I have now recorded three episodes and a trailer of Into the Megadungeon, my new podcast exploring megadungeon games. I can now share with you the trailer for the podcast. Please consider following the podcast (if you do that) and sharing the trailer (if you do that).
You can listen to the trailer here on Spotify
The first episode will drop after Gen Con on Tuesday August 8th. After that, you can expect episodes to appear biweekly through the first season, which I expect to run 10 episodes.
I thought I would say a little bit more about how the podcast has taken shape. The name of the first season is "Megadungeons as...", with the episode titles filling in the blanks. Here's the list of the first three episodes I have recorded.
Season 01: Megadungeons as...
Mysteries
Persistent Little Worlds
The Question of Space
In Episode 1 "Mysteries", I interview James Maliszewski about his Dwimmermount megadungeon campaign. We address, among other things, what a megadungeon is; how a' megadungeon can grow organically from modest beginnings; and how exploration of the megadungeon is really uncovering mysteries of an entire setting. We also discuss James’ current project, The secrets of sha'Arthan, and the role of megadungeons in that setting.
In Episode 2 "Persistent Little Worlds", I interview Nick Kuntz, the GM of The Twilight Age, the megadungeon campaign I'm currently playing in. We reminisce about the (still ongoing) campaign, and discuss the challenges and special rewards of megadungeons campaigns with large player rosters. We discuss how megadungeons campaigns with a lot players can function as "persistent little worlds", where the stories that emerge are less about a band of protagonists and more about an abiding place.
In Episode 3 In Episode 3 "The Question of Space", I interview Gus about his HMS Apollyon campaign. We talk about the idea of placing your starting settlement inside a megadungeon, how to make treasure interesting, and about the centrality of space to dungeoneering. Along the way, you get to hear a lot of choice details about Gus' experience creating and running HMS Apollyon.
I have a bunch of other interviews lined up, including with Luke Gearing, of Gradient Descent (etc) fame, and Josh McCrowell, author of a megadungeon ruleset called His Majesty the Worm. Things I am toying with for future episodes includes incorporating some player interviews alongside the GM interviews from the same campaign. (Luke suggested it, and I think it would be a lot of fun.) I'm also planning an episode called "The GMs Toolbox" that consists solely of GMing tips, tools, procedures, and house rules that facilitate GMing megadungeons. I'm also considering including an episode on sci-fi megadungeons, and another historical episode on the very early megadungeons of the hobby, since all of my interviews so far have referred in one way or another to the early megadungeon campaigns that gave rise to Dungeons & Dragons.
I'm not promising any of these things, but you can see some of the direction my mind is moving as this project takes shape and becomes a reality.
Return of the Google+ Mixtapes
In the meantime, I also have plans to pick up some old projects. In the intervening weeks without a podcast, you can expect some tracks of the long delayed Google+ Mixtape to drop. The Google+ Mixtapes were intended to be an ongoing series of posts commemorating aspects of the OSR scene and play culture as it flowered on Google+.
They were intended as one part historical memorialization, useful for those who were and weren't there and one part reminiscence. I only ever published two tracks. Track 02 was about the "Superband" phenomena of G+ campaigns that consisted mainly of groups of very skilled GMs who often played in each other’s games. The new tracks in the pipeline pick up where this track left off, by providing retrospectives on some of the master campaigns of the Google+ era.
This includes both well known campaigns like, The Hill Cantons, and some sleepers like Robert Parker's Savage World of Krül and Cole Long's Swords of the Inner Sea. These retrospectives are based on interviews I did with the players and GMs of these campaigns in the final days of Google+. You can expect some player testimony and game ephemera in this posts. They provide, I hope, a window on certain corners of the OSR playculture of the G+ scene. I hope you enjoy it.
Ennies Voting
Voting for the Ennies, one of the awards for independent ttrpg gaming, is currently underway. Although I didn’t submit anything myself this year, I should mention that I am one of the writers nominated for The Barkeep on the Borderlands, under the category of Best Supplement. My contribution is a bar called Somnambula’s, the establishment of a dubious hypnotist with tie ins to my dreamlands setting (Wishery). I take special delight in such cross-overs—I think of it as part of the ongoing bleed of Zyan into the waking worlds of many different game settings.
For what it’s worth (not much), I thought I might also share my philosophy of voting for Ennies judges. Unless I know them personally or by reputation, I vote for them mainly on the basis of the kinds of games they mention liking, on the nearly indisputable theory that judges will tend to nominate new things that are like the old things they already like. So I look for the mention of OSR or POSR or whatever-your-favorite-name-is-for-this-style-of-games in the hopes that the judges will then nominate products that I am excited and knowledgeable about.
The reason I care about this at all, is that the Ennies, while otherwise silly like all awards, do bring important visibility to indie gaming work. So I consider it worth participating in and supporting for this reason, if no other.
I’ll see you in slumberland!
Any chance it will be on YT as well? I (and I’m sure others) use YT for podcasting (effectively). Thanks.