Epic Adventure

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Normally we'd all be sitting around the microphones, arguing over games, movies, roleplaying, and whatever other rabbit hole we decide to wander down. But this week... well... life got in the way in the best possible fashion.
We went to Gen Con.
You know, there are some places that just have an energy all their own. A baseball stadium on Opening Day. Walking into Disney for the first time. Maybe your favorite band's concert before the lights go down.
Gen Con has that same feeling.
But for many of us our favorite time isn't actually when the convention is packed.
It's setup day.
You walk through those giant convention center doors and everything is buzzing. Forklifts are backing up. Pallets of games are everywhere. Booths are half-built. Someone is hanging banners thirty feet in the air while somebody else is frantically looking for a roll of duct tape they swore they packed.
The halls are busy...
But they're not crowded.
Not yet.
That's the strange part.
You've been here before. You know exactly what these halls are going to look like in less than twenty-four hours. Right now you can actually see the floors.
Tomorrow...
You won't.
Tomorrow every aisle will be shoulder to shoulder with gamers, collectors, cosplayers, families, creators, publishers, artists, dice goblins, card sharks, miniature painters, and people carrying bags that somehow weigh more than they do.
You know it's coming.
And everyone setting up knows it's coming too.
That's what makes setup day so fascinating.
Every booth tells a story.
Somebody spent years making the game sitting on that table.
Someone mortgaged vacation time, emptied a savings account, drove across three states, or spent months designing artwork just hoping people will stop, smile, and say...
"Tell me about your game."
That's where we are this year.
Over at the Oddfish Games booth we've got a whole table full of products we're proud of. Adventure Scents. How to RPG With Your Cat. Cooking with Dice. Radiance.
And this year...
Leviathan Rising.
It's Christina Stiso's brand-new roleplaying game, and we've poured an incredible amount of time, creativity, testing, rewriting, and plain old worrying into getting it ready for people to experience.
And that's the thing about Gen Con.
Hope.
Every publisher hopes people stop at their booth.
Every game designer hopes someone sits down to play.
Every artist hopes somebody notices their work.
Every creator wonders...
"Did we make something people are going to love?"
You don't really know.
You can playtest for months.
You can have friends tell you it's great.
You can polish every page until you're convinced you've found every typo.
But none of that answers the only question that really matters.
Will complete strangers care?
That answer doesn't arrive until Thursday morning.
Ten o'clock.
The doors open.
And then...
It happens.
Thousands...
and I mean thousands...
of gamers surge into the exhibit hall.
They actually have a nickname for it.
The Running of the Nerds.
And I say that with absolute affection.
It's glorious.
People aren't running because they're escaping danger.
They're running toward games.
Toward their favorite publishers.
Toward limited editions.
Toward demos they've been waiting all year to play.
Toward that one booth they've had circled on their map for six months.
It's one of the happiest stampedes you'll ever witness.
There's nothing quite like it.
Because for four days, Indianapolis becomes the center of the gaming universe.
Now, because Gen Con has a funny way of consuming every waking hour we had planned for recording, we didn't have time to put together a traditional episode this week.
So instead...
I grabbed a couple of microphones.
I wandered the convention.
I cornered my co-hosts.
I talked with friends.
I chatted with designers.
I may have accidentally eavesdropped on a few conversations that were just too good not to share.
What you're about to hear is Gen Con as it really happens.
Not polished.
Not scripted.
Just real people experiencing one of the greatest gaming conventions on Earth.
We're going behind the scenes.
We're getting first impressions.
We're talking to people while the excitement is still fresh.
And that's where we're going to begin.
Our first guest is someone pretty special to us.
He had just finished playing one of the very first public games of Leviathan Rising.
The dice had barely stopped rolling.
The adrenaline was still there.
The story was still unfolding in his mind.
Before he had time to overthink anything, we handed him a microphone and simply asked...
"So... what did you think?"
Here's his immediate reaction, recorded just moments after the game ended.

