Roleplay Rescue

It is finished. This is the episode where we hear from a couple of recent callers and then I tell you that this is the last show. If you’ve been here since the beginning, thank you. You’ve heard me say I’m done quite a few times over the years. Never say never, isn’t that what they say? Who knows what tomorrow brings? If you’ve just joined us, well, welcome … and farewell. There’s a back catalogue...

Exploring the daunting transition from forever-GM to player. Preparing to join Pat's open-world Star Trek campaign, Imminent Destinies , Che discusses how to apply Jamison's Otherworld-immersion and Justin Alexander's clear "action and intent" loop directly from the player's seat. The episode dives into the gritty, espionage-heavy Rigel Basin setting and navigates a trilemma of character concepts...

Why do we spend hours prepping and playing our games, only to walk away feeling like we've just consumed another piece of disposable entertainment? What if the modern tabletop obsession with "managing the fiction" is actually the very thing breaking the spell of the Otherworld? And how do we stop trying to construct a narrative, and finally step into a shared, living myth? I believe we are a peopl...

Why do some campaigns feel like they have a heartbeat, lasting for years, while others fizzle out before the second session? Is it the system? The players? Or is it something deeper we haven't named yet?  We talk endlessly about  how  to run a game. We debate rules, we share tips on prep, we argue about systems. But we rarely talk about  why  we’re running it in the first...

This season, I’ve introduced the shift from viewing my mental differences as pathology toward building an Architecture for Play that works with my mind—introducing the Sentinel, the Scout, and the Sojourner as the three stances that make High-Fidelity roleplay possible. In the last episode, I walked you through deploying the Scout—the stance that lets me discover the Otherworld alongside my player...

In Episode 2, I outlined how the Sentinel acts as the pre-play architect who establishes the creative constraints of the Otherworld. Defining the Where, When, and How, we create a stable foundation of consistency that transforms anxiety into a secure framework for High-Fidelity play. This episode, we engage with the Scout and get our boots on the ground somewhere on the Solomani Front. During the...

In episode one, I introduced the way in which I have learned to manage the specific ways in which my mind operates. As an anxious person with a fast-moving and deeply curious mind, I have found it necessary to lean into the specific differences that make me who I am over trying to shoe-horn my hobby into someone else’s methods. I’m moving away from viewing my mental differences as pathology and to...

For a long time, I thought the friction in my hobby was a personal failure. I used to record my GM's Journal while running, wind hitting the mic, breathless and fumbling, calling myself the "world's flakiest GM." I saw my diagnoses of ADHD, Generalised Anxiety Disorder, and Social Anxiety as bugs in the system—things I had to "overcome" just to run an RPG session. This season, we’re stopping the d...

This one's responding to a question about what you tell the players about the Otherworld before they use a Bio Sheet to create a character concept. Answer: give them an Otherworld Skeleton. Based on Jamison's methodology and drawing on my own approaches to running RPGs, this one gives an example drawing on current work to establish an Open Table fantasy game at the school club. Thanks to UberGrog...

In this episode I lay out where  Roleplay Rescue  stands after the whirlwind of twenty episodes in Season 16. I dive into my “dark sorcery” experiments with AI—how tools like Lumo, Gemini and Notebook LM have become useful sidekicks for prep, NPC stats, and campaign organisation. Finally, I give listeners a quick roundup of the various tabletop groups you’re shepherding, from GURPS sci‑f...

This one arose from the Karameikos recap last week and explores the way in which in-character as-character roleplay drives the emergent story in the Otherworld. Included is a reflection on what roleplay is, the approaches to play I've adapted from a couple of major sources, and the practical impact these approaches have on play. I also reflect on how much the player's input to the game is driving...

This one's a bit of an indulgence... responding to Alex's recent call-in asking to hear the story so far in Karameikos, I've cobbled together some words and shared the tale. It's impossible to do justice to the experience at the table after the fact. I hope it's worth the listen. Thanks to Alex for the request. Thanks to my players - Pat, Ryan, Chris, Matt, Derek, and Josh - for the awesome campai...

What's the power of pretend and the power of the imaginary? Of inhabiting a different Otherworld, of inhabiting a different person within an emergent tale? What is it about that which is so compelling? Thanks to Pat and Alex for the call-ins. Game on! Roleplay Rescue Details: Voice Message: speakpipe.com/roleplayrescue Patreon: patreon.com/rpgrescue   Email: roleplayrescue@pm.me Blog roleplay...

