I’ve mentioned this several times on the Dice Exploder discord and to many folks in private, but here’s a first official public announcement: I’m actively seeking out people to come take over Dice Exploder as the primary host for 3-4 week runs. (This is not a solicitation for submissions; I’ve been reaching out to folks personally.) I’m hoping to get two or three of these out this year.
As part of that, I wrote up a style guide for the show, basically a document describing everything I do to make an episode.
While talking with folks on the discord, it sounded like people might be interested in this document just as a general “here’s some advice on making a podcast” thing. So here it is for your reading pleasure! If you’ve ever been curious how the show gets made, or you’re looking for advice on making a show yourself, here’s like 70% of what I have to say about it.
Note that this is written as if you’re taking over Dice Exploder, and I’m not bothering to go through and change that.
Rule Zero
Make the show your own. Lol I can’t believe I’m doing a rule zero but it’s true. If you want to change the music, if you want to interview people about their own games, if you want to publish 10 minute episodes, do it. Short episodes are preferable, even. Do yourself the favor - they’ll be less work on your end, and listeners like them.
The one thing I encourage you not to change is the core concept of the show: this is a podcast about the nuts and bolts of RPG design, and it’s about going deep on specific examples.
(Even that guideline I break sometimes, though my favorite episodes all stick to the format hard. I think you should stick to it.)
Pre-Production
Tech
Worried about your microphone? Don’t be. People are pretty used to listening to low quality audio on podcasts these days, and post production can clean up a lot. A headset is better than a raw laptop or webcam, but you’ll be fine.
That said, it’s always physically worth moving away from persistent hums: air conditioning units, fans, refrigerators, open windows, and so forth.
Also try and record in a room that isn’t echo-y. You can listen for this by literally just listening to yourself talk. Carpet, furniture, and other large soft objects do wonders for dampening the sound in a room. Sometimes I just grab all the couch cushions in my house and lean them against the walls of my office to record.
If you do want to invest in a good mic, I use a blue yeti. A snowball ain’t too bad either.
Inviting people on / choosing mechanics
Pick mechanics and cohosts however you want.
Invite people on because they’re cool and let them pick whatever they want.
Invite people on because you want to talk about a specific mechanic, game, or genre and you think they’d be a good fit.
Whatever.
The one broad rule I’ve held about cohosts is to try and make sure I have <50% white guys on the show. I aim for 3/8 tops. If you’re doing three episodes, make sure you don’t have all guys or all white people. I’ve done a particularly medium job on getting PoC on the show recently, so I especially encourage you to seek out non-white cohosts.
The one specific rule I’ve held is don’t let people bring a mechanic they designed. If they want to talk about their design, great, but ask them to bring something that inspired them as a way into it. The Mork Borg graphic design -> talking about Dukk Borg episode is a good example of this. There’s a lot of shows that ask people about their own process, and they’re good shows, but I think focusing on third party work encourages people to dig deeper into the technical side of the craft and yields great results.
Don’t be afraid to just ask whoever to come on. I’ve found that everyone says yes, no matter how big a deal they are. The RPG scene is a friendly community.
When choosing mechanics, I have found that my favorite episodes are ones where one of us loves the mechanic and the other... doesn’t. Episodes where both of us love the mechanic are perfectly good, as are ones where we’re both mixed. There’s something really exciting about taking something you almost love and talking about what might get it over the finish line for you, or something you think is good but could be great.
I’ve never done an episode where we’re both dunking on a mechanic, but I don’t like the idea of that so much. I’d encourage you to avoid it.
Outlining
I outline some things to say ahead of time. I take the mechanic we’re gonna talk about, I write down every thought I can think up about it as a bullet point (usually 6-10 things), and then I ship the outline to my cohost for them to add stuff to.
The outline isn’t a blueprint, it’s a safety net. If you get off topic, good. The outline is just there for when you’re searching for what to say next.
If you don’t care about having an outline, that’s fine.
Production
Recording
Use the Dice Exploder Squadcast account to record. It automatically does backups and everything. Good stuff. Comes free with the editing software I pay for (Descript). If you need help using it, let me know.
Short episodes are good, actually. If you’re running over an hour, look to wrap up unless you want to make that much extra work for yourself. If you only recorded for 25 minutes, that’s a feature not a bug.
