Podcast appearances and mentions of Diana Jones

Matt Forbeck is all that and so much more. He grew up in Wisconsin as what he describes as a wimpy kid, too short and not overly healthy. He took to gaming at a pretty early age and has grown to be a game creator, author and award-winning storyteller.   Matt has been designing games now for over 35 years. He tells us how he believes that many of the most successful games today have stories to tell, and he loves to create some of the most successful ones. What I find most intriguing about Matt is that he clearly is absolutely totally happy in his work. For most of Matt's career he has worked for himself and continues today to be an independent freelancer.   Matt and his wife have five children, including a set of quadruplets. The quadruplets are 23 and Matt's oldest son is 28 and is following in his father's footsteps.   During our conversation we touch on interesting topics such as trust and work ethics. I know you will find this episode stimulating and worth listening to more than once.     About the Guest:   Matt Forbeck is an award-winning and New York Times-bestselling author and game designer of over thirty-five novels and countless other books and games. His projects have won a Peabody Award, a Scribe Award, and numerous ENnies and Origins Awards. He is also the president of the Diana Jones Award Foundation, which celebrates excellence in gaming.    Matt has made a living full-time on games and fiction since 1989, when he graduated from the Residential College at the University of Michigan with a degree in Creative Writing. With the exception of a four-year stint as the president of Pinnacle Entertainment Group and a year and a half as the director of the adventure games division of Human Head Studios, he has spent his career as an independent freelancer.   Matt has designed collectible card games, roleplaying games, miniatures games, board games, interactive fiction, interactive audiobooks, games for museum installations, and logic systems for toys. He has directed voiceover work and written short fiction, comic books, novels, screenplays, and video game scripts and stories. His work has been translated into at least 15 languages.   His latest work includes the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game Core Rulebook, the Spider-Verse Expansion, Monster Academy (novels and board game), the Shotguns & Sorcery 5E Sourcebook based on his novels, and the Minecraft: Roll for Adventure game books. He is the father of five, including a set of quadruplets. He lives in Beloit, Wisconsin, with his wife and a rotating cast of college-age children. For more about him and his work, visit Forbeck.com.   Ways to connect with Matt:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/mforbeck Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/forbeck Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/forbeck.com Threads: https://www.threads.net/@mforbeck Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mforbeck/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/forbeck/ Website: https://www.forbeck.com/     About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset today. We get to play games. Well, not really, but we'll try. Our guest is Matt Forbeck, who is an award winning author. He is a game designer and all sorts of other kinds of things that I'm sure he's going to tell us about, and we actually just before we started the the episode, we were talking about how one might explore making more games accessible for blind and persons with other disabilities. It's, it's a challenge, and there, there are a lot of tricks. But anyway, Matt, I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're here.   Matt Forbeck ** 02:02 Well, thank you, Michael for inviting me and having me on. I appreciate it.   Speaker 1 ** 02:06 I think we're going to have a lot of fun, and I think it'll work out really well. I'm I am sure of that. So why don't we start just out of curiosity, why don't you tell us kind of about the early Matt, growing up?   Matt Forbeck ** 02:18 Uh, well, I grew up. I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I grew up in a little town called Beloit, Wisconsin, which actually live in now, despite having moved away for 13 years at one point, and I had terrible asthma, I was a sick and short kid, and with the advent of medication, I finally started to be healthy when I was around nine, and Part of that, I started getting into playing games, right? Because when you're sick, you do a lot of sitting around rather than running around. So I did a lot of reading and playing games and things like that. I happen to grow up in the part of the world where Dungeons and Dragons was invented, which is in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, about 30 miles from where I live. And because of that I was I started going to conventions and playing games and such, when I was about 12 or 13 years old. I started doing it when I was a little bit older. I started doing it professionally, and started doing it when I was in college. And amazingly enough, even to my own astonishment, I've made a career out of it.   Speaker 1 ** 03:17 Where did you go to college? I went to the University   Matt Forbeck ** 03:21 of Michigan over in Ann Arbor. I had a great time there. There's a wonderful little college, Beloit College, in my hometown here, and most of my family has gone to UW Milwaukee over the years. My parents met at Marquette in Milwaukee, but I wanted to get the heck out of the area, so I went to Michigan, and then found myself coming back as soon as we started having   Speaker 1 ** 03:42 kids well, and of course, I would presume that when you were at the University of Michigan, you rooted for them and against Ohio State. That was   Matt Forbeck ** 03:50 kind of, you know, if you did it the other way around, they back out of town. So, yeah, I was always kind of astonished, though, because having grown up in Wisconsin, where every sports team was a losing team when I was growing up, including the Packers, for decades. You know, we were just happy to be playing. They were more excuse to have beers than they were to cheer on teams. And I went to Michigan where they were, they were angry if the team wasn't up by two touchdowns. You know, at any point, I'm like, You guys are silly. This is we're here for fun.   Speaker 1 ** 04:17 But it is amazing how seriously some people take sports. I remember being in New Zealand helping the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind. Well now 22 years ago, it's 2003 and the America's Cup had just finished before we got there, and in America beat New Zealand, and the people in New Zealand were just irate. They were complaining that the government didn't put enough money into the design of the boat and helping with the with the yacht and all that. It was just amazing how seriously people take it, yeah,   Matt Forbeck ** 04:58 once, I mean, it becomes a part of your. Identity in a lot of ways, right for many people, and I've never had to worry about that too much. I've got other things on my mind, but there you go.   Speaker 1 ** 05:08 Well, I do like it when the Dodgers win, and my wife did her graduate work at USC, and so I like it when the Trojans win, but it's not the end of the world, and you do need to keep it in perspective. I I do wish more people would I know once I delivered a speech in brether County, Kentucky, and I was told that when I started the speech had to end no later than preferably exactly at 6:30pm not a minute later, because it was the night of the NCAA Basketball Championship, and the Kentucky Wildcats were in the championship, and at 630 everyone was going to get up and leave and go home to watch the game. So I ended at 630 and literally, by 631 I timed it. The gym was empty and it was full to start with.   Matt Forbeck ** 06:02 People were probably, you know, counting down on their watches, just to make sure, right?   Speaker 1 ** 06:06 Oh, I'm sure they were. What do you do? It's, it is kind of fun. Well, so why did you decide to get started in games? What? What? What attracted to you, to it as a young person, much less later on?   Matt Forbeck ** 06:21 Well, I was, yeah, I was an awkward kid, kind of nerdy and, you know, glasses and asthma and all that kind of stuff. And games were the kind of thing where, if you didn't know how to interact with people, you could sit down at a table across them and you could practice. You can say, okay, we're all here. We've got this kind of a magic circle around us where we've agreed to take this one silly activity seriously for a short period of time, right? And it may be that you're having fun during that activity, but you know, there's, there's no reason that rolling dice or moving things around on a table should be taken seriously. It's all just for fun, right? But for that moment, you actually just like Las Vegas Exactly, right? When there's money on the line, it's different, but if you're just doing it for grins. You know, it was a good way for me to learn how to interact with people of all sorts and of different ages. And I really enjoyed playing the games, and I really wanted to be a writer, too. And a lot of these things interacted with story at a very basic level. So breaking in as a writer is tough, but it turned out breaking as a game designer, wasn't nearly his stuff, so I started out over there instead, because it was a very young field at the time, right? D and D is now 50 years old, so I've been doing this 35 years, which means I started around professionally and even doing it before that, I started in the period when the game and that industry were only like 10 or 15 years old, so yeah, weren't quite as much competition in those   Speaker 1 ** 07:43 days. I remember some of the early games that I did play, that I could play, were DOS based games, adventure. You're familiar with adventure? Yeah, oh, yeah. Then later, Zork and all that. And I still think those are fun games. And I the reason I like a lot of those kinds of games is they really make you think, which I think most games do, even though the video even the video games and so on, they they help your or can help your reactions, but they're designed by people who do try to make you think,   Matt Forbeck ** 08:15 yeah. I mean, we basically are designing puzzles for people to solve, even if they're story puzzles or graphic puzzles or sound puzzles or whatever, you know, even spatial puzzles. There the idea is to give somebody something fun that is intriguing to play with, then you end up coming with story and after that, because after a while, even the most most exciting mechanics get dull, right? I mean, you start out shooting spaceships, but you can only shoot spaceships for so long, or you start out playing Tetris, and you only put shapes together for so long before it doesn't mean anything that then you start adding in story to give people a reason to keep playing right and a reason to keep going through these things. And I've written a lot of video games over the years, basically with that kind of a philosophy, is give people nuggets of story, give them a plot to work their way through, and reward them for getting through different stages, and they will pretty much follow you through anything. It's amazing.   Michael Hingson ** 09:09 Is that true Dungeons and Dragons too?   Matt Forbeck ** 09:13 It is. All of the stories are less structured there. If you're doing a video game, you know you the team has a lot of control over you. Give the player a limited amount of control to do things, but if you're playing around a table with people, it's more of a cooperative kind of experience, where we're all kind of coming up with a story, the narrator or the Game Master, the Dungeon Master, sets the stage for everything, but then the players have a lot of leeway doing that, and they will always screw things up for you, too. No matter what you think is going to happen, the players will do something different, because they're individuals, and they're all amazing people. That's actually to me, one of the fun things about doing tabletop games is that, you know, the computer can only react in a limited number of ways, whereas a human narrator and actually change things quite drastically and roll. With whatever people come up with, and that makes it tremendous fun.   Speaker 1 ** 10:04 Do you think AI is going to enter into all that and maybe improve some of the   Matt Forbeck ** 10:09 old stuff? It's going to add your end to it, whether it's an ad, it's going to approve it as a large question. Yeah. So I've been ranting about AI quite a bit lately with my friends and family. But, you know, I think the problem with AI, it can be very helpful a lot of ways, but I think it's being oversold. And I think it's especially when it's being oversold for thing, for ways for people to replace writers and creative thinking, Yeah, you know, you're taking the fun out of everything. I mean, the one thing I like to say is if, if you can't be bothered to write this thing that you want to communicate to me, I'm not sure why I should be bothered to read this thing well.   Speaker 1 ** 10:48 And I think that AI will will evolve in whatever way it does. But the fact of the matter is, So do people. And I think that, in fact, people are always going to be necessary to make the process really work? AI can only do and computers can only do so much. I mean, even Ray Kurzweil talks about the singularity when people and computer brains are married, but that still means that you're going to have the human element. So it's not all going to be the computer. And I'm not ready to totally buy into to what Ray says. And I used to work for Ray, so I mean, I know Ray Well, but, but the but the bottom line is, I think that, in fact, people are always going to be able to be kind of the, the mainstay of it, as long as we allow that, if we, if we give AI too much power, then over time, it'll take more power, and that's a problem, but that's up to us to deal with?   Matt Forbeck ** 11:41 No, I totally agree with that. I just think right now, there's a very large faction of people who it's in their economic interest to oversell these things. You know, people are making chips. They're building server farms. A lot of them are being transferred from people are doing blockchain just a few years ago, and they see it as the hot new thing. The difference is that AI actually has a lot of good uses. There's some amazing things will come out of llms and such. But I again, people are over the people are selling this to us. Are often over promising things, right?   Speaker 1 ** 12:11 Yeah, well, they're not only over promising but they're they're really misdirecting people. But the other side of it is that, that, in fact, AI as a concept and as a technology is here, and we have control over how we use it. I've said a couple times on this this podcast, and I've said to others, I remember when I first started hearing about AI, I heard about the the fact that teachers were bemoaning the pack, that kids were writing their papers just using AI and turning them in, and it wasn't always easy to tell whether it was something that was written by AI or was written by the student. And I come from a little bit different view than I think a lot of people do. And my view basically is, let the kids write it if with AI, if that's what they're going to do, but then what the teacher needs to do is to take one period, for example, and give every student in that class the opportunity to come up and defend whatever paper they have. And the real question is, can they defend the paper? Which means, have they really learned the subject, or are they just relying on AI,   Matt Forbeck ** 13:18 yeah, I agree with that. I think the trouble is, a lot of people, children, you know, who are developing their abilities and their morals about this stuff, they use it as just a way to complete the assignment, right? And many of them don't even read what they turn in, right, right? Just know that they've got something here that will so again, if you can't be bothered to read the thing that you manufactured, you're not learning anything about it,   Speaker 1 ** 13:39 which is why, if you are forced to defend it, it's going to become pretty obvious pretty fast, whether you really know it or not. Now, I've used AI on a number of occasions in various ways, but I use it to maybe give me ideas or prepare something that I then modify and shape. And I may even interact with AI a couple of times, but I'm definitely involved with the process all the way down the line, because it still has to be something that I'm responsible for.   Matt Forbeck ** 14:09 I agree. I mean, the whole point of doing these things is for people to connect with each other, right? I want to learn about the ideas you have in your head. I want to see how they jive with ones in my head. But if I'm just getting something that's being spit out by a machine and not you, and not being curated by you at any point, that doesn't seem very useful, right? So if you're the more involved people are in it, the more useful it is.   Speaker 1 ** 14:31 Well, I agree, and you know, I think again, it's a tool, and we have to decide how the tool is going to be used, which is always the way it ought to be. Right?   Matt Forbeck ** 14:42 Exactly, although sometimes it's large corporations deciding,   Speaker 1 ** 14:45 yeah, well, there's that too. Well, individuals,   Matt Forbeck ** 14:49 we get to make our own choices. Though you're right,   Speaker 1 ** 14:51 yes, and should Well, so, so when did you start bringing writing into what you. Did, and make that a really significant part of what you did?   Matt Forbeck ** 15:03 Well, pretty early on, I mean, I started doing one of the first things I did was a gaming zine, which was basically just a print magazine that was like, you know, 32 pages, black and white, about the different tabletop games. So we were writing those in the days, design and writing are very closely linked when it comes to tabletop games and even in video games. The trick of course is that designing a game and writing the rules are actually two separate sets of skills. So one of the first professional gig I ever had during writing was in games was some friends of mine had designed a game for a company called Mayfair games, which went on to do sellers of contain, which is a big, uh, entry level game, and but they needed somebody to write the rules, so they called me over, showed me how to play the game. I took notes and I I wrote it down in an easy to understand, clear way that people had just picked up the box. Could then pick it up and teach themselves how to play, right? So that was early on how I did it. But the neat thing about that is it also taught me to think about game design. I'm like, when I work on games, I think about, who is this game going to be for, and how are we going to teach it to them? Because if they can't learn the game, there's no point of the game at all, right?   Speaker 1 ** 16:18 And and so I'm right? I'm a firm believer that a lot of technical writers don't do a very good job of technical writing, and they write way over people's heads. I remember the first time I had to write, well, actually, I mentioned I worked for Kurzweil. I was involved with a project where Ray Kurzweil had developed his original omniprent optical character recognition system. And I and the National Federation of the Blind created with him a project to put machines around the country so that blind people could use them and give back to Ray by the time we were all done, recommendations as to what needed to go in the final first production model of the machine. So I had to write a training manual to teach people how to use it. And I wrote this manual, and I was always of the opinion that it had to be pretty readable and usable by people who didn't have a lot of technical knowledge. So I wrote the manual, gave it to somebody to read, and said, Follow the directions and and work with the machine and all that. And they did, and I was in another room, and they were playing with it for a couple of hours, and they came in and they said, I'm having a problem. I can't figure out how to turn off the machine. And it turns out that I had forgotten to put in the instruction to turn off the machine. And it wasn't totally trivial. There were steps you had to go through. It was a Data General Nova two computer, and you had to turn it off the right way and the whole system off the appropriate way, or you could, could mess everything up. So there was a process to doing it. So I wrote it in, and it was fine. But, you know, I've always been a believer that the textbooks are way too boring. Having a master's degree in physics, I am of the opinion that physics textbook writers, who are usually pretty famous and knowledgeable scientists, ought to include with all the text and the technical stuff they want to put in, they should put in stories about what they did in you bring people in, draw them into the whole thing, rather than just spewing out a bunch of technical facts.   Matt Forbeck ** 18:23 No, I agree. My my first calculus professor was a guy who actually explained how Newton and Leipzig actually came up with calculus, and then he would, you know, draw everything on the board and turn around say, and isn't that amazing? And you were, like, just absolutely enamored with the idea of how they had done these things, right? Yeah. And what you're doing there, when you, when you, when you give the instructions to somebody and say, try this out. That's a very big part of gaming, actually, because what we do this thing called play testing, where we take something before it's ready to be shown to the public, and we give it to other people and say, try this out. See how it works. Let me know when you're starting out of your first playing you play with like your family and friends and people will be brutal with you and give you hints about how you can improve things. But then, even when you get to the rules you're you send those out cold to people, or, you know, if you're a big company, you watch them through a two way mirror or one way mirror, and say, Hey, let's see how they react to everything. And then you take notes, and you try to make it better every time you go through. And when I'm teaching people to play games at conventions, for instance, I will often say to them, please ask questions if you don't understand anything, that doesn't mean you're dumb. Means I didn't explain it well enough, right? And my job as a person writing these rules is to explain it as well as I humanly can so it can't be misconstrued or misinterpreted. Now that doesn't mean you can correct everything. Somebody's always got like, Oh, I missed that sentence, you know, whatever. But you do that over and over so you can try to make it as clear and concise as possible, yeah.   Speaker 1 ** 19:52 Well, you have somewhat of a built in group of people to help if you let your kids get involved. Involved. So how old are your kids?   Matt Forbeck ** 20:03 My eldest is 26 he'll be 27 in January. Marty is a game designer, actually works with me on the marble tabletop role playing game, and we have a new book coming out, game book for Minecraft, called Minecraft role for adventure, that's coming out on July 7, I think, and the rest of the kids are 23 we have 423 year olds instead of quadruplets, one of whom is actually going into game design as well, and the other says two are still in college, and one has moved off to the work in the woods. He's a very woodsy boy. Likes to do environmental education with people.   Speaker 1 ** 20:39 Wow. Well, see, but you, but you still have a good group of potential game designers or game critics anyway.   Matt Forbeck ** 20:47 Oh, we all play games together. We have a great time. We do weekly game nights here. Sometimes they're movie nights, sometimes they're just pizza nights, but we shoot for game and pizza   Speaker 1 ** 20:56 if we get lucky and your wife goes along with all this too.   Matt Forbeck ** 21:00 She does. She doesn't go to the game conventions and stuff as much, and she's not as hardcore of a gamer, but she likes hanging out with the kids and doing everything with us. We have a great time.   Speaker 1 ** 21:10 That's that's pretty cool. Well, you, you've got, you've got to build an audience of some sorts, and that's neat that a couple of them are involved in it as well. So they really like what dad does, yeah,   Matt Forbeck ** 21:23 yeah. We, I started taking them each to conventions, which are, you know, large gatherings gamers in real life. The biggest one is Gen Con, which happens in Indianapolis in August. And last year, I think, we had 72,000 people show up. And I started taking the kids when they were 10 years old, and my wife would come up with them then. And, you know, 10 years old is a lot. 72,000 people is a lot for a 10 year old. So she can mention one day and then to a park the next day, you know, decompress a lot, and then come back on Saturday and then leave on Sunday or whatever, so that we didn't have them too over stimulated. But they really grown to love it. I mean, it's part of our annual family traditions in the summer, is to go do these conventions and play lots of games with each other and meet new people too well.   Speaker 1 ** 22:08 And I like the way you put it. The games are really puzzles, which they are, and it's and it's fun. If people would approach it that way, no matter what the game is, they're, they're aspects of puzzles involved in most everything that has to do with the game, and that's what makes it so fun.   Matt Forbeck ** 22:25 Exactly, no. The interesting thing is, when you're playing with other people, the other people are changing the puzzles from their end that you have to solve on your end. And sometimes the puzzle is, how do I beat this person, or how do I defeat their strategy, or how do I make an alliance with somebody else so we can win? And it's really always very intriguing. There's so many different types of games. There's nowadays, there's like something like 50 to 100 new board games that come out and tabletop games every month, right? It's just like a fire hose. It's almost like, when I was starting out as a novelist, I would go into Barnes and Noble or borders and go, Oh my gosh, look at all these books. And now I do the same thing about games. It's just, it's incredible. Nobody, no one person, could keep up with all of them.   Speaker 1 ** 23:06 Yeah, yeah, yeah, way too much. I would love to explore playing more video games, but I don't. I don't own a lot of the technology, although I'm sure that there are any number of them that can be played on a computer, but we'll have to really explore and see if we can find some. I know there are some that are accessible for like blind people with screen readers. I know that some people have written a few, which is kind of cool. Yeah.   Matt Forbeck ** 23:36 And Xbox has got a new controller out that's meant to be accessible to large amount of people. I'm not sure, all the different aspects of it, but that's done pretty well, too   Speaker 1 ** 23:44 well. And again, it comes down to making it a priority to put all of that stuff in. It's not like it's magic to do. It's just that people don't know how to do it. But I also think something else, which is, if you really make the products more usable, let's say by blind people with screen readers. You may be especially if it's well promoted, surprised. I'm not you necessarily, but people might well be surprised as to how many others might take advantage of it so that they don't necessarily have to look at the screen, or that you're forced to listen as well as look in order to figure out what's going on or take actions.   Matt Forbeck ** 24:29 No, definitely true. It's, you know, people audio books are a massive thing nowadays. Games tend to fall further behind that way, but it's become this incredible thing that obviously, blind people get a great use out of but my wife is addicted to audio books now. She actually does more of those than she does reading. I mean, I technically think they're both reading. It's just one's done with yours and one's done with your eyes.   Speaker 1 ** 24:51 Yeah, there's but there's some stuff, whether you're using your eyes or your fingers and reading braille, there's something about reading a book that way that's. Even so a little bit different than listening to it. Yeah, and there's you're drawn in in some ways, in terms of actually reading that you're not necessarily as drawn into when you're when you're listening to it, but still, really good audio book readers can help draw you in, which is important, too,   Matt Forbeck ** 25:19 very much. So yeah, I think the main difference for reading, whether it's, you know, again, through Braille or through traditional print, is that you can stop. You can do it at your own pace. You can go back and look at things very easily, or read or check things, read things very easily. That you know, if you're reading, if you're doing an audio book, it just goes on and it's straight on, boom, boom, boom, pace. You can say, Wait, I'm going to put this down here. What was that thing? I remember back there? It was like three pages back, but it's really important, let me go check that right.   Speaker 1 ** 25:50 There are some technologies that allow blind people and low vision people and others, like people with dyslexia to use an audio book and actually be able to navigate two different sections of it. But it's not something that is generally available to the whole world, at least to the level that it is for blind people. But I can, I can use readers that are made to be able to accept the different formats and go back and look at pages, go back and look at headings, and even create bookmarks to bookmark things like you would normally by using a pen or a pencil or something like that. So there are ways to do some of that. So again, the technology is making strides.   Matt Forbeck ** 26:37 That's fantastic. Actually, it's wonderful. Just, yeah, it's great. I actually, you know, I lost half the vision of my right eye during back through an autoimmune disease about 13 years ago, and I've always had poor vision. So I'm a big fan of any kind of way to make things easier,   Speaker 1 ** 26:54 like that. Well, there, there are things that that are available. It's pretty amazing. A guy named George curser. Curser created a lot of it years ago, and it's called the DAISY format. And the whole idea behind it is that you can actually create a book. In addition to the audio tracks, there are XML files that literally give you the ability to move and navigate around the book, depending on how it's created, as final level as you choose.   Matt Forbeck ** 27:25 Oh, that's That's amazing. That's fantastic. I'm actually really glad to hear that.   Speaker 1 ** 27:28 So, yeah, it is kind of fun. So there's a lot of technology that's that's doing a lot of different sorts of things and and it helps. But um, so for you, in terms of dealing with, with the games, you've, you've written games, but you've, you've actually written some novels as well, right?   Matt Forbeck ** 27:50 Yeah, I've got like 30, it depends on how you count a novel, right? Okay, like some of my books are to pick a path books, right? Choose Your Own Adventure type stuff. So, but I've got 35 traditional novels written or more, I guess, now, I lost track a while ago, and probably another dozen of these interactive fiction books as well. So, and I like doing those. I've also written things like Marvel encyclopedias and Avengers encyclopedias and all sorts of different pop culture books. And, you know, I like playing in different worlds. I like writing science fiction, fantasy, even modern stuff. And most of it, for me comes down to telling stories, right? If you like to tell stories, you can tell stories through a game or book or audio play or a TV show or a comic, or I've done, you know, interactive museum, games and displays, things like that. The main thing is really a story. I mean, if you're comfortable sitting down at a bar and having a drink with somebody, doesn't have to be alcohol, just sitting down and telling stories with each other for fun. That's where the core of it all is really   Speaker 1 ** 28:58 right. Tell me about interactive fiction book.   Matt Forbeck ** 29:01 Sure, a lot of these are basically just done, like flow charts, kind of like the original Zork and adventure that you were talking about where you I actually, I was just last year, I brought rose Estes, who's the inventor of the endless quest books, which were a cross between Dungeons and Dragons, and choose your own adventure books. She would write the whole thing out page by page on a typewriter, and then, in order to shuffle the pages around so that people wouldn't just read straight through them, she'd throw them all up in the air and then just put them back in whatever order they happen to be. But essentially, you read a section of a book, you get to the end, and it gives you a choice. Would you like to go this way or that way? Would you like to go beat up this goblin? Or would you like to make friends with this warrior over here? If you want to do one of these things, go do page xx, right? Got it. So then you turn to that page and you go, boom, some, actually, some of the endless quest books I know were turned into audio books, right? And I actually, I. Um, oddly, have written a couple Dungeons and Dragons, interactive books, audio books that have only been released in French, right? Because there's a company called Looney l, u n, i, i that has this little handheld device that's for children, that has an A and a B button and a volume button. And you, you know, you get to the point that says, if you want to do this, push a, if you want to do that, push B, and the kids can go through these interactive stories and and, you know, there's ones for clue and Dungeons and Dragons and all sorts of other licenses, and some original stories too. But that way there's usually, like, you know, it depends on the story, but sometimes there's, like, 10 to 20 different endings. A lot of them are like, Oh no, you've been killed. Go back to where you started, right? And if you're lucky, the longer ones are, the more fun ones. And you get to, you know, save the kingdom and rescue the people and make good friends and all that good stuff,   Michael Hingson ** 30:59 yeah, and maybe fall in love with the princess or Prince.   Matt Forbeck ** 31:02 Yeah, exactly right. It all depends on the genre and what you're working in. But the idea is to give people some some choices over how they want the story to go. You're like, Well, do you want to investigate this dark, cold closet over here, or would you rather go running outside and playing around? And some of them can seem like very innocent choices, and other ones are like, well, uh, 10 ton weight just fell on. You go back to the last thing.   Speaker 1 ** 31:23 So that dark hole closet can be a good thing or a bad thing,   Matt Forbeck ** 31:28 exactly. And the trick is to make the deaths the bad endings, actually just as entertaining as anything else, right? And then people go, Well, I got beat, and I gotta go back and try that again. So yeah, if they just get the good ending all the way through, they often won't go back and look at all the terrible ones. So it's fun to trick them sometimes and have them go into terrible spots. And I like to put this one page in books too that sometimes says, How did you get here? You've been cheating there. This book, this page, is actually not led to from any other part of the book. You're just flipping   Speaker 1 ** 31:59 through. Cheater, cheater book, do what you   Matt Forbeck ** 32:04 want, but if you want to play it the right way, go back.   Speaker 1 ** 32:07 Kid, if you want to play the game. Yeah, exactly. On the other hand, some people are nosy.   Matt Forbeck ** 32:15 You know, I was always a kid who would poke around and wanted to see how things were, so I'm sure I would have found that myself but absolutely related, you know,   Speaker 1 ** 32:23 yeah, I had a general science teacher who brought in a test one day, and he gave it to everyone. And so he came over to me because it was, it was a printed test. He said, Well, I'm not going to give you the test, because the first thing it says is, read all the instructions, read, read the test through before you pass it, before you take it. And he said, most people won't do that. And he said, I know you would. And the last question on the test is answer, only question one.   Matt Forbeck ** 32:55 That's great. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah,   Speaker 1 ** 32:57 that was cute. And he said, I know that. I that there's no way you would, would would fall for that, because you would say, Okay, let's read the instructions and then read the whole test. That's what it said. And the instruction were, just read the whole test before you start. And people won't do that.   Matt Forbeck ** 33:13 No, they'll go through, take the whole thing. They get there and go, oh, did I get there? Was a, there's a game publisher. I think it was Steve Jackson Games, when they were looking for people, write for them, or design stuff for them, or submit stuff to them, would have something toward the end of the instructions that would say, put like a the letter seven, or put seven a on page one right, and that way they would know if you had read the instructions, if you hadn't bothered to Read the instructions, they wouldn't bother reading anything else.   Speaker 1 ** 33:42 Yeah, which is fair, because the a little harsh, well, but, but, you know, we often don't learn enough to pay attention to details. I know that when I was taking physics in college, that was stressed so often it isn't enough to get the numbers right. If you don't get the units right as well. Then you're, you're not really paying attention to the details. And paying attention to the details is so important.   Matt Forbeck ** 34:07 That's how they crash from those Mars rovers, wasn't it? They somebody messed up the units, but going back and forth between metric and, yeah, and Imperial and, well, you know, it cost somebody a lot of money at one point. Yeah. Yeah. What do you   Speaker 1 ** 34:21 this is kind of the way it goes. Well, tell me, yeah. Well, they do matter, no matter what people think, sometimes they do matter. Well, tell me about the Diana Jones award. First of all, of course, the logical question for many people is, who is Diana Jones? Yeah, Diana Jones doesn't exist, right? That's There you go. She's part game somewhere? No, no, it doesn't be in a game somewhere.   Matt Forbeck ** 34:43 Then now there's actually an author named Diana Wynne Jones, who's written some amazing fantasy stories, including Howell's Moving Castle, which has turned into a wonderful anime movie, but it has nothing to do with her or any other person. Because originally, the Diana Jones award came about. Because a friend of mine, James Wallace, had somehow stumbled across a trophy that fell into his hands, and it was a pub trivia trophy that used to be used between two different gaming companies in the UK, and one of those was TSR, UK, the United Kingdom department. And at one point, the company had laid off everybody in that division just say, Okay, we're closing it all down. So the guys went and burned a lot of the stuff that they had, including a copy of the Indiana Jones role playing game, and the only part of the logo that was left said Diana Jones. And for some reason, they put this in a in a fiberglass or Plexiglas pyramid, put it on a base, a wooden base, and it said the Diana Jones award trophy, right? And this was the trophy that they used they passed back and forth as a joke for their pub trivia contest. Fell into James's hands, and he decided, You know what, we're going to give this out for the most excellent thing in gaming every year. And we've now done this. This will be 25 years this summer. We do it at the Wednesday night before Gen Con, which starts on Thursday, usually at the end of July or early August. And as part of that, actually, about five years ago, we started, one of the guys suggested we should do something called the emerging designers program. So we actually became a 501, c3, so we could take donations. And now we take four designers every year, fly them in from wherever they happen to be in the world, and put them up in a hotel, give them a badge the show, introduce them to everybody, give them an honorarium so they can afford to skip work for a week and try to help launch their careers. I mean, these are people that are in the first three years of their design careers, and we try to work mostly with marginalized or et cetera, people who need a little bit more representation in the industry too. Although we can select anybody, and it's been really well received, it's been amazing. And there's a group called the bundle of holding which sells tabletop role playing game PDFs, and they've donated 10s of 1000s of dollars every year for us to be able to do this. And it's kind of funny, because I never thought I'd be end up running a nonprofit, but here I'm just the guy who writes checks to the different to the emerging designer program. Folks are much more tied into that community that I am. But one of the real reasons I wanted to do something like that or be involved with it, because if you wander around with these conventions and you notice that it starts getting very gray after a while, right? It's you're like, oh, there's no new people coming in. It's all older people. I we didn't I didn't want us to all end up as like the Grandpa, grandpa doing the HO model railroad stuff in the basement, right? This dying hobby that only people in their 60s and 70s care about. So bringing in fresh people, fresh voices, I think, is very important, and hopefully we're doing some good with that. It's been a lot of fun either way.   Speaker 1 ** 37:59 Well, I have you had some success with it? Yeah, we've   Matt Forbeck ** 38:02 had, well, let's see. I think we've got like 14 people. We've brought in some have already gone on to do some amazing things. I mean, it's only been a few years, so it's hard to tell if they're gonna be legends in their time, but again, having them as models for other people to look at and say, Oh, maybe I could do that. That's been a great thing. The other well, coincidentally, Dungeons and Dragons is having its best 10 year streak in its history right now, and probably is the best selling it's ever been. So coinciding with that, we've seen a lot more diversity and a lot more people showing up to these wonderful conventions and playing these kinds of games. There's also been an advent of this thing called actual play, which is the biggest one, is a group called Critical Role, which is a whole bunch of voice actors who do different cartoons and video games and such, and they play D and D with each other, and then they record the games, and they produce them on YouTube and for podcasts. And these guys are amazing. There's a couple of other ones too, like dimension 20 and glass cannon, the critical role guys actually sold out a live performance at Wembley Arena last summer. Wow. And dimension. Dimension 20 sold out Madison Square Garden. I'm like, if you'd have told me 20 years ago that you know you could sell out an entire rock stadium to have people watch you play Dungeons and Dragons, I would have laughed. I mean, there's no way it would have been possible. But now, you know, people are very much interested in this. It's kind of wild, and it's, it's fun to be a part of that. At some level,   Speaker 1 ** 39:31 how does the audience get drawn in to something like that? Because they are watching it, but there must be something that draws them in.   Matt Forbeck ** 39:39 Yeah, part of it is that you have some really skilled some actors are very funny, very traumatic and very skilled at improvisation, right? So the the dungeon master or Game Master will sit there and present them with an idea or whatever. They come up each with their own characters. They put them in wonderful, strong voices. They kind of inhabit the roles in a way that an actor. A really top level actor would, as opposed to just, you know, me sitting around a table with my friends. And because of that, they become compelling, right? My Marty and my his wife and I were actually at a convention in Columbus, Ohio last weekend, and this group called the McElroy family, actually, they do my brother, my brother and me, which is a hit podcast, but they also do an actual play podcast called The Adventure zone, where they just play different games. And they are so funny. These guys are just some of the best comedians you'll ever hear. And so them playing, they actually played our Marvel game for a five game session, or a five podcast session, or whatever, and it was just stunningly fun to listen to. People are really talented mess around with something that we built right it's very edifying to see people enjoying something that you worked on.   Speaker 1 ** 40:51 Do you find that the audiences get drawn in and they're actually sort of playing the game along, or as well? And may disagree with what some of the choices are that people make?   Matt Forbeck ** 41:02 Oh, sure. But I mean, if the choices are made from a point of the character that's been expressed, that people are following along and they they already like the character, they might go, Oh, those mean, you know that guy, there are some characters they love to hate. There are some people they're they're angry at whatever, but they always really appreciate the actors. I mean, the actors have become celebrities in their own right. They've they sell millions of dollars for the comic books and animated TV shows and all these amazing things affiliated with their actual play stuff. And it's, I think it, part of it is because, it's because it makes the games more accessible. Some people are intimidated by these games. So it's not really, you know, from a from a physical disability kind of point. It's more of a it makes it more accessible for people to be nervous, to try these things on their own, or don't really quite get how they work. They can just sit down and pop up YouTube or their podcast program and listen into people doing a really good job at it. The unfortunate problem is that the converse of that is, when you're watching somebody do that good of a job at it, it's actually hard to live up to that right. Most people who play these games are just having fun with their friends around a table. They're not performing for, you know, 10s of 1000s, if not hundreds of 1000s of people. So there's a different level of investments, really, at that point, and some people have been known to be cowed by that, by that, or daunted by that.   Speaker 1 ** 42:28 You work on a lot of different things. I gather at the same time. What do you what do you think about that? How do you like working on a lot of different projects? Or do you, do you more focus on one thing, but you've got several things going on, so you'll work on something for one day, then you'll work on something else. Or how do you how do you do it all?   Matt Forbeck ** 42:47 That's a good question. I would love to just focus on one thing at a time. Now, you know the trouble is, I'm a freelancer, right? I don't set my I don't always get to say what I want to work on. I haven't had to look for work for over a decade, though, which has been great. People just come to me with interesting things. The trouble is that when you're a freelancer, people come in and say, Hey, let's work on this. I'm like, Yeah, tell me when you're ready to start. And you do that with like, 10 different people, and they don't always line up in sequence properly, right? Yeah? Sometimes somebody comes up and says, I need this now. And I'm like, Yeah, but I'm in the middle of this other thing right now, so I need to not sleep for another week, and I need to try to figure out how I'm going to put this in between other things I'm working on. And I have noticed that after I finish a project, it takes me about a day or three to just jump track. So if I really need to, I can do little bits here and there, but to just fully get my brain wrapped around everything I'm doing for a very complex project, takes me a day or three to say, Okay, now I'm ready to start this next thing and really devote myself to it. Otherwise, it's more juggling right now, having had all those kids, probably has prepared me to juggle. So I'm used to having short attention span theater going on in my head at all times, because I have to jump back and forth between things. But it is. It's a challenge, and it's a skill that you develop over time where you're like, Okay, I can put this one away here and work on this one here for a little while. Like today, yeah, I knew I was going to talk to you, Michael. So I actually had lined up another podcast that a friend of mine wanted to do with me. I said, Let's do them on the same day. This way I'm not interrupting my workflow so much, right? Makes sense? You know, try to gang those all together and the other little fiddly bits I need to do for administration on a day. Then I'm like, Okay, this is not a day off. It's just a day off from that kind of work. It's a day I'm focusing on this aspect of what I do.   Speaker 1 ** 44:39 But that's a actually brings up an interesting point. Do you ever take a day off or do what do you do when you're when you deciding that you don't want to do gaming for a while?   Matt Forbeck ** 44:49 Yeah, I actually kind of terrible. But you know, you know, my wife will often drag me off to places and say we're going to go do this when. Yes, we have a family cabin up north in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that we go to. Although, you know, my habit there is, I'll work. I'll start work in the morning on a laptop or iPad until my battery runs out, and then I shut it down, put on a charger, and then I go out and swim with everybody for the rest of the day. So it depends if I'm on a deadline or not, and I'm almost always on a deadline, but there are times I could take weekends off there. One of the great things of being a freelancer, though, and especially being a stay at home father, which is part of what I was doing, is that when things come up during the middle of the week, I could say, oh, sure, I can be flexible, right? The trouble is that I have to pay for that time on my weekends, a lot of the time, so I don't really get a lot of weekends off. On the other hand, I'm not I'm not committed to having to work every day of the week either, right? I need to go do doctor appointments, or we want to run off to Great America and do a theme park or whatever. I can do that anytime I want to. It's just I have to make up the time at other points during the week. Does your wife work? She does. She was a school social worker for many years, and now as a recruiter at a local technical college here called Black Hawk tech. And she's amazing, right? She's fantastic. She has always liked working. The only time she stopped working was for about a year and a half after the quads were born, I guess, two years. And that was the only time I ever took a job working with anybody else, because we needed the health insurance, so I we always got it through her. And then when she said, Well, I'm gonna stay home with the kids, which made tons of sense, I went and took a job with a video game company up in Madison, Wisconsin called Human Head Studios for about 18 months, 20 months. And then the moment she told me she was thinking about going back to work, I'm like, Oh, good, I can we can Cobra for 18 months and pay for our own health insurance, and I'm giving notice this week, and, you know, we'll work. I left on good terms that everybody. I still talk to them and whatever, but I very much like being my own boss and not worrying about what other people are going to tell me to do. I work with a lot of clients, which means I have a lot of people telling me what to do. But you know, if it turns out bad, I can walk I can walk away. If it turns out good, hopefully we get to do things together, like the the gig I've been working out with Marvel, I guess, has been going on for like, four years now, with pretty continuous work with them, and I'm enjoying every bit of it. They're great people to work with.   Speaker 1 ** 47:19 Now, you were the president of Pinnacle entertainment for a little while. Tell me about that.   Matt Forbeck ** 47:24 I was, that was a small gaming company I started up with a guy named Shane Hensley, who was another tabletop game designer. Our big game was something called Dead Lands, which was a Western zombie cowboy kind of thing. Oh gosh, Western horror. So. And it was pretty much a, you know, nobody was doing Western horror back in those days. So we thought, Oh, this is safe. And to give you an example of parallel development, we were six months into development, and another company, White Wolf, which had done a game called Vampire the Masquerade, announced that they were doing Werewolf the Wild West. And we're like, you gotta be kidding me, right? Fortunately, we still released our game three months before there, so everybody thought we were copying them, rather than the other way around. But the fact is, we were. We both just came up with the idea independently. Right? When you work in creative fields, often, if somebody wants to show you something, you say, I'd like to look at you have to sign a waiver first that says, If I do something like this, you can't sue me. And it's not because people are trying to rip you off. It's because they may actually be working on something similar, right already. Because we're all, you know, swimming in the same cultural pool. We're all, you know, eating the same cultural soup. We're watching or watching movies, playing games, doing whatever, reading books. And so it's not unusual that some of us will come up with similar ideas   Speaker 1 ** 48:45 well, and it's not surprising that from time to time, two different people are going to come up with somewhat similar concepts. So that's not a big surprise, exactly, but   Matt Forbeck ** 48:56 you don't want people getting litigious over it, like no, you don't be accused of ripping anybody off, right? You just want to be as upfront with people. With people. And I don't think I've ever actually seen somebody, at least in gaming, in tabletop games, rip somebody off like that. Just say, Oh, that's a great idea. We're stealing that it's easier to pay somebody to just say, Yes, that's a great idea. We'll buy that from you, right? As opposed to trying to do something unseemly and criminal?   Speaker 1 ** 49:24 Yeah, there's, there's something to be said for having real honor in the whole process.   Matt Forbeck ** 49:30 Yeah, I agree, and I think that especially if you're trying to have a long term career in any field that follows you, if you get a reputation for being somebody who plays dirty, nobody wants to play with you in the future, and I've always found it to be best to be as straightforward with people and honest, especially professionally, just to make sure that they trust you. Before my quadruplets were born, you could have set your clock by me as a freelancer, I never missed a deadline ever, and since then, I've probably it's a. Rare earth thing to make a deadline, because, you know, family stuff happens, and you know, there's just no controlling it. But whenever something does happen, I just call people up and say, hey, look, it's going to be another week or two. This is what's going on. And because I have a good reputation for completing the job and finishing quality work, they don't mind. They're like, Oh, okay, I know you're going to get this to me. You're not just trying to dodge me. So they're willing to wait a couple weeks if they need to, to get to get what they need. And I'm very grateful to them for that. And I'm the worst thing somebody can do is what do, what I call turtling down, which is when it's like, Oh no, I'm late. And then, you know, they cut off all communication. They don't talk to anybody. They just kind of try to disappear as much as they can. And we all, all adults, understand that things happen in your life. It's okay. We can cut you some slack every now and then, but if you just try to vanish, that's not even possible.   Speaker 1 ** 50:54 No, there's a lot to be there's a lot to be said for trust and and it's so important, I think in most anything that we do, and I have found in so many ways, that there's nothing better than really earning someone's trust, and they earning your trust. And it's something I talk about in my books, like when live with a guide dog, live like a guide dog, which is my newest book, it talks a lot about trust, because when you're working with a guide dog, you're really building a team, and each member of the team has a specific job to do, and as the leader of the team, it's my job to also learn how to communicate with the other member of the team. But the reality is, it still comes down to ultimately, trust, because I and I do believe that dogs do love unconditionally, but they don't trust unconditionally. But the difference between dogs and people is that people that dogs are much more open to trust, for the most part, unless they've just been totally traumatized by something, but they're more open to trust. And there's a lesson to be learned there. No, I   Matt Forbeck ** 52:03 absolutely agree with that. I think, I think most people in general are trustworthy, but as you say, a lot of them have trauma in their past that makes it difficult for them to open themselves up to that. So that's actually a pretty wonderful way to think about things. I like that,   Speaker 1 ** 52:17 yeah, well, I think that trust is is so important. And I know when I worked in professional sales, it was all about trust. In fact, whenever I interviewed people for jobs, I always asked them what they were going to sell, and only one person ever answered me the way. I really hoped that everybody would answer when I said, So, tell me what you're going to be selling. He said, The only thing I have to really sell is myself and my word, and nothing else. It really matters. Everything else is stuff. What you have is stuff. It's me selling myself and my word, and you have to, and I would expect you to back me up. And my response was, as long as you're being trustworthy, then you're going to get my backing all the way. And he was my most successful salesperson for a lot of reasons, because he got it.   Matt Forbeck ** 53:08 Yeah, that's amazing. I mean, I mean, I've worked with people sourcing different things too, for sales, and if you can rely on somebody to, especially when things go wrong, to come through for you. And to be honest with you about, you know, there's really that's a hard thing to find. If you can't depend on your sources for what you're building, then you can't depend on anything. Everything else falls apart.   Speaker 1 ** 53:29 It does. You've got to start at the beginning. And if people can't earn your trust, and you earn theirs, there's a problem somewhere, and it's just not going to work.   Matt Forbeck ** 53:39 Yeah, I just generally think people are decent and want to help. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've had issues. Car breaks down the road in Wisconsin. Here, if somebody's car goes in the ditch, everybody stops and just hauls them out. It's what you do when the quads were born, my stepmother came up with a sign up sheet, a booklet that she actually had spiral bound, that people could sign up every three three hours to help come over and feed and bathe, diaper, whatever the kids and we had 30 to 35 volunteers coming in every week. Wow, to help us out with that was amazing, right? They just each pick slots, feeding slots, and come in and help us out. I had to take the 2am feeding, and my wife had to take the 5am feeding by ourselves. But the rest of the week we had lots and lots of help, and we were those kids became the surrogate grandchildren for, you know, 30 to 35 women and couples really, around the entire area, and it was fantastic. Probably couldn't have survived   Speaker 1 ** 54:38 without it. And the other part about it is that all those volunteers loved it, because you all appreciated each other, and it was always all about helping and assisting.   Matt Forbeck ** 54:48 No, we appreciate them greatly. But you know every most of them, like 99% of them, whatever were women, 95 women who are ready for grandchildren and didn't have them. Had grandchildren, and they weren't in the area, right? And they had that, that love they wanted to share, and they just loved the opportunity to do it. It was, I'm choking up here talking about such a great time for us in   Speaker 1 ** 55:11 that way. Now I'm assuming today, nobody has to do diaper duty with the quads, right?   Matt Forbeck ** 55:16 Not until they have their own kids. Just checking, just checking, thankfully, think we're that is long in our past,   Speaker 1 ** 55:23 is it? Is it coming fairly soon for anybody in the future?   Matt Forbeck ** 55:27 Oh, I don't know. That's really entirely up to them. We would love to have grandchildren, but you know, it all comes in its own time. They're not doing no well. I, one of my sons is married, so it's possible, right? And one of my other sons has a long term girlfriend, so that's possible, but, you know, who knows? Hopefully they're they have them when they're ready. I always say, if you have kids and you want them, that's great. If you have, if you don't have kids and you don't want them, that's great. It's when you cross the two things that,   Speaker 1 ** 55:57 yeah, trouble, yeah, that's that is, that is a problem. But you really like working with yourself. You love the entre

