Campaign Spotlight

A podcast exploring the creativity and originality of home tabletop games.

[campaign-spotlight]

On Location at Vulpine Taproom [S3F7]

In this week's Flashlight, we're at Vulpine Taproom in Seattle! We hear about the appropriate attire for a fantasy cosplay wedding, the hazards of getting emotionally invested in a gimmick character, and the downsides of having a life outside of gaming. Thank you so much to Vulpine Taproom for letting us record at your game night.

Thanks to Josh, Chris, Abraham, Shoe, Brandon, Sean, and another Chris for taking the time to talk with us! (And, once again, serious gratitude to Vulpine Taproom.) As usual, we have some notes on our conversations:

Abraham mentioned the Mothership system as well as the original Dragonlance setting which starts with Dragons of Despair. We talked about why TSR had to release so many sourcebooks back in this Season 2 Flashlight about the history of D&D.

We discuss the right system for running a cyberpunk-themed game with Shoe. Neither of us remembers the year for Cyberpunk Red - it's 2045. Sorry about this. We also discuss the Shadowrun system, which you'll be hearing about in next week's interview! Also, if anyone has any suggestions for running a cyberpunk-themed game, send them our way and we'll pass them along to Shoe.

When we talk with Chris (the second Chris) we discuss Cortex and also mention Lancer. You might remember Lancer from last episode's s interview with Tyler. 

We ended up talking with way more people than we can fit in a single episode. Given that we're getting close to the end of Season 3, the second half of our evening at Vulpine Taproom will likely end up in Season 4. You'll hear more from some of these people in that episode.

If you like the music on the show, go check out more of Reilly's music.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. If you enjoy Campaign Spotlight, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website.   

[campaign-spotlight]

PC Customization with Tyler [S3E7]

In this week's episode, we chat with Tyler (Tumblr's very own @disgruntledlemming) about big beefy robots smashing into each other, character specialization and specificity, and playing with a whole party of GMs. This interview started out as being about the Lancer system in particular, but we ended up talking about building and levelling PCs more generally.

Tyler tells us about Lancer and its free COMP/CON character-building website and also mentions a few other games:

Savage Worlds

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire

Microscope (which we played and enjoyed way back at the start of the podcast)

Tunnel Goons

Runequest Classic

Wanderhome

He also plugs going to Itch.IO and downloading a free TTRPG and getting back into Tumblr. Both of these sound like excellent suggestions to us. (Although if you're reading this, you're probably already back on Tumblr.)

This isn't our first interview about giant robots! We also heard from Erika (who GM'd a campaign in Beam Saber) last season. For that matter, we spoke with Austin (who wrote Beam Saber) earlier this season.

This week's intro comes from Bobby!

If you like the music on the show, go check out more of Reilly's music.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. If you enjoy Campaign Spotlight, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website.   

[campaign-spotlight]

On Location at OrcaCon (Part 2) [S3F6]

In this week's Flashlight, we're still at the OrcaCon tabletop games convention in Seattle! We see a lot of excellent wizard hats, we hear about a lot of cool projects, and Jake reveals the deep lore of Campaign Spotlight. We can't wait to get back to the con next year!

Here's everyone we spoke with in this episode. Some of these were booths at the con, and some were people who saw us with a mic and wanted to let our listeners know what they were working on. We're really grateful to everyone who took the time to speak with us!

We heard about the Alzheimer's Association and its games fundraising project The Longest Day.

North End Makerspace has a ton of cool equipment including a water laser cutter! Their booth was staffed by Rebecca, who's contributed to the horror anthology podcast Waterlogged. 

Blue Cactus Press is a publishing house with collaborators from historically marginalized groups on projects like the game Reveal the Elephant.

We heard about Black Shield Productions, who run some incredible con games and have a very dedicated fan base.

Start Here is a TTRPG from Beach House RPGs.

We mention it on the episode - but if you'd like to introduce an episode in-character as your PC, or if you'd just like to tell the world about your character or your campaign, get in touch! The hotline is 724 320 2020 if you have anything you'd like to call in. So far, we don't have way to send Reilly cute things, but we're working on it.

Also, thanks again to everyone from the Oppegaard Meadery episode who recommended OrcaCon to us!

If you like the music on the show, go check out more of Reilly's music.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. If you enjoy Campaign Spotlight, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website.   

[campaign-spotlight]

Professional GMing with RP [S3E6]

In this week's episode, we chat with RP about the expectations of the hero's journey, mysterious celebrity clients, and getting paid to DM. Spoilers for Beowulf, I think? We tank our chances for a Neuralink sponsorship in this one, just like we tanked our chances for a Tesla sponsorship earlier this season. (Also, just in case it wasn't clear, we recorded both this interview and the interview with Austin before the election, when joking about Elon Musk's failing companies felt different somehow.)

RP plugs Order of the Stick in this episode, and the fact that this webcomic has been running for more than two decades has made Jake feel intensely mortal. They also plug Demon: A Memoirand The Silmarillion. Head on over to RP's Instagram to see what they're working on, send them an email to ask about playing in one of their professionally DM'd games at [email protected], or support them on Patreon or Ko-fi.

