Roll For Topic
Education & Explainer
About
GM/DM discussions on topics related to running tabletop games. Each episode is a 30-45 minute conversation about one specific topic chosen by rolling 1d10 on a table of topics. Roll for Topic's regular cohosts are Andy Rau and Chris Salzman. If you or your GM is interested in being a guest, drop us a line!
Episodes
- Episode 193 – Elric! and Others
With a new Elric RPG announced, Chris and Andy discuss what their dream Eternal Champion game might look like. Plus, Chris discovers Christopher Priest’s The Prestige and Andy glumly reports about the (non)state of his Band of Blades game.
- Episode 192 – Third Time’s a Charm
Andy talks about an upcoming game he’s kicking off. It’ll be the 3rd time he’s tried it! They gush about forged in the dark, talk about the value of running campaigns, and discuss building dungeons with random tables.
- Episode 191 – Bringing Real-life Locations to the Game Table
Chris explored a cave recently! That brings Andy and Chris to discuss the challenge of injecting the thrill of real-world locations into their in-game versions. Can a fantasy game about fighting goblins in caves convey some of that real-wo…
- Episode 190 – Props at the Game Table Revisited
Chris has been busy building props for a school play, and wonders how some of that energy might be expressed at the game table! Also, Andy and Chris discuss the joys of history and the ways they do and don’t make history and culture an imp…
- Episode 189 – Do You Let Players Respec Their Characters?
Lots to catch up on this episode, including the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, edgelord vampire roleplaying from the 1990s, and Chris’ dilemma as a player: can he respec a PC that isn’t mechanically working the way he intended?
- Episode 188 – Daggerheart Recap with Jess!
Chris and Jess talk about a small Daggerheart campaign that Jess ran and Chris played in! (Andy will be back next time!)
- Episode 187 – Antarctic Cthulhu Weekend After-action Report
Andy’s back from his weekend GMing an Antarctic Cthulhu campaign, and Chris has questions! Topics covered include the value of creating special game events like this, the challenge of fighting a long campaign into a short weekend, and more.
- Episode 186 – What Games Do You Bring on Trips?
Chris is heading off on a work trip, so discussion turns to which RPGs or board games you squeeze into your suitcase when traveling. With snow days and work trips imposing on our schedules, it’s a short episode–but we’ll be back next episo…
- Episode 185 – Catch up
Andy and Chris have a lot to talk about! They discuss Splatbook, how the build-a-dungeon/play-a-dungeon went, the worst part of the D&D ruleset, Shadowdark, and Andy’s upcoming weekend game in a secluded cottage.
- Episode 184 – Play-a-Dungeon 2025: Kaiju vs. Theme Park Employees
It’s time to play this year’s “Build-a-Dungeon”! Chris GMs a party of five intrepid amusement park employees as they try to save the fair from a rampaging kaiju. This is part of our annual tradition wherein we create an adventure collabora…
- Episode 183 – Build-a-Dungeon 2025: Kaiju vs. Theme Park Employees
This is part 1 of our 2 part Build-A-Dungeon Play-a-Dungeon special for 2025! Chris and Andy are joined, yet again, by John Corey and Kyle Latino! In this episode we brainstorm and build out a one shot adventure that Chris will run in the…
- Episode 182 – Stranger Things, Doom, and One Shot Systems
Chris tries to get Andy to watch the new season of Stranger Things. Andy talks about Doom’s brilliance. Then they talk about simple systems for running one shots.
- Episode 181 – Netcrawl, Blades, and 13th Age, Oh My!
Every TTRPG Kickstarter from the last few years seemed to fulfill this month, so Andy and Chris take an episode to go through the piles of shiny new roleplaying games they’ve acquired recently. Along the way they discuss the impact of stro…
- Episode 180 – How To Be a Good Player
Chris has found himself playing in two campaigns, so Andy and Chris talk about how he can be the best player he can be!
- Episode 179 – Daggerheart, Draw Steel, and the Post-OGL Landscape
Chris and Andy take a break from their usual format and have an open discussion about Chris’ new Daggerheart game, and what has their attention now that a wave of post-OGL D&D-alikes are finally arriving. As a bonus, we learn about the cor…
- Episode 178 – Stranger Things and Aliens
Andy and Chris talk about Stranger Things and then an issue that Andy had at the table with players and their pregen characters.
