Interview - Jeff Stormer - Party of One Podcast

Today I talk with Podcaster and TTRPG Creator Jeff Stormer about Two-Player Games, Interesting Game Mechanics, finding the right game for someone else and Mission: Accomplished, a Tabletop Roleplaying Game based on the post-mission wash-ups from shows like Archer. You can find Party of One Podcast and Jeff Stormer via the links below.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/partyOfOnePod/

Website:
https://partyofonepodcast.com/
https://jeffstormer.itch.io/

Podcast:
https://www.partyofonepodcast.com/episodes/
http://oneshotpodcast.com/category/podcasts/all-my-fantasy-children/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/partyofonepodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stormerjeff/

DriveThruRPG:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/300870/Mission-Accomplished?term=mission%3A+accompl&affiliate_id=1643000

Please leave reviews on ITunes to help us to learn and grow as a Podcast

Yours Sincerely,

Adam 'Cosy' Powell

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CAST & CREW

Host: Adam Powell

Guest: Jeff Stormer

Sound Design: Adam Powell

Music: Epidemic Sound

Cover Art: Tim Cunningham using www.Wix.com

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Transcript

Snyder’s Return : 0:28

Hello, and welcome to size return a tabletop role playing podcast. Today I am speaking to someone who always sets the table for two. They are a dungeon master, a content creator and podcaster and have released a tabletop role playing game of their own. I am thrilled to be joined by party one podcast, Mr. Jeff storm. Jeff, welcome to the show.

Jeff Stormer : 0:53

Thank you so much for having me. It's wonderful to be here.

Snyder’s Return : 0:55

It's wonderful to have you on the show, and so on. We can get to know a little bit more about you. Could you give us a little bit of background about yourself and how you got into tabletop role playing or into podcasting? Which other story stairs into the other

Jeff Stormer : 1:10

guy can give you I give you both stories. They're both good stories. Oh, yes, please. So yeah, my name is Jeff Stormer. He his pronouns I have been playing role playing games for damn near 30 years at this point. I got into them with I got into them through I think the game that we all kind of get into role playing games through that is a 1996 is Middle Earth role playing games by iron crown enterprises, you know, the standard. Literally, my brothers and I in rural Oklahoma in the mid to late 90s. Found a copy of Middle Earth role playing at a garage sale. Shockingly, someone had felt that they were giving this book away in a garage sale. I can't imagine why. So we bought it. Try to read it. Try to understand Like what we were looking at, but given that we were eight years old and this was a game that was written for like seasoned roleplayers in the mid 90s, like, it was, you know, it was a foreign language it was a concept It was a concept that we did not and could not understand but it like it was the introduction to the idea of a tabletop role playing game that kind of like stuck in my head. And like I ran several really dreadful games for my brothers. And that was kind of the the birth of my role playing hobby. And then, you know, for years and years like it was it was all the games that you would play in the early to mid 2000s. And then, around 2010 2011 I had just graduated from college I moved back home and moved and eventually moved in with my then partner now wife and I ended up leaving a game group that I'd played with for a very long time and had moved into a new city like we really didn't know anybody. And Jen, my wife in her infinite wisdom said to me, like, Jeff, why don't you try to find a game that just you and I can play like just the two of us, I started researching this topic. And at the time, there were very few answers. That is, thankfully changed a lot. It's make makes my job as a podcaster easier. But eventually, eventually, a friend of mine who was a podcaster himself and who's was approached about launching a podcast network, my friend, Noah reached out to me and said, Hey, we're looking to start a network. Can you give us pitches? And I said, Yes. And I pitched I pitched a show. I was like, I would love to do a show where I play role playing games. And after talking it over with Jin, who is the producer on party of one because partially because of conversations that we would have for hours and hours. We talked through and I was like, how do I make the show stand out? What do I do is different? She's like, you've already done hours of research into two player things. Why don't you just play two player games? And I was like, Oh, yeah, why don't I just do that? So I pitched it to this friend of mine of that Podcast Network never came to fruition. And then eventually, I was like, well then I'm just gonna make this show. And so now I for that was five years ago, gym. Time is funny like that. That was five years ago. And now I am the host of party of one actual play podcast focused on two player role playing games.

