Reading D&D Aloud!

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 ...

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...

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. 

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 s...

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 ...

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 in...

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 goi...

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!

...

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 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 in...

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...

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...

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 discu...

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!

Th...

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 subscr...

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! Pat...

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...

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...

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 arch...