Reading D&D Aloud

This week, we go deep into the Old School Revolution with Old School Essentials creator Gavin Norman and Josh McCrowell of His Majesty the Worm! Gavin Norman is the mind behind some of the most exciting work in the modern OSR scene. He is best known for Old-School Essentials, the gold standard for clean, accessible retro-gaming rules that have brought thousands of new players into old-school play. His work doesn't just celebrate the roots of tabletop RPGs—it refines them, making them sing with clarity and style. If you've ever cracked open an OSE book, you know exactly what I mean: sharp design, killer layout, and an unwavering love for the game. Gavin Norman is, simply put, one of the defining voices of today's old-school revolution. Josh McCrowell is the creator of His Majesty the Worm—a deeply weird, beautiful, and melancholy dungeon crawler that uses tarot cards as its core mechanic. It's also up for an ENNIE this year! Josh is also one of the brains behind Knock Magazine, that gloriously chaotic love letter to the DIY RPG scene, packed with ideas, art, and inspiration. His work blends creativity with a genuine sense of wonder. Josh McCrowell is a designer who reminds us that the dungeon isn't just for killing monsters—it's for exploring what it means to be alive. Find Gavin's work on OSE here! https://www.exaltedfuneral.com/pages/old-school-essentials Acquire Josh's brilliant game here: https://www.hismajestytheworm.games/#h.mvmqxy70j0s9 Ben's Gen Con seminar this year is entitled "Solving the Mysteries of the D&B Business." He's interviewed dozens of former and current WotC employees, and has real answers to questions we all have about the game. 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 2025 D&D? These questions and more Ben will attempt to answer in his sold-out Gen Con seminar! Given demand, Ben is going to livestream a rehearsal of the show on Zoom on Tuesday, July 29th, at 9 PM EST/ 6 PM PST. But the only way you can listen is by being a Patreon subscriber! It's only $3 a month. Click here to join now! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=121641556&utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

My guest tonight is a legend in the world of game design and storytelling. Richard Dansky is best known as the mind behind some of the darkest and most compelling corners of the World of Darkness. He served as the developer for Wraith: The Oblivion and helped shape the haunting masterpiece Charnel Houses of Europe: The Shoah, one of the most powerful books ever written for a roleplaying game. But Richard''s also a veteran of the video game industry, working as a writer and narrative designer. My favorites there include the 2004 Far Cry and Driver. He's a novelist, a storyteller, and someone who knows how to make horror feel deeply, uncomfortably human. Cough cough soulforging. My next guest is a name well-known to fans of classic fantasy RPGs—Lou Prosperi. Lou was the developer of Earthdawn at FASA, the beloved post-apocalyptic fantasy game where magic, horror, and high adventure collide. His work helped define the rich, mythic tone of that setting, making Earthdawn one of the most unique fantasy RPGs of the 1990s. I would like to start with a summary of the book we are going to discuss, and just to be clear, we will be covering some disturbing stuff today. I cried reading this book, which I think is a first for a TTRPG book, and it would not surprise me if I cried during this discussion, so I am just laying that out there now. Charnel Houses of Europe: The Shoah is a profound, unsettling supplement that turns the Holocaust into a haunting Wraith narrative—melding historical documentation with metaphysical resonance. It looks at what happens when millions of dead arrive in the afterlife all at once. It causes a crisis in the hierarchy, the rather nasty government ruling the western afterlife. The response is actually quite remarkable. In an arrangement called the Covenant of the Millions, they decide to give space to the dead of the Shoah for them to govern themselves. They also decide to allow the Shoah dead to hunt down Nazis in the afterlife. Its strength lies in its gravity and respect for the subject: it's not a casual horror romp, but a rigorous, emotionally charged exploration. For Storytellers aiming to address trauma, memory, and unresolved spirits, this book offers compelling—and deeply sobering—tools. It's from White Wolf's Black Dog Gaming imprint, which means Use with care: it's intended for mature, sensitive gamers, and its impact depends heavily on tone, preparation, and player trust. I'd say the same for this conversation. You can pick up Lou's great books on Disney's imagineering here! Read Rich's book on surviving the video game industry as a writer here!

