What's the fun of playing in an established fictional universe if you never get to meet its iconic characters? But how do you bring those familiar faces into your RPG campaigns without letting them steal the spotlight from your players?

Daryl, Nick, and Robert discuss ways to incorporate iconic characters into your games—as cameos, mentors, allies, villains, or even player characters—while keeping your own heroes at the center of the story. We share examples from our campaigns, talk about preserving player agency, and consider when meeting a legend can make an adventure unforgettable.

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https://howwerollgaming.com

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The Story Told Podcast
https://www.thestorytoldpodcast.com/



Special Guest Star - Using Iconic Characters

What makes a horror RPG truly terrifying? Daryl, Nick, and Robert dig into the ingredients of effective tabletop horror, from helplessness and creeping dread to character death, player paranoia, and the fear of the unknown. Along the way, they explore different flavors of horror, discuss how games like Alien and Delta Green create tension, and explain why a good Session Zero is essential when things are about to get scary.

Homepage
https://howwerollgaming.com [https://howwerollgaming.com/]

Merch Store!
https://merch.howwerollgaming.com [https://merch.howwerollgaming.com/]

Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/HowWeRollGaming

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Me and Steve Talk RPGs
https://meandsteverpg.podbean.com [https://meandsteverpg.podbean.com/]



Fear Check! What Makes Horror RPGs Work

In this episode of Anatomy of a Campaign, Daryl, Nick, and Robert go behind the scenes of The Walking Dead Universe RPG: Muerto Las Vegas. They explore building an immersive post-apocalyptic setting, developing memorable characters and factions, and letting player creativity shape the story.

From moral dilemmas and unexpected twists to the dangers posed by both the living and the dead, discover how a campaign becomes a collaborative story of survival.

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Eberron Renewed - An Actual Play Podcast
https://zencastr.com/Eberron-Renewed



Anatomy of a Campaign - Walking Dead: Muerto Las Vegas

Sometimes a campaign needs a break—but when is a break a hiatus, and when is it actually the end?

This episode, we talk about the reasons campaigns get put on hold, from scheduling problems and life changes to GM burnout, and how to communicate clearly with your group when a campaign needs to pause. We also discuss how to build planned hiatuses into a campaign, keeping good notes while you're away, and what it takes to successfully return after a long break.

And, of course, we ask the important question: how long can a campaign be on hiatus before everyone just assumes it's over?

Join us for a conversation about putting campaigns on hold without necessarily putting them to rest.

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We Fix Games
https://glitterfoxmedia.com/we-fix-games-2/

Please Hold - Placing a Campaign on Hiatus

What makes a memorable RPG villain? We explore how Game Masters can create compelling tabletop RPG villains with clear goals, distinct personalities, meaningful weaknesses, and motivations beyond simply “being evil.”

We discuss memorable villains from Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, Buffy, and our own campaigns—and how to keep antagonists active and engaging throughout an RPG campaign.

And the one foolproof way to make an unstoppable villain?

Make them a squirrel.

00:00 Introduction
02:26 I Should Roll promo
03:14 What Makes a Villain Memorable?
05:28 Make Them a Character, Not a Caricature
07:47 Give Your Villain Layers
27:35 Keep the Villain Active
36:22 Don't Forget the Minor Antagonists
43:16 Sometimes the Villain Is Funny
44:39 Give Them a Weakness
45:26 Make Players Want to Face Them
1:00:08 Make Them Dynamic
1:02:32 They Don't Have to Start as the Villain
1:08:22 Make Them a Squirrel

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I Should Roll Podcast
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Everybody Wants To Rule the World - Making Memorable Villains

This episode, we’re joined by Alex Damon of Star Wars Explained and Hyperdice to talk about taking a familiar galaxy in a new direction. From choosing and customizing a non-Star Wars RPG system to becoming a first-time GM and bringing a filmed actual play to life, Alex takes us behind the scenes of Hyperdice—including player-driven campaign creation, adapting Teens in Space, learning to prep less, and embracing the unexpected chaos of the table.

00:00 Introduction
01:58 The Story Told Podcast
02:48 Alex Damon joins us
08:37 What is Hyperdice?
14:55 What Alex wanted from the game
27:08 Why Teens in Space?
33:28 Adapting Teens in Space for Star Wars
35:59 Tweaking the system—or not
40:19 How GMing and filming changed Alex's perspective
47:04 Lessons from doing vs planning
52:22 How Hyperdice changed Alex's perspective
56:11 Inspiring creativity and making people laugh
1:12:21 A little news about our own actual plays
1:13:59 Closing

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https://howwerollgaming.com

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https://www.patreon.com/HowWeRollGaming

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The Story Told Podcast
https://www.thestorytoldpodcast.com/

Hyperdice
https://www.youtube.com/@hyperdicerpg

Star Wars Explained
https://youtube.com/@StarWarsExplained



Hyperdice Explained - Making Any RPG Star Wars (with special guest Alex Damon)

Roleplaying doesn’t require a great voice, a dramatic performance, or a background in theater. It’s about finding a way into your character and feeling comfortable enough to play them.

