Megadungeon Meandering: Moria for The One Ring RPG – Episode 1

Writing a RPG can seem daunting, but creators now have more options and tools available to help them. Do you want to write a game from scratch or use an existing open system? What steps should you take first? How long does it take? Peter Petrusha of Imagining Games (Chew, Dreamchaser), Ross Payton (Base Raiders, Role Playing Public Radio podcast), Caleb Stokes (Red Markets, Delta Green: God’s Teeth), and Julian Kay (Mutants in the Now) have answers. This panel was recorded at Gen Con 2026. The screenshot is from The Cthulhu RPG timeline.

The platonic ideal of megadungeons, Moria from the Lord of The Rings, was published as a campaign book for the One Ring RPG last year. Chris and I start our exploration in the first part of this miniseries. The remaining episodes are available for patrons. You can watch or listen to all of the episodes if you join the RPPR Patreon. You also get access to over 10 years of bonus podcasts, RPG scenarios, complete games, artwork, maps, and more! Check out Chris’ work on Youtube!

We’re back from Gencon and had a blast! Our live episode features updates on the future of RPPR, discussions of Gencon 2026, and a lively game of AD&D Trivia. I found a copy of this infamous trivia game and challenged the RPPR cast to see which team is the best at AD&D trivia. For some weird reason though, every answer on the cards was wrong, so we had to ask the audience which answer was right. (In other words, we made up answers to see which was the funniest). Enjoy!

We revisited the saga of Baron von Kharkov, the vampiric man-panther (Manther for short), in the Dungeon magazine #50 adventure “Felkovic’s cat”. We also review Immortal: The Invisible War, a strange game of World of Darkness-ish terminology and bizarre metaphysics. Find out what whisperballs are and other esoteric secrets. This is one of my favorite episodes because there’s so much RPG weirdness. Did you know that Baron von Kharkov pickles vegetables as a side gig? If you enjoy this episode, we have over 120 episodes of RPPR After Hours available on the RPPR Patreon, not to mention other mini-series where we deep dive into megadungeons like Stonehell or examine the oddest Youtube fodder we can find. We also have a collection of original RPG scenarios, min-games, a great community Discord server, and more! Join today to get over a decade of bonus material instantly.

Maps are an essential part of tabletop RPGs. Who doesn’t love poring over a campaign map or fighting a massive set piece battle on a custom battle map? I talked to Joe at Heroic Maps about RPG map making. I recently collaborated with Joe to make a Mothership scenario available on both of our Patreons as a free download. We talk about what makes for a good RPG map and how to avoid some mistakes when making your own map. Check out The Oblivion Broadcast on Patreon! There’s an actual play, with a video version that showcases the map. Heroic Maps has a ton of maps available for download.

In this episode, we focus on a single D&D adventure called The Immortal Storm. This is a crazy scenario, designed for godlike PCs. It involves messing with stars, traveling to a dimension of sheet music and 1986 Manhattan. We also talked about Far West and Ken Whitman, both of whom are still around, 10 years later. Join the RPPR Patreon to get access to more episodes of After Hours, full RPG scenarios, original games, videos, and more! Use discount code OCCULT to get 50% off your first month!

Ross Payton, Ennie Award winning host of Role Playing Public Radio, Caleb Stokes of Delta Green Dead Channels, Ethan Cordray of Technical Difficulties Podcast, and Zach Reeves of Pretending to be People podcasts have years of experience creating, running, and promoting podcasts. Running a podcast is very rewarding but challenging and time consuming. Learn what pitfalls to avoid and the best way to get started! This panel was recorded at Gen Con 2025.

Caleb reviews Bad Medicine for Dr. Drugs, Aaron tries to explain Mekton Zeta mecha construction rules, I use a plot from the master fantasy plot generator and we talk about Bob Ross on Twitch.tv. Oh and there’s some discussion of Dragon #136 and Grimtooth’s Traps! If you enjoyed this episode and want more, there are over 10 years of bonus podcast episodes waiting for you on the RPPR Patreon! In our most recent episode, we looked at a d20 modern scenario that statted out Saddam Hussein. I’ve also started a newsletter with scenario writeups, cool links and more. In other RPPR news, I posted an interview with Gareth Hanrahan about his book on Moria for The One Ring RPG on our Youtube channel.

Writing a good mystery for a RPG can be tough to accomplish but it’s not impossible. Get tips from Ross Payton and Caleb Stokes on writing a great whodunit in your game! Threading the line between making the investigation too easy and too hard can be difficult, but we have enough experience to make it easier for you. This panel was recorded at Gen Con 2025. Check out Delta Green Dead Channels to support Caleb! Note: this panel was recorded at the Crowne Plaze hotel, which has an active railroad operating through it. I reduced noise as much as I could.

In 1968, in response to sinister influences that threatened to corrupt America from within and without, the Federal Government established a new agency – one that quickly acquired a reputation for ambitious operations overseas, for covert action, and for doing what had to be done, no matter the cost. This new agency was the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, the BNDD. And within it – the forces of DELTA GREEN. This is the Borellus Connection. We recently finished the campaign on RPPR Actual Play and now we join up to discuss it. Join Aaron, Caleb, Chris, Tom, and I as we go through the book and discuss what we liked and didn’t like. There’s a video version of this episode on Patreon as a public post. I screenshared the PDF so you can see what I’m talking about.  Check out Hebanon Games and Delta Green Dead Channels to support Caleb’s work. Chris makes great videos on Youtube about video game history.