An Interview with the Creators of the REDEMPTION HQ Podcast

Hello! Today, I am very excited to be interviewing the four Everyday Horsemen of the zombie apocalypse (see reference below)—Harlan Reaver, Brobarian, Robert_D, and Spectral Force—about their podcast, REDEMPTION HQ. I love fan-generated content, and if you love TTRPGs in general, Everday Heroes in particular, and talking about a wide range of games, movies, TV shows, comics, bald-faced references to Eric Roberts, and other nerdilicious subjects, you’re going to love this show. This interview is longer than usual because I am interviewing four people instead of one person, and because, well, you’ll see that they have a lot to say…  

Thank you all for joining me on the Evil Genius Games blog interviews—I’m looking forward to this! Before we get started talking about REDEMPTION HQ, Give us a quick and dirty one-liner intro. 

[HR]: Well, I’m a born and bred Virginia native, growing up in the intersection of punk and fantasy and TTRPGs.

[Bro] I’m just a guy who likes books, metal music, and big booby goth girls like every other Ohioan man.

Okay, maybe I should have rephrased my question…

[RD]: I’m a military brat who’s been playing D&D and similar games since the early 1990s. 

​[Spec] In Northwest Philadelphia born and raised, at the gaming table is where I spent most of my days.

Brobarian

Now, I’ve noticed that, when they meet, TTRPG players are kind of like Homeric heroes, who identify who they are by reciting their genealogy, only it is the genealogy of games that they have played. So, without going through the whole family tree, what’s your background leading up to your involvement with Everyday Heroes? 

[RD] I remember playing a d20 Modern style game with friends and loving it in college. 

[HR] I discovered TTRPGs through D&D 3.5 in the early 2000s. I had already been in love with RA Salvatore and Ed Greenwood books and the original Baldur’s Gate game, so it was a natural progression to gaming. It wasn’t until years later that I craved games outside the fantasy setting and began inhaling every system I discovered—WAY too many to list here.

That’s interesting, because wanting to move beyond a fantasy setting is a common theme in the interviews that Dave has been doing with customers and fans. What’s your story, Spec?

[Spec] Every journey starts with a single step, mine included.  It was a warm summer day back in 1991…

Okay, I feel an epic coming on…

[Spec] Yeah, my friend’s older cousin had us gather on his friend’s porch on the street I grew up on.  He asked if I wanted to play a game. 

I knew it! Here we have the appropriately-titled “Call to Adventure.”  

[Spec] Uh-huh. I was 12 at the time and said, “Sure—why the heck not?”  I was handed a wizard, and told that you learn as you go.  What I remember most is an encounter with an ogre that was casting magic missiles and hurling some darts.  After that day I was hooked like a junkie seeking their next fix. 

You got the bug alright. How ‘bout you, Brobarian?

[Bro] I’ve been playing role playing games for a couple decades, but I grew up on comic books and action movies. Back in 2000, my friends introduced me to D20 Modern. It’s the one game I’ve played the most and I can’t understate the profound effect D20 Modern had on me. 

How so? 

[Bro] The game inspired me to pursue Community Emergency Response Team training (C.E.R.T. for short) as well as a State Tested Nursing Assistant license. While my friends played the gunslingers and soldiers, my role was to patch them up. Always. Always the cleric. Hahaha. But it stuck with me. I left the STNA gig after taking care of my grandpa on his deathbed. Every day was a test of fortitude and will when you are that close to the patient. 

Wow. I know that can be really rough—a truly heroic endeavor—but it’s also a great honor and loving thing to do for someone in your own family. It goes to show just how influential and formative games can be. So, when did Everyday Heroes come into the picture? 

[Bro] So, when my friend Kenny told me about Everyday Heroes being the spiritual successor to D20 Modern, I had to get on board. And the moment I saw that The Crow was one of the adventures, I was beyond sold. Kong: Skull Island was the cherry on top for me. I was able to convince my friends to get it because of Pacific Rim and Highlander.

[RD] I saw the ad on Facebook for the Everyday Heroes kickstarter and immediately joined in!  As I got the books and adventures, this game was so awesome that it led me to volunteer to run some Everday Heroes games at Origins and GenCon in 2023.  These were the first times I had ever been to gaming conventions, and everyone was so nice and welcoming!   

That’s really good to hear! Meeting our players and GMs in person is one of the best things about conventions. How about you, Spec?

[Spec] Well, if you fast-forward through the years and the many various RPGs, including Vampire the Masquerade/Darkages, Shadowrun, Legacy, and a plethora of others, those led me to a kickstarter called Everyday Heroes.  I was on the fence because I had already played and bought so many other games, but then I saw that they were bringing Highlander to life. That was one of my favorite movies and TV shows growing up. So, I thought, “What the hell? Even if I never play it, I still should have something cool to read.”

Highlander is really cool. How about you, Harlan? 

[HR] I came to Everyday Heroes through Lee (Anderson) a couple years back. I met Lee through a D&D game he was running (He was also one of the few people I came across who was down to play Shadowrun at the time) and he brought up wanting to run some Everyday Heroes. I liked the idea of the system and I picked up the Core Rulebook.  I can’t remember the first game he ran, but I think the second was Scoobynatural (based on a Supernatural episode). 

Scoobynatural, huh? I’m doing the next interview with Lee about the many things thathe does, and I’ll have to ask him about that game. So, what kept you hooked? 

[HR] Everyday Heroes definitely opened up the door for running games outside of the fantasy setting because it was 5e compatible.  So many of the players that I run games for only have D&D 5e experience. But Everyday Heroes made it easy to bring a whole slew of settings and stories to them because it was familiar. Instead of throwing Savage Worlds, Shadowrun, or Call of Cthulu at them and asking them to learn a completely different system, I was able to get players out of the fantasy setting and try new things with a rule system that was easily digestible.

That’s also something we’re hearing in Dave’s interviews with GMs. So, how did you all get involved with E.G.O., then? 

[Spec] I used to be a DM for D&D’s Adventure League and GM Shadowrun missions.  Without ever playing a session I decided to join the E.G.O. program.  I read the rules and it sounded fun and I like bringing fun to people at the table.  I joined Discord, got to talk to the Devs and Dave directly and saw how passionate everyone was about this game—I just felt the need to be a part of it. I hit the ground running and never looked back.

And you’ve been running hard on Dispatch—I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. How ‘bout the rest of you?

[HR] I got into the E.G.O program right at its roll-out. I was never an organized play guy up till then: I never got into Adventurer’s League, and when I wanted to jump into Starfinder Society, it was so deep in that I felt so far behind.  I didn’t know a ton of people playing Starfinder, and frankly no one in my groups wanted to learn. So, E.G.O was an opportunity to get involved on the ground floor of an organized play program for a game that I enjoy and is easy to bring to people with a limited background in TTRPGs.

That’s good to hear, because that is one of the purposes of the E.G.O. program. What about you, Rob?

[Rob D] When E.G.O. started, I signed up, and at GenCon this year I ran a few E.G.O. adventures (and got to play a few too lol!).  My job situation and schedule is a bit complicated these days so I have not been able to run or play E.G.O. online or in person since GenCon 2024, but I’m hoping to jump in more once the work situation settles down a bit.

I’m hoping the same! But how did the idea for REDEMPTION HQ come about, and how did you all get involved?

[HR]: I think it was Brobarian that had the original idea to do a podcast based around Everyday Heroes and E.G.O. We all run games for E.G.O. and are involved in the playtesting. He put out the idea on the volunteers channel on Discord and it sounded like something fun. It landed on just being Brobarian, Robert, Spectral and me.  None of us knew each other or where the concept would go so we just set a meeting to shoot the shit and bat around ideas for what the pod should be.  In that first meeting we tossed around a ton of ideas and we were eager to get started so we decided to just jump right in with it.