Game design legend Matt Forbeck returns to Epic Realms. We catch up on the Marvel Multiverse RPG, Him working with his son Marty, what games he has been playing lately. We also talk about the Diana Jones awards and more! Its always great to sit with Matt Forbeck.

Hear the reaction of the team that wrote Hope's Last Day to the Alien 2nd Edition announcement. Then settle down with Neil Kingham for a chat about editing RPGs, the state of Symbaroum and The Tower of the Lich Lord. 00.00.40: Introductions00.02.28: Welcome to our new patron, James Ramage00.03.11: World of Gaming: SLA Borg; Diana Jones award goes to United Paizo Workers; Ennie winners announced; ALIEN RPG 2nd ed announced00.38.30: Old West News00.42.20: Interview - Neil Kingham, editor extraordinaire and author of Tower of the Lich Lord01.29.55: Next time and GoodbyeEffekt is brought to you by Effekt Publishing. Music is by Stars in a Black Sea, used with kind permission of Free League Publishing.Like what we do?Sign up for updates on our forthcoming crowdfunding via our new website and download Tales of the Old West QuickDraw available for free on DriveThruPut our brand on your face! (and elsewhere)Buy pdfs via our DriveThru Affiliate linkLeave a review on iTunes or PodchaserFind our Actual Play recordings on effektapFind essay transcripts and other stuff on Matthew's, and Dave's blogs ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The whole team are back together covering a bumper crop of news. Mergers everywhere, UK Games Expo expands (and we were there), awards, controversies, and of course we tell you if Ryan Dancey is accountable. The answer will not surprise you.    Headlines   Steamforged bought Privateer Press rights https://steamforged.com/en-gb/blogs/brands/sfg-acquires-iron-kingdoms   https://home.privateerpress.com/2024/06/03/privateer-press-the-next-phase/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2PzhzcDq_j5L7gg_0Esd1OvoKskXDomYpeb4rZYiQ4EY2MLBiJ3K-ns5c_aem_ARXNYQHsZBzeuEloediavrCp-Otisvcr6wr9GP2XlHPjjhzD0SqbIcDlZOftHMmNO8TPyvLxqPTWbRWjktKcix9g   Update 1 https://steamforged.com/en-gb/blogs/brands/iron-kingdoms-manifesto-part1?_kx=-sFq1XbQgQy7s_Rxhtdsx3d0aCtUpZBpQpd6_AghaTE.Xq6fgY&utm_campaign=WM%2C+IKRPG%2C+P3+-+Manifesto+P1%3A+Vision+%26+Mission&utm_medium=campaign&utm_source=Klaviyo   UK Games Expo figures https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2024/06/06/record-breaking-uk-games-expo-preps-for-even-bigger-future-after-being-outbid-for-its-main-hall-next-year/   Diana Jones finalists https://www.dianajonesaward.org/the-2024-award/   Updates   Ryan Dancey update https://x.com/rsdancey/status/1795600725034283418   Spiel Essen drops AI art https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2024/06/06/worlds-biggest-board-game-fair-scraps-using-ai-art-to-promote-event-after-backlash-last-year-ongoing-legal-uncertainty/   News   Roll20 acquires Demiplane https://blog.roll20.net/posts/roll20-has-acquired-demiplane/   Mantic acquires River Horse assets https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/57016/mantic-acquires-river-horses-brand-assets   Gamefound becomes a store https://gamefound.com/en/blog/post/our-next-big-release-introducing-creator-stores-to-gamefound   https://help.gamefound.com/article/381-project-settings-for-store   Quantum teach board game with Uwe Rosenburg https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2024/06/04/uwe-rosenberg-is-developing-a-quantum-tech-themed-board-game-thanks-to-e820000-of-government-funding/   First Wonders CCG https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3307388/a-little-light-doxxing-from-jeff Jobs, Opportunities, and Events   https://www.facebook.com/groups/TabletopJobs   Palestinian children-focused fundraiser https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2024/06/05/board-game-industry-professionals-band-together-for-palestinian-children-focused-fundraiser/   https://www.pcrf.net/   Patreon Shoutouts   Kevin Bertram https://www.fortcircle.com/   James Naylor https://naylorgames.com/   Shaun Newman game-a-lot.fun/en facebook.com/gamealotboardgames   Our Patreon https://www.patreon.com/thegiantbrain   Support Us https://giantbrain.co.uk/support-us-new/   Fanroll https://fanrolldice.com/ref/2783/ Sir Meeple https://sirmeeple.com/collections/the-giant-brain   Outro   Cluedo Liars edition https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/345582/clue-liars-edition   Our Links   Thanks very much for listening. If you like what you've listened to then the best way to help us out is to share the podcast and drop us a review and rating on itunes.  You can also follow us on   Oliver: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/3bMx2HK75r Blusky:https://bsky.app/profile/giantbrain.co.uk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/giantbrainuk/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegiantbrain Website: https://giantbrain.co.uk/ Email: giantbrainuk@gmail.com

Oliver and Iain are back in the studio as Jamie continues to travel Scotland. This episode they bring you up to date news on the winners of the Cardboard Edison Award, look at the finances of our overlords, and ask “Is Ryan Dancey accountable?”. Tune in to find out the answer.    Headlines   Cardboard Edison Awards https://cardboardedison.com/ https://cardboardedison.com/award   Asmodee financials and Embracer Write Down https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/56967/embracer-writes-down-asmodee-dark-horse   https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2024/05/23/asmodee-writes-down-more-than-620m-of-asset-value-despite-posting-strong-annual-sales/   Is Ryan Dancey Accountable?   Original tweet https://x.com/PonchoRebound/status/1661308221326229504/photo/3   Apology Tweet https://twitter.com/rsdancey/status/1661409374735327235   Updates   Mythic doubles down  https://gamefound.com/en/projects/mythic-games/rise-of-the-necromancers#/section/rewards/reward-product-20652   Iain's “Review” https://giantbrain.co.uk/2024/05/19/6-siege-first-thoughts/ News   Dicebreaker acquired by IGN https://bsky.app/profile/soulmuppet.bsky.social/post/3kt3qiftbh32l https://www.gamesindustry.biz/ign-entertainment-acquires-eurogamer-gi-vg247-rock-paper-shotgun-and-more   18th Annual Golden Geek Winners for 2023 Announced https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3300892/18th-annual-golden-geek-winners-for-2023   Diana Jones emerging designer https://www.dianajonesaward.org/   Dice Tower AI https://bsky.app/profile/boardgamefeast.bsky.social/post/3ksp5kgndn22u   Funko Gets a Wizard https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/56880/wotc-prez-funko   Japan's Game Market Website Hacked https://gamemarket-jp.translate.goog/information/177383?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp   https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2024/05/16/hackers-attack-website-of-japans-biggest-board-game-fair-years-of-irreplacable-information-lost/ Jobs, Opportunities, and Events   https://www.facebook.com/groups/TabletopJobs Patreon Shoutouts   Kevin Bertram https://www.fortcircle.com/   James Naylor https://naylorgames.com/   Shaun Newman game-a-lot.fun/en facebook.com/gamealotboardgames   Our Patreon https://www.patreon.com/thegiantbrain   Support Us https://giantbrain.co.uk/support-us-new/   Fanroll https://fanrolldice.com/ref/2783/   Sir Meeple https://sirmeeple.com/collections/the-giant-brain   Outro   Cluedo Conspiracy https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/391824/clue-conspiracy   Our Links   Thanks very much for listening. If you like what you've listened to then the best way to help us out is to share the podcast and drop us a review and rating on itunes.  You can also follow us on   Oliver: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/3bMx2HK75r Blusky:https://bsky.app/profile/giantbrain.co.uk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/giantbrainuk/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegiantbrain Website: https://giantbrain.co.uk/ Email: giantbrainuk@gmail.com