Snyder’s Return : 4:39

That is quite a journey and your time of recording your most recent episode is central directive. Yes, listening to that very entertaining and interesting mechanic. So explain this, you sort of how you got there, but with a party of one where do you seek to sort of actual play? Is there guidance Do you give recommended What what consists of party one that listeners can, can go and find and, you know get engaged with.

Jeff Stormer : 5:07

I love I mean party of one. So the structure of party one is every week I sit down with a friend a different guest and we play a different two player game. Sometimes there are SQL episodes and ongoing stories but like, I would say 95% of the episodes are standalone stories. And so really like the joy of that is that there are 240 some odd on ramps to the show. It is my favourite part of the show. It is my favourite part of is my favourite part of making the show and my favourite part of promoting it I love it as like a behind the scenes making the show element because genuinely one of my favourite things in production making party of one is like when I'm talking to a guest and I'm like planning things out. And they asked me like so what do you want to play and I can kind of turn it around on them and Say, what do you what do you want to play? Like what kind of story do you want to tell? And over the last over the years I've gotten, I want to say, very good at hearing what someone is saying and finding a two player game that I can go. Here is exactly the story that you said you wanted to tell to an alarming degree. It's my favourite part of the recording process is before we get on Mike, the joy of having someone look at a game and go, Oh my god, I can't wait to play this. It's my favourite thing in the world. But then, as far as for listeners, we have a lot of resources on the website RT of one podcast calm or built around helping you find the episode that you want to find. So we recently went through and like, added like, blog tags to all of our episodes so that you could sort it by genre and setting, all that kind of good stuff. And then there's a like a recommender tool on the website where you can kind of sort it down by the specific categories that you want and Find the episodes that fall into that bucket because the rare thing about party of one is that I don't picture it as like a I guess I would say I don't picture it as a show to be binged if that makes sense. It's a it's a show that I think like rap like there are some shows that I think benefit from like I'm starting with episode one I'm going on the journey like we're we're going up down and up, down left and right. I really love the ability to say to somebody like here you should listen to Episode 178 if you listen to Episode 178 like this is going to be a story that is so specifically tailored to your interests and what you want that like it's it's very similar to that experience of giving somebody the perfect game right like it's very it's that kind of very specific experience of saying like, here is a gift for you like I have this thing that I think you based on what you have asked of like posited to me, I think this is up your alley. And like that is a particular kind of love language, but it's one that like is very close to my heart is that ability to say, here, listen to this, like this will be special for you.

Snyder’s Return : 8:10

Oh, that's that's really nice to be fair and I like the fact that it is it can be tailored in such a way that the individual's needs or desires can be searched through and a definitive option given him other than, you know, being lost in a sea of options, right. So,

Jeff Stormer : 8:34

it was something where like, I didn't realise that that was going to be my favourite part of the show, like when I started it, but like after I had played enough games, and after I heard people being like, Oh, I guess I should start a party of our episodes episode one, but I'm a little intimidated. And when I started to say to people, like no, don't start it episode one start here. Listen to this episode. It really I realised the sheer joy that I got whenever somebody would say back to me. Oh my god, I listened to That episode and it was exactly what I wanted. Thank you. It was like yes, I did it. I did that.

Snyder’s Return : 9:04

Yes. It sounds like an amazing feeling to have. We before I flip certain bits of information you provided back to you. Yeah. Where else is your website? The only place that people can engage and get in contact with you or seek your recommendations? Can you be

Jeff Stormer : 9:23

you can find me on Twitter at party of one pod. You can always tweet at me about the podcast there. You can find the podcast itself anywhere that you listen to podcasts, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, Google, any podcasting service should have it if you just search party of one podcast, it should be the thing that comes up. The and then party of one podcast is where you can specifically find the sort of recommendation engines of the show is the for the best way to describe.

Snyder’s Return : 9:53

Well, I'll be sure to put links to as much as I can down in the description.

Jeff Stormer : 9:57

Absolutely.

Snyder’s Return : 10:00

And find you and and enjoy the content you've put out as you say you don't need to start at episode naught point one you can go and get that tailored experience which is amazing. So you mentioned you played a lot of games and you have been able to ask other people what they want and in turn help another person play what they want to play. But what do you like to play what is your game of choice maybe between yourself and your your other half that if you have time away from podcasting or other work ventures that you sit and play

Jeff Stormer : 10:37

Um, so probably like the the role playing game that I think I come back to the most I love I love a good like I love really specifically a style of game that like, I don't play on the podcast really as much because it's not the best fit for two but like, I am actually really big fan of the only way that I can describe them is really like grimy OSR style like old school meat grinder style like dungeon crawl games. It is a very specific passion of mine that like I don't really get to play with anywhere that's not like a group of my dear personal friends but like, I like there's a very specific like aesthetic experience that I love. I've recently been playing a lot of nave, which is sort of an old school style like dungeon crawling game, and I really enjoy like knave or dungeon crawl classics like a good level zero funnel adventure. There's an experience I like have a bunch of poorly prepared, ill equipped people walk into a dungeon and most of them die. I don't know why, but it is extremely fun to me to explore that kind of experience. That is a that is that is the that is the gameplay experience that like, I probably will never turn into like hashtag content because like that is for me like that is my experience.

Snyder’s Return : 12:13

That's fair enough that is fair enough. Well speaking of your content of the to play games you have played through your 200 plus episodes of the ones you've played on the show, which has been your favourite.

Jeff Stormer : 12:27

Oh, it's, it's it's genuinely hard to say like, it is. It is something where I, I can I think that the answer that I can give is not so much a specific game but like a style of game, which is I have realised I love especially for the show, but like just in general. I adore a hyper specific gaming experience like i a game that like a I realised like I has I've played more games like I get less excited if I hear like this is a universal system that can play everything then if I do if I hear this is a game work, you're going to create a recap podcast detailing a season of Power Rangers I'm like, that's the game that I want to play like that. Which is a side note. That is a game called if not us, then who which is by Riley Hopkins and it is about creating a fictional rewatch of a season of Power Rangers episode by episode and scene by scene. It's extremely good, but like games like that where it's like, we're not going to I'm not gonna be like you cannot use this game to you know, play a kick down the door dungeon adventure because it does not it's not for that and like, games like that where it is built with such a specific and narrow sense of purpose that like, I feel like those are my favourite because especially like both for podcasting and in general because that's when you really get to see the games. For the best way to put it like, that's when you really get to watch a game like blossom into something incredible is when the designer is like, I'm not trying to I'm not trying to cover all of my bases. I want this game to do one thing and I want it to do it well, which I think is honestly like it is a huge It is my favourite thing as a podcaster. And it is a hugely influential thing to me as a game designer, which is I don't really want my games to tell really broad and you know, universal stories like I want to create one experience that I knock out of the park.

Snyder’s Return : 14:32

Well, that's definitely something we're gonna touch on a little bit but sticking with the games you have played, or it might not be the game you'd like what has been the most interesting game mechanic for example, the central directive used a pack of cards in a blackjack style. What game mechanic Have you come across that you've thought the game might not be perfect, but I love the way this mechanic works.

