This week, brilliant Bastionland creator Chris McDowall & Comedy Central veteran Jeremy Bent talk improvisation & art on D&D Outloud! youtu.be/pyxt_y9oV5I

Does 4E D&D have the best combat? The question leads us to a conversation with two of the game's three lead designers. youtu.be/CZhJBoki3qk

My podcast has evolved into a conversation between TTRPG luminaries, and it's awesome. But it needs a new name. Current possibilities: Dungeons & Discussions Tabletop Team-Up The Riggscast/The Ben Riggs Show/Something else with my name in it. OR: Something else. Thoughts?

Wanna know what the hell is going on at WotC? Let’s ask people who used to work there. youtu.be/lRRBZi6VtVY

Jesus Christ! I have 71 pages written and revised on the development of D&D 3.0 that have never seen the light of day? What the hell am I doing here?

This one’s a banger: D&D designer Steve Winter meets Ben Milton of Questing Beast! Ben Milton is a game designer, YouTube sage, and sorceror-king of the OSR! www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRyV...

The American Constitution died in the past six months, so we are going to need a new one. You may say that’s an exaggeration. I would ask then that you look at our constitutional system of checks and balances, ‘cause right now the checks don’t balance.

I can't believe I got these two on the show together! First, Kevin Crawford is a TTRPG design legend. My favorites from his work are Stars Without Number, youtu.be/HLe3saMZYk4?...

Who saved Dungeons & Dragons? How many people could say that they saved Dungeons & Dragons? Off the top of my head, I would say that the list of people who could say they saved D&D at some point over the course of its 51-year history is less than 20. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OpW...

The voice of male Commander Shephard, Mark Meer, conversates with Ravenloft co-creator Bruce Nesmith and Ravenloft author James Lowder. Click here! youtu.be/sEGxpb4iMbA

Are hexcrawls the adventure's final form? We discuss that very question with two of the premier purveyors of the hexcrawl format in the 21st century: Jacob Hurst & WF Smith, aka Prismatic Wasteland.

I have interviewed bestselling authors, Ivy League professors, and comic creators whose work has gone on to generate billions at the box office. But as a class, TTRPG professionals seem to be the smartest people I regularly talk to.

Kevin Kulp & Jeff Grubb have, between them, created entire cosmologies and entire timelines. Kulp is the award-winning creator of Timewatch and the investigative fantasy game, Swords of the Serpentine.

hannon Appelcline is a TTRPG historian par excellence. His Designers & Dragons set a high bar for the field and I cannot recommend it too highly. HIs recent Traveller history, This is Free Trader Beowulf, is similarly excellent.

Ask a round of nerds what the first RPG was, and you'll likely get D&D as your answer. Some might shout out Blackmoor. A few may say Braunstein. But what if the answer was... something else? A long talk with the Thucydides of RPG history, Jon Peterson! Link below:

You will not regret spending an hour listening to this conversation between 5th edition designer Mike Mearls and Shadowdark designer Kelsey Dionne. youtu.be/ZRPJ_61QnWs

Ben Wikler 2028!

Pirate Borg designer Luke Stratton is a true polymath. Not only did he make the setting and the rules for his brutal, fast, and fun pirate RPG, but he also did the art! Additionally, he is a famous lighting designer who traveled the world lighting grunge gods, the Smashing Pumpkins! Link below!

Ed Greenwood may be the most successful Canadian fantasist of all time. His work has been translated into novels, comic books, games, movies, and (hopefully) a Netflix TV series. Come and learn the secrets of world-building from the creator of the Forgotten Realms! Link below! youtu.be/jKywei6KqKE

Let’s imagine the next American Constitution! I would still start with the classics, although somewhat updated: “We, the People of the United States of America, hold these truths to be self-evident, that everyone is created equal, that we are endowed with certain unalienable rights...

The American Republic of 1787 is dead/dying. "...it is vital that they see the important truth that there is no going back to the old status quo. President Trump and Elon Musk really have altered the structure of things.

New eBay up! www.ebay.com/itm/20526506...

