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-a…

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 mod…

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 Sha…

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 t…

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…

What happens if we drop the script and the expectation that this is going to be a thought-provoking analysis of some aspect of roleplaying? What happens if we lean into improvisation and see where things end up going? What if I just riff off the call-ins and other seemingly-random thoughts that pop into my head? Wouldn’t that just be a descent into…

What happens if we lean back into the roots of our hobby - which for me is largely the 1980s - and realise that the kind of roleplaying we enjoy the most is in fact the Old-School variety? But instead of landing back in the realm of Dungeons & Dragons, what if we find the kind of system that emphasises the roleplay is actually found in the emergenc…

If roleplaying games are really about roleplay then how come so much of our time at the table is spent doing all sorts of other things that aren’t roleplay? Is there a way in which we can craft our play experience to put the roleplay back into the roleplaying game while still remaining a collaborative game? There comes a time when many a roleplayin…

This episode emerged from a Zoom call I shared with today’s guest which he was gracious enough to allow me to record and share. The episode is as simple as that: a recorded chat in which we catch up and then start to talk about Dungeoneer, also known as the Advanced Fighting Fantasy RPG from 1989. My conversation is with Simon Williams, a British a…

This episode emerged from a Zoom call I shared with today’s guest which he was gracious enough to allow me to record and share. The episode is as simple as that: a recorded chat in which we catch up and then start to talk about a question I raised: what would you do if you had a new player to add to your existing roleplaying group? My conversation …

Back at the beginning of 2025, I decided that I wanted to double-down on my mastery of GURPS as the roleplaying game system that I actually consistently enjoy. Alongside that I decided that I wanted to take on the challenge of developing my own science-fiction space-based game. This would involve creating a sector of space and working out the basis…

This one’s filled with the voices echoing out the of Abyss - in other words, it’s a call-in episode. These all stacked up from the 4th December 2024 into 2025, so there’s plenty of good comments, questions, and ideas to hear. I love to hear from you because it encourages me. Without your voices - the listener’s feedback - it would feel a very empty…

What if prep didn’t have to feel like work? What if there were ways in which we could be more playful with our prep? Would that transform the way in which we feel about being the GM? Following a call-in from listener Jon M, who was responding to some comments in GMJ #270, I was inspired to comment on the topic of making prep less like work and more…

As the year turns from 2024 into 2025, I decided to invite Grail Knight Patron and regular caller Jason Wiebe to come and have a chat on air. The topic was broadly, “Becoming a Game Master” and based on the notion that Wiebe has been struggling his way to the GM’s chair over many years and finally feels he has a handle on what it all entails. For m…

This episode is a pitch for building a tiny roleplay habit using 30-minute sessions and one-on-one play with the rules behind the GM’s screen. The idea, taken from solo play, is to gather more often for shorter periods. In busy lives, dropping online to play for 30 minutes is much easier to schedule. This is viable because RPGs work best on the acc…

The most important game mechanism is, of course, the Game Master of a roleplaying game. Roleplaying games are all about making choices as-if you are your character and then seeing what happens as a consequence. This week the Angry GM gave me a long-overdue kick up the butt when I read an article on his blog. This episode is a response to that kick …

What happens if we lean in hard to the Roleplay in roleplaying game? What if we take away the elements which distract from the enjoyment of being in-character, as-character, in a fantastic world? The first move is to start caring more about the fantastic Otherworld. The second is to push for greater Rules Opacity. Thanks to Jason Wiebe for calling …

Why do I spend so much of my time drifting from game to game, system to system, and between diverse imaginary worlds? Why do I find it hard to settle on a game and make it come alive? Am I doomed to roam for the remainder of my life never quite experiencing the games I want to enjoy? I’ve been adrift in the hobby for a long, long time. And then som…

I love to hear from listeners and, while email and social media messages are great, the best moments are when people call in with a voice message. This episode collects four listener calls which I have been wanting to respond to for a few weeks, plus a bonus-length call-in from Patron Carl D. These date back over the period from the 7th September u…

Chris Casciano is a medieval fantasy illustrator and author from Syracuse, New York. He has illustrated for novels, tv shows, and numerous games such as Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, and Game of Thrones. His personal art series, “The Iron Cast,” is a world of medieval knights and environments painted with a combination of realism, abstract shap…

