Alternate Worlds Podcast

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Stephen Radney-MacFarland and the TTRPG journey.This episode explores the evolution of tabletop role-playing games through the career of Stephen Radney-MacFarland, whose work spans organized play, game design, Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, and decades of Dungeons & Dragons history. Brian and Stephen discuss how RPG publishing has changed, what it was like inside Wizards during the early 2000s, why community matters more than technology, and how modern AI and digital tools may reshape tabletop gaming without replacing the human experience.Notes from Brian:Stephen Radney-MacFarland has been a lead game designer for over two decades now, with a career spanning D&D, D&D minis, Pathfinder, Star Wars RPG, and Delve.SRM is known for being both direct and kind, which is a good fit for my bent, which is also direct and kind.We got real and had fun from start to finish.I learned a fair amount in this conversation about how “the other part of WotC R&D felt,” as D&D and Magic: the Gathering stayed separate for years before partnering together on some fun initiatives.Topics Covered* The state of virtual tabletops and remote RPG play* Fantasy Grounds, Owlbear Rodeo, Zoom, and digital gaming* Stephen’s path from Kinko’s to Wizards of the Coast* Organized Play and the RPGA* Living Greyhawk and convention gaming* Working alongside Magic and D&D at Wizards* Company culture, reorganizations, and layoffs* Dragon Magazine and the golden age of RPG publications* Kickstarter’s impact on tabletop publishing* Substack, modern media, and content overload* Geek culture from the 1980s to today* Bullying, identity, and growing up as a gamer* Why younger generations may be more confident creators* AI’s role in tabletop design and creative work* Building communities around games rather than productsMemorable Moments* Stephen laughs about repeatedly telling companies not to build their own virtual tabletop because existing platforms had already solved the hardest problems—a prediction that proved remarkably accurate.* He recounts how he nearly joined Wizards once, lost the job, then was hired shortly afterward to help run Organized Play during the launch of D&D Third Edition.* Brian and Stephen swap stories about Wizards’ early culture, including office pranks, department rivalries, repeated reorganizations, and surviving wave after wave of layoffs.* Stephen explains how he transformed the RPGA from an inward-looking organization into a marketing engine that encouraged players to explore new D&D books and adventures.* The two reflect on how magazines like Dragon once felt like treasured monthly events, contrasting that experience with today’s endless algorithm-driven feeds and constant competition for attention.* They discuss how being a “geek” shifted from something many people hid to something openly celebrated, and how younger generations have benefited from that cultural change. Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

Mark Schneider is a chess master who traveled the country to play in chess tournaments as a teen.He went on to parent three boys, all of whom played with him in the first Magic: the Gathering Pro Tour.The youngest, Jeremy, finished 20th in PT-Dallas Juniors.The middle child, Justin, finished 1st in PT-Dallas Juniors, and Top 8 at PT-Chicago ‘98.The oldest, Brian, is writing this to you now, and grew up to become one of the R&D leads for Magic: the Gathering.My dad is well-known as a bit of a character & as someone who enjoyed attending events and kibitzing with players from around the globe.He also invested in Magic & Pokemon for the fun of it, to support & play his own part in our evolution through TCGs, and has always had an entrepreneurial spirit.Thanks dad! Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

Chris Galvin ran the first Midwest Regionals for Magic: the Gathering in 1996, and supported 1,300 players so well that when the time came, Wizards believed he’d be a good fit for their organized play department.Over time, Chris helped to support building out important regional events (such as Pro Tour Qualifiers) & the Junior Super Series — the kinds that couldn’t be supported by a normal game store — which led to a mature ecosystem of event operators working to support Magic: the Gathering events as a gateway to becoming a sport.Chris eventually graduated to oversee all of Organized Play (and later aspects of digital gaming at Wizards), and as you listen to him speak throughout this call, it isn’t difficult to see why — he’s warm, rational, thoughtful, and open-minded — and he loved games and has great empathy for those who play them.Chris went to The University of Chicago, but if you hear me say, “Go Bears” at some point during the call, it’s because he could’ve gone to Stanford.And anyway, it always applies.“Go Bears!”(Take that Greg Collins — who actually went to Stanford. Yeah!)Chris is a great storyteller with great stories to tell.Enjoy! Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

Wright Bagwell makes games. He also tinkers, mods, hacks, manifests, errs, shares, and designs.I met Wright at Zynga, where he spearheaded the Farmville 2 design, which went incredibly well (like, incredibly, well). Before that he led the Dead Space series, and before that he made Quake mods, which got him into the industry in the first place.After that, he co-founded Outpost Games as its CEO, logged ample time at Google and Luda working on AI-native gaming, and most recently spearheaded design at Series Entertainment.Design can be exploratory, about discovery of what works, and the creative streams can cross and bob and weave and time or a sense of time can come and go.Wright lives at this vortex and leverages all he’s learned and all the toys and toolsets he can find to create new things to entertain and connect people. Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

Sometimes there’s a man…Pany Haritatos has wanted to make games since he wanted to do anything, and because of this impulse he’s made a ton of games — big, successful, ones — for Kongregate, Zynga, Snap, Series Entertainment and who knows where else.Given Pany’s bent, his games could be anywhere.(And I mean anywhere.)Pany’s learned an inordinate amount about how to run teams and build successful businesses, shifting from builder to operator to CEO — he’s one of the best I’ve worked with in the digital space. Incredibly sharp cat.Really fun to catch up, to talk dad life & to consider what the future holds for each of us, and what we’ve learned from our adventures along the way.Namaste. Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe