The Play Greater Podcast

We are feeling a little loopy today, but we are back with a jam-packed episode featuring outdoor adventures, major studio updates, and the debut of an all-new show segment! Intro/Banter

• The Great Outdoors: Paul and Christopher are heading out camping together!
• Climbing & Concerts: Right after camping, Christopher is taking off for a rock climbing trip. Plus, reflecting on a concert Christopher attended a couple weeks ago.
• New Segment: We are introducing a brand-new, sometimes-recurring segment later in today's episode!

GTG News & World Report

• Defenders of the Realm Crowdfunding: Defenders of the Realm: Definitive Edition is still live on Gamefound... and we officially hit our funding goal last week! Thank you to everyone who backed and helped us save Monarch City!
• Sentinels of the Multiverse Reprints: The next Sentinels of the Multiverse reprint campaign is officially set to launch in Q1 of next year!
• PAX Unplugged: Mark your convention maps! We will be at Booth #3709 this year. Super easy to remember number, don't worry.
• World Report:
  • Baseball: The Brewers, the World Cup, Japan... lots to talk about!
  • EU & UK Shipping: An update on international fulfillment logistics and shipping.

New Segment: Game Pitch — Defenders of the Realm We debuted our brand-new Game Pitch segment, putting Defenders of the Realm in the spotlight! We break down the elevator pitch, key mechanics, and what makes this reimagined return to Monarch City so special. With special guests! Banter/Outro

• Pitching Success: Pitching Defenders of the Realm was a total blast! Was it useful? Did it work? Who can say? We would love your feedback so we can grow and improve! We we look forward to other Game Pitch segments in future episodes.
• Back in the Studio: A big shoutout to our interns, Alec and Dario, for hanging out with us in the studio again!

See you next time! Thanks for tuning in! Got a question, design dilemma, or wheel topic for our upcoming quarterly mailbag? Send it in using our PGP Letter Submission Form!

We are back for Episode #40! We attempted to record this episode more than once, which descended into total disaster, so we've wiped the slate clean and gave it another shot . In this episode, we look ahead to upcoming show milestones, layout our fall convention schedule, and spend over half the show discussing the ultimate fantasy literary adaptation . Intro/Banter

• Road to Episode 50: Milestone Episode 50 is somewhat fast approaching, and we are looking for ideas on how we should celebrate !
• Episode 40, Take Two: We originally tried recording this episode last week, but it turned into an absolute recording catastrophe . We regrouped and powered through for attempt number two !
• Standard Table Book Club: Over on the Order of the Standard Table discord, we're starting a book club — specifically taking a deep dive into J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion !

GTG News & World Report

• Defenders of the Realm is Live on Gamefound! Defenders of the Realm: Definitive Edition is officially live on Gamefound ! This is the absolute best version ever created of this cooperative fantasy classic . While miniatures are expensive to produce, we are hoping to reach the levels to unlock them as optional add-ons !
• Order of the Standard Table Perks: The Order continues to grow !
  • We talk about the Tiers Explanation Page to see how the ranks shake out .
  • Order members receive free domestic shipping — which even applies to our current Defenders of the Realm crowdfunding campaign !
  • Head to the Order Landing Page or Buy a Standard Writ to join .
• Convention Updates:
  • PAX Unplugged 2026: We will officially be there !
  • Essen Spiel 2026: Sadly, we will not be attending Essen Spiel this year .
• World Report: A geopolitical update on the war in Ukraine, examining Russian government mistakes and the spread of AI-generated military fabrications .

The Wheel of Topics We only spun the Wheel once this episode, but that single topic took over more than half the show!

• The Lord of the Rings (Movies vs. Books):
  • Tons of Praise: Giving credit where credit is due for Peter Jackson's film trilogy and its incredible achievements.
  • Plenty of Nitpicks: Airing out our book-purist grievances, though none of our nitpicks actually ruin the movies.
  • The Ultimate Verdict: We love the films, but they will never replace the books. The books remain vastly superior!

Banter/Outro Got a design dilemma, world report topic, or hypothetical scenario for our upcoming quarterly mailbag? Keep the letters coming! Submit Your Letters to the Play Greater Podcast Here!

