A fogbound bike ride turns D&D party discipline into a running joke with real suspense.
A D&D party pedals into pea-soup fog with Officer Murphy's sirens behind them, and the escape keeps slipping between fright and comic improvisation.
Tabletop gaming as therapy, discussed and actually played.
The gist
Rolling For Change treats tabletop games as tools for education and therapy, and it plays as well as it explains. Guests talk about games like Edrighor and about making art with board games, while the Cricket Falls series follows a group of therapists through a fog-bound Kids on Bikes story.
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About Rolling For Change
Rolling For Change starts from the idea that tabletop games can teach and heal, then spends real time at the table instead of only describing it. That gives the feed two distinct modes. The first is conversation. In one episode Woody Harris, joined by co-hosts Josue Cardona and Brian Peace, talks with Allen Turner from DePaul University about Edrighor, a game Menachem Cohen had brought up on an earlier episode. The discussion roams, touching on people getting sick, the sense of living in a dystopia, and early Spider-Man as an outsider who did not fit so-called normal society. Another guest, Kris Johnson, is a teacher and artist who uses board games to make art; that conversation was recorded in the summer of 2020. The second mode is actual play, and it is where the show loosens up. Cricket Falls, also titled Shrinks on Bikes, is a group of therapists playing Kids on Bikes, with Brian Quinones, Tim Grant and Brennan Jordan at the table. The story is small-town strange. Officer Murphy gives chase, a friend named JJ goes missing, and a wall of fog swallows the sound of the siren. Then a familiar voice turns out to belong to the kids' principal, Mr. Johnson. The players commit to the jokes as fully as the scares. One kid keeps careful watch on 'creep levels' around a friend named Sally, another insists that fourteen is practically an adult, and a round of farm work for Old Man McKenzie ends with something he probably would not want the kids to have. At one point a worn-out character sits down and calls for a pact: no more splitting the party. Cricket Falls episodes also point to a debrief on the process and the behind-the-scenes tales of the campaign. The production is open about its rough edges, with one introduction owning up to modest editing skills and a table full of sniffles and coughs. Sign-offs send people to the Geek Therapy Discord group, and one episode promotes TAGS, the Therapeutic Applied Geek and Gaming Summit, where a Role Playing for Change interactive panel took place. The feed also carries Conspiracy of Light, which Woody Harris introduces as a podcast about Babylon 5, with co-host Josue Cardona. In 'COL- Legacies' they work through that season-one episode, from a teenager discovering psychic powers to the Narn's subjugation under the Centauri and how different peoples in the story treat telepaths. Listeners who want ideas can start with the guest conversations. Those who want the play can pick up Cricket Falls, whose numbered episodes form a continuing story. Someone at the table sums up the game nights neatly: they are the break in the fog.
Made for: Suits a listener who is curious about tabletop games as tools for therapy and education and wants to hear therapists actually play one, jokes and all. A Babylon 5 fan will also find the Conspiracy of Light episodes in the same feed.
What sets it apart: Instead of only discussing therapeutic gaming, it puts a table of therapists into a running Kids on Bikes campaign, Cricket Falls, and points to a debrief on the process. Guest talks on games like Edrighor and on making art with board games round it out.
In their own words
Podcast about the educational and therapuetic side of tabletop gaming.
Why you'd press play
A fog bank swallows the party, and your "never split up" rule starts sounding less theoretical.
Press play if you want
- to hear therapists improvise through Cricket Falls, then talk about what happened at the table
- to follow Woody Harris and Josue Cardona from Babylon 5 telepathy to the prickly question of autonomy
therapeutic and educational uses of tabletop gamesCricket Falls actual playKids on Bikes role-playingguest conversations on games and artGeek Therapy community and TAGS summitBabylon 5 episode discussion
Talks about
Best episodes of Rolling For Change
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Alissa's possible futures turn a psychic coming-of-age story into a question of care, service, and control.
