This episode responds to listener voice messages, does a surface exploration of the experience of imagination and gets into some practicalities about the benefit of talking about imagination with your group. Listeners are invited to contact me via the methods below to share their thoughts on their experiences of imagination.
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.
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.
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.
Our attentive focus on Immersion continues. This episode explores how attention transforms our ability to perceive, receive, conceive, and visualize the imagined situations of our gaming into immersive and engaging experiences.
This episode continues our survey of the topic of ‘immersion” with the help of a meaty call-in from Safer of the Safer Fantasy Crafting podcast plus a further look at the notion of examining the focus of attention through a split lens of immersion and engagement. Previous episodes on this topic can be found at links below. In addition, written posts supporting these episodes can be found at the Casting Shadows Blog.
This episode features a call in from Safer of Safer Fantasy Crafting. In that response, he mentions a session of immersive play which was recorded and is available to listen to. That episode and more of Safer’s content can be found here:
Casting Shadows Podcast 