Welcome to our very first dedicated, all-letters quarterly mailbag episode! We cleared out the inbox and tackled everything from RPG module reprints and project management bandwidth to retro synth soundtracks, 13-month calendars and hot takes about time, and a Gen Con live sword duel!

• SCRPG Adventure Module Reprints: Addressing the future physical availability of Sentinel Comics RPG modules and the ongoing demand for a downloadable MP3 of "Matt has left the room." (Does this link work?)
• Project Capacity & Scope Creep: How many simultaneous projects can a publisher actually manage? Is Paul the one who balances staff bandwidth against the temptation to add new titles? The answer may surprise you!
• Lazer Ryderz Soundtrack: The status of the synth-heavy Lazer Ryderz soundtrack (and the fan-favorite track "Twist Your Mind") and the rights to that game/IP.
• Post-Sleepy Hollow Campaign Games: We're drawing blanks when it comes to story-driven, 2- to 3-player campaign game recommendations featuring asymmetrical character progression (plus some reflections on Legend of Sleepy Hollow).
• The TMBG Venn Diagram: Mapping the overlap between Greater Than Games, The Brothers Chaps, and They Might Be Giants, and pitching what a GTG x TMBG collaboration would look like. (Awesome is what.)
• The Gen Con Wager Master Clone Test: If Wagermaster split us into identical clones — one working the GTG booth and one free to roam — how would our attendee clones spend their convention?
• The 13-Month, 28-Day Calendar Debate: Breaking down whether replacing our irregular monthly calendar with thirteen 28-day months (and floating year-end holidays) is better, worse, or about the same.
• Live Sword Duel Verdicts & Dragon Art: Remembering the Gen Con Live 2026 sword duel. And here are some dragons!

Christopher's first attempt:

Christopher's second attempt:

Totally actually Paul's dragon: (Real credit to Alec, our trusty intern!) Keep Those Letters Coming! Our next quarterly mailbag will be here before you know it. Send us your design dilemmas, weird hypotheticals, and wheel topics anytime: Submit Your Letters to the Play Greater Podcast Here!

We're back with Episode #38! From active construction zones and late-night recordings to deep historical dives and lunar events, we cover a ton of ground in this episode. Opening Banter

• Under Construction: The studio roof is actively under construction, so if you hear ambient hammering, just consider it our new lo-fi backing track.
• Late Night Recording: We had a long but fantastic recording session for The Letters Page last night.
• Nostalgia Trip: Taking a moment to reminisce about the olden days.

GTG News & World Report

• Defenders of the Realm Updates: Things are moving full steam ahead, and they're going really well! We're doing a lot of both internal and external playtesting!
• Order of the Standard Table: The Order has been stepping up and helping out behind the scenes.
• Creative Writing & Wordsmithing: Writing new material, making up brand-new words, and developing other unannounced games.
• Sentinels of the Multiverse Reprints: Definitive Edition reprints are officially slated for next year!
• Sentinel Choices Zine Released: The Sentinel Choices Zine has officially been released!
• World Report — Theatre at Brickworks: Our performance of Inheritance at Brickworks Theatre went remarkably well! We might just have to do more performances in the future.
• Celestial Events: Catching the red moon during last night's lunar eclipse.
• Words of Wisdom: "There's a lot of stuff on the earth." — Paul Bender, 2026.

The Wheel of Topics Spin 1: Recommendations!

• Paradox Interactive Games: Deep tactical strategy love.
• Star Wars: Zero Company: Very interested to some day play Star Wars: Zero Company.
• Life Advice: Drink more water! Stay hydrated out there.

Spin 2: Highlights & Lowlights of the Roman Empire & Republic

• Roman history is exceptionally well-documented, and Paul gets INTO IT.
• Top 5 highlights and hot takes, followed by some lowlights and bummers from Roman history.

Outro Banter

• Festival of Nationsin STL: Always a good time!
• St. Louis Heatwave: The weather is getting hot again (yuck!), but we're crossing our fingers for cooler temperatures in October.
• NEXT EPISODE IS THE MAILBAG! Episode #39 is our dedicated Quarterly Mailbag show! Send in your questions using the link below!

