Welcome to a brand new episode of The Flickcast, a pop culture podcast about stuff nerds love. On this week’s show Chris welcomes guest Ashley Warren to talk about a whole bunch of stuff they love.

A small example of this includes writing and her writing process, her love for Dungeons & Dragons, what it means to be a DM’s Guild Adept, working from home, creating official D&D content, saving the world and a whole lot more.

It’s a big episode chock full of insights, thoughts and ideas. Plus, they manage to have some fun along the way too. Hope you enjoy it.

And be sure to check out all of Ashley’s work at her website ScribeMind, the RPG Writers Workshop, the DM’s Guild and find her most recent project Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden wherever D&D adventures are sold.

Thanks for listening.

WARNING: This episode may contain discussions about COVID-19, mental health and quarantine. We understand not everyone is in a place to talk about or hear discussions surrounding these issues. Please do what’s best for you. Stay safe everyone.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, Instagram or, yes, even Facebook. Or shoot us an email. We don’t mind.

Photo: Wizards of the Coast

Opening and end music by Kevin MacLeod under Creative Commons License

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If you’re a geek or gamer (or both), chances are you’ve played Dungeons & Dragons, or know someone who has. First introduced in 1974, D&D went on to become an international phenomenon selling over $1 Billion worth of books, 20-sided dice and related materials in over 30 countries.

To this day, many leaders in entertainment, and other industries, hail D&D as a major inspirations for their creativity and imagination. In short, it was quite a game. And to many, it still is. But where did it come from?

The common wisdom is D&D was invented by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, two friends who’s love of gaming led them to create the first rule books, and more, for what would become modern D&D and later, Advanced D&D. But is that the whole story?

Over at Geek Dad they’ve wondered the same thing and a statement about the discovery of a rare manuscript may just hold the key to unlocking the mystery of who really created the game. According to the statement by the Strong National Museum of Play, “A rare manuscript believed by some experts to be the earliest existing version of Dungeons & Dragons” is now on display at their Rochester, NY, museum.

YouTube channel Geek & Sundry has announced two new shows premiering next week. On Tuesday, November 13^th, the satirical sci-fi comedy Space Janitors begins. The show follows two custodians, Mike and Darby, who do their best to keep things neat and tidy aboard an evil space station that’s in the middle of an intergalactic war.

Then on Thursday, November 15^th On The Table will fill the tabletop gaming void left by Geek & Sundry’s TableTop, which is going on hiatus until January. Hosted by Warren Johnston, On The Table offers gaming fans the latest news and gives them a chance to submit their own tips, videos and more.

Check out teasers for both shows after the break and be sure to visit Geek and Sundry’s channel for more nerdy goodness.

Tim Schafer’s Doublefine Adventure Kickstarter fund seemed to revolutionize videogame development forever- but with the success of Miskatonic School for Girls, it seems that tabletop gaming had already figured out how great Kickstarter can be. The project, which raised $52,000 dollars more than the creators asked for it, was available for purchase in the tabletop area of PAX East last weekend, and I sat down with some friends to check it out.

The Miskatonic School for Girls is a very unique institution of higher learning for women, set in the universe of H.P. Lovecraft and Cthulu. Players take on the role of the students at the school, as they attempt to defeat their teachers and survive the day without losing all their sanity.

What makes Miskatonic School for Girls unique in the scheme of deckbuilding games is rather than just using friendship points to assemble new classmate cards to make your own deck powerful, you can use your nightmare points to buy faculty cards that are forced into your opponent’s decks and pin them against difficult foes. But, concentrate too much on messing with other people’s decks without arming your own with friendly cards, and you may go crazy before you manage to defeat your fellow players.