[Bro] Yep, that was me. The idea stemmed from a previous show. I hosted Screaming Inertia, a horror comic podcast, and I was happy to promote Evil Genius Games on the show. The holiday special, Devil’s Night, focused on The Crow. Evil Genius shared the show on their socials. I learned Spotify is a bad platform to launch podcasts from that experience: I got 0 views on all the shows. But I appreciated Evil Genius Game’s support. So, I flipped the script and decided to start up a project talking about the games instead.  Anyway, I put out the call on Discord and I got some responses. These tree guys came out on top of the seven who applied. I don’t think I could have found a better group of co-hosts to pilot this ship.

I agree—you all have such great chemistry together!

[Spec]  I was hanging out on Discord and some random guy, Brobarian was like, “Hey, who would be interested in doing a podcast for Everyday Heroes?”  I raised my digital hand and said, “I want in.”  Brobarian invited us into a dark and seedy backgroom of his Discord, and we started talking about the podcast with the other two suckers…er…co-hosts.  I tossed out about a half dozen names and REDEMPTION HQ was the one that resonated the most, and…here we are!

[RD]: I was also on the Evil Genius Discord and read the message suggesting that a few folks could start a podcast.  I loved the class overviews on the Ron Talks Tabletop youtube channel and have been interested in making Youtube game videos for ages, so the idea sounded fun!  I asked if I could join in and it ended up being the bunch of us.  It’s been a blast sharing our excitement about the game’s character options and how much versatility and fun the game offers.  My co-hosts are top-notch fellas and I’m blessed to call them friends!  

That camaraderie and excitement really comes through in the podcast, and I think it illustrates the kinds of friendships that our hobby makes possible. So, did you have a kind of overarching concept or vision for the show? If you were to describe the overall purpose and vibe of the podcast, what would the pitch be like?

[Spec] Eric, you really bring the tough questions.  

Inquiring minds want to know. 

[Spec] My vision or purpose of the podcast is to encapture and instill the passion we have for Everyday Heroes in our audience.  Whether they are already playing the game or a friend is like, “Hey, I play this game, check out this podcast about it.” The four of us are passionate about this game and want to spread this passion like we’re patient zero and everyone else gets infected like the zombie apocalypse.  We like to keep the vibe jocular and friendly. 

So, a jocular and friendly spreading of the Everyday Zombie Apocalypse. What’s the pitch?  

[Spec] The Pitch…there’s four nerds and a game they love.  They spread this love twice a month out into the ether, trying to capture the interest of new players with the sole intention of bringing unadulterated fun to their gaming table.

[HR]: Yeah, it’s pretty simple in its concept:  four guys who love TTRPGs and have fun talking about them, with the show anchored in the game that we met through.  Every episode is rooted heavily in Everyday Heroes and E.G.O. stuff, but it’s all paralleled to other games, movies, TV shows, nonsense, and general rabbit hole-ery.  

It’s kind of like talk radio for people who love TTRPGs in general and Everyday Heroes in particular.

[HR] Yep. We want to share Everyday Heroes with the people who will enjoy it and the people who will enjoy it are like us: TTRPG players.

[RD]: When people talk about something they love, that energy really comes through.  We are a group of guys who love Everyday Heroes and the media that inspired it.  We’ve had a character creation walkthrough episode (which is such a fun part of a gaming experience!), and we’ve been going over the Archetypes and Classes.  It’s awesome to see how we each picture these hero options and all the ways we can or have used them in games!  Sharing experiences and encouraging others to give Everyday Heroes and E.G.O.’S REDEMPTION a try has been a blast!  We also have delightful tangents that have given me a lot of films and shows to add to my watchlist.

I’ll say—I can’t believe how many different movies, shows, games, comics, and more you four can range between, and all of you know what you’re talking about. 

[Bro] I’d also liken us to a morning radio show, like Bob and Tom or a non-sucky Howard Stern Show, only we focus on Everyday Heroes. Oh, and Eric Roberts, our cinematic patron saint. 

