Dice in Mind

Episode 39: Nami Melumad

This week we have the immense pleasure of chatting with Nami Melumad, composer for Star Trek: Prodigy and so much more, for a wide ranging discussion regarding music composition and production, gender inequity in professional music, and of course many things Trek.  We honestly could have spent hours talking with Nami, who was gracious with her time and insights.  May you enjoy the conversation as much as we did as the close to our first five-episode interview series.

Please check out Nami's work:

Website
Twitter
Instagram

Nami Melumad is an Israeli-Dutch film composer, based in Los Angeles, California.  Her scoring credits include over 130 projects in a wide range of genres, most notably the HBO Max comedy, An American Pickle, starring Seth Rogen; the Amazon thriller-drama series, Absentia, starring Stana Katic; and EA’s VR video game Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond.  She also scored the Oscar® winning documentary short, Colette; and contributed music and arrangements to Amazon’s latest hit, Borat Subsequent MovieFilm.  Her score to the Star Trek episode, Shorts Treks: Q&A, in 2019, landed her as composer for Star Trek: Prodigy, making her the first female composer for the franchise.

Welcome to Dice in Mind, a weekly podcast in which we explore the meaning of life through the lens of RPGs!  In each episode, we will consider everyday stuff like science, religion, philosophy, and economics…through the lens of a specific roleplaying game and its dice mechanic.

If you like what you hear, consider buying us a cup of coffee or becoming a patron.  You can also join the conversation by following us on Facebook.

Music by Kevin McCloud courtesy of Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 license (https://www.youtube.com/c/kmmusic/featured).

Episode 39 Teaser

Episode 39 Teaser

Episode 38: Michael Low

This week we have the pleasure of chatting with Michael Low, educator and innovator, on the potential to utilize RPGs to enliven education.  Please join us for a deep dive into educational theory, passion for learning, and a delightful level of enthusiasm.  You will not be disappointed! 

Please check out Michael's ideas, join one of his classes, and follow him on Twitter:

Luck of Legends
Can Kids Learn Academic Skills with RPGs?
RPGs by Michael Low

Michael Low is a live-scan certified CA high school English teacher, parent, story-teller, and game designer.  He teaches kids non-violent conflict resolution, collaboration, confidence, critical thinking, and creative writing using games, inspired by a love of learning, not fear of failure.

Welcome to Dice in Mind, a weekly podcast in which we explore the meaning of life through the lens of RPGs!  In each episode, we will consider everyday stuff like science, religion, philosophy, and economics…through the lens of a specific roleplaying game and its dice mechanic.

If you like what you hear, consider buying us a cup of coffee or becoming a patron.  You can also join the conversation by following us on Facebook.

Music by Kevin McCloud courtesy of Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 license (https://www.youtube.com/c/kmmusic/featured).

Episode 37: Chris Birch of Modiphius

This week we are humbled to bring you our interview with Chris Birch, founder and CEO of Modiphius Entertainment.  The brain behind what has arguably become one of THE major RPG publishing houses on the planet, Chris was generous with his time and thoughts.  He also stressed an important point.  If you have an idea in mind, make it happen.  Write the story, design the game, put it out there.  As our favorite captain would advise, make it so.

Please check out Modiphius and buy their games.  You will be glad you did:

Modiphius Entertainment

Chris Birch founded Modiphius after running video games fashion label Joystick Junkies for 13 years and before that working in the dance music industry managing bands, tours and clubnights.  ​Chris first played D&D and Steve Jackson's OGRE aged 9 and grew up on a diet of RPG's, wargames, and boardgames before writing Starblazer Adventures and founding Modiphius.

 

Welcome to Dice in Mind, a weekly podcast in which we explore the meaning of life through the lens of RPGs!  In each episode, we will consider everyday stuff like science, religion, philosophy, and economics…through the lens of a specific roleplaying game and its dice mechanic.

If you like what you hear, consider buying us a cup of coffee or becoming a patron.  You can also join the conversation by following us on Facebook.

Music by Kevin McCloud courtesy of Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 license (https://www.youtube.com/c/kmmusic/featured).

Episode 36: Malcolm Sheppard

This week we chat with Malcolm Sheppard, developer at large with Green Ronin, who joins us to talk about his writer, editing, and all around creativity working with the AGE dice mechanic and the many cool games that utilize it.  Indeed, the interview ran long because of Malcolm's willingness to get into the weeds.  Enjoy!

Please check out these wonderful Modern AGE publications:

Modern AGE Quickstart
Modern AGE Basic Rulebook
Modern AGE Threefold

Green Ronin developer at large Malcolm Sheppard has over 20 years of experience in the RPG industry as a writer, designer, and developer, starting with work on the Mage: The Ascension line for White Wolf.  His other credits include work on Exalted, Shadowrun, Scion, Vampire: The Masquerade, numerous Chronicles of Darkness titles, Blue Rose, and Fantasy AGE.  Now at Green Ronin, his work focuses on the Modern AGE RPG, along with other AGE system works, though he's also developed Ork! The Roleplaying Game, and performed writing and editing duties for the Sword Chronicle RPG.  Malcolm lives in Ontario, Canada, and coaches historical fencing (rapiers and longswords and such) on the side.

 

Welcome to Dice in Mind, a weekly podcast in which we explore the meaning of life through the lens of RPGs!  In each episode, we will consider everyday stuff like science, religion, philosophy, and economics…through the lens of a specific roleplaying game and its dice mechanic.

If you like what you hear, consider buying us a cup of coffee or becoming a patron.  You can also join the conversation by following us on Facebook.

Music by Kevin McCloud courtesy of Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 license (https://www.youtube.com/c/kmmusic/featured).

