This is an RPG historian you have to hear from.

Shannon Appelcline. He's the mind behind Designers & Dragons, which chronicles our hobby's wild past, from basement print runs to global pop culture phenomenon. Shannon has done the research, interviewed the legends, and connected the dots between decades of dice-rolling history. So grab your character sheet, because today, we're diving deep into how our favorite games became the worlds we live in.

Back Shannon's current project, Dungeons & Dragons: Origins here!

On Patreon, I posted my Gamehole Con seminar where I went over 18 years of leaked D&D sales data. You can enjoy it posthaste if you subscribe to my Patreon! It's only $3 a month! Click here!

 

What do Cormac McCarthy, Charles Dickens, & Scheherazade say to each other on the podcast? Today, we find out! 

First up, we have Meguey Baker: game designer, textile historian, and one of the most revolutionary voices in the history of tabletop gaming. You might know her from 1001 Nights, Psi-Run, or her work on Apocalypse World, a game that cracked open an entire design movement. Meguey's games invite players to explore power, intimacy, and identity with uncommon grace, they whisper truths in a world that's used to shouting. She's proof that you don't need a sword to change the game. Sometimes, all you need is a question and a well-set stage.

Next up is the man lucky enough to be married to Meguey, Vincent Baker, the other half of the mad team that gifted fandom Apocalypse World, whether we would have it or no. A mad scientist of narrative mechanics, Vincent looked at D&D's six stats and thought, "Cute, but what if we had Hot and Cool instead?"

Vincent is the co-creator of Apocalypse World, maker of The Barbarian's Bloody Quest, and a host of games that re-wired how designers think about fiction, failure, and fun.

The fingerprints of the Bakers are everywhere, from Monsterhearts to Blades in the Dark. Their design DNA has gone viral in the best possible way.

Last but by no means least, we have John Harper, the noir poet of the tabletop, the guy who made crime, chaos, and consequence sing in Blades in the Dark. John's work fuses cinematic cool with mechanical precision. He builds worlds where danger is stylish, failure fascinating, and every die roll feels like a drumbeat.

If tabletop games had a film noir auteur, it'd be this guy.

Buy one of John's many fine games here.

Be notified about the Apocalypse World: Burned Over Kickstarter by clicking here.  

A quick note. We've had a delay on publishing my Gamehole Con seminar. It should be up in 48 hours, but if you were looking for a link here, I wanted you to know about it.

-Ben

An in-depth conversation with two of the most remarkable adventure-writers working today: Luke Gearing & Leo Hunt!

Luke Gearing, is an incredible voice in the tabletop RPG world. His work includes Acid Death Fantasy for Troika!, the epic and disturbing Gradient Descent for Mothership and the Wages of Sin bounty book. His work is gritty, evocative, and dare I say delightfully lurid at times. 

Leo Hunt is a brilliant adventure designer. The second edition of Vaults of Vaarn just funded, and I backed it, but I am most intrigued by his adventure The Shrike, which the back of the book describes as "A huge modular sandbox adventure setting in an abandoned fragment of Hell- a colossal blade dedicated to punishing a nameless God."

To support Luke's work, buy Mothership here, or check out his Itch.io page here!

Find more of Leo's distinctive RPG flavors here!

Today, enjoy this conversation between 3rd edition D&D lead designer Jonathan Tweet and TTRPG historians Shannon Appelcline and Ben Riggs! They discuss one of the hotbeds of gaming ferment, St. Olaf College, which produced nerd legends like Lisa Stevens, Mark Rein-Hagen, Nicole Lindroos, and Tweet himself. Then they move on to discuss one of the most influential games of all time: ARS MAGICA.

Because Ben is a nerd, he wrote poems introducing the pair of them:

This is a poem named Jonathan Tweet: 

Behold the mage of rules, whose art is deep,

The spellwright bold, our guest Jonathan Tweet.

From ARS MAGICA's birth to d20's grand reign,

His hand has shaped the games that fire the brain.

With visions vast, mechanics deft and true,

He forged new worlds for countless fans to view.

Tonight we call his wisdom to our show,

To learn how tales of wizards first did grow.

This is a poem named Shannon Appelcline:

Behold the sage who tracks our gaming lore,

The chronicler of nerdy days of yore.

From Designers & Dragons he drops the whole score,

The wins, the fails, the beefs, the stats, and more.

So buckle up folks, 'cause tonight we're online,

With gaming's hot chronicler, Shannon Appelcline.

You can find Shannon's latest history, THIS IS FREE TRADER BEOWULF, here.

Jonathan suggest you check out his book on evolution for kids, GRANDMOTHER FISH, here.

And you can always buy Ben's book, SLAYING THE DRAGON: A SECRET HISTORY OF DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, which is excellent, here.

