Dieku Podcast

I welcome back Chris McDowall, who is the author of the influential games of Into the Odd, and Electric Bastionland. Chris will be kickstarting his newest venture Mythic Bastionland which has been billed as rules light roleplaying in a dreamlike world of knights and myths.

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I welcomed Mikey Hamm who is the creator behind the game Slugblaster - which has teenage hoverboarders sneaking into other dimensions to explore, film tricks, go viral, and get away from the problems at home. It’s dangerous. It’s stupid. It’s got parent groups in a panic. And it’s the coolest thing ever. Slugblaster was recently nominated for both best art and game of the year by IGDN, taking the big prize!

To learn more:

Today I welcome one of my favourite Youtube personalities - Rev. Joey Royale who is best know for is awesome show - Joey Royale’s Pizza Party! Joey isn’t just limited to his fun show, but also has created such cult classics as Ninja City and WHPA Fairhaven where you explore the oddities of your local small town!

Singing Flame is a small publishing company based in New York City who love making zines, adventures, and supplements compatible with tabletop roleplaying games, including titles such as DNGN, Aquilus, Night Land, and Xanadu. 

Vasili Kaliman shared his journey into the gaming hobby, and his return to it with DCC. From there he went on to create Aquilus, the science fantasy publication for the OSR.  

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I welcome Jason Oberman, the creator of 6083, a military sci-fi game that has been 38 years in the making, and is now available on print on demand through DriveThruRPG.  

Jason is a retired career soldier whose military journey has leaked into the game’s DNA, resulting in a TTRPG experience with influence from real-life military culture.  6083 is an original TTRPG with a unique ruleset, and is not based upon any current or past game systems. It has some mild-rule complexity (crunch), but aims to provide a role playing experience that is cinematic with detailed and fast paced combat encounters. 

2022 was another interesting year in the TTRPG Industry, and we once again were joined by Shannon Appelcline, author of the "Designers & Dragons" series, to provide historical context to the events of the year.  

Shannon also shared his insights on a variety of current topics including the OneDnD, DriveThruRPG, VTTs, OSR, Indie Games, Kickstarter, Free League licensing, AI being used in game design, NuTSR,  Satine Phoenix & Stone Jamison, and many other topics! 

Garry Snow was joined by Logar the Barbarian from Wobblies Wizards as they both share their letters asking Krampus for games they want this holiday season, as well as a list of their top games from 2022!  We are inviting viewers to provide superchats with all proceeds going towards two charities - Schools for Chiapas and Doctors Without Borders, with matching donations up to the total amount of $100!

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Schools for Chiapas (Logar) 

Schools for Chiapas is an organization of grassroots activists and communities working to support the autonomous, indigenous Zapatista communities of Chiapas, Mexico. We are neither a traditional NGO (non-governmental organization) nor are we affiliated with any government, religion, or business. Schools for Chiapas was created the mid-1990’s by individuals searching for ways to make the world a better place and working to create a world where all worlds fit.

Jesse Schell is the author of the critically acclaimed book "The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses," published in 2008. The book captured Game Developer Magazine's coveted "Front Line Award" in 2008. In 2014, he released the second edition of this book. In 2019 the tenth anniversary and third edition of the book was released.  

Jesse is also the founder and CEO of Schell Games. Since starting Schell Games in 2002, Jesse has grown it into the largest and most successful game development company in Pennsylvania. Under his leadership, Schell Games has produced an amazing array of innovative, transformational and award-winning entertainment experiences, including the Disney Fairies MMO, Pixie Hollow, Toy Story Mania TV Game and some of the most popular interactive theme park attractions in the world.   

Jesse also holds a faculty position as Distinguished Professor at the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) of Carnegie Mellon University. Since 2006, Professor Schell has taught the Building Virtual Worlds class, created by ETC Co-Founder and "The Last Lecture" author, Randy Pausch.   Prior to starting Schell Games, Jesse was the Creative Director of the Disney Imagineering Virtual Reality Studio, where he worked and played for seven years as a designer, programmer, and manager on numerous projects for Disney theme parks and DisneyQuest.  

He is perhaps most celebrated for his design of Disney's Toontown Online, the first massively multiplayer game for kids. Toontown Online won several awards, including the following:

• Computer Gaming World - "2003 MMORPG Game of the Year"  
• Webby Awards - "2003 People's Voice Award, Kids Category"  
• Parents' Choice Foundation - "2003 Silver Honor"  
• Children's Software Review - "2003 All Star Software Award"  
• WiredKids - "2005 Safe Gaming Award"  
• 2005 Webby Awards - "Webby Worthy Selection Award"   

Learn more about Schell Games: 

In the summer of 1973, as Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax worked to complete the manuscript for D&D, Greg Svenson was given a play-test copy of that novel new game. He used those rules to create his own adventure dungeon. Tonisborg is the second oldest Mega Dungeon to come out of the Twin Cities group. Svenson and Arneson placed the dungeon in the world of Blackmoor, where Vestfold  is located today. 