Jeff Stormer : 14:58

Oh, I know the exact moment like hearing you talk about it like I honestly was like struggling a little bit but like, it just clicked into place. Let me find the exact name of it cuz it's got a good name and it was one of my favourite episodes that we've ever done for a lot of different reasons. There is a game called an angelical year in the angelical life of angelical cat which is a game that combines sort of David Lynch II and horror with the cinema, the cinema classic cats 2019 director Tom Hooper, both things that are very close to my heart. This game had a mechanic to simulate Cat Dance battles. It It blew and it blew my mind like it was so well done, like the actual mechanic itself is you take a handful of dice and you are trying to create like you roll a theoretically infinite number of dice. They're all six sided dice, but you have to roll and like you keep going until you roll. Higher until you roll equal to or lower the number that you just rolled or and then you lose everything. So there's a risk reward mechanic of like I roll a D six, I get a two, I go, Okay, I have to roll a three or higher on my second D six, I can keep this one dice and take like one point, or I can roll a second e6 and try to get higher and then like the, the sort of risk reward and the sort of like precision of it of like the balancing of odds in it of like I rolled it to, that's pretty low, I can probably roll a three or higher, I'm going to roll that second dice. Now that one's a four, I don't think I'm going to get a five or six on this third dice. I'm gonna cut it like the patterns that you get from that and just the like, the rhythm of it and the speed of it like and that kind of goes back to what I was saying about like specificity of theme is like, the way that that dice game works. It creates this feeling that you are like pushing your luck and you're pushing it and you're you're trying to get a return Trying to get into a rhythm you're trying to get into a cadence. And like it captures a really specific experience that I probably wouldn't use for a lot of like there are a lot of stories that I don't think that mechanic works for at all. But the stories that the story that it's aiming to tell which is one of you know, humanoid Cat Dance battles, like it fits so perfectly to that mechanic because I'm rolling a dice and going, Okay, I'm gonna go a little further. I'm gonna I'm gonna push my luck. Oh, I pushed it too far. And now I slipped up on my, like, I tripped on my feet. It creates this this mechanical space that like perfectly matches with theme and it's really really, then like, that is a mechanic that I absolutely adore. And it speaks to that kind of specificity of design. Like it speaks that kind of like this is the experience that we want you to feel.

Snyder’s Return : 17:49

But it sounds it sounds a little fun. The way you've described it, there was really drew me in I can tell why you're a podcaster

Jeff Stormer : 17:57

I love doing this. This is my favourite thing to do. You sell it

Snyder’s Return : 18:01

amazing. But moving on to the one of the key words to use their game design. You've released your own. Would you like to tell us more about your own game that you've released?

Jeff Stormer : 18:13

Yes, I've written a few smaller games. I've written a few smaller games I wrote one. I guess you could describe it as a viral fast food theme to LARP. But the game that I'm probably my most my probably biggest game to date is a game called Mission accomplished. There's a solute in the title and you have to make sure you salute when you say it. Um, I haven't figured out how to put that onto text yet, but it's there you just kind of have to now have mission accomplished is a role playing game of super spies and office meetings. It's very much inspired by shows like Archer is a very big influence. shows like Better Off Ted or the venture brothers that take this kind of larger than life kind of for colour. superhero world and say, let's look at sort of the the mediocre bureaucracy that kind of underpins this. So the premise is you are a team of James Bond style super secret agents, you have just saved the world you have blown up the doomsday device you have you have you have dispatched to the bad guys. And now you are back in manage in like a sweaty conference room in a meeting with management to kind of hash out who is responsible for what went right and who is it blame for what went wrong. And at the end of the meeting, somebody is going to get a corner office promotion, and somebody is going to get black bagged and dragged off into international waters.

Snyder’s Return : 19:43

So going into how that plays what's the sort of the mechanics behind how the game is played. So