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YHIHL S4E17
Let’s start off with some news that made me give an audible “Ohhh!”
Renegade Games Studios has announced they will be launching Ann Rice’s Immortal Universe Roleplaying Game later this year through Backerkit.
https://www.enworld.org/threads/anne-rices-supernatural-world-is-coming-to-a-ttrpg-near-you.719998/
That was one of those announcements that had me at hello.
I am a huge fan of the Ann Rice novels. I’m typically not a fan of sparkly vampires, but when I first picked up a copy of Interview with a Vampire in college, I was hooked. I dove into The Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damned, The Tale of the Body Thief and then really enjoyed the Mayfair Witches. I pretty much trailed off after that; I have always had a soft spot for those books. This is one of the IPs that I never really thought of, but as soon as I read it, I realized it was just spec written for modern roleplaying.
Christina, I know you are a big fan of the urban fantasy, vampire stuff. What’s your take on this announcement?
Kick to Christina
Mike, Vampire the Masquerade is a game you love, does this announcement tickly your fancy?
Kick to Mike
In another interesting bit of news, Chaosium just unveiled a new source book for Call of Cthulhu. Innsmouth. Innsmouth is the definitive guide to the rotting seaport town—one of the most iconic settings for Call of Cthulhu. And the most exciting part…it’s available right now!
https://www.enworld.org/threads/chaosiums-new-book-on-lovecrafts-innsmouth-is-the-definitive-guide.720001/
No Backerkit. No Kickstarter. No wait.
By the time listeners here this I will have my grubby hand on it.
Christina, what do you think about this release?
Kick to Christina
Mike, Will you want to play our Halloween game in Innsmouth this year?
Kick to Mike
An there you have it, all the news you’ve already heard.

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On our last episode we started talking about turning roleplaying into a career. If you haven’t listened to that would I would recommend going back and diving into it. We planned on keeping it pretty conventional and immediately went off the rails into a deep dive on, well, starting a career in anything. For a quick recap I think we ended up with a few tips. One, Work Hard. Two, Be Patient. Three, Don’t Give Up. And Four, Look for opportunities.
But we never got into chatting about some of those non-traditional careers that roleplaying can play a big part in. So today we are going to dive in and spend some time chatting about those and why roleplaying games can be so beneficial in helping you accel in those career fields.
Mike, You want to talk about Roleplaying as Therapy and since that was on my list for the last episode let’s not waist any time. Start us off.

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Welcome to You Heard it Here Last where we talk about news, you’ve already heard.
https://www.enworld.org/threads/pathfinder-is-ending-its-relationship-with-archives-of-nethys-updated.719899/
We start off with more Paizo News. Specifically, Paizo has ended its 8-year relationship with the Archives of Nethys, citing lack of earnings and financial issues. The Archives of Nethys has been the online repository of all things Pathfinder and Starfinder providing free rules and early access to products. 
Archives of Nethys isn’t going away, but it’s official licensing with Paizo has ended as of July 24th, 2026.
You should remember that just recently Paizo had to lay off 12 employees due to the Diamond Comics Bankruptcy debacle.
Mike, is this just more of the same, a company trying to stay afloat or is there something else going on here?
Kick to Mike
Christina, what’s this look like to you?
Kick to Christina
Our next bit of news relates to some new crowdfunding releases that are still available to back.
https://www.enworld.org/threads/rpg-crowdfunding-news-%E2%80%93-deathbringer-sly-flourish-garys-appendix-and-more.719895/
First up, Professor Dungeon Master’s Deathbringer is back on Backerkit. The most anticipated TTRPG release of 2026, Deathbringer is Professor Dungeon Master’s take on old school, high-lethality fantasy RPGs. Using a version of Shadowdark RPG where there is no magical healing and surviving death unlocks the greatest powers. This one wraps up on August 13th.
The next one that jumps out is from someone Mike likes to mention. Sly Flourish and The Rise of the Lazy Gamemaster. This one wraps up crowdfunding on August 6th. The master of minimal game prep is remastering one of the best GM guides in gaming! Behold, Rise of the Lazy Gamemaster! If you run TTRPGs, this book, and Sly Flourish’s other tomes, are a time-tested source of tips, tricks, and ways to organize your campaigns and adventures so they don’t eat your free time.
Mike, Any of this interest you?
Kick to Mike
What about you Christina?
Kick to Christina
And there you have it, all the news, you’ve already heard.

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On this episode Mike, Christina and I are going to talk about professions that you can get into either directly involved in the roleplaying game industry or those professions that roleplaying will help you get into.
Or at least that was the goal. You will see that we went an entirely different direction.
Christina, as a Dr. of Education games and game designing has played a prominent role in your profession. When did you realize that was going to be your thing and that gaming was going to be a big part of it?
Kick to Christina
Mike, You own a gaming company so we have to say that this topic is right in your wheelhouse.
Kick to Mike
Takeaways: Work Hard, Be Patient, Don't Give Up, Look for Opportunities.