We remain in the year of 1979 in our tour of each and every D&D/TSR release from the shelves of The Gamehole. Up today is another rare, the module, Lost Tomoachan. It was released at Origins with only 300 numbered copies in 1979. Here are my 4 copies.

Today, we continue our discussion about "Wish" in with 5E co-lead designer, Mike Mearls! And once that discussion is complete, I ask Mike a question that has fueled endless internet speculation since 2019: Why did Mike leave D&D? youtu.be/4VUnNkOoasA

UA lore feels like a prank

I ran I6: Ravenloft using SHADOWDARK three times in the autumn of 2024. The system and the adventure made beautiful music together. It was fast, dangerous, chaotic, brooding, mysterious and fun as hell.

I make bright yellow omelets on cold dark days.

My buddy Pete is the most consistently funny person I have ever met in my life.

Unless Robin Laws, who wrote a whole book on the topic, disagrees, the three most significant people in the history of Gen Con are Gary Gygax, Lorraine Williams, and Peter Adkison. Peter stepping down from his role is the shifting of a continental plate beneath our feet. Press release follows:

Are you aware of the “Harlot Table” from the 1st edition Dungeon Masters’ Guide? Apparently, Gary Gygax just wanted to let everyone know precisely what kind of prostitutes one might encounter in D&D. No wonder D&D had trouble attracting female players for so long!

Ever notice how Lolth, the chaotic evil queen of the spiders, goddess to the all-evil “black” elves, looks African-American on the cover of 1986’s Queen of the Spiders? Again, D&D links dark skin/African features to evil. So the changes in 2024 D&D were very much needed.

Yesterday in Polygon, Charlie Hall wrote about the remarkably thin release schedule for D&D in the next year, and the opportunity this represents for indie games. He is absolutely right, and there is historical evidence for it.

Here's the Drow entry in the 1st ed Monster Manual: “Drow: The “Black Elves,” or drow, are only legend. They purportedly dwell deep beneath the surface in a strange subterranean realm. The drow are said to be as dark as faeries are bright and as evil as the latter are good..”

What a nice Retro Review of DRACULA DOSSIER from @robowieland.bsky.social on ENWorld: "remains a modern day classic" www.enworld.org/threads/retr...

An obituary worth reading: www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/o...

D&D is popular and important because it lets us tell stories to make meaning in our lives. It's good to remove racist/sexist tropes from D&D to make everyone welcome at the table. So I generally support the changes 2024 D&D made to this end.

I want to make sure I'm understanding the 2024 rules correctly. Ability bonuses in character creation have moved from species/race to background, so a Charlatan would get to improve their DEX, CON, and CHA. I am understanding this correctly, right?

ICYMI: Home Builds A Haunted House Card By Card: Tell some spooky haunted house stories with friends without any dice. #ttrpg #dnd

This edition of the Satanic Panic is even more laughable than the last.

Well worth reading.

Gamers! Some of these auctions from my collection are ending tomorrow night. Check them out and share them around. Thanks! www.ebay.com/usr/mforbeck

Garry Snow and I recorded our yearly look at the roleplaying industry last Friday, and it's already out. What's up with Wizards? What classic games made their return? What were the triumphs of the OSR & creative content? It's all here.

They climbed over the pews to dance in front of the casket at Shane MacGowan's funeral. That's one helluva a way to bury a man. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s8l...

Ahem.

Were non-weapon proficiencies designed in 2nd ed AD&D or was there a precursor somewhere in 1st edition?

Any recommendations for a 2nd level SHADOWDARK adventure playable in 4 hours?

Hot Ones is one of those things where the premise sounds silly but it is executed so well it's cut through the noise and becomes destination viewing, a rare thing in this age of media saturation. But nah, let's sell it now in case an unproven technology might work adequately someday.

RPG tip from the archive: Go with something cool or fun even if it breaks some realism. #dnd #ttrpg

Trading conflict for character sheets is Osprey Games’ plan to win the war

Wish is a spell that is ridiculously powerful, ridiculously fun, and (perhaps) ridiculously broken! We're going to do a deep dive and look at the spell across editions. Helping us look at the spell in 2nd and 3rd edition D&D are designer Skip Williams and show stalwart, Eliza Lambert! Link below!