The Tao of Podcasts

I've been remiss about not mentioning this before; please allow me to rectify the situation.

Alexis Smolensk over at The Tao of D&D has (for the last several weeks now) been posting a series of podcast interviews he calls "Authentic Role-Playing." Each episode consists of a one-on-one interview in which Alexis discusses the challenges (and approaches to those challenges) of running a Dungeons & Dragons campaign with a different guest.

They're pretty fantastic. Alexis has plucked his interviewees from all sorts of gaming backgrounds and each brings a different perspective (and different personal history) to the table. For me, I've really enjoyed listening to them, and I've gotten a lot out of each. If you like podcasts (I know not everyone does) I think you'll find 'em a good listen: it's a great chance to hear from a variety of Dungeon Masters, each of whom has something useful to say about the game we enjoy:

Sterling Blake (podcast #1): a veteran DM who's been running games (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th edition) for 36 years, nearly entirely with the same gaming group.

Tristan Johnson (#2): a brand new DM (just started a year ago) who uses his knowledge of history (he's the creator of the Step Back History channel on YouTube) to develop his campaign.

Erich Schmidt (#3): an adventure writer and DM of more than 38 years experience, who talks about the challenge of engaging players, the manner in which he structures his campaign, and mentoring experiences.

Carl Olson (#4): author of the Crossing the 'Verse blog, 25 year veteran of multiple RPGs, who has quite a bit to say about DMing as relates to his military and managerial experience (as relates to D&D).

Becky Hamilton (#5): a complete newbie to role-playing and a departure from the normal podcast format as Alexis explains to her what role-playing is and how it's done.

These are the first five Alexis has posted (I believe he has thirteen in total planned for his "first season"). Each is edited to about 45 minutes in length; his intention is to release a new one each Sunday for the next couple months.

I will admit that Alexis had me as one of his "guests;" I have no idea where I fall in the order of the series, though I believe it's towards the end due to scheduling conflicts we had. However, I can't say I'm looking forward to hearing my own interview: compared to the episodes he's already released, I'm not sure I offered a whole lot that was helpful to listeners (maybe I'm mis-remembering our conversation). These folks who've talked about their own experiences...Blake, Johnson, Schmidt, Olson, and (yes) even Becky...well, I've found them to be positively inspiring. They really, really make me want to run a game again, incorporating tips and techniques that's been brought up in each of these dialogues, and addressing their challenges and concerns as well.

Anyway...I've been meaning to mention this in my blog for a few weeks (sorry...been busy), and figured I better say something before the next episode drops (hopefully sometime today). Give it a shot when you have some free time.

OH...and Happy Mother's Day to one and all!
: )