The Worldbuilding Workshop: Companion Podcast

Trent Hergenrader & Stephen Slota · theworldbuildingworkshop.com

The official companion podcast for The Worldbuilding Workshop: Teaching Critical Thinking and Empathy Through World Modeling, Simulation, and Play , hosted by co-authors Trent Hergenrader and Stephen Slota. The duo conducts a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of the book; outlines their thinking about each chapter's contents; describes ideas that were left on the cutting room floor; and explores how the worldbuilding framework can fit all kinds of teaching and learning environments.

41 episodes

12d ago latest

weekly cadence

English language

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Episodes 42

EPISODE 40: INDIGENOUS FUTURISM WITH WENDI SIERRA
5d ago · 1:26:56
Episode 40: Indigenous Futurism with Wendi Sierra | 25 August 2026 Stephen and Trent interview their friend, colleague, and worldbuilding case-study contributor, Dr. Wendi Sierra. The trio discusses how Wendi’s (2020) game, A Strong Fire, integrates Oneida language and cultural traditions to preserve and teach, as well as: Wendi’s scholarly work at the intersection of literature, digital rhetoric, game development, and Indigenous studies; Contrasting corporate-driven transmedia production with community-driven transmedia prosumerism; Rethinking authorship as inherently collaborative rather tha
EPISODE 39: MATERIALITY MATTERS
12d ago · 1:13:27
Episode 39: Materiality Matters | 18 August 2026 Stephen and Trent debate whether digitizing artifacts (particularly in service of training large language models) justifies the loss of their physical forms. They weigh philosophical and practical concerns, sociocultural consequences, and the value of personal qualitative experience, including: The rise in genAI companies purchasing and shredding rare, antique books; McLuhan’s contention that the medium is the message; Vinyl records, tactile imperfections, and the resurgence of analog media; Bearing the cultural cost of destroying original works
EPISODE 38: UNBUILDING A REALITY
19d ago · 1:15:37
Episode 38: Unbuilding A Reality | 11 August 2026 In the much-anticipated sequel to their conversation about mis- and disinformation (Episode 33: Building An Unreality), Stephen and Trent examine the complex structure of our modern information ecosystem and how different people, organizations, and institutions are incentivized to create and propagate divergent narratives about the world. The duo interrogates media saturation, ubiquitous “infotainment,” and the intense competition for our attention, as well as: Whether democracy can survive in a media environment flooded with bad information; H
EPISODE 37: WORLDBUILDING FOR STEM
26d ago · 1:05:11
Episode 37: Worldbuilding for STEM | 4 August 2026 Stephen and Trent detail the unique opportunities and challenges of worldbuilding in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classrooms. In addition to discussing how world narratives situate both technical and sociocultural knowledge, the duo goes deep on: Integrating rote learning into richly authentic role-play; Applying STEM theories, formulae, and other concepts to “messy” real-world dilemmas; Using a dual alternate-reality role-playing framework to teach life science and other STEM subjects; Nesting learning objectives w
EPISODE 36: RECOMMENDED READING
1mo ago · 1:09:49
Episode 36: Recommended Reading | 28 July 2026 Stephen and Trent retrace the books, articles, and other thought-provoking media that have most inspired their scholarly work. Along with specific resources to help listeners chart their own worldbuilding journeys, the duo gets into: The transformative influence of James Paul Gee’s (2003) What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy; Causes and consequences of university faculty lacking formal pedagogical training; Recognizing learner potential and providing opportunities for actualization; Connecting the dots between biology, phi
EPISODE 35: ENVIRONMENTAL AND EMERGENT STORYTELLING
1mo ago · 1:03:39