Got a burning design question or topic for the wheel? Send it in now so we can answer it on air! Submit Your Letters to the Play Greater Podcast Here!

We are officially back from Gen Con! Now that the dust has settled and the convention fog has somewhat cleared, we're recapping the aftermath, sharing studio news, and letting the Wheel of Topics decide our fate.

Intro-Slash-Banter

• Post-Gen Con Recovery: We have safely returned from the convention floor, slightly exhausted but ready to roll.

• Nocturnal Children: Navigating late-night energy shifts and erratic sleep schedules.

• Living Dangerously: What happens when you operate with absolutely zero consequences?

Don't forget to join The Order of the Standard Table! Head over to the site to secure your writ and standardize your gaming setup.

GTG News & World Report

• Defenders of the Realm (Crowdfunding Deep Dive):

  • Pledge Levels Breakdown: We're revamping the structure to make the game as accessible as possible.

  • All Game Content for Just $60?! You get all of the actual gameplay content in the core box (and an expansion?!) for just $60!

  • Miniatures as Optional Add-Ons: Because miniatures are expensive to produce, we've separated them from the base game. They will be available as extra add-ons (if we hit those levels) for those who want that extra table presence!

• Project Transparisteel & Project Gold: Progress updates on what's cooking behind the scenes in the design lab.

• Bigger Gen Con Booth Next Year: Booth #2856 was great, but we are officially expanding our footprint for next year's show!

EU and UK shipping for recent orders and pledges will be available soon! We'll let you know as we figure out more.

The Wheel of Topics: GOATS!

This week, the Wheel lands on caprine companions, leading to a deep dive into an elite roster of goats:

• Theodore

• Felice

• Archibald Quentin Lewis

• Mari

We also get the story behind my Theodore tattoo!

Outro-Slash-Banter

• No Letters Today: There are no letters in this episode, and that's completely okay!

• Mailbag Episode Coming Soon: We are saving up all your questions for a massive, dedicated Quarterly Mailbag episode in two weeks (Episode #39).

• Spears for Children?! Should children be armed with spears? Yes, absolutely.

• Get Your Letters In: Be sure to send in your questions, design quandaries, and wheel topics for our upcoming September Mailbag show!

👉 Submit Your Letters to the Play Greater Podcast Here!

See you next time!

What an absolute blast! Huge thanks to everyone who came out to join us for our Gen Con 2026 Live Show — it was incredible seeing so many familiar faces and meeting so many new folks in the crowd.

If anyone asks — or if you happen to review the official episode transcript — we completely filled Lucas Oil Stadium to maximum capacity.

We talk all things GTG, giving the live crowd the inside scoop on our current pipeline, upcoming projects, and what's brewing behind the curtain.

Then, we opened up the floor and tackled a fantastic range of questions from both long-time show veterans and first-time attendees.

And it wouldn't be a proper live show without a little chaos. We gave the Wheel of Topics a spin with a whole room of witnesses to hold us accountable!

Now that we're moving into our new format with a dedicated Quarterly Mailbag, keep those letters, design dilemmas, and wheel topics flowing in so we have a massive stack ready for the next mailbag episode!

Submit Your Letters to the Play Greater Podcast Here!

Thank you again to everyone who made the live show so special. Catch you in two weeks!

We are on the brink of Gen Con! In this episode, we tackle everything from grammar in the digital age and 3D-printing self-actualization to convention floor logistics, product reveals, and a definitive ranking of St. Louis pizza joints.

Opening Banter

• Grammar in the Modern Era: Do they even teach grammar in schools anymore, or have we fully surrendered our syntax to the computers?

• World Cup Finals: Cheering on the pitch! Go Spain!

• 3D Printing & Self-Actualization: Youths today! Speaking of which...

• Youth Education: General observations about the education of today's youths.

GTG News & Gen Con Extravaganza

• Booth #2856: Still 2856. Still the easiest number on the convention floor to remember.

• The Cube Sky Banner: It actually exists! Keep your eyes peeled and look up at Gen Con to spot our legendary elevated skyline marker. Hopefully!

