Roll, Ponder, and Play - Dramatized Solo Roleplay

About Roll, Ponder, and Play - Dramatized Solo Roleplay

Welcome to Roll, Ponder, and Play (RPnP), a podcast dedicated to crafting stories through the application of role-playing game engines, combined with creative thinking, and propelled into the aether by the barest of prompts. I take on all the roles of game master, solo player, author, and narrator. Come with me on a journey, and together let us explore realms of shadow, danger, and wonder! One roll can decide the fate of many things… Roll, Ponder, and Play podcast blends immersive story telling with ambient sounds and music into a compelling audio drama. I use role-playing game (RPG) systems to both propel the plot forward and to handle conflict mechanics. Out-of-character (OOC) moments pull back the curtain, revealing die results, insights into game mechanics, character decisions, and on-the-fly world building. Praise for 'Queen of Shadows' on Roll, Ponder, and Play: "I'm on episode 17, and already dreading the end of Queen of Shadows. I just wanted to thank you for your efforts putting together such a fantastic story and production. This is easily one of the best RPG podcasts I've heard. Better, in many ways, than Me, Myself & Die. Every bit as enjoyable as The Bad Spot. Story, voices, music, editing--all of it is top-notch. As an audio production professional myself, I appreciate your attention to mix, overall level, balance, etc. Keep up the good work!" - Loren Alldrin "After I saw your email I started listening to Queen of shadows right away. And I am hooked. I love the way you tell your stories. Your language is dark, rich, and poetic in a way I wish I could match. And your voice! I envy your pipes. I definitely hope I will see you on the SRN discord! In the meantime, I will be binging your show!"  -Brian from "Swords Against Madness" and "Trans-Real News" "I'm working through Queen of Shadows quickly and really liking what you bring to the table!", "...and if I haven't said it before, you've got a hell of a voice." -Jon Cohen from "Tale of the Manticore" "This is great! Very professional, nice pacing, and you have a knack for storytelling." -aleksrs in Ironsworn discord, 'creator-promos' channel, 'Queen of Shadows (Podcast)' thread Current Shows: Queen of Shadows (Ironsworn) - (Currently available with new episodes dropping weekly!) In the dark and unforgiving Ironlands, Eilwen--huntress of Frostbridge--struggles to reclaim her lost heritage and uncover the mystery of her mother’s past. Her journey of self-discovery will test even the strongest of bonds. Genre: Dark Fantasy RPG: Ironsworn Content Rating: PG-13 for violence, dark thematic elements, and some minor language. Flight of the Oracle (OneDice) - (Additional episodes available on my Patreon) At the edge of known space, the UASN Oracle, a military destroyer turned science vessel, begins a survey mission in an unexplored star system. In the face of a dire threat to all of humanity, Ardelle Leath, a junior officer, on board the Oracle, will struggle to overcome her past and fulfill her duty to the United Alliance Space Navy (UASN) as leadership is thrust upon her. Genre: Military Sci Fi RPG: OneDice Content Rating: PG-13 for action violence, gore, and some minor language. Shadow of the Demon (D&D 5e) - In the kingdom of Craewan, the heroes take on a lucrative job for the crown, one that will take them on a long journey far to the south and likely to embroil them in kingdom politics. Genre: Fantasy RPG: D&D 5e Content Rating: PG-13 for violence, innuendo, and thematic elements, and some minor language. For detailed information about the content rating for my shows, see my About page at https://www.patreon.com/rollponderandplay/about (https://www.patreon.com/rollponderandplay/about) Sibling Channel: I also have a sibling podcast channel centered around sharing the truth, light, and love of Jesus Christ called Pray, Ponder, and Search (https://prayponderandsearch.podbean.com/). Ways to Show Support: * Join my Patreon for free at https://patreon.com/rollponderandplay (https://patreon.com/rollponderandplay), or join as a paid subscriber and get additional content * Give the show a positive review * Share the show with others * Reach out to me and say hello Websites: https://patreon.com/rollponderandplay (https://patreon.com/rollponderandplay) https://rollponderandplay.podbean.com/ (https://rollponderandplay.podbean.com/) Attributions: Podcast Logo by Alanna Gifford

Publisher

Roll, Ponder, and Play (Jared Hess)

Category

fiction

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

11 Jul 2025

Latest episode

20 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

53 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   20 Oct 2026

   Queen of Shadows - Episode 39

   Previously: In our previous episode, the next day, Scratch is once more nowhere to be seen. Eilwen tries to hunt for food but breaks her bow. She and Aron continue their journey through the mountain pass, but both Aron and Eilwen to are nearly slain as they encounter the fierce dangers of the wilderness. First, they face a fearsome storm with lightning strikes that send their mounts in an uncontrollable frenzy of fear. Eilwen is thrown from her horse and wounded when her gelding races uncontrolled to leap over a fallen tree, earning her head and thigh wounds when it doesn’t clear the tree and they instead smash into it. The horse is mortally wounded, gored by a thick branch and one foreleg a ruined mess from a compound fracture. Eilwen puts her mount out of his misery. Eilwen then finds Aron tangled in his horse’s reins, unconscious. He had been dragged across rough terrain, earning scrapes and gashes. The twins are wounded, but neither seriously at this point. But then their luck takes a turn for the worse. In this dismal state, they face their next threat, a huge boar, larger than usual, has been driven into a maddened rage from the lighting and the smell of blood, and it attacks the pair. EIlwen fights it alone, desperately trying to keep it off Aron. After some time, Aron eventually regains consciousness and joins her in the fight and together they slay the boar, but in the process, Aron is gored and tossed into the air, falling motionless upon the sodden meadowed earth. Websites: https://rollponderandplay.podbean.com/ https://patreon.com/rollponderandplay www.youtube.com/@RollPonderAndPlay https://discord.com/invite/dfKTkJHKem Ways to Show Support: Join my patreon for free at https://patreon.com/rollponderandplay or as a paid subscriber and get additional content Give the show a positive review Share the show with others Reach out to me and say hello Attributions: - 'The Long Dark' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) released under CC-BY 4.0. - 'Emergent' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) released under CC-BY 4.0. - 'The Weight of Air - Katabasis I' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) released under CC-BY 4.0. - Various tracks by Tabletop Audio ( https://tabletopaudio.com) - released under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. Minor modifications (fading/splitting) made to support this podcast format with written permission from the creator. - Jaques - Andreas-Woll-Music (Pixabay.com) - Sound Effects from Pixabay (Pixabay.com).