In this episode, we talk about how players and GMs can encourage more roleplaying at the table—from using pre-generated characters and familiar archetypes to finding inspiration in other media, embracing little character quirks, and simply asking, “What would your character do?” We also share some of the memorable character moments from our own games and how small bits can grow into defining parts of a character.

00:00 Introduction
13:54 Roleplaying Doesn’t Require an Oscar-Worthy Performance
17:19 Creating a Safe Space for Roleplaying
28:14 Using Pregenerated Characters to Encourage Roleplaying
30:55 “Casting” an Actor for Your Character
33:15 Playing Against Type
43:29 Moving Beyond the Character You Had Planned
1:04:41 When a Bit Becomes Part of the Character
1:11:37 Find Your Way Into the Character and Lean Into It

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Lasers & Feelings
http://www.onesevendesign.com/laserfeelings/

Lean Into It! - Encouraging Roleplaying at the Table

Daryl, Nick, & Robert kick off with a recap of the GenCon 2026 D&D/Wizards of the Coast announcement that sparked confusion over whether Edge Studios still holds the Star Wars RPG license (they do), which leads into a deep-dive history of the license's rocky journey from Fantasy Flight Games to Edge Studio. From there, the crew shifts to the main topic: five practical frameworks GMs can use to make a well-trodden IP like Star Wars feel personal at the table — from putting players in the shoes of background characters, to mining different eras and legacy material, to breaking canon outright.

00:00 Cold Open & Banter
01:40 GenCon News & the History of the Star Wars RPG License
22:27 Order 66 Podcast Shoutout & Running Bits
26:56 Main Topic: How Do You Make Star Wars Your Own?
29:36 "From a Certain Point of View" — Playing background characters instead of the movie heroes
36:54 Eras — Using the High Republic and other under-explored timeframes
46:38 Legends — Mining decanonized material (Warlord Era, Yuuzhan Vong, etc.)
57:14 Sequels & Legacy — Post-Skywalker Saga settings, including Order 66's Fractured Republic and the hosts' own campaigns
1:15:50 Breaking Canon — When and how to deviate from established continuity
1:27:56 Mixing Approaches, Final Thoughts & Sign-off

Homepage
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The Order 66 Podcast
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/order-66-podcast-38220

RPG Glory Stories - Villains We Love To Hate

Anatomy of a Campaign begins with one of our most ambitious RPG experiences: Delta Green: Impossible Landscapes.

Nick shares what it was like running this acclaimed published campaign, while Daryl, Nick, and Robert discuss the unique approach that made it our own. Between the campaign's major acts, each of us run original "interlude" adventures set during the years- and decades-long gaps in the story, expanding the lives of the agents beyond the published material.

Join us as we explore the inspiration, preparation, challenges, and lessons behind weaving three Game Masters' ideas into one unforgettable campaign.

Homepage
https://howwerollgaming.com [https://howwerollgaming.com/]

Merch Store!
https://merch.howwerollgaming.com [https://merch.howwerollgaming.com/]

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We Fix Games
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Anatomy of a Campaign - Delta Green: Impossible Landscapes

Daryl (@nytwyng) · Zencastr

Daryl (@nytwyng)

How We Roll Gaming is a bi-weekly tabletop RPG podcast with hosts Daryl, Nick, and Robert, exploring what makes great games work—for both players and game masters.

Each episode breaks down the craft of play: practical tips, storytelling techniques, better scenes and pacing, memorable NPCs, and the choices that create lasting table moments. Alongside this, the hosts share insights and stories from their own gaming experiences, all grounded in a shared love of RPGs and the ongoing pursuit of better games and better stories.

Find more information about How We Roll Gaming, our social media links, and our merch store at https://howwerollgaming.com [https://howwerollgaming.com/]

How We Roll Gaming

A celebration of pop culture in all its forms—TV, movies, comics, books, and whatever else grabs our nerdy attention and refuses to let go. We dig into what we enjoy, unpack why it works at the table and on the screen, and spotlight the moments that stick with us long after the credits roll. Always light, always curious, and always on the positive side of fandom—just a bunch of nerds enjoying the ride and talking about why we love it.

Casual Nerdity: The Podcast

Step into new worlds of danger, wonder, and dice-fueled chaos with How We Roll Gaming Presents—a spin-off of the How We Roll Gaming podcast, featuring all-new actual play RPG campaigns.

Each season drops you into a fresh setting and story: from gritty survival tales to sweeping fantasy, strange sci-fi frontiers, and genre-bending homebrew worlds. New characters. New stakes. New chances for everything to go gloriously right—or spectacularly wrong.

You’re not just listening in—you’re at the table. Feel the tension before the roll, the triumph when plans succeed, and the glorious chaos when they don’t.

If you love immersive storytelling and the unpredictability of tabletop RPGs, pull up a chair. The dice are ready, and the next adventure is about to begin.