"Legacies" treats Alissa's awakening psychokinetic powers as more than a plot turn. Woody Harris and Josue Cardona use her choices among human enlistment, the Narn, and the Minbari to ask who gets to define duty for a gifted young person.
A strange farm discovery turns collaborative role-playing into a lively mix of character, risk, and story-making.
Cricket Falls follows the morning after a strange night, turning loose ends into part of the fun. The players sort out where everyone ended up after Billy and Oscar's spiritual mountain moment, while Sally's cautious walk home and the group's half-formed plans keep the social…
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Episodes
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Shrinks on Bikes- Cricket Falls 8
Hidden gemRolling For Change's Shrinks on Bikes- Cricket Falls 8 keeps Billy George, Oscar Ramon, Jimmy Jacob Jones, and Sally moving through a fog bank while Officer Murphy starts a chase.
May 16, 2021·1h 12m·5 clips - 2
Shrinks on Bikes- Cricket Falls 7
Hidden gemJJ takes medication before a Saturday ride to the mine in Rolling For Change's 'Shrinks on Bikes- Cricket Falls 7,' and he says the dose makes him feel 'abnormally calm.' The host says Brian Quinones, Tim Grant, and Brennan Jordan are therapists playing Kids on Bikes, and he frames this as his first GM experience.
May 15, 2021·1h 2m·5 clips - 3
Edrighor with Allen Turner
Hidden gemAfter Menachem Cohen raised Edrigor on a prior episode, Woody Harris, Josue Cardona, Brian Peace, and guest Alan Turner from DePaul University unpack a role-playing setting built around sorrow, kinship, and culture.
May 12, 2021·1h 27m·5 clips - 4
COL- Legacies
Hidden gem["Woody Harris and Josue Cardona spend `Legacies`, Babylon 5 season 1 episode 17, on two linked disputes: Neroon\u2019s Minbari funeral procession for Bran Mero and Alyssa Beldon\u2019s sudden telepathic emergence in the Zocalo.", "The hosts contrast Psycorps, the Narn, and the Minbari as competing institutions for Alyssa, while Ivanova pushes hard to keep the girl away from the path that trapped her mother.", "Sinclair\u2019s Earth-Minbari War memory, the open gun ports on the warship, and Neroon\u2019s open hostility toward humans give the Minbari storyline its tension.", "The discussion keeps returning to legacy, rank, and control, especially in the question of who gets to define Bran Mero\u2019s story after death."]
May 2, 2021·47m·4 clips - 5
Cricket Falls 5
Hidden gemRolling For Change's "Cricket Falls 5" follows Billy, Oscar, Jimmy, and JJ through one Friday night into Saturday morning after a wolf encounter near Old Man McKenzie's place.
Apr 28, 2021·51m·5 clips - 6
Cricket Falls 6
In Rolling For Change’s “Cricket Falls 6,” JJ visits Dr.
Apr 28, 2021·1h 15m·2 clips - 7
Kris Johnson- Making Art with Games
Hidden gemChris Johnson, an elementary art teacher with more than 650 games, arranges game pieces into images such as a Christmas tree and a raised fist.
Apr 21, 2021·1h 2m·2 clips - 8
Cricket Falls Episode 4
In Rolling For Change’s “Cricket Falls Episode 4,” JJ, Sally, Billy, and Oscar pursue a mystery involving a townwide spell and strange glowing plants.
