This one’s with a familiar guest - Simon Williams - in which, as it turned out, Simon interviewed me on the question of Scenario Design: how do I do it and what approaches do I take? Simon is a British artist and illustrator, and also the creator of the Legend of The Bones podcast, a hybrid Solo Old School Dungeons and Dragons actual play and dark fantasy audio drama.

Through several conversations, both on and off air, Simon and I have become friends and this chat wasn’t really slated for airing but I had clicked record. I’m really glad that I did record the chat because it was an hour during which Simon’s questions led to me working out and explaining a process that I’ve developed over the past couple of years. Big thanks to Simon for asking the questions and sharing his own thoughts, but also for letting me record and share it with you.

Game on!

Legend of the Bones podcast:

Legend of the Bones Podcast — Apple Podcasts OR https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/legend-of-the-bones/id1622036301

Legend of the Bones | Podcast on Spotify OR https://open.spotify.com/show/2HIuUxGzBtQLdGgPWRwjkg?si=0e438637d0854b09&nd=1&dlsi=57a5f90b55a148d1

Legend of the Bones website: Legend of the Bones OR https://legendofthebones.blogspot.com/

Roleplay Rescue Details:

Voice Message:

speakpipe.com/roleplayrescue

Patreon:

patreon.com/rpgrescue 

Email:

[email protected]

Blog

roleplayrescue.com 

Bluesky Social:

https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.social

MeWe:

https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescue

Roleplay Rescue Theme by Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore:

https://taleofthemanticore.podbean.com/

Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:

https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Clarke Peterson from Speaks and Spells Publishing, the author of several 5th Edition compatible products including Venture Forth, The Arcane Exterminator, and Secrets of the Selkies. The work he has been doing has been focused on Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition, and he has also contributed regularly to EN Publishing's monthly periodical for the system, the Gate Pass Gazette.

Clarke is currently working to launch a Kickstarter for Wild Magic Reimagined, the most versatile and dynamic system yet for adding wild magic to anything and published under the ORC license. This was a really interesting conversation for me: on the one hand, I get to talk to an up-and-coming designer about their 5e-related project; on the other hand, I had the privilege of discussing some more personal and practical issues from the perspective of someone perhaps 30 years younger. What I discovered was fascinating, heartening, and very encouraging. The first half of the chat is about the guest and the project, but we veer into deeper and more personal waters at around the 30 minute mark. I hope you enjoy what he had to say.

Big thanks to Clarke for coming on the show!

Check out Wild Magic Reimagined: presale.speaksandspells.com/

Game on!

Roleplay Rescue Details:

Voice Message:

speakpipe.com/roleplayrescue

Patreon:

patreon.com/rpgrescue 

Email:

[email protected]

Blog

roleplayrescue.com 

Bluesky Social:

https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.social

MeWe:

https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescue

Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:

https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one is all about the call-in feedback for the discussions I recently shared with Anthony, aka Runeslinger, from Casting Shadows on the topic of the Story Divide. More specifically, these messages largely relate to the longest episode ever - S15 Ep9 What are Roleplaying Games - in which we discussed the emergence of the Story Divide through the lens of what game designers were writing in their books.

Big thanks to Anthony, aka Runeslinger, for adding his responses to this call-in episode. Thanks also to JonM, Jason C, Carl D, Wiebe, Bob, and BJ for the calls this episode… and also to Marnie for the encouragement. Without you all, this discussion wouldn’t happen and my thinking wouldn’t have been stretched even further. Thank you!

Game on!

Casting Shadows: castingshadowsblog.com/

The Accidental "Lie" in RPGs:

castingshadowsblog.com/?p=13470

Lucifer's Lexicon: On RPG Concepts and Terms:

castingshadowsblog.com/2025/04/28/lucifers-lexicon-on-rpg-concepts-and-terms/

The Alexandrian: Roleplaying Games versus Storytelling Games:

thealexandrian.net/wordpress/6517/roleplaying-games/roleplaying-games-vs-storytelling-games

Roleplay Rescue Details:

Voice Message:

speakpipe.com/roleplayrescue

Patreon:

patreon.com/rpgrescue 

Email:

[email protected]

Blog

roleplayrescue.com 

Bluesky Social:

https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.social

MeWe:

https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescue

Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:

https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one’s another conversation with Runeslinger, aka Anthony from the Casting Shadows blog, podcast, and Youtube channel. He hails from South Korea and, having just enjoyed a week off work, I was able to cue up some chats with him.

This conversation is essentially the third part that began in Episode 6, The Story Divide, and explores - through the lens of D&D - the process by which the character became a protagonist… and the impact this change had on play.

Big thanks to Anthony for coming to talk. We do hope it helps to illustrate the Story Divide that we spoke about some weeks back and offers some insight on different ways of approaching roleplaying games.

Game on!

Casting Shadows: castingshadowsblog.com/

The Accidental "Lie" in RPGs:

https://castingshadowsblog.com/?p=13470

Roleplay Rescue Details:

Voice Message:

speakpipe.com/roleplayrescue

Patreon:

patreon.com/rpgrescue 

Email:

[email protected]

Blog

roleplayrescue.com 

Bluesky Social:

https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.social

MeWe:

https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescue

Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:

https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one’s a conversation with Runeslinger, aka Anthony from the Casting Shadows blog, podcast, and Youtube channel. He hails from South Korea and, having just enjoyed a week off work, I was able to cue up some chats with him.

This conversation continues from Episode 6, The Story Divide, and delves deeper into the history of the emergence of a perception that roleplaying games are about storytelling as opposed to being about, well, something else.