Sadly, several years later all copies of the maps were thought lost or destroyed. The maps came to be known as "The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg," or "Tonisborg" for short.  Decades later, during production of the documentary, Secrets of Blackmoor, a mysterious set of ten old dungeon maps was uncovered - these turned out to be photocopies of Svenson's originals.   

Now published with extensive background information, The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg is not like any RPG book you've ever encountered.  Step back into time with one of the oldest dungeon adventures ever created!  

What better way to celebrate October than by exploring the amazing creativity of indie zines! We will be doing daily zine reviews throughout the month, ending with a grand prize draw for $200 store credit from Exalted Funeral, where you can purchase many of the zines being reviewed! 

I was joined by Steve Jackson who has had a distinguished career, designing iconic games such as GURPS, Car Wars, The Fantasy Trip, and last, but not least - Munchkin!  Steve shared his journey from his first entry into the hobby, to lessons learned along the way, and the sharing of new games such as the re-releases of Car Wars and The Fantasy Trip. 

To learn more about Steve Jackson Games:  

I had the pleasure of being joined by Lee Gold, the creator of the Lands of Adventure RPG, Land of the Rising Sun supplement for Chivalry & Sorcery, Vikings for Iron Crown, GURPS Japan and the Valhalla Trilogy novels. 

Lee is also the editor of Alarums and Excursions one of the longest running APAs (Amateur Press Association) featuring content from fan zines since 1975!  

I was joined by Cezar Capacle, the designer of minimalist games such as Starlight Riders, What Lies Beneath the Darkness, Kismet and Cows vs Zombies.  Cezar also shared the fundamentals of the Push SRD which is Creative Commons and able to be used as a basis for your own game.  

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We were joined by Andrew Kolb, who shared his design process for the new Oz TTRPG setting. 

This is Andrew's follow up to the the Ennie Award nominated Neverland TTRPG. Using inspiration from Frank Baum's novels, Andrew combined his mid-century styled illustrations with solid layout and typography to create a cohesive setting book that is compatible with almost all flavors of Dungeons and Dragons. 

To pre-order Oz:

I had the pleasure of having Logar the Barbarian as my guest, who is the host of Wobblies and Wizards, the daily (yes, DAILY!) podcast that features Indie Game Designers who have that scrappy DYI attitude.  

We discuss Logar's history and process of making his podcast, from one podcaster to another!  

You can learn more about Logar and Wobblies and Wizards at: 

I was honored to be joined by Marc Miller, the creator of Traveller - the best selling sci-fi RPG of all time! I discuss the many innovations that Traveller brought to the TTRPG design world including, life paths during character creation, skills, patrons, UPP code, and the game-within-a-game ship and world building.  

I was joined by Daniel Sell the Ennie award winning creator and Publisher of Melsonian Arts Council, who make Troika!, the OSR style game that combines unique characters into an unusual setting that has grown a strong community around it. Daniel shares his journey into publishing, and provides some great insight on what it takes to be a successful indie TTRPG publisher.  

To learn more about Daniel and Troika, visit: 

We had the pleasure of having Lysa Penrose - RPG Marketing and Charity Manager, and Kage - Community Relations Representative from DriveThruRPG join us. 

We discussed the upcoming PocketQuest game jam taking place in August, as well as tips and tricks for new creators taking their first steps into publishing.   

We also learned about the recent announcement of the partnership between DriveThruRPG and Roll20 for supporting the VTT through the Dungeon Masters Guild.

For more information, please visit: 

We were joined by Adam Vass of World Cha,mp Games Co. who has been making some very unique and creative games within the Indie game design scene. Games such as Necronautilus, Babes in the Wood, Cobwebs, Hell Cabin, and more! 

You can learn more at:

We were joined by Jim Parkin, the designer of Weird North and Any Planet is Earth, who shared his views on Free Kriegsspiel Revolution (FKR) style gaming to create an immersive role playing experience. 

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We were joined by Lex Mandrake of Dank Dungeons, who shared his game design journey with us, starting with 5e supplements on the Joy of Cooking Monsters, to the very popular OSR Azag game and setting. Lex also provides some of his realizations on and learnings with each new product, including the Narfell supplement which is entirely digital focussed.

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We were joined by Eric Nieudan, who along with Olivier Revenu, makes up The Merry Mushmen, who have created the go-to OSR magazine - Knock. We learn of the history behind how this magazine came into existence, and what the future looks like for this publication.

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