Reading D&D Aloud

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 NE...

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...

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 e...

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 f...

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...

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 on...

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 cat...

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 specia...

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'...

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  Dung...

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 Low...

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 Patr...

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 a...

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 editi...

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...

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 wit...

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. Clic...

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!...

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...

"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 4t...

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.