This week, I'm joined by guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the resurgence of role-playing games. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded in Salem, Mass.
- Last time we recorded for the show was two years ago
- Time is passing quickly
- Jay: Going into the office once a week now
- Matt: It was an extrovert's world for a long time
- Matt's still writing YA books
- Matt has been running Dungeons & Dragons games since pandemic started
- Unprepared for the number of people who wanted to jump in
- Matt: Didn't have enough friends to play in high school
- Was going to start doing it for corporate retreats when COVID hit
- A legal dispute over licensing with Hasbro
- Jay: Was a total comics nerd in high school
- D&D made a comeback thanks to Stranger Things
- A D&D movie is coming out with Chris Pine
- Tom Hanks starred in Mazes & Monsters, a "Satanic panic" movie about D&D
- Stopped buying comics when there were bills to pay
- Matt: Plenty of non-D&D role-playing games are popular
- Played Vampire: The Masquerade in the '90s
- Matt does a podcast called The Ravenfolly Institute that follows D&D campaigns as they happen
- Matt's super-productive in his spare time
- Working on an "adult" gritty fantasy book
- Book industry is in "dire need of reform"
- The first of Matt's books is getting an audiobook
- Struggling to get through Dune (the book)
- Matt's learning how to play a Dune role-playing game
- Listens to a lot of RPG podcasts; helps you learn the game
- D&D has had peaks and valleys of popularity since the mid-70s
- On its 5th edition; went back to older style but streamlined
- The stigma of being a nerd is gone now
- Board games in general have become popular again
- You get what you put into playing RPGs
- A lot of mystery-themed games
- Matt: Storytelling is storytelling, whether it's books or RPGs or podcasts
- Matt's the D&Dealer
- Gotta have the "math rocks"
- Also does sister podcast Characters & Class
Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!
The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
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