Ego Check with The Id DM

By Dr. Michael Mallen, The Id DM

What's Ego Check with The Id DM about?

An interview podcast hosted by Dr. Michael Mallen, a licensed psychologist who enjoys in-depth conversations with guests about games (tabletop RPGs, videogames, boardgames) and psychology.

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Ego Check with The Id DM episodes:

08.18.2021
Teos Abadia on Adventure Flowcharts & Visual Aids
Teos Abadia joins me to present his thoughts on visual aids in D&D adventures and how they may not accomplish their intended goals. He offers examples of graphics and flowcharts that do not seem to add helpful information to the...
08.05.2021
Katie Gordon, Ph.D. on The Suicidal Thoughts Workbook
Dr. Katie Gordon joins me to discuss The Suicidal Thoughts Workbook, a fantastic collection of practical tools to reduce suffering, find meaning and increase hope. She talks about her initial interest in suicide research and how that evolved into writing...
01.21.2021
Mark Meredith on Rediscovering 4th Edition D&D
We start out 2021 by going in the "sorta-way-back machine" to discuss 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons with Mark Meredith. He has been writing for Dice Monkey for over 10 years and recently started to rediscover 4e with his family....
11.24.2020
Ronen Givony on Not For You: Pearl Jam and the Present Tense
Ronen Givony joins me to talk about his latest book, Not For You: Pearl Jam and the Present Tense, which attempts to chronicle and place into context Pearl Jam's career. Ronen talks about his work his relationship to the music...
09.14.2020
Matt Forbeck on Shotguns & Sorcery
Matt Forbeck joins me to discuss his career as a an author and game designer. He discusses his world of Dragon City, which has spawned numerous books and the recent tabletop roleplaying game, Shotguns & Sorcery. He speaks to his...
06.09.2020
Kelly Carlin on Legacy, Purpose & Resilience
Kelly Carlin joins me to talk about her life as the daughter of famed comedian, George Carlin. She previously wrote a memoir, A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up with George, which was published in 2015. She has earned a bachelors...
05.11.2020
Tomo Moriwaki on Designing Epic Tavern
Tomo Moriwaki talks about his career in videogame design and how his experiences led him to the latest endeavor, Epic Tavern. In Epic Tavern, players are tasked with building up a tavern to cater to adventure needs AND with sending...
03.19.2020
Stacy King & Andrew Wheeler on Dungeons & Dragons: Wizards & Spells
I'm joined by Stacy King and Andrew Wheeler, two of the minds responsible for the wonderful Dungeons & Dragons Young Adventurer's Guide series. They talk about the latest entry, Wizards & Spells, and detail how they took the vast magical...
03.16.2020
Keith Ammann on The Monsters Know What They're Doing
Keith Ammann joins me to discuss his book, The Monsters Know What They're Doing, which provides highly-detailed tactical guidance for monsters in 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. He speaks about his interest in strategy games and how that influenced his...
03.10.2020
Megan Connell, PsyD on Therapeutic D&D and Coping with Creative Burnout
Dr. Connell comes back to Ego Check to talk about the developments in the therapeutic use of Dungeons & Dragons in therapy. She talks about how the game allows players to achieve personal growth through exposure. She offers insights into...
12.03.2019
Elizabeth & Jared Kilmer on Therapeutic D&D for Veterans
I'm joined by Elizabeth Kilmer (soon-to-be PhD) and Jared Kilmer, PhD this week as they discuss their use of Dungeons & Dragons in clinical settings with military veterans. They present how the therapy gaming groups are structured and the themes...
10.29.2019
Dr. Rachel Kowert on Video Games & Mental Health
Dr. Rachel Kowert is a psychologist with years of published research examining the mental health effects of video games. She details how her research has NOT supported a variety of commonly-held and spread myths about video games. She discusses her...
10.17.2019
Matt Henderson on Designing Loke Battle Mats
Matt is the map designer for Loke Battle Mats, which has been releasing tabletop battle mats for roleplaying games in recent years. Matt talks about the origins for the product line and his inspirations while designing the maps. We discuss...
08.27.2019
Matt Dixon on Illustrating Hearthstone
Matt Dixon talks about his career as a freelance illustrator and his work in digital spaces leading to his work with Blizzard. He talks about starting on the World of Warcraft TCG and how he got hired again for the...
08.09.2019
Elisabeth de Kleer on Dungeons & Dragons Behind Bars
Elisabeth de Kleer is an award-winning documentary producer and director that has experience working in the true crime genre. She has been working for the past two years on the subject of Dungeons & Dragons in prisons, and is attempting...
07.30.2019
Teos Abadia on Designing Acquisitions Incorporated
Teos Abadia joins Ego Check once again to talk about how wonderfully diverse the tabletop roleplaying game hobby has become in recent years. He details how he got involved in the Acquisitions Incorporated book for Dungeons & Dragons, and speaks...
07.16.2019
Jim Zub on Creating the Young Adventurer's Guides for Dungeons & Dragons
Jim Zub, writer and creator, joins me this week on Ego Check with The Id DM to talk about the Young Adventurer's Guides for Dungeons & Dragons. The first two books in the series, Warriors & Weapons and Monsters &...
06.28.2019
Grant Ellis on Streaming RPGs & Celebrating A Knight's Tale
Grant Ellis joins me to talk about his efforts to create unique livestream tabletop roleplaying game content with a diverse cast of performers. He talks about his game design efforts and how playing and streaming games like D&D are different...
06.27.2019
Allison Spence on Journalism, Marketing & Finding the "Why?"
Allison Spence joins me to talk about her early career as a journalist that resulted in her diving into a variety of difficult subject matters. She shares her views on the importance of emotional intelligence, and details how her work...
05.14.2019
Jason Massey from The Dungeons & Randomness Podcast on Building a Career out of D&D
Jason Massey joins the pod to talk about his start with 4th Edition D&D and how that evolved into a full-time career in creating the actual play podcast, Dungeons & Randomness. He speaks about his enjoyment of 4th Edition, and...
05.07.2019
Ryan Kelly, PhD on the Power & Dangers of Gaming
Dr. Ryan Kelly joins me this week to talk about his work on how to be use geek passions to grow. He is a psychologist and speaks about his work with a variety of clients including those that use videogames...
04.16.2019
Greg Leatherman on VRECast, Safe Spaces & Gay Representation in RPGs
Greg Leatherman, founder of VRECast, joins me to talk about his life as a gay man and what it's been like for him playing tabletop RPGs since the 1980s. He details the origins of the Very Random Encounters podcast, which...
04.09.2019
Adam Johns & Adam Davis on Critical Core & Autism
Adam Johns and Adam Davis from Game to Grow join the pod to talk about their years of experience running games for children on the autism spectrum and how their experience was funneled into the Critical Core tabletop roleplaying game....
04.05.2019
Enrique Bertran on Streaming Star Wars & Launching a Patreon
Enrique "NewbieDM" Bertran joins Ego Check once again to talk about his new Patreon campaign. I wanted to talk with Enrique to discuss the success of Critical Role and how other intellectual properties might capitalize on that formula. We ponder...
04.02.2019
François Alliot on Reigns and Probabilistic & Adaptive Game Design
François Alliot, designer of the Reigns series of games, discusses his Tinder-inspired approach to probabilistic narrative game design. He talks about his quest to find a great "flow" for his games and how he wants to surprise players. We delve...
03.26.2019
Jana Flesher on RPG Systems, GM Tips & Midwifery
I'm joined by Jana Flesher, a professional nurse midwife who also happens to be both a player and DM in various RPG campaigns I've been involved with over the past three years. She talks about her 10+ years of experience...
03.12.2019
James Haeck on Critical Role's Alignments and D&D Waterdeep
James Haeck, Lead Writer for D&D Beyond and Coauthor of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and Critical Role's Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting joins the pod to educate me about how Critical Role overlaps with elements of the RPG and D&D landscape - and...
02.19.2019
Marc Allie on D&D and Transformers
Marc Allie joins me to talk about his history of "being geeky when geeky wasn't cool." He talks about his early memories of playing Dungeons & Dragons and how he jumped into the online community with his blog, The Learning...
02.12.2019
Ed Grabianowski on Freelance Writing and Spacelord
Ed Grabianowski (aka, "The Grabster") joins me on the show to talk about his career as a freelance writer for outlets over the years including io9 and How Stuff Works. He speaks to his start as a writer for a...
01.22.2019
Jase Nolan on Running D&D and Casting Hearthstone
I'm joined this week by Jase Nolan, also known as CinderAscendant on Twitter and Twitch. Jase talks about his style of preparing and running Dungeons & Dragons sessions. He shares how he got started casting Hearthstone matches, and how the...
12.23.2018
Kevin Hovdestad on Esports
Kevin Hovdestad joins the pod to educate me about his years of work in the realm of Esports. He talks about his years of experience as a freelance journalist writing about Esports and how that led to career opportunities as...
12.11.2018
Kyle Newman on Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana
I'm joined this week by Kyle Newman, one of the authors of Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana: A Visual History. You may also know Kyle as the Director of Fanboys (2009) and Barely Lethal (2015). Kyle talked with me...
12.04.2018
Elizabeth Roithmayr-Clemens on Suicide Prevention
I am joined this week by Elizabeth Roithmayr-Clemens, the New Jersey Area Director for American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). She shares her experience organizing community activities and advocating for greater suicide awareness and education. She speaks about losing a...
10.22.2018
Steve Lubitz on Hearthstone's Meta & Potential Troubles
I'm joined this week by Steve Lubitz, host of the Off Curve podcast, a show about Hearthstone that Steve records while driving home from his job. He talked about the creation of Off Curve and how he has been a...
10.16.2018
Danny Rupp on Worldbuilding & Mental Health in D&D
I'm joined by Danny Rupp, co-founder of Critical Hits. I'm joined this week by Danny Rupp, co-founder of Critical Hits and a very active participant on social media discussing Dungeons & Dragons and other roleplaying games. Danny talks about the origin...
09.18.2018
Aaron Retka, Managing Editor for Geeks Who Drink
This week I'm joined by Aaron Retka, Managing Editor for Geeks Who Drink. For the uninitiated, Geeks Who Drink is "a homegrown Pub Trivia Quiz modeled after those in Ireland and the UK" that covers "everything from celebrities in trouble to wordplay...
09.04.2018
Eric Roth on Tabletop Gaming with a Physical Disability
I'm joined by Eric Roth, a veteran of tabletop games such as Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. Eric talks about growing up with a physical disablity that limits his mobility and kept him from traditional activitives such as...
07.03.2018
Gaming Disorder Panel with Adam Johns, LMFT and Drs. Connell, Kelly, and Bean
I was fortunate to moderate a panel with licensed mental health providers about the World Health Organization's (WHO) decision to classify Gaming Disorder as a mental health diagnosis. I'm joined by Adam Johns, LMFT, Megan Connell, PsyD, Ryan Kelly, PhD,...
06.26.2018
Andy Hand on Designing 5th Edition Monsters to Raise Money for Suicide Prevention
A special episode this week as I welcome Andy Hand from Limitless Adventures, which offers quality gaming products for 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. Andy talks about the history of Limitless Adventures, and we discuss how we collaborated to create...
02.20.2018
Mike Shea on D&D Streaming & Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
Mike Shea joins the show once again to talk about the changing dynamics of tabletop roleplaying games. He explores how technology like streaming has advanced the hobby and spread its growth. We discuss the possible differences between what makes an...
02.09.2018
Tom Eastman on Developing Battle Chef Brigade
Tom Eastman, President of Trinket Studios, joins me to talk about their new release, Battle Chef Brigade, which is now available on Steam and Nintendo Switch. Tom talks about the four-year development process for Battle Chef Brigade, and the challenges...
01.23.2018
Cedric Van Dorpe on the Hearthstone Championship Tour and Mastering Arena
Cedric (@cedflanders) joins me from the Hearthstone Championship Tour in Amsterdam to offer a live report on the tournament. He details his experience at the event, and how he collected autographs from professional players and members of the Hearthstone team...
01.23.2018
Cedric Van Dorpe
Cedric (@cedflanders) joins me from the Hearthstone Championship Tour in Amsterdam to offer a live report on the tournament. He details his experience at the event, and how he collected autographs from professional players and members of the Hearthstone team...
12.19.2017
Deven Rue on Cartography and Disability in TTRPGs
Deven joins me to discuss her art, approach to cartography, and her interactions with the roleplaying game community. She talks about being introduced to Dungeons & Dragons at the age of 14 and the importance of finding a hobby and...
12.19.2017
Deven Rue
Deven joins me to discuss her art, approach to cartography, and her interactions with the roleplaying game community. She talks about being introduced to Dungeons & Dragons at the age of 14 and the importance of finding a hobby and...
12.05.2017
Greg Tito on "What is D&D?" and the Growth of TTRPGs
Greg joins me this week to discuss his career path before joining Wizards of the Coast in 2015, and details his roles and responsibilities as Senior Communications Manager for Dungeons & Dragons. He talks about his love of tabletop roleplaying...
12.05.2017
Greg Tito on “What is D&D?” and the Growth of TTRPGs
Greg joins me this week to discuss his career path before joining Wizards of the Coast in 2015, and details his roles and responsibilities as Senior Communications Manager for Dungeons & Dragons. He talks about his love of tabletop roleplaying...
12.05.2017
Greg Tito
Greg joins me this week to discuss his career path before joining Wizards of the Coast in 2015, and details his roles and responsibilities as Senior Communications Manager for Dungeons & Dragons. He talks about his love of tabletop roleplaying...
11.21.2017
Megan Connell, Psy.D. on Using D&D in Therapy and Mental Health at the Table as a DM
I'm joined this week by Dr. Megan Connell, a licensed psychologist who is currently using Dungeons & Dragons in two therapy groups to teach children social skills and empowerment. She speaks about motivations for pursuing a career in psychology, including...
11.21.2017
Megan Connell, Psy.D.
I'm joined this week by Dr. Megan Connell, a licensed psychologist who is currently using Dungeons & Dragons in two therapy groups to teach children social skills and empowerment. She speaks about motivations for pursuing a career in psychology, including...