On April 2nd 2004, Pyramid Magazine published an article entitled, “Designer's Notes: GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition” by Sean Punch. Twenty years from that article in 2004, GURPS - the Generic Universal Role-Playing System - is still with us. Contrary to popular opinion, it’s not a dead game. GURPS Fourth Edition might be out of fashion but it’s t…

In February 1986, a free newsletter began to be posted out to customers from Steve Jackson Games: Roleplayer. Now available again from Warehouse 23, in the summer of 2024 I got curious to discover what insights this old newsletter might hold about the development of GURPS. What I found was a portal back to 1986 which began to inspire me towards pla…

This is a special bonus episode to celebrate the forthcoming Reaver Sword and Sorcery Roleplaying Game by Raven God Games. Because Reaver is on Kickstarter right now until 7th October 2024, I couldn’t wait to share this conversation with the game’s designer. Joe Salvador is a freelance cartographer, writer and game designer hailing from Ohio, USA w…

My guest, Arlen Walker, is the host of Live From Pellam’s Wasteland which you can find both as a podcast and on YouTube in video form. In this, the last of my holiday chats with gaming friends, Arlen raises the question of how to deal with dragons in our roleplaying campaigns. Big thanks up front to Arlen for coming on to the show. As ever, it was …

Today’s chat is with Menion, aka Rob, the creator and host of Confessions of a Wee Tim'rous Bushi, a podcast that hails from Japan. This one follows on from Rob’s call-in at the top of the show as we pick up his points in response to Episode 3 and wrestle together to make sense of the elusive intangibility of the fantasy Otherworld. Big thank you i…

Jason Connerley is the voice behind the Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast podcast and a regular caller to several shows, including this one. We’ve gamed a few times over the years and always seem to enjoy ourselves. As I began the summer break, I was grateful for Jason being willing to have a chat about something he was curious about… and it ended up that he…

Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Jon McNally has been a listener and Patron for some time now and regularly calls in. His thoughts and questions are always provocative for me in a positive manner, inviting reflection and deeper consideration. The call at the top of the show is the one message that I held off on including in Episode 3 and wanted …

Hailing from Portsmouth, Virginia, Christopher R. Rice is constantly writing, tinkering with, and running GURPS. A frequent writer for Steve Jackson Games, if he's not writing for GURPS, he's blogging about it. His site “Ravens N' Pennies” is well-stocked with more GURPS goodies than you could shake a stick at. This one’s about GURPS Meta-Tech, his…

Hello Rescuers! This episode is subtitled, "Tactical combat, wargaming, and RPGs". Although inspired by Snapshot, the thoughts are broader than any one particular set of rules. Opening with a quotation from Jamison's, "Gamemastering", this episode shares some thoughts about the place of wargaming in the roleplayer’s arsenal. The words of Brian Jami…

This episode brings us back to the most important question in rediscovering our hobby: How do we best recapture the spirit of play and of deep engagement with these games? This episode reflects on a shift in my experience of gaming and talks about what I have been learning as I focused on running two Fellmyr games - that is two groups of players us…

Hello Rescuers! We’re back! Sort of. As I said a few weeks ago, I am changing the pace of Roleplay Rescue from a regular podcast to being a, well, irregular podcast - in other words, although this is the first episode of the resurrected show, it may be some time (or not) before I record another. But this episode couldn’t wait. I thought about holdi…

Here’s the short version: I’m going to take a break - once again - from podcasting. When I do return, whether it’s in a couple of weeks, two months, or a year, I’m going to take the approach of recording when I have something I’m interested in saying. No more weekly or bi-weekly schedule, just grabbing the mic whenever ideas are worth developing. A…

This is the last in a series of four conversations I’ve enjoyed with various guests over the tail end of 2023 and into January 2024. Joaquin Lippincott is the founder of RPGMatch, an application where you can register and meet other TTRPG players who like to play like you do. Following the call-in and my not-entirely positive feedback about the app…

It has been a month since I last hopped on the mic and spoke. This episode is a GM Intrusion into the flow of the season to do two things: First, I wanted to share and respond to a few call-in messages I’ve received through January and February. Second, I thought I would update you on a couple of areas in my own hobby and thought - we just played a…

This is the third in a series of four conversations I’ve enjoyed with various friends and new acquaintances within the Roleplay Rescue community over the tail end of 2023 and into January 2024. My guest today is Bob from the SAFCO podcast. Bob Loftin is co-host of SAFCOcast, a podcast about the Traveller roleplaying game and its derivatives. SAFCO …