In this episode we also refer back to a couple previous conversations, including our interview about OSR-style gameplay with Max and our Flashlight on recent decisions at Wizards of the Coast. 

This week's PC intro comes from Hali, who plays in one of RP's home games with friends, and who's also been a player in one of Jake's campaigns.

If you like the music on the show, go check out more of Reilly's music.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. If you enjoy Campaign Spotlight, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website.   

[campaign-spotlight]

On Location at OrcaCon (Part 1) [S3F5]

In this week's Flashlight, we head to the OrcaCon tabletop games convention in Seattle! We hear about a bunch of cool projects, we spot a prominent state official, and Jake is flummoxed by the concept of 24-hour livestreams. This convention was honestly so much fun, and we're already scheming to get to more tabletop gaming events.

Here's everyone we spoke with in this episode. Some of these were booths at the con, and some were people who saw us with a mic and wanted to let our listeners know what they were working on. We're really grateful to everyone who took the time to speak with us!

Rainbow Roll Network features actual plays by LGBTQIA+ creators and runs Rainbow Roll Fest, which is an online TTRPG festival

Legends of Gadia is a fantasy card game with an active Kickstarter based on an upcoming fantasy novel series

Game On Youth is a gaming group for neurodivergent youth in Seattle

Extra Life is a peer-to-peer fundraising organization that supports Children's Miracle Network hospitals through gaming

Brush Wielders Union is a community with a bunch of cool resources for miniatures gamers including a podcast

Terminal City Tabletop Convention is coming up in Vancouver next month

Chance Encounter Games offers TTRPG workshops, games, and accessories in Seattle

Outsider Comics is a cozy and inclusive comic book store in Seattle

Goblin Society Games is an independent developer and publisher of board, card, and tabletop roleplaying games

Around the Table is a local game store, cafe, and pub in Lynnwood

Green Ronin Publishing, a roleplaying game company that's producing a Fifth Season TTRPG we're really excited about

Cay Fletcher is an independent author and artist in Portland

Also, thanks to everyone from the Oppegaard Meadery episode who recommended OrcaCon to us!

If you like the music on the show, go check out more of Reilly's music.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. If you enjoy Campaign Spotlight, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website.   

[campaign-spotlight]

Writing Story for LARP with Andrew [S3E5]

This week, we chat with Andrew from Legacies LARP about terrorizing the town as a fae abductor, depicting a demonic plague, and writing story for a long-running live-action role-playing game. This is a conversation about a very different type of storytelling experience in a game that's been running continuously for decades where each plot team only controls the narrative for six months at a time. (Also, if you're wondering, the town was called Fortnight long before the game Fortnite even existed.)

Thanks to Legacies LARP for making this interview possible! We're talking about Legacies LARP this week because we really enjoyed learning about Gothic LARP with Rex last season. In addition to Legacies and Gothic, Andrew also mentions Shadow Accord and Dystopia Rising. 

This week's intro comes from Kaji, who's a player in Legacies LARP! We hope the demonic plague didn't get him. Go check out his Twitch channel.

If you like the music on the show, go check out more of Reilly's music.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. If you enjoy Campaign Spotlight, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website.   

[campaign-spotlight]

On Location at Howloween (Part 3) and a Midseason Update [S3F4]

In this week's Flashlight, we're back on location one last time at the Howloween furry convention in Vancouver! This season, we're getting out into the community and asking people about their PCs and their campaigns. We hear about banishing political figures from the timeline, a party with multiple competing cultists, and becoming the first vampires to climb Mount Everest.

Also this week, Jake and Reilly chat about the season so far and what's coming next for Campaign Spotlight. Along the way, we talk about the difference between GM-only players and PC-only players, and Jake pleads with Reilly to run a campaign someday.

Thanks to Zero, Delcan, Miranda, Masq, and Cylixeen for taking the time to chat with us! Howloween was an incredible experience that really made us realize how much fun we'd have wandering around with a mic asking people about their characters and campaigns. We'll be doing a lot more of this in the future.

Also, here's the PC playlist that Masq mentions in the episode. As of posting, it's over 24 hours long.

If you like the music on the show, go check out more of Reilly's music.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. If you enjoy Campaign Spotlight, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website. 

[campaign-spotlight]

we're looking for more in-character intros for this next season

You know those intros at the start of each episode where someone introduces the show in-character as their PC and tells the audience they're listening to Campaign Spotlight? We've set up a hotline to collect more of those! Call it in to 724 320 2020 (and then DM us about it so we can credit you).

This has been one of the funnest parts of the show, because it's a way for people who don't GM whole big elaborate campaigns to show off the characters they play, and so we (and the listeners!) get to experience a snippet of a whole different campaign at the start of the episode. The idea is to give a little flavour of your character and then tell drop the name of the show - if you listen to a recent episode, this is where the main theme music starts. If you have any questions about any of this, feel free to DM us.

