Tony Spengler/ March 16 2023
Another win for me as I stumbled through the Twitterverse, finding my place among the ttrpg community. These glorious people graced my feed early on, and have been broadcasting their shenanigans for a few years now. Seeing their praise from all sides, and their favorable and entertaining interactions on social media, Reckless Attack has been on my list of “must-haves” for interviews. Fortunately they agreed to be interrogated, and my questions were answered by the one and only, Nathan Lurz.
Origin: Chicago, IL.
Name: Nathan Lurz (he/him).
Experience: 12ish years.
Age: 33.
Favored Archetype: Tanky frontline fighter (paladins, clerics).
Q) I haven’t gotten a chance to listen to your podcast, but it's on my list! Could you give an elevator pitch for your podcast for our readers to know what you’re about?
A) Reckless Attack is a weekly D&D 5E actual play podcast that feels like a well-edited version of friends playing around a table together (with better audio). Our show is filled with collaborative world-building, character-driven storytelling, mystery, horror, people trying to make their world a little bit brighter, and frogs.
We also release TTRPG interview episodes twice a month, featuring conversational interviews with some of our favorite TTRPG creators.
Q) Sounds amazing, and now I'm particularly curious about frogs. Anyhow, are you the official DM for your AP?
A) I am! Have been the GM for this group of players for something like six years.
Q) Do you prefer GM or DM?
A) Either!
Q) How did you get into TTRPGs?
A) I first got into TTRPGs through actual play podcasts! No one else played them that I knew, but I fell in love with shows like Acquisitions, Inc. and Critical Hit in the 4E days. The first time I ever played I was actually on assignment for a journalism class - back in 2011 or so, I was asked to cover a "subculture" and chose TTRPGs. I went to a local gaming shop and introduced myself to the players there, who all took me under their wing and showed me a great time. One of them is actually on our podcast! I started DMing shortly thereafter with a group of friends I managed to talk into playing with me. It went...fine.
Q) You mentioned collaborative world building. Did you build the core landscape and the players are filling in the world as you go, or did everyone make something to add to the pot from the start?
A) So I basically came up with several core campaign stories/central tensions - this is the pirate campaign, this one is X-Files, this one is a megadungeon, etc. - that we fine tuned more or less into a single vision. Then we worked together to flesh out the world and story to support it! And we did that twice, because I realized that our first campaign pitch had a bit too much colonizer energy ha.
Q) X-Files? Please, please tell me there is a Smoking Man in your world that the players have to deal with now and then.
A) I mean - not that THEY know about...yet?
Q) What inspired you all to start an AP podcast?
A) I think first and foremost I personally just really loved the genre/art form. It's what got me into the hobby, and formed so much of what I value in even an unrecorded game experience. I've always been a storyteller personally and professionally, and making a story with a group of friends seemed safer AND better than just willy nilly writing a book or whatever.
I particularly always enjoyed the shows that felt like an elevated form of home game - still talk about rules, still tell jokes, still have in-character moments of levity and drama alike, but everything turned to 11 (and well edited). When I recorded a random session of ours and listened back to it and actually liked it - rare for me to enjoy something I did - the idea of starting a podcast wormed its way into my head. I pondered, mentioned it to a few folks, and everyone was on board pretty quickly which I was extremely thankful for as I wouldn't and couldn't do this with another group of folks.
Q) How long has Reckless Attack been airing?
A) We launched Oct. 5, 2021!
Q) Behind the scenes, what kind of equipment and/or software do you use for recording?
A) We record generally in person with Reaper using Shure microphones. We have semi-soundproofed a room in someone's dwelling to serve as a recording studio of sorts, which really helps. I also currently use a service called Zencastr to record our remote Reckless A-Talk interviews, as the program records locally for each participant and increases the audio quality.
Q) Are you experienced in other ttrpgs? If so, which?
A) I've played a decent number [of ttrpgs], though [I] really want to keep expanding. I've played [D&D] 5E the most by far, but a decent amount of Pathfinder 2E and Outbreak: Undead as well as little bits and baubles of Lasers and Feelings hacks, Lancer, Wanderhome, and Monster of the Week. Game-running-wise really only the latter two.
Q) Have you had guests on your show?
A) Yes and no! We have guests on our interview show Reckless A-Talk from all over the TTRPG sphere - including designers, writers, GMs, players, etc. - but we stick to our main cast in our actual play show.
Q) Dope! Is that aired on the same channel as the AP show, or does that have its own podcast stream?
A) Both on the same one! Actual plays are every Tuesday, interviews are (generally) second and fourth Thursday of each month.
Q) You haven't had guests, but have you done collaborations with other actual plays? Like crossover episodes or joint one-shots?
A) Another yes and no! We have been lucky enough to be interview guests, panelists, or guest players on a lot of shows since we launched.
Q) How should readers reach out to you to request your presence on their show?
A) All our contact info is available on our website at www.recklessattack.com, or feel free to DM us on Twitter!
Q) How about accepting guests, are you looking for players for one-shots, interviews or guest appearances? Should they use the same contact info?
A) We are not accepting guest players at this time, but we encourage anyone to reach out to us to pitch a collaboration opportunity!
Q) Time to wrap it up, any parting thoughts for our readers?
A) The best pieces of advice I ever heard about creating stuff was:
-Do what makes you (and your group) happy, not what you think will make other people happy.
-Love the making, not the having made.
-Don't worry about running out of good ideas. Use the coolest, most exciting stuff you have, and believe your brain will come up with more because it's the same brain that came up with that cool stuff to begin with.
-Let the folks you work with make you better.
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