The Corner of Story and Game

This week I am joined by Jonathan Gilmour at The Corner of Story and Game. Jonathan has been working on board games for almost a decade now, but in those short 10 years, he has amassed credits on almost 60 games! He is likely best known for the acclaimed board game Dead of Winter, but he has well-known for his design work on the tabletop role-playing game Kids on Bikes. In this episode, we dig int...

Cam Baity is an Emmy-winning writer who has worked as an animator, animation director, and novelist. He has been a writer at Disney Television Animation, Warner Bros. Animation, Nickelodeon Animation, Hasbro, DreamWorks Animation, and more! Recently he made the leap from writing for the screen into video game writing, first at OnceLost Games working on "Wayward Realms" and now as a Senio...

Who better to dig into creating villains with than Bruce Nesmith - the man behind the Ravenloft Boxed Set? For those who don't know, Bruce started out in tabletop RPG design at TSR. He worked on MANY different products, but most notable (to me anyway) was his early involvement in the Ravenloft setting. In 1995 he made the switch to computer games by joining ⁠Bethesda Game Studios⁠ to work on E...

This week's guest at The Corner of Story and Game is once again Matt Forbeck, a talented writer who is equally at home writing fiction as he is designing game systems! He is an award-winning author and game designer, working not only with novels and tabletop RPGs, but also with pick-a-path books, board games, video games, comic books, and screenplays. His list of credits is far too long to list, b...

This week's guest at The Corner of Story and Game is Jeff Gardiner, the CEO and Founder of Something Wicked Games. Jeff has been producing video games for over 20 years, with credits on such major games as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion , The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim , Fallout 3 , Fallout 4 , and Fallout 76 . Like many of the other video game creators we have talked to, Jeff's roots start in Dungeo...

This week at The Corner of Story and Game , I get to talk with James "Jim" Lowder - one of the earliest editors to work on the Dungeon and Dragons fiction line. In his time there he helped launch the careers of such amazing authors as Elaine Cunningham and Christie Golden. Jim is also an award-winning author himself - having worked on the Avatar Trilogy that helped usher the Forgotten Realms from...

Writer and game designer Erik Scott de Bie returns to The Corner of Story and Game , this time to talk specifically about writing in the superhero genre, and what that means to him. He shares his insights into the process as well as what he feels is the core of superhero stories. It's perfect timing as well, as he is in the middle of Kickstarting his own superhero book, Justice/Vengeance! ( https:...

As promised, Jim Zub returns to The Corner of Story and Game - this time to talk about gaming, and how it has helped shape his personal and professional life .  We discuss everything from his early days of gaming as a kid, to his work in the tabletop role-playing game and board game industries. Jim is best known for his work in the comic book industry, which he has been creating since he self...

This year I have made it a priority to publish episodes that bring more focus on the actual crafts of writing, storytelling, narrative design, game design, and so on. To kick this effort off I reached out to my friend, and previous guest, Dave Gross. Dave Gross is currently working at Beamdog in Edmonton, but has an illustrious history in novels, short stories, tabletop roleplaying games, and maga...

With over 40 years in game design, Lawrence Shick is an absolute wellspring of information and wisdom. He is one of the earliest people to work at TSR, joining the company in 1979. While there he published the well-known classic module "White Plume Mountain" as well as worked on core products like the original "Dungeon Masters Guide", "Deities and Demigods", and "Fiend Folio". He made the move to...

One of the giants of the tabletop role-playing industry, Wolfgang Baur, joins me today at The Corner of Story and Game. Wolfgang has an extensive list of products he has worked on for many companies - starting out at TSR in 1991. He has served as editor on both Dungeon Magazine and Dragon Magazine, was involved in Planescape and Al-Qadim, and created numerous other products while at TSR. Outside o...

Live streaming veteran Eric Campbell joins me today at The Corner of Story and Game. Eric is a writer, producer, actor, game master, and digital content creator who is currently focusing on tabletop roleplaying games. He started out his professional writing career working for Felicia Day, eventually becoming the Director of Development for Geek & Sundry up until 2019. Eric has been running gam...

Our old friend Jim Zub joins me today at The Corner of Story and Game. Jim is best known for his work in the comic book industry, which he has been creating since he self-published Makeshift Miracle in 2001. Over the past 21 years, he has created a vast library of titles ranging from creator-owned books like Wayward , Skullkickers , Glitterbomb , and Stone Star - to big-name properties such as Sam...

Our guest this week at The Corner of Story and Game is David "Zeb" Cook. What is there left to say about Zeb? This is the man who created Planescape, was the lead designer on AD&D 2nd Edition, and created numerous other non-D&D games. In 1994, he departed from TSR and ventured into digital games, most recently working as a designer at ZeniMax Online Studios on the expansive The Elder Scrol...

Our guest this week at The Corner of Story and Game is Amanda Cherry - a Seattle-based author of science fiction, speculative fiction, and urban fantasy. Her extensive background in theatre, both in production and acting, as well as screen acting, makes her perfect to chat with about how performative skills impact fiction craft. She is also an avid gamer (and self-described "massive nerd") who rec...

We have fantasy royalty in the room this week at The Corner of Story and Game! The immensely-talented Margaret Weis took the time to sit down and share stories about her journey as a writer, some writing craft tips, and her insights from her career. Margaret joined TSR in 1984 as a book editor and would be a part of the team that brought Dragonlance into the world. Along with Tracy Hickman, she ha...

This week at The Corner of Story and Game , the ever-entertaining Erik Scott de Bie steals the seat by the fire and talks my ear off. This guy sure can weave a tale, and he shares his history, wisdom, and insights in writing novels for Forgotten Realms, running a live-stream game, and more. Erik is a fantasy author, game designer, and technical writer. He has written a number of books and stories...

This week I sit down with Bruce Nesmith to discuss what he has learned from his lifelong career in game design as well as what it is like moving into novel writing in his "retirement" years. For those who don't know, Bruce started out in tabletop RPG design at TSR. He worked on MANY different products, but most notable (to me anyway) was his early involvement in the Ravenloft setting. In 1995 he m...

Back in September, just prior to him taking a new position at Zenimax working on Elder Scrolls Online , Jeff Grubb was kind enough to sit down and chat craft with me. This is the man that helped create the Planes as we know them, ushered Spelljamming into the gaming world, and assisted with the births of both Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance! He has written many, many novels, short stories, and co...

While the goal of this podcast is to talk with industry insiders and veterans, it's important to take a step back and talk to folks outside of the major industries. In this episode, I talk with Caitlin McVicker , an experienced copywriter who is hoping to someday make the jump from writing for marketing into narrative design. We discuss what drives her to pursue writing for video games, some of he...

Drew Karpyshyn has had an incredible writing career! His video game credits range from lead writer on the first two Mass Effect games, senior writer on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic , and numerous other titles. He is now working at Archetype Entertainment , a video game studio division of Wizards of the Coast . He has also penned novels in the Forgotten Realms and Mass Effect worlds as we...

Dave Gross is currently working at Beamdog in Edmonton, but has an illustrious history in novels, short stories, tabletop roleplaying games, and magazine editing! He edited Dungeon Adventures , Dragon Magazine , Star Wars Insider , and Amazing Stories - and has written fiction for both Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder . We sit down and chat about everything from writing dialogue and finding c...

Gavan Brown fell in love with board games over a friendly game of Carcassonne and has been making games ever since. As an owner, creative director, and game designer at Roxley Games , he has been involved with the creation or publication of a dozen different board games - and has many more designs in his workshop. With a background in branding and package design, he offers an unusual perspective o...

Rod Oracheski has been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and has been a game reviewer and journalist for decades. In between trading insults and jabs, we take a trip down memory lane and talk about the games that have entertained and influenced us. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to hear more conversations with professionals in the video game, tabletop game, and fiction industries. Find Rod at:...

Brent Knowles is best known for his work at BioWare , where he was a game designer for 10 years - most of that time as a Lead Designer/Creative Director. He has also worked as project manager/director at Beamdog , as well as served as Senior Technical Lead for the Centre for Innovative Media at NAIT . These days Brent can be found furiously hammering away at tabletop game design for his own compan...