Special Guests

This week, we're honored to have author, RPG designer, and Game Master extraordinaire Justin Alexander back on the podcast to discuss his upcoming book So You Want to Be a Game Master: Everything You Need to Start Your Tabletop Adventure for Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, and Other Systems!
Justin gives us a tour of this step-by-step guide and how it can help GMs new and experienced alike run their best games, avoid railroading, do quick-and-dirty worldbuilding, and more! Plus: early misadventures with homebrew Batman RPGs, the unexpected power of TV trays, questions from our patrons, a worldbuilding jam featuring the waters of Europa, and heaps of other topics in this XXL episode.
So You Want to Be a Game Master? is due out in November, so be sure to preorder it today or pick it up from your friendly local bookstore when it hits the shelves! Check out https://thealexandrian.net/so-you-want-to-be-a-game-master for more info and links.
 
Do you have a setting you'd like us to build? Send us your worldbuilding prompt! https://forms.gle/F4SNMH3k7ea5fr1F8And if you're feeling particularly generous, you can support us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/worldbuildwithus
Chat with us on our Discord server: https://discord.gg/SRFhWV3Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@worldbuildwithusEmail us your suggestions: WorldbuildWithUs@gmail.comFollow us on Twitter: @LetsWorldBuild 
 
Intro theme: "Half Mystery"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 
Outro Theme: "Study and Relax"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

In this episode, we're joined by Ian of the Undercommon Taste podcast for an exploration of a fantastical monster, and an oddly convenient die roll has us diving into one of his favorites: the kelpie of Scottish folklore! We chat about this criminally-underused creature's origins in water safety and its sneaky human-horse shapeshifting abilities, then build out two settings on the fly in the genres of paranormal romance and high fantasy. War crimes might take place.
 
Be sure to tune into the Undercommon Taste podcast, head over to the UCT Discord server, and check out all of the content on their Linktree at https://linktr.ee/undercommontaste. 
 
Do you have a setting you'd like us to build? Send us your worldbuilding prompt! https://forms.gle/F4SNMH3k7ea5fr1F8And if you're feeling particularly generous, you can support us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/worldbuildwithusChat with us on our Discord server: https://discord.gg/SRFhWV3Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@worldbuildwithusEmail us your suggestions: WorldbuildWithUs@gmail.comFollow us on Twitter: @LetsWorldBuild 
 
Intro theme: "Half Mystery"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 
Outro Theme: "Study and Relax"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

It's been quite a while since we've deconstructed and reimagined fantastical creatures in a Monster Mash, so this week we're back at it with guest host C.R. Rowenson! A suspiciously convenient die roll has us exploring one of Clark's picks: the chimera, the lion-goat-snake hybrid of Greek mythology—or in broader terms, a genetically-mixed organism. Tune in to hear how we handle two very different versions of this beast!
Check out Clark at https://crrowenson.com and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@themagicengineer5314
 
Do you have a worldbuilding prompt you want to send to us? Send us your prompt! Email us your suggestions at: WorldbuildWithUs@gmail.comor follow us on Twitter @LetsWorldBuild 
Or come chat with us on our Discord server! 
And if you're feeling particularly generous, you can support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/worldbuildwithus !
 
Intro theme: "Half Mystery"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 
Outro Theme: "Study and Relax"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

In our first Rob-free regular episode(!), a new listener prompt introduces a world where people have perfect memory of everything they hear, and where those memories persist after death. Courtney and Daniel are joined by guest Jon Parsons to explore this land and its implications: how has this audio-centric species evolved over time? How can they share secrets, if at all? And what's up with those creepy Trauma Warriors™?
 
Do you have a worldbuilding prompt you want to send to us? Send us your prompt! Email us your suggestions at: WorldbuildWithUs@gmail.comor follow us on Twitter @LetsWorldBuild 
Or come chat with us on our Discord server! 
And if you're feeling particularly generous, you can support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/worldbuildwithus !
 
