Isaac/Setting the Stage podcast
gocorral.bsky.social
Isaac/Setting the Stage podcast
@gocorral.bsky.social
I'm Isaac, the host of the Setting the Stage podcast that interviews different GMs about their campaign settings for D&D and other RPGs.

https://gocorral.com/sts/
I posted some TTRPG customer profiles a few weeks ago. They generated some interesting discussion. I got some feedback on them and made a few changes.
#DnD #RPG #marketing
Responses to TTRPG Customer Profiles
I posted the RPG Customer Profiles I wrote in a RPG Discord server to see what people thought of them. I got a few responses that I'll break down here. New Customer Profile? One person recommended adding an additional profile called Bobby Beer and Pretzels. That would be someone who plays TTRPGs largely for the social interaction with their friends. This would be the…
gocorral.com
February 14, 2026 at 2:03 AM
Want some more Fallout in your life? Listen to this show about Fallout: The Garden of Atom, then check out the actual play campaign for yourself!
#DnD #RPG #Fallout
Setting the Stage Episode 74 – Kylie and Fallout: Garden of Atom
The Fallout TV show has ended, but you can still get more Fallout in your life with TTRPGs! Kylie talked with me about her actual play campaign, Fallout: The Garden of Atom. The show follows Pete and Reed as they leave their Vault in Florida. They travel towards Orlando in search of Pete's father who left Vault 71 a few years previously.
gocorral.com
February 12, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Huzzah! I've finished another chapter in my #NaNoWriMo book. Working slower now, but I should be done before next November. Check it out if you like fantasy stuff like R.A. Salvatore.
Outer Invasion (Chapter 12)
Chapter 12 Finished! Well, not really finished because this is all a first draft. But ready to read! Chapter 12 - Guild Members The trio greeted Phoenix as the sun rose over the city. Their return journey took longer than the way to the Artemis shrine due to the extra weight they carried. Tereman took the statue of Artemis and the offering plate in his pack.
gocorral.com
February 8, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Learn about giantkin. Where they live, who their friends are, what gods they worship. The gods is pretty easy, they like the Titans. #DnD #RPG
Races of Cimmeria: Giantkin Part 3
Location Giants live in the mountains, hills, and caves of Cimmeria. Their tendency towards violence makes them incompatible with the settled development of civilization. A giant is likely to accidentally destroy a building in anger, so the little folk have banded together to push giants away from buildings. There are slight variances between the different subraces in their home of choice.
gocorral.com
February 3, 2026 at 3:01 AM
I talked with Duncan Rhodes from the Hipsters & Dragons blog about his new D&D book, Extraordinary Locations. Check it out for all sorts of quick locations you can drop into your campaign or use to build adventures from!
#DnD #RPG
Setting the Stage Episode 73 – Duncan and Extraordinary Locations
Duncan Rhodes comes on the show to talk about his new book, The Creative Game Master's Guide to Extraordinary Locations: & How to Design Them or just Extraordinary Locations. The book is filled with 30 adventure locations to drop into your campaign, modify, or use as a full adventure path! The locations are loosely stated out for D&D 5e but could easily be adapted for any fantasy system.
gocorral.com
January 29, 2026 at 2:01 AM
Read about the five subraces of giantkin, Elemental Giants, Cyclopes, Ettins, Ogres, and Trolls. And that's also roughly the order of how nice they are. #DnD #RPG
Races of Cimmeria: Giantkin Part 2
Subraces Giantkin come in many varieties. All giants are descended from the first giants and cyclopes birthed from Gaia. While the different subraces have diverged over time, they all maintain the general humanoid shape, large size, and powerful musculature iconic of giants. Elemental Giants: Elemental giants are the most pure connection to the first giants of Gaia. There are five sub varieties of elemental giants, each with a different connection to an elemental force.
gocorral.com
January 27, 2026 at 3:02 AM
There are public customer profiles for marketing Magic the Gathering and other cards games too. Why not TTRPGs as well? Read and tell me which one you are!