This one's a banger: D&D designer Steve Winter meets Ben Milton of Questing Beast! Ben Milton is a game designer, YouTube sage, and sorceror-king of the OSR demigod! He's the mind behind Knave 2e and the force behind Questing Beast, your portal to the wild, weird wonders of old-school RPGs. If you like sharp rules, deadly dungeons, and freedom at the table, Ben's your guy. And don't sleep on Steve Winter — a living D&D legend. From sneaking into TSR through a second-story window to shaping 2e, 3e, and beyond, Steve has been part of D&D's DNA for decades. Tune in. Nerd out. 🎲🔥 Find Knave here, and Ben's YouTube channel here! Tuesday, July 15th at 9 PM EST, Patrons of the show will be able to join a live book discussion on Charnal Houses of Europe: The Shoah. The conversation will include the book's developer, Richard Dansky, and Earthdawn developer Lou Prosperi. But only Patrons can participate live! Click here to back the show and participate in the conversation!

Not one, not two, but THREE RPG HISTORIANS in one hour of amazing audio! Today, we are fortunate to have with us Shannon Appelcline, author of the magisterial THIS IS FREE TRADER BEOWULF, which is a history of the Traveller RPG. He's probably most famous for DESIGNERS AND DRAGONS, which is his multi-volume history of seemingly every role-playing game company that ever put up a shingle and slammed some dice on a table. It was a book that got me through the pandemic. He seems to finish writing books at the pace other people finish playing video games. Second in order but by no means in rank we have Jon Peterson. As I will keep repeating until I see it on Google's N-gram viewer, Jon is the Thucydides of D&D history. His PLAYING AT THE WORLD and GAME WIZARDS are both required reading if you are going to post about D&D history anywhere online. The 2nd edition of PLAYING AT THE WORLD is nominated for an ENNIE Award! Buy THIS IS FREE TRADER BEOWULF here! On July 15th, Patrons of our pod will get a special treat! We will be doing a book club on Shoah for Wraith: The Oblivion. The conversation will include the book's developer, Richard Dansky, and Earthdawn developer Lou Prosperi. Patrons can participate live, and even ask questions! If that sounds good, hie thee forth to our Patreon to subscribe!

I can't believe I got these two on the show together! First, Kevin Crawford is a TTRPG design legend. My favorites from his work are Stars Without Number, and Worlds Without Number, both of which have been tremendously successful and influential as paragons of sleek game design and peerless GM tools. Stars was what I ran during the pandemic, and Worlds I read, and since the birth of my son, I read about one RPG every six months, but I had to put Worlds in that rotation just to see what Kevin did in it. To give just a taste of Kevin's influence, Blades in the Dark creator John Harper said that the origin of Blades in the Dark was a Stars Without Number campaign. And Blades, which is itself an epochal piece of design, birthed an entire universe of games using its system. Second, we have D&D icon Steve Winter. It is possible that Steve has the longest D&D career of anyone in the history of the game. He began working on D&D back at TSR in downtown Lake Geneva, and once even broke into the offices by climbing in a second storey window. He was a vital voice on 2nd edition AD&D. He was one of the first people to work on 3rd edition D&D, even though that project then passed on to other hands, and he followed D&D from Wisconsin to Renton, Washington where he continued to produce work for D&D through 5th edition. Check out Kevin's work here! On July 15th, Patrons of our pod will get a special treat! We will be doing a book club on Shoah for Wraith: The Oblivion. The conversation will include the book's developer, Richard Dansky, and Earthdawn developer Lou Prosperi. Patrons can participate live, and even ask questions! If that sounds good, hie thee forth to our Patreon to subscribe!

