Episodes
Join Inky, Opal, and Sean in this extra spooky Halloween special episode of the Worldcasting Podcast. Edited by Slorany.
Published 10/31/22
Published 10/31/22
Devin, Hex, Seán, and guest host Tom Bloom of Kill Six Billion Demons webcomic fame slowly burn as many bridges as they can from Star Wars to Christianity to NFTs in this raucous, season 4 finale episode on how to play with demons in fiction. Follow the hosts! Devin @devinpigman Hexarch @bhpierce203 Seán @caorabhan Tom @orbitaldropkick Edited by Red @hikitsune_red
Published 08/23/22
Adam, Red, Slorany, and guest host, Biblaridion, discuss conlangs, phonemes, and—amongst other linguistic things—Klingon death metal. 'Nuff said. Follow the hosts! Adam @adamcbassett Red @hikitsune_red Slorany r/Conlangs Biblaridion @biblaridion Edited by Slorany
Published 08/02/22
You can't stop us from talking about magic at least once per season. This time, Devin, Jack, and Zaivy are joined by writing coach and content creator C.R. Rowenson. They discuss all the aspects of magic systems: why you might want to add one into your project, how to integrate it successfully, and much more! Follow the hosts: Devin https://linktr.ee/DevinPigman Jack [N/A] Zaivy @ZaivyA C. R. Rowenson https://crrowenson.com/ Edited by Rebecca Walker-Wain.
Published 07/19/22
Adam, Cathy, and Red are joined by Horror author Zin E. Rocklyn to discuss the genre, how to write and worldbuild for it, and much more. Stick around 'till the end, because we (accidentally) saved all the advice for the outro. Follow the hosts: Adam @adamcbassett Cathy @overpreparedGM Red @hikitsune_red Zin @intelligentwat Edited by Rebecca Wain Walker
Published 06/28/22
Adam, B.H. Pierce, Seán, and Zaivy, are joined by L.D. Lewis—a founder of the Hugo award-winning FIYAH Magazine, publisher at Fireside Fiction, and all kind of other projects. We talk about L's experience accepting the Hugo for FIYAH, then dive into a discussion on how you can use art and music as a part of your worldbuilding. Follow the hosts! Adam @adamcbassett Seán @caorabhan B.H. Pierce (Hexarch) @BHPierce203 Zaivy @ZaivyA L.D. Lewis @Ellethevillain
Published 06/14/22
Inky, Devin, and Lizy are joined by illustrator and concept artist Claire Hummel for a discussion on character design! Claire may be best known for her work on games like Half-Life: Alyx and Bioshock Infinite. So you can probably imagine how excited we were to talk about both her work in the games industry, and the larger question of how to best design characters for your worlds and stories. Inky linktr.ee/inkythoughts Devin linktr.ee/DevinPigman Lizy @Lizy_Br Claire...
Published 05/24/22
Adam, B.H. Pierce, Seán, and Ashley Warren (Storytelling Collective) discuss the importance of collaboration on creative projects. Then, we dive into a discussion on how we can use the presence of games to enhance our worldbuilding. Follow the hosts/editors! Adam @adamcbassett Seán @caorabhan B.H. Pierce (Hexarch) @BHPierce203 Ashley Warren @ashleynhwarren Sean “Dirtnap” Gooding @HNB_Dirtnap
Published 05/10/22
Adam, Cathy, Red, and returning guest Tim Hickson (Hello Future Me) discuss what the genre means, why it is becoming so popular in recent years, and answer the question you didn’t ask: is Tron cyberpunk? Follow the cast! Adam @adamcbassett Cathy @overpreparedgm Red @hikitsune_red Tim @TimHickson1 Edited by Adam. Game show music and sound effects from Zapsplat.com.
Published 04/26/22
Adam, Hexarch, and Red are joined by YouTuber and self-published author Daniel Greene. They discuss the things writers often don’t think about in regards to war and conflict, as well as some insights into their journeys through self-publishing. Follow the hosts: Adam @adamcbassett B.H. Pierce (Hexarch) @BHPierce203 Red @hikitsune_red Daniel @DanielBGreene McKenzie @mckenziepower1 Dave @DJLProjects
Published 04/12/22
Adam, Cathy, Devin, and returning guest Chris Solo discuss retconning and rebooting projects. There are ways we’ve seen it done well, and ways in which it has seemed rushed or forced. Plus, some insight into examples of when our hosts had to retcon or reboot projects in order to fix issues or tell the story better. Follow the hosts: Adam @adamcbassett Cathy @overpreparedgm Devin https://linktr.ee/DevinPigman Chris @fabled42 Dave @DJLProjects
Published 03/29/22
Red, Inky, Sam, and Benji (Tale Foundry) discuss the broad topic of story themes. Themes can add to your story and provide a valuable structure to your work, but themes can also prove dangerous when followed too strictly. Listen in on what we’ve learned in utilizing or observing themes in media. Follow the hosts! Red @hikitsune_red Cathy @overpreparedgm Sam/Emily King @emily_o_brydain Benji @TheBenjaminCook Adam @adamcbassett
Published 03/16/22
Adam, Cathy, and Sam are joined by neuroscientist and author Rachel Shaw to discuss the presence of science in fantasy settings. From medicine to magic, they discuss some of the ways you can use science to inform or inspire fantasy. Adam @adamcbassett Cathy @overpreparedgm Sam/Emily King @emily_o_brydain Rachel @RachelEmma_Shaw Dave @DJLProjects
Published 03/01/22
Adam, Red, and Seán are joined by Greg Kasavin, the writer behind Supergiant Games’ many titles such as Pyre and Hades. We discuss what it’s like to write for video games as a medium, as well as the origins of Supergiant’s critically acclaimed title, Hades. Then, we explore how to create mythologies, or adapt existing ones for our stories. Spoiler: we talk about doing research a lot, so pull out your bingo cards! Follow the hosts! Adam @adamcbassett Red @hikitsune_red Seán @caorabhan Greg...