Our guest tonight is a giant in the realms — literally and figuratively. Richard Baker is a legendary Dungeons & Dragons designer, novelist, and world-builder whose fingerprints are all over the game we love. He's helped shape settings like the Forgotten Realms, Birthright, and Alternity. He designed iconic adventures. He wrote novels that bring fantasy worlds roaring to life. With all that experience, it is certain sure Rich knows how to roll natural 20s on creativity. So grab your dice and brace for adventure — Richard Baker is in the house!

Support the podcast and get extra content on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/u121641556?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

D&D is bigger than it has ever been, but being a D&D fan in 2025 is deeply confusing. 

The questions come on and on.

• Why do extensive promotion of a virtual tabletop for D&D, Sigil, and then give it no marketing at rollout and kill it a month later? 
• Why has there been an exodus of staff from the company? 
• Why, after a golden age during the game's 5th edition, has Wizards struggled to find traction since the debut of 2024 D&D?

In this seminar from Gen Con 2025, I try to answer a bunch of these questions. 

Listen, and enjoy!

Support the podcast and get extra content on Patreon here!

Is Wizards messing this up? We discuss with two titans of the TTRPG industry!

First up, David M. Ewalt – journalist, editor, and author of the engaging and wonderful Of Dice and Men. He is currently the editor in chief of Scientific American, which may make him the most prestigious personage I've ever had on this podcast. He is also the author of Defying Reality: The Inside Story of the Virtual Reality Revolution and has worked at Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. Welcome David! 

And then there's Sean McCoy, the creative whirlwind behind Mothership, the award-winning sci-fi horror RPG that has taken the RPG scene by storm. Mothership is tense, terrifying, totally unforgettable, and yet somehow rules light! He is without a doubt a hot shot of 21st century game design, and he's a real "get" for the podcast. Welcome Sean!

Support the podcast and get extra content on Patreon here!

This week, we go deep into the Old School Revolution with Old School Essentials creator Gavin Norman and Josh McCrowell of His Majesty the Worm!

Gavin Norman is the mind behind some of the most exciting work in the modern OSR scene. He is best known for Old-School Essentials, the gold standard for clean, accessible retro-gaming rules that have brought thousands of new players into old-school play. His work doesn't just celebrate the roots of tabletop RPGs—it refines them, making them sing with clarity and style. If you've ever cracked open an OSE book, you know exactly what I mean: sharp design, killer layout, and an unwavering love for the game. Gavin Norman is, simply put, one of the defining voices of today's old-school revolution.

Josh McCrowell is the creator of His Majesty the Worm—a deeply weird, beautiful, and melancholy dungeon crawler that uses tarot cards as its core mechanic. It's also up for an ENNIE this year! Josh is also one of the brains behind Knock Magazine, that gloriously chaotic love letter to the DIY RPG scene, packed with ideas, art, and inspiration. His work blends creativity with a genuine sense of wonder. Josh McCrowell is a designer who reminds us that the dungeon isn't just for killing monsters—it's for exploring what it means to be alive.

Find Gavin's work on OSE here! https://www.exaltedfuneral.com/pages/old-school-essentials

Acquire Josh's brilliant game here:

https://www.hismajestytheworm.games/#h.mvmqxy70j0s9

Ben's Gen Con seminar this year is entitled "Solving the Mysteries of the D&B Business." He's interviewed dozens of former and current WotC employees, and has real answers to questions we all have about the game.

Why do extensive promotion of a virtual tabletop for D&D, Sigil, and then give it no marketing at rollout and kill it a month later?

Why has there been an exodus of staff from the company?

Why, after a golden age during the game's 5th edition, has Wizards struggled to find traction since the debut of 2025 D&D?

These questions and more Ben will attempt to answer in his sold-out Gen Con seminar!

Given demand, Ben is going to livestream a rehearsal of the show on Zoom on Tuesday, July 29th, at 9 PM EST/ 6 PM PST. But the only way you can listen is by being a Patreon subscriber! It's only $3 a month. Click here to join now!

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=121641556&utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

My guest tonight is a legend in the world of game design and storytelling. Richard Dansky is best known as the mind behind some of the darkest and most compelling corners of the World of Darkness. He served as the developer for Wraith: The Oblivion and helped shape the haunting masterpiece Charnel Houses of Europe: The Shoah, one of the most powerful books ever written for a roleplaying game.

But Richard''s also a veteran of the video game industry, working as a writer and narrative designer. My favorites there include the 2004 Far Cry and Driver. He's a novelist, a storyteller, and someone who knows how to make horror feel deeply, uncomfortably human. Cough cough soulforging.

My next guest is a name well-known to fans of classic fantasy RPGs—Lou Prosperi. Lou was the developer of Earthdawn at FASA, the beloved post-apocalyptic fantasy game where magic, horror, and high adventure collide. His work helped define the rich, mythic tone of that setting, making Earthdawn one of the most unique fantasy RPGs of the 1990s.

I would like to start with a summary of the book we are going to discuss, and just to be clear, we will be covering some disturbing stuff today. I cried reading this book, which I think is a first for a TTRPG book, and it would not surprise me if I cried during this discussion, so I am just laying that out there now.  