#DnD #RPG
TTRPG Customer Profiles
The Setting the Stage podcast had a really good year in 2025. My audience went from 6143 downloads to 9743. My listeners on Spotify multiplied by 5 according to the 2025 Wrapped feature so I'm guessing most of my reach came from there. Along with those numbers, I got approved for ad revenue and started a Patreon. Setting the Stage has moved from a small cost hobby to about revenue neutral!
gocorral.com
January 24, 2026 at 2:01 AM
Giantkin in Cimmeria have an interesting history. Originally there were only two types of giantkin in Greek Mythology, giants and cyclopes. Interbreeding produced all the other varieties. #DnD #RPG
Races of Cimmeria: Giantkin Part 1
Physical Description There are many kind of giants in Cimmeria but they are all huge, strong, and ferocious. The smallest giants stand at about eight feet tall while the largest are more than twenty feet tall. Weights are similarly variable with giants often being heavy for their relative height due to increased fat and muscle mass. The might of giants is legendary.
gocorral.com
January 20, 2026 at 3:02 AM
Reposted by Isaac/Setting the Stage podcast
I've been hard at work writing and designing the GV copy of Psychomortis. So now's the perfect time to release the original.
I put it up on itch, alongside the release of @gocorral.bsky.social's new podcast episode featuring me!
calicovisions.itch.io/psychomortis...

#ttrpg #DnD #indiedev #tabletop
PSYCHOMORTIS: 0.999 ALPHA VISION by CALICOVISIONS
A Dungeon Crawling Thriller about high-stakes tactical survival and Virtue in the face of Fear.
calicovisions.itch.io
January 14, 2026 at 10:32 PM
RPG Gamers and Game Designers! Check out the next Tabletop Community Spotlight! The theme is Necromancer and all entries must be in by March 6th. Read the post for more details!
#DnD #RPG #TCS #tabletopcommunityspotlight #necromancer
Tabletop Community Spotlight Jan-March 2026
I took on a new project a few months ago, but haven't announced it on my blog yet. I'm one of the two people in charge of the Tabletop Community Spotlight (TCS). TCS History The Tabletop Community Spotlight was originally started by Peter from Tales from Elsewhere and Zarek from Odin's Key Gaming. The intention was to give aspiring game designers a place to shine and show off parts of what they'd been working on.
gocorral.com
January 14, 2026 at 2:33 AM
The Jadepunk campaign setting is fascinating. Magic Jade powered technology! Opium War style colonization! Freedom fighters taking their city back from wealth and corruption. Give it a look
#DnD #RPG #FATE
Jadepunk FATE RPG Review
Continuing on my Chinese RPG reading quest, I got the FATE game, Jadepunk, recommended to me. I already reviewed the more official FATE China game, Do: Fate of the Flying Temple. Jadepunk uses the FATE system as well, so mechanically it is very similar to Do. The main differences are the Approaches and Stunts. Approaches in Jadepunk…
gocorral.com
January 13, 2026 at 3:01 AM
Races of Cimmeria posts are done being written. They'll be published over the next year. What's next for the GoCorral Blog?
#DnD #RPG #blog
What’s Next for the GoCorral Blog?
I've crossed another accomplishment threshold for the GoCorral Blog! The Races of Cimmeria section is complete! As the Cimmeria stuff has migrated and expanded here I've added other sections. It started as an online repository for information about the Cities of Cimmeria. That was for the players in my campaign to have easy access to extra setting info (that they barely used).
gocorral.com
January 10, 2026 at 2:00 AM
I went on someone else's podcast! Not for TTRPG stuff, but still for RPGs as video games.

I appeared on the 40 Something Gamer podcast last month to talk about retro games and the changes in various genres over the last few years. You can check it out on YouTube or anywhere else you get podcasts.
I went on someone else’s podcast!