Episode 35: Environmental and Emergent Storytelling | 21 July 2026 Stephen and Trent assess the intersection of environmental and emergent storytelling practices in physical and digital realms. Beyond discussing how meticulously designed games like Dark Souls and historical cities like Madrid communicate complex narratives through geography and artifacts, the duo examines: Narrative architecture as understood and applied in the theme park industry; Saturating environments with genre conventions to immerse audiences in alternate realities; How narratives arise from unique player decisions and t
EPISODE 34: ROME WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY WITH KEVIN BALLESTRINI
1mo ago · 1:18:30
Episode 34: Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day with Kevin Ballestrini | 14 July 2026 Stephen and Trent interview award-winning Latin and classical history educator Kevin Ballestrini. The trio discusses development and implementation of the text-based alternate reality role-playing game Operation LAPIS, as well as: Challenges of adapting entertainment-oriented games for educational purposes; Aiming for a “one-to-one” game objective-to-learning objective ratio; Similarities and differences between Operation LAPIS and Reacting to the Past; Leveraging player agency to transfer in-game learning to out-of-g
EPISODE 33: BUILDING AN UNREALITY
1mo ago · 1:11:57
Episode 33: Building An Unreality | 7 July 2026 Stephen and Trent contemplate the spread of “unrealities” fueled by algorithmically charged mis- and disinformation. The duo debates underlying political, economic, social, and cultural factors, including: “Alternative facts,” personal mythmaking, and consequent threats to social cohesion; Mis- and disinformation from sociological, philosophical, and communications perspectives; How flawed trust hierarchies and lazy heuristics accelerate the death of expertise; Murc’s Law, Wilhoit’s Law, and the distortion of political agency; Hypercapitalism as
EPISODE 32: THE UNITED STATES OF WORLDBUILDING
2mo ago · 1:11:38
Episode 32: The United States of Worldbuilding | 30 June 2026 Stephen and Trent apply their worldbuilding framework to the United States of America in the lead-up to the country’s semiquincentennial celebration. Beyond mapping its trajectory through space and time, providing relevant context, and deconstructing how and why national identities form, they discuss: Lisa Simpson, America’s optimistic ideals, and combating the “fetid stench of corruption"; Tracing the collapse of feudalism into the Enlightenment and evolution of nation-states; Interrelationships between distinct regional cultures a
EPISODE 31: THE INEVITABILITY OF EPIC FAIL
2mo ago · 1:15:38
Episode 31: The Inevitability of Epic Fail | 23 June 2026 Stephen and Trent review the (2017) Exploding the Castle book chapter “The Inevitability of Epic Fail” and discuss its implications for collaborative worldbuilding, including: Three major trajectories of Epic Fail: Fatal Mutation Due to Assimilation, Loss of Fidelity, and Failure to Thrive; How educator-generated changes to research-driven technologies/pedagogies put function and effectiveness at risk; Combatting the urge to rush through worldbuilding to meet results-oriented expectations; The importance of collaboratively defined langu
EPISODE 30: CO-CREATION THROUGH TABLETOP ROLE-PLAY
2mo ago · 1:11:40
Episode 30: Co-Creation Through Tabletop Role-Play | 16 June 2026 Stephen and Trent discuss their experiences with tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) to catalog affordances for collaboration, reflection, and creative writing, including: Similarities and differences between digital and analog role-play; The inherent limitations of computer programming versus imagination; How “Satanic Panic” influenced sociocultural and political perceptions of role-play; Role-play as a vital tool for exerting autonomy; Vygotsky’s social constructivist framework for enculturation through play; TTRPGs as “safe
EPISODE 29: GEN AI IN EDUCATION WITH MICHAEL YOUNG
2mo ago · 1:10:31
EPISODE 28: EXPLORING WORLDS THROUGH DIGITAL ROLE-PLAY
2mo ago · 1:10:56
Episode 28: Exploring Worlds Through Digital Role-Play | 2 June 2026 Stephen and Trent reflect on their personal favorite digital role-playing games (RPGs), deconstructing various frameworks, implementations, and affordances of linear and open-world experiences. In addition to introducing specific examples, they discuss broad concepts such as: The fundamentally situated relationship between players and digital RPGs; Digital RPGs as sophisticated representations of interactive narrative and creative writing; Fallout 3, education through The Wasteland, and what it means to fail forward; Designin
EPISODE 27: RECOMPOSITIONAL STORYTELLING WITH ROGER TRAVIS
3mo ago · 1:05:31
Episode 27: Recompositional Storytelling with Roger Travis | 26 May 2026 Stephen and Trent interview their great friend and classics scholar, Dr. Roger Travis, whose forthcoming book from McFarland proposes a theory of recompositional storytelling in ancient epics and cooperative adventure card games. The trio discusses: Halo 2, The Aeneid, and reflections on Cultural Truth Value; Homeric bards as gamer-designers who leveraged an available technology (dactylic hexameter) to recompose myths; The repetitive “formulas” of ancient epics and their relation to modern cooperative adventure card games
EPISODE 26: ACCESSIBILITY
3mo ago · 1:10:22
Episode 26: Accessibility | 19 May 2026 Stephen and Trent discuss the ins and outs of accessibility as relates to worldbuilding, design practices, and the broader educational ecosystem, including: Biomedical vs. social models of disability; Framing disability and accessibility in terms of environments rather than people; Yanni vs. Laurel, “The Dress,” and subjective perception; The inseparability of language and context; Situated cognition and how each of us “talks” to the world; The Spoon Theory of Disability; The “Roy Rogers” Model of toggleable accessibility options; Why and how to incorpor
EPISODE 25: [WORLD ANVIL INTERVIEW] HOPEFUL SPECULATIVE FICTION
3mo ago · 1:26:26
Episode 25: [World Anvil Interview] Hopeful Speculative Fiction | 12 May 2026 Speculative fiction often serves as a warning, but in darker times, it can help imagine the way to brighter days. In this episode, World Anvil’s Janet Forbes interviews Trent and Stephen about writing hopeful (but evidence-based!) speculative fiction. The trio discusses The Worldbuilding Workshop and how worldbuilding methodology can help untangle and demystify large contemporary social problems.
EPISODE 24: STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL
3mo ago · 1:06:51
Episode 24: Star Wars Holiday Special | 5 May 2026 In honor of May the Fourth and Revenge of the Fifth, Trent and Stephen express their love of (and occasional frustration with) the biggest and best example of transmedia storytelling on earth: STAR WARS. Join the duo as they discuss the fabled franchise’s five decades of social, cultural, and economic ascendance, including: A brief history of the Star Wars transmedia storyworld; The crisscrossing relationship(s) between diverse Star Wars stories; Star Wars as a model for future multi-modal artists; Recursive storytelling; How Star Wars fostere
EPISODE 23: WORLDBUILDING WALKTHROUGH - PART III
4mo ago · 1:10:54
Episode 23: Worldbuilding Walkthrough - Part III | 28 April 2026 In this three-episode series, Stephen and Trent walk the walk by collaboratively constructing a storyworld using The Worldbuilding Workshop card deck and design process! Parts I and II featured animated conversation about a burgeoning gothic horror boomtown and its underlying Governmental, Economic, Social, and Cultural systems; the range of potential interactions between its fourteen substructural categories; and the scope, sequence, breadth, depth, and genre elements that would provide a maximally delectable worldbuild-y flavor
EPISODE 22: WORLDBUILDING WALKTHROUGH - PART II
4mo ago · 1:05:04
Episode 22: Worldbuilding Walkthrough - Part II | 21 April 2026 In this three-episode series, Stephen and Trent walk the walk by collaboratively constructing a storyworld using The Worldbuilding Workshop card deck and design process! In Part I, the duo assigned numerical values to each of their new world’s Governmental, Economic, Social, and Cultural substructures. Now, in Part II, they debate genre, theme, scope, and sequence, developing a “40,000-foot view” of the world’s Places, Things, and Events. This will prepare them to interrogate emergent social forces and generate a diverse populatio
EPISODE 21: WORLDBUILDING WALKTHROUGH - PART I
4mo ago · 1:05:01