Charnel Houses of Europe: The Shoah is a profound, unsettling supplement that turns the Holocaust into a haunting Wraith narrative—melding historical documentation with metaphysical resonance.

It looks at what happens when millions of dead arrive in the afterlife all at once. It causes a crisis in the hierarchy, the rather nasty government ruling the western afterlife. The response is actually quite remarkable. In an arrangement called the Covenant of the Millions, they decide to give space to the dead of the Shoah for them to govern themselves. They also decide to allow the Shoah dead to hunt down Nazis in the afterlife.  

Its strength lies in its gravity and respect for the subject: it's not a casual horror romp, but a rigorous, emotionally charged exploration.

For Storytellers aiming to address trauma, memory, and unresolved spirits, this book offers compelling—and deeply sobering—tools.

It's from White Wolf's Black Dog Gaming imprint, which means Use with care: it's intended for mature, sensitive gamers, and its impact depends heavily on tone, preparation, and player trust.

I'd say the same for this conversation.

You can pick up Lou's great books on Disney's imagineering here!

Read Rich's book on surviving the video game industry as a writer here!

This one's a banger: D&D designer Steve Winter meets Ben Milton of Questing Beast!

Ben Milton is a game designer, YouTube sage, and sorceror-king of the OSR demigod! He's the mind behind Knave 2e and the force behind Questing Beast, your portal to the wild, weird wonders of old-school RPGs. If you like sharp rules, deadly dungeons, and freedom at the table, Ben's your guy.

And don't sleep on Steve Winter — a living D&D legend. From sneaking into TSR through a second-story window to shaping 2e, 3e, and beyond, Steve has been part of D&D's DNA for decades.

Tune in. Nerd out. 🎲🔥

Find Knave here, and Ben's YouTube channel here!

Tuesday, July 15th at 9 PM EST, Patrons of the show will be able to join a live book discussion on Charnal Houses of Europe: The Shoah. The conversation will include the book's developer, Richard Dansky, and Earthdawn developer Lou Prosperi. But only Patrons can participate live! Click here to back the show and participate in the conversation!

Not one, not two, but THREE RPG HISTORIANS in one hour of amazing audio!

Today, we are fortunate to have with us Shannon Appelcline, author of the magisterial THIS IS FREE TRADER BEOWULF, which is a history of the Traveller RPG. He's probably most famous for DESIGNERS AND DRAGONS, which is his multi-volume history of seemingly every role-playing game company that ever put up a shingle and slammed some dice on a table. It was a book that got me through the pandemic. He seems to finish writing books at the pace other people finish playing video games.

Second in order but by no means in rank we have Jon Peterson. As I will keep repeating until I see it on Google's N-gram viewer, Jon is the Thucydides of D&D history. His PLAYING AT THE WORLD and GAME WIZARDS are both required reading if you are going to post about D&D history anywhere online.

The 2nd edition of PLAYING AT THE WORLD is nominated for an ENNIE Award! 

Buy THIS IS FREE TRADER BEOWULF here!

 On July 15th, Patrons of our pod will get a special treat! We will be doing a book club on Shoah for Wraith: The Oblivion. The conversation will include the book's developer, Richard Dansky, and Earthdawn developer Lou Prosperi. Patrons can participate live, and even ask questions! If that sounds good, hie thee forth to our Patreon to subscribe! 

I can't believe I got these two on the show together!

First, Kevin Crawford is a TTRPG design legend. My favorites from his work are Stars Without Number, and Worlds Without Number, both of which have been tremendously successful and influential as paragons of sleek game design and peerless GM tools. Stars was what I ran during the pandemic, and Worlds I read, and since the birth of my son, I read about one RPG every six months, but I had to put Worlds in that rotation just to see what Kevin did in it. To give just a taste of Kevin's influence, Blades in the Dark creator John Harper said that the origin of Blades in the Dark was a Stars Without Number campaign. And Blades, which is itself an epochal piece of design, birthed an entire universe of games using its system. 

Second, we have D&D icon Steve Winter. It is possible that Steve has the longest D&D career of anyone in the history of the game. He began working on D&D back at TSR in downtown Lake Geneva, and once even broke into the offices by climbing in a second storey window. He was a vital voice on 2nd edition AD&D. He was one of the first people to work on 3rd edition D&D, even though that project then passed on to other hands, and he followed D&D from Wisconsin to Renton, Washington where he continued to produce work for D&D through 5th edition.

Check out Kevin's work here!

On July 15th, Patrons of our pod will get a special treat! We will be doing a book club on Shoah for Wraith: The Oblivion. The conversation will include the book's developer, Richard Dansky, and Earthdawn developer Lou Prosperi. Patrons can participate live, and even ask questions! If that sounds good, hie thee forth to our Patreon to subscribe!

Shamelessly, 30 minutes into this interview with Cam Banks & Fred Hicks, I share leaked D&D sales data. 

He's the Kiwi conjurer who helped create the Cortex System, which has been used on everything from Firefly to Marvel. He's made the rules that make the stories sing, and he's living  proof that spreadsheets and sorcery can coexist. Please welcome the unflappable, unstoppable Cam Banks!

He's the co-founder of Evil Hat, one of the wizards who bottled lightning and called it Fate. He turned indie passion into publishing power and proved you can run a company on creativity and caffeine. When he's not redefining what "small press" can mean, he's out there building the future one rulebook at a time. Give it up for the hat-tipping hero himself, Fred Hicks!

Support Cam Banks's patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/cw/cambanks

Support Evil Hat's current crowdfunding campaign here: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/evil-hat/designers-dragons-origins

Next week, I'm planning on posting my seminar from Gamehole Con, where I go over 18 years of D&D sales data. But I'm only posting it on my Patreon! Click here to join so you won't miss it!

https://www.patreon.com/u121641556?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

Who saved Dungeons & Dragons? How many people could say that they saved Dungeons & Dragons? Off the top of my head, I would say that the list of people who could say they saved D&D at some point over the course of its 51-year history is less than 20. But I believe I have one of those people who could credibly tell a story explaining how they saved D&D on the podcast with me today, because today I am speaking with Ryan Dancey. Ryan is like a Rhode Island private who just happened to be at every major battle of the Civil War. He seems to have been present at a number of important moments during the transplantation of D&D from TSR to Wizards of the Coast. He went to Lake Geneva as part of a team to negotiate an initial purchase with TSR CEO Lorraine Williams. Then, when D&D landed at Wizards, he found himself in charge of D&D, and had to figure out how to make the game make money again.

Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here!

Want more of Ben's work? Check out SLAYING THE DRAGON: A SECRET HISTORY OF DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, available wherever books are sold!

The theme of today's conversation is Ravenloft, but I don't know think that's the best place to actually start introducing my three guests.

Instead, I am going to say that I have a very addictive personality. I play one video game about every three years. But one of the video games I have played is MASS EFFECT, and with us today is the accomplished Canadian voice actor, the voice of Commander Shephard, and probably the most real-world famous person I will ever have on this podcast, Mark Meer!

Another one of the video games I've played is SKYRIM, and with me today is the lead designer of SKYRIM, a game which generated more income in its first week than TSR did in its best year, the co-creator of RAVENLOFT and lead author of the 1990 RAVENLOFT Boxed Set, Bruce Nesmith!

Last but not least, we have author of the Ravenloft novel, KNIGHT OF THE BLACK ROSE, editor of more books than I can list, alumni of TSR and Chaosium, James Lowder.

You can play D&D in a castle with Mark Meer by clicking here! 

Check out Bruce Nesmith's LitRPG, GLORY SEEKER, here!

Fear the sanity-blasting secrets contained within the eldritch auction that was THE DAGON COLLECTION, featuring Jim Lowder! Uncover its secrets here!

Are hexcrawls the adventure's final form?

We discuss that very question with two of the premier purveyors of the hexcrawl format in the 21st century: Jacob Hurst & WF Smith, aka Prismatic Wasteland. Jacob is one of the brilliant minds behind The Dark of Hot Springs Island, a hexcrawl of evil elves, interdimensional drug dealers, and beached whales. Smith is the lead designer or Barkeep on the Borderlands, a pubcrawl pointcrawl that is equal parts 1st edition homage, wine-soaked bachelorette party, and Terry Pratchett.  

Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here!

Above image courtesy Prismatic Wasteland. 

I have interviewed bestselling authors, Ivy League professors, and comic creators whose work has gone on to generate billions at the box office. 

But as a class, TTRPG professionals seem to be the smartest people I regularly talk to.

I discuss this and other fascinating points this week with Stephen Radney-Macfarland, a designer with a TTRPG resume longer than my arm. 

Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=121641...

Kevin Kulp & Jeff Grubb have, between them, created entire cosmologies and entire timelines. Kulp is the award-winning creator of Timewatch and the investigative fantasy game, Swords of the Serpentine. Grubb, a legend in his own time, is the engineer of the Forgotten Realms, creator of Spelljammer, and writer of Manual of the Planes. Hear the pair discuss the secrets of creating new worlds with Ben Riggs.

Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=121641...

Shannon Appelcline is a TTRPG historian par excellence. His Designers & Dragons set a high bar for the field and I cannot recommend it too highly. HIs recent Traveller history, This is Free Trader Beowulf, is similarly excellent. Today, we talk with Shannon about his time in the trenches of RPG history!

Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here!

Ask a round of nerds what the first RPG was, and you'll likely get D&D as your answer. Some might shout out Blackmoor. A few may say Braunstein. But what if the answer was... something else? A long talk with the Thucydides of RPG history, Jon Peterson!

Pick up the first volume of Playing at the World 2nd Edition here!

Read Jon's article on Western Gunfight here!

You can read Michael Korns's Modern Warfare in Miniature here!

Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here!

Mary Fan is a sci-fi stalwart, a prolific author whose novels include the Jane Colt series among many, many, others, and lifelong reader. She shares with us her favorite short story, which happens to be by Polish genius Stanislaw Lem, and of course we argue about Star Wars and Star Trek. 

Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here!

You will not regret spending an hour listening to this conversation between 5th edition designer Mike Mearls and Shadowdark designer Kelsey Dionne. The pair are without question two of the most outstanding game designers working in TTRPGs today, and in this episode, they each give us a peek into their persons and processes.

You can find Mike's Patreon here!

And you can be a late backer of Kelsey's newest Shadowdark expansion here!

Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here!

Lin Codega is the most important gaming journalist in the history of TTRPGs. They broke the OGL scandal wide open and changed the industry forever. In this hour-long conversation, Ben picks their brain about the state of things today, and where they are going next. 

Find further delight in Lin's words at Rascal! 

Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here!

This conversation is absolutely brilliant.

I talk to a lot of game designers, but this episode is easily a favorite. 

Today, we discuss with two engines of creativity: Jay Dragon of Wanderhome & Watt of Cloud Empress!

Watt is a designer, artist, and architect of the beautifully bizarre. Watt's games feel like dreams with teeth, lush, lyrical, and a little dangerous. Their work digs into ecology, and the wild weirdness. I found their Mothership mutation CLOUD EMPRESS at Gen Con and fell into it head first. 

Next, welcome to the show the one, the only Jay Dragon, game designer, storyteller, and the pastoral prophet of indie RPGs. Jay's the mind behind Wanderhome, and Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast, games that blend gentle heartbreak with radical imagination. She's helped reshape the way we play, proving that the quietest games can hit the hardest. Jay Dragon is a cozy engine of chaos.

Jay's manifesto on expressionistic game design is here.

Do you want more engaging conversations like this? There is subscriber-only content on our Patreon. Wanna hear Trail of Cthulhu designer Ken Hite speak to Call of Cthulhu designer Sandy Peterson? It's up there! Want to see 2nd ed D&D designer Zeb Cook interviewed in Hugh Hefner's old suite? It's up there! And we have a Discord! AND IT ONLY COSTS $3 A MONTH! Click here to join!

The pulp fiction that influenced Dungeons & Dragons and Call of Cthulhu was once considered disposable entertainment. But now it is taught in school! This week we pick the brain of Dr. Jason Ray Carney, a professor of English at Christopher Newport University who teaches weird fiction! 

The next thing we're going to release on the Patreon feed is an interview with 2nd edition designer Zeb Cook from Gary Con. Zeb gives us cutting insight into the role of the RPG designer as an artist, all while sitting in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con 2025! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here!

Stu Horvath is an RPG historian you need to hear about. His book, Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground is enlightening, engaging, entertaining, and informative. Oh, and gorgeous! It is a romp through 50 plus years of iconic RPG products, from the obvious to the obscure. In this episode, we discuss Chaosium's Theives' World. Pick up Stu's book here! 

The next thing we're going to release on the Patreon feed is an interview with 2nd edition designer Zeb Cook from Gary Con. Zeb gives us cutting insight into the role of the RPG designer as an artist, all while sitting in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con 2025! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here!

Shadowdark is the new hotness in the OSR community. Shadowdark is a cobra. Fast. Elegant. Deadly. Beautiful. I'm running Shadowdark because it is a game that demands to be played. The internet asks, is Shadowdark a D&D-slayer? In this hour-long seminar from Gary Con, Kelsey Dionne gives us a deep look into the workings of the game, her company, and most relevant to the question of Shadowdark as a competitor to D&D: sales numbers! I guarantee they'll surprise you!

Like what we do on this show? Back us on Patreon, you get access to our Discord, I post historical documents from my archive there, AND YOU GET EXTRA EPISODES! Last week, I posted Wizards of the Coast founder and Gen Con owner Peter Adkison in conversation with historian Matt Shoemaker. All this, FOR A MERE $3 A MONTH! Click here to join!

Here are questions from the Q+A in case you couldn't hear them:

1. Who are your invisible friends?
2. I don't understand what's new and what was already published in CURSED SCROLL in your Kickstarter. Please explain.
3. If Shadowdark uses close/near/far, why have gridded maps?
4. Do you foresee using traditional distribution in the future?
5. Are you going to do Free RPG Day?
6. What was your first edition of D&D?
7. What were you trying to capture with Shadowdark?
8. What are your plans for organized play?
9. Would you have a metaplot in organized play?
10. Where do you start when writing? 
11. What is your implied setting?
12. Where did the idea of carousing come from?
13. How can I integrate the Western Reaches into my home game?
14. Comment about Dungeon magazine.
15. Is Shadowdark good for long-term play?
16. Discussion of characters versus character sheets.
17. How do you interact with art as you write?
18. Where is Arcane Library going?
19. How effective is the quickstart in getting people to buy the game?
20. Will there be other genres of Shadowdark?
21. What's the sales pitch for Shadowdark?
22. Will there be frameworks for 3rd party publishers?
23. Can I send you my ideas?
24. I lose a little track here, but...
25. HOW MANY COPIES OF SHADOWDARK HAVE YOU SOLD?

Michael O'Brien is vice-president of Chaosium, the oldest extant RPG company, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year! In this interview, Ben & Michael go back to the dawn of fantasy RPGs, and talk about the brilliant minds that have made Chaosium home this past half-century. 

Check out O'Brien's Sun Country, which he described as "Spartans in the old west" here!

Want to hear Call of Cthulhu creator Sandy Petersen discuss game design with Trail of Cthulhu creator Ken Hite? Then you NEED to join our Patreon! Patreon subscribers get access not just to special episodes like the one just mentioned, but Ben is also digitizing his document archive. Discover hidden secrets of RPG history! And there is even a patrons-only Discord. All that, for only $3! Click here to join today! 

Cory Burns is at the forefront of D&D actualplays, because his incorporates audience participation! We chew the fat with Burns, creator of Adventures Improvised, which plays D&D in front of an audience using powerpoints and audience participation. He has his own RPG, Wanderverse, which will be kickstarting on March 25th. Playtest materials for the game can be found here!

We discussed MIT's ion drive, and you can learn more here!

The LA Review of Books piece on the sources for Dune can be found here. 

Want to hear Call of Cthulhu creator Sandy Petersen discuss game design with Trail of Cthulhu creator Ken Hite? Then you NEED to join our Patreon! Patreon subscribers get access not just to special episodes like the one just mentioned, but Ben is also digitizing his document archive. Discover hidden secrets of RPG history! And there is even a patrons-only Discord. All that, for only $3! Click here to join today! 

CthulhuTech smashes sci-fi anime with the work of Lovecraft to create something wholly new. In this episode we talk with the game's designer, Matt Grau about the game's creation, history, and his own time in video games.

You can check out the CthulhuTech Kickstarter here!

Want to hear Call of Cthulhu creator Sandy Petersen discuss game design with Trail of Cthulhu creator Ken Hite? Then you NEED to join our Patreon! Patreon subscribers get access not just to special episodes like the one just mentioned, but Ben is also digitizing his document archive. Discover hidden secrets of RPG history! And there is even a patrons-only Discord. All that, for only $3! Click here to join today!  

Pirate Borg designer Luke Stratton is a true polymath. Not only did he make the setting and the rules for his brutal, fast, and fun pirate RPG, but he also did the art! Additionally, he is a famous lighting designer who traveled the world lighting grunge gods, the Smashing Pumpkins!

Want to hear Call of Cthulhu creator Sandy Petersen discuss game design with Trail of Cthulhu creator Ken Hite? Then you NEED to join our Patreon! Patreon subscribers get access not just to special episodes like the one just mentioned, but Ben is also digitizing his document archive. Discover hidden secrets of RPG history! And there is even a patrons-only Discord. All that, for only $3! Click here to join today!  

Luke Stratton's THE GAME is here. 

Ed Greenwood may be the most successful Canadian fantasist of all time. His work has been translated into novels, comic books, games, movies, and (hopefully) a Netflix TV series. Come and learn the secrets of world-building from the creator of the Forgotten Realms!

Pry loose the arcane secrets of Ed by subscribing to his Patreon here!

Are you intrigued by Reading D&D Aloud? Tempted? Get the full experience by supporting our Patreon! Get access to our Discord, access special Patron-only episodes, and see vital documents from the history of TTRPGs as Ben digitizes his archives! 

Owen KC Stephens is the legendary game designer who co-designed the SAGA edition Star Wars RPG and Starfinder, but ask him if game designers are cool, and he'll tell you cool is for other people. We cover snake people, pirates, Cthulhu, and imposter syndrome on this week's episode of Reading D&D Aloud!

Entertain your mind with Owen's visions by contributing to his Patreon here!

Keep Owen in fine financial fettle for his fight against cancer by contributing to his GoFundMe here!

Are you intrigued by Reading D&D Aloud? Tempted? Get the full experience by supporting our Patreon! Get access to our Discord, access special Patron-only episodes, and see vital documents from the history of TTRPGs as Ben digitizes his archives! 

Today, we continue our discussion about "Wish" in with 5E co-lead designer, Mike Mearls! And once that discussion is complete, I ask Mike a question that has fueled endless internet speculation since 2019: Why did Mike leave D&D?

Did you know that in 1995, TSR sold $1 million of modules, but $1.2 million in Monstrous Compendiums? Become a Patreon subscriber and you too can learn fascinating facts like that as Ben digitizes his archive! Every week, receive another historical document from the golden age of D&D! All that and a Patreon and special episodes just for you! Click here to support us!

Why borg?

Today on the show, we're joined by Zac Goins, RPG designer, Kickstarter consultant, and all-around tabletop creative. Zac has worked with Marvel, Wizards of the Coast, Modiphius, and more, and currently serves as Director of Marketing for Limithron. He's designed for systems like Old School Essentials, Mörk Borg, Shadowdark, and beyond.

Also today, we are joined by Erica Lowe-Tarpley, Owner of Broken Brain Games and Lead Designer on RagnaBorg, which is kickstarting right now, Chambers of Agony, as well as 3rd party content for Shadowdark and DCC.

Back Ragnaborg here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ragnaborg/ragnaborg

Find more of Zac Goins work here: https://www.zacgoins.com/

Do you want more engaging conversations like this? There is subscriber-only content on our Patreon. Wanna hear Trail of Cthulhu designer Ken Hite speak to Call of Cthulhu designer Sandy Peterson? It's up there! Want to see 2nd ed D&D designer Zeb Cook interviewed in Hugh Hefner's old suite? It's up there! And we have a Discord! AND IT ONLY COSTS $3 A MONTH! Click here to join!

Richard Dansky was one of the core voices during the golden age of White Wolf. In this episode, we discuss one of the most unusual parts of the most unusual game published by White Wolf in the 90s: the Shadow, a player at the table who played the voice of the devil in your head.

Pickup Dansky's books here!

Ben has begun to digitize his D&D history archive. Every Wednesday, he will be releasing one new digital document on the show's Patreon Discord. Last week, it was campaign setting sales per category, 1983 to 1993. (Did you know Greyhawk sold 11 million products in that time, while Dragonlance moved 20 million, and Forgotten Realms 24 million, even though the Realms was published last?) A mere $3 a month gets you access to such historical gems, the Discord, and special patrons-only episodes! Click here to support us!

Erin M. Evans wrote seven Forgotten Realms novels, and she joins us today to talk about what happened when she referenced sex in her novel, The Adversary...

Pick up Erin's novel, Empire of Exiles, here!

Ben has begun to digitize his D&D history archive. Every Wednesday, he will be releasing one new digital document on the show's Patreon Discord. Last week, it was campaign setting sales per category, 1983 to 1993. (Did you know Greyhawk sold 11 million products in that time, while Dragonlance moved 20 million, and Forgotten Realms 24 million, even though the Realms was published last?) A mere $3 a month gets you access to such historical gems, the Discord, and special patrons-only episodes! Click here to support us!

Behold the dark and deadly dungeons beneath the desert's sands! TSR alumna Sue Weinlein joins Ben Riggs to discuss the 2nd edition Al-Qadim supplement, Cities of Bone. 

Billy Wardlow was executed in Texas on July 8th, 2020.

He spent his last few weeks of life playing D&D.

We only know about it because of the fantastic journalism of Keri Blakinger. Today, Ben Riggs and Dr. Aaron Trammell discuss her article, "The Dungeons & Dragons Players of Death Row" with Keri herself.

Read Keri's article here.

Like what we do? Support the show on Patreon, and you'll get special episodes, such as Ben Riggs reading the Dungeon Masters Guide aloud with Dr. Scott Bruner! Hear Ben's seminars on D&D history! Chat on our Discord! All that, for a mere $3 per month! Click here to support us!

Sometimes, you catch lightning in a bottle.

That is what happened in this conversation between 3rd ed designer Jonathan Tweet, 4th ed designer Rob Heinsoo, and controversial D&D historian Ben Riggs about the spell "Wish" in D&D."

Like what we do? Support the show on Patreon, and you'll get special episodes, such as Ben Riggs reading the Dungeon Masters Guide aloud with Dr. Scott Bruner! Hear Ben's seminars on D&D history! Chat on our Discord! All that, for a mere $3 per month! Click here to support us!

Wish is a spell that is ridiculously powerful, ridiculously fun, and (perhaps) ridiculously broken! We're going to do a deep dive and look at the spell across editions. Helping us look at the spell in 2nd and 3rd edition D&D are designer Skip Williams and show stalwart, Eliza Lambert!

Like what we do? Support the show on Patreon, and you'll get special episodes, such as Ben Riggs reading the Dungeon Masters Guide aloud with Dr. Scott Bruner! Hear Ben's seminars on D&D history! Chat on our Discord! All that, for a mere $3 per month! Click here to support us!

Dungeon Crawl Classics designer Joseph Goodman set out to make a TTRPG that would recreate the wonders of fantasy and sci-fi literature as laid out by Gary Gygax in Appendix N of the 1979 Dungeon Masters Guide. In Appendix N of the Dungeon Crawl Classics, Goodman explains what he learned from Gygax's Appendix N, and how DCC is a response to it. Writer, editor, and icon of the industry James Lowder joins us to read it aloud!

Like what we do? Support the show on Patreon, and you'll get special episodes, such as Ben Riggs reading the Dungeon Masters Guide aloud with Dr. Scott Bruner! Hear Ben's seminars on D&D history! Chat on our Discord! All that, for a mere $3 per month! Click here to support us!

Peter Bebergal's Appendix N anthology can be found here!

Today, I humbly offer you joy and the bladesinger!

The bladesingers were elven warrior-wizards who swore to defend Elvenkind against all foes. They were tattooed dandies who danced into combat, and they were so cool that they have appeared in every edition of D&D since. Here, I speak with actress and DM Eliza Lambert about them! Link in the comments!

 If you want to support the show, join our Patreon here!

In a solo episode, Ben reads aloud an essay from the 2nd edition Vampire: The Masqerade Player's Guide which asks us to consider: How is a TTRPG group like God?

We are taking a break from the podcast until the week after the week of November 15th. I have turned off the Patreon payments, so no one will be charged for October. Frankly, this podcast has been much more successful than I could have anticipated when we started. I cannot overstate how much we owe this community for its support in making that success possible. That said, we want to keep what you like and add more of what you love about the show. There will be some re-jiggering. If you have any strong opinions about what you like or what you don't, please feel free to email me at admin@readingdndaloud.net

If you give your villians psychology, do they lose their mythic status? Scott & Ben examine that and the debate between narrative-ism and game-ism in the TTRPG space on today's show!

Today, we've got a four-way! Listen and marinate in the brilliance of Justin Alexander, Panayiotis Lines, & Aled Lawlor!

Aled Lawlor and Panayiotis Lines are the creative duo behind Leyline Press. In just a few short years, Leyline has carved out a reputation for distinctive, atmospheric RPGs that blend striking visual design with elegant, playable mechanics. I purchased SALVAGE UNION at Gen Con, and it has beautiful art, and delightfully mashes up mecha combat, exploration, and socialism. Aled and Panayiotis are reshaping what small-press tabletop games can look and feel like. 

And then we're thrilled to welcome a name familiar to just about every GM who's ever looked for deeper insight into the craft, a man whose influence on the culture of TTRPGs is hard to overstate, the human responsible for the blog, THE ALEXANDRIAN, Justin Alexander. His essays, reviews, and innovative techniques, such as like the "Three Clue Rule," have become touchstones in modern RPG discourse. His book, SO YOU WANT TO BE A GAME MASTER, is absolutely outstanding and has been read by I think four different tweens in my classroom. 

You can find more delightful work by Panny & Aled here!

Learn how to be a gamemaster from one of the best, Justin Alexander, here!

Do you want more engaging conversations like this? There is subscriber-only content on our Patreon. Wanna hear Trail of Cthulhu designer Ken Hite speak to Call of Cthulhu designer Sandy Peterson? It's up there! Want to see 2nd ed D&D designer Zeb Cook interviewed in Hugh Hefner's old suite? It's up there! And we have a Discord! AND IT ONLY COSTS $3 A MONTH! Click here to join!

Gollum getting Sam those rabbits seems out of character somehow... Could there be something more behind it? I run a podcast, so I got Tolkien scholar John Rateliff and The One Ring game writer Gareth Hanrahan on the show to discuss!

Buy The History of the Hobbit by John Rateliff here! As I write this, it is 50% off on Amazon!

Sign up to be notified of the launch of Trail of Cthulhu 2nd edition here!

Learn more about the Tolkien collection at Marquette University here!

It's digression all the way down on this one folks!

Are you looking for the juiciest of juice and the hottest of tea? Well, Ben has released his Gen Con 2024 seminar, "The Battle for the Soul of D&D," which is the culmination of dozens of hours of interviews with former Wizards of the Coast employees, and may be a sort of rough draft of his next book. The things he's heard will shock you! But the only way to get it is to become a subscriber on Patreon. Patreon subscribers will be getting a special seminar once per month from Ben, access to our Discord, and the joy of knowing they are supporting journalism and history through their current dark age. 

A reading of the spell Cure Blindness leads to the King James Bible, and a discussion of the most-controversial of D&D topics: the contributions of Gygax vs. Arneson in the creation of D&D.

Are you looking for the juiciest of juice and the hottest of tea? Well, Ben has released his Gen Con 2024 seminar, "The Battle for the Soul of D&D," which is the culmination of dozens of hours of interviews with former Wizards of the Coast employees, and may be a sort of rough draft of his next book. The things he's heard will shock you! But the only way to get it is to become a subscriber on Patreon. Patreon subscribers will be getting a special seminar once per month from Ben, access to our Discord, and the joy of knowing they are supporting journalism and history through their current dark age. 

Was Gygax a great game designer? Or was he merely in the right place at the right time to connect and publish world-shaking ideas? We discuss, along with the implications of "Continual Light" from that 1st Ed DMG. 

Soon, we'll be releasing another of Ben's Gen Con seminars to Patrons. If you want that juicy historical goodness, join our Patreon here!