The Corner of Story and Game

Shanna Germain on Quieting the Mind Goblins

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Shanna Germain joins us this week to discuss a wide range of topics! Shanna is an award-winning author, editor, and game designer. She is one of the co-founders of Monte Cook Games and was the Lead Designer on No Thank You, Evil! and has contributed to dozens of other game products, including the upcoming Old Gods of Appalachia RPG.

In this episode, we dig into, amongst other things:


  • The choices we make on our journey as creatives,
  • Finish the thing! Just finish it,
  • Her number one creativity tip - embrace the mess,
  • Being a designer and writer at the same time,
  • Worldbuilding as a designer versus as a writer,
  • Remember, as a designer you are not the storyteller, the GM is,
  • Making space for the under-represented, and
  • The key to great worldbuilding!


    • *(Oh, and the movie that Shanna can't remember is Children of Men. And the four people she lists in the quickfire question round are Mary Oliver, Amy Bloom, Junot Díaz, and Pedro Pascal.)

    Give it a listen


    You can find Shanna at:

    -> Monte Cook Games

    -> Shanna's Website

    -> Shanna's Patreon


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    If you have any questions or comments on this, or any other, episode, please let me know. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to hear more conversations with professionals in the video game, tabletop game, and fiction industries.

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    The Corner of Story and GameBy Gerald Ford