Who saved Dungeons & Dragons? How many people could say that they saved Dungeons & Dragons? Off the top of my head, I would say that the list of people who could say they saved D&D at some point over the course of its 51-year history is less than 20. But I believe I have one of those people who could credibly tell a story explaining how they saved D&D on the podcast with me today, because today I am speaking with Ryan Dancey. Ryan is like a Rhode Island private who just happened to be at every major battle of the Civil War. He seems to have been present at a number of important moments during the transplantation of D&D from TSR to Wizards of the Coast. He went to Lake Geneva as part of a team to negotiate an initial purchase with TSR CEO Lorraine Williams. Then, when D&D landed at Wizards, he found himself in charge of D&D, and had to figure out how to make the game make money again. Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here! Want more of Ben's work? Check out SLAYING THE DRAGON: A SECRET HISTORY OF DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, available wherever books are sold!

The theme of today's conversation is Ravenloft, but I don't know think that's the best place to actually start introducing my three guests. Instead, I am going to say that I have a very addictive personality. I play one video game about every three years. But one of the video games I have played is MASS EFFECT, and with us today is the accomplished Canadian voice actor, the voice of Commander Shephard, and probably the most real-world famous person I will ever have on this podcast, Mark Meer! Another one of the video games I've played is SKYRIM, and with me today is the lead designer of SKYRIM, a game which generated more income in its first week than TSR did in its best year, the co-creator of RAVENLOFT and lead author of the 1990 RAVENLOFT Boxed Set, Bruce Nesmith! Last but not least, we have author of the Ravenloft novel, KNIGHT OF THE BLACK ROSE, editor of more books than I can list, alumni of TSR and Chaosium, James Lowder. You can play D&D in a castle with Mark Meer by clicking here! Check out Bruce Nesmith's LitRPG, GLORY SEEKER, here! Fear the sanity-blasting secrets contained within the eldritch auction that was THE DAGON COLLECTION, featuring Jim Lowder! Uncover its secrets here!

Are hexcrawls the adventure's final form? We discuss that very question with two of the premier purveyors of the hexcrawl format in the 21st century: Jacob Hurst & WF Smith, aka Prismatic Wasteland. Jacob is one of the brilliant minds behind The Dark of Hot Springs Island, a hexcrawl of evil elves, interdimensional drug dealers, and beached whales. Smith is the lead designer or Barkeep on the Borderlands, a pubcrawl pointcrawl that is equal parts 1st edition homage, wine-soaked bachelorette party, and Terry Pratchett. Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here! Above image courtesy Prismatic Wasteland.

I have interviewed bestselling authors, Ivy League professors, and comic creators whose work has gone on to generate billions at the box office. But as a class, TTRPG professionals seem to be the smartest people I regularly talk to. I discuss this and other fascinating points this week with Stephen Radney-Macfarland, a designer with a TTRPG resume longer than my arm. Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=121641...

Kevin Kulp & Jeff Grubb have, between them, created entire cosmologies and entire timelines. Kulp is the award-winning creator of Timewatch and the investigative fantasy game, Swords of the Serpentine. Grubb, a legend in his own time, is the engineer of the Forgotten Realms, creator of Spelljammer, and writer of Manual of the Planes. Hear the pair discuss the secrets of creating new worlds with Ben Riggs. Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=121641...

Shannon Appelcline is a TTRPG historian par excellence. His Designers & Dragons set a high bar for the field and I cannot recommend it too highly. HIs recent Traveller history, This is Free Trader Beowulf, is similarly excellent. Today, we talk with Shannon about his time in the trenches of RPG history! Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here!

Ask a round of nerds what the first RPG was, and you'll likely get D&D as your answer. Some might shout out Blackmoor. A few may say Braunstein. But what if the answer was... something else? A long talk with the Thucydides of RPG history, Jon Peterson! Pick up the first volume of Playing at the World 2nd Edition here! Read Jon's article on Western Gunfight here! You can read Michael Korns's Modern Warfare in Miniature here! Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here!

Mary Fan is a sci-fi stalwart, a prolific author whose novels include the Jane Colt series among many, many, others, and lifelong reader. She shares with us her favorite short story, which happens to be by Polish genius Stanislaw Lem, and of course we argue about Star Wars and Star Trek. Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here!