- Episode 177 – RPG Trivia from RfT Con 2025
Every year, we host a game convention in Ann Arbor. And every year, a highlight of the con is our obscure RPG trivia contest! This is the live recording of RfT Con 2025’s trivia segment. How does your RPG trivia knowledge stack up?
- Episode 176 – Autumn GM Plans and Convention Prep
Chris and Andy are busy planning RfT Con, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t brainstorming new campaigns they want to run. In this short pre-convention episode, they chat about the campaigns they’re gearing up to run this autumn/winter.
- Episode 175 – How Do You Run a Game in Two Hours or Less? (with Garrett Douglas)
We revisit one of our earliest topics, this time with guest Garrett Douglas, creator of Wayne Scotting’s Guide to the Very Small Folk! Garrett shares insight from the many short-duration game sessions he’s run, but not before we chat Ars M…
- Episode 174 – Theater and Gaming with Andy Jones
Chris is joined by guest GM Andy Jones to talk about the intersection between gaming and theater and how good kids these days have it with being able to talk openly about their hobbies.
- Episode 173 – Mechs with Toby Shearman
Toby’s going to run a game at RfT Con 2025 about mechs! He comes on to talk through some design ideas and Andy and Chris get very excited about mechs!
- Episode 172 – D&D on the Beach, Blue Prince, and The Gunslinger
Chris wants to pitch Andy on Blue Prince, but decides he should probably talk about some other stuff too.
- Episode 171 – The Kids Are Alright
Chris shares the experience of watching his young daughter and her friends play D&D for the first time. What can jaded adult GMs learn from watching kids hack their way through a D&D adventure? And in what is becoming our regular book disc…
- Episode 170 – How Do You Run a One-shot for Non-gamers?
Andy seeks advice about an upcoming game for a group of newbie players. But not before our hosts talk books, Andy excitedly describes his first trip to a swamp, and Chris reveals that his young daughter is about to make her first foray int…
- Episode 169 – I Know a Guy and Changing Rules
Andy and Chris are both about to go on trips so they freewheel a conversation about buying a suit and changing the system for a currently running campaign.
- Episode 168 – Do You Replay TTRPG Scenes That Go Wrong?
Would you ever call for a “re-do” of a scene or encounter that didn’t go as planned? In what situations might that make sense? And are there better ways to “roll with” an unwelcome development in the game? Chris and Andy discuss, along wit…
- Episode 167 – How Do You Use Weather in Your TTRPGs?
Does it matter in your D&D game if the weather outside is bright and balmy or cold and rainy? Are there ways to incorporate changing weather into a TTRPG that don’t just boil down to the occasional die roll penalty? Chris and Andy discuss,…
- Episode 166 – Do your characters have lives outside of the adventure?
Andy and Chris talk about the lives our PCs lead outside of the adventuring life. They also inadvertently pitch a very fun sounding game where you play a bunch of teachers.
- Episode 165 – How Do You Handle Character Aging and Age Differences?
Have you played in games where your character’s age had a big impact, mechanically or narratively? Chris and Andy discuss why it matters if your D&D character is 18 or 65 years old, and how exploring those nuances might make your game more…
- Episode 164 – How Do You Handle Player Mounts and Horses?
What do you do when one of your players comes to the table with a PC that has a horse, mount, or another game feature that radically changes tactical situations? Chris and Andy discuss ways you can approach mounts in a way that doesn’t che…
- Episode 163 – Do you hand out documents at the table?
Andy and Chris talk about the things we used to love and then get into the the discussion of handing out documents/clues/puzzles at the table.
- Episode 162 – How Do You Run Wilderness Survival Games?
What elements go into a good game focused on wilderness survival and exploration? Chris and Andy discuss, but not before a few detours to talk about Stephen King’s Dark Tower series and The Wizard of Oz.
- Episode 161 – How Do You Handle Religion in Your Games?
What does religious faith look like in your games? Do you encourage your players to make religious faith a key part of their PCs, whether or not their character class is mechanically built around it? Andy and Chris discuss–but not before a…
- Episode 160 – How Do You Game in Times of Difficulty?
