All Episodes
Roll For Topic — 198 episodes
Episode 198: World Cup Fever
Episode 197 – Building Wizard City
Episode 196: Chasing that Feeling
Episode 195 – T1 Prep
Episode 194 – Chris in the Candy Store
Episode 193 – Elric! and Others
Episode 192 – Third Time’s a Charm
Episode 191 – Bringing Real-life Locations to the Game Table
Episode 190 – Props at the Game Table Revisited
Episode 189 – Do You Let Players Respec Their Characters?
Episode 188 – Daggerheart Recap with Jess!
Episode 187 – Antarctic Cthulhu Weekend After-action Report
Episode 186 – What Games Do You Bring on Trips?
Episode 185 – Catch up
Episode 184 – Play-a-Dungeon 2025: Kaiju vs. Theme Park Employees
Episode 183 – Build-a-Dungeon 2025: Kaiju vs. Theme Park Employees
Episode 182 – Stranger Things, Doom, and One Shot Systems
Episode 181 – Netcrawl, Blades, and 13th Age, Oh My!
Episode 180 – How To Be a Good Player
Episode 179 – Daggerheart, Draw Steel, and the Post-OGL Landscape
Episode 178 – Stranger Things and Aliens
Episode 177 – RPG Trivia from RfT Con 2025
Episode 176 – Autumn GM Plans and Convention Prep
Episode 175 – How Do You Run a Game in Two Hours or Less? (with Garrett Douglas)
Episode 174 – Theater and Gaming with Andy Jones
Episode 173 – Mechs with Toby Shearman
Episode 172 – D&D on the Beach, Blue Prince, and The Gunslinger
Episode 171 – The Kids Are Alright
Episode 170 – How Do You Run a One-shot for Non-gamers?
Episode 169 – I Know a Guy and Changing Rules
Episode 168 – Do You Replay TTRPG Scenes That Go Wrong?
Episode 167 – How Do You Use Weather in Your TTRPGs?
Episode 166 – Do your characters have lives outside of the adventure?
Episode 165 – How Do You Handle Character Aging and Age Differences?
Episode 164 – How Do You Handle Player Mounts and Horses?
Episode 163 – Do you hand out documents at the table?
Episode 162 – How Do You Run Wilderness Survival Games?
Episode 161 – How Do You Handle Religion in Your Games?
Episode 160 – How Do You Game in Times of Difficulty?
Episode 159 – To Chase or Not to Chase Your White Whales
Episode 158 – Holiday Actual Play Special
Episode 157 – Build a Dungeon 2024!
156 – Chit Haters
Episode 155 – Gold in Games
Episode 154 – How Do You Prepare to Run an Epic Campaign? (with Matt Wilson)
Episode 153 – Spooky and Cheery Holiday Games
Episode 152 – What Can Mini-games Add to an RPG?
Episode 151 – RfT Con 2024 Trivia Quiz and Diamond Heist!
Episode 150 – What Does Crime Look Like in Your Game Setting?
Episode 149 – How Do You Use Languages?
Episode 148 – How Do You Use Alignment?
Episode 147 – The Enthusiasm of a Con
Episode 146 – Running Minigames Within Your Games
Episode 145 – How to Prep for a Game When You Have No Time (with John Corey)
Episode 144 – How Do You Handle Light Sources in Dungeons?
Episode 143 – How Do You Convey Setting Detail to Your Players?
Episode 142 – Our Mount Rushmore of Gaming
Episode 141 – How Do You Help Players with the Rules?
Episode 140 – Live from the AADL Game Con 2024!
Episode 139 – When do you invite players to help you build the world?
Episode 138 – How Do You Spotlight Characters?
Episode 137 – What Famous Person Would You Like to Game With?
Episode 136 – Band of Blades and One Gandalf is Enough
Episode 135 – Dialect, Savage Worlds, and Campaign Length
Episode 134 – The Book of the New Sun, and Challenging Game Settings
Episode 133 — What Makes a Great First D&D Adventure?
Episode 132 — All About Randomness and Dice! (with guest GM Toby)
Episode 131 – Play a Dungeon – The Mice of The Artemis
Episode 130 – Build a Dungeon 2023!
Episode 129 – Long-running Campaigns and their Challenges
Episode 128 – Palladium Surprise Package Unboxing and More
Episode 127 – Are Your Games “Interesting Failures”?
Episode 126 – Maintaining Momentum
Episode 125 – When Players Do the Unexpected
Episode 124 — Do You Require Your Players To Read the Rules?
Episode 123 – Live at Roll For Topic Con!
Episode 122 — How Do You Encourage Your Players to Roleplay Among Themselves?
Episode 121 — What Makes a Good Flawed Hero?
Episode 120 — Choosing the Right Convention Game
Episode 119 – Audio Equipment, Mysteries, Aliens, and Repetition
Episode 118 — How to Make Small Towns in Your Fantasy Setting Memorable
Episode 117 – How do You Steal from Movies and Books?
Episode 116 — What Goes Into a Great Online TTRPG Experience?
Episode 115 — The 30-Year D&D Campaign (with Bryn Mills)
Episode 114 — Making Food and Meals a Part of an RPG Campaign (with Jeremy Bai)
Episode 113 – Running Hacking Scenes (with James Pozenel)
Episode 112 — Running RPGs with Kids
Episode 111 – What Role Does Nostalgia Play in Your Games?
Episode 110 — How Do You Adjust the Tone at Your Gaming Table?
Episode 109 — How Do You Incorporate PCs’ Family and Loved Ones?
Episode 108 — Dealing with GM Distraction
Episode 107 — What Do You Do When Your Players Get Stuck?
Episode 106 — Old Year Reflections, New Year Ambitions (with Matt Wilson)
Episode 105 — Actual Play: Snake Oil’s Last Score
Episode 104 – Build a Dungeon 2022!
Episode 103 – Design an encumbrance system that even encumbrance haters will want to use
Episode 102 — Using Cellphones Creatively at the Game Table
Episode 101—Design an Adventure Built Around a Performance (with guest GM Alban)
Episode 100 — Looking Back at 100 Episodes
Episode 99 – Create a Cult that Your Party Would Want to Join
Episode 98 — Tracking Time and Tension
Episode 97 – Design a 1 Page RPG with John Corey
Episode 96 – Roll For Topic Con 2022 Recap -Stars and Wishes
Episode 95 — Preparing a Convention One-shot
Episode 94 — Design a Deadly 10-foot Room
Episode 93 – Conversation On the Road
Episode 92 – Design an adventure for a mouse
Episode 91 — Design a Door that Both Terrifies and Intrigues Your Players
Episode 90 – Design a sequence of devious dungeon traps
Episode 89 — Design the Coolest Boat for an RPG
Episode 88 – Design an Arena Boss Rush
Episode 87 — Design an Interesting Shop
Episode 86 – Create a Festival!
Episode 85 — Space Anomalies That Beg to be Investigated
Episode 84 — Underwater Adventures (That Are Actually Fun)
Episode 83 — AMBUSH! (with Peter Dillman)
Episode 82 — Useless Magic Items (That Might Have a Use)
Episode 81 — Creating a Love Triangle for Your Game
Episode 80 — Actual Play Retrospective, and New Year GMing Goals
Episode 79 — Play-a-Dungeon 2021!
Episode 78 – Build a Dungeon Special 2021!
Episode 77 – What location or time would make a great RPG setting?
Episode 76 — How Do You Incorporate PCs’ Family and Friends into Your Games?
Episode 75 — How Do You Prepare a One-shot?
Episode 74 — How Do You Deal with Imposter Syndrome?
Episode 73 — How Do You Increase Player Investment in Your Game?
Episode 72 – Trent Reznor, butterflies, and puzzles (with Phill Cameron)
Episode 71 — What’s Up with D&D Character Creation?
Episode 70 — Convention Reflections!
Episode 69 — How Do You Balance Action, Levity, and Drama? (with guest GM Laura)
Episode 68 — How Do You Run Large Battles?
Episode 67 — ‘The Ground Itself’ Actual Play Part 2 (with Amber Seger and Kyle Latino)
Episode 66 — ‘The Ground Itself’ Actual Play Part 1 (with Amber Seger and Kyle Latino)
Episode 65 — What on Earth is a THAC0?
Episode 64 — Spaceship Dinosaurs, Mutant Crime-fighters, and More
Episode 63 — Sports Are Just Numerology Actual Play
Episode 62 — How Do You Use and Care For Your Game Books?
Episode 61 — How Do You Start a New Campaign? (with guest GM Murph)
Episode 60 – What campaign are you chickening out of running?
Episode 59 — How Do You Use Mazes in a Roleplaying Game?
Episode 58 — Waterdeep Postmortem, Plus Digital Resources in Games (with Guest GM Tim Saucer)
Episode 57 — “Eternal Lies” Campaign Postmortem (with Guest GM Matt Wilson)
Episode 56 — How Do You Handle Luck and Divine Intervention? (with guest GM Kyle Latino)
Episode 55 — How Do You Manage Scheduling For Your Games?
Episode 54 — Actual Play: “The Accidental Tomb”
UPDATED: Episode 53 — Holiday Special: Live Build-a-dungeon!
Episode 52 — What Expectations Do You Place On Your Players When Starting a Campaign?
Episode 51 — How Do You Manage Inventory in Your Games? (with Tim Saucer)
Episode 50 — Season 1 Finale, and Resetting the Table of Topics!
Episode 49 – Broken Control Panels, Aliens, and Spoopy Sitcom Recaps
Episode 48 — Scary Warehouses, 90s Sitcoms, and Halloween One-shots
Episode 47 – A Different Kind of Fantasy Gaming
Episode 46 — How Do You Design Your Game Sessions So That Players Can Show Off?
Episode 45 — Tom Knauss, Tehuatl Kickstarter, and the Care and Feeding of Your Game Books
Episode 44 — How Do You Prepare Set-piece Encounters?
Episode 43 — What Do You Do With the Encounters and Secrets Your Players Don’t Discover?
Episode 42 — How Do You Create Memorable NPCs?
Episode 41 — What Do You Do When You Feel Unenthused About the Game You’re Running?
Episode 40 — How Do You Build or Choose a Setting for Your Game?
Episode 39 — How Do You Use Fear in Your Roleplaying Games?
Episode 38 — How Do You Use Maps in Your Game?
Episode 37 — How Do You Handle Character Death in a Roleplaying Game?
Episode 36 — How Do You Make Dungeons Feel Adventurous? (with John Corey)
Episode 35 — How Do You Make In-game Travel Interesting?
Episode 34 — Social Distancing Special: How Do You Run an Online Game?
Episode 33 – How do you run games when your group is just one or two players? (with Shel Kahn)
Episode 32 – How Do You Handle Romance and Shopping in Your Games?
Episode 31 — How Do You Establish Mood and Avoid an “Adventure Slapstick” Tone in Your Games?
Episode 30 – When Do You Look Up Rules?
Episode 29 — Do You Run Published Adventures or Create Your Own? (with Jess Snyder)
Episode 28 — How to Introduce a New Game to Your Gaming Group
Holiday Special Part 2: Live Play-a-dungeon!
Holiday Special Part 1: Live Build-a-Dungeon (with guest GM Kyle Latino)
Episode 25 — How Do You Deal with Anxiety as a GM?
Episode 24 – Do You Read the Block Text in Your Adventure? (special guest, Aaron)
Episode 23 – How to Introduce Non-Gamers to Your Game
Episode 22 — How to Handle Doors in Dungeons (with guest Al McWilliams)
Episode 21: What Elements from Other Media do You Bring into Your Tabletop Games? (with Audrey Huggett)
Episode 20 – The Shortest Episode: Running Halloween Themed Games
Episode 19 — How to Run a Convention Game (with John Corey)
Episode 18 – 7th Sea Campaign Retrospective with Matt Wilson
Episode 17 – Reflections on Gencon 2019
Episode 16 – How to Send Off a Player Who’s Leaving Your Game
Episode 15 – Theater-of-the-mind vs. Maps, Minis, and Other Visual Representations (with Murph)
Episode 14 – How to Create and Use Monsters in a Game (with Kyle Latino)
Episode 13 — How to Prepare to Run a Roleplaying Game (With Audrey Huggett)
Episode 12 — How to Handle Randomness in Your Games
Episode 11 — How to Track Combat Details (with Jason Matteson)
Episode 10 — How to Deal with Bored or Distracted Players (with Greg Teachout)
Episode 9 — How to Manage the Power Level of an RPG (with David Frees)
Episode 8 — How to Handle Consequences for Player Characters (with John Corey)
Episode 7 — How to Keep Combat Scenes Moving (with Caitlin Sanders)
Episode 6 – Running Roleplaying Games for Different-sized Groups (with Jessica Snyder)
Episode 5 – Bringing Elements from Other Game Systems into Your Game (with Mark French)
Episode 4 – Props and Handouts and When to Use Them (with Kyle Latino)
Episode 3 – How to Use a Dungeon Master’s Screen (with guest Matt Wilson)
Episode 2: When Roleplaying Games Derail
Episode 1: How to GM a Game in 2 Hours or Less