• Convention Crews & Riggers: A massive shoutout to the unsung heroes who hang banners from stadium rafters and keep the convention running. Riggers rule!

• The Swag Mountain: We are coming fully stocked. We've got Crime Scene Tamperer (CST), Defenders of the Realm (DD), Sentinel Comics RPG (SCRPG), plus pins, lanyards, napkins, and coasters! Gen Con is officially saved.

• Twuana at the Booth: Twuana will be joining us in the booth this year... in a wheelchair?! Stop by to say hi in person!

• MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT: Defenders of the Realm: Definitive Edition is officially coming to Gamefound this September!

Format Change Announcement

Before we jump into the mailbag, a big structural heads-up! Starting after our upcoming Gen Con Live episode, the podcast format is evolving. We are sunsetting the regular letter reading during each episode in favor of a dedicated Quarterly Mailbag episode once every three months!

The Final Regular-Run Letters!

• The Gen Con 3-2-1 Rule: Our personal, highly modified convention survival takeaway: 3 showers and 2 wardrobe changes minimum.

• Custom Content Policy: Make custom content for our games! We love that you make it! (Just please understand that for legal/professional reasons, we will not look at it!)

• Existential Podcast Questions: "What do we actually do here?" and the eternal linguistic struggle between bi-weekly, bi-monthly, semi-monthly, and every-other-weekly.

• Plagues & Spuds: Historical plagues, Idaho Spuds, and the ongoing struggles of having a poor memory.

• EVE Online Logistics: A deep dive into spreadsheets, space fleets, player-driven economy, and starships.

• Media & Adaptations:

  • TV show recommendations.

  • Shakespeare ramblings (featuring Titus Andronicus and a minor note on Romeo & Juliet).

  • The eternal debate: Books vs. Movies & Adaptations.

• Spooky & Cosmic: Would you be a ghost? Followed by an analysis of planets and their various "flavors."

Spin the Wheel: Local STL Eateries!

The Wheel landed on local St. Louis dining recommendations this week! If you find yourself in the gateway city, here is where we demand you eat:

• Paul's Pick: Cafe Natasha

• Christopher's Picks: Pizza Head, Bud's Pizza & Beer, and La Pizza

• Honorable Mention: Blackthorn Pizza

See You at Gen Con!

Our next episode will be recorded LIVE at Gen Con! Get ready for convention floor madness, live audience energy, and more.

Got a question for our upcoming quarterly mailbag? Send it in now using our PGP Letter Submission Form !

We are keeping the momentum going! We might be seasoned professionals juggling multiple full-time jobs, but we always find the time to bring you your regular dose of tabletop insights, design deep dives, and general studio chaos.

In this episode, we bounce from workshop safety to major convention announcements, before diving into a massive, double-stuffed stack of listener letters.

Opening Banter

• Climate Control: It's so hot! Everyone needs air conditioners.

• Workshop Safety: A public service announcement on the office "finger slicing machine" and a comprehensive guide on how to actually use it without losing a digit. Oh, wait, it's actually more of a discussion on how to improperly use it and actually cut off at least one finger.

GTG News

We pull back the curtain a little on what's currently sitting on our design tables, including updates on:

• Defenders of the Realm

• Project Gold

• Project Transparisteel

Gen Con is right around the corner, and we have a jam-packed schedule for you:

• Booth Number: Still 2856! Don't forget it!

• Thursday Evening: Join us for the official Play Greater Party! Info here and here!

• Crime Scene Tamperer Events: Come experience Crime Scene Tamperer events featuring an incredibly real-life, live-action appearance from Dangeresque!

• Saturday Night Greater Than Games Party: We are hosting a party starting at 7:00 PM at O'Reilly's Pub in downtown Indianapolis. Mark your calendars!

World Report

Our occasional foray into global events:

• Soccer: A discussion of the US vs. Bosnia match.

• Seismic Shifts: Recent earthquakes in Venezuela.

• Geopolitics: Birthright citizenship upheld! For now!

The Mailbag

Your letters pushed us into some fascinating logistical and existential directions this week:

• Where in the World Are We Working? We break down our current operational footprint, from bustling away at GTG HQ, to our respective work-from-home setups, and that one memorable live-streamed session broadcast directly from Pieces Board Game Cafe.

• Time Travel Complications: If you found yourself caught in a temporal anomaly, would you do things differently? More importantly, how would altering the timeline complicate your own past game design work?

• The Myth of Ethical Consumption: We talk about ethical consumption under capitalism. Our short, definitive answer? There is none!

• Business XP: Gathering real-world experience points while navigating the tabletop publishing industry.

• The 37-Player Spirit Island Mega-Game: We recount the legendary, terrifying saga of running a massive 37-player game of Spirit Island at Origins. It was dangerous. It was scary. It featured a cameo by designer Eric Reuss. But against all mathematical odds... it ended in ultimate success!

• Dryer Vents: A quick-fire look at household ventilation maintenance.

• Roman Empires: How many? How to remember them?

• Time Loop Nonsense: Exploring the narrative headaches of time loops, specifically featuring chess masters and sword fighting.

• The Milk Tent: We return to Paul's Milk Tent. It's too much milk. Far too much.

• Llama Costumes: Paul explicitly confirms that he has photos. We aren't releasing them to the public just yet (I still have yet to see them...) but the photographic evidence apparently exists.

• Rememberance: Reflections on navigating the passing of a loved one.

• Sweet Stuff: A sugary breakdown of candy names, candy types, and terrible confectionery puns.

• Shakespearean Homework: A highly specific Romeo & Juliet question sent in directly from M'Bender.

• A critical culinary debate: Broccoli in a fritters?! Sounds good to us!

Closing things out with a look inside a book of uncommon wisdoms.

Interview!

Notice: There is absolutely no wheel spinning in this episode! The Wheel of Topics has been given a temporary rest.

Instead of letting fate decide our final segment, we sit down for an exclusive studio interview with our fantastic new summer interns, Alec and Dario! Tune in to hear how they're adjusting to life behind the scenes at Greater Than Games.

That is all for this week! Listen more, tell your friends, and keep feeding the studio mailbag. If you want your question, weird design theory, or wheel topic answered in a future episode, send it our way!

Submit Your Letters to the Play Greater Podcast Here!

We are back with another very well planned out episode of the Play Greater Podcast! This week, we bounce from household appliance rabbit holes to international geography, before tackling a massive stack of your letters.

Opening Banter: The Appliance Quest

• Paul's Washer-Dryer Saga: Paul is deep in the market for a new laundry setup. We track his descent into the obsessive world of Wirecutter reviews. Do you know about The Wirecutter? You should!

GTG Studio News

• The Interns Have Arrived: A big welcome to our new summer interns! We're putting them to work and making sure they survive the tabletop gauntlet. They'll be in a future episode?! Probably!

• Gen Con Booth #2856: Just a reminder that we will be at Booth #2856 this year. We already explained why this number is mathematically and spiritually perfect, so don't forget it.

• The Party Dilemma: Are we doing a Play Greater Party on Thursday? Maybe? But more importantly, the legendary Saturday night of Gen Con GTG party is locked in at O'Reilly's. 7:00 PM. Mark your calendars.

• Order of the Standard Table: The bureaucracy grows! We give a quick status update on our favorite standard-sized dining society. You can still check out the Order Landing Page, review the Tiers Explanation Page , or officially Buy a Standard Writ.

The PGP World Report

• World Cup Related: Lawrence, KS is super into Algeria now. And that's great.

• St. Louis Lore & Balkan Treat Box: Did you know that there's a massive Bosnian population right here in St. Louis? This naturally leads us to rave about the absolute culinary masterpiece that is Balkan Treat Box . If you haven't eaten there, you are missing out.

• The Ice Cream Cartels of Japan: A completely logical transition from international sports to Japanese syndicates... specifically dealing in ice cream. We also talk about the official Japanese term for WAY too hot weather: Kokushobi. It all makes sense on the air. Mostly.

Letters!

We tackle a mountain of listener letters this week, spanning a wild variety of topics:

• RPGs and Back Episodes: Thoughts on running roleplaying sessions and a look back at the classic PGP catalog.