This is the second in a series of four conversations I’ve enjoyed with various friends and new acquaintances within the Roleplay Rescue community over the tail end of 2023 and into January 2024. My guest today is Mr_Sandman, aka Andrew from Long Island. Andrew is a long-time GURPS GM and the mind behind his blog, In The Sandbox, which contains lots…

I got back to running a game face-to-face. More than that, it looks like this newly formed group of gamers wants to meet again in February. I don’t want to jinx it, but I’m so entirely made up about this event that I thought I’d share a few quick thoughts as an episode. Thanks right up front to all the new players in that session who absolutely mad…

This is the first in a series of four new conversations I’ve enjoyed with various friends and new acquaintances within the Roleplay Rescue community over the tail end of 2023 and into January 2024. My guest today is Daniel Jones of the Primaeval Fantasy YouTube and podcast channels, plus the Eudaimonic Geekery blog. I ask him to outline the nature …

As the New Year for 2024 arrives, where am I at with table top roleplaying games? What are my plans for the year ahead and what lessons am I carrying forward? Happy New Year! Welcome to 2024 and I wish you all the very best for the 50th anniversay of the publication of Dungeons & Dragons - that funny old boxed set that sparked this whole roleplayin…

I’ve sat on the conversation that you’re about to hear for far too long. Back in late September, I hopped online for a conversation with Augury Ignored - the voice behind the Augury Ignored blog. Thomas - for that is his actual name - reached out across Mastodon and we hopped online to chat. It was a first time conversation between gaming strangers…

The barriers to finding face-to-face community are many. But this was the very problem I began the whole podcast to resolve and, weirdly, find myself right back where I began. I want to face this challenge full on and see what actions I can take. This is pretty personal but I hope you'll find it useful nonetheless. Thank you to all the callers this…

On the 28th November 2018, the eight minute and 14 second episode zero of Roleplay Rescue was aired. Now, as we reach the 5th anniversary of that fateful episode, I’m wondering… has it been worth it? What have I learned? And is it mission accomplished? I mean… has anyone’s roleplaying been rescued? Big thanks to the callers today - Jason, Hobbs, Sp…

Draw a quick regional map on hexed paper. Grab the rules from an old roleplaying game. Sit down with some friends and begin to play. Is it really that simple to start a fantasy roleplaying campaign? Today, I want to share some of the things I’ve experienced and what these moments have taught me about being a fantasy RPG GM. Big thanks to the caller…

YUMDM is the creator of the d12 Monthly ‘zine which started in mid-2021 and has grown from a humble 8-pages to - in September 2023 - 27 issues at a whopping 28-pages! Hailing from Australia, Russ has been roleplaying for 30+ years and allegedly played his first game as Tasslehoff in a Dragonlance module. He has been creating his own campaign world …

Alex Macris is the lead designer for the Adventurer, Conqueror, King System, an old-school fantasy RPG designed to support campaign play. He’s the founder of Autarch LLC, a game design studio from Durham in North Carolina, USA which publishes ACKS and several other titles. Alex is also an entrepreneur and the author of “Arbiter of Worlds”, a primer…

What’s going on with the school Roleplay Club? Why would you even run such a thing? What are the best steps in getting started? Today, I want to take you through the story of the first two weeks of the School Club project and outline the progress, but also the pains, of getting myself back in front of teens gamers. I’ve even grabbed two short clips…

What do you do when you know you used to enjoy playing RPGs but the whole thing has, frankly, become a chore? How do you move forward when the reality is that you are anxious about GMing the next session and you have bailed more times than you run the game? This season is shifting to a bi-weekly format and I hope that listeners will understand. Thi…

This episode is the final one for this season - no, really - and it’s my pleasure to bring you a conversation about a significant new book for the RPG scene. Justin Alexander is a freelance writer and the author of the grand repository of ideas that is The Alexandrian. This is an interview with Justin about his forthcoming book, released in Novembe…

The last episode was supposed to be the final one for this season but, well, then I got a whole barrage of messages and call-ins from you, the listeners. It seems a shame not to share them in one last hurrah of community positivity and thoughtfulness. So… here we are. Big thank you, once again, to Frank, Brian, Anthony, Jason, John, Barry, Jean-Fra…

This episode is the final one for this season, another of the extended conversations I’ve shared with gaming friends over recent weeks. It was largely unplanned as I hopped online to talk and discuss some key ideas with my guest. Jason Connerley is the voice behind the Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast podcast and a regular caller to several Anchorite shows,…