April 26, 2025: In Pod We Trust?

I just had an idea for GMs of modern-day or near-future roleplaying games. Actually two ideas.

First idea: It's always fun to make players sift through clues. But making up clues is often boring. Who's got time to create a fake newspaper — or even a convincing newspaper article?

If you're not the sort who can crank out 85 words a minute and who's married to a professional editor who can turn it into actual quality material (or if you are but just want to shake things up), why not consider making a fake podcast?

All it really takes is finding a friend who's not part of the gaming group to help you record for 15-20 minutes (or however long you want to babble). Give the friend the scope of what the podcast is ("weekly psychic-phenomenon researchers"), some details on your characters ("the two hosts are 30-somethings who've been friends for a decade; I'm the skeptical one, you're the credulous one"), and give you each a few plot details to drop into the conversation . . . then go to town. If you're a chatty sort, it's quite likely you can create a convincing-enough low-budget-feeling podcast in less time than it'd take you to make a fake newspaper/website article.

Second idea: Do the reverse – start with a real podcast that talks about an incident you found interesting, and then work backward to incorporate those details or clues into your campaign. Did you find an episode about the Oak Island money pit, aliens on the moon, or any of a billion other topics that are out there? Have the investigating heroes discover that webpage pulled up on the computer of a mysteriously absent person at the end of a game session, let the players listen to it on their downtime, and begin the next session with a bang.

Bonus half-idea: If you go with the "let's make a fake podcast" suggestion, have the incident talked about during that episode be a red herring, but have the real clue be related to the sponsor at the beginning . . .

-- Steven Marsh