This week, Morrus, PJ, and Jessica cover all the tabletop RPG news of the week including D&D dragons redesigned, Diana Jones Emerging Designers 2024 announced, a new book on D&D settings, and more! Plus a brand new sketch about going on a tour of Hell. -------------------- News See Morrus' Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk recording live at UK Games Expo on Friday, May 31 https://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/events/1845-live-podcast-recording-of-morrus-unofficial-tabletop-rpg-talk/ Gold Dragon Redesign for the 2024 D&D Core Rulebooks https://www.enworld.org/threads/check-out-d-ds-new-gold-dragon-redesign.704404/ “Heroes of the Realm” by Claudio Pozas featuring adult versions of the 1980s D&D cartoon characters https://x.com/claudiopozas/status/1793638116722610388 Rio Grande Flood Charity Bundle on DriveThruRPG https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/480569/Rio-Grande-Flood-Charity-BUNDLE Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks wants to bring back Kara-Tur setting https://www.enworld.org/threads/hasbro-ceo-chris-cocks-would-like-to-explore-kara-tur.704403/ Dungeons & Dragons Worlds & Realms book on classic settings announced https://www.enworld.org/threads/greyhawk-to-faerun-and-beyond-a-multiversal-d-d-lore-book-is-coming-this-fall.704354/ Scarlett Johansson ‘shocked' by AI chatbot imitation https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm559l5g529o Demeter 3038 on Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lornkeep/demeter-3038 2024 Diana Jones Emerging Designer Program Winners https://www.dianajonesaward.org/ -------------------- Please support us on Patreon at http://patreon.com/morrus Don't forget to join the Morrus' Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1033145023517295/ and join us on Discord at https://discord.gg/VAuxX8M Ask your Listener Question on Twitter, email morruspodcast@gmail.com, or contact us on TikTok at TikTok -------------------- Hosts: Russ “Morrus” Morrissey, Peter Coffey, and Jessica Hancock Editing and post-production: Darryl Mott Theme Song: Steve Arnott Malach the Maleficent played by Darren Morrissey Check out all the media content from EN World at http://enliverpg.com

Opening: Mary Black "The Holy Ground" - Celtic Women 3: Ireland www.valley-entertainment.com Switchback "Holy Saints Of Ireland" - The Hibernian Mass www.waygoodmusic.com Rise "Both Sides The Tweed" - Posing As Human ******************* Dave Curl "Lockdown" www.davecurl.com Denise La Grassa "Amen To Happiness" - The Flame www.deniselagrassa.com Jeff Plankenhorn "Alone At Sea" - Alone At Sea www.jeffplankenhorn.com Colour Film "Ain't Coming Back" - www.colourfilm.ca Jonathan Byrd "Diana Jones" - The Law And The Lonesome www.jonathanbyrd.com Maya de Vitry "Baby Elephants" - Infinite www.mayadevitry.com ********************* Pinhdar "Humans" https://www.facebook.com/Pinhdar/ St. Jimi Sebastian Cricket Club "Golden Parachuter" www.cricketclub.se Edit The Tide "ambience" https://www.facebook.com/editthetideband Loolowningen "Concorde" - Pareidolias www.loolowningen.com Ash Acid "I Love Myself" https://www.facebook.com/ashacidmusic In Theory "World's On Fire" https://www.intheoryoriginal.com/ Gab de la Vega "Preaching To The Choir" - www.facebook.com/gabdelavegamusic Sun Atoms "Ceiling Tiles" - www.facebook.com/sunatoms --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/radiocblue/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/radiocblue/support

The United States has traditionally been a safe haven for refugees the world over. Lately, our politicians have tried to alter that concept and the pandemic heightened the rhetoric on both sides of the issue. This week we'll examine the subject of refugees and immigration in song. We'll hear music from Darrell Scott, Diana Jones, Windborne, Michael Kiwanuka, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Noel Paul Stookey and others. “We have come this far by faith,”The Refugee Experience … this week on The Sing Out! Radio Magazine.Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways Sultans of String / “Refuge” / Refuge / Self-producedDarrell Scott / “American Tune” / Modern Hymns / Appleseed-Full LightDiana Jones / “Song to a Refugee” / Song to a Refugee / GoldmineOliver Schroer / “The Morning Star” / Hymns and Hers / BorealisWindborne / “The Terror Time” / Recollections and Revolutions / Wand'ring FeetBarbara Dane / “Deportees (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” / Classic Folk Music / Smithsonian FolkwaysSi Kahn / “Companera” / Companion / AppleseedJoan Baez / “I Shall Be Released” / Any Day Now / VanguardSultans of String / “El Bint El Shalabeya” / Refuge / Self-producedMurray McLauchlan / “Lying By the Sea (for Alan Kurdi)” / Hourglass / True NorthMichael Kiwanuka / “Rule the World” / Love & Hate / InterscopeMaria Dunn / “Malala” / Gathering / Distant WhisperSweet Honey in the Rock / “We Have Come this Far by Faith” / #LoveInEvolution / Appleseed Noel Paul Stookey / “America, The Beautiful” / Just Causes / NeworldPete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways

A journey into the heart of the doll industry with our enthralling guest, Diana Jones, the dynamic owner of Dolls Magazine.  www.inthedollworld.com As a child, Diana enjoyed altering her dolls' hair, creating unique looks for each of them, Diana has since navigated through life's turns, acquiring a microbiology degree, raising seven children, and eventually taking the reins of Dolls Magazine. Her tale is a testament to the power of passion she has for what she does.As we converse with Diana, we delve into the captivating transition of Dolls Magazine from print to digital media and navigating through the tumultuous waters of the doll industry in 2020-2021. She shares her insights on exclusive collaborations with doll artists, creating unique dolls for the magazine's ardent audience, and the thrill of interacting with industry icons like Jack Johnston.In the concluding segments, we go under the hood of Dolls Magazine, discussing innovation, marketing, and the magazine's future trajectory. Diana imparts insightful anecdotes about the continuous evolution of doll artistry and the role marketing plays in the magazine's success. From her early days at the company to her heartwarming fangirl moments and awards, Diana's narrative is a gripping saga of aspiration and determination. Join us on this fascinating journey in the world of dolls.#dollsmagazine #inthedollworld #georgettetaylorITDW #inthedollworldpodcastSupport the showHey!!! Get a shout out on an upcoming episode as a thank you for your monthly support of In The Doll World. Click here to support. Thank you for listening to In The Doll World, to see all the artists we have featured on the show or to leave a review visit www.inthedollworld.com or to see our video interviews please visit our Youtube channel at www.youtube.com/inthedollworld.com. Did you know you can now listen to In The Doll World on Alexa, just ask Alexa to open "Doll World"

In early September each year we celebrate Labor Day. Many in the United States consider Labor Day as simply the end of summer, forgetting the great contributions to our daily life that have occurred due to the efforts of the labor movement to organize the American workers. We will feature songs about organizations and occupations from Emma's Revolution, Anne Feeney, Si Kahn, and Diana Jones, among others. Songs for a Labor Day celebration … this week on The Sing Out! Radio Magazine. Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways Three Bean Salad / “Field Assignment” / Acoustic Potluck / Self-producedWindborne / “Which Side Are You On” / Song on the Times / Self-producedSteeleye Span / “Blackleg Miner” / Back in Line / ShanachiePete Seeger / “He Lies in the American Land” / The Complete Bowdoin College Concert 1960 / Smithsonian FolkwaysSi Kahn / “Houses On the Hill” / Been a Long Time / Sliced BreadJohn McCutcheon / “Laz'rus” / Stand Up! / AppalseedDiana Jones / “Appalachia” / Coal Country Music / HeartwoodHazel Dickens / “Coal Tatoo” / Coal Mining Women / RounderThree Bean Salad / “Red Bird-Second Shift” / Acoustic Potluck / Self-producedLouie Fuller and Chorus / “Hopping Down in Kent” / Rhythms of Labor / PrivateCyril Tawney / “The Oggie Man” / Navy Cuts / ADAThe Furrow Collective / “The Cabin Boy” / Fathoms / HudsonWillard Gayheart & Friends / “The Workin'” / At Home in the Blue Ridge / Blue HensAnne Feeney / “We Just Come to Work Here, We Don't Come to Die” / Classic Labor Songs / Smithsonian FolkwaysEmma's Revolution / “Stand Together” / RPM / Moving Forward MusicFlorence Reese / “Which Side Are You On?” / Coal Mining Women / RounderPete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways 

We have to get the ring to Mordor before we're overwhelmed by its corruption - watch out for goblins! Highlights include: - Gutted for the Diana Jones award - Get ready for Welsh - Sarah doesn't know who anybody is - Check out that field though! - Dead grandma banter - There's some disgusting goblin racism - Turns out in a co-op game, we actually have to work together - We're all agreed, we don't use the ring, right Sarah? Right Sarah??? - Come on Frodo, stop crying and just get on with it

Live from Gen Con 2023 we discuss AI art infiltrating the TTRPG industry, events from the convention show floor, US pub culture vs Australian, and celebrate industry award winners. Email your questions to podcast@ghostfiregaming.com Ben: @TheBenByrne Dael: @DailyDael Shawn: @shawnmerwin Anthony: @AJoyce_Rivera Editor: ZsDante Topics: 00:00 - Intro 00:44 - Gen Con 2023 17:14 - USA vs Australia 24:33 - Diana Jones award 26:12 - AI art in Bigby's giants book 39:49 - The Ennies 46:31 - Dnd rules update... update 51:21 - Meta currencies in games

00.00.40: Introductions00.04.04: World of Gaming: It's Gen Con as we record; Ennie Results full list of nominees and winners; Diana Jones award won by Coyote and Crow; Free League announce a Moria campaign for both Ring games; Badgequest, girl-guide/scouts game on Kickstarter; friend of the Show Andreas kickstarts Windheim for DoD/Dragonbane; Slaughterville, YZE game kickstarting; Free League sixth (and ninth?) biggest TTRPG Kickstarter company; writers rates  00.55.00: Vaesen - The Devils is in theDetail01.01.56: Interview - Christopher Brown of Laughing Rogue takes about Slaughterville01.32.31: Next time, and goodbyeEffekt is brought to you by Fictionsuit and RPG Gods. Music is by Stars in a Black Sea, used with kind permission of Free League Publishing.Like what we do? Put our brand on your face! (and elsewhere) Buy pdfs via our DriveThru Affiliate link Leave a review on iTunes or Podchaser Find our Actual Play recordings on effektap Find essay transcripts and other stuff on Matthew's, and Dave's blogs ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

We talk to Fiona Howat, MU/TH/UR of the Alien competition at UK Games Expo, and learn her shocking dark secret! 00.00.40: Introduction00.03.34: World of Gaming - Pirate Borg on pre-order, and coming to retail on International Talk Like a Pirate Day; Renegade Game Studios put their foot in it; Diana Jones awards nominees announced; FreeRPG day happened; freelance rates survey (with a sidebar on pay at conventions); UKGE memories00.43.13: Interview: Fiona Howat of What Am I Rolling01.00.26: Next time, and goodbyeEffekt is brought to you by Fictionsuit and RPG Gods. Music is by Stars in a Black Sea, used with kind permission of Free League Publishing.Like what we do? Put our brand on your face! (and elsewhere) Buy pdfs via our DriveThru Affiliate link Leave a review on iTunes or Podchaser Find our Actual Play recordings on effektap Find essay transcripts and other stuff on Matthew's, and Dave's blogs ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

We're back with a hot new edition of “Peri-ODD-icals”! Sister Mary Tara joins Phathead, Mitch, Timmy, and Kyle for some more shenanigans! We'll talk both Florida Man AND Woman, a fantastic porno prank on some soccer announcers, demons blaring Rihanna through their JL 15s in hell, and the importance of double checking that your patient is actually dead. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/theitlistpodcast/support

Diana Jones author of "Leadership Levers" by The Best Business Minds

This week we celebrate Labor Day. Many in the United States consider Labor Day as simply the end of summer, forgetting the great contributions to our daily life that have occurred due to the labor movement and unionization of the American worker in the early part of the last century. We will feature songs about organizations and occupations from musical artists Emma's Revolution, Anne Feeney, Si Kahn, Diana Jones and many more. Some songs reflecting American labor, in the spirit of the long history of Sing Out! Magazine … this week on the Sing Out! Radio Magazine.Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways Three Bean Salad / “Field Assignment” / Acoustic Potluck / Self ProducedWindborne / “Which Side Are You On” / Song on the Times / Self ProducedSteeleye Span / “Blackleg Miner” / Back in Line / ShanachiePete Seeger / “He Lies in the American Land” / The Complete Bowdoin College Concert 1960 / Smithsonian FolkwaysSi Kahn / “Houses On the Hill” / Been a Long Time / Sliced BreadJohn McCutcheon / “Laz'rus” / Stand Up! / AppalseedDiana Jones / “Appalachia” / Coal Country Music / HeartwoodHazel Dickens / “Coal Tatoo” / Coal Mining Women / RounderThree Bean Salad / “Red Bird-Second Shift” / Acoustic Potluck / Self ProducedLouie Fuller and Chorus / “Hopping Down in Kent” / Rhythms of Labor / PrivateCyril Tawney / “The Oggie Man” / Navy Cuts / ADAThe Furrow Collective / “The Cabin Boy” / Fathoms / HudsonWillard Gayheart & Friends / “The Workin'” / At Home in the Blue Ridge / Blue HensAnne Feeney / “We Just Come to Work Here, We Don't Come to Die” / Classic Labor Songs / Smithsonian FolkwaysEmma's Revolution / “Stand Together” / RPM / Moving Forward MusicFlorence Reese / “Which Side Are You On?” / Coal Mining Women / RounderPete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways

Summer Vacation Part Two: Electric Boogaloo has come and gone and now the boys are back! This week they are joined by guest host Wesley CP, the  author of Soul Wizard: Awakening, a urban fantasy novel. In addition, Robert shares stories from the land of 10,000 lakes, while Jonathan has had a week and is a little loopy. All this plus tabletop news, the horrific dread of Thinner, a new Diana Jones award, and so much more, this week on the Forgot My Dice Podcast!

Paul & Dan chat with Jason Morningstar, creator of Fiasco, Desperation, and other great RPGs. Jason Morningstar is an American indie role-playing game designer, publishing mostly through Bully Pulpit Games. Morningstar's games often lack a Game Master and are often set in situations that quickly go unfortunately for the player characters. Grey Ranks (2007), for example, is about doomed child soldiers in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, and Fiasco (2009) is about impulsive crooks pulling heists that are sure to go terribly wrong. With these two games, Morningstar became the only named person to have won the Diana Jones award twice as of 2013. Morningstar also works with academia and industry, consulting on using games for teaching and learning in education, with a focus on health sciences. Now, Jason's newest production provides "games of survival horror, often without the survival". Desperation is the engine that powers two unique and chilling experiences, built on the same dark tone and mechanics, that are truly pick-up-and-play experiences for you and your friends. The Desperation Engine is different because you don't decide what is said—you decide who says it. And in a small community, who says “I burned a house down with the family trapped inside” makes all the difference in the world. The cards for each game include an entire claustrophobic world of characters that form a web of relationships you will then apply agonizing pressure to and, in most cases, destroy. Find out more about Jason Morningstar's Desperation game here Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

We have another great interview to share with you on Episode 635 of Folk Roots Radio. Singer-songwriter woe11er joins us to chat about his debut solo album "try it up here", a new recording that tells stories of life in the peaceful port village of Lion's Head on the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario and people facing down challenging times, while spreading a gospel of love, friendship and community. It's a great album, and one that lead to a really thought-provoking conversation. We're pleased to share part of that with you on this episode. As always, we wrap things up with more new releases and this time around we hear from OXLIP, Kim Beggs, The Redhill Valleys, Lizzy Hoyt, Sheila Veerkamp (with Peter Tangredi), Diana Jones, Ken Whiteley and Martyn Joseph. Enjoy! If you like the artists you hear on this show and want to support them, don't just stream their music – BUY their music and then you'll really make a difference to their income during this difficult time when it's much more challenging to find live show opportunities. Folk Roots Radio is a labour of love - a full time hobby. If you enjoy this episode, please consider giving us a 'LIKE' and leaving a review/comment on your podcast provider and sharing the episode on social media. We'll love you for it! Check out the full playlist on the website: https://folkrootsradio.com/folk-roots-radio-episode-635-feat-woe11er-try-it-up-here-more-new-releases/

We continue our Yadkin Valley, North Carolina wine series with Diana Jones, of the remarkable 35 acre estate vineyard, Jones von Drehle Vineyards and Winery.If you like this podcast, please be sure to rate us 5 stars in Apple podcasts and like our videos on YouTube. Check out Jones Von Drehle at:https://www.jonesvondrehle.com/Visit our website at www.VitiCulturePodcast.com, and don’t forget to share with your friends via all major social media platforms @VitiCULTUREPodVisit Bellangelo Winery and Missick Cellars at www.Bellangelo.com and www.MissickCellars.com.In this interview, I share my conversation with Diana Jones, one of the proprietors of Jones Von  Drehle, located in Thurmond, North Carolina.  I have visited hundreds of vineyards throughout the world in my life, but there is magic in the air at Jones Von Drehle.  Its isolated location, the serendipitous even fateful beginnings for this property and this vineyard, the working relationship between two sisters and their husbands in growing this winery, and their philosophy, of place, of authenticity, and of excellence, combine to make this one of the most memorable visits to a vineyard in my life.  There is no pretension here, just slow and steady dedication to an ancient craft, one that requires hard work, but that promises a delightful reward.  Diana and her husband Chuck discussed the history of the winery with me, tasted me through whatever I was interested in from their portfolio, and showed me around the winery.  It was a  taste of home as the tanks were all manufactured  by Vance Fabricators, a metal engineering firm located in Geneva, New York, just down the road from the podcast studio.  Their wine tanks adorn my own cellar, and their quality is second to none.  The property itself is dedicated to 30 acres of grapes, and we’ll discuss the varietals in the interview.  The  banquet room is now complete where they will host wine dinners and special events, the commercial kitchen is small, but can handle everything a chef needs, and the new amphitheater is ready to entertain.  Set in a location that  abuts the vineyards, this location will feel like magic for both musicians and entertainers, and the guests visiting the winery.  As we were speaking throughout my tasting, the song “It’s a Great Day to be Alive,” came on over head.   The Travis Tritt classic always brings a smile to my face, and I could tell Chuck noticed it.  Although not in the interview,  Chuck shared a story with me that I wanted to relay.  His father, who had been a small business owner,  had told him years ago about a delivery driver he had, a hard worker, but a guy with an amazing voice and a pretty good guitar player too.  Travis was a great worker, but eventually went on to other things.  It was until after his father  passed away, until Chuck and his brother were sharing old stories about their dad.  As Chuck was recounting the story, his brother interrupted - you know that was Travis Tritt, right?  Chuck was aghast, and excited.  He’s made it a priority to try and book Travis Tritt for an upcoming show, and quite frankly, listening to his songs, sipping on Jones Von Drehle, and enjoying a North Carolina evening, truly sounds like it would be a great day to be alive. Get full access to The Viti+Culture Podcast Newsletter at viticulturepodcast.substack.com/subscribe

