The Podge Cast

The Podge Cast is a podcast AbOUT geek culture, including role-playing games, MMOs, table-top games, movies, music, books and other topics. The Podge Cast is hosted by Matt Cushman, Dr. Lucias "Luke" Meyer, Adam David "A. David" Pinilla, and Joe Selby. Fans also refer to the show as "The Podge" and "TPC".

History

A. David, Luke, and Matt are all former hosts of the role-playing podcast Fear The Boot In January 2008, David left the show after a falling out with Dan, the show's lead host and founder. There was speculation that Luke would leave the show as well. On January 16th, 2008, Luke's long-time friend Joe, knowing how much Luke enjoyed podcasting, proposed the Podge Cast: role playing, table top gaming, books, movies, music, and whatever's on our minds This would later evolve to their official tag line, "Movies, music, books, games, whatever's on our minds."

Luke decided to continue his tenure on Fear the Boot and the Podge Cast was shelved. In May 2008, Luke announced a month-long vacation from the cast and his administration of the show's discussion forums. At the end of that sabbatical, June 12th, 2008, Luke decided to resign as a full-time host of the show Joe contacted both Luke and David, saying he had purchased the podgecast.com domain "just in case" and that if Luke ever wanted to get on the mics again, they could certainly make that possible. David, a noted workaholic and host of three other podcasts--Backseat Producers, The Habitual Insomniac, and The Man Cast--said he was interested if the opportunity should arise.

On June 14th, 2008, Luke was a guest host on Backseat Producers. His experience during that recording session rekindled his enthusiasm for podcasting and on June 25th, 2008, he contacted Joe and David to tell them the Podge Cast was a go.

Podgecast.com was completed on June 26th and Matt joined the show by invitation on June 28th. The first two episodes were recorded July 1st, 2008. The first episode, A PodgeCast is Born was released on July 7th, 2008

Episodes

The Podge Cast episodes are a roundtable discussion of the topic of the week. Topics have ranged from "sandbox" role-playing games to Burning Wheel, from hobbies to The Dark Knight.

Episodes are recorded from three separate locations. David and Luke record from David's house in St. Louis, MO. Joe records from his apartment in Nashua, NH. Matt records from the road while he travels for work. Currently he is back in St. Louis and records with David and Luke. New shows are released on Monday at 12:01 am Central time. Shows last from between 30 to 60 minutes.

While the show does not have any official segments, parts of episodes often fall into one of three categories. Each show begins with an introduction that often spirals into some geek-related banter. This may include topics the group had been talking about before they were recording or it may just be the group making fun of each other. They have been friends for years. The main portion of the episode is the week's topic. This may lead to a number of related tangents, but otherwise remains on point. Some episodes end with a Hodge (Live). This is a reference to "The Hodge," an area of podgecast.com where the hosts give recommendations on topics from books, music, food, etc The Hodge (Live) is presented by a single host, discussing a topic they think listeners may enjoy for themselves.

Previous Hodge (Live) segments have focused on Lois McMaster Bujold, Adam Sandler's movie "Don't Mess with the Zohan," and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

The show's coda music, sung by Luke and composed by his friend Joel Seinberger, was originally the show's intro music. While initially unpopular at the beginning of the show, it has gained cult popularity as the show's outro music.

InterViews

Some episodes are dedicated to an interview with an industry professional or insider. This follows the same relative format to normal shows, but the guest typically discusses their product in more depth and answers a series of questions regarding the product posed by the hosts. Because of the demands of recording from multiple locations, typically Matt or Joe will abstain from an interview episode to ensure maximum sound quality.

Wild Cards

The Podge Cast also releases bonus material they refer to as Wild Cards. These are shows offered in addition to the normal release schedule of episodes. Two recurring wild cards are the fan roundtables and role playing campaign summaries.

Fanroundtables GeneRally include one host as moderator and selected fans discussing topics previously mentioned on the show. This May Be broadening a subject only briefly touched on, like Fan Roundtable 1's discussion of Dungeons & Dragons, 4th EDition. It may also be a rebuttal to comments made in previous episodes, like Fan Roundtable 2's discussion of MMOs.

Through December, 2008, Luke ran a weekly Burning Wheel role playing game, of which David is a player. Along with some of the other group players, Luke and David Record event summaries of their campaign, Noblesse Oblige: Kingdom the Next Generation (KtNG) where they represent members of a noble house. The show offers summaries, thoughts, and intentions, but does not include live recording from the game.

Following the conclusion of KtNG, David began a D&D, 4th Edition game, running the group through the published adventure, Keep on the Shadowfell. The group plans to release game recaps similar to what they did with their Burning Wheel campaign.

Beginning in May, 2009, Joe began recording his monthly board game group and released it as a semi-actual play podcast called A Boarding Party The show includes a description of the game, pictures, a read-through of the rules, a sample turn, and a discussion on the pros and cons of the game. It releases at least once a month.

BATTLECAST (Live Episodes)

Once a quarter, the show hosts a live episode, using a Sweet 16 competition bracket format. Utilizing www.ustream.tv, both audio and video were recorded live on November 4th, 2008. The show was officially released the following Monday as two separate files, audio only and audio+video. Because of the challenges of concurrent bandwidth streaming to a live audience, the show only airs an episode when Matt (or presumably Joe) can be in St. Louis to minimize the risk of bandwidth lag. The video image is divided into four frames: Joe's video feed; David, Luke, and Matt's video feed; a recording of the UStream chat log; and the PodgeCast logo.

The first episode asked the question what was the worst character in published science fiction, fantasy, or horror. Ironically, the winner was Jar Jar Binks proposed by David, though none of the hosts knew of a specific novel he had appeared in (other than perhaps novelizations of the movies themselves). Jar Jar defeated the infamous World of Darkness character, Sam Haight.

After failing to decide on a name with the first live episode (tossing about Thunderdome, ThunderPodge, PodgeDome, and other variants), the group rebranded the contest BATTLECAST with the release of the second live show. This idea came from the title of a scrapped episode titled Battlecast Podgelactica where the hosts were going to talk about the Battlestar Galactica finale. It turned out that only half the hosts had seen the finale and the show idea was abandoned.

The second live episode asked the question what was the best movie sequel ever. The winner was Aliens. The episode came under fire because of the absence or elimination of some sequels listeners thought should have been included. Movies eliminated by listeners were Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Back to the Future Part II. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was never nominated. The hosts attribute this last absence to Matt whose best nomination was An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.

Articles and Essays

In its blog feed, the Podge Cast also releases articles and essays. Subject matter varies from post to post. Some articles have discussed creating multi-faceted characters, death in D&D, and role playing for children. The hosts have solicited submissions from fans of the show.

There are four recurring Article features. "Roberto Suave's Best Ever" offers television and movie reviews by Bob Kaczmarczyk. Andrew Webb offers game reviews in "Off the Shelf." Jason Root provides a selection and brief review of a comics trade/graphic novel in "LurkerWithout's Sunday Trade." Zak Kaveney offers MusicAL essays in "Meet Me in the Morning with Zak Kaveney."

Guest Hosts

Guest hosts have included Phil Hicks (Fan Roundtable 2, KtNG), Rich McKee (Fan Roundtable 1), Stuart Robertson (Fan Roundtable 1), Andrew Webb (Fan Roundtable 2), Meg from Brilliant Gameologists (Episode 11: Min/Maxing with Meg), Dave from the Iron Agenda (Episode 20: The System is Down, Yo!), Aron from Ideology of Madness (Episode 34: Giant, Double-Sized Head Episode), and Jenn from the TrapCast (Episode 36: Ninja Warriors of the Vodkapocalypse).

V3

Beginning December 6th, 2008, David and Luke hosted the first V3 quarterly gameday at Game On, in Manchester, MO. Veni, Vidi, Venatus (I came, I saw, I gamed) is a one-day event where listeners and gaming enthusiasts can play games they may not regularly have a chance to play. Simultaneous events were held by the Bear Swarm podcast in Springfield, MO, the Brilliant Gameologists podcast in Lowell, MA, and the Gamescape North gaming store in San Rafael, CA. Though The Primary focus was on independent role playing games (such as Don't Rest Your Head and Primetime Adventures), David insists that any type of gaming is acceptable and that the location does not have to be relegated to a gaming store. The second V3 is being held on February 28th, 2009, and includes additional locations in Toronto and Australia.

Additional Notes

• According to Joe, the show's name can be spelled Podge Cast or PodgeCast but not Podgecast
• Lucias Meyer is a registered and certified doctor of optometry. He owns his own practice in Florissant, MO
• Matt Cushman is a radiological remediation specialist, cleaning up formerly utilized nuclear facilities before they can begin breeding mutants, super or otherwise.
• Joseph L. Selby is coauthor of Dangerous Denizens: The Monsters of Tellene as well as 33 adventures for the RPGA
• The Podge Cast is an affiliate of Spooky Outhouse Productions SOP is a Podcasting conglomerate started by A. David Pinilla and Dr. Luke Meyer.
• The Latin "venatus" means to game in reference to hunting animals. The Latin for playing games, "ludere," does not start with a V so the group chose to keep V3, assuming most would not know the difference
• In January, 2009, the Bear Swarm podcast performed a roast of the PodgeCast where they taunted David, Luke, and Matt
• In January, 2009, Luke and David participated in the Bad Boys of Podcasting with hosts from the Accidental Survivors, Bear Swarm, and Brilliant Gameologists podcasts as an intervention of Brilliant Gameologists host, Josh
• In April, 2009, Luke began writing a regular column for Ideology of Madness called the Wizard Sleeve
• In May, 2009, David and Luke both contributed short stories to the anthology, The Storm Cloud
• Having expressed repeatedly that he would prefer to go by his middle name rather than his first, Adam officially begins going by the name David in Episode 43