Episode 21: Worldbuilding Walkthrough - Part I | 14 April 2026 In this three-episode series, Stephen and Trent walk the walk by collaboratively constructing a storyworld using The Worldbuilding Workshop card deck and design process! Part I features a brief recap of the 14-substructure worldbuilding framework, examples of how different substructures are expressed in different popular media, and a step-by-step assignment of numerical values to a “from scratch” world. Then, the duo interprets, scaffolds, and contextualizes their world’s substructural values in advance of Part II (determining genr
EPISODE 20: TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING
4mo ago · 1:06:52
Episode 20: Transmedia Storytelling | 7 April 2026 Stephen and Trent achieve escape velocity to soar beyond The Worldbuilding Workshop’s pages! In this episode, the dynamic duo digs into the distinct (but critical!) topic of transmedia storytelling, including: Similarities and differences between fictional and nonfictional storyworlds; Remediation as a means of reaching into the past and carrying familiarity into the future; Strategic application of diverse media to emphasize diverse themes across diverse slices of a world’s scope and sequence; Storytelling as a biological imperative for meani
EPISODE 19: INTERVIEW WITH BRYAN ALEXANDER
5mo ago · 1:05:15
Episode 19: Interview with Bryan Alexander | 31 March 2026 Stephen and Trent interview their colleague, friend, and author of The Worldbuilding Workshop’s foreword, Dr. Bryan Alexander. The trio discusses: The poly-crisis engulfing higher education, the United States, and the broader world; How financial stress, declining enrollment, and political pressures have put universities in a “defensive crouch”; Why universities should encourage graduate students/future faculty to study contemporary pedagogy within their respective domains; Institutional constraints and their effects on “bottom-up” inn
EPISODE 18: EPILOGUE - NOTES FROM THE END OF THE WORLD
5mo ago · 1:14:15
Episode 18: Epilogue - Notes From the End of the World | 24 March 2026 Stephen and Trent embrace their inner Waldorf and Statler to entertainingly grouse about higher education in The Worldbuilding Workshop’s epilogue, “Notes From the End of the World,” including: Six contentions about academia that explain why and how universities are failing; The toxic, cyclical relationship between universities and corporations; How to escape the profit-minded career preparation ouroboros; Orienting education toward creativity and open-ended problem solving rather than task performance; The problem(s) with
EPISODE 17: WRAP-UP AND CRITICAL REFLECTION
5mo ago · 58:29
Episode 17: Wrap-Up and Critical Reflection | 17 March 2026 Stephen and Trent debrief on the debriefing process in The Worldbuilding Workshop’s fifteenth chapter, “Wrap-Up and Critical Reflection,” including: A bookended critical reflection strategy (opening the worldbuilding activity with a discussion about target goals and closing with a debrief about whether and how those goals were fulfilled); Encouraging learners to critically reflect on both individual and group experiences; Why it’s worth writing down and discussing learner observations as a large group; Differences between instructor a
[BONUS] FUTURE TRENDS FORUM: WORLDBUILDING Q&A
5mo ago · 1:01:25
[BONUS] Future Trends Forum: Worldbuilding Q&A | 5 March 2026 On Thursday, March 5, 2026, the Future Trends Forum returned to the topic of creative teaching. Host Bryan Alexander spoke with two experts on the topic: Rochester Institute of Technology associate professor Trent Hergenrader and Dr. Stephen Slota, authors of the new book The Worldbuilding Workshop: Teaching Critical Thinking and Empathy Through World Modeling, Simulation, and Play (MIT Press). In addition to addressing Bryan’s questions, Trent and Stephen responded to audience inquiries about pedagogical practices, artifacts, suppo

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The Worldbuilding Workshop: Companion Podcast

Episodes 42

EPISODE 40: INDIGENOUS FUTURISM WITH WENDI SIERRA

EPISODE 39: MATERIALITY MATTERS

EPISODE 38: UNBUILDING A REALITY

EPISODE 37: WORLDBUILDING FOR STEM

EPISODE 36: RECOMMENDED READING

EPISODE 35: ENVIRONMENTAL AND EMERGENT STORYTELLING

EPISODE 34: ROME WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY WITH KEVIN BALLESTRINI

EPISODE 33: BUILDING AN UNREALITY

EPISODE 32: THE UNITED STATES OF WORLDBUILDING

EPISODE 31: THE INEVITABILITY OF EPIC FAIL

EPISODE 30: CO-CREATION THