Setting the Stage

Hello and welcome to Setting the Stage, a new podcast where I will talk about different campaign settings for roleplaying games.

I am your host, Isaac Shaker, and I’ll be speaking with a different person each week about a different campaign setting for D&D.

The podcast will have two types of episodes.

In one type I will be talking with one of my friends about an established campaign setting for D&D. This could be an official setting like Faerun or Greyhawk, or a popular fantasy world like Tolkien’s Middle-Earth or Martin’s Westeros. These episodes will focus on how to use the world as a campaign setting for RPGs and which RPG rule system would work best for running a campaign in that world.

The second type of episode will be where I interview different members of the D&D community and discuss their campaign world. This is a chance for the guest to show off what they’ve made, explain challenges they’ve overcome, and discuss paths that didn’t work for them when creating their campaign setting. Our homebrew worlds often get no attention outside of our own play groups, so this is a way to present a DM’s hard work to a wider audience.

With guests coming on the show, it’s only fair that they know a bit more about me before agreeing to an interview, so I’m also going to give a short introduction about myself.

I’m Isaac Shaker. I’m a biology scientist for my day job. I’m married and have a young daughter and son. I started playing D&D in 2000 when I was nine years old with my friend’s dad as our DM. I’ve been DMing since I was 12. My main campaign world is called Cimmeria and is based off of Classic Greek Myths. I’ve designed a few other campaign worlds and have played in a few other groups, but I’ve been lucky to keep the same play group from the beginning. We play using Roll20 twice a week.

If you’d like to be a guest on the podcast, fill out this form. If you’d like to be more connected to the Setting the Stage podcast community, you can join our Discord.

If you’d like to learn more about how I made the podcast I have a few posts on that here:
Hosting and Distribution
Recording Software
Making the Podcast Icon

The podcast feed is available by searching Setting the Stage or “Isaac Shaker” on your favorite podcast app, by downloading from this link, or right here!

72 – Calico and Psychomortis (Part 1) – Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

CalicoVisions tells us about his game system and setting Psychomortis. The game is constructed to challenge players and characters to look inside themselves to find what's really important to them. In the far future the Earth has suffered from the arrival of the Iris which caused vast changes across the world. PCs are trapped beneath the Earth in a vast maze known as Pandora's Labyrinth. They seek an exit and/or spiritual absolution as they survive and explore in the dark depths. The experience is simultaneous a dungeon crawl and philosophical exercise.This is the first of two episodes about Psychomortis. Calico contacted me about how the game and setting had evolved since our first recording. This is the first recording which has the original version of Calico's world and game. The second one is more refined and filled in which you can see in part 2!Psychomortis is still in the early stages of development, but its playable! If you're interested in the game you can learn more on the Psychomortis Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/JkhpUTYMTCYou can also follow Calico on BlogSpot: https://calicovisions369.blogspot.com/And on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/calicovisions.bsky.socialOur website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6CSupport the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SettingtheStage Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.