You will not regret spending an hour listening to this conversation between 5th edition designer Mike Mearls and Shadowdark designer Kelsey Dionne. The pair are without question two of the most outstanding game designers working in TTRPGs today, and in this episode, they each give us a peek into their persons and processes. You can find Mike's Patreon here! And you can be a late backer of Kelsey's newest Shadowdark expansion here! Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here!

Lin Codega is the most important gaming journalist in the history of TTRPGs. They broke the OGL scandal wide open and changed the industry forever. In this hour-long conversation, Ben picks their brain about the state of things today, and where they are going next. Find further delight in Lin's words at Rascal! Ben interviewed 2nd ed designer Zeb Cook in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con and there's video! You NEED to see this! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here!

The pulp fiction that influenced Dungeons & Dragons and Call of Cthulhu was once considered disposable entertainment. But now it is taught in school! This week we pick the brain of Dr. Jason Ray Carney, a professor of English at Christopher Newport University who teaches weird fiction! The next thing we're going to release on the Patreon feed is an interview with 2nd edition designer Zeb Cook from Gary Con. Zeb gives us cutting insight into the role of the RPG designer as an artist, all while sitting in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con 2025! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here!

Stu Horvath is an RPG historian you need to hear about. His book, Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground is enlightening, engaging, entertaining, and informative. Oh, and gorgeous! It is a romp through 50 plus years of iconic RPG products, from the obvious to the obscure. In this episode, we discuss Chaosium's Theives' World. Pick up Stu's book here! The next thing we're going to release on the Patreon feed is an interview with 2nd edition designer Zeb Cook from Gary Con. Zeb gives us cutting insight into the role of the RPG designer as an artist, all while sitting in Hugh Hefner's suite at Gary Con 2025! And the only way you are going to get access to this amazing interview is by subscribing to our Patreon. It's only $3 a month! Click here!

Shadowdark is the new hotness in the OSR community. Shadowdark is a cobra. Fast. Elegant. Deadly. Beautiful. I'm running Shadowdark because it is a game that demands to be played. The internet asks, is Shadowdark a D&D-slayer? In this hour-long seminar from Gary Con, Kelsey Dionne gives us a deep look into the workings of the game, her company, and most relevant to the question of Shadowdark as a competitor to D&D: sales numbers! I guarantee they'll surprise you! Like what we do on this show? Back us on Patreon, you get access to our Discord, I post historical documents from my archive there, AND YOU GET EXTRA EPISODES! Last week, I posted Wizards of the Coast founder and Gen Con owner Peter Adkison in conversation with historian Matt Shoemaker. All this, FOR A MERE $3 A MONTH! Click here to join! Here are questions from the Q+A in case you couldn't hear them: Who are your invisible friends? I don't understand what's new and what was already published in CURSED SCROLL in your Kickstarter. Please explain. If Shadowdark uses close/near/far, why have gridded maps? Do you foresee using traditional distribution in the future? Are you going to do Free RPG Day? What was your first edition of D&D? What were you trying to capture with Shadowdark? What are your plans for organized play? Would you have a metaplot in organized play? Where do you start when writing? What is your implied setting? Where did the idea of carousing come from? How can I integrate the Western Reaches into my home game? Comment about Dungeon magazine. Is Shadowdark good for long-term play? Discussion of characters versus character sheets. How do you interact with art as you write? Where is Arcane Library going? How effective is the quickstart in getting people to buy the game? Will there be other genres of Shadowdark? What's the sales pitch for Shadowdark? Will there be frameworks for 3rd party publishers? Can I send you my ideas? I lose a little track here, but... HOW MANY COPIES OF SHADOWDARK HAVE YOU SOLD?

Michael O'Brien is vice-president of Chaosium, the oldest extant RPG company, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year! In this interview, Ben & Michael go back to the dawn of fantasy RPGs, and talk about the brilliant minds that have made Chaosium home this past half-century. Check out O'Brien's Sun Country, which he described as "Spartans in the old west" here! Want to hear Call of Cthulhu creator Sandy Petersen discuss game design with Trail of Cthulhu creator Ken Hite? Then you NEED to join our Patreon! Patreon subscribers get access not just to special episodes like the one just mentioned, but Ben is also digitizing his document archive. Discover hidden secrets of RPG history! And there is even a patrons-only Discord. All that, for only $3! Click here to join today!

