness 33:53 ...
Guest: John Gent
May 5, 2023

Factions

It's my pleasure to welcome back to the show Josh, Lewanika, and Glen, the inimitable hosts of my sister podcast Tabletop Journeys . They share their wealth of experience with building engaging and interesting factions, enabl...
March 10, 2023

Mystery

*Minor Outer Wilds spoilers in this episode* I'm joined by Michael K. Ross from The RPG Academy to talk how to design enthralling and fair mysteries, puzzles, and enigmas. Action 12 Cinema Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter...
Feb. 10, 2023

Adventure

“I found them all. I won." Finally, I welcome George from our ' Dungeons, Dice, and Dudes ' actual play podcast to discuss how to build adventures, and why it's important to define one. No matter if you're top-down or bottom-...
Guest: George Putnam
Jan. 27, 2023

Worldbuilding

This episode I'm joined by Harlen Ogni, DM of previous guest Aaron's Games and prolific worldbuilder, with a staggering 250,000 words on World Anvil ! Harlen joins me to to chat about our approaches to worldbuilding and what ...
Guest: Harlen Ogni
July 8, 2022

History

This episode I'm joined by Andrew & Vesna Gronosky from Shewstone Publishing, who leverage their extensive knowledge to discuss the implications of having a "history" in your TTRPG setting. The different lifespans of races ca...
June 24, 2022

Canon

This episode features Eli Royall from the We Play RPGs podcast family! We discuss how to establish canon in your setting, and the implications of having a standardised fiction. The second problem is how to communicate this to...
Guest: Eli Royall
June 10, 2022

Flavour

This spicy episode I'm joined by Fruits from The Homebakery to talk all about flavouring our D&D campaigns. A large portion of the show is spent discussing the different classes and their subclass options, and how their bagge...
May 27, 2022

Motivation

Once again I am joined by long time friends of the show and the inimitable hosts of Tabletop Journeys : Josh, Lewanika, and Glen. Their enthusiasm for TTRPGs is infectious and it's such a delight to provide a platform for the...
April 15, 2022

Mythology

For the season final I'm joined by Ramji, DM of The 4th Culture , an Asia-based TTRPG show which focuses on global voices and set in an Asian-influence homebrew world. We discuss global mythology and it's impact on TTRPGs, su...
April 8, 2022

Community

This episode features Hope of the eponymous HopeForTTRPGs who shares with me how to build and maintain an active and safe community. She goes through some personal pitfalls and anecdotes of that growth, and the unique challen...
Guest: Hope4TTRPGS
March 25, 2022

Assemble

This episode stars Michael Kesavan, a.k.a. Dead Aussie Gamer, to talk about assembling the best game. Turns out, diversity and versatility are key, both in-universe and out of game. The types of players you have, and the char...
March 11, 2022

Storytelling

Minor Spider-Man: No Way Home spoilers in this episode! I'm joined by Sam Bradley from Starter Set Studios to talk all how to tell, or be told, a good story. We dissect a couple of common storytelling tools such as 'show, don...
Guest: Sam Bradley
Feb. 18, 2022

Motion

This full house episode I'm joined by the cast of The Fourth Leg podcast: Joe, Hunter, & Kelci. And we talk all about motion, momentum, and movement in your TTRPGs. One way you can keep the game moving as both a GM and player...
Feb. 11, 2022

Alignment

Once more I'm joined by Scott, a.k.a. Optional Rule! This time we discuss the hot topic of alignment in Dungeons & Dragons. Scott takes us through the history of alignment, and how it impacted and shaped the earliest editions...
Jan. 28, 2022

Relationships

This episode I'm joined by Hunter Royall from the " A Sundered World " podcast to talk about all the different relationship vectors in TTRPGs. The first being that between player and character, and how it's not always affecti...
Guest: Hunter Royall
Jan. 21, 2022

Hooks

This episode I'm joined by Mike from Games Played Badly , to chat about story hooks in your TTRPGs! Ultimately, hooks are the main way to keep players engaged, with the GM acting as a kind of circus master; organised chaos. H...
Guest: Mike
Jan. 14, 2022

Horror

This episode I'm joined by the GM of the Negative Modifier podcast, Charley, to discuss horror in our TTRGPs. Horror is variable and subjective, and so has unique challenges when attempting to introduce it into your setting. ...
Guest: Charley
Dec. 17, 2021

Mashups

For this mixed up episode I'm joined by Jeff Greiner, the DM of potentially the longest running actual play podcast, The Tome Show . Jeff & I talk about mashups not only within our favourite TTRPG, but within the hobby at lar...
Guest: Jeff Greiner
Dec. 10, 2021

Adaptation

I am once again joined by Manny a.k.a. Growed Up Geek to talk about adaptation. One great way to kill two birds with one stone is by integrating player character backstories into published adventure modules; not only do you g...
Oct. 29, 2021

Story

Jon from the 'Tale of the Manticore' ( @ManticoreTale ) actual-play podcast joins me to talk about creating stories in Dungeons and Dragons. We open by tackling the academic: the seven story archetypes and how to crack the "c...
Sept. 17, 2021

Aesthetic

CW: 36:40-37:10 Single reference to rape and sexual coercion in the context of the Vampire trope. Philippa Mort joins me to talk about the varied and wonderful topic of aesthetic. The discussion starts around the different ap...
Guest: Philippa Mort
Aug. 6, 2021

Magic

" Perpetuating the success of fireball. " Cat McDonald of Peach Garden Games brings her perspective of being an indie TTRPG designer and knowledge of the occult to this talk about magic in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. She ...