The G&W Podcast: Dicey Dice, ft. Eric Holden

The Game & Word Podcast: Volume 4, Episode 2: Dicey Dice (ft. Eric Holden)

Happy New Year, dear listeners, and welcome to The Game & Word Podcast, Where Gaming Meets Humanity! I’m your host, Jay Rooney, and I’m thrilled to start 2023 with every single one of you! I launched Game & Word one year ago, on January 1st, 2022, and I launched the podcast nearly two months later!

I’m amazed at how far it’s come since then—and it’s all thanks to you, dear listeners. I seriously cannot thank you enough for listening to this podcast, reading the newsletter, subscribing, and generally supporting my humble little gaming publication. I’m very, very grateful for all of you.

So, in that spirit, let’s get into today’s episode!

My guest this week is Eric Holden, Standup Comedian and Co-Host of The Goblin’s Corner, a Tabletop RPG podcast. This was a nice change of pace for me, and I hope for you as well.

Here at Game & Word, our focus is primarily on video games. But I’m glad we got to show tabletop games some love, too! After all, there’s a lot of overlap between tabletop gamers and video gamers—your host included! That’s right, I’m an avid Dungeons & Dragons player, and am currently running two separate campaigns.

I’m just as fond of analog games as I am of digital ones, and I’m glad I got to talk about the tabletop side of gaming with Eric.

Fact is, we’ve been playing tabletop games in some form for millennia, and if the apocalypse ever rains down, then tabletop games will likely survive video games. Even if not, the fact is that tabletop and video games are kindred pastimes that influence and are influenced by each other, and tabletop RPGs in particular are a great way to indulge your imagination, stimulate your creativity, and—if you play the role of the Game Master, or “GM”—sharpen your storytelling skills. With nothing more than a pencil, a sheet of paper, and some dice.

This is, quite frankly, amazing. And I hope you’ll think so, too!

But before we proceed, I do want to get a couple of housekeeping items out of the way.

First, I wanted to let you know that I was recently a guest on The Cure is Conversation, hosted by the inimitably radiant and delightful Queen B. Divine. We talked about video games and mental health, my own experience with Zelda Therapy, and why parents can relax about their kids playing Fortnite all day. All in all, a great listen, so check it out:

Second, join us over at the Game & Word Subscriber Chat to hang out with me and your fellow curious gamers (and gamer-adjacent folks!). It’s the best place to reach me directly, and just a wonderful space to talk games, life, or whatever else you’d like. It’s free, but you DO have to have the Substack app—available for iOS and Android—to participate. Once you’re on the app, just click the link below to join in:

Oh, and yeah—you also need to be a subscriber to participate. Whether you’re a free or paid subscriber, you’re welcome to join the chat… but it is called “subscriber” chat for a reason!

So if you haven’t yet, subscribe for FREE to get new and fascinating gaming deep dives, delivered to your inbox every single week!

Finally, I’d like to thank Game & Word’s paid subscribers for making this video possible, and especially our wonderful Founding Members:

• Le_Takas, from Luzern, Switzerland (Member since April 14, 2022)

• Ela F., from San Diego, CA (Member since April 24, 2022)

• Alexi F., from Chicago, IL (Member since May 13, 2022)

• Elvira O., from Mexico City, Mexico (Member since May 18, 2022)

Thank you all for listening today! Episode references and links are below. Enjoy the show, and see you next week (or before then, on the subscriber chat!)

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Podcast Notes & References

Our Guest: Eric Holden

• Podcast: The Goblin’s Corner

  • Episode Mentioned: How to Host a Game Night

  • Twitter: @GoblinsCorner

  • Mastodon: @GoblinsCorner@dice.camp

  • FB Group: Goblin’s Corner

Tabletop Games Referenced:

• Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

• 10 Candles

• World of Darkness

• Deadlands

• Munchkin

• Fluxx

• Troika

• Starfinder

• Forgotten Waters

• King of Tokyo

Video Games Referenced:

• Skyrim

• Borderlands

• Pistol Whip

• Fallout

• The Witcher

• Baldur’s Gate

• Neverwinter Nights

• Chrono Trigger

• Planescape Torment

Theme Music Attribution

“Simply Me” by Deoxys Beats | https://soundcloud.com/deoxysbeats1
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US