Travelogue Series: I start a multi-episode travelogue exposition in 2022, by visiting North Carolina and the Yadkin Valley. In this multi-part series on North Carolina, we’ll explore the Yadkin Valley, meet with producers, and feature several interviews for the YouTube portion of the show with those producers. We will feature Finger Lakes producers in between, and ultimately also explore The Hill Country in Texas, and the wine-growing regions of Idaho. Please excuse errors in the text, this was dictated and gently edited.North CarolinaWhen I moved to the Finger Lakes a decade ago, I was hungry to find as much information as possible about the region. I wanted to find books magazine articles, podcasts, and nearly anything that would shed light on the history of the region that I was moving to. At that time, there really weren’t very many publications. At the very least, I couldn’t seem to find a short history of how the finger Lakes and become one of the most discussed emerging regions in the United States. There was of course the wonderful book, Summer in a Glass, by Evan Dawson, in which he follows a number of different winemakers through the growing season 2009 in the Finger Lakes. In the absence of such a book, I set out to write one of my own, with much more of an eye towards content marketing for our new winery, and dug into all of the old journals, periodicals, and textbooks on American wine I could find. I published A Sense of Place in 2014, and have been able to use it as a great tool to help educate customers and even tasting room associates. I wasn’t able to find anything quite like that on North Carolina, and realized a lot of the lessons I would learn would have to be done on the ground.The Yadkin Valley is vast, covering more than 1,300,000 acres. With such a large span of land, I knew that there was going to have to be variation in the topography, and even the climate to a certain extent, within the AVA. I was a bit surprised flying from my layover in Atlanta into Greensboro, to see a dusting of snow covering the ground. For the cold climate winemaker, I just assumed that North Carolina would be significantly warmer than the finger Lakes I had left behind. I was surprised at the temperature spread on the ground that morning was only about 10°, with a balmy 31°F when I landed. Setting out from the airport, and passing through Winston Salem, more than anything else I just wanted to get a feel for the lay of the land. Whenever I arrive in a new place, in order to get my bearings in a sense for what the place looks and feels like, I’d like to just go for a drive. It gives me a better understanding of where the towns are that get referenced in conversation, what some of the local historical landmarks are, and even where the politics of a place takes place. Knowing that I was in the Yadkin Valley, and heading west from Winston Salem towards Yadkin County, and the Yadkin River, I figured why not plug Yadkinville into my GPS.I had broken up my trip into visiting the southern portion of the EVA for the first day and a half, and the northern portion of the AVA on the second and third days. Highway 218 seems to cut the AVA in half so it was a good working point to begin to discover some of the different wineries I had a particular interest in tasty.To choose just a few wineries in an emerging wine region is an extraordinarily difficult job. In a sense it’s kind of a gamble, you rely on reputation, customer reviews, and references from people who are much more expertise in the region and then yourself, but so much of wine still comes down to personal taste, and aesthetics. What I had decided I wanted to do, in pursuing a slightly deeper understanding of the AVA, was to look at oneThat was an anchor in terms of the history of the region, to look at a winery that was relatively new, but small and focused on extraordinary quality, and to look at one of the biggest producers in the AVA with an extraordinary offering of a variety of different ones. I figured I would have a chance to taste several other wineries along the way and include them in this report.Because in so many ways this was a last minute trip many of the people I reached out to likely hadn’t even opened their inbox by the time I was heading out of town. It was the period just after New Year’s, and often times it’s pretty slow start in the new year in the wine industry. I had however, gotten replies from Shelton, that winery that I referenced as a pioneer in the AVA, and really one of the reasons why there is a Yadkin Valley a View today. I had received word back from Childress, the the winery name and founded by Richard Childress, of NASCAR fame. North Carolina is NASCAR country, and Richard Childress has built one of the largest brands, in fact one of the few I had heard of before traveling to North Carolina, while making wine in New York. I also received word from Diana Jones, of Jones Von Drehle, one of the wineries at the northern end of the AVA, and one that had come extremely highly recommended.  Some of the wineries on my shortlist included Ray Lyn, Raffaldino, Shadow Springs, and a handful of others. I guess from the perspective of somebody who is trying to discover a new wine region, one of my only frustrations was not having more direct links to members of winery staff where I could email or contact them directly. I realize this is a problem on my own website, and after experiencing this, something I’ll be change. Sometimes the ease of having an inbox that serves as a catch-all becomes a crutch for us small business owners, but as someone who is seeking some very specific answers to some very specific questions, it can make sense to ensure that those individuals with deeper questions can reach winemakers directly.In any event, I arrived in Yadkinville, crossing the Yadkin River, and decided to head to town where I could pick up some bottled water and a couple snacks and see what the town offered. Yadkinville is a small town, there doesn’t seem to be much of a culinary scene, and it really is just the county seat. It’s where you go to get permits, and like we have your county planning board meetings. There wasn’t much by way of a presence of wine in the town, but I did notice when I stopped in to the local grocery store, Food Lion, and realized this was a state that sells wine in grocery stores, and they had a small selection of some of the local producers, with Childress being one of them. The wines on offer were very basic, emphasizing the muscadine production of sweet wines from local producers, but there were a few dry reds and whites included on the shelf. Since Yadkinville marked in the center of the AVA, and it was getting to be towards the middle of the afternoon, I figured I would enter wineries into my GPS to see if any were open, and get back on the road. Leaving the main highway I drove beautiful winding roads and very gentle hills in what was largely agricultural countryside. I drove by a winery called Bradford Hills, which was a very small tasting room and an out-building, a small but well manicured vineyard, and it look like a fantastic place to visit on a beautiful summer day. It didn’t look like it would be open until after my flight was departing on Friday, and I quickly realized that I likely would not have a chance to taste many of the wineries that I hadn’t made contact with, during the middle of the week. This meant that a lot of the small producers, wineries about my own winery’s size and smaller, would have to wait for another trip.After taking some pictures I set back out onto the road, looking at my GPS and seeing what wineries I would be passing on my way to Lexington, where Childress is located and where my hotel room was booked. I noticed that RayLyn could be reached with a small detour. From my research it was a winery that I really wanted to taste at, and I noticed they were open, so I made my way. Even though it is winter, there’s still more sun and warmth then we get in the finger Lakes. The grass was still green, though the trees were bare, and the bare trees opened up the countryside even more so that you could see the hills and buildings, that were off in the distance. Making my way from Bradford Hill winery, the landscape became less dramatic, slightly flatter, but retaining the same intrinsic quality. Passing fields that had recently been ploughed, the deep tones of brick and garnet that marked the clay that is found all throughout this region, was everywhere. My GPS led me to RaeLyn Vineyards, and upon entering I was impressed. The site was easily accessible from many of the main highways, and from that perspective, it seems to be ideally situated to attract a steady flow of customers. One of the things I’ve learned as a producer, especially one in an emerging region, is how important it is to be able to attract customers in as convenient of a location as possible. When so much of your business depends on people knocking on that cellar door, you want that door to be easily accessible. RayLyn was marked with a beautiful gate as an entrance, and a a gentle drive through the vineyards towards the tasting room in winery. I passed a small new planting of strawberries and several young rows of blueberries. I particularly like when wine wineries are able to integrate other forms of agriculture into their farms. Whether they are used for any sort of wine production, I think it encapsulates this idea of our responsibility to the soil and to the earth. It also reminds us of the other forms of agriculture that we can be excited about. I’ve begun integrating more produce at our winery, planting cucumbers and tomatoes, peppers and squash, and hope to grow this out in the future.Approaching the parking lot at Ray Lynn, there’s a very nice outdoor tent that they seem to be able to use for banquets or weddings, and likely overflow for the tasting room if the weather is inclement. At this point in the afternoon the temperature had risen to about 41°, but with that southern sun shining bright, the fresh air combined with the warmth felt wonderful on my skin. And it wasn’t just me, there were a couple folks sitting out enjoying the day on some picnic tables outside the tasting room with a glass of wine. They were polite and smiled and gave me a small raise of the glass as I walked by. I entered the tasting room was read it immediately. People in North Carolina are friendly. I spoke with the tasting room staff, explained I was a winemaker and operated podcast, and had wanted to feature RayLyn on the shelf. This was one of the emails that had gotten lost in my expedited travel plan, and so without an appointment I took a gamble. It was a great choice. The tasting room staff was excited, informed me that her husband was from Watkins Glen, and eagerly brought up the names of some of my favorite producers in the Finger Lakes, folks that they have close personal relationships with. Being from Watkins Glen, of course the Stamp family at Lakewood, received some of the highest praise. She offered to taste me through the portfolio and I happily agreed, this would be my first taste of North Carolina wine In North Carolina.This winery offers a full suite of different wines, emphasizing dry veneer for a red and white wines, they also offer a beautiful Charmat style rosé, of course some of the sweet wines that have built this region made from the Muscadine grapes, and canned wine as well. We worked our way through the Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and the dry rosé. Review my notes to include some of the specifics about each wine here. Fortunately, the tasting room also had available detailed notes on the chemistry of the wines, the harvest date, and the components that were in most of the blinds. It’s interesting in the finger Lakes, our growing season doesn’t really kick off until May, and that means that most varietals won’t begin harvest until September. Of course there are some hybrid grapes that are harvested much sooner, but those don’t tend to be any of the bridals that I work with. With harvest starting in September, there have been vintages where we are harvesting all the way through early November, and that doesn’t include wines that we are making as light harvest wines, where we can be harvesting all the way to Thanksgiving, or ice wines which may be picked in January or February of the next year. It seems to me, that much of harvest will begin in August here in North Carolina and be ramping up by the end of September. It also struck me that that works very well for those people who enjoy wine country visits in October, during the fall when the air begins to cool and the excitement of all the dressings of fall are in the air. As a wine maker in the finger Lakes, Columbus Day marks our busiest weekend of the year. It also marks one of those weekends where we are fully in mashed in all of the seller activities, and that means I rarely get a chance to spend time with customers during harvest. It would be great to have the opportunity to spend more time as a wine maker with customers just as harvest is wrapping up and tourism is peeking. Though I love both red and white wines, my desert island wine will generally consist of a white. For me white wines offer a transparency into Vineyard practice and seller practice that edge out reds. Consequently I spend a lot more time thinking about white wine, I spend a whole lot more time making white wine in the finger Lakes, and I find that I drink or white wine. All of the whites offered at RayLyn were wonderful, some with a small component of Muscat Canelli, which added some wonderful aromatics.  Add a little bit of the history from the website of RaeLyn here. While tasting Rachel, one of the owners and daughter of the founder, and the ray of RaeLyn stop by to say hi. She made sure that I was enjoying my tasting, and trying to help me make contact with Steve, their winemaker. He had been in Asheville that day and wouldn’t be arriving until later in the week. She gave me his email address and I hope to have him on in the future in a long distance long-form interview. From everything I’ve heard, he’s one of these towering pioneering figures in the Yadkin Valley and someone who is clearly taking their wines to great heights. The Reds were equally as compelling as the whites, and in someways perhaps even more so. You can get the sense when you’re at a winery, what is the family who makes these wines prefer to drink, and I did get that sense here. One of the bottlings, had what I assumed with some modern art on it, but upon looking closer and receiving the explanation understood That it was actually the Doppler radar of a hurricane. Yes one of my questions has been immediately answered, hurricanes can be a factor here in the Yadkin Valley, though they are nowhere near the factor that people who live closer to the coast have to deal with.  Discuss this wine.After a really wonderful visit at RaeLyn, I ordered a case of wine, had it shipped back to our winery in New York, and set off for Lexington. Again with no familiarity of any of these towns or cities, I chose Lexington because it is the closest town to Childress vineyards. Lexington is nestled in the far south eastern portion of the AVA and most of the city isn’t included in the AVA itself. The town itself is it fairly nice downtown area, and it does feel like there is a small foodie movement emerging, with some local cafés and a Piedmont cheese shop. But in many ways it remains in agricultural and industrial, southern town that I can picture with time and investment has the potential to grow itself into a hub of Wine and food centrality.Just outside the fenced in property for Childress Vineyards was the Holiday Inn and adjoining plaza.  There weren’t really any shops in the small but nice strip mall that is next to the Holiday Inn, but it is all designed in a very similar fashion to Childress itself. The hotel has one side that looks out at the vineyards which I imagine would be a wonderful way to wake up. I was booked on the highway facing side, but the room is quiet and clean and a nice place to eat my takeout Mexican dinner for the night.So much of my philosophy is based on the specifics and the importance of place, and tied up with that philosophy is the notion that small is often better. Most of the time, most of the restaurant and dining options I observed, or chains that work cute in to specializing in any notion of local cuisine. Out here it wasn’t even real common to find a lot of barbecue joints, which I half expected to see almost everywhere. Again maybe I wasn’t looking in the right places, but I do have the sense that restaurant and food entrepreneurs will likely have a huge market to tap into if that’s the direction they would like to go in partnering with this growing wine country.My appointment with Mark Friszolowski was at nine the next morning, and so after getting a good nights sleep and waking up fairly early, I headed over to Childress Vineyards. I was said to meet him in the lobby and as a military man, who retired as a colonel and between his active and reserve duty spent 37 years in the army, I knew that on time was to be 10 minutes early. Driving into Childress which was literally just around the corner from the parking lot of the hotel in through the gates, you pass through a wonderfully manicured vineyard.  The varietals are all identified by signs with the trademark Richard Childress logo, and varietals like Maulbeck and Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and multiple Ciano I’ll stand out. There were signs marking planned plantings of Chardonnay and Pinot noir, which I’m particularly interested to see how they do with the North Carolina heat. The tasting room and winery set a top of hill which can be seen from almost any point of the drive into the wineries grounds. It is a beautiful Modern take with an Italian 18. It is the sort of Tuscany inspired building but you’ll find Americans like to build. It sets the tone for the romantic visions that we have of European, and especially Italian, winemaking culture. I know that there are some people who don’t like this form of architecture, they don’t like the sense that it calls out and emotive response that she would find somewhere else in the world but with modern building materials and aesthetics. I’ll be honest, I liked it. I think that they put a lot of effort into creating a beautiful building and grounds with a nice setting that makes you feel like that The winery you’re entering is making some special wines, they put in a lot of effort to set a tone and that tone carries through from the heat and painted murals on the wall of scenes of grape harvest, to the indoor fountain, to the seated tasting room with string lights and doors. This is not the Olive Garden experience, this is something much nicer and with such warm staff, more personal too. The entire tasting room experience was wonderful, The seller tour, The tour of the grounds in the bonded warehouse, explanations on infrastructure projects, a peek inside the restaurant and banquet facility, were all greatly appreciated. Mark was a wonderful host, who poured some great wines. We focused on their vinifera wines,tasting Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, as well as Montepulciano, and some red blends. Mark’s personal history, from his time helping out at Dry Creek Vineyards in California, managing operations at Pindar on Long Island, and ultimately moving to North Carolina to help found Childress. Mark is one of the first winemakers in the country to collaborate on creating the Meritage Alliance, and therefore creating Bordeaux based blends.  The specific vintage of Meritage we tried, the 2015, is a well aged current release. It carried many of the things I love about older Bordeaux, the hints of cedar, the forest floor. It was it both times bolder than what you’ll find in many offerings in the Finger Lakes, but leaner than what you would find in California. And struck a nice middle ground, and was a sort of sweet spot of bold but not overly dramatic red blends that I personally like, and that I think complement food quite well. I’ll be spending an entire feature in an episode with Mark on Childress, so for now we’re going to continue with our travelogue and look at the rest of us the experience here in the Yadkin Valley._____ In crafting the short travel log, I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t strictly about wine. Most of the time when we travel, there are other things on our quotation mark to do quotation mark list. There are a couple of really interesting tourist activities here in the Yadkin Valley, but deal both with history, pop-culture, and the wonderful natural surroundings. Mark was so generous with his time, but I found myself leaving the winery later than I had expected. I certainly wasn’t disappointed and I had made sure to leave a good window of time to spend at this landmark property. I figured I would spend the rest of the afternoon exploring some of those other offerings, and found my way to highway, and I headed up for the town of Mount Airy.Mount Airy sits on the North Carolina Virginia border. It is like so many other hill and mountain towns in America, a quintessential snapshot of life in both modern and past American societies. Mountains and hills can I think we people to be a bit more hearty sometimes a bit tougher but always genuinely very nice. The town itself is built around its historic Main Street. And coming in to Mount airy do you understand what that history is all about.  The name of the highway even changes and becomes the Andy Griffith Parkway, and that of course is named after the famous television show an actor that for seven seasons captured the aspirational qualities of American small-town life. With its classic whistling introduction, it’s sensitive skipping Stones and safety and security, of good old fashion morals and values and being raised in small-town life, Mount Airy was the inspiration for the Andy Griffith show fictional town of Mayberry. Mayberry is the corner stone upon which so much of the towns character now rests. You see signs for Aunt Bee’s café, you see the Mayberry antique shops, the Mayberry museum, ice cream shops meant to look like they were preserved from the 1930s, and a sense of pride that their town was once the basis for this dreamscape of Americana. Some of that dreamscape feels a little rough around the edges now, who knows if it was then if that’s what it’s always been, or if the changing times or loss of industrial base, of structural changes to our economy, and even the opioid epidemic that we face in this country, have added a touch of tarnish to the shine. In all, it’s a great place to be, a wonderful old historic town and I’m happy I made a detour.As you leave Mount Airy and head south on the highway back towards a more central location of the AVA you pass a geological wonder, an outcropping called Pine Mountain. It dominates the skyline and can be seen from many many miles away when you’re on top of hills. Driving past it, and without enough time to drive to the park and visit the mountain personally, I realize that this will be on the top of my list when I have a chance to return with my family and my children. I used to love walks through areas like this when I was a child and I can’t wait for Andrew And Audrey to have that experience with me. I found out, it isn’t the only fascinating geological wonder to explore, as there’s also Stone Mountain, which figured prominently in my second visit on my third day on the ground in the Yadkin Valley.For that evening I had made reservations in a small town called Elkin, or rather just outside of it, in the adjoining town of Jonesville. Jonesville is the classic sort of truckstop town, that offers some heavy industry, but largely consists of some gas stations, hotels, a Cracker Barrel, fast food restaurants, and a grocery store that serves the locals. It did have a Mexican restaurant, this one called Margaritas, which I took advantage of both nights of my stay in the Hampton Inn.Arriving at the hotel, it was a little older, but the staff was exceptionally accommodative, the room was perfectly clean, and the setting itself was quiet. When you were on the road there are very few other things that you actually need. Warm cookies were waiting for us as we checked in, and I unloaded my bags and all of our equipment in my room before I set out for the town to see what was available. Before I set my sights on dinner, I wanted to see Elkin itself. For my own personal aesthetic tastes, this portion of the AVA felt like it matched my desires more closely than the south eastern portion of the AVA. Elkin was quaint but beautiful. As the sun was coming down, the Yadkin River roared not too far away, the train tracks cross run adjacent to the main street, and the town itself seems well put together. Large murals adorn some of the older brick buildings, many featuring grapevines, and the town features a wonderfully restored old theater. Elkin felt nicer than Mount Airy in someways, not to denigrate Mount Airy at all, but it struck me that Elkin is the sort of town that could deal with in Oakville grocers type of concept, some interesting fine dining that features many of the local wineries strongest efforts, and some other cultural activities. Again it’s the off-season and perhaps there is that sort of activity that is going on that I’m simply not aware of, but I feel like the future for Elkin is bright. There aren’t a lot of accommodations right around downtown, but with all of the hotel options in Jonesville, Elkin will be able to maximize the heads in beds that is so important for wine country tourism. Interestingly Elkin and Jonesville, where you reach Jonesville by crossing the Yadkin River, are in different counties. I’m not sure if any of the development has anything to do with that, but in my own experience, especially when you’re dealing with the county and town level, so many of the decisions on what can happen and how well a town or region grows, are based on the local politics and the bureaucratic decisions that are made. I’d have to be there for a lot longer to know if any of this is in play.I picked up some carnitas and pollo asado street tacos, and headed back to my room for another great night sleep. The next morning I had appointments with two different wineries, Shelton Vineyards, and Johns Von Drehle.I woke up early the next morning, spent some time on my computer making sure that I had transferred all of my photos and videos, refreshing some of my notes from my previous day’s visit, and set out for Shelton Vineyards. Any of my initial skepticism‘s on the beauty of the countryside, how this wine region will grow and what its potential is, we’re set aside as I visited Shelton. Shelton is located in the town of Dobson.The exit from the highway for Shelton Vineyards also leads you to Surrey Community College. Surrey Community College was constantly a subject of discussion with most of the people in the wine industry that I met. It is a community college with a vineyard and enology program, and one that was largely initiated and funded by the Shelton Brothers the founders a Shelton Vineyards.  Similar to my emphasis in the finger Lakes on the finger Lakes community college Viticulture program, the Surrey community College program helps to introduce and train up the next generation of viticulture lists knickers. The college itself has a program and a 10 acre Vineyard where students can learn. Against that backdrop of both philanthropy and history, I was excited to have the chance to meet with Ethan Brown, winemaker in Shelton in Vineyards. Ethan had been there for four years, and in a way that completes the circle of the importance of programs like the one at Surrey community college, he attended the program many years ago. Ethan was a young organized dynamic guy, and he wasted no time in showing me around the winery tasting room, and providing a little bit of context for the history of the place. Currently the largest vinifera vineyard in the state of North Carolina, Shelton farms 80 acres of grapes with plans to plant a lot more. Exceptionally manicured, with beautiful old fashion light posts lining the long driveway from the highway to the winery, Shelton truly transports you to a different world. The gentle rolling hills adorn with a backdrop of the mountains, which on clear warm days, I can imagine, inspires you to find your own piece of beautiful grass, and enjoy a glass and some cheese with someone you laugh. For those wine club members who want the best of views, you can climb up to the gazebo that rests surrounding vineyards and truly has the best features of the entire valley.Built in 1999, Shelton Vineyards really isn’t showing it’s age that much. It speaks to the efforts of the staff to ensure maintenance is done regularly and things are taken care of. The cellar itself is built into a hillside which means most of it is underground. The barrel rooms are probably 20 feet high but at least 2/3 of that being underground meaning temperature control from both cold and heat is a lot easier and done with much less energy.  Producing around 25,000 cases a year, this is a Winery that has seen the baton passed from the founding Shelton brothers to the next generation. With that transition is an intention to grow their programs and initiate new ones. With the recent purchase of a break tank and a small hand bottling counter pressure system the winery seeking to do more charmat style sparklings. Ethan also talked about expanding cock and re-instituting their traditional methods Sparkling Wine program. I tasted a Sauvignon Blanc, a dry rosé based on Merlot, Petit Verdot, and a Petit Verdot/Cabernet Sauvignon blend.. All of the wines were exceptionally crafted, showing what I had begun to discern as something that speaks to the North Carolina fine wines that I tried. The whites and the reds are both fuller bodied than what we find in the Finger Lakes, they have generous acid ,but lower than what we have in truly cool climate winemaking; and the reds weren’t overly extracted. They spoke of great fruit, they were well balanced, and their alcohols were generally about 13%. I also tasted a great Tannat. My wife and I have visited Madiran in southern France, I’ve had a lot of experience with the French version of the varietal. We visited a number of producers large and small in Madiran, and I love those wines, there just aren’t that many American Tannat’s that I have fallen in love with. Of course the wines of Jenny McCloud of Chrysalis have been wonderful, and I’ve been lucky enough to cellar those for many years. This North Carolina Tannat, my first experience with a varietal in the terroir, makes sense for the region. There are some very strong Virginia Tannats that are growing, and with this particular vineyard in North Carolina, I renewed my love of the varietal. As with Childress, and the winery I’ll be talking about next, Jones Von Drehle, Shelton will have its own feature in the podcast, as I sat down with Ethan Brown to discuss his own experience, Shelton Vineyards, and where the region and the winery is going. As Ethan and I wrapped up, and he was generous enough to spend several hours and taste a lot of wines with me, I headed off for my last visit of the day to Jones Von Drehle. The roads grew less crowded, the bends and winds and hills became more dramatic, and I started to wonder where in the heck was this place. I arrived early, about an hour or so, and took advantage of the opportunity to do just a little bit of driving and perhaps find something to eat. I typed in food nearby and the nearest place was the Stone Mountain General store. It wasn’t too far from the Stone Mountain State Park entrance, and so I figured I’d head over there and see what was available. The general store itself feels plucked from time. An old rustic wooden building, but offers inside a few knickknacks, necessities for campers such as para chord, fire starters, and offers a few small food items for the weary traveler camper. Simple offerings like a hamburger or cheeseburger, or a housemaid turkey or ham sandwich were available. The turkey sandwich tasted like home, although it was on white bread. Turkey, American cheese, lettuce, tomato: all for $2.95. It wasn’t the most glamorous meal I’ve ever had in wine country, but it filled me up, tasted just fine, and was certainly marked as my cheapest option I’ve ever had on the road. I took advantage and drove around the park a bit, didn’t have a chance to see Stone Mountain itself but just like Pine Mountain, this will be on my itinerary for the next visit, one I hope to take with the family.Heading back down the hill I arrived at my appointment just on time at Jones Von Drehle, and boy was I impressed. The Vineyard itself has two entrances, a service entrance and a guest entrance. I can tell it was an extremely quiet day but I wanted to have the standard customer experience, and so I entered the other guest entrance. Driving down the crusher run you are snaked through the vineyards, pass the retention ponds, as the tasting room and winery, and brand new amphitheater open up before you. It is an impressive and beautiful experience. The slope of the hills hug you to your right as you wind your way around the vineyards on one side nature on the other and approach your final destination. The hills jumped in different directions the vines bear open up the view to see row after row in this well-kept vineyard. The amphitheater itself is gorgeous. Recently finished it’s part of the philosophy of the owners to incorporate wine music in food into living a good life. The tasting room is not extraordinarily elaborate in it’s design, but it’s well thought out and well appointed inside. The most impressive feature, is the immersive feeling you get when you walk in turn to your right and look out the windows in the back of what is the tasting room. The slopes feel even more dramatic here from the vineyards, and with the trees bare of their foliage you can peer through the trunks to see the steep incline of the Granache and the Malbec and other varietals.  Well lit, and open, without any sense of clutter, the tasting room invite you to a horse shoe shaped bar in the middle were the tasting room attendant who was very nice and gracious, and the new to the wine industry expressed an amazing thirst for knowledge, that is extremely inviting. Diana Jones was waiting for me, and informed me that her husband Chuck was on his way back from Charlotte where they had been delivering some wine. This 6000 case winery is centered around 30 acres of a estate vineyard. They do not have a distributor, and unfortunately don’t ship to New York state right now, but when they get that license, I can assure you I’ll be ordering more wines. Everything was wonderful and unique. From their Grenache rosé, to their Chardonnay - both stainless steel and barrel fermented, to the real interesting Petit Manseng, which carries a fairly heavy alcohol, but is it so well balanced on the pallet that it is neither distracting nor over the top. It is well balanced and full bodied, and a wine that they described as being extremely popular at restaurants who have received James Beard‘s nominees and nods, as a “buy the glass” pour. Tasting through their Grenache rosé, this dry rosé echoed Provence with its own North Carolina flair. It was a wonderful wine and one I decided I had to take one home. Their red offerings were equally as compelling. Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon blend - all were well-crafted, clearly brilliantly grown, and offered everything I could hope for. Their winemaker, cut his teeth in California, spending decades in the industry until he finally decided he wanted to have a small farm himself and, with land prices in California being what they are, realized the East Coast offered his best opportunity to become a farmer himself. He took over the reins at Château Morissette in Virginia, and this large production oriented winery did well for him for sometime. As he sought to become more ingrained in a small production oriented facility, he had heard about the efforts of these two crazy couples from Atlanta Georgia with original roots in North Carolina, that had planted an estate vineyard in the middle of the hills just south of Stone Mountain. It’s been a match made in heaven and with Dan’s experience, and the attention to detail in Vineyard, the wines are truly top-notch. The way the Vineyard is set up, many of the worst things that you deal with in the Yadkin Valley AVA, are ameliorated naturally. Water naturally runs down the clay hill slopes, with the help of some drain tile. The intense humidity and moisture that you deal with in North Carolina, is marginalized by the fact that the steep hills along with the fact that the mountains are in the distance, create an almost constant airflow which helps to dry the canopy and the fruit during crucial periods of the year. Additional measures such as the first cordon being 42 inches high instead of 36 inches from the ground help reduce ground moisture from impacting the fruit. The whole property is fenced to keep our critters. The wind also helps to protect the vines from early-season frosts, which often compromise buds, particularly the primary buds where the majority of the fruit is located, and get them through very treacherous periods where the temperatures will impact that year‘s harvest. And overall just the amount of effort that the team here puts into their vineyards, the philosophy that fine wine comes from extraordinary vineyards rings true. We go even deeper into Jones Von Drehle in our long-form interview, which is slightly shorter than the long form interviews I do from the studio, but nonetheless will give you a much deeper picture of this winery it’s history and it’s increasingly prominent role in the North Carolina wine industry.Returning to Elkin for the evening, I had wished I brought an extra bottle to enjoy that evening. Instead I did what we winemakers often do and grabbed some local beers, picked up another to go order of Mexican food from Margaritas, and spent some time recapping the visits with my wife, enjoying the shrimp chipotle that I filled into some fresh corn tortillas, and then headed to bed. The next morning I would be leaving the Yadkin Valley, and any initial apprehension that I had as to where this wine region was, was disappearing. When it came to food, Diana Jones had mentioned that Asheville and Raleigh were truly astounding foodie towns. With that as a basis, it won’t take long for some enterprising young chef or cook who wants to do their own project, to find their way to one of the small towns and make it work during the busy tourist seasons.Yet again, I woke up early worked on my computer for a bit, and double checked my itinerary checking in to my Delta flight. I realized at this pace, I may not have time to taste at any other wineries, but I could at least take a peek at the landscapes in the settings that the region had to offer. I took a drive out to a winery that I had really wanted to visit, but in this trip just couldn’t make it work.  Raffaldini is widely regarded as not just an important landmark in North Carolina wines, but a house that is making some truly stellar North Carolina wines.  From all my research, it is the sort of aspirational wine story that is bred in a man who worked hard and made a great deal of money in another field. Using those resources, he has poured them in to building a truly astounding estate. You can look at pictures on the Internet, you can watch videos on YouTube, but with some properties you don’t understand just how special they are until you actually visit them. And so setting Raffaldini in my iPhone map, I headed in the direction of the winery.  Driving down the highway, North Carolina has done such an excellent job in featuring the different wineries throughout the state with these large highway adjacent signs, that I quickly realized this was a pocket of the AVA I should’ve explored right away. Instead of one or two wineries indicated there were multiple. And not only were there multiple, they were all wineries that in my research into the region, come vaguely familiar with. Wineries like Laurel Gray, Shadow Springs, Raffaldini Vineyards, Piccione, and several others. That last winery was one that I heard mentioned multiple times when I was tasting in different tasting rooms and talking with local proprietors of every sort.  If there is a small pocket of fine wines, with multiple wineries working towards the same goal, emerging in North Carolina, this may be the place. There are of course a lot of people doing a lot of great work throughout the entire region. But one thing I have understood in my research of, particularly American wine, is that like the person who wants to start a gas station, the very best place you can locate a new gas station is across the street from an existing gas station. The logic may seem counterintuitive, but if people start to think of that intersection as a place to get gas, then that is where they will get gas. Likewise in wine, tourists often don’t take the extraordinary measures of researching soil types, property histories, winemakers, and all of the other factors that lead to a specific winery making great wines. They look for the clusters where numerous proprietors are working on their own, sometimes in concert with their community, to pull the best fruit from their land and produce the best wines from their grapes. If there is an early nucleus that we can expect the North Carolina wine country in the Yadkin Valley to flourish from, my sense was, this might be it. With that said, I did not have an opportunity to taste any of these wines.For those listening who are interested in exploring North Carolina wines, I would certainly say that visiting any of the wineries I have mentioned is a prerequisite. But I think that in my next visit, I will certainly start in this particular part of the AVA. I will likely visit Raffaldini, Piccione ,and many of the other surrounding wineries. I would not miss out on visiting either Shelton or on Jones Von Drehle Vineyards Winery or Childress. But I think that this particular corner of the AVA is fostering a sort of spirit that seems to be building upon itself. There are no restaurants nearby, there are no hotels within a 1 mile drive most of these places. For the entrepreneurs listening, I would expect that to change, because this seems to be where some of the energy for the AVA seems to be admitting from.I guess as a closing retrospective, there is an immense amount of differentiation within the Yadkin Valley AVA. From topography, to culture, to wine styles produced by the different wineries. When I landed, and first began to explore the very core of this viticultural area, I will admit to feeling a little underwhelmed. That feeling began to dissipate upon visiting RayLyn, and after tasting at Childress I was excited. The entire focal point of the trip changed as a ventured outside of the south east quadrant and moved into areas that, admittedly, felt a little bit more familiar. Call it a personal bias, call it a personal preference. My conclusion is this… The Yadkin Valley AVA is vast, it includes so many different specific tear wars, that it’s difficult to call it one region. From the wind and hills at Jones Von Drehle, to the gentle slope‘s just south west of the northern reaches of the AVA, to the flatter more populated areas in the south east corner of the viticultural area.  What I can say is this, each producer I visited produced all level of quality that far surpassed any of my expectations. Too many regions I visit , Or rather have visited in my life, think of themselves as Napa in the 1970s. This is not Napa in the 1970s, because this is not America in the 1970s. This is North Carolina in 2022, and it is full of surprises, and beauty, and wines that will surprise at every turn. Is this a region worth visiting question?  If you are an American who loves wine, this is a region you must visit. You will fall in love with many of these wines. I don’t know what your personal preferences, I don’t know if you like red or white, or lean or bold, or salty whites or tannic reds, but you will love it. You will find wines you love and you will want to taste these wines the rest of your life. In vino Veritas, and in North Carolina, there is indeed, great wine.________Visit our website at www.VitiCulturePodcast.com, and don’t forget to share with your friends via all major social media platforms @VitiCULTUREPodVisit Bellangelo Winery and Missick Cellars at www.Bellangelo.com and www.MissickCellars.com.You can watch the interview on our YouTube channel here: Get full access to The Viti+Culture Podcast Newsletter at viticulturepodcast.substack.com/subscribe