Published 02/15/22
Welcome back to Worldcasting! To kick off season four, Adam, Taylor, BK, and—all the way from Orbit UK—Nadia Saward talk about publishing and poetry. BK has experience as an indie publisher, and Nadia is a poet and editor at Orbit Books. Between them, they answer our burning questions about preparing your first draft, writing your query letter, and more! Follow the hosts! Adam @adamcbassett Taylor @TaylortheSkald BK Bass @B_K_Bass Nadia @chronicles_of_n McKenzie @mckenziepower1
Published 02/01/22
In this final episode of season 3, Taylor, Cathy, and Zaivy, are joined by our guests Daniel Greene and Tim Hickson for a chat about representation of indigenous cultures in popular media—especially (but not limited to) those in the area sometimes referred to as the "New World." We'll be back for season four in 2022! Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss it when that comes out, and keep an eye out for more issues of Worldbuilding Magazine coming later this year to help curb the wait!...
Published 08/10/21
Emory, Chris, Red, and NYT/Washington Post bestselling author Michael J. Sullivan discuss creating compelling characters, plus some general writing advice. Get some behind the scenes details of how they develop their characters and what they’re looking for in them, and get Michael’s and Red's unfiltered thoughts on Patrick Rothfuss! This episode was edited by Jaren J. Petty (Red).
Published 07/27/21
Join Taylor, Ianara (Imachinate), Inky, and Zaivy as they discuss some of the less represented African, Asian, and European cultures in popular examples of worldbuilding—and some exceptions to that rule. A sequel episode, which focuses on the Americas and Oceana, will air later this season. This Episode was edited by McKenzie Power & Jon Krebs.
Published 07/13/21
Red, Ianara (Imachinate), B.H. Pierce (Hexarch), and our guest Levi Johnson from Campfire Technology discuss their endeavors and thoughts on the more strategic parts of writing. They discuss their own projects and processes for writing, plot structures, methods to keep your notes together, and more! Edited by Adam Bassett.
Published 06/29/21
Join Taylor, Chris, Sean, and our guest author Daniel Dickinson for a conversation about fellowships. Obviously, they discuss the Fellowship of the Ring, but in addition they also break down what a fellowship is, how to represent each member, and even explore the idea that a fellowship can still work even when the characters are not together. Also a quick note, we are aware of some technical issues that came up during this episode and are working to prevent them from happening in the next...
Published 06/15/21
B.H. Pierce (Hexarch), Seán, and John, are joined by Janet Forbes—co-founder of World Anvil, podcaster, and author! Together they define what a golden age is, what it means to the people who lived through it, and how to use golden ages in our worldbuilding. This episode was edited by Adam Bassett.
Published 06/01/21
Adam, Red, Ianara (Imachinate), and Sean Fallon—CEO of Smunchy Games—discuss a favorite topic of ours: creature design. Plus, a number of tangents about tabletop games, dragons, and more! This episode was edited by Adam Bassett.
Published 05/18/21
Adam, Cathy, Ianara (Imachinate), and our guest Devin Pigman—a former moderator with our friends at the Writing Cartel Discord Server—talk about magic systems. We discuss a few of our favorite systems, things we've learned from creating our own, as well as some best practices for creating your own kinds of magic! Plus, along with the hard and soft magic scale, Cathy hypothesizes a second axis that we might want to begin considering when discussing magic systems... This episode was edited by...
Published 05/04/21
Ianara (Imachinate), Lizy (AC), B.H. Pierce (Hexarch), and President of the multimedia group Nerdolopedia and lead game designer at Smunchy Games Jacob Waterman discuss how to prepare and organize your role-playing games as well as how to integrate your worldbuilding into the game. This episode was edited by J.D. Venner.
Published 04/20/21