For years, Kent Blue had been buying roleplaying game books and materials and not playing them — they were just sitting on his shelf — taunting him.
At the time, Blue was an avid podcast listener and had become friends with the people behind a horror movie podcast called Eerie, International.
“They asked me to come on their show and run a game of Call of Cthulhu for them — so I did, and it went really well,” he said. “After it was over I realized I could do this regularly and finally play all of those games on my shelf. A few weeks later Roll To Play was up and running as a weekly podcast.”
So in the fall of 2017, he started Roll To Play Podcast, a podcast that features actual plays of tabletop roleplaying games.
“Think Dungeons and Dragons (but not Dungeons and Dragons) mixed with a heavy dose of improv comedy,” he said.
He said in the beginning, he leveraged the help with his friends locally and the few he had made online through listening to podcasts.
“They came on as players in games I ran,” Blue said. “About a month in, I put out an open call for folks (with a preference for folks from marginalized backgrounds as RPGs have been fairly dominated by straight, white men for much of the hobby’s existence) to come to be players on my show. I was surprised by the number of folks who responded.”
A few months later, he had made a lot of new friends and Roll To Play was growing pretty fast. He connected with game designers and other podcasters, both of which helped grow his audience.
“I was surprised at how this little thing I started on my own was growing and finding its place in the world of Actual Play podcasts,” Blue said. “The show is typically lighthearted with lots of laughs, but I try to also find games that have something to say about society and culture and can help you think about things in a different way.”
Earlier this summer, Blue started the Roll To Play Network with his friends Tim and Kristin Devine, who he met through the podcast.
They currently have four podcasts on the network and two more will be added in the coming months. The Devines are also accomplished roleplaying game designers and the three of them are starting to explore more in that realm as a team.
In the future, Blue would like to connect with more local people.
“Most of my games are played and recorded online issuing Google Hangouts with folks from around the world,” he said. “It’d be nice to sit around an actual table with people. I’d also like to explore working with local game stores and conventions on some live events with my podcast.”
Roll To Play Podcast releases every Thursday at www.rolltoplaynetwork.com.
