Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast

Courtney Stover / Lightheart Adventures LLC

Roll Play Grow is a TTRPG interview podcast for entrepreneurs, creators, and fans within the tabletop roleplay gaming space. We interview the faces behind the TTRPG brands in the community to learn how they turned their passion for the ttrpg industry into a career, and turn their advice into actionable tips.

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Top 10 Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast Episodes

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089: Leveraging Kickstarter for fulltime game design with Chris of Evil Pigeon Gaming

Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast

11/12/24 • 47 min

Have you dreamed of becoming a full-time ttrpg designer? That's exactly what today's guest, Chris Craven, did--all with the help of Kickstarter. In today's episode, we dive into his strategies to drop 10 Kickstarter campaigns a year.
Find Evil Pigeon Gaming at:

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025 - Woodworking & Constructing Dice Boxes with Tim of Staff and Branch

Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast

09/10/21 • 61 min

If you’ve spent any amount of time on ttrpg Twitter, you’ve probably seen the gorgeous round dice boxes with colorful and magical epoxy patterns created by Staff and Branch. I am delighted to introduce you to today’s guest, Tim Carlson, the owner of Staff & Branch and maker of these dice boxes. Snagging a box for yourself is an elusive goal, as he’s usually sold out within minutes of his bi-weekly restocks. Tim never intended this to be a full-time business, but we dive into how he got started with Staff and Branch and how it’s grown into a successful business in less than two years. You’ll get insight into the construction of these boxes, his thoughts on Etsy, and more.
Before we get into the interview today, I wanted to share this really sweet review I just got on Apple Podcasts! Reviews are one of the best ways to support a show, as they tell the algorithm gods that a show is worth promoting, and more people can find it. This review is from LuLuinWA, and they say:
“Entertaining and inspirational
I am really enjoying this podcast so far. I’ve only listened to a few episodes but I really enjoy the “behind the scenes” view at some of my favorite ttrpg’s creators. It is entertaining and inspiring. There are so many podcasts out there and I have a limited amount of time to listen and I am happy to add RPG to my commute podcast rotation.”
Thank you so much Lulu! Reading this really made my day.
Some other ways you can support the show are via our Patreon page, which has a few different tracks depending on whether you’d like maps and adventures or tailored content for this podcast, including contributing questions for upcoming guests, a spotlight on our website, and even a shoutout on this podcast. You can also check out our affiliates. Last week I mentioned that with the start of September, everything Fall and pumpkin-related is out and it is my time. We talked about Friday Afternoon Tea’s amazing fall blends, and this time I want to highlight Dice Envy’s fall dice set called Pumpkin Dice Latte. It’s a very pretty pumpkin-themed set of orange dice featuring sprinkles of gold glitter, a luscious swirl of gold microglitter, and just a *hint* of nutmeg. Go to DiceEnvy.com and enter in code LightheartADV to receive 10% off your order and help support this show.
Thanks for sticking around, and I hope you enjoy this conversation with Tim.
Find Tim and Staff and Branch at:

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Friday Afternoon Tea
Grab a cup of tea with blends based on your favorite nerdy series. Use lightheartadv for 10% off
Dice Envy
Dice Envy creates beautiful dice in a variety of materials, including resin, metal, wood, and more
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

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042 - Designing Niche Indie TTRPGs with Imani of Margaret Catter Dev

Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast

03/04/22 • 55 min

Today’s guest is Imani, the founder of Margaret Catter Development. Imani is an indie game developer making some truly fun and pretty niche games. I really loved diving into the stories behind a lot of these games, learning about her processes and some upcoming projects they are working on this year. Imani is a lot of fun, so I hope you enjoy listening to them!
I’ve got a couple of business updates for you all today. The first is to announce that after some feedback about our Lightheart Adventures Patreon being a bit confusing, I decided to split Roll Play Grow off into its own separate Patreon, and I just launched it this week! This will allow posts to be more streamlined and less confusing. So if you want to support the show, you can go to patreon.com/rollplaygrow and you’ll find a tier as low as $3 a month. Perks include having early access to the guest list, being able to add your questions to upcoming interviews, behind-the-scenes content, and shout-outs on my website and the show. I would love if you’d go check it out and help me work towards some goals. Liiiiike I’m getting to a point that I need to hire an editor to help me keep up with episodes so we don’t get behind again. Editors tend to start at around $50 per hour’s worth of audio, so we’re looking at at least $200 a month just for the editor, not to include the other costs associated with producing a podcast. Either way, I hope you’ll check it out!
The other small update is that I have switched my Twitter handle slightly to be more aligned with this show. You can now follow me at KetraRPG.
Find Imani and Margaret Catter Dev at:

