GM Techniques – Casting Shadows Podcast

Episode 70: A Frightfully Cheerful Conversation

Summary

Published: January 19, 2026

What if four fellows with different views on horror in their lives and different approaches to humor found themselves in a chatroom to share their experiences with RPGs? Not telling war stories, not pontificating, but instead finding common ground and simple truths – like we do in a good group of gamers. This time, it’s all about horror, comedy, and when someone gets their comedy in your horror or vice versa~

Special Guests: ⁠ ⁠

⁠⁨@OrcusDorkus⁩ ⁠ ⁠ ⁨⁠

⁠@RPGSean⁩ ⁠ ⁠ ⁨⁠

⁠@ThirdFloorWars⁩ ⁠

Panel Topic: Running Horror, Comedy, or Comedic Horror – in the moment. In this audio-only version of our frightfully cheerful conversation nothing has been cut or lost, but the video version on YouTube has had some extra details, notes, and ideas added to it which you might appreciate. You can also see all the nodding in that version~

Games Mentioned: Call of Cthulhu, Kult: Divinity Lost, Mothership, Ghostbusters, Army of Darkness, The Laundry, Paranoia, Outbreak Undead, The End of the World, Delta Green, Liminal Horror, Rivers of London, and more

LINKS:

GO BAG Podcast

Titterpigs Podcast

Tabletop Talk Podcast

Discomfort, Fear, Terror, and Vast Cosmic Horror, on a dime a day

CONTACT ME:

Send in a voice message via Speakpipe!

Ubiquity Roleplaying Games Discord

@Runeslinger for YouTube, TwiXter, BlueSky, and Facebook

Episode 69: On the Idea of a Better Game

Summary

Published: December 20, 2025

This episode is another review of a post from the ⁠Casting Shadows blog⁠, though this time the Wayback Machine is just taking us five short years (and a few decades of observation and experience) into the past. This time we look at a post based on the increasingly narrowing rhetoric around the technique of the Session 0 which tries to restore the balance required in that technique for long-term play.

This time, the full post is presented before I get into any commentary from the present of the time of recording. Among the things in that commentary is a link to an earlier video on the same theme, but slightly different topic. It is linked below and is called Theories & Practices. It’s almost a rant. One of two I may have recorded in all my time sharing RPG ideas.

LINKS:

⁠A friend of the show, Patrick Mullen, on his Processing GURPS blog has recently referenced the Can I make my game better? post in a post of his own about his process of setting up a new campaign. I think we need many such examples of the great variety of approaches and needs we gamers have and so I share the link here:

⁠Zero Hour⁠

⁠Theories & Practices ⁠video mentioned in the episode. This video was recorded in 2014 in response to an uptick in extreme views in the regular cyclical confrontation between preferences between ‘Just play!’ and ‘Elitist Theory instead of play!’

⁠⁠⁠

⁠Can I make my game better?⁠⁠⁠⁠ blog post on Casting Shadows

Can I make my game better?

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@Runeslinger for YouTube, TwiXter, BlueSky, and Facebook

Episode 68: On What Might Be in a Name

Summary

Published: December 13, 2025

This episode includes a call from Jason Connerley in regard to Episode 65 with the Arcane Alienist, about RPGs and memory, and then sets the Wayback Machine for 2010 and a fresh look at an old post called By any other name~ and the town that got away.

LINKS:

⁠Weird Studies Podcast⁠ Homepage

–⁠Episode on Dungeons & Dragons, or the Reality of Illusions⁠

⁠Nerds RPG Variety Cast⁠

⁠Arcane Alienist Podcast⁠

⁠By Any Other Name⁠ blog post on Casting Shadows

By any other name~

CONTACT ME:

Send in a voice message via Speakpipe!

Ubiquity Roleplaying Games Discord

@Runeslinger for YouTube, TwiXter, BlueSky, and Facebook

Episode 60: On Mystery and Horror Roleplaying with TrilltheDM

Summary

Published: September 29, 2024

This nearly 90-minute conversation was made possible by the open-minded attitude of TrilltheDM, the interest of MercuriousAulicus and Black Lodge Games, and I suppose, the letter X. In it, we discuss Trill’s recent video: Mastering Player Choice in Mystery and Horror RPGs and take it further than the original 10-minute runtime would allow, dive into its specific context, and in general have an enjoyable and interesting discussion.

You can find the original video at this link:

⁠Mastering Player Choice in Mystery & Horror RPGs (youtube.com)⁠ This episode appears in its uncut, video form on my YouTube channel and is also re-distributed there in this audio-only version.

LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:

⁠Mastering Player Choice in Mystery & Horror RPGs – YouTube⁠

The Imagination series on the Casting Shadows Podcast

⁠Sandboxes

⁠⁠Layers and Vectors of Play

⁠⁠Immersion and Engagement⁠

⁠On Immersion⁠⁠

On Attention⁠⁠

Imagination and Preparation

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@Runeslinger for YouTube, TwiXter, BlueSky, and Facebook

Episode 59: #RPGaDAY2024 Week 2 Highlights + Mordavia

Summary

Published: August 12, 2024

This episode is in three segments. The first presents links and reactions to just a few of the cool posts I have seen in response to the 2nd week of #RPGaDAY2024. This is part of a series for each week of the event. If you have suggestions for great posts, send me a message with the links! The second segment offers some tantalizing morsels stolen from the freshly unearthed Mordavia: Land of Horror supplement for Leagues of Adventure, Leagues of Gothic Horror, and Leagues of Cthulhu by Triple Ace Games. The final segment runs roughshod over my own responses to the #RPGaDAY2024 prompts in unseemly haste!

LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:

⁠⁠Autocratik Blog⁠

⁠Halls of the Nephilim⁠

⁠Mordavia on DriveThruRPG

NOTES:

#RPGaDAY2024 infographics are available at ⁠⁠AUTOCRATIK: Announcing #RPGaDAY2024 for August⁠

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CONTACT ME:

Send in a voice message via Speakpipe!

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@Runeslinger for YouTube, TwiXter, BlueSky, and Facebook

Episode 58: Sharing some #RPGaDAY2024 Posts that I enjoyed: Week 1

Summary

Published: August 5, 2024

This episode presents links and reactions to just a few of the cool posts I have seen in response to the first week of #RPGaDAY2024. This is intended to be the first of a series for each week of the event. If you have suggestions for great posts, send me a message with the links!

LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:

⁠Autocratik Blog⁠

⁠Nerds’ RPG Variety Cast⁠

⁠Stochastic Agency⁠

⁠JDRD30⁠

⁠Pink Phantom Podcast⁠

⁠Mirke the Meek Podcast⁠

⁠Dungeon Tutor⁠

⁠Dekahedron’s Joseph Gill⁠

⁠Nolinquisitor Channel⁠

⁠Creative Play and Podcast Network⁠

⁠Miskatonic Playhouse Channel⁠

⁠Hindsightless Podcast⁠

NOTES:

#RPGaDAY2024 infographics are available at ⁠⁠AUTOCRATIK: Announcing #RPGaDAY2024 for August⁠

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CONTACT ME:

Send in a voice message via Speakpipe!

Ubiquity Roleplaying Games Discord

@Runeslinger for YouTube, TwiXter, BlueSky, and Facebook

Episode 57: On #RPGaDAY2024 Week 1 and Ubiquity’s Great Campaign

Summary

Published: August 2, 2024

In the first segment of this episode I quickly share some of my responses to the first week of #RPGaDAY2024 prompts. Later in the week ahead, I will be sharing cool prompts from other folk that I have found out there on the Internet.

The second segment explores the structure and some suggestions for running The Great Campaign from ⁠Triple Ace Games ⁠for their Leagues of Adventure line using the Ubiquity Roleplaying System.

The third segment is a quick overview of Ubiquity for those hearing about it for the first time.

Products or Shows mentioned in this Episode:

⁠The GMologist Presents⁠

⁠The Great Campaign (PDF, PoD)

NOTES:

#RPGaDAY2024 infographics are available at ⁠⁠AUTOCRATIK: Announcing #RPGaDAY2024 for August⁠

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CONTACT ME:

Send in a voice message via Speakpipe!

Ubiquity Roleplaying Games Discord

@Runeslinger for YouTube, TwiXter, BlueSky, and Facebook

Episode 56: On the In-Character Character…

Summary

Published: July 23, 2024

This episode takes us on a semi-farcical journey into language and imagery to talk about the very necessary nature a lack of meaning and import can have to immersive and engaging in-character play.

Curious? I hope so~

NOTES:

#RPGaDAY2024 infographics are available at ⁠⁠AUTOCRATIK: Announcing #RPGaDAY2024 for August⁠

Marty Robbins Gunfighter Ballads:

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CONTACT ME:

Send in a voice message via Speakpipe!

Ubiquity Roleplaying Games Discord

@Runeslinger for YouTube, TwiXter, BlueSky, and Facebook

Episode 49: A Conversation on Attention and Imagination (with Primaeval Fantasy)

Summary

Published: December 12, 2023

Featuring a call-in from Mirke the Meek, this episode is primarily a first conversation between Daniel Jones of the Primaeval Fantasy RPG podcast/YouTube channel and myself on the topic of in-character play through means intended to facilitate imagination and hopefully immersion in the character’s perspective.

You can find Mirke the Meek here:

⁠Mirke The Meek • A podcast on Spotify for Podcasters⁠

You can find my guest, Daniel Jones here:

⁠Primæval Fantasy RPG – YouTube⁠ and here (Podcast):

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CONTACT ME:

[1] ⁠Send a voice message to CastingShadowsPodcast (speakpipe.com)⁠

[2] Find me on Discord, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube @Runeslinger

—

Send in a voice message via Speakpipe!

Ubiquity Roleplaying Games Discord

Episode 48: On Mentors and Peers in RPG Learning

Summary

Published: November 28, 2023

Che Webster of Roleplay Rescue, leader of a school RPG club, was kind enough to return to the podcast for another exploratory conversation about learning and guiding others in their learning of RPGs.

Comments, Call-Ins, Opinions, and References in this episode

⁠Podcast – Roleplay Rescue’s Blog

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CONTACT ME:

[1] ⁠Send a voice message to CastingShadowsPodcast (speakpipe.com)⁠

[2] Find me on Discord, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube @Runeslinger

—

Send in a voice message via Speakpipe!

Ubiquity Roleplaying Games Discord