Campaign Spotlight

In this week's episode, we chat with Satah about the distinction between games and writing exercises, the social expectations of GMing, and a table writing 150,000 words of fanfiction about their own campaign. We get into some of the themes that have been bubbling up through Campaign Spotlight since the beginning: the role of the GM in guiding the gameplay, player expectations around telling a coh...

This week, we're on location at OrcaCon 2026 ! We hear about taste mechanics, Canadian orthography, and products for the sloppy player. Thanks to everyone who took the time to chat with us: [2:01] GameStorm is a very cool convention in Portland - and they offered listeners a promo code for discounted registration in this episode! You'll have to listen to find out what it is. [4:57] Aspiring Youth...

In this week's episode, we chat with Chris Pramas of Green Ronin Publishing! We hear about adapting a series of novels as a TTRPG, implementing spaceship combat without writing a physics textbook, and the importance of considering what a fantasy city would smell like. Our conversation goes deep into the lifecycle of a tabletop game, the economics of the publishing industry, and the complications o...

 In this week's episode, we chat with Maia about tracking the passage of time within a campaign, how GMing changes your persective on the game, and the challenges of playing coming-of-age narratives at a table of adults. Maia is part of the team behind the Magical Land of Yeld TTRPG system , and this ended up being a really thoughtful conversation about designing and playing a game that feels very...

In this week's episode, we chat with Selius from Heartleaf Games about building an economy where dungeon delving makes sense, the hazards of concentrating intellectual property in a single company, and the mechanics for noodle-bodied PC species. Initially, we planned to talk with Selius about the Delver's Guide to Beast World sourcebook (which is extremely cool!), but we ended up talking more broa...

This week, we're on location at the Dragonflight GameCon in Bellevue, WA! We hear about carefully engineered dice, the unsustainability of grimdark campaigns, and orange cats that are not burdened by an abundance of thought. Thanks to everyone who took the time to chat with us: Norwescon is a Science Fiction and Fantasy convention in the Seattle suburbs in April. Zephren Varner makes extremely coo...

This week, we're back on location at the Furlandia furry convention in Portland! We hear about the virtues of being your party's straight man (in the comedy sense), PC-on-PC romance, and a party that fails to notice that you're secretly Mothman. Thanks to Wulfryk, Theo, Dexter, Skia, Jacqueline, MIkiib, Faye, Chloe, and Liam for taking the time to chat with us! Jake (who writes these show notes) p...

In this week's episode, we chat with Wesley about the enforcement of veils and lines, the virtues of stabbing birds, and the use of TTRPGs in therapy. (Wesley's an actual literal therapist!) This ended up being a thoughtful conversation about people's emotional needs when they're playing TTRPGs, even outside the therapy context. We make a few references to our episode with Kyros way back in Season...

In this week's episode, we chat with Max about Seattle-appropriate doula gifts, the TTRPG version of porn brain, and the concept of exploration in TTRPGs. This season, we're experimenting with shorter conversations about how people play games. We first spoke with Max way back in Season 2 , and we wanted to keep talking about OSR games, so we convinced Max to come back for another round. This is on...

This week, we're on location at the Furlandia furry convention in Portland! We hear about tricky metallurgy puns, the challenge of playing a character with a limited vocabulary, and the hazard of DMing in Florida. Thanks to Ember, Briar, Sage, Veer, Mud, Celina, Salem, Guy, Scone, King, Kiki, Lavitts, Cotton, Diego, Nathan, Fenric, and Body for taking the time to chat with us! Lavitts shared some...

In this week's episode, we chat with Garrett about highly effective cult leaders, a curse of potential unkillability, and a table of players that rotates GMing duties (and systems!) for each campaign. This was a really thoughtful conversation about short game sessions, building shared ownership of the world, and what it means to be a GM. Plus, three of the other members of Garrett's table shared t...

This week, we're back on location at the VancouFur furry convention in Vancouver ! We hear about a bomb mage, a high-charisma roguelike wizard, and a monk who discovers a new way to defeat Strahd. Reilly's around for this episode, and so order is restored, even as we need to podcast away from a crisis. Thanks again to the organizers for giving us permission to record at the convention! We're grate...

In this week's episode, Greg and Casey of Black Shield Productions share their experience running large-scale games at conventions. We hear about the flow of information between players and tables, deciding whom to leave behind on a doomed planet, and the trope of a preacher with a gun. Thanks to Black Shield Productions for making this interview possible! We first encountered a Black Shield Praod...