Summary KeywordsPeople, leaders, work, group, meeting, organisation, levers, learn, question, create, lives, reflect, team, book, person, agenda, relationships, business, conversation.IntroductionWelcome to episode 69 of the Enterprise Excellence Podcast. It is such a please to have Diana Jones back on the show with us today.  We are proudly sponsored by S A Partners, a world-leading business transformation consultancy.Two Minute TipWould it be the leaders to be able to really move forward? Based on what you've written in your book? What would be that short, sharp tip you'd give? I think the key is to stop being a creature of habit and be a creature of purpose. Essentially and I mean, leaders are asked to do this all the time, really find your why, begin with the end of mind, but like that, really, that is the key is to keep refreshing that because so many people have said this for such a long time, you know, changes, familiar change is constant. Well, it's true. And the last two years have been significant in terms of our ability to get together and to get together with who we chose. And it's just made radical differences. And of us being online. Like enabling you and I to have this conversation so easily together, without having to get on a plane and travel for a day or so. Yeah, travel across the ditch. Yeah, just across the ditch. It is. Also, it makes it easy, being able to work electronically, but electronic doesn't ever replace human interactions. So it's really learning how to create the human interaction. And it's been willing to stop being a creature of habit and really being willing to learn what's required now, which is a new way of relating. And people who are coming back to work and are coming back to face to face work are not going to tolerate boring meetings. They're not going to tolerate being in groups with people they don't want to be with. And so, leaders are going to have to do something that really makes people want to be together and want to work together and want to produce together. Yeah, so that's the challenge. And that's my two minutes tip. Thank you reflect and learn continuously. That's powerful. Yeah. Thanks again for your time and knowledge Diana, thank you for helping us create a better future.LinksBrad is proud to support many Australian businesses. You can find him on LinkedIn here. If you'd like to speak to him about how he can help your business, call him on 0402 448 445 or email bjeavons@iqi.com.au. Our website is www.bradjeavons.com.Diana is a Leadership advisor, executive coach, and author,Web:  diana-jones.comConnect with Diana: LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter What next?Watch our 2 min tip: Common Goal with Rugby and subscribe to our YouTube channel.Listen to Diana's first episode #68.Join our membership page to access free planning resources, including the excerpt from Diana's book, Leadership Levers.