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Dice Envy
Dice Envy creates beautiful dice in a variety of materials, including resin, metal, wood, and more
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

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038 - Designing Indie Games & Publishing Wickedness with M Veselak

Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast

12/10/21 • 48 min

Today’s guest is M Veselak, a ttrpg designer and the author of Wickedness, published by Possum Creek Games. We talk about how she became a gamer at the age of 5, writing games for a LARP summer camp, how she creates zer games, what it’s like to work with Jay and Ruby at Possum Creek Games, and we get a pretty cool preview of the behind the scenes of the upcoming game Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast. M is a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed getting to know zer more.
If this is your first time tuning in to Roll Play Grow, welcome. This podcast is a part of Lightheart Adventures, which is a small company I co-founded with my husband. If you are also a Possum Creek Games fan and want to check out a few other interviews I’ve done with the team, then I’ve got two more for you. Episode 13 is with the stars themselves, Jay and Ruby. I also had the privilege of speaking with Jamila R Nedjadi in episode 35 about a lot of his games, though we spent a lot of time on Our Haunt, which is another game Possum Creek recently Kickstarted. And then next week, we’ll get to hear from Aster, an artist that has illustrated some games for them as well.
If you’d like to support the show, you can find us on both Patreon and Ko-fi as Lightheart Adventures. I am also a huge sucker for a kind review on Apple Podcasts, and if you do leave me a review, it may even be featured on an upcoming episode. Another way you can support the show is by checking out our affiliate links, like Found Familiar Coffee: the most delicious and nerdy coffee you’ll ever taste, and you’ll get to collect some pretty cool D&D themed art on every package. Go to foundfamiliar.com and enter code LightheartADV to get 10% off your order, enjoy delicious coffee, and help me keep this show running.
That is all for now, so please sit back and enjoy this conversation with M.
Find M and Wickedness at:

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Delicious coffee meets Dungeons & Dragons artwork. Use code lightheartadv for 10% off your order.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

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017 - Composing TTRPG Music with Sean of McRoMusic

Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast

05/28/21 • 47 min

We’re going to be starting a bit of a sound series for our next few guests, which is a sub-genre we haven’t really explored on this show yet, so I’m looking forward to being able to dive into the world of how music and sound can amplify your games. First up, today’s guest is Sean McRoberts, the creator and composer behind McRoMusic. He started creating music for the tabletop gaming scene last year, and as a fun bonus, y’all will get to hear some clips from some of his compositions in this episode. We actually did a collaboration with Sean a little while back. We offer free monthly one-shots on our blog, but our Patrons on the Adventurer track get to download a pdf version of each of our side quest. Sean composed a music track for one of those quests a few months ago, and we’re actually collaborating with him again for our June Patrons! I enjoyed getting to know more about Sean, how he uses music in his own games, and how he’s breaking into this industry of creating music for tabletop rpgs.
As usual, I’ve got a few items of business to go over before we jump into the interview. I mentioned this in the past couple of episodes, but we have a whole bunch of map packs over on DM’s Guild. Our most recent publication is an all-color map pack for Candlekeep Mysteries that highlights sections of the book that didn’t come with their own maps. We also have a black and white map pack for Rime of the Frostmaiden, specifically for Ythryn. That pack is inching towards a silver medal, so we would love your help in getting us there if you find yourself in need of some maps for Rime of the Frostmaiden. You can find all of our map packs by either going to DMsguild.com and searching for Lightheart Adventures as the author, or you can go to lightheartadventures.com/shop to find all our DM’s Guild and DrivethruRPG publications in one spot.
I mentioned the Patreon already, but other ways you can support the show are by subscribing, sharing with your friends and leaving a review!
The affiliate I’m highlighting today is Friday Afternoon Tea because if you’re listening to this episode on the day it comes out, I will actually be going to her shop in two days, and I’m super excited to meet her. Friday makes some amazing tea blends based on her super powers, and if you’d like to snag some for yourself, you can go to fridaytea.com and enter in code LightheartADV to receive 10% off your order and help support this show.
That does it for our intro today, but next I’m going to play a bit of music composed by Sean and then we’ll dive right into the interview. Enjoy!
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016 - Producing an All-Trans, Non-colonial Livestream Game with Connie of Transplanar RPG

Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast

05/21/21 • 62 min

Our next guest is Connie Chang, the Game Master and Executive Producer of Transplanar RPG. If you aren’t familiar with Transplanar RPG, it is a weekly actual play that is streamed on Twitch. They are an all Trans, POC led campaign in a non-colonial and anti-orientalist world. Their debut stream was last June, and they’ve completed two arcs and recently started their third arc. Connie’s journey to getting the stream started was pretty strategic and very cool, and I enjoyed getting to learn about the show’s origin story, Connie’s campaign development process, and about the work that goes on behind the screen to make an actual play production occur. We also chatted about Connie’s upcoming game, Godkiller RPG, and learned a bit about their development process.
As always, I’ve got a few items of business to go over before we jump into the interview. I mentioned this in the past couple of episodes, but we have a whole bunch of map packs over on DM’s Guild. Our most recent publication is an all-color map pack for Candlekeep Mysteries that highlights sections of the book that didn’t come with their own maps. We also have a black and white map pack for Rime of the Frostmaiden, specifically for Ythryn. That pack is inching towards a silver medal, so we’re pretty excited about that. You can find all of our map packs by either going to DMsguild.com and searching for Lightheart Adventures as the author, or you can go to lightheartadventures.com/shop to find all our DM’s Guild and DrivethruRPG publications in one spot.
Next, we do have a Patreon for Lightheart Adventures and Roll Play Grow. You have options on whether you’d like to follow the adventurer track, which will get you maps and adventures, or the merchant track, which gets you some fun bonuses around this podcast like contributing questions to upcoming guests, a project spotlight on the show, and more. You can also support the show by subscribing, sharing with your friends and leaving a review! We’ve still only got one review out there that I’ve seen on apple podcasts, so I’d love to get some feedback and see if you’re enjoying the show.
That does it for our intro today, so I hope you enjoy this conversation with Connie.
Find Connie & Transplanar RPG at:

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012 Droppin' Best Sellers on DM's Guild with JB aka DropTheDie

Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast

04/16/21 • 59 min

Welcome to Episode 12 of Roll Play Grow, the podcast for tabletop entrepreneurs, creators, and fans. I am Courtney Stover of Lightheart Adventures, and in this podcast, we talk to the creators behind the brands in the tabletop role play gaming space about who they are and how they are turning their passion for gaming into a career.

Today’s guest is JB Little, also known as the bestselling ttrpg author, reviewer, and game designer, DropTheDie. With bestsellers like Taverns, Inns, and Taprooms, his compact 4x6 character sheets, and more, he has a wealth of knowledge to share about publishing on DM’s Guild. We definitely dive into that but you’ll also learn about how he became a professional product reviewer as well. JB is a delight, and I know all of your writers out there will be able to learn a lot about finding success on DM’s Guild.

We’ll get to the interview in just a bit, but first, I promised a few episodes back that I would occasionally drop in some updates on the Lightheart business life. Since hey, this is technically a business podcast, so I should probably mention things we’re trying ourselves from time to time. I am really excited to say that very soon, we should have a new map pack available for purchase on DM’s guild! Brenton has been hard at work over the last month developing several maps for Candlekeep Mysteries, and he’s getting pretty close to finished. If you want to check out some of his work in progress, I made us a Tiktok account and am posting some time lapse videos of him drawing. I’ll be honest, I have no idea what I’m doing on Tikotok and I feel entirely too old for this platform, but we’re figuring it out! The time lapse videos are pretty fun too. You can find us on Tiktok at Ligthheart Adventures. I’ll probably eventually post things related to the podcast there too, but I don’t really know what that will look like yet. Either way, the map pack should be out pretty soon!

Alright, it’s time to go chat with JB!

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011 - Tabletop RPG Photography with Charles of NPC Creations

Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast

04/09/21 • 40 min

Welcome to Episode 11 of Roll Play Grow, the podcast for tabletop entrepreneurs, creators, and fans. I am Courtney Stover of Lightheart Adventures, and in this podcast, we talk to the creators behind the brands in the tabletop role play gaming space about who they are and how they are turning their passion for gaming into a career.

Our next guest is Charles Barger of NPC Creations. He creates intricate scenes with tabletop terrain and miniatures and then takes gorgeous photos. We’re talking battle scenes, campfires, towns, hellscapes, underwater terrain--he has an eye for design and his images are captivating. He now works with companies to do product photos and still enjoys sharing his own creations. Charles’ story is really cool and an example of someone who’s really stumbled into this industry just doing something he loved.