The approach was to dig out several texts - both in book form off our shelves and PDF format digitally - and examine those oft overlooked sections entitled something like, “What are roleplaying games?”

Texts referenced include: Original Dungeons & Dragons (1974), Basic Role-Playing (1980), RuneQuest (1978), Stormbringer (1985 et al), Traveller (1977 & 1981), AD&D 1e Player's Handbook (1978), Cypher System Rulebook (2019), Your Best Game Ever (2019), Tales of the Valiant (2024), D&D 3rd Edition (2000), Vampire: The Masquerade (1991 et al), Apocalypse World (2010)... and a few others too.

Big thanks again to Anthony, aka Runeslinger, for sharing this conversation. It's posted by us both in hope and with fear... the hope being that the community will find it useful.

Game on!

Casting Shadows: castingshadowsblog.com/

New blog --> The Accidental "Lie" in RPGs:

https://castingshadowsblog.com/?p=13470

Roleplay Rescue Details:

Voice Message:

speakpipe.com/roleplayrescue

Patreon:

patreon.com/rpgrescue 

Email:

[email protected]

Blog

roleplayrescue.com 

Bluesky Social:

https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.social

MeWe:

https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescue

Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:

https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one’s a conversation with a new friend. My guest hails from Florida, USA, and this is probably the beginning of a sequence of chats I’d like to have with him.

Our focus was on what my guest calls, "world first" play and we specifically take his currently running Twilight 2000 campaign as an example. Yes, we talk GURPS and we talk modern post-apoc but that's not quite the point: this is about methodology.

Big thanks up front to Patrick for coming to talk!

Game on!

Pat's T2K blog: t2kcampaigns.com

Roleplay Rescue Details:

Voice Message:

speakpipe.com/roleplayrescue

Patreon:

patreon.com/rpgrescue 

Email:

[email protected]

Blog

roleplayrescue.com 

Bluesky Social:

https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.social

MeWe:

https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescue

Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:

https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one’s an eclectic collection of thoughts emerging from listener messages and the ongoing experience of running games in the wake of recent episodes.

When I started this podcast, it was really about getting my concern about losing gamers to the experience of play - of people giving up the play which enriches our lives under the pressures of modern living. 

At the same time, I was aware that the title - Roleplay Rescue - implies that the show is about recovering the art and depth of roleplaying. Strangely, all these years later, that is what is emerging.

This episode, I tune back in to the community with a handful of messages received over the past month. I’ll share a few thoughts, riffing off those calls and I hope that’ll give us a worthwhile few minutes of content.

Thanks to Steve, Jason, Patrick, and Jon for the call-in!

Game on!

Roleplay Rescue Details:

Voice Message:

speakpipe.com/roleplayrescue

Patreon:

patreon.com/rpgrescue 

Email:

[email protected]

Blog

roleplayrescue.com 

Bluesky Social:

https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.social

MeWe:

https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescue

Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:

https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one’s a conversation with an old friend. My guest hails from South Korea and this continues a sequence of chats that we’ve shared over a number of months. Fear not though - this episode stands alone.

Big thanks again to Anthony, aka Runeslinger from Casting Shadows for having this conversation and allowing me to record it.

Game on!

Casting Shadows: castingshadowsblog.com/

Roleplay Rescue Details:

Voice Message:

speakpipe.com/roleplayrescue

Patreon:

patreon.com/rpgrescue 

Email:

[email protected]

Blog

roleplayrescue.com 

Bluesky Social:

https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.social

MeWe:

https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescue

Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:

https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if roleplaying games are not about telling stories?

Is there another way to approach these games?

And what happens if we stop treating the game like it’s a movie?

This one is about expressing where I am in my own quest for improved roleplaying game experiences for my players. As the GM, this episode discusses where I am coming from and helps to explain some of the choices that I am making.

Big thanks to Wiebe, Bob, and Jason for the call-ins!

Game on!

Roleplay Rescue Details:

Voice Message:

speakpipe.com/roleplayrescue

Patreon:

patreon.com/rpgrescue 

Email:

[email protected]

Blog

roleplayrescue.com 

Bluesky Social:

https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.social

MeWe:

https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescue

Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:

https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one's a conversation with Joe, the host of the Dekahedron podcast where he talks about his love of the tabletop RPG hobby. On his show Joe talks about a range of stuff from OSR gameplay ideas through to newer (?) games like Fudge and Dungeon World.

Joe's renowned for his honesty in RPG reviews and it’s that which triggered an invitation to the show. He recently did a couple of episodes reviewing Fudge (1995) and so I invited him on to explore it a little more.

Big thanks to Joe for taking the time to talk Fudge. I know I enjoyed it and I hope you did to!

Game on!

Links to stuff in the episode:

Dekahedron Podcast: www.dekahedron.com

Dekahedron on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoIenKcZZRol5yCPO46iaAUJgq-Ju5bMi

The Anchorite APA: sites.google.com/view/anchorite/home

Fudge Website: https://fudgerpg.com/

Fudge 1995 Rules PDF (free):

FUDGE 1995 Edition (PDF Bookmarked) 1.0

or

https://fudgerpg.com/goodies/fudge-files/download/3-core/54-fudge-1995-pdf-bookmarked.html

Roleplay Rescue Details:

Voice Message:

speakpipe.com/roleplayrescue

Patreon:

patreon.com/rpgrescue 

Email:

[email protected]

Blog

roleplayrescue.com 

Bluesky Social:

https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.social

MeWe:

https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescue

Logo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:

https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.