Summary KeywordsPeople, meeting, leaders, organisations, levers, group, managers, tone, behaviour, life, book, leadership, create, emotional, called, team, elements, learning, read, recognise.IntroductionWelcome to episode 68 of the enterprise excellence Podcast. It is such a please to have Diana Jones on the show with us today. Diana is an author, trainer and coach in the fields of leadership. Diana is focused on helping leaders and teams shift their behaviours to connect relevantly for powerful results and sought after cultures. Diana's new book Leadership Levers – Realising the power of relationships for exceptional participation, alignment and team results has just been released. Let's get into the episode. Diana, thank you so much for joining us today.We are proudly sponsored by S A Partners, a world-leading business transformation consultancy.FREE DownloadGo to www.enterpriseexcellencepodcast.com/downloads to download the six principles for exceptional meetings Diana has kindly provided us. Please subscribe and share this podcast to help others gain insights and create a better future.Quote14:09min Leaders have got their arms around their content, and information and logic and all that kind of stuff, where actually, it's the way they can help people interact with one another that is at the core. So by taking their foot off the brake, they really learn how to work with groups, and how to work with people. And it is a learnable thing. It's just that none of the business schools have adequately approached it. ConclusionWhat a great episode. Thank you, Diana, so much for your time. I've gained so much knowledge already. Come back next week for episode 69 of the Enterprise Excellence Podcast, where we delve into Diana's new book, Leadership Levers, further and a lot of her learnings that will help us all create a better future. Bye for now.LinksBrad is proud to support many Australian businesses. You can find him on LinkedIn here. If you'd like to speak to him about how he can help your business, call him on 0402 448 445 or email bjeavons@iqi.com.au. Our website is www.bradjeavons.com.Diana is a Leadership advisor, executive coach, and author,Web:  diana-jones.comConnect with Diana: LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter What next?Watch our 2 min tip: Common Goal with Rugby and subscribe to our YouTube channel.Listen to the Enterprise Excellence Podcast,  #33 Gareth Brown, Shingo winner who also talks about culture in a greenfield opportunity.Join our membership page to access free planning resources, including the excerpt from Diana's book, Leadership Levers.

Season 3 begins with this expanded episode. Six-weeks have passed since the Season 2 finale. Issy continues to adjust to her new life at Harridge House; Amelia is still masquerading as Sandra, whose spirit has been spell-locked in Linda's bedroom; Linda and Roxie are on the road trying to find Linda's clone, Kelly; Thia is now living with LB and helping Linda by digging up leads and sending them to her; Liz hones her culinary skills in Roxie's absence, but she's more concerned about Drew and Ray; Drew is filling in at the clinic after Dr. Betancourt's departure; Ben and LB work to unravel several mysteries, including trying to find out why the land around Harridge is being sold and who kidnapped Cate's newborn baby; Blake is lonely after the departure of his friends, Brooklyn and Charlotte, and the disappearance of his mother; he's also upset that Issy doesn't like him; Harridge resident Marge Perkins notices strange behavior among the local bird population; and Josiah receives a mysterious package from a dead man. Written by Cody Lindenberger. Directed by Cody Lindenberger and Scott Young. Produced by Joe Bly, Scott Young and Heidi Hampton. Sound editing and Sound engineering by Joe Bly. Original music by Mike & Linda Badinger, Big Fig Music. The cast includes: Annalize Sanders as Issy, Asher Killian as Drew, Heidi Hampton as Amelia and Sandra, Asher Honor Hwang as Blake, Cary Hampton as Thia, Mark Helton as LB Brandon Jr, Justin Clouser as Josiah, Rachel Anderson as Linda, Anita Kelley as Roxie, Nicole Schader as Liz, Caleb Mertz-Vega as Ray, Geoff Moore as Sheriff Ben, Melanie Johnson as Donna, Michael Aftias as Deputy Stewart, Liz Strekal as Marge, Tom Strekal as Gary and Diana Jones as Patty. ©2022 KNVC and DiazMG. For more information, please visit our websites and social media. Please don't reveal the Secrets of Harridge House. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/harridgehouse/support

Season 3 begins with this expanded episode. Six-weeks have passed since the Season 2 finale. Issy continues to adjust to her new life at Harridge House; Amelia is still masquerading as Sandra, whose spirit has been spell-locked in Linda's bedroom; Linda and Roxie are on the road trying to find Linda's clone, Kelly; Thia is now living with LB and helping Linda by digging up leads and sending them to her; Liz hones her culinary skills in Roxie's absence, but she's more concerned about Drew and Ray; Drew is filling in at the clinic after Dr. Betancourt's departure; Ben and LB work to unravel several mysteries, including trying to find out why the land around Harridge is being sold and who kidnapped Cate's newborn baby; Blake is lonely after the departure of his friends, Brooklyn and Charlotte, and the disappearance of his mother; he's also upset that Issy doesn't like him; Harridge resident Marge Perkins notices strange behavior among the local bird population; and Josiah receives a mysterious package from a dead man. Written by Cody Lindenberger. Directed by Cody Lindenberger and Scott Young. Produced by Joe Bly, Scott Young and Heidi Hampton. Sound editing and Sound engineering by Joe Bly. Original music by Mike & Linda Badinger, Big Fig Music. “Thriftstore Cowgirl,” performed by Red Meat, composed by Jill Olsen. The cast includes: Annalize Sanders as Issy, Asher Killian as Drew, Heidi Hampton as Amelia and Sandra, Asher Honor Hwang as Blake, Cary Hampton as Thia, Mark Helton as LB Brandon Jr, Justin Clouser as Josiah, Rachel Anderson as Linda, Anita Kelley as Roxie, Nicole Schader as Liz, Caleb Mertz-Vega as Ray, Geoff Moore as Sheriff Ben, Melanie Johnson as Donna, Michael Aftias as Deputy Stewart, Liz Strekal as Marge, Tom Strekal as Gary and Diana Jones as Patty. Produced by KNVC 95.1 FM in Carson City, Nevada, and Diaz Media Group. For more information, please visit our websites and social media. ©2022 KNVC and DiazMG. Please don't reveal the Secrets of Harridge House.

This week on the program we continue with the best of 2021. This time around we'll focus on songwriters, sharing selections from Over the Moon, Amy Helm, Watchhouse, Robin & Linda Williams, Diana Jones and many more. The Best of 2021 continues … on the next edition of the Sing Out! Radio Magazine. Artist/”Song”/CD/Label  Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways Brad Kolodner / “Catalpa Hop” / Chimney Swifts / Fenchurch Over the Moon / “Lonesome Bluebird” / Chinook Waltz / Borealis The Brother Brothers / “Circles” / Calla Lily / Compass Cliff Eberhardt / “Room in the City” / Knew Things / Tin Pan Alley Amy Helm / “Terminal B” / What the Flood Leaves Behind / Renew  Watchhouse / “Belly of the Beast” / Watchhouse / Thirty Tigers The Accidentals / “Go Getter” / Vessel / Self-Produced Sons of the Never Wrong / “Muddy Muddy River” / Undertaker's Songbook / Sons 3 Records Murray McLauchlan / “Shining City on a Hill” / Hourglass / True North Brad Kolodner / “Tuckerman Lane” / Chimney Swifts / Fenchurch  Robin & Linda Williams / “Living Your Bad Name Down” / A Better Day A-Coming / Oakenwold Charlie Parr / “Last of the Better Days Ahead” / Last of the Better Days Ahead / Smithsonian Folkways John R. Miller / “Motor's Fried” / Depreciated / Rounder Sturgill Simpson / “Sam” / The Ballad of Dood & Juanita / High Top Mountain Carrie Newcomer / “I Will Sing a New Song” / Until Now / Available Light Diana Jones / “We Believe You” / Song to a Refugee / Goldmine Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways  

Visit our website https://www.procurementzen.com/digital to get free access to the alpha version of my procurement digitization course. In this 5th and final part of my conversation with Diana Jones, we discuss being influential and building trust. Our new format, rough, uncut, open and honest - the ProcurementZen experience.

Visit our website https://www.procurementzen.com/digital to get free access to the alpha version of my procurement digitization course. In this 4th part of my conversation with Diana Jones, we talk about a leaders "pit crew", how you can make other people talk about your skills and talents and about policies and relationships. Our new format, rough, uncut, open and honest - the ProcurementZen experience.

Visit our website https://www.procurementzen.com/digital to get free access to the alpha version of my procurement digitization course. This is part 3 of my interview with Diana Jones, internationally acclaimed leadership coach and author. In this part we discuss about audiences, how people bond and presentations. Our new format, rough, uncut, open and honest - the ProcurementZen experience.

Human action lies at the core of the application of Austrian economics to business: how do people act and how can we develop the best understanding of why they act that way. We apply that thinking to customers, and we can also apply it to business organizations. If we are able to answer these questions well, we can develop a profitable business model and an effective management model. Our guest Diana Jones has a distinctive perspective about the management model that's based on understanding people's personal and private experiences rather than their place in the hierarchy or their formal role in the process. Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Relationships are fundamental to all systems thinking, and to all business management. Sociometry is a tool to measure relationships. Sociometry measures relationships between people and within groups. The unit of measure is distance. People can feel close to each other and other group members, and this closeness results in certain types of behavior. People can feel distant from each other, resulting in a different kind of behavior. They can also feel close or distant to concepts, like the company mission or the annual plan, and to institutions, like the Board of Directors or the HR department or a firm's way of pursuing innovation. They can feel close or distant to colleagues in a meeting, or to the meeting purpose and agenda. Measuring and understanding relationship distance contribute directly to performance management. Sociometry reveals the disproportionate importance of informal structures over formal structures. It's easy to think of the formal organization chart as the model for managing a firm. Planning descends from higher levels to lower levels, along with instructions on how to implement and what to do. It's not how companies function in reality. What makes companies work is relationships. People form bonds with each other, and the bonds they form shape the work that they do and how they do it. The bonds are often forged via sharing of knowledge and experiences that are private and personal rather than business and process knowledge. Productivity comes from people connecting on shared experiences, so that these personal and private relationships become more relevant to business operations than the formal structures, such as hierarchy. When relationships change, behaviors change, and vice versa. When relationships shift, the whole business system shifts. Formal structures don't work, at least not in the way top management thinks. And the titles associated with hierarchical position can be alienating and toxic to relationships, symbolizing and reinforcing distance rather than closeness. Sociometry helps to focus on these informal relationships and especially on the most important ones that make a big difference: for example, to improve customer service. There's a role for leadership in this system of informal relationships, but it's not the one that generally taught or written about. Leadership can emerge amidst informal relationships, but it doesn't come from authority. Leadership is not to be confused with position in the hierarchy. Leadership entails the communication of vision and helping people understand it, share it, and do the right things to achieve it. The informal structure and its relationships make the formal structure work. The formal structure produces cynicism, anxiety, and reactionary behavior. The informal structure can eliminate these negative tendencies, unleashing untapped talent and enabling and refreshing the firm. Leaders help people as guardians of these informal relationships: monitoring, empathizing, and nurturing. Many people need help working in groups. It's typical practice in business management to assign people to groups: agile teams, project teams, product development teams, functional teams, and so on. It's seldom questioned whether or not individuals understand how to work in groups. Usually, they don't. They're unsure whether to speak up or be compliant, or whether conflict is valued to arrive at consensus or is to be avoided. This is one more element of Diana Jones' thinking and method that tells us that the traditional thinking of business organization and management process is mostly wrong. Hierarchy and formal organizational models don't work, titles and authoritative roles are counter-productive, and reporting relationships are irrelevant when compared to relationship distance / closeness. There's a lot of the traditional management model blueprint we need to scrap. The better route to exceptional team participation and team results is via empathy. In Economics For Business, which is the application of the principles of Austrian economics to business management, we allocate great importance to the use of empathy as a tool, usually in the relationship between a business or brand and its customer. For example, we use empathic diagnosis to understand a customer's dissatisfactions and unmet wants. In Diana Jones's model, empathy is an internal organizational tool. She deploys it in a sophisticated way that identifies four different types of application. Cognitive empathy: imagining and understanding how a person feels and what they might be thinking.Emotional empathy: accurately reading and sharing the feelings of another person, and reflecting on those feelings in a way that helps everyone involved.Compassionate empathy: going beyond understanding to taking action that helps people deal practically with difficult situations about which they're emotional.Group empathy: the capacity to read the emotional tone of a group that's sharing a challenging experience. The core competency is the ability to read people and their emotional tone or state. Diana Jones gives the skill a name: interpersonal perception. It's a skill that can be developed in a learning loop of experience, experimentation, curiosity, and intuition. Additional Resources "Trust-Distance Matrix: Assessing the Cost of Distance in Business Relationships" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_148_PDF Leadership Levers: Releasing The Power Of Relationships For Exceptional Participation, Alignment, and Team Results by Diana Jones: Mises.org/E4B_148_Book Diana-Jones.com

Human action lies at the core of the application of Austrian economics to business: how do people act and how can we develop the best understanding of why they act that way. We apply that thinking to customers, and we can also apply it to business organizations. If we are able to answer these questions well, we can develop a profitable business model and an effective management model. Our guest Diana Jones has a distinctive perspective about the management model that's based on understanding people's personal and private experiences rather than their place in the hierarchy or their formal role in the process. Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Relationships are fundamental to all systems thinking, and to all business management. Sociometry is a tool to measure relationships. Sociometry measures relationships between people and within groups. The unit of measure is distance. People can feel close to each other and other group members, and this closeness results in certain types of behavior. People can feel distant from each other, resulting in a different kind of behavior. They can also feel close or distant to concepts, like the company mission or the annual plan, and to institutions, like the Board of Directors or the HR department or a firm's way of pursuing innovation. They can feel close or distant to colleagues in a meeting, or to the meeting purpose and agenda. Measuring and understanding relationship distance contribute directly to performance management. Sociometry reveals the disproportionate importance of informal structures over formal structures. It's easy to think of the formal organization chart as the model for managing a firm. Planning descends from higher levels to lower levels, along with instructions on how to implement and what to do. It's not how companies function in reality. What makes companies work is relationships. People form bonds with each other, and the bonds they form shape the work that they do and how they do it. The bonds are often forged via sharing of knowledge and experiences that are private and personal rather than business and process knowledge. Productivity comes from people connecting on shared experiences, so that these personal and private relationships become more relevant to business operations than the formal structures, such as hierarchy. When relationships change, behaviors change, and vice versa. When relationships shift, the whole business system shifts. Formal structures don't work, at least not in the way top management thinks. And the titles associated with hierarchical position can be alienating and toxic to relationships, symbolizing and reinforcing distance rather than closeness. Sociometry helps to focus on these informal relationships and especially on the most important ones that make a big difference: for example, to improve customer service. There's a role for leadership in this system of informal relationships, but it's not the one that generally taught or written about. Leadership can emerge amidst informal relationships, but it doesn't come from authority. Leadership is not to be confused with position in the hierarchy. Leadership entails the communication of vision and helping people understand it, share it, and do the right things to achieve it. The informal structure and its relationships make the formal structure work. The formal structure produces cynicism, anxiety, and reactionary behavior. The informal structure can eliminate these negative tendencies, unleashing untapped talent and enabling and refreshing the firm. Leaders help people as guardians of these informal relationships: monitoring, empathizing, and nurturing. Many people need help working in groups. It's typical practice in business management to assign people to groups: agile teams, project teams, product development teams, functional teams, and so on. It's seldom questioned whether or not individuals understand how to work in groups. Usually, they don't. They're unsure whether to speak up or be compliant, or whether conflict is valued to arrive at consensus or is to be avoided. This is one more element of Diana Jones' thinking and method that tells us that the traditional thinking of business organization and management process is mostly wrong. Hierarchy and formal organizational models don't work, titles and authoritative roles are counter-productive, and reporting relationships are irrelevant when compared to relationship distance / closeness. There's a lot of the traditional management model blueprint we need to scrap. The better route to exceptional team participation and team results is via empathy. In Economics For Business, which is the application of the principles of Austrian economics to business management, we allocate great importance to the use of empathy as a tool, usually in the relationship between a business or brand and its customer. For example, we use empathic diagnosis to understand a customer's dissatisfactions and unmet wants. In Diana Jones's model, empathy is an internal organizational tool. She deploys it in a sophisticated way that identifies four different types of application. Cognitive empathy: imagining and understanding how a person feels and what they might be thinking.Emotional empathy: accurately reading and sharing the feelings of another person, and reflecting on those feelings in a way that helps everyone involved.Compassionate empathy: going beyond understanding to taking action that helps people deal practically with difficult situations about which they're emotional.Group empathy: the capacity to read the emotional tone of a group that's sharing a challenging experience. The core competency is the ability to read people and their emotional tone or state. Diana Jones gives the skill a name: interpersonal perception. It's a skill that can be developed in a learning loop of experience, experimentation, curiosity, and intuition. Additional Resources "Trust-Distance Matrix: Assessing the Cost of Distance in Business Relationships" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_148_PDF Leadership Levers: Releasing The Power Of Relationships For Exceptional Participation, Alignment, and Team Results by Diana Jones: Mises.org/E4B_148_Book Diana-Jones.com

Visit our website https://www.procurementzen.com/digital to get free access to the alpha version of my procurement digitization course. In this part 2 of my interview with leadership coach and author Diana Jones I discuss how conversation happen, how people bond and how presentations can help. Our new format, rough, uncut, open and honest - the ProcurementZen experience.

