Episodes
Tuesday May 07, 2019
Ryan Kelly, PhD on the Power & Dangers of Gaming
Tuesday May 07, 2019
Tuesday May 07, 2019
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 in problematic ways. We discuss the potential benefits and consequences of gaming and other hobbies, and offer suggestions for how to find a healthy balance.
Tuesday Apr 16, 2019
Greg Leatherman on VRECast, Safe Spaces & Gay Representation in RPGs
Tuesday Apr 16, 2019
Tuesday Apr 16, 2019
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 randomizes as much as possible for character creation and storylines. He explains the concept of safe spaces and how his life as a gay man forces him to consider changing his behavior to blend in and decrease the chance of violence. We talk about the lack of male affection in popular media, and he offers a suggestion to listeners to begin to change this culture. Many thanks to Greg for being willing to share his experience and life with us.
Tuesday Apr 09, 2019
Adam Johns & Adam Davis on Critical Core & Autism
Tuesday Apr 09, 2019
Tuesday Apr 09, 2019
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. Critical Core is designed to teach children on the autism spectrum confidence and social skills, and it is now live on Kickstarter. Their Kickstarter runs for two more weeks and is knocking off Stretch Goals; the game is for any parent or educator that would like to use a RPG to teach skills to children. And stay tuned until the end of the episode for a bonus song by Dr. Ryan Kelly --- trust me!
Friday Apr 05, 2019
Enrique Bertran on Streaming Star Wars & Launching a Patreon
Friday Apr 05, 2019
Friday Apr 05, 2019
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 how Star Wars and Fantasy Flight Games could produce a stellar stream of actual play to highlight their product. I prod Enrique to detail how he would run such a campaign, and his ideas are wonderful; I hope he lets me join as a player.
Tuesday Apr 02, 2019
François Alliot on Reigns and Probabilistic & Adaptive Game Design
Tuesday Apr 02, 2019
Tuesday Apr 02, 2019
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 into the design of Reigns and ponder how adaptive game design might develop in the future. François shares his influences regarding the focus on emerging narrative games, and he also provides some news about what he is working on next - including a tabletop version of Reigns!
Tuesday Mar 26, 2019
Jana Flesher on RPG Systems, GM Tips & Midwifery
Tuesday Mar 26, 2019
Tuesday Mar 26, 2019
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 running various RPG systems including Dungeons & Dragons and Dungeon World, and specifically offers tips for running tag-along NPCs and engaging the motivations of player characters. She explains why it's the "GM's job to remind players of their character's backstory" and examines why perceived invulnerability can negatively affect a campaign. She details her professional role as a midwife and speaks to how gaming has increased her ability to cope with any situation her professional work can deal to her. Throughout the episode, we both provide examples of games we share from both ends of the screen, which leads to some great conversation about principles of tabletop role-playing games. Enjoy!
Tuesday Mar 12, 2019
James Haeck on Critical Role's Alignments and D&D Waterdeep
Tuesday Mar 12, 2019
Tuesday Mar 12, 2019
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 how it also has carved its own niche. He discussed the evolution of Critical Role and how it only recently became an independent entity outside of Geek & Sundry and Legendary Digital Networks while also clarifying my prior misconceptions about Critical Role being "under" Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro. James and I ponder what Critical Role's success may mean for tabletop RPGs and empathize with individuals that may question the money that is being raised. I disclose my initial interest and envy from the success, and we both discuss the perils of focusing on the successes and failures of others while trying to create content. I thank James for delving into these questions, and we both acknowledge our lack of adequate solutions for these dilemmas. I shift gears with James to ask about how he got involved in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, and prod him for suggestions on how to get the most out of the content provided in the book. I selfishly wanted this information as my group my find their way into an urban setting soon! This is a worthy conversation, and I hope you give it a listen!
Tuesday Feb 19, 2019
Marc Allie on D&D and Transformers
Tuesday Feb 19, 2019
Tuesday Feb 19, 2019
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 DM, during the 4th Edition era. We spend some time remembering fondly elements of 4e D&D and talk about the transition to 5th Edition. Marc and I spend a good portion of the show talking about our shared enjoyment of Transformers, which hit us both in our formative year in the mid-80s. We talk about why Transformers persists while other franchises from that era have fallen in terms of greater public consciousness. He details his efforts to write a haiku for each episode of the original animated series, and we discuss our enjoyment (or lack thereof) of the Transformer films in recent years. We both agree that Bumblebee is wonderful, and hope the future is bright for additional films that will come from Bumblebee's creative team. Enjoy our stroll down the space bridge memory lane!
Tuesday Feb 12, 2019
Ed Grabianowski on Freelance Writing and Spacelord
Tuesday Feb 12, 2019
Tuesday Feb 12, 2019
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 local newspaper in Buffalo and how that led to other writing opportunities as he continues to work on a novel. He discusses the pressures involved in producing content for an online audience that is bombarded with an endless stream of content. Ed also talks about his musical project, Spacelord. Ed performs vocals for the band, and he details their journey in the independent rock scene. While Ed provides details about Spacelord's influences, a few samples of their music are including to give listeners a taste of their sound. The band is GOOD, and you should give them a listen! Ed shares a hilarious story about the cover art for the latest Spacelord album, and we close the show by rehashing our efforts in 2016 to narrow down to the best 12 songs from the Use Your Illusion albums by Guns N' Roses. If you haven't read our takes on this, then go do that now.
Tuesday Jan 22, 2019
Jase Nolan on Running D&D and Casting Hearthstone
Tuesday Jan 22, 2019
Tuesday Jan 22, 2019
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 skills learned in "Talkstone" help him narrate elements of a D&D session. He speaks to sources of potential burnout as a DM and highlights the need for DMs to know the adventure and setting they are running. He offers some of his tips and tricks for running effective sessions, and then we conclude the talk by discussing the Hearthstone community including how Jase has felt welcome as an openly queer individual.