This week, we're on location at the VancouFur furry convention in Vancouver ! We hear about capitalist considerations in a fantasy world, a plucky little rat, and the cuthtroat Vancouver real estate industry. Jake exposes an embarrassing ignorance of the order of the Discworld books. Thanks to the organizers for giving us permission to record at the convention! We're grateful to Jade, Fion, Edge,...

This week, we're once again on location at the grand opening of Chance Encounter Games ! We hear about a sham trial and a public execution at a LARP, very ambitious notetaking, and playing a nonmagical character in a very magical world. (Also, a little bit about Jake's long-running campaign.) This is the TTRPG store and gaming space that Dante told us about during our interview earlier this season...

In this week's episode, we chat with Simon about using soda cans and pizza boxes as terrain, the shift away from miniatures in TTRPGs, and the incompatibility of the Seattle real estate market with large-scale miniatures combat. Plus, Jake gets grumpy about indie TTRPG marketing. Simon (whom we met at OrcaCon ) owns Strix Publishing and runs the Brush Wielders Union and the associated podcast as w...

This week, we're on location at the grand opening of Chance Encounter Games ! We hear about the economy of game publishing, the joy of playing your character like you're driving a stolen car, and the impeccable vibes of a cast-iron portcullis. This is the TTRPG store and gaming space that Dante told us about during our interview earlier this season . Thanks again to Dante for letting us record at...

In this week's Streetlight, we're back on location at Vulpine Taproom in Seattle asking people about their characters and campaigns! We hear about liches with day jobs, wild magic druids, and the downsides of digital dice. We're very grateful to Vulpine Taproom for letting us record at their game night! We talked with so many people in one evening that we ended up breaking it up into two episodes....

Welcome to Season 4 of Campaign Spotlight! This week, we chat with Dante about running eleven weekly parallel tables in the same campaign, falling in to becoming a professional GM, and embracing the tropes of the fetch quest. Plus, Dante has some sage advice for GMs like Jake who love spreadsheets. During the interview, Dante mentions that they're opening a physical storefront for Chance Encounter...

In the very last Flashlight of Season 3, Jake describes Reilly's rations, Reilly shows off some sound effect finesse, and we commit to a timeline for Season 4. Spoiler alerts for either Inspector Gadget or Mission Impossibl e, potentially. This was our first time recording one-on-one in the studio in a long time, and we'd really missed it. Listen to the episode to hear what we have in store for Se...

In our very last interview of Season 3, we chat with Ev about spontaneous goblinization, nanite infestation, and a future Seattle that's even grimmer than the one we live in. Quite a bit of Seattle talk in this one, but also a lot of discussion of playing a TTRPG in a grounded and realistic world where actions have consequences. Also, spoilers for iZombie , Mr Robot , and possibly Oceans Eleven ?...

In this week's Flashlight, we're at Vulpine Taproom in Seattle ! We hear about the appropriate attire for a fantasy cosplay wedding, the hazards of getting emotionally invested in a gimmick character, and the downsides of having a life outside of gaming. Thank you so much to Vulpine Taproom for letting us record at your game night. Thanks to Josh, Chris, Abraham, Shoe, Brandon, Sean, and another C...

In this week's episode, we chat with Tyler about big beefy robots smashing into each other, character specialization and specificity, and playing with a whole party of GMs. This interview started out as being about the Lancer system in particular, but we ended up talking about building and levelling PCs more generally. Tyler tells us about Lancer and its free COMP/CON character-building website an...

In this week's Flashlight, we're still at the OrcaCon tabletop games convention in Seattle! We see a lot of excellent wizard hats, we hear about a lot of cool projects, and Jake reveals the deep lore of Campaign Spotlight. We can't wait to get back to the con next year! Here's everyone we spoke with in this episode. Some of these were booths at the con, and some were people who saw us with a mic a...

In this week's episode, we chat with RP about the expectations of the hero's journey, mysterious celebrity clients, and getting paid to DM. Spoilers for Beowulf, I think? We tank our chances for a Neuralink sponsorship in this one, just like we tanked our chances for a Tesla sponsorship earlier this season . (Also, just in case it wasn't clear, we recorded both this interview and the interview wit...