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(Part Two.) Kris and Katrina Ehrnman-Newton, hosts of the inimitable Gameable Saturday Morning Podcast (and its previous Gameable Pixar and Disney iterations), join us for an episode so monstrously huge we had to make it a two-parter! This time, we’re talking about design considerations for a “moral universe”—the assumptions built into a fictional setting about the consequences and decisions that affect characters’ moral efforts. We start with our Patreon backer question, this time about potential real dangers of gaming. Then across two episodes, we cover the design aspects of a moral universe in great detail, and wrap up talking about the challenges and opportunities these present at the gaming table. Thanks again, Kris and Katrina—we’re looking forward to joining you to talk about Saturday morning cartoons soon!
If you missed the first half of Episode 91, click here to listen to part one.
Katrina previously joined us for Episode 58, “Prophecy”, and Kris joined the three of us for Episode 67, “Breaking Canon”. Grant and Peter have also appeared on the Gameable Saturday Morning Podcast for a bonus episode on The Prince of Egypt.
We hit on a wide and strange variety of other things this episode, including but not limited to: Depression Quest; Genesis 18; Batman; Longmire; The Crow; Mouse Guard; Jessica Jones; fighting hummingbirds; The Care Bears Movie; Sailor Moon; L.A. Confidential; Dogs in the Vineyard; Pillar of Fire; and a May 2016 blog post from Peter, “You Must Be This Treacherous To Ride The Story“. Phew!
Scripture: Genesis 3:22-24, Amos 2:6-7, Matthew 5:44-45
2 thoughts on “Episode 91 – Creating a Moral Universe, Part 2 (with Kris & Katrina Ehrnman-Newton)”
I imagined my first message would look different but since the episode touched my (almost) Forgotten Realms string:
Kelemvor becomes Deity of Death, replacing Myrkul (of the former Dead Three). You’ve mentioned Nerull who is a Greyhawk deity.
Luckily this doesn’t affect the main topic of the podcast.
Whoops—good catch! Thanks. I continually mix up Nerull and Myrkul. Blame the fact that my only Forgotten Realms gaming experience was ten years ago, three sessions long, and completely terrible. (In fact, that game is the only reason I know Kelemvor at all—I played a cleric of Kelemvor.) Also Nerull’s been on my mind a bit lately. We’re using the Greyhawk pantheon for the D&D game I’m running, though it will be modified and fleshed out somewhat as the game progresses.
Thanks for calling me out on that. I’ll try to remember in the future. (I guarantee I said ‘Nerull’ on a previous episode some time back, too…)