We're back with another dive into the fascinating world of tabletop roleplaying! This time, Jon comes to Kyle with a problem -- he feels anxious that the last session he GMed didn't go so well, and he's not sure how to deal with this in a constructive way.

This sparks a long discussion about the importance of creating intentional spaces that invite feedback and sharing, and the risks and potential toxicity of making assumptions about the expectations of your fellow humans around the table.

Questions? Comments? Have your own tips for how to manage expectations at the table? Contact us on Twitter or email mailbox@pgipodcast.com. And if you liked the show, please review us on Apple Podcasts or share this episode with a friend!

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Header image by Anna Kruk

We're back to discuss more of the hows, whats, and whys of GMing tabletop roleplaying games! This time, Kyle and Jon discuss how to get your players to engage their imaginations and provide more colorful contributions to the ongoing story.

Among other things, we cover the importance of making your players feel safe at the table, how to create opportunities for players to showcase their imaginations, and how to get your players to build out the elements of their characters that will fuel the story for future sessions.

Questions? Comments? Stories of incredible or unexpected moments of player ingenuity? Contact us on Twitter or email mailbox@pgipodcast.com. And if you liked the show, please review us on Apple Podcasts or share this episode with a friend!

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Header image by Jason Chan for Wizards of the Coast

We're trying something new! While video games are cool and all, we've been spending a lot of our design energy recently playing, running, and thinking about tabletop RPGs.

RPGs are some of the most fascinating and unique gaming experiences you can experience today. They're intricate machines that synthesize the efforts and desires of the players, the game master, and the game's original designer to create something that none of them ever expected. They simulate complex worlds that exist only in the minds of those sitting around the table. They're a constant conversation between the players and their game master, between the mechanics of the system and the needs of the story, between the desires of the players and the in-universe goals of their characters.

In short, RPGs are dope, and we want to understand them better.

To begin this journey to take apart RPGs and see what makes them tick, Jon sits down with new co-host Kyle Pulver to discuss how game masters can better work alongside their chosen game system, rather than struggling against it. We dig into how your GMing style should match the fidelity of your chosen game system, how you can tell the focus of a