Episode 35: Kelli Fitzpatrick

We are very pleased this week to chat with Kelli Fitzpatrick, author and editor with Modiphius Entertainment, who joins us to talk about Star Trek and so much more. Now studying toward her MFA, Kelli shares with us what it's like to serve as one of the lead writers on the Shackleton Expanse Campaign Guide, her early success as a writer, and what it means to be creative within one's writing.  It was a true pleasure chatting with such a lovely person and we hope you will enjoy listening to the interview as much as we had recording it.

Please purchase Kelli's writing.  You will NOT be disappointed:

Star Trek Adventures: Shackleton Expanse Campaign Guide
"The Sunwalkers" in Strange New Worlds 2016
KelliFitzpatrick.com

Kelli Fitzpatrick is an author, editor, and educator from Michigan. Her Star Trek story “The Sunwalkers” was selected as a winner of the Strange New Worlds contest and is published by Simon and Schuster. She currently writes and edits for the Star Trek Adventures role-playing game line from Modiphius Entertainment. Her fiction is published by Flash Fiction Online, KYSO Flash, Crazy 8 Press, and others, and her poetry appears in Dunes Review and Still Life. She took fourth place in the 2016 international NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge. Kelli’s essays analyzing science fiction media appear on StarTrek.com, Women at Warp blog, and in anthologies from ATB Publishing and Sequart. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Beaverton Activity Center and the Saginaw Bay Writing Project and is an advocate for public education, gender equality and representation, and support for the arts in all their forms. Find her on Twitter @KelliFitzWrites.

 

Welcome to Dice in Mind, a weekly podcast in which we explore the meaning of life through the lens of RPGs!  In each episode, we will consider everyday stuff like science, religion, philosophy, and economics…through the lens of a specific roleplaying game and its dice mechanic.

If you like what you hear, consider buying us a cup of coffee or becoming a patron.  You can also join the conversation by following us on Facebook.

Music by Kevin McCloud courtesy of Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 license (https://www.youtube.com/c/kmmusic/featured).

Episode 34: Expanding Our Universe

This week we review the Genesys Expanded Player's Guide, a wonderful addition to the system's core rulebook.  Along the way, we offer examples of how it has helped us think through our Star Trek adaptation.  And wait to you hear our big news in the GM Corner.  Exciting times are ahead!

Along the way, we refer to some interesting source material:

Genesys Expanded Player's Guide
Edge Studio
Moar! Monsters Know What They're Doing

Welcome to Dice in Mind, a weekly podcast in which we explore the meaning of life through the lens of RPGs!  In each episode, we will consider everyday stuff like science, religion, philosophy, and economics…through the lens of a specific roleplaying game and its dice mechanic.

If you like what you hear, consider buying us a cup of coffee or becoming a patron.  You can also join the conversation by following us on Facebook.

Music by Kevin McCloud courtesy of Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 license (https://www.youtube.com/c/kmmusic/featured).

Episode 33: Under the Microscope

This week we explore Microscope, a narrative-based roleplaying game, and how it can be used for developing homebrew games.  We then connect these ideas to the upcoming Star Trek Adventures Players Guide.  Along the way we share a pivot in our development plans for a Genesys adaptation for RPGing in Star Trek canon.  Hit it!

Along the way, we refer to some interesting source material:

Microscope
Star Trek Adventures Player's Guide

Welcome to Dice in Mind, a weekly podcast in which we explore the meaning of life through the lens of RPGs!  In each episode, we will consider everyday stuff like science, religion, philosophy, and economics…through the lens of a specific roleplaying game and its dice mechanic.

If you like what you hear, consider buying us a cup of coffee or becoming a patron.  You can also join the conversation by following us on Facebook.

Music by Kevin McCloud courtesy of Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 license (https://www.youtube.com/c/kmmusic/featured).

Episode 32: Someone Call a Mechanic?

We return this week to issues of mechanics.  Specifically, we question the various ways one might adapt the mechanics of their favorite published games to their own tables. We focus on the dice, eventually talk character sheets, and invariably ramble a bit along the way as we give a shout to a lot of different games and systems.

Along the way, we also highlight a few examples of especially interesting source material:

Green Ronin
Modiphius
DriveThruRPG

Welcome to Dice in Mind, a weekly podcast in which we explore the meaning of life through the lens of RPGs!  In each episode, we will consider everyday stuff like science, religion, philosophy, and economics…through the lens of a specific roleplaying game and its dice mechanic.

If you like what you hear, consider buying us a cup of coffee or becoming a patron.  You can also join the conversation by following us on Facebook.

Music by Kevin McCloud courtesy of Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 license (https://www.youtube.com/c/kmmusic/featured).

Episode 31: Opening the Book

For the first time in a long time, we waited to record an episode until the evening before so that we could share our initial impressions of the brand new The Book of Boba Fett (on Disney+) as it pertains to RPGing. We also might have gotten slightly off the track toward the end of the discussion. Regardless, how to you think the new show can inform your own gaming? Drop us a line on Twitter and let us know!

@diceminmind

Along the way, we refer to some interesting source material:

The Book of Boba Fett
Tatooine Manhunt
Cable Television

Welcome to Dice in Mind, a weekly podcast in which we explore the meaning of life through the lens of RPGs!  In each episode, we will consider everyday stuff like science, religion, philosophy, and economics…through the lens of a specific roleplaying game and its dice mechanic.

If you like what you hear, consider buying us a cup of coffee or becoming a patron.  You can also join the conversation by following us on Facebook.

Music by Kevin McCloud courtesy of Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 license (https://www.youtube.com/c/kmmusic/featured).