[campaign-spotlight]

It feels like every time we're in the studio there's another strange beast in here

[campaign-spotlight]

High-level Campaigns with Rob [S3E4]

In this week's episode, we chat with Rob about order and chaos, recruiting a potato peeler, and running an epic high-level campaign. Rob shares a very controversial take on combat that Jake's still not sure about. Spoiler warnings for Mass Effect in this one.

In our discussion of worldbuilding, we mention our very first interview with Mike. We also mention the Genesys system a couple times. Rob introduced Jake to the system many years ago, and we tried it out on the podcast way back in Season 1. (Incidentally, that's also the Flashlight where Reilly introduces Monocles McGillicudy.) Rob also references the D&D 3rd Edition book Weapons of Legacy, which is extremely fun for a high-level campaign. He recommends a few helpful resources:

WorldAnvil for keeping track of worldbuilding details

Syrinscape for soundscapes during the game

RPG Campfire cards for helping build out the PCs and their bonds

This week's unhinged intro comes from Cameron! Thanks Cameron for helping our show earn its explicit rating.

If you like the music on the show, go check out more of Reilly's music.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. If you enjoy Campaign Spotlight, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website.   

[campaign-spotlight]

still need some intros for the next season

Do you have a cool PC from a TTRPG campaign that you'd want to show off to the world? Are you up for recording twenty or thirty seconds of audio? If so, you should DM us about it.

These are the intros at the start of every episode where someone introduces their character, tells the audience a little bit about what they're getting up to, and then tells the audience they're listening to Campaign Spotlight. So something like this, basically:

I'm Belladonna Nightshade, wicked fairy of the Summer Court. These friendly fools I'm travelling with know nothing of my plans, but they'll learn soon enough. For now, you're listening to Campaign Spotlight.

It absolutely doesn't have to sound polished or professional. We're really trying to showcase real characters from real home games. If this sounds fun to you, DM us about it.

[multiversal-maproom]

Made a video to try to describe what I'm doing here with the map generation. I've never done any video editing (or video recording) before, and so this took about times as long to make as the underlying terrain generation code. So I'm not sure I'll do this again. But also it feels like a decent way to advertise the project? Anyway, I'd be really grateful for any feedback on this.

[campaign-spotlight]

Sorry to do cross-promotion at you - but if you need something to tide you over until Season 5, here's a fantasy mapmaking project that one of us is working on.

[campaign-spotlight]

A new friend supervising recording today? It feels like every time we're in Reilly's studio there's another stuffed animal here 🦥📈

[campaign-spotlight]

On Location at Howloween (Part 2) [S3F3]

In this week's Flashlight, we're back on location at the Howloween furry convention in Vancouver! This season, we're getting out into the community and asking people about their PCs and their campaigns. We hear about elfaboos, being dumb in a productive way, and a LARP character that actually steals things. Because we're at a furry convention, one of us is wearing a very clanky bell, and you can hear it throughout the recording. The host who's wearing a very clanky bell would like to apologize to the host who edits the audio for that poor satrorial decision.

Thanks to Shakaar, Ono, Evelyn, Jed, and Shane for taking the time to chat with us! (And if you talked to us at Howloween but you're not featured in this week's episode or last week's episode, stay tuned for the next Flashlight.)

Shakaar mentions Legacies LARP in this episode. Later this season, we're going to be talking with one of the people who writes plot for Legacies.

If you like the music on the show, go check out more of Reilly's music.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. If you enjoy Campaign Spotlight, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website.   

[campaign-spotlight]

Back in the studio 🐮🎙️🦥

[campaign-spotlight]

we're looking for more in-character intros for this next season

You know those intros at the start of each episode where someone introduces the show in-character as their PC and tells the audience they're listening to Campaign Spotlight? We've set up a hotline to collect more of those! Call it in to 724 320 2020 (and then DM us about it so we can credit you).

This has been one of the funnest parts of the show, because it's a way for people who don't GM whole big elaborate campaigns to show off the characters they play, and so we (and the listeners!) get to experience a snippet of a whole different campaign at the start of the episode. The idea is to give a little flavour of your character and then tell drop the name of the show - if you listen to a recent episode, this is where the main theme music starts. If you have any questions about any of this, feel free to DM us.

[campaign-spotlight]

we're looking for more in-character intros for this next season

You know those intros at the start of each episode where someone introduces the show in-character as their PC and tells the audience they're listening to Campaign Spotlight? We've set up a hotline to collect more of those! Call it in to 724 320 2020 (and then DM us about it so we can credit you).

This has been one of the funnest parts of the show, because it's a way for people who don't GM whole big elaborate campaigns to show off the characters they play, and so we (and the listeners!) get to experience a snippet of a whole different campaign at the start of the episode. The idea is to give a little flavour of your character and then tell drop the name of the show - if you listen to a recent episode, this is where the main theme music starts. If you have any questions about any of this, feel free to DM us.