Jeff Stormer : 19:49

the way the game is played is the core of the game is the first thing you do is decide on a series of things that have gone wrong. Like before you make your characters you have what you pick out your message. There are a number of like mission dossiers to choose from or you can create your own. You then look at that mission dossier. For example, one of them is we have to go to the moon and blow up a moon laser that is being pointed at the earth by the vast international League of larcenous, arsonists, and inventors of nefarious science and organisation called villains. villains is pointed a moon laser at the earth, we have to go blow it up at the start of the game, we have blown up the moon laser, and we're back in the office. So the way the game is fundamentally played is we look at that mission, that kind of mission pitch and we say what are some things that could have gone wrong, that are either very large or very small one and one that I always go for in that particular scenario is that somebody failed to update their out of office in Outlook, and so that just a bunch of emails have gone on answered. So we pick out a bunch of things that have gone wrong. Then we create our cool secret agents. And then each secret agent writes down To facts that are completely secret, and they handed off to the mission control with a game master figure, one way in which another agent on the team has done something really, really good to like, elevate the entire experience to like, elevate the team to really cinch the mission and really, like make it super successful. And one way in which a team member has completely gummed up the works. So there's, there's just a bunch of secret information that is all passed to Mission Control, who then takes turns putting cards on the table and saying, like, Can you explain why you can you explain why you shot the International Space Station out of the sky with the moon laser. And then the agent has to explain how why that was actually really secretly important to the mission success. And then the the Mission Control kind of arbitrarily gives you a commendation or a citation. And then at the end of the game, everybody rolls a bunch of dice. They're handed out by Mission Control kind of way willy nilly and based on like the high result that you get based on like kind of the numbers the way the numbers work one player gets you know gets burned and dumped in Florida with no and with no name or identifying information one player gets a corner office another player gets a week's paid vacation like it is very and it's all very deliberately like corporate nonsense because that is really the kind of game that I wanted to create like it is a game about a game about being in a miserable meeting with your boss and having to explain why the things that very obviously went wrong weren't your fault

Snyder’s Return : 22:40

sounds like a great mash up between as you as you say between Archer and Burn Notice I think

Jeff Stormer : 22:46

Yeah, burn Burn is Burn Notice is a good is a good example of it as well of like that kind of feel of like the I like to burn notice is great specifically because like it captures that vibe that anytime The burned anytime anytime Michael bird notice and I don't remember his name I'm just gonna call him Michael Burt notice anytime Michael Byrne notice has to interact with a spy agency they're always incompetent and they're always like tied up with red tape. It's that kind of experience of like oh my god why are you making this so much more difficult than it needs to be? But

Snyder’s Return : 23:23

it sounds a lot of fun does and that's available

Jeff Stormer : 23:27

where was that can get that on Jeff stormer.h.io that is my page. You can also find that on Drive Thru RPG there are PDF copies available. There will be some soft covers available at some point kind of depends on when I kind of get like where we're shipping out the soft covers we we Kickstarter for like at the moment. Once we finished doing that whatever's left will be made for sale on it you

Snyder’s Return : 23:56

That sounds great. Well, so that's what you're doing now. What have you got Have you got any plans for anything to support the game? Or have you got new ventures that you're working on anything you can discuss? I don't want to

Jeff Stormer : 24:07

I Oh, I Oh, I got but I gab about this stuff on Twitter all the time, it's fine. Um, so the big thing that I'm working on for mission accomplished is I want I'm putting together and by putting together I mean, I'm having to like figure out how to put together because this isn't really a thing that there are like resources or guides to put together on but I'm putting together kind of a licencing agreement for it. Basically, what I want is, excuse me, what I want is to give people that want to make their own like dossiers, because I think it is a very fun and silly thing to write for. And I want people to be able to write for it. And I also want people to be able to make money by writing stuff for it like I would love like, so what I'm putting together for mission accomplished is like a licencing agreement. MIT that basically says, write something for this, like write a dossier for it, charge $5 for it, and like whatever money you keep is yours, like, I want people to, I want people to write because I like I there are some guests stuff. There's some guests stuff in the book that I think is better than everything that I wrote. And I really want to see what nonsense people write, when they're just given free rein to do that. And I really want people to feel empowered to like charge for that. Like, I don't want people to be like, Oh, I wrote this thing. It's just a supplement for Mission accomplished. So I'm gonna put it up for free. It is important to me that people have the ability to be like, I wrote this thing, and it's great and it's funny. I'm going to charge a few dollars for it like that is something that is important to me. So that's kind of that's what's next for Mission accomplished. And then like, once that's in place, working out a way to reach out to people that I like and get them and pay them to write a thing that I can sell. Like, that's kind of the second next step is to put the Gather like theme packs of dossiers

Snyder’s Return : 26:02

so you'd end up with something like the OTL from say, wizard the coast or the grim and perilous library or the store yeah something that people can go to they can add to it just enriches the whole yeah