Human action lies at the core of the application of Austrian economics to business: how do people act and how can we develop the best understanding of why they act that way. We apply that thinking to customers, and we can also apply it to business organizations. If we are able to answer these questions well, we can develop a profitable business model and an effective management model. Our guest Diana Jones has a distinctive perspective about the management model that's based on understanding people's personal and private experiences rather than their place in the hierarchy or their formal role in the process. Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Relationships are fundamental to all systems thinking, and to all business management. Sociometry is a tool to measure relationships. Sociometry measures relationships between people and within groups. The unit of measure is distance. People can feel close to each other and other group members, and this closeness results in certain types of behavior. People can feel distant from each other, resulting in a different kind of behavior. They can also feel close or distant to concepts, like the company mission or the annual plan, and to institutions, like the Board of Directors or the HR department or a firm's way of pursuing innovation. They can feel close or distant to colleagues in a meeting, or to the meeting purpose and agenda. Measuring and understanding relationship distance contribute directly to performance management. Sociometry reveals the disproportionate importance of informal structures over formal structures. It's easy to think of the formal organization chart as the model for managing a firm. Planning descends from higher levels to lower levels, along with instructions on how to implement and what to do. It's not how companies function in reality. What makes companies work is relationships. People form bonds with each other, and the bonds they form shape the work that they do and how they do it. The bonds are often forged via sharing of knowledge and experiences that are private and personal rather than business and process knowledge. Productivity comes from people connecting on shared experiences, so that these personal and private relationships become more relevant to business operations than the formal structures, such as hierarchy. When relationships change, behaviors change, and vice versa. When relationships shift, the whole business system shifts. Formal structures don't work, at least not in the way top management thinks. And the titles associated with hierarchical position can be alienating and toxic to relationships, symbolizing and reinforcing distance rather than closeness. Sociometry helps to focus on these informal relationships and especially on the most important ones that make a big difference: for example, to improve customer service. There's a role for leadership in this system of informal relationships, but it's not the one that generally taught or written about. Leadership can emerge amidst informal relationships, but it doesn't come from authority. Leadership is not to be confused with position in the hierarchy. Leadership entails the communication of vision and helping people understand it, share it, and do the right things to achieve it. The informal structure and its relationships make the formal structure work. The formal structure produces cynicism, anxiety, and reactionary behavior. The informal structure can eliminate these negative tendencies, unleashing untapped talent and enabling and refreshing the firm. Leaders help people as guardians of these informal relationships: monitoring, empathizing, and nurturing. Many people need help working in groups. It's typical practice in business management to assign people to groups: agile teams, project teams, product development teams, functional teams, and so on. It's seldom questioned whether or not individuals understand how to work in groups. Usually, they don't. They're unsure whether to speak up or be compliant, or whether conflict is valued to arrive at consensus or is to be avoided. This is one more element of Diana Jones' thinking and method that tells us that the traditional thinking of business organization and management process is mostly wrong. Hierarchy and formal organizational models don't work, titles and authoritative roles are counter-productive, and reporting relationships are irrelevant when compared to relationship distance / closeness. There's a lot of the traditional management model blueprint we need to scrap. The better route to exceptional team participation and team results is via empathy. In Economics For Business, which is the application of the principles of Austrian economics to business management, we allocate great importance to the use of empathy as a tool, usually in the relationship between a business or brand and its customer. For example, we use empathic diagnosis to understand a customer's dissatisfactions and unmet wants. In Diana Jones's model, empathy is an internal organizational tool. She deploys it in a sophisticated way that identifies four different types of application. Cognitive empathy: imagining and understanding how a person feels and what they might be thinking.Emotional empathy: accurately reading and sharing the feelings of another person, and reflecting on those feelings in a way that helps everyone involved.Compassionate empathy: going beyond understanding to taking action that helps people deal practically with difficult situations about which they're emotional.Group empathy: the capacity to read the emotional tone of a group that's sharing a challenging experience. The core competency is the ability to read people and their emotional tone or state. Diana Jones gives the skill a name: interpersonal perception. It's a skill that can be developed in a learning loop of experience, experimentation, curiosity, and intuition. Additional Resources "Trust-Distance Matrix: Assessing the Cost of Distance in Business Relationships" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_148_PDF Leadership Levers: Releasing The Power Of Relationships For Exceptional Participation, Alignment, and Team Results by Diana Jones: Mises.org/E4B_148_Book Diana-Jones.com

Visit our website https://www.procurementzen.com/digital to get free access to the alpha version of my procurement digitization course. This is another great interview series. This time I have the joy to talk to Diana Jones, internationally respected leadership coach and author. In the first episode we discuss what leadership is and why you should not think in org boxes. Our new format, rough, uncut, open and honest - the ProcurementZen experience.

Es geht um Schlange, Struktur und Halt, Lammhäuten und Naseweis.

Secrets of Harridge House returns for Season 3 on January 2, 2022, on KNVC 95.1 FM in Carson City, and streaming at knvc.org. Created by John Adams and Scott Young. Produced by Joe Bly and Heidi Hampton. Executive Producer, Scott Young. Supervising Producers: Dee Beardsley and Cody Lindenberger. Season 3 writers are Dee Beardsley, Cody Lindenberger, Jean Graham, Fiona Mauchline and Scott Young. The cast includes: Cary Hampton as Thia, Asher Killian as Drew, Heidi Hampton as Amelia and Sandra, Asher Honor Hwang as Blake, Annalize Sanders as Issy, Justin Clouser as Josiah, Michelle Calhoun as Deborah, Rachel Anderson as Linda, Anita Kelley as Roxie, Nicole Schader as Liz, Caleb Mertz-Vega as Ray, Geoff Moore as Ben, Michon Chandler as Olivia, Mark Helton as LB Brandon Jr, Cody Lindenberger as Richard, Kathryn Hampton as Mildred, Belle Moss as Barbara, Cris Travieso as Franklin, Melanie Johnson as Donna, Darla Bayer as Alma, Kyle Littlefield as Dave, Lucille Rao as Helen, Michael Aftias as Deputy Stewart, Liz Strekal as Marge, Tom Strekal as Gary, Diana Jones as Patty, Cece Dietlein as Cate, Jaedyn Thompson as Charlotte, Avery Peaslee as Brooklyn and Ryan Quinn Adams as the Announcer. Music by Mike & Linda Badinger, Big Fig Music.

In this episode Scott Becker shares leadership advice from a recent podcast recording with Diana Jones, Author of “Leadership Levers”.

Ellie Nieves interviews Diana Jones, the author of the book Leadership Levers, on how women leaders can release the power of relationships for exceptional results in life and in business.

Gil and Sen welcome game designer, manufacturer, publisher, game cafe owner, and convention runner Kenechukwu Ogbuagu ("KC") of NIBCARD Games to the show. From his home city of Abuja, KC has built up the board gaming scene in Nigeria almost singlehandedly, recently winning the prestigious Diana Jones award for his efforts.  SHOW NOTES 12m46s: Hobby World, Spyfall, Viceroy, Cosmodrome 14m58s: KC mentions the classic board game Ludo, which was based on the Indian game Pachisi. The American games Parcheesi, Sorry, Aggravation, Headache, and Trouble were based on Ludo or Pachisi; British people may know it as Uckers, while Canadians may know it as Tock. 22m07s: NGOs are Non-Governmental Organizations. In the US, most of them tend to be non-profits.  25m58s: See the Smart People Play Chess TV trope  34m08s: Bastard Café in Denmark, one of NIBCARD Cafe's supporters  44m20s: Designer Eric Lang will be at AB Con, the convention that KC organizes in Nigeria. 45m36s: InstantSync 46m08s: Legendary designer Reiner Knizia 46m52s: Village War 54m12s: Kuli kuli, Okpa, Akara

This week we are back with a topical discussion about the recent announcement by Atomic Mass Games regarding the future of former Fantasy flight Games title Star Wars Armada.Jason & James  chat about how there personal views of the game have or have not changed since the announcement as well as trying to break down exactly what it means for the game going forward. I'm not sure we even know now :/ +++++++++++++++++++++++++  NEWS  +++++++++++++++++++++++++Paul is also back with his faithful rubber duck Brian in the news shed to bring you all the news, crowdfunding campaigns & event information we think you need to know about. including but not limited too.Diana Jones 2021 AwardNibcardGen Con 2021Fantasy Flight GamesThe Lord of the Rings: The Card GameThe Dark of MirkwoodThe Oath and The Caves of Nibin-DûmStar Trek MissionsFantasy RealmsWizkidsDog Park by Birdwood GamesFlee the Dungeon by Spark Wolf GamesColab by Portal Dragon'Rasie Your Game' for Dementia UK--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Thank you all so much for choosing to listen to our humble down to earth Table top gaming podcast. If you do like what you hear, please do subscribe as we will be uploading a new show every Tuesday @ 7am GMT, ready for that commute into work, or gym session :)you can also now watch our new video content on the Meeple Minded YouTube channel links down below.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Find our audio Podcast on all good podcast platforms or find the links on our host site .  https://meepleminded.buzzsprout.com/You can join the ever growing Meeple Minded communityhttps://www.facebook.com/MeepleMindedMediahttps://discord.gg/HtgzKDABhttps://twitter.com/MeepleMindedhttps://www.instagram.com/meepleminded/Please also Like, Share & Subscribe here on Youtubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCInqK3k50OVrutTCodvw3FA

This week's program celebrates Labor Day. Many in the United States consider Labor Day as simply the end of Summer, forgetting the great ontributions to our daily life that have occurred due to the Labor Movement and organizing by American workers. We'll feature songs about organizations and occupations from Emma's Revolution, Anne Feeney, Si Kahn, Diana Jones and many more. Celebrating workers and unions … this week on The Sing Out! Radio Magazine.Episode #21-35: Which Side Are You OnHost: Tom DruckenmillerArtist/”Song”/CD/LabelPete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways Three Bean Salad / “Field Assignment” / Acoustic Potluck / Self ProducedWindborne / “Which Side Are You On” / Song on the Times / Self ProducedSteeleye Span / “Blackleg Miner” / Back in Line / ShanachiePete Seeger / “He Lies in the American Land” / The Complete Bowdoin College Concert 1960 / Smithsonian FolkwaysSi Kahn / “Houses On the Hill” / Been a Long Time / Sliced BreadJohn McCutcheon / “Laz'rus” / Stand Up! / AppalseedDiana Jones / “Appalachia” / Coal Country Music / HeartwoodHazel Dickens / “Coal Tatoo” / Coal Mining Women / RounderThree Bean Salad / “Red Bird-Second Shift” / Acoustic Potluck / Self ProducedLouie Fuller and Chorus / “Hopping Down in Kent” / Rhythms of Labor / PrivateCyril Tawney / “The Oggie Man” / Navy Cuts / ADAThe Furrow Collective / “The Cabin Boy” / Fathoms / HudsonWillard Gayheart & Friends / “The Workin'” / At Home in the Blue Ridge / Blue HensAnne Feeney / “We Just Come to Work Here, We Don't Come to Die” / Classic Labor Songs / Smithsonian FolkwaysEmma's Revolution / “Stand Together” / RPM / Moving Forward MusicFlorence Reese / “Which Side Are You On?” / Coal Mining Women / RounderPete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways 

Singer/songwriter Diana Jones and I will discuss her new album Song for a Refugee as well as her creative process and her work aiding dispossessed people.

The first season comes to a close in this extended episode. The seance has ended, Richard is dead and Issy, Drew and Cate are left with new questions about Harridge House and the Harridge Family. They learn new information as the mysterious code in their grandfather's journal is gone, but not completely; some pages are still unreadable. Sandra is shocked to learn who killed Richard, and she sets into motion events that will carry into Season 2, which premieres on April 4, 2021. Written by John Adams. Directed by Scott Young. Produced by Jeff Basa, Joe Bly, Heidi Hampton and Scott Young. Sound Editing and Sound Engineering by Joe Bly. Music by Mike & Linda Badinger, Big Fig Music. Drew's ringtone by Aiden Hale. A production of KNVC 95.1 FM and Proscenium Players, Inc. Series created by John Adams and Scott Young. CAST: Cary Hampton as Issy, Asher Killian as Drew, Cece Dietlein as Cate, Heidi Hampton as Sandra, Asher Honor Hwang as Blake, Rachel Anderson as Linda, Anita Kelley as Roxie, Nicole Schader as Liz, Caleb Mertz-Vega as Ray, Cody Lindenberger as Richard, Geoff Moore as Deputy Ben, Jack Scarbrough as Sheriff Patterson, Michon Chandler as Olivia, Melanie Johnson as Donna, Dick Van Buskirk as Mr. Brandon, Diana Jones as Patty, James Dezerga as Gary, Kyle Littlefield as Dave and Michelle Calhoun as the Announcer. Some sound effects used in this production were obtained and licensed through Envato/AudioJungle, Soundelux/Todd-AO via Sounddogs, and the following creators on freesound.org: Figowitz, Svennsound, Proxima4, User389799, soundslikewillem, cbakos, crz1990, pogmothoin, and Irissie16. For more information, visit our websites and social media: http://www.knvc.org http://www.secretsofharridgehouse.com http://www.facebook.com/harridgehouse http://www.instagram.com/secretsofharridgehouse Copyright 2021 KNVC 95.1 FM, Proscenium Players, Inc. and The Diaz Brothers. All rights reserved.

Back home in Kansas City, Drew confronts his parents about his adoption. Cate and Richard discover Josiah Harridge's laboratory in the cellar. Issy confronts Sandra demanding information about Blake and Harridge House. Roxie makes an unusual offer to help Issy. Written by Haley Hwang and Fiona Mauchline. Directed by Jeff Basa. Produced by Jeff Basa, Joe Bly, Heidi Hampton and Scott Young. Sound Editing and Sound Engineering by Joe Bly. Music by Mike & Linda Badinger, Big Fig Music. A production of KNVC 95.1 FM and Proscenium Players, Inc. Series created by John Adams and Scott Young. CAST: Cary Hampton as Issy, Asher Killian as Drew, Cece Dietlein as Cate, Heidi Hampton as Sandra, Asher Honor Hwang as Blake, Rachel Anderson as Linda, Anita Kelley as Roxie, Cody Lindenberger as Richard, James Dezerga as Gary, Diana Jones as Patty and Mike Wiencek as the Announcer. Some sound effects used in this production were obtained and licensed through Envato/AudioJungle, Soundelux/Todd-AO via Sounddogs, and the following creators on freesound.org: Figowitz, Svennsound, Proxima4, User389799, soundslikewillem, cbakos, crz1990, pogmothoin, and Irissie16. For more information, visit our websites and social media: http://www.knvc.org http://www.secretsofharridgehouse.com http://www.facebook.com/harridgehouse http://www.instagram.com/secretsofharridgehouse Copyright 2021 KNVC 95.1 FM, Proscenium Players, Inc. and The Diaz Brothers. All rights reserved.

Issy reels from the discovery of Blake's remains and the realization that he's a ghost; she also meets Blake's mother, Olivia. Drew receives alarming calls from both his parents and his partners back in Kansas City. Cate and Sandra adjust to Richard's presence in Harridge House. Written by Haley Hwang. Directed by Heidi Hampton. Produced by Jeff Basa, Joe Bly, Heidi Hampton and Scott Young. Sound Editing and Sound Engineering by Joe Bly. Music by Mike & Linda Badinger, Big Fig Music. Drew's ringtone by Aiden Hale. A production of KNVC 95.1 FM and Proscenium Players, Inc. Series created by John Adams and Scott Young. CAST: Cary Hampton as Issy, Asher Killian as Drew, Cece Dietlein as Cate, Heidi Hampton as Sandra, Asher Honor Hwang as Blake, Rachel Anderson as Linda, Anita Kelley as Roxie, Nicole Schader as Liz, Caleb Mertz-Vega as Ray, Cody Lindenberger as Richard, Michon Chandler as Olivia, Diana Jones as Patty and Mike Wiencek as the Announcer. Some sound effects used in this production were obtained and licensed through Envato/AudioJungle, Soundelux/Todd-AO via Sounddogs, and the following creators on freesound.org: Figowitz, Svennsound, Proxima4, User389799, soundslikewillem, cbakos, crz1990, pogmothoin, and Irissie16. For more information, visit our websites and social media: http://www.knvc.org http://www.secretsofharridgehouse.com http://www.facebook.com/harridgehouse http://www.instagram.com/secretsofharridgehouse Copyright 2020 KNVC 95.1 FM, Proscenium Players, Inc. and The Diaz Brothers. All rights reserved.

Eins og oft áður verður víða komið við í Rokklandi dagsins. Við heyrum nokkur lög af nýrri plötu frá Travis, plötunni 10 songs. kynnumst hljómsveitinni Garcia Peoples frá New Jersey sem heitir eftir Jerry Garcia úr Grateful Dead. Heyrum líka nokkur lög af nýrri plötu frá Flaming Lips (American Head) og Ane Brun, Songhoy Blues, Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, Diana Jones og Celeste koma líka við sögu.

Eins og oft áður verður víða komið við í Rokklandi dagsins. Við heyrum nokkur lög af nýrri plötu frá Travis, plötunni 10 songs. kynnumst hljómsveitinni Garcia Peoples frá New Jersey sem heitir eftir Jerry Garcia úr Grateful Dead. Heyrum líka nokkur lög af nýrri plötu frá Flaming Lips (American Head) og Ane Brun, Songhoy Blues, Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, Diana Jones og Celeste koma líka við sögu.

Our promo trailer from the 1st season. Created by John Adams and Scott Young. Produced by Joe Bly and Heidi Hampton. Executive Producer, Jeff Basa. Season One writers are Scott Young, Haley Hwang, Fred Hampton, Cody Lindenberger and Fiona Mauchline. The cast includes: Cary Hampton as Issy, Asher Killian as Drew, Cece Dietlein as Cate, Heidi Hampton as Sandra, Asher Honor Hwang as Blake, Rachel Anderson as Linda, Anita Kelley as Roxie, Nicole Schader as Liz, Caleb Mertz-Vega as Ray, Lucille Rao as Helen, Geoff Moore as Ben, Michon Chandler as Olivia, Cody Lindenberger as Richard, Diana Jones as Patty, James Dezerga as Gary, Kathryn Hampton as Mildred, Melanie Johnson as Donna, Kyle Littlefield as Dave, Dick Van Buskirk as the Antiques Dealer and LB Brandon Sr and Mike Wiencek as the Announcer. Music by Mike & Linda Badinger, Big Fig Music.

In the immortal words of William Shakespeare, "To defer or not to defer, that is the question." Or something like that. We're talking, of course, about whether or not to defer your admission to college / graduate school given the uncertainty around what the learning environment will look like when classes resume in the Fall. With so many schools relaxing their deferral requirements and lingering concerns about the safety of live, in-person classes, it's a question that a lot of students are wrestling with right now -- and time is quickly running out to make that decision.To help unpack this important topic, we're joined in this episode by Diana Jones, admissions consultant with College and Prep, who weighs in with some key insights and important considerations that will help you decide whether to take a gap year or matriculate on schedule. Specifically, we discuss:The current higher education landscape in the world of COVID-19Why this year might be a good one to take a "gap year" -- and how you should spend your time if you make that decisionThe key difference between the decision facing undergraduates vs. grad studentsThe top 3 reasons someone might decide to wait a year before going back to schoolWhy most schools cap the number of gap-year requests they grant, and what it means for youThe logistics of requesting deferred admissionWhether or not you should expect a tuition reduction if classes are conducted online to start the school year (hint: don't hold your breath!)The best way to search deep within yourself to answer the question of whether to press the pause button or stay the courseAnd more!Deciding which college or graduate program to attend is a big enough of a decision as it is. Having to now decide whether to accept your offer of admission and go back to school this Fall -- or defer your admission and wait another year -- adds more complexity to the equation. After listening to this episode, we're confident that you'll be in a better position to make the decision that's right for you. Enjoy!RESOURCESDiana's NBC News article: "8 considerations for graduating high school seniors rethinking their plans due to COVID-19"Contact Diana Jones for a free phone consultRegister for a comprehensive online prep course (SAT, GRE, GMAT, LSAT, EA) with Dominate Test PrepA DOSE OF MOTIVATIONHarlem, by Langston HughesWhat happens to a dream deferred?      Does it dry up      like a raisin in the sun?      Or fester like a sore—      And then run?      Does it stink like rotten meat?      Or crust and sugar over—      like a syrupy sweet?      Maybe it just sags      like a heavy load.      Or does it explode?