What do you do when it's game night and you're sleep-deprived or sick? You've got six players waiting and you don't want to let everyone down. What do you do? Big thanks to UberGrog for the call-in! Pat's "Processing GURPS" blog, including examples for the Bio Sheet: The Process – Processing GURPS OR https://processinggurps.com/2025/12/04/the-process/ Game on! Roleplay Rescue Details: Voice Messag...

This episode is an interview with someone whom I never expected to meet but am hugely grateful for the opportunity to talk to about RPGs, comics, characters, and story.  Andrew Kafoury is a writer, creator, and the publisher and head of story at Battle Quest Comics, hailing from Portland, Oregon in the USA. He founded the company in 2020 to be a home for like-minded story creatives and artist...

This one's inspired by Anthony from the Casting Shadows realm of podcasting, YouTube, and blogging. He has some thoughts about Episode 11, Master and Emissary, and this then sparks my own sharing of three preferences that have emerged in my own play in recent months. Big thanks to Anthony for calling-in! Thanks to everyone for your ongoing support. Game on! Roleplay Rescue Details: Voice Message:...

In the spirit of turning up, this one's a bit more ad hoc and GM Journal in style, but it's relevant and heartfelt. I talk about getting back to Ariadne's Thread (powered by Cypher) and report on the Monster Hunters (powered by GURPS). The over-arching theme is the power of choosing to turn up to play. Improvisation around the tools and notes you've got can help you overcome the fear and play. Tha...

How do you overcome the sense of inertia where you don't want to play or prep anything? After weeks of holiday disruption, how do you get yourself moving as a GM and rediscover some enjoyment. Thanks to Frank T and Pat M for the call-ins. Game on! Roleplay Rescue Details: Voice Message: speakpipe.com/roleplayrescue Patreon: patreon.com/rpgrescue   Email: roleplayrescue@pm.me Blog roleplayresc...

What is it about slipping fully into a character and exploring a living, open‑ended world that makes us feel so drawn into the fantasy and have fun? What part of our human make-up is refreshed and excited by these imaginary adventures we experience during roleplay? Is there a way to understand this specific preference for slipping into a imaginary persona and exploring a living, open-ended world?...

After a break of nearly 11 weeks between August and the tail end of October 2025, Roleplay Rescue was reborn with an experimental mindset and a specific pact to record one short episode per week for 10 weeks, focusing solely on actions and experiences as a GM. This is the tenth episode of that pact. How have things worked out and what has been learned? And what about the other pacts I made for my...

I've been shifting my focus towards preparing a new school-based game designed to engage the students in roleplay but also to be light, fun, and open to newbies as much as possible. For me, the trick is to get started: my confidence in the game, in my ability to deliver the game and run it, and in engaging the students begins with the first steps. This time, I’m taking a modified approach and...

What’s the point of solo roleplaying games? Why do it? And, frankly, how do you keep the game moving? If you’ve ever tried to play a role‑playing game solo, you know the feeling: the excitement of stepping into a new world, followed by the nagging question, ‘How do I keep the game moving when there’s no one else at the table?’ This past week, I built a tiny experiment to solve that tension and tod...

This one's a reflection on the mental health side of my journey wherein I talk about the reflection that hitting 7 years of the show coincides with 5 years of healing since the mental health breakdown that I experienced in 2020. Here at the tail end of 2025, I’ve been reminded of the "Scanner" concept – because I had forgotten about it in all the hustle of the past couple of years – and it’s...

On the 28th of November 2018 , the 8 minute and 14 second Episode Zero of Roleplay Rescue was aired. Seven years of striving, failing, starting over, and asking: How can I run a game that is creatively engaging for my friends and myself, while managing the crippling anxiety and self-doubt that plagued my identity as the "world's flakiest GM" ? This episode we dive into the manifesto that emerged f...

This week patron and regular listener, Alex from the UK, called in with a question about my approach of what he calls, "Player-Directed Goal-Driven Play". His specific issue is around whether this approach can work with shorter periods of play that are designed to be time-bound to fewer sessions than my own aspiration for 1-year plus long-form play. This episode is my answer to the question. Thank...