2. 

   7 Oct 2026

   Queen of Shadows - Episode 38

   Previously: In our previous episode, Eilwen and Aron leave Highcrag. Scratch is nowhere to be seen, and they travel across the grassy plains northwest of Highcrag and into a mountain pass on the trail of Delos, the Iron priest. At night, as they are resting their mounts and setting up camp, Scratch lands abruptly in their midst, scaring away one of their horses with a pack laden with rations and supplies. They argue about Scratch. After Aron and Scratch have had a chance to calm, under starlight, overlooking the shimmering distant waves of grasses, Aron and Eilwen share a memory from their childhood. Websites: https://rollponderandplay.podbean.com/ https://patreon.com/rollponderandplay www.youtube.com/@RollPonderAndPlay https://discord.com/invite/dfKTkJHKem Ways to Show Support: Join my patreon for free at https://patreon.com/rollponderandplay or as a paid subscriber and get additional content Give the show a positive review Share the show with others Reach out to me and say hello Attributions: - 'The Long Dark' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) released under CC-BY 4.0. - 'Emergent' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) released under CC-BY 4.0. - 'Goliath' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) released under CC-BY 4.0. - 'Juggernaut' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) released under CC-BY 4.0. - 'Simulacra' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) released under CC-BY 4.0. - Various tracks by Tabletop Audio ( https://tabletopaudio.com) - released under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. Minor modifications (fading/splitting) made to support this podcast format with written permission from the creator. - Jaques - Andreas-Woll-Music (Pixabay.com) - Sound Effects from Pixabay (Pixabay.com). - Sound Effects from Zapsplat (Zapsplat.com).

3. 

   19 Sept 2026

   Queen of Shadows - Episode 37

   Previously: In our previous episode. Eilwen, Aron, and the young wyvern, Scratch, arrive in a huge grassy meadowed steppe, shaped into a large shallow bowl, and there above the waves of grasses, they catch their first glimpses of Highcrag. The settlement is built atop a large and flat outcropping of rock which juts out to the east from one of the mountains that rises above it, keeping Highcrag in perpetual shadow every afternoon. Scratch remains atop a hill at the bowl’s lip, practicing his newfound skill of flight in the eastward wind that ripples across the sea of grass, while Aron and Eilwen atop their new mounts ride to the top of several switchbacks and across a narrow saddle to make entrance into the settlement proper. They find that the heavy wooden gate is destroyed--and from the pattern of the littered stone and debris, they determine that an unknown assailant had burst it asunder--from the inside. They investigate the settlement but find it abandoned. Delos, the Iron Priest, is not there. Also, they find no bodies, living or dead in Highgrag. However, near the settlement’s center they see more signs of damage done to the homes, similar to what happened near the gate. In one of these two story buildings, they find a room with a broken table and shattered chairs and a pile of scattered parchments and clear signs of struggle and bloodletting. While Eilwen searches the parchments, Aron leaves to investigate the rest of the building. He finds a strange device made of a flat iron disk with a hole in its center surrounded by a graceful script and brings it back to Eilwen, but neither he nor Eilwen can decipher the meaning, but they do  determine that it bears remarkable similarities to the script and artistry they saw in the subterranean mountain bastion of elven make that had fallen to shadow and ruin--in Grimstone. Eilwen shares with Aron what she has learned from her study of the parchments--that they are in fact the scattered ravings of Delos himself, the very person they seek. Therein, Delos reveals that he had an encounter with a sacred iron pillar, and that he now serves some higher power or entity, though he gives neither name nor description. But he does reveal that one goal of his servitude is to bring back a cherished loved one who has passed beyond the veil of mortal existence, and he states that if he is successful, it would usher in a golden age where death itself becomes meaningless. Aron thinks him mad and surmises that the being of power he serves could be one of the Heralds of Night, though how one of those could have come across the great expanse of waters to these shores is unknown to him. Eilwen keeps her own counsel on that score, having seen in vision, through the sapphire-studded amulet, much about the Herald, Nar Shiv, that she has not told her brother or Seith. They decide that the only way to know more is to find Delos, and the one clue they have is his mention of the iron pillar. Eilwen searches some more and finds a crude map of the surrounding mountains and vales and a clear indication of the location of the iron pillar a short journey away to the north west. And what is more, above the pillar in Delos’s hand is drawn the skaed rune. The very one Eilwen uses to call the shadows to her. Websites: https://rollponderandplay.podbean.com/ https://patreon.com/rollponderandplay www.youtube.com/@RollPonderAndPlay https://discord.com/invite/dfKTkJHKem Ways to Show Support: Join my patreon for free at https://patreon.com/rollponderandplay or as a paid subscriber and get additional content Give the show a positive review Share the show with others Reach out to me and say hello Attributions: - 'The Long Dark' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) released under CC-BY 4.0. - 'Emergent' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) released under CC-BY 4.0. - 'Meanwhile' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) released under CC-BY 4.0. - Various tracks by Tabletop Audio ( https://tabl

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Contact Roll, Ponder, and Play - Dramatized Solo Roleplay

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.