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!

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!

Today, I am going to talk turkey with fellow historian and bestselling author, Michael Witwer. His books, such as Empire of Imagination, the acclaimed biography of Gary Gygax, and the lavish Dungeons & Dragons: Art & Arcana, have helped bring the hidden history of role-playing games into the mainstream. His work combines deep research with a storyteller’s flair, making the origins of our hobby vivid, human, and dramatic. Today he’s here to talk about his brand-new book, Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Dragons! It is the definitive illustrated guide to dragons; the most iconic creatures in the D&D universe, the ultimate draconic compendium.

To pick up one of Michael's many fine volumes, click 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!

Welcome to D&D Outloud with Ben Riggs, I am Ben Riggs, apparently controversial D&D historian and author of Slaying the Dragon A Secret History of Dungeons & Dragons, and over the past 13 years of writing and podcasting, I have met hundreds of creative geniuses in and around the world of TTRPGs. Here on this show, I ask two of these flaming torches of the human imagination to come on and have a fascinating discussion which I then record and send out into the world. Today we’re stepping into new territory with a new name and a special kind of episode as one of our guests is most notable for his work on Comedy Central.

And that guest is comedian, writer, and voice actor Jeremy Bent. You may know Jeremy from his time on Tooning Out the News which was on after the Daily Show on Comedy Central, or as the voice of C-53 on the beloved sci-fi comedy podcast Mission to Zyxx. He’s also brought his wit to improv stages across the country and created shows like Eurovangelists, which tries to explain the Eurovision contest to people outside of Europe. He is also a huge TTRPG nerd. And today, he’s here to have a conversation with one of the hottest names in roleplaying games.

Our second guest is a trans-Atlantic sensation, a man whose work has reshaped indie role-playing. He is a demon of creativity striding the world in human form, a shape that answers to the name Chris McDowall. Chris is the creator of Into the Odd, a lean, haunting, and deeply influential RPG, and more recently Mythic Bastionland, a spiritual successor that expands his vision of evocative, rules-light play. Chris is known for distilling mechanics down to their essence and crafting games that feel both poetic and dangerous. Chris killed it at the ENNIEs this year, with MYTHIC BASTIONLAND winning Gold for best art, Gold for best layout, and Silver in the coveted Product of the Year category. I suppose I should add that I backed his recent crowdfunding campaign for MAC ATTACK, which is his sci-fi mecha minis wargame.

If you are in the US and you want to purchase one of Chris's Bastionland games, click here!

 https://plusoneexp.com/collections/bastionland-press

To support his sci-fi minis game, click here!

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/bastionland-press/mac-attack-sci-fi-mecha-miniature-wargame

If you want to learn how to make a podcast from a consummate professional like Jeremy Bent, click here!

https://jeremybent.com/podcasting-classes/

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!

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

Does 4E D&D have the best combat? The question leads us to a conversation with two of the game's three lead designers.

First up, we have Rob Heinsoo, one of the leading minds behind Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. He’s also the co-creator of 13th Age, a system that blends narrative freedom with crunchy mechanics in amazing ways. He’s a designer, a worldbuilder, and a relentless innovator in tabletop roleplaying games.

Joining us as well is Andy Collins, a multi-tour veteran of the Wizards of the Coast. Andy, along with Rob and Jim Wyatt, was co-creator of D&D 4th edition, but his design credits don’t stop there. I wish I got to talk to him about the Saga edition of Star Wars. He was also one of the guys working on Project Sigil for Wizards until it was essentially strangled in its cradle by the company earlier this year. Now please behold a brilliant designer and a real mensch, Andy Collins!

Do you want more 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!

Wanna know what the hell is going on at WotC? Let’s ask people who used to work there. 

It is difficult to describe what a superstar gathering this is on the show. These are not the first names that you think of when you hear D&D, but they are just as significant if not more so than the names we all know. 

First Liz Schuh, whose final title at Wizards was Head of Publishing and Licensing for Dungeons & Dragons, has had a hand in the production of every edition of Dungeons & Dragons since 3rd. She was one of the guiding hands involved in the success of 5th edition. Personally, I think the coolest thing she was involved in was her work on the lawsuit which brought the movie rights to D&D back to Wizards/Hasbro, but her career is so long with so many highlights that it is difficult to pick out just one. Her career of more than 28 years ended in December, 2023 in the great culling.

Next, we have Chris Lindsay. Chris was a product manager for Wizards, but his career at the company also spanned over 20 years. Chris was one of the guiding voices of the DM’s Guild, and while I have no idea how much money the DM’s Guild has brought in for Wizards, it must be at least in the tens of millions of dollars. He was also let go in the great culling of December 2023.

These two were on the team responsible for taking the words of the writers and the art of the artists and turning them into a physical book. What do they have to say about where Wizards was and where it’s going?

Support the podcast and get extra content on Patreon here!

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!