ATR #33: The ABC’s of RPG’s w/ Ivan Norman!

On this very special episode, That Guy Named John is joined by his longtime friend Ivan Van Norman. Ivan is a game creator, writer, director, game show host, and newly dubbed “Prince of all Geekdom”. They talk about his new book: “The ABCs of RPGs”, as well as his path to making a career out of a hobby. Time code breakdown: 0:00 – 3m: Introduction and the brief history of Ivan and John’s friendship. Spoiler alert, it all started with high heels and fishnets 3m:00s – 8m:30s: Ivan talks about some of his current projects including, but limited to: Twitch.tv, his “How to play” series, “Game the Game”, “Forever-verse”, and so much more 8m:30s – 14m: Which came first: Ivan’s love of theater, or his love board games? Find out that answer and also his process for creating a better gaming experience for himself, and the people at his table 14m – 31m: “King of the Nerds” talk and why role playing games are important 31m: – 52m: Review and discussion of Ivan’s book “The ABCs of RPGs” which he wrote with illustrations by Caleb Cleveland 52m – 58m:35s: Ivan talks about one of his favorite recent gaming experiences, which was playing a Kenku called “Ah Ha!” 58m:35s – 1h:05m: Ivan’s latest projects, final thoughts and wrap up Thank you Ivan for taking time out of your crazy busy schedule for this interview/ discussion, it was a blast! To purchase a copy of the amazing books we talked about on this episode, click the links below, or better yet, go to your local brick and mortar and ask them to order it for you! The ABCs of RPGs on Thinkgeek.com is here: Purchase The ABCs of RPGs on Huntersbooks.com is here: Purchase Where to find Ivan: You can find Ivan all over the social media landscape by searching for “Hydra_Lord”, but here are direct links to his various pages: Twitter: @Hydra_Lord Instagram: @Hydra_Lord Twitch: @Hydra_Lord Facebook: @ivanbarronvannormanTwitch: @Hydra_Lord Podcast info: Make sure to follow this podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @abouttoreview, and click here to subscribe on iTunes and now Stitcher as well! To help keep the lights on in the studio, you can head on over to Patreon.com/abouttoreview and chip in a dollar if you can, we would really appreciate it! If you have any questions, comments, or ideas for future episodes, you can email those to the show at: [email protected] This episode was edited by Brandon at Vexing Media, which I am very thankful for! Check him out on Twitter @bsmith125 and also follow them @vexingmedia