Jeff Stormer : 26:16

game. That's kind of what I was going for it really specifically like the I think like the more I think about it, the more the biggest inspiration for me in terms of like, a goals of what I wanted to look like is bully pulpit with fiasco like they're they have, they have so many like, fan made, like scenarios for fiasco on their website that they like, distribute by newsletters and they hosted on their website, like having that kind of a library available where I can be like, look at all the cool things that people have made for this game like that is the long term dream for me for mission accomplished, because like, there are only so many jokes I can make about my oldest bad day job, that I want people to make jokes about their bad day jobs.

Snyder’s Return : 27:04

I'm sure people have got plenty of experience to draw on as well.

Jeff Stormer : 27:08

That's that's really the like, the secret about mission accomplished is that it is entirely a game just about quite like making jokes about your day job and I want other people do make jokes about their day job because I think because I always laugh every time somebody pitches me something Mission accomplished. I laugh because it's always funny.

Snyder’s Return : 27:28

I'm gonna, so I'm gonna ask two very similar but very different questions, go for it. Yeah, the first one is, you mentioned people contributing and sort of expanding the dossiers and things like that for Mission accomplished. So what advice would you give people looking to get into content creation? For tabletop role playing games in general,

Jeff Stormer : 27:53

the simplest answer I have is this sounds this I worry I I give this advice and I worry that it sounds flippant. But I really don't mean it as such, which is like, go and do it. Like if you have an idea. I think that there is never I really believe there's never been a better time to just go and make that thing. Like the way that it geo is structured like the fact that it geo has really exploded as like a platform. Like I think that there are more tools available to like help you make games and sell them and like be a person that is like creating content in that space. Like there are so many communities and podcasts and streams and people who like our tweet like there's so many good Twitter threads and and blog posts that are all kind of geared towards like helping kind of identify those resources that can help you make that first thing that I really think like one of the most powerful Like pieces of advice I can give is just saying like, if you need to hear somebody give you permission to do it, like you have my permission to do it. Because like, there's so much out there like it is so easy to make a thing. And honestly, like, this is how i got i i, for years. I was like, I'm never going to make a game. And then I had an idea for a game. It was a I wrote a one page thing. I put it on, I put it on, or I didn't even put it on HBO. HBO hadn't really breaking out but like I put I wrote a one page thing. I tweeted it as a Google doc and then eventually made an HTML page and turned it into a PDF and sold it and like that was that was like that was that turned me like I was like, Okay, I can do this. I can make these games. I can be a part of this. Like I can be a game. I am a game designer. And like really truly like that is I think having that knowing that you can take that step is profoundly important. To me, because I think like, a lot of times, and this is this is as often when I give advice This is advice for me that I am repurposing for others. The biggest obstacle in my way from starting to make games has always been me thinking that like, I couldn't make it happen. And I've gotten a lot better at realising that I can make a lot of cool stuff happen but like giving people that ability to do that, I think is just my advice is go do it because you're going to be amazing. I think that

Snyder’s Return : 30:35

certainly is sound device and should hopefully revitalise them, but engage someone into putting that process into inter process that was a very poorly worded sentence, but

Jeff Stormer : 30:48

I appreciate the sentiment on paper. I appreciate the sentiment and I if one person hears that and does the thing, I'll feel like I've done my job,

Snyder’s Return : 30:55

which is something we all want, we just want to expand this humidity and and everything around it. But the other question that sounds similar that is different is with respect to you are, you're so engaging and I've really enjoyed speaking to you. What advice would you give to people looking to get into podcasting?

