For a couple of years now, I’ve been a co-host on the podcast Speculate! Speculate started as a science fiction/fantasy analysis and interview show, “The Podcast for REaders, Writers, and Fans.” We’d talk about books in-depth as well as interviewing authors and hosting discussions on various topics like games writing, health and self-care for writers, and more.

Earlier this year, co-founder Gregory A. Wilson and I decided to reboot the show with a different focus. We did this for a lot of different reasons, which we talked about in a special episode of the show.

The new Speculate is an Actual Play RPG show starring a rotating cast of SFF professionals, including Maurice Broaddus, Jaym Gates, Valerie Valdes, Brandon O’Brien, and more. If you know me, you probably know how important RPGs have been in my academic career and in my life as a storyteller. It’s been a great experience so far, and we’re just getting started.

Our first session was a D&D 5th edition game set in the world of Eberron, and all three episodes are now live. At the end of each session, we also have an out-of-game discussion about the game, a little bit like Talks Machina meets Inside the Actor’s Studio.

If this sounds interesting, you can listen to the first Actual Play episode here.