

Roll For Topic
Roll For Topic
GM/DM discussions on topics related to running tabletop games. Each episode is a 30-45 minute conversation about one specific topic chosen by rolling 1d10 on a table of topics.
Roll for Topic's regular cohosts are Andy Rau and Chris Salzman. If you or your GM is interested in being a guest, drop us a line!
Roll for Topic's regular cohosts are Andy Rau and Chris Salzman. If you or your GM is interested in being a guest, drop us a line!
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 26, 2026 • 32min
Episode 190 – Props at the Game Table Revisited
Chris has been busy building props for a school play, and wonders how some of that energy might be expressed at the game table! Also, Andy and Chris discuss the joys of history and the ways they do and don’t make history and culture an important part of player characters.

Mar 12, 2026 • 38min
Episode 189 – Do You Let Players Respec Their Characters?
Lots to catch up on this episode, including the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, edgelord vampire roleplaying from the 1990s, and Chris’ dilemma as a player: can he respec a PC that isn’t mechanically working the way he intended?

Feb 26, 2026 • 35min
Episode 188 – Daggerheart Recap with Jess!
Chris and Jess talk about a small Daggerheart campaign that Jess ran and Chris played in! (Andy will be back next time!)

Feb 12, 2026 • 34min
Episode 187 – Antarctic Cthulhu Weekend After-action Report
Andy’s back from his weekend GMing an Antarctic Cthulhu campaign, and Chris has questions! Topics covered include the value of creating special game events like this, the challenge of fighting a long campaign into a short weekend, and more.

Jan 29, 2026 • 17min
Episode 186 – What Games Do You Bring on Trips?
Chris is heading off on a work trip, so discussion turns to which RPGs or board games you squeeze into your suitcase when traveling. With snow days and work trips imposing on our schedules, it’s a short episode–but we’ll be back next episode with a detailed breakdown of Andy’s epic Arkham Horror RPG weekend.

Jan 15, 2026 • 45min
Episode 185 – Catch up
Andy and Chris have a lot to talk about! They discuss Splatbook, how the build-a-dungeon/play-a-dungeon went, the worst part of the D&D ruleset, Shadowdark, and Andy’s upcoming weekend game in a secluded cottage.

Jan 1, 2026 • 1h 32min
Episode 184 – Play-a-Dungeon 2025: Kaiju vs. Theme Park Employees
It’s time to play this year’s “Build-a-Dungeon”! Chris GMs a party of five intrepid amusement park employees as they try to save the fair from a rampaging kaiju. This is part of our annual tradition wherein we create an adventure collaboratively in one episode and play it in the next. For the making of this … Continue reading "Episode 184 – Play-a-Dungeon 2025: Kaiju vs. Theme Park Employees"

Dec 18, 2025 • 1h 31min
Episode 183 – Build-a-Dungeon 2025: Kaiju vs. Theme Park Employees
This is part 1 of our 2 part Build-A-Dungeon Play-a-Dungeon special for 2025! Chris and Andy are joined, yet again, by John Corey and Kyle Latino! In this episode we brainstorm and build out a one shot adventure that Chris will run in the following episode.

Dec 4, 2025 • 27min
Episode 182 – Stranger Things, Doom, and One Shot Systems
Chris tries to get Andy to watch the new season of Stranger Things. Andy talks about Doom’s brilliance. Then they talk about simple systems for running one shots.

Nov 20, 2025 • 26min
Episode 181 – Netcrawl, Blades, and 13th Age, Oh My!
Every TTRPG Kickstarter from the last few years seemed to fulfill this month, so Andy and Chris take an episode to go through the piles of shiny new roleplaying games they’ve acquired recently. Along the way they discuss the impact of strong authorial voices in RPG books and plot to ensnare the author of Netcrawl.