Jeff Stormer : 31:15

I have a lot more profoundly specific advice. This is a this is an hour long topic. The shortest answer is a small investment up front is going to pay off dividends later because I started with an absolute trash 15 $20 headset. A basic mic like I when I finally like when I like once I up I spent and that headset died within six months and I ended up having to upgrade but I bought a nicer mic and it lasted a year and then I bought a slightly nicer mic and it lasted two years and like those little tiny investments like your content is worth it. The other advice that I have like I could, I could get into like buying stuff and like the logistics and hosting platforms and all the like boring stuff. But like I think the best piece of advice I can give for somebody who wants to get into podcasting is the more specific. And this is, I think, you can tell that I'm getting to a point that I'm passionate about because I'm giving it 17 asterisks of the point that is important to me. And like this is relevant to people that are making role playing game centric podcasts because that's like my frame of reference, but like, specificity of concept is a profoundly important thing. And like, you're not going to know what you're doing for probably a long time. Maybe not ever I can tell you that because I've been doing this for years and I still don't really know what I'm doing. But like if you can identify like a concept that you are that you that you feel is strong and stands out from From the pack that you are comfortable with, that is going to cover a lot of gaps in your knowledge. Like it is easy to make a thing that like stands out. And if you make a thing that stands out like it can give you a lot of leeway when you're not really sure when you're figuring things out. For party of one, like I, you can listen to those episodes, and I literally have no clue what I'm doing like the format is is janky like that I haven't figured out ahead and figured it takes me a while to figure out the rhythms takes me a while to get comfortable on mic. My my, the early audio is rough. But like that concept, one game one guest one shot every week. In the early days, a lot of got very good feedback from people that were like, Oh, this is a concept that stands out. This is an interesting pitch. And like I like dude in the early days like I that was that kept me like that gave me motivation to keep Going and now like I hear people give much more like specific like praise to a lot of other parts of the show. But that's because I had time to learn what I was doing because I didn't have to try and I wasn't trying to compete in a crowded field I guess is what I would say like if you can find if you can find it having a concept that is like narrow and specific and like that you can really like smash that bat and send it out of the park. Like that's going to let give you time to learn the rest of the process like you'll you'll figure out editing later. No podcast in the history of podcasts will like no podcaster is going to is going to sit down with you and go episode one. Yeah, crushed it. Hundred percent wouldn't change a thing. No, no independent podcaster so it could do hasn't said the following since episode one. The audio is not great because I really didn't know what I was doing. But I promise you by Episode Seven, it gets a lot better. Everybody So I've spoken about trauma. And so like the but like if you can, if you have a concept that you feel passionate about and that really work, but like you can feel like you can really like grab the wheel and drive with it and put your pedal to the metal. That's gonna give you a lot of leeway to build that foundation, right? Like your audio might be your audio might sound might not sound great, and you might not be have your rhythm of how to speak to a guest. But like if people are going, Oh, that's a neat concept. Then in 10 episodes, you've given them the opportunity to go, that's a neat concept. And also you're really good at hosting it and then in 100 episodes, it's that's my favourite podcast. That is my advice. That is my that is my pep talk. And that is the pep talk that I would have given myself five years ago. And five years ago, I'd have gone Yeah, I did it. And it probably would have a whole time time travel mixed up scenario, I'd have to travel back to tell myself not to tell myself that it would have been a hot mess.

Snyder’s Return : 35:56

So Back to the Future strikes again. So, you've mentioned how to get podcasters and game designers started, you know, pen to paper, get it out there, except that you're gonna be rough but get that investment in and learn what you're doing as you go and find that niche. What podcasts Do you like to listen to? If you get the time to obviously you're very busy with a myriad of other projects, but when you get the chance, what podcasts do you like? And do you enjoy?