Interviewing
I usually start every episode by asking my cohost why they chose this mechanic to bring on. The whole secret of any interview, and maybe most conversations in life, is to get the other person talking about something they’re passionate about. We know they’re passionate about whatever the mechanic is, so get them riled up by asking why.
When I’m not starting that way, I’m starting by asking my cohost about the history of the mechanic. Sometimes this backfires and they don’t know, in which case I cut the question and start in on why they like it as usual.
When I don’t know what to say yet, I refer to my prep (thanks Apocalypse World) and look at the outline.
When I’m finished with things to say, I always ask “is there anything else you want to say about [the mechanic]?” This almost always leads to a great concluding thought, and occasionally 20 more minutes of discussion. Sometimes people were holding something in.
Post Production
Host intro and outro
Write these yourself after you record.
Intro template
“Hello and welcome to another episode of Dice Exploder. Each week on the show, we take an RPG mechanic and [tortured metaphor about examining it, often loosely connected to the concept of the featured mechanic.] My name is [your name], and my cohost today is [cohost’s name.]”
Introduce cohost, including whatever plugs they wanted you to make. Maybe your relationship, maybe just their credits, maybe why you reached out to them specifically.
Introduce the mechanic. Assuming it’s from a specific game, cite the game, designer, and publisher.
Couple sentence overview of what y’all talked about.
“Here is [cohost’s name] with [mechanic].”
Outro template
“Thanks to [cohost] again for being here!”
Re-plug cohost stuff
Plug your stuff
“Our logo was designed by sporgory [spore-gore-ee], our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our producer emeritus is Sam Dunnewold.”
“And thanks to you for listening. See you next time.”
Show notes
Whatever you and your cohost talk about on the episode, put a link to it in the show notes. I sometimes put other stuff I thought of while editing in there. I don’t know that anyone looks at these, so it’s not super important beyond citing sources.
Social links and stuff can go here too. Whatever.
Descript
I edit the show using Descript. Hopefully you’ve gotten my login info from me and can figure it out yourself. Some near-mandatory tips and tricks:
If your raw audio clips are longer than 60 minutes, cut them up in half before you import or you won’t be able to use the “studio sound” effect, aka the “poke one button to make the audio sound gud” feature.
Put the “studio sound” effect on every clip and set it to 70%. I’ve found more than that starts clipping off the ends of people’s words.
Use the “remove filler words” feature to zap all the ums and uhs from your edit with one button. Damn that’s cool.
Project template
When you start a new edit, copy the project template, rename it, and go from there. This includes all the standard music and sfx as well as a temp intro and outro from an old episode.
Start with the intro explosion sfx and opening music. Bring in your intro when the music fades down. Fade out music at end of intro and use the “intro to meat” sfx to transition into the meat of the interview.
At the end, use the “intro to meat” sfx to end the interview, and fade up the outro music beneath it. Then bring in your outro. When it’s over, close out with the closing sfx.
Actual editing
In general, I edit a lot. You don’t have to, but this is what I do:
I go through and cut tons of filler words and phrases (“like,” “you know,” “sort of,” stutters, etc. Everyone has different vocal tics.) This is tedious. I like having done it, it makes me feel powerful and in control to polish the show up real nice like that, but you don’t have to rise to my level if you don’t want to. It’s a lot of work and not a lot of people notice or care.
I also cut sentences that are just someone repeating themself. Some people are worse about this than others. I certainly have my moments.
I will take large sections of podcast and just cut them out entirely. If a topic seems boring? It’s out. If I’m restating the same thing a second time? Only keep one of them.
Be kind to your cohost and give them the spotlight. If I say something and my guest basically repeats it back to me, I’ll often cut my thought and let them have it. If I go on a 2 minute ramble and they have little to say in return, I’ll often cut the ramble. It’s their episode, not mine.
After I’m done, I export and listen down to the whole edit while doing the dishes or driving or whatever and see if I’m ever bored. If so, I go back and cut that section down (or cut it entirely).
Publishing / scheduling episodes
Send me your final cut + show notes, I’ll listen down to the cut to make sure there weren’t any export errors or anything, and then I’ll handle scheduling for release. Hooray!
If you’re not actually hosting Dice Exploder, I use Spotify for Podcasters. It’s free, and it’s easy to set up and figure out. Have fun.