Cold Calls And Dice

In today’s genuinely special episode, we talk with Pavlo Vasylkov, a relatively new rpg creator and blogger. We had the great pleasure of meeting him at Kamcon in 2025 and again in 2026. None of us knew this guy, and what he was about, where he came from and what his whole deal was. But we played with him, and had a great time. But in further conversations with him, we discovered not only his own issues with social anxiety and depression, but also the apparent impact that a simple game may have had on him. We talk about this experience, and how it affected him, and where it has brought him. We at Cold Calls and Dice are very aware of mental health issues and take it very seriously, and we think that this conversation with Pavlo not only helps to delve into this topic, but also celebrates cooperative gaming and TTRPG’s, and the incredible effects they can have on those with these very particular challenges. In this, Pavlo is one of our most important guests yet, and honours us with his story and his candour about his struggles. And to anyone out there struggling with mental health, please know – YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

Pavlo’s Blog/Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/rphf

Resources for mental health in gaming:

https://youtu.be/9gUcx45ryT0

https://youtu.be/PMUG6k6k8nc

Two Specific posts from Pavlo’s blog:https://www.patreon.com/collection/2378345?utm_campaign=collectionshare_creator&utm_content=ios_share_native

And if you need to contact someone for mental health help:

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741. This border-less text service operates 24/7 across the US and Canada, connecting users directly with a trained volunteer crisis counsellor.

James is joined by RPG writer and podcaster John Hook, Kamcon Lead Coordinator Tyler Carpentier, local Anime enthusiast and DJ Jeremy Androsoff and board game designer Rob Sieb! In this live recorded episode at Kamcon in Kamloops BC, Canada, we talk about conventions and game events, how we participate, plan and enjoy them! Sadly, Riley was unable to make it, but he was with us in spirit! If you want to know more about Kamcon, check out the website: www.kamloopsconventions.ca

James and Riley talk to John Godek, one of the principal designer and developer of the Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG from Renegade Game Studios! Our conversation goes from working with existing intellectual properties (IP's), to the tasks and challenges there in, and creating a good team to bring that game to life. James is old, and begins to feel it, Riley gets confused and John has a full size Mandalorian Bescar armor in his office, making him the coolest one in the room. Regardless, we're all big geeks!

On this week's episode we talk with Owen KC Stephens, longtime game developer of such games as Star Wars D20, Pathfinder and Starfinder. Our discussion explores playing and running games cooperatively, how to make all players responsible for everyone's fun around the table, and our own great and bad stories about cooperation at the game table.

Check out Owen at his website:

https://owenkcstephens.com

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/owenkcstephens/the-ultimate-spellbook-for-pathfinder-first-edition

This episode we talk video games with Gord Cooper of Riyo Games, combat designer of the upcoming 'Threads of Time'. We discuss design, teaching and fostering creativity within the video game industry. We touch on the precarious nature of the industry today and coping with the sometimes less than savoury corporate elements that have sometimes soured the experience. We talk about what we love about games as well as our favorite video game villains. Come have a listen, and as always, please do tell us what you think! And we've got a new Facebook page! Come by and tell us how we're doing!

Threads of Time website: https://threadsoftimegame.com/

Threads of Time Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2090210/Threads_of_Time/

Cold Calls & Dice Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61594244978501

*Gords mic gets fixed around the 8 minute mark*

Aaron “Floxypox” Holmes is a growing YouTube video game pundit, and he joins us to talk about not only how video games have changed, but how our own relationships with games have changed. We all love video games, but it seems like things are different... Is it the industry? Is it us? Could it be both at the same time? And most of all, is there still hope in the future of video games? This was a great conversation about the nostalgia, value and basic fun of video games.Be sure to check out Aaron’s YouTube channel for some fantastic video game discussions and thoughts:https://www.youtube.com/@floxypoxAnd we’re building our social media presence, slowly, but we’re getting there!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61594244978501Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/coldcallsanddice.bsky.social

Toren Atkinson has been in the gaming adjacent space for decades, be it as a designer, a writer, an actor, an artist, and of course as a musician as part of the legendary Lovecraftian rock band The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. And while he has opinions, skills and experience with so much in the game sphere, it’s his talents as an visual artist that we talk about today, specifically, art made for RPG’s.Toren Atkinson’s website: https://torenatkinson.com/Website for the Darkest of the Hillside Thickets: https://thickets.net/Spaceship Zero: https://spaceshipzero.com/

With the modern day perils of ownership, digital and physical, what DO we own? The ttrpgs space is shifting to a stronger digital model, with big companies like Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro making moves that feel like diminishing value, not added. What are our options? Our guest, Travis Diffender, certainly has his ideas, and have a great conversation with him about it! And what his postal worker is apparently capable of... Is unsettling.

Travis:

https://www.youtube.com/@diffendice

https://linktr.ee/travisdiffenderfer

The Horror:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OB0U7aHCEsY?feature=share

"There's a big audience for gaming podcasts these days, and a lot of people trying thier hands at it, including us! And while we're new and figuring things out, getting a chance to have a chat with Scott Joest and Keith Mageau of the Titterpigs podcast helps us put our own burgeoning journey into perspective. Good friends of the show, Scott and Keith talk about podcasting in general, and existing in the ttrpgs gaming sphere."

Today we talk to Banana Chan, visionary creator behind such games as Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall, Forger, Knockoff, and the upcoming Sample, not to mention the scads of other games and supplements she’s createdd and contributed to!  We talk about innovations in gaming, and about games we feel that break the mould and try something new. Riley struggles to remember a game... and then remembers. It’s all very exciting, we promise! AND LAUGS (that is spelled properly I think!) Also, apologies to Avery Alder, Jon Hook and Dennis Detwiller – DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE... yet.

Sample by Banana Chan (coming to backerkit in October!): https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/banana-chan/sample/pre-launch

Forgery

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/446805/forgery

Knockoff

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/549717/knockoff

The Darkness at the Brink of Ohio

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/507718/the-darkness-at-the-brink-of-ohio

All of Banana Chan’s Drive Thru RPG stuff:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/browse?authorName=%22Banana%20Chan%22

Dread

https://www.tiltingatwindmills.net/games/

The games of Thorny Games, including Sign, Dialect and Xenolanguage

https://thornygames.com/

Mission ImPAWsible

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/473289/mission-impawsible