Intro theme: "Half Mystery"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 
Outro Theme: "Study and Relax"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

In this patron-exclusive Aphid Lounge, Daniel and Courtney are joined by their friend Jon Parsons to chat about how GMs and players can collaborate for better gaming experiences and stronger worldbuilding. We talk everything from session zeroes and social contracts to how GMs can include quiet players and how players can get away with being a crazed serial killer in a party of otherwise good characters!
You can unlock this episode by joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/worldbuildwithus

Or, Implications: The Episode. Patron Gluax requested a no-holds-barred gross episode, and Rob, Courtney, and Clark are all too happy to deliver in this extra-long, extra-juicy patron-exclusive Aphid Lounge! We discuss grossness and horror of all varieties and why we're drawn to them, then partake in a deeply unpleasant placenta- and prion-riddled duo of worldbuilding jams, and even talk about perhaps the most terrifying topic of all: sex education in the United States.
You can unlock this episode by joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/worldbuildwithus
And check out Clark at https://crrowenson.com and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@themagicengineer5314!

This episode, we're taking a brief break from our longform series, and we're joined by C.R. Rowenson for a listener's alternate version of mythological Greece. Tune in for blood volcanoes, godly bodily fluids, imprisoned titans, and so much more!
Check out Clark at https://crrowenson.com and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@themagicengineer5314
 
Do you have a worldbuilding prompt you want to send to us? Send us your prompt! Email us your suggestions at: WorldbuildWithUs@gmail.comor follow us on Twitter @LetsWorldBuild 
Or come chat with us on our Discord server! 
Or if you're feeling particularly generous, you can support us on Patreon! 
 
Intro theme: "Half Mystery"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 
Outro Theme: "Study and Relax"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

What's this? MORE worldbuilding jams?! That's right, folks—and this time, we're joined by special guest Ian from Undercommon Taste for two new random settings, featuring magic school buses and AI-fueled cyberpunk megacorporations.
Check out the Undercommon Taste podcast at undercommontaste.podbean.com, join in on their Discord at discord.gg/64R7ze3fBV, follow them on Twitter at twitter.com/UCThomebrew, and visit their new Itch.io store at undercommontaste.itch.io for a Liminal Horror adventure module!
 
Do you have a worldbuilding prompt you want to send to us? Send us your prompt!
Email us your suggestions at WorldbuildWithUs@gmail.comor follow us on Twitter @LetsWorldBuild 
Or come chat with us on our Discord server! 
Or if you're feeling particularly generous, you can support us on Patreon! 
 
Intro theme: "Half Mystery"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 
Outro Theme: "Study and Relax"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
 

"That's horrible. I love it." And so we bid farewell to our last spooky October setting, again joined by Ian from Undercommon Taste for a gruesome, blood-soaked finale. Is all hope lost, or will our heroes prevail?
Check out Ian on Undercommon Taste at undercommontaste.podbean.com!
 
Do you have a worldbuilding prompt you want to send to us? Send us your prompt! Email us your suggestions at: WorldbuildWithUs@gmail.comor follow us on Twitter @LetsWorldBuild 
Or come chat with us on our Discord server! 
Or if you're feeling particularly generous, you can support us on Patreon! 
 
Intro theme: "Half Mystery"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 
Outro Theme: "Study and Relax"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
 

When the lines are so blurred, how will you know when you've crossed them to the point of no return? This series, we're joined by guest Ian from the Undercommon Taste podcast for a horror-focused prompt communally developed by our patrons, featuring cosmic and body horror, cults and rituals, powerlessness and torture, and so much more. If you thought we couldn't cram more blood into this spooky season, you thought very, very wrong.
Check out Ian on Undercommon Taste at undercommontaste.podbean.com!
 
Do you have a worldbuilding prompt you want to send to us? Send us your prompt! Email us your suggestions at: WorldbuildWithUs@gmail.comor follow us on Twitter @LetsWorldBuild 
Or come chat with us on our Discord server! 
Or if you're feeling particularly generous, you can support us on Patreon! 
 
Intro theme: "Half Mystery"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 
Outro Theme: "Study and Relax"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0