Oh no, we can’t forget Eric Roberts. I think you have managed to work him into every single podcast, and sometimes multiple times. 

[Bro] As for the purpose, it’s a show that focuses on players first. We want to entertain people, spark ideas, and hopefully get other players on to discuss the game. So, while we do look forward to doing interviews with creators, we want gamers to come on and talk about their adventuring glories.

So, that brings me around to my next question. Looking to the future, what kind of things will we see coming next for REDEMPTION HQ? 

[HR]: Currently, we have been running through the Archetypes and subclasses in the Core Rulebook and The Vault, which we really did to start with some direction.  I think next we are going to veer into the Cinematic Adventures and their source material. I think you will see a lot more of stuff like that. 

[RD]: In short term programming, we’ve had a blast with character creation and we are halfway through the Archetypes & Classes.  Before diving into Smart Heroes, we’re going to be diving into the films that inspired the Cinematic Adventures.   A good bit of our episodes have included us remembering films and shows that reflect the character concepts of the classes, so this feels like a pretty organic direction to take.  

[Spec]  We have a lot of material and ideas that we want to cover and it’s a matter of prioritizing.  In the short term, I just want to reach out and get more people on board with the podcast through our content of covering the classes and archetypes, as well as the movies on which the cinematic universes are based.  Let’s keep chugging out episodes and build up Everyday Heroes.  

Well, how about longer term? Where would you like REDEMPTION HQ to go?

[HR] We have a lot of plans: it’s just a matter of when we can get to all of them.  But, at its core, REDEMPTION HQ will always feature Everyday Heroes content and us shootin’ the shit about what we enjoy about it.

[Spec]  I want fortune and fame and everything that goes with it. I kid, though.  I mean, a little fame wouldn’t be so bad…having people know and want to talk to you at cons and stuff might be a little cool. I dream big, what can I say.

[BRO] Each of us has something we’d like to get from this experience. In the short term, it’s producing a show people can listen and laugh with. Love, laugh, and learn. I know all four of us are interested in producing materials for Everyday Heroes, too.

[HR] Right now, I’m working on writing up some radio play type stuff that will tell the story of the EGO seasons in a cohesive story so that players who are jumping in later can listen to how the narrative evolved. 

[RD] Long term, I’m hoping we can get our listeners excited to give the game and the community a try.  Getting folks, especially younger gamers out there, to engage in communication, creative thinking in solving game problems, and having good fun is worthwhile in my book.  

[Spec]  Longer term? I hope we can build up listeners to spread the word about Everyday Heroes.  Man, I sound like we’re in a cult don’t I? It’s just that the passion I have for this game is hard to control sometimes.  I’d like our show to be a successful endeavor for the four of us and the game itself.  

[Rob] I’m also hoping to join the grand tradition of youtubers who post their character builds of favorite movies or show characters using RPG mechanics, so there’s that too.  I’d also love to keep making homebrew settings and classes for Everyday Heroes, whether for personal use or sharing with friends, and I’m super excited about the radio drama Harlan is creating!

[Bro] In the long term, for me, it’s about getting a foot in the gaming industry and also about creating a legacy. I want players to come on the show and talk about their adventures because the everyday person deserves a microphone at least once.  Life is short, and I hope people are willing to take the stage even for a moment. People can put their voice out there and tell their story. I guess I also hope to impress upon younger gamers to not just play but be inspired by the games that they play. If our show can inspire younger players to become real life Everyday Heroes, then all of this is worth the labor.

Well, I can’t wait to hear what you all come up with. And neither should you, good readers! Go subscribe to the REDEMPTION HQ podcast—you’ll not only tune in to an entertaining and informative show, but you can help raise the profile of the podcast and of Everyday Heroes. And while you’re at it, come on and find out what the excitement is about and join us in REDEMPTION, the setting created especially for the Evil Genius Organized-Play (E.G.O.) program.

Until next time!