Jeff Stormer : 36:27

Um, I love I love any bike, I feel like I can listen to and like unwind with I love a good relaxing podcast, which is very funny because a lot of partying one is very kind of intense. I love a lot of relaxing podcasts a few of my absolute favourites. I love a show called punch up the jam, which is a show about comedians listening to a song and reading the lyrics and breaking down why it's ridiculous and punching it up and creating a better version of that song. There's one of my absolute favourite projects. In the world in terms of just like general shows is a show called off the hop rope. Two things that we've not touched on in this interview that are very near and dear to me are professional wrestling and craft beer. And this is a show that combines those two things. It is a bunch of independent professional wrestlers and every week they pair a different wrestling match with a different beer. It's very close to my heart. I love that show. I love that show dearly. In terms of like, my selfish answer in terms of like what roleplaying game centric podcasts I listen to are, and I'm, you know, I've learned to not feel shame about this answer. They're the ones that my friends make is the best way to describe it. Like protein city comics, which might, which is made by some dear friends of mine is one of I think, a podcast that puts just about every other podcast to shame. So protein city is a show that puts just about every other podcast to shame like it is a superhero actual play using masks, but they approach it as like a Fictional comic book publishing companies like releases, so they break their issues into issues, they do arcs, they've done crossovers. They have episodes where they talk about the publishing history of various characters. And like it is honestly just like, it's the way that they approach making an actual play piece of content is like so brilliant that like it, I'm always in awe of it. It is a thing that I am constantly shaking with how good it is. And like it's, it's also like, it's the thing my friends make. So like I get to literally like I'll pop it on and be like, yeah, there's my friends Brandon and James and elsebeth. And like, there's my buddies like, I get to hear friends and like, I selfishly has a podcast or like I it gives me a chance to listen to people that I love for a few minutes and like I think that is an incredibly valuable thing. It's selfishly why I love podcasting.

Snyder’s Return : 38:57

There is nothing wrong with as you say, you shouldn't be By enjoying the content that your friends make, exactly.

Jeff Stormer : 39:03

You should be supporting the stuff your friends make, like if nothing else, because they are your friends and you get to go like, hey, my friend made this. It's a good feeling.

Snyder’s Return : 39:13

Yeah, definitely, definitely. Uh, so is there anything that that you would like to bring to the to the fore or bring to the table as it were? Anything we've not touched on? I know that you've expressed a passionate for pro wrestling and craft ale. And that's definitely something we could maybe pick up on another time. But is there anything else that you would like to bring to us?

Jeff Stormer : 39:39

I don't think so. I think this was this was this was a wonderful conversation to brighten up my Saturday. Thank you so much.

Snyder’s Return : 39:46

Well, it's been an absolute pleasure. Would you like to remind everybody where they can find you and your content? And, and yeah, so so people can engage with you because it's been an absolute pleasure.

Jeff Stormer : 39:57

Now of course, you can find you can find links to Most of the stuff I make I haven't updated in a while, this is my reminder to update the website, you can go to Jeff stormer.com. To find like links to all the podcasts that I make in games that I published. You can also go to Jeff stormer.h.io and pick up a mission accomplished as well as the other smaller games. I personally recommend a game called Jonathan frakes demands your attention and you must not give it to him. The premises that is a to play a role playing game about you have been haunted by a ghost that has taken the form of Jonathan frakes from Star Trek, and you have to do a household chore which is literally how you play the game is one player has to perform a household chore, while the other player does reenact that Jonathan frakes meme from beyond belief where he just asks you questions, and you have to try and get the other players attention by asking them what's the tell us man you've ever seen? And like it's, I'm really happy with that particular game. Um, so in my mind today, you can go just normal that is shot IO. You can also go to party One podcast.com to find more about party have one.

Snyder’s Return : 41:02

All right, I will now have will Riker in my mind for the rest of the evening. So thank you for lucky for that, of course. But no, it's been an absolute pleasure. I'd love to have you on the show again in the future, if you'd be willing.

Jeff Stormer : 41:15

Yeah, of course. All right, well, I

Snyder’s Return : 41:18

will let you get on with your Saturday. And I will make sure that links are in the description below for everything. We've just got as many things as we've discussed as I can possibly find. So people can come and find you and really enjoy the content that you pile. Thank you so much. It's It's been a pleasure. Thank you, Jeff. Thank you. Thanks for listening. If you want to hear more of us, or to get in contact with us, you can find us on Twitter at Return Snyder. You can find us on Instagram Facebook, and also if you wish to support the channel on patreon@patreon.com slash knives return music and sound effects provided for this episode are from epidemic sounds.com Transcribed by https://otter.ai