Is tabletop roleplaying “just” an escapist diversion? How and why do we approach a hobby like gaming when news and politics and life in general are so heavy and overwhelming? Chris and Andy talk about the value of creative action in times…
- Episode 159 – To Chase or Not to Chase Your White Whales
Andy and Chris recap the build-a-dungeon/play-a-dungeon and then talk about their gaming plans for 2025. Andy wonders aloud about whether to “just” play D&D or to keep chasing his white whales.
- Episode 158 – Holiday Actual Play Special
It’s our annual holiday tradition–a TTRPG actual play in which we run the roleplaying scenario that we designed in the last episode! Join Chris and he GMs a motley band of heroes try to save Christmas. The game system we’re using is Caltro…
- Episode 157 – Build a Dungeon 2024!
It’s that time of year again! Join Chris and Andy with special guests, John Corey and Kyle Latino, as they build a dungeon live on air! This is part 1 of 2. In the next episode Chris will run the dungeon for a bunch of lovely folks.
- 156 – Chit Haters
Andy and Chris talk about the feelings they have about different methods of getting a random number. Rolling a die is great; drawing a chit from a bag is bad.
- Episode 155 – Gold in Games
Andy and Chris talk about Baldur’s Gate 3 for too long and then Chris surprises everyone by having done a small amount of research before they discuss money in games.
- Episode 154 – How Do You Prepare to Run an Epic Campaign? (with Matt Wilson)
Have you thought about running an epic RPG campaign–perhaps a complex published campaign like Curse of Strahd or Masks of Nyarlathotep–but find yourself unsure how to start preparing? In this episode, Andy talks with Matt Wilson, a GM who…
- Episode 153 – Spooky and Cheery Holiday Games
Andy and Chris talk about running games on holidays and what exactly makes it so compelling. They also talk about the upcoming D&D DMG, Alien tie-in novels, and The Left Hand of Darkness.
- Episode 152 – What Can Mini-games Add to an RPG?
Have you ever used a mini-game in a tabletop RPG–a game that steps completely outside the official rules of your RPG to resolve a particular situation? We discuss Chris’ experimental one-shot in which he tried out some fun mini-games. Also…
- Episode 151 – RfT Con 2024 Trivia Quiz and Diamond Heist!
Recorded live at the fourth annual Roll for Topic Con! Follow along as the audience takes our annual roleplaying trivia quiz, and plays a brand new game called Diamond Heist.
- Episode 150 – What Does Crime Look Like in Your Game Setting?
What does the criminal underworld in your setting look like, and how do the players interact with it? Andy and Chris discuss the topic of crime in RPG settings, along with their plans to run some one-shots at the upcoming RfT Con.
- Episode 149 – How Do You Use Languages?
Andy and Chris talk about going to the dentist and also about using languages at the table. Chris makes a reference to a 29 year old movie and Andy makes a reference to a 23 year old tv show.
- Episode 148 – How Do You Use Alignment?
Is character alignment a central part of your D&D (and D&D-alike) games, or is it something you change or ignore? Chris and Andy discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the classic alignment chart, and the ways it’s useful at the table.
- Episode 147 – The Enthusiasm of a Con
Andy and Chris talk about Gen Con, Roll for Topic Con, and what makes cons so special!
- Episode 146 – Running Minigames Within Your Games
Have you used a minigame within your RPG to handle a specific scene or sequence? Chris and Andy brainstorm a bit about a jousting minigame for Chris’ upcoming convention game, with discursions into game playtesting, Battletech, and the upc…
- Episode 145 – How to Prep for a Game When You Have No Time (with John Corey)
Guest host John Corey fills in for Chris this week, bringing his expertise in low-prep GMing! John and Andy discuss what they’ve been reading about the early days of the gaming hobby and then go on to talk about how you can move from high-…
- Episode 144 – How Do You Handle Light Sources in Dungeons?
Do you meticulously track the light radius of each torch? Do you handwave it away? Something in between? Inspired by Andy’s recent trip to Mammoth Caves, Andy and Chris talk about the challenges and rewards of taking lighting seriously in…