Apr 17, 2021·1h 19m·2 clips - 9
Cricket Falls Episode 3
Apr 16, 2021·1h 22m - 10
Cricket Falls Episode 2
Nov 11, 2020·2h 9m - 11
Victory Point w/ Adi Singal
Aug 19, 2020·1h 20m - 12
Shrinks on Bikes (Ep 1)
Aug 1, 2020·1h 43m - 13
Playing with Roles, featuring Sarah Lynne Bowman
Jul 26, 2020·1h 49m - 14
Spiritual Role Playing with Menachem Cohen
Jul 3, 2020·1h 24m - 15
Education and having fun again with Erica Sanders
Jun 23, 2020·1h 4m - 16
Growing Potential with Sophie Berkley
Jun 14, 2020·1h 15m - 17
Kids on Brooms
May 31, 2020·1h 21m - 18
Vaccine with Mads Floe
May 17, 2020·1h 6m - 19
RPG Research with Hawke Robinson
An interview with Hawk Robinson of RPG Research discussing how role-playing games can be used for therapy and self-empowerment.
May 11, 2020·1h 25m - 20
You Never Forget Your First Role Playing Game.
Apr 19, 2020·1h 2m - 21
Afterlife: Wandering Souls w/Elizabeth Chaipruditkul
Apr 5, 2020·50m - 22
Gaming in Isolation
Mar 30, 2020·1h 7m - 23
Gaming in the Star Wars Universe
Mar 7, 2020·1h 37m - 24
Gaming and Environment
Jan 12, 2020·1h 23m - 25
Merry Monopoly Christmas
Dec 26, 2019·1h 17m - 26
Roll for Progress w Brennan Jordan
Dec 25, 2019·1h 10m - 27
Rolling for Doug via Pax Unplugged
Dec 15, 2019·1h 35m - 28
Kids on Bikes with Doug Levandowski
Dec 10, 2019·1h 27m - 29
Consent in Gaming with Sean K Reynolds
Nov 23, 2019·1h 14m - 30
Larping with Joie Martin
The host reflects on childhood play and introduces LARPing as a formalized adult play, then interviews Joy Martin of Drowning Moon Studios about her work in the genre.
Nov 12, 2019·1h 13m - 31
Gaming & Friendship
Nov 6, 2019·1h 31m - 32
Play therapy and therapeutic gaming with Dr. Brian Quinones and Tim Grant
This episode discusses using tabletop games in therapeutic settings with guests Tim Grant and Brian Quinones.
Oct 5, 2019·1h 40m - 33
Talking with Jack Berkenstock of the Bodhana Group
A conversation with Jack Birkenstock about using role playing and board games in therapeutic settings.
Sep 21, 2019·1h 15m - 34
Gaming, Identity, and Loss
Sep 8, 2019·1h 8m - 35
Reflections of Dicetower 2019
Aug 9, 2019·1h 36m - 36
One Child’s Heart: An interview w/ Camdon Wright
Interview with Camden Wright about a role-playing game designed to help children through traumatic situations, used as a training tool for professionals.
Jul 19, 2019·56m - 37
Self talk and self esteem in gaming
Jul 11, 2019·1h 27m - 38
Game to Grow
Jun 26, 2019·1h 6m - 39
Games in Media
Jun 21, 2019·1h 30m - 40
The Rules of Acquisition Disorder
Jun 15, 2019·1h 35m - 41
Games that change our lives
Jun 8, 2019·1h 38m - 42
Cheating and Ethical Gameplay
May 23, 2019·1h 26m - 43
Intimacy, Sexuality and Gaming
May 8, 2019·1h 33m - 44
The Social Aspects of Gaming
Mar 10, 2019·1h 26m - 45
Life Simulation Games
Feb 17, 2019·1h 35m - 46
Uncomfortable with Gaming
The host discusses the value of uncomfortable games and how they can help people handle discomfort, drawing from his experience as a supervisor of therapists.
Jan 15, 2019·1h 20m - 47
Hanabi with Dave
Host Woody Harris interviews Dave Satterfield about his 2,660 games of Hanabi, exploring the educational and therapeutic aspects of tabletop gaming.
Nov 16, 2018·1h 7m - 48
Creativity in Gaming
Nov 3, 2018·1h 8m - 49
Omenquest with Isaac Bluefoot
Oct 23, 2018·1h 32m - 50
States of Play: AP
Aug 18, 2018·1h 24m