Oppression Aware Podcast, Fairy Tales, and Games

 

This is a list of all of the amazing podcasts I have been a guest on, starting with my most recent appearance. Episodes with an asterisk at the front have transcripts.

 

*285 – Expanding Story Narratives: On the Mythcreants Podcast. “Long-running story tropes become long-running for a reason, but what if more was possible? What if we could reach outside the familiar and tell different kinds of stories? Not only would we get to experience something cool and different, but we might even make stories more welcoming to folks who normally get left out. That’s what we’re talking about this week, and to help us expand our horizons, we’ve invited Fay Onyx of Writing Alchemy to join us.”

*234 – Harmful Disability Tropes: On the Mythcreants Podcast. “More than one in ten Americans is disabled, making it one of the largest marginalized groups in the country. Even so, storytellers often have a really difficult time portraying disabled characters. We want to change that, so this episode is all about the most problematic tropes that surround disabled characters and what storytellers can do instead. Listen as we discuss magic as an assertive device, disabled characters with physical abilities, and issues that intersect with disability.”

*233 – Healthy Magic School Learning Environments: On the Mythcreants Podcast. “Let’s face it: most of us really want to attend a special school where they teach you magic spells. The only problem is that these schools all seem to be incredibly dangerous. Sometimes they’re filled with monsters, other times there’s an evil teacher out to get you, or maybe the teachers just don’t do anything in the face of magical bullying. But is there a better way? Can you craft a magic school that is both a positive learning environment and a good place for adventures? Listen and find out!”

*232 – Avoiding the Fridge: On the Mythcreants Podcast. “Fiction has a long history of sacrificing marginalized characters to further the arcs of privileged characters, but these days we have a name for that: fridging. Most of us understand that fridging is bad, but why is it bad? And once we understand that, what are we supposed to do instead? Glad you asked, because that’s what today’s episode is all about! We discuss better ways to introduce tragedy, how to make the audience care, and of course, how to define a sandwich. How is that last one related? Listen and find out!”

S03 E06: Fay Onyx – Writing Alchemy: On I Am Hear from the RPG Casts network. “Fay and I talk about hir show and website, Writing Alchemy, how important accessibility in RPGs and RPG Podcasting is, the importance of checking our language, and what it means to be neurodivergent and the ever-evolving language in our society. We also chat about hir upcoming game, Magic Goes Awry.”

E14: Pride Month Special – Queer RPG Characters: On I Am Hear from the RPG Casts network. “With Pride Month coming to an end, I wanted to help celebrate and honour the LGBTQ+ community. We all want to be understood, be accepted into open and loving arms, be part of a safe community, and ultimately, have our stories heard. #HearOurStories is a Pride Month Special focused on hearing a collection of stories from the community about their beloved LGBTQ+ RPG characters.”

Leveling Up – S2E2 – Making Gaming Accessible: On the Leveling Up  from the High Level Games Network. “In Episode 2 of our daring second season, Quinn and Josh talk with Fay Onyx of Writing Alchemy about Making Gaming Accessible. Together they discuss Unfamiliar Heroes, Magic Goes Awry(with Owlbear Rescues), and about ways to ensure our game tables are accessible in every way to a diverse group of players. There was also mention of post-apocalytic Muppet Babies, and if that isn’t your thing… well… I’m not sure why you listen to our podcast.”

Get Acquainted with the Unfamiliar Heroes – Part 2: On Modifier from the One Shot Network. “Fay Onyx, the mastermind behind the Unfamiliar Heroes podcast project, and two of its GMs, Anna Murray and Jordan Green, chat about what it’s like to run an actual play with diverse players and characters at the core. This second part of our conversation focuses on mechanics that aim to recreate or facilitate these diverse experiences, and things to consider when playing a diverse character.”

Get Acquainted with the Unfamiliar Heroes – Part 1: On Modifier from the One Shot Network. “Fay Onyx, the mastermind behind the Unfamiliar Heroes podcast project, and two of its GMs, Anna Murray and Jordan Green, chat about what it’s like to run an actual play with diverse players and characters at the core. This first part of our conversation focuses on addressing the needs of players, and considering how accessible your game system itself is.”

107- Social Justice Successes and Failures: On the Mythcreants Podcast. “We’ve all got our social justice axes to grind, and as we are joined by Fay for a third week, this is the time to get them out. We discuss several episodes of Star Trek that tried for a positive message but shot themselves in the foot, how Dragonlance needs to understand that racism isn’t just for goblins and orcs, and some basic ways to separate ableism from positive depictions of disability. But somehow, most impressively, we don’t spend the entire episode raving about Zootopia!”

106 – Qualities of the Fairy Tale Genre: On the Mythcreants Podcast. “Once upon a time, Fay once again joined Oren and Chris, this time to discuss fairy tales. The first question on our minds: what is a fairy tale, exactly? Is it any story with fairies in it? Does it need to have a happy ending? We also talk about when a fairy tale transitions into a normal fantasy story, the morals fairy tales are famous for, and why people complain about eagles in Lord of the Rings but not the Hobbit. You’d better listen, or else your kingdom will fall under some kind of unrealistic but very ironic curse.”

105 – Writing Characters Inspired by Roleplaying: On the Mythcreants Podcast. “Another week brings us a brand new guest host, Fay Onyx of Writing Alchemy. With Fay on board, we discuss how to draw inspiration from roleplaying characters, so you won’t have to let that treasured PC go after the final session. We discuss the benefits of channeling RPG characters into your work, as well as pitfalls to avoid. We hear all about Fay’s RPG inspired system for quickly generating side characters. And of course,  we look at existing novels where the author has done this very thing, just to see how it all turns out. Listen in, and you too can transfer protagonists from character sheet to page.”