Imagination in RPGs – Casting Shadows Podcast

Episode 72: A Friendly, Conversation about Natural-Feeling Characters~

Summary

Published: February 19, 2026

In this installment of the Friendly Conversations about RPGs series, I am joined by Erik Schmidt of the Setting First YouTube Channel, Blog, and Discord (Links Below). Our topic for this discussion is the interplay of setting, character, and player perspective to help foster characters which feel believable and lead players toward play that feels natural and grounded in that setting. If you enjoy where this conversation goes and how it gets there, I encourage you to take a look at Erik’s channel and follow the link to the Setting First Discord (if Discord survives its own shenanigans).

As usual with this series, it also has a YouTube video version which is annotated extensively to share further detail, explanation, subtext, and context.

Some Relevant Links from ⁠ @SettingFirstRPG ⁠ :

Language!

Trust!

Topical Links from our Discussion:

“Immersion?”

Playing “In-Character”

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Ubiquity Roleplaying Games Discord

@Runeslinger for YouTube, TwiXter, BlueSky, and Facebook

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 65: On Memory and RPGs (with Arcane Alienist)

Summary

Published: October 19, 2025

This is an OctOSR-adjacent episode. Thanks go out to BJ Boyd, the Arcane Alienist, for being a guest on this episode to help frame and execute a discussion on the nature of memory and some key ways it can affect our play and understanding of RPGs. You can find BJ’s podcast at the link below:

⁠The Arcane Alienist⁠

LINKS relevant to this episode:

⁠Things Gamers Say…⁠

⁠Things Gamers Imagine…⁠

⁠On the Caller in Early RPGs⁠

An interesting and relevant link suggested by Jason Connerley of the Nerds RPG Variety Cast comes from SpectreVision Radio:

⁠Episode 6: Dungeons & Dragons, or the Reality of Illusions

CONTACT ME:

Send in a voice message via Speakpipe!

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@Runeslinger for YouTube, TwiXter, BlueSky, and Facebook

Episode 64: Is Immersion Impossible? A Friendly, Abridged Discussion~

Summary

Published: October 6, 2025

This is an abridged version of a long overdue conversation with Scott Welker, long-time gamer and successful game designer with titles based in Savage Worlds, D20, Year Zero, and soon a system of his own making. Scott is one half of Thieves Guild Gaming. Our conversation is a full on, open-minded examination about focused attention in RPGs – otherwise known colloquially but ambiguously and unhelpfully as “immersion.”

You can watch the full conversation, with its load of annotations and notes, on YouTube:

⁠

Scott likes to say “Immersion is impossible!” We get into what he means by that. I, as you know, Dear Listener, like to say that immersion, like so many other things, is frequently misunderstood. We get into that, too. For added value, one way we explore the topic is through Scott’s games and how they were written.

Useful links:

Thieves Guild Games on DTRPG, has just launched a public beta of their new OPENSIX system and are looking for feedback. As a system, it is directly relevant to this discussion. The game is currently PWYW and can be found here:

⁠https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/524225/opensix-zero-edition-take-back-your-imagination⁠

First in a series of videos on Scott’s first game, OS+R ⁠https://youtu.be/HaDi13UM21Y?si=dgRGHBnLRIDw6brd⁠

Scott and I discuss the film: Zero Charisma⁠ https://www.youtube.com/live/dVXKIX78DIQ?si=oeIvKiePEcTp_WMI⁠

My follow-up:

⁠https://youtu.be/X2TCg2cl9aI?si=PS_sEUrfL2wKmxYi⁠

Scott’s recent video on Autotelic Engagement: ⁠https://youtu.be/qHVyFOYRPgo?si=Lcuf10VFaZfFaT2v⁠

Blog post summarizing my basic theory of “immersion”

On Immersion and Engagement in RPG Play ⁠

A recent video from James Bacon modelled on the above post and exploring the points raised by Scott can be found here:

⁠

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@Runeslinger for YouTube, TwiXter, BlueSky, and Facebook

Episode 53: On Accommodating Imagination with Roleplay Rescue

Summary

Published: April 12, 2024

In this conversation with Roleplay Rescue‘s host and seeker of immersive and engaging play, Che Webster, we discuss some blog posts about techniques that Che is starting to use to get more of what he wants from play. As that quest is near and dear to my heart, I thought others might resonate with it as well. We talk about making room for imagination, facilitating a more active stance in our imaginations, and consider how we speak to one another when we play.

Podcasts mentioned in the episode:

⁠Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast⁠

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CONTACT ME:

Send in a voice message via Speakpipe!

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For TwiXter, BlueSky, and Facebook: @Runeslinger

Episode 52: Imagination Calls

Summary

Published: April 7, 2024

This episode responds to listener calls dating back over the last two episodes of the podcast and continuing the exploration of imagination, memory, and attention as valuable parts of RPG play. Thanks go out to Jason Connerly, Spencer/FreeThrall, and Jean-Francois ‘SameOldJi’ St-Onge for the calls and the interaction~

Podcasts mentioned in the episode:

⁠Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast⁠

⁠Keep off the Borderlands⁠

⁠SameOldJi – An RPG Catharsis ⁠

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CONTACT ME:

Send in a voice message via Speakpipe!

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For TwiXter, BlueSky, and Facebook: @Runeslinger

Episode 50: On Preparation for In-Character play (with Tablerunner)

Summary

Published: January 4, 2024

Preparation is one thing that can benefit from change if you adjust your style or intentions for play. My guest has recently discovered a desire for playing more and more in-character (moving toward in-character as-character) and leaving room for “immersion” to happen.

WATCH ON YOUTUBE:

MY GUEST: CRISPY of the @Tablerunner Crispy YouTube channel.

Origin: “I’m an RPG enthusiast who came to realize earlier this year that I’ve only just scratched the surface of what the hobby can be. Now I’m focused on enhancing my experience and that of my players through ‘in-character play.’ I run an in-person weekly game that has been a going concern for 17 years and hopefully many years to come. I share my experiences as an old hand with a fresh appreciation for actual roleplay on my YouTube channel ⁠@tablerunner⁠. You can find me on X at ⁠@cfourcrispy⁠.”

Call-ins:

I have received some great calls since the last episode and I would love to include them in this episode as they are relevant to various points made throughout, but I due to the length of the conversation (1hr4min) I feel it is best to frame an episode around those call-ins and any others that come in the interim. That episode will concern itself more directly with imagination. Therefore, there is still time to leave a message via Spotify (if you dare), Speakpipe, discord, or email about how imagination presents itself to you.

How do you imagine a moment of play?

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CONTACT ME:

Send in a voice message via Speakpipe!

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