Before we jump into today’s episode, it’s business time. First up, we do have a Patreon for Lightheart Adventures and Roll Play Grow. It’s a pretty cool place, and you have options on whether you’d like to follow the adventurer track, which will get you maps and adventures, or the merchant track, which gets you some fun bonuses around this podcast. If Patreon isn’t your jam, you can also support the show by subscribing, sharing with your friends and leaving a review! Reviews are super important for this show to be able to grow, so if you’ve been hanging out and you like what you’re hearing, please drop me a review on your podcast platform of choice.

Find photos and resources mentioned at the show notes.

Find Charles and NPC Creations at:

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Found Familiar
Delicious coffee meets Dungeons & Dragons artwork. Use code lightheartadv for 10% off your order.
Dice Envy
Dice Envy creates beautiful dice in a variety of materials, including resin, metal, wood, and more
Friday Afternoon Tea
Grab a cup of tea with blends based on your favorite nerdy series. Use lightheartadv for 10% off
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Support the show

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005 - Drawing Maps & Starting a Blog with Brenton of Lightheart Adventures

Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast

01/29/21 • 49 min

This is Episode 5 of Roll Play Grow, the podcast for tabletop rpg entrepreneurs, creators, and fans. I am Courtney of Lightheart Adventures, and in this podcast, we talk to the creators behind the brands in the tabletop role play gaming space about who they are and how they are turning their passion for gaming into a career.

Today’s episode looks a little different. I mentioned back in Episode Zero that I’d be bringing Brenton on to chat with me about Lightheart Adventures, and today we’re going to take a look at a lot of the lessons we’ve learned over the last year. Interviewing your spouse and business partner is a bit of an amusing time when you know most of the answers, so it definitely turned into a bit more of a discussion as we went on. Some of the topics we go into are why our first DM’s Guild publications completely bombed and what we’re doing differently now, tactics Brenton’s using to get past his dislike of social media, the value of growing your email list, blogging with consistency, and the journey your art style can take.

Before we dive in, I wanted to make sure you know about Found Familiar coffee. If you are a coffee drinker, I highly suggest you check out their delicious, D&D themed coffee that tastes exceptional and supports some really awesome artists in the community. If you go to Found Familiar.com and use code LightheartADV, you’ll get 10% off your order, enjoy delicious coffee, and help support this fledgling show.

Alright, I hope you enjoy this episode and this look behind the curtain of what we’re doing at Lightheart Adventures!

Links Mentioned in the show:

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066: Designing Burnaway and Preparing for Kickstarter with Nagi

Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast

02/07/23 • 53 min

Today is the day my friends! It is the Kickstarter launch day for the game that I have been project managing for a year now: Burnaway. I will spare you the explanation of the game right now because you are going to hear all about in this episode.We are talking with Geordie Morse aka Nagi, the game designer behind it all. Make sure you go to Kickstarter and look for Burnaway, all one word, or check out the show notes for a direct link.
You know, today’s episode was really fun, and I know I say that every time, but this one was unique. Usually when I interview folks, I’m familiar with their work, but as a complete outsider. But today got to be more of a conversation than usual, as it was a time for Nagi and me to look back over the last year together and talk about not only how he got into game design and what spurred the decision to launch a Kickstarter, but how we two newbs to the Kickstarter scene have stumbled our way through getting ready for a launch. And while I obviously hope we not only fund but smash through all our stretch goals, I gotta say, no matter what happens, I’ve worked with some really awesome folks and learned a lot along the way.
Nagi’s a really great guy who has developed a really awesome game, and this is a pretty fun chat about game design and the Kickstarter pre-launch process. Enjoy.
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FAQ

How many episodes does Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast have?

Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast currently has 96 episodes available.

What topics does Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast cover?

The podcast is about Leisure, Games, Entrepreneur, Tabletop, Entrepreneurship, Gaming, Podcasts, D&D, Business, Rpg and Ttrpg.

What is the most popular episode on Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast?

The episode title '062 - Creating in-depth Actual Play Characters with Joshua Simons' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast?

The average episode length on Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast is 53 minutes.

How often are episodes of Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast released?

Episodes of Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast?

The first episode of Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast was released on Dec 7, 2020.

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Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast

Courtney Stover / Lightheart Adventures LLC

Top 10 Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast Episodes

FAQ

How many episodes does Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast have?

What topics does Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast cover?

What is the most popular episode on Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast?

What is the average episode length on Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast?

How often are episodes of Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast released?

When was the first episode of Roll Play Grow: A TTRPG Business Podcast?

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