I went on someone else's podcast! Not for TTRPG stuff, but still for RPGs as video games. I appeared on the 40 Something Gamer podcast last month to talk about retro games and the changes in various genres over the last few years. You can check it out on YouTube or anywhere else you get podcasts.
gocorral.com
January 7, 2026 at 4:06 AM
About two years ago there was an amazing video posted on YouTube about how to build an AI to play Pokemon Red. Check it out for yourself! #Pokemon
AI Plays Pokemon
This is a fascinating video about how AI can be used for more complex tasks. Not the LLM AI like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Apple's Siri. The AI used for this project is more like the models used by Boston Dynamics to build walking task-focused robots. Something similar to what you see here, . This video is also strikingly similar to how humans learn to walk.
gocorral.com
January 6, 2026 at 3:01 AM
Do you like philosophy and introspection? This episode of Setting the Stage explores how Calico used philosophical ideas to build a campaign setting and TTRPG
#DnD #RPG
Setting the Stage Episode 72 – CalicoVisions and Psychomortis
CalicoVisions tells us about his game system and setting Psychomortis. The game is constructed to challenge players and characters to look inside themselves to find what's really important to them. In the far future the Earth has suffered from the arrival of the Iris which caused vast changes across the world. PCs are trapped beneath the Earth in a vast maze known as Pandora's Labyrinth.
gocorral.com
January 1, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Read my review of the "Chinese themed" Fate TTRPG, Do: Fate of the Flying Temple. (It's not actually Chinese themed) #DnD #RPG #FATE
Do: Fate of the Flying Temple RPG Review
China: the RPG frontier. These are the voyages of the Isaac Shaker. His continuing mission: to explore strange new TTRPGs; to seek out new systems and new supplements; to boldly go where many have gone before! I read through Do: Fate of the Flying Temple while on vacation. It uses the Fate system to simulate a Chinese story and setting.
gocorral.com
December 30, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Finishing off my posts on Lizardfolk with some info on location, race relations (and recipes), gods, and how Lizardfolk can actually make great adventurers instead of just XP fodder. #DnD #RPG
Races of Cimmeria: Lizardfolk Part 3
Location Lizardfolk live in and around the waterways of Cimmeria. The most popular locations are Danar's Swamp, Demeter’s Garden, and the Aractrashan Jungle due to the high number of crisscrossing tributaries in those regions. Lizardfolk live around all of the many rivers in Cimmeria, but there are higher concentrations around the Black River and the Long River. Troglodyte populations roughly mirror their aboveground cousins with tribal communities located below these same spots in the Underdark.
gocorral.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:02 AM
I had the pleasure of talking with Aaron Ryan about Dissonance and The End and how they'd fit as settings for RPG campaigns. Check out the interview! And check out Aaron's latest series, Talisman!
#DnD #RPG
Setting the Stage Episode 71 – Aaron Ryan and Dissonance/The End
I talked with Aaron Ryan about two of his book series, Dissonance and The End. Dissonance is a near future world where aliens have attacked, killing most humans and animals on Earth and driving humans into hiding underground. Humans finally develop technology to fight back and the war enters a new stage while the characters also struggle to determine the motivation for the alien invasion and nefarious actions of the government.
gocorral.com
December 22, 2025 at 3:33 AM
I got the various different subraces of lizardfolk from the 4e D&D monster manual, but also threw in troglodytes because they're not really different. A trogolodyte is just a stinky underground lizardfolk. #DnD #RPG
Races of Cimmeria: Lizardfolk Part 2
History Lizardfolk existed in Cimmeria long before the Conclave races arrived. Goblin oral histories make no mention of when lizardfolk arrived, indicating they were always present. Lizardfolk have no extant written records of their own to indicate their history. It seems as if they were always in Cimmeria since the creation of the Earth. Lizardfolk rarely feature prominently in modern Cimmerian history.
gocorral.com
December 16, 2025 at 3:01 AM