• The Missing Year: We're not talking about 2025, for the most part.

• More Homestar Runner Love: Expanding on our partnership with the Brothers Chaps over at Homestarrunner.com.

• Compile: Great game. There's new stuff! Hooray! It's not ours anymore, but we're still jazzed.

• Game Design + FEEL: A deep dive into the abstract concept of "feel" in board games. How do you design a mechanic to evoke a perfect emotional response?

• Recommendations: Recommendations for books, TV shows, and miscellaneous media worth checking out.

• Other stuff, like IPs, M'Bender, and Space Operas: We round out the mailbag with thoughts on adapting external intellectual properties, more mysterious M'Bender lore, and a recent delve into the Space Opera genre.

Spinning the Wheel

The Wheel of Topics returns! This week, the mechanical beast was fed some truly bizarre concepts, ultimately landing on "The Milk Tent" and which results in an upsetting tale, starting with llama costumes and ending in drinking way too much milk.

Closing Thoughts

We close things out with a story from Paul's visit with his family recently. This tale provides this photo:

Bask in the glorious M'Bender in a Mumu. BASK!

Want your letter to be read in an upcoming Episode? Submit your weird design questions, wheel topics, or appliance recommendations using our PGP Letter Submission Form .

Thanks for listening, and we'll see you in two weeks!

We are absolutely thrilled to be back in your feeds so soon! We are still collectively getting used to this incredibly logical, completely unconfusing "both bi-weekly and bi-monthly" recording schedule, but more frequent episodes means we get to talk about way more things! Paul and I are having an absolute blast being back in the studio, and we hope you are enjoying the show as well!

In this episode, we tackle an eclectic mix of conventions, products, community spots, and semi-sensical banter.

In This Episode:

• Gen Con 2026 is Calling: We are officially heading back to the big show! You can find us at Booth #2856. On air, we break down why 2856 is an incredibly easy number to remember for so many reasons. Mark it down on your maps!

• GTG Products Galore: Do we have dozens of them? Potentially!

• Trogdor! The Burninator?!: You'd better believe it.

• The Standard Table URL Adventures Continue: A brief status report on our ongoing, bizarre domain redirection mystery. The quest to standardize your dining room table experiences remains noble but technically weird.

• Local Spotlight: Pieces Board Game Cafe: If you are local to the St. Louis area or planning a trip, you need to visit our friends over at Pieces. They have exclusive, first-look copies of our upcoming games sitting right on their shelves! It's the perfect spot to grab a drink, roll some dice, and get an early sneak peek at what we've been printing.

• Seismic Activity in the Philippines: A bit of unexpected tectonic trivia. Earthquakes in the region happen to be more frequent than most people realize. Also, the Philippines and the Mariana Trench ARE both located in the western Pacific Ocean, but about 1.5k miles apart... so not THAT close to each other.

• The Great Geography Face-Off: A completely mutual roasting of regional knowledge. Yes, Americans are notoriously bad at mapping European borders, but we argue that Europeans are equally clueless when trying to parse American state geography. It's an ignorance stalemate!

• The Boundaries of Discourse: A highly tactical look at what we can and cannot talk about versus what we will and will not talk about.

• Sentinels of the Multiverse Updates: News on the reprint front for Definitive Edition products, alongside a quick discussion of errata plans.

• Sentinel Comics RPG Plans: We lay out what our upcoming schedule looks like for the roleplaying game side of Sentinel Comics.

• Defenders of the Realm: We talk about the game, the product, our crowdfunding plans, and what the future holds for this legendary fantasy title.

Naturally, a new episode means a new turn of the Wheel of Topics. We add new topics to the wheel before giving it a aggressive spin to see where fate lands us. The result is both surprising, and also entirely unsurprising.

We will be back in just a couple of weeks with another episode! In the meantime, we need your thoughts, design quandaries, and bizarre scenarios to keep the show fueled. Use our handy submission form to send us your letters: Submit Your Letters to the Play Greater Podcast Here!

Thank you so much for listening, sharing the show, and helping us bring this back to life!