Cory Burns is at the forefront of D&D actualplays, because his incorporates audience participation! We chew the fat with Burns, creator of Adventures Improvised, which plays D&D in front of an audience using powerpoints and audience participation. He has his own RPG, Wanderverse, which will be kickstarting on March 25th. Playtest materials for the game can be found here! We discussed MIT's ion drive, and you can learn more here! The LA Review of Books piece on the sources for Dune can be found here. Want to hear Call of Cthulhu creator Sandy Petersen discuss game design with Trail of Cthulhu creator Ken Hite? Then you NEED to join our Patreon! Patreon subscribers get access not just to special episodes like the one just mentioned, but Ben is also digitizing his document archive. Discover hidden secrets of RPG history! And there is even a patrons-only Discord. All that, for only $3! Click here to join today!

CthulhuTech smashes sci-fi anime with the work of Lovecraft to create something wholly new. In this episode we talk with the game's designer, Matt Grau about the game's creation, history, and his own time in video games. You can check out the CthulhuTech Kickstarter here! Want to hear Call of Cthulhu creator Sandy Petersen discuss game design with Trail of Cthulhu creator Ken Hite? Then you NEED to join our Patreon! Patreon subscribers get access not just to special episodes like the one just mentioned, but Ben is also digitizing his document archive. Discover hidden secrets of RPG history! And there is even a patrons-only Discord. All that, for only $3! Click here to join today!

Pirate Borg designer Luke Stratton is a true polymath. Not only did he make the setting and the rules for his brutal, fast, and fun pirate RPG, but he also did the art! Additionally, he is a famous lighting designer who traveled the world lighting grunge gods, the Smashing Pumpkins! Want to hear Call of Cthulhu creator Sandy Petersen discuss game design with Trail of Cthulhu creator Ken Hite? Then you NEED to join our Patreon! Patreon subscribers get access not just to special episodes like the one just mentioned, but Ben is also digitizing his document archive. Discover hidden secrets of RPG history! And there is even a patrons-only Discord. All that, for only $3! Click here to join today! Luke Stratton's THE GAME is here.

Ed Greenwood may be the most successful Canadian fantasist of all time. His work has been translated into novels, comic books, games, movies, and (hopefully) a Netflix TV series. Come and learn the secrets of world-building from the creator of the Forgotten Realms! Pry loose the arcane secrets of Ed by subscribing to his Patreon here! Are you intrigued by Reading D&D Aloud? Tempted? Get the full experience by supporting our Patreon! Get access to our Discord, access special Patron-only episodes, and see vital documents from the history of TTRPGs as Ben digitizes his archives!

Owen KC Stephens is the legendary game designer who co-designed the SAGA edition Star Wars RPG and Starfinder, but ask him if game designers are cool, and he'll tell you cool is for other people. We cover snake people, pirates, Cthulhu, and imposter syndrome on this week's episode of Reading D&D Aloud! Entertain your mind with Owen's visions by contributing to his Patreon here! Keep Owen in fine financial fettle for his fight against cancer by contributing to his GoFundMe here! Are you intrigued by Reading D&D Aloud? Tempted? Get the full experience by supporting our Patreon! Get access to our Discord, access special Patron-only episodes, and see vital documents from the history of TTRPGs as Ben digitizes his archives!

Today, we continue our discussion about "Wish" in with 5E co-lead designer, Mike Mearls! And once that discussion is complete, I ask Mike a question that has fueled endless internet speculation since 2019: Why did Mike leave D&D? Did you know that in 1995, TSR sold $1 million of modules, but $1.2 million in Monstrous Compendiums? Become a Patreon subscriber and you too can learn fascinating facts like that as Ben digitizes his archive! Every week, receive another historical document from the golden age of D&D! All that and a Patreon and special episodes just for you! Click here to support us!

Richard Dansky was one of the core voices during the golden age of White Wolf. In this episode, we discuss one of the most unusual parts of the most unusual game published by White Wolf in the 90s: the Shadow, a player at the table who played the voice of the devil in your head. Pickup Dansky's books here! Ben has begun to digitize his D&D history archive. Every Wednesday, he will be releasing one new digital document on the show's Patreon Discord. Last week, it was campaign setting sales per category, 1983 to 1993. (Did you know Greyhawk sold 11 million products in that time, while Dragonlance moved 20 million, and Forgotten Realms 24 million, even though the Realms was published last?) A mere $3 a month gets you access to such historical gems, the Discord, and special patrons-only episodes! Click here to support us!

Erin M. Evans wrote seven Forgotten Realms novels, and she joins us today to talk about what happened when she referenced sex in her novel, The Adversary... Pick up Erin's novel, Empire of Exiles, here! Ben has begun to digitize his D&D history archive. Every Wednesday, he will be releasing one new digital document on the show's Patreon Discord. Last week, it was campaign setting sales per category, 1983 to 1993. (Did you know Greyhawk sold 11 million products in that time, while Dragonlance moved 20 million, and Forgotten Realms 24 million, even though the Realms was published last?) A mere $3 a month gets you access to such historical gems, the Discord, and special patrons-only episodes! Click here to support us!

Behold the dark and deadly dungeons beneath the desert's sands! TSR alumna Sue Weinlein joins Ben Riggs to discuss the 2nd edition Al-Qadim supplement, Cities of Bone.

Billy Wardlow was executed in Texas on July 8th, 2020. He spent his last few weeks of life playing D&D. We only know about it because of the fantastic journalism of Keri Blakinger. Today, Ben Riggs and Dr. Aaron Trammell discuss her article, "The Dungeons & Dragons Players of Death Row" with Keri herself. Read Keri's article here. Like what we do? Support the show on Patreon, and you'll get special episodes, such as Ben Riggs reading the Dungeon Masters Guide aloud with Dr. Scott Bruner! Hear Ben's seminars on D&D history! Chat on our Discord! All that, for a mere $3 per month! Click here to support us!

Sometimes, you catch lightning in a bottle. That is what happened in this conversation between 3rd ed designer Jonathan Tweet, 4th ed designer Rob Heinsoo, and controversial D&D historian Ben Riggs about the spell "Wish" in D&D." Like what we do? Support the show on Patreon, and you'll get special episodes, such as Ben Riggs reading the Dungeon Masters Guide aloud with Dr. Scott Bruner! Hear Ben's seminars on D&D history! Chat on our Discord! All that, for a mere $3 per month! Click here to support us!

Wish is a spell that is ridiculously powerful, ridiculously fun, and (perhaps) ridiculously broken! We're going to do a deep dive and look at the spell across editions. Helping us look at the spell in 2nd and 3rd edition D&D are designer Skip Williams and show stalwart, Eliza Lambert! Like what we do? Support the show on Patreon, and you'll get special episodes, such as Ben Riggs reading the Dungeon Masters Guide aloud with Dr. Scott Bruner! Hear Ben's seminars on D&D history! Chat on our Discord! All that, for a mere $3 per month! Click here to support us!

Dungeon Crawl Classics designer Joseph Goodman set out to make a TTRPG that would recreate the wonders of fantasy and sci-fi literature as laid out by Gary Gygax in Appendix N of the 1979 Dungeon Masters Guide. In Appendix N of the Dungeon Crawl Classics, Goodman explains what he learned from Gygax's Appendix N, and how DCC is a response to it. Writer, editor, and icon of the industry James Lowder joins us to read it aloud! Like what we do? Support the show on Patreon, and you'll get special episodes, such as Ben Riggs reading the Dungeon Masters Guide aloud with Dr. Scott Bruner! Hear Ben's seminars on D&D history! Chat on our Discord! All that, for a mere $3 per month! Click here to support us! Peter Bebergal's Appendix N anthology can be found here!

Today, I humbly offer you joy and the bladesinger! The bladesingers were elven warrior-wizards who swore to defend Elvenkind against all foes. They were tattooed dandies who danced into combat, and they were so cool that they have appeared in every edition of D&D since. Here, I speak with actress and DM Eliza Lambert about them! Link in the comments! If you want to support the show, join our Patreon here!

In a solo episode, Ben reads aloud an essay from the 2nd edition Vampire: The Masqerade Player's Guide which asks us to consider: How is a TTRPG group like God? We are taking a break from the podcast until the week after the week of November 15th. I have turned off the Patreon payments, so no one will be charged for October. Frankly, this podcast has been much more successful than I could have anticipated when we started. I cannot overstate how much we owe this community for its support in making that success possible. That said, we want to keep what you like and add more of what you love about the show. There will be some re-jiggering. If you have any strong opinions about what you like or what you don't, please feel free to email me at [email protected]

If you give your villians psychology, do they lose their mythic status? Scott & Ben examine that and the debate between narrative-ism and game-ism in the TTRPG space on today's show!

Gollum getting Sam those rabbits seems out of character somehow... Could there be something more behind it? I run a podcast, so I got Tolkien scholar John Rateliff and The One Ring game writer Gareth Hanrahan on the show to discuss! Buy The History of the Hobbit by John Rateliff here! As I write this, it is 50% off on Amazon! Sign up to be notified of the launch of Trail of Cthulhu 2nd edition here! Learn more about the Tolkien collection at Marquette University here!

It's digression all the way down on this one folks! Are you looking for the juiciest of juice and the hottest of tea? Well, Ben has released his Gen Con 2024 seminar, "The Battle for the Soul of D&D," which is the culmination of dozens of hours of interviews with former Wizards of the Coast employees, and may be a sort of rough draft of his next book. The things he's heard will shock you! But the only way to get it is to become a subscriber on Patreon. Patreon subscribers will be getting a special seminar once per month from Ben, access to our Discord, and the joy of knowing they are supporting journalism and history through their current dark age.

A reading of the spell Cure Blindness leads to the King James Bible, and a discussion of the most-controversial of D&D topics: the contributions of Gygax vs. Arneson in the creation of D&D. Are you looking for the juiciest of juice and the hottest of tea? Well, Ben has released his Gen Con 2024 seminar, "The Battle for the Soul of D&D," which is the culmination of dozens of hours of interviews with former Wizards of the Coast employees, and may be a sort of rough draft of his next book. The things he's heard will shock you! But the only way to get it is to become a subscriber on Patreon. Patreon subscribers will be getting a special seminar once per month from Ben, access to our Discord, and the joy of knowing they are supporting journalism and history through their current dark age.

Was Gygax a great game designer? Or was he merely in the right place at the right time to connect and publish world-shaking ideas? We discuss, along with the implications of "Continual Light" from that 1st Ed DMG. Soon, we'll be releasing another of Ben's Gen Con seminars to Patrons. If you want that juicy historical goodness, join our Patreon here!

In this erudite and thoughtful episode, world-renowned anthropologist Dr. Thomas Malaby joins Scott & Ben to discuss the practice and history of the tabletop role-playing game. Fascinated by the ideas of Dr. Malaby? Get more of him on September 9th, when he teaches an online class at the Royal Anthropological Institute entitled, "Legitimacy through Contingency, or How to Do Things with Games. Click here to register to attend!

Does D&D succeed in translating the mythology of the vampire to the gaming table? Is the ritual of the tabletop role-playing game a rehearsal and practice for our own deaths? Today, we ponder these and other questions in our continuing discussion of combat as war vs. combat as sport with Harvard's own, Dr. Christopher Robichaud! Pick up the Robichaud-edited Dungeons & Dragons & Philosophy here! Get a primer on old school gaming by Matthew J. Finch here! Next month, we'll be releasing another of Ben's Gen Con seminars to Patrons. If you want that juicy historical goodness, join our Patreon here!

This conversation goes places I'd never imagined it going. Today, we discuss 1E vampires, whether combat is war or sport, Satanists at Harvard, and zombie pandemics with Dr. Christopher Robichaud, the senior lecturer in ethics and public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Robichaud's TED talk is here. My interview with the Hickmans about Curse of Strahd is here. Join us on Patreon! Hear Ben's seminar on 4th edition D&D from Gen Con 2023 with your Patreon subscription! We'll be releasing a seminar a month to our Patreon supporters. Join our Patreon here! If the Sentients Kickstarter sounded good, you can back it here!

"Animate Dead: It is, of course, possible to animate the skeletons or corpses of demi-human and humanoid, as well as human, sort." -pg. 41 of the 1st edition Advanced Dungeon Masters Guide. Is that the worst sentence in the book? It is confusing, ill-constructed, and hideous to the ear. Or is it merely the worst sentence so far? Scott and Ben discuss! Join us on Patreon! Hear Ben's seminar on 4th edition D&D from Gen Con 2023 with your Patreon subscription! We'll be releasing a seminar a month to our Patreon supporters. Join our Patreon here!

Scott & Ben continue their exploration of spells as described in the DMG, and discover more examples of spells with contradictory instructions in the two AD&D corebooks! We enjoy you. Do you enjoy us? If so, support us on Patreon! You'll get access to our Discord server, and have the pleasure of knowing that deep down, you really are the best.

Regrettably, sources are confirming what we all fear: that Hasbro's digital future will leave little room for Dungeons & Dragons as we know it. Ben & Scott discuss. We enjoy you. Do you enjoy us? If so, support us on Patreon! You'll get access to our Discord server, and have the pleasure of knowing that deep down, you really are the best.

Last week, the empty position of CEO at Wizards of the Coast was filled. But does it really matter at all when Chris Cocks, the gentleman who thought ending the OGL was a good idea is still running Hasbro? Ben and Scott discuss, and also talk over the spell light from both the 1st edition PHB and DMG. We enjoy you. Do you enjoy us? If so, support us on Patreon! You'll get access to our Discord server, and have the pleasure of knowing that deep down, you really are the best.

Today, we take time to talk to the third voice of our show, Madeleine Craig! Madeleine is an actress and long-time DM who got her start with 5th edition. We enjoy you. Do you enjoy us? If so, support us on Patreon! You'll get access to our Discord server, and have the pleasure of knowing that deep down, you really are the best.

Given the racist tropes baked into the fantasy genre, how does the institution of D&D move forward into a brighter, better future? Are there also questions of stories for children versus stories for adults to be weighed? And all that is bookended by a discussion on spells in AD&D 1st edition. We enjoy you. Do you enjoy us? If so, support us on Patreon! You'll get access to our Discord server, and have the pleasure of knowing that deep down, you really are the best. Image by Mike Pape, and courtesy Wizards of the Coast.

We read aloud "Tribal Spellcasting" from the 1st edition AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide, and reflect on how it codifies racist stereotypes into the game. We also read sections from "Hack the Orcs, Loot the Tomb, and Take the Land" by Daniel Heath Justice, which you can and should read here. We enjoy you. Do you enjoy us? If so, support us on Patreon! You'll get access to our Discord server, and have the pleasure of knowing that deep down, you really are the best.

You will not hear a conversation like this anywhere else. Was the D&D magic system an extension of the existing Western occult tradition, or a break from it? To answer that question, historian of magic, author, and eldritch librarian Dan Harms joins Dr. Scott Bruner, TTRPG academic, & Ben Riggs, D&D historian, for a discussion that takes us from real-world wandering medieval mage-priests to the pages of the blasphemous Necronomicon itself! Dan recommended a few books for our audience: Defining Magic: A Reader Witch Bottles The Book of Four Occult Philosophers Authentic Thaumaturgy The Necronomicon Files We enjoy you. Do you enjoy us? If so, support us on Patreon! You'll get access to our Discord server, and have the pleasure of knowing that deep down, you really are the best.