What's Ego Check with The Id DM about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Ego Check with The Id DM episodes:

Teos Abadia on Adventure Flowcharts & Visual Aids

Katie Gordon, Ph.D. on The Suicidal Thoughts Workbook

Mark Meredith on Rediscovering 4th Edition D&D

Ronen Givony on Not For You: Pearl Jam and the Present Tense

Matt Forbeck on Shotguns & Sorcery

Kelly Carlin on Legacy, Purpose & Resilience

Tomo Moriwaki on Designing Epic Tavern

Stacy King & Andrew Wheeler on Dungeons & Dragons: Wizards & Spells

Keith Ammann on The Monsters Know What They're Doing

Megan Connell, PsyD on Therapeutic D&D and Coping with Creative Burnout

Elizabeth & Jared Kilmer on Therapeutic D&D for Veterans

Dr. Rachel Kowert on Video Games & Mental Health

Matt Henderson on Designing Loke Battle Mats

Matt Dixon on Illustrating Hearthstone

Elisabeth de Kleer on Dungeons & Dragons Behind Bars

Teos Abadia on Designing Acquisitions Incorporated

Jim Zub on Creating the Young Adventurer's Guides for Dungeons & Dragons

Grant Ellis on Streaming RPGs & Celebrating A Knight's Tale

Allison Spence on Journalism, Marketing & Finding the "Why?"

Jason Massey from The Dungeons & Randomness Podcast on Building a Career out of D&D

Ryan Kelly, PhD on the Power & Dangers of Gaming

Greg Leatherman on VRECast, Safe Spaces & Gay Representation in RPGs

Adam Johns & Adam Davis on Critical Core & Autism

Enrique Bertran on Streaming Star Wars & Launching a Patreon

François Alliot on Reigns and Probabilistic & Adaptive Game Design

Jana Flesher on RPG Systems, GM Tips & Midwifery

James Haeck on Critical Role's Alignments and D&D Waterdeep

Marc Allie on D&D and Transformers

Ed Grabianowski on Freelance Writing and Spacelord

Jase Nolan on Running D&D and Casting Hearthstone

Kevin Hovdestad on Esports

Kyle Newman on Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana

Elizabeth Roithmayr-Clemens on Suicide Prevention

Steve Lubitz on Hearthstone's Meta & Potential Troubles

Danny Rupp on Worldbuilding & Mental Health in D&D

Aaron Retka, Managing Editor for Geeks Who Drink

Eric Roth on Tabletop Gaming with a Physical Disability

Gaming Disorder Panel with Adam Johns, LMFT and Drs. Connell, Kelly, and Bean

Andy Hand on Designing 5th Edition Monsters to Raise Money for Suicide Prevention

Mike Shea on D&D Streaming & Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

Tom Eastman on Developing Battle Chef Brigade

Cedric Van Dorpe on the Hearthstone Championship Tour and Mastering Arena

Cedric Van Dorpe

Deven Rue on Cartography and Disability in TTRPGs

Deven Rue

Greg Tito on "What is D&D?" and the Growth of TTRPGs

Greg Tito on “What is D&D?” and the Growth of TTRPGs

Greg Tito

Megan Connell, Psy.D. on Using D&D in Therapy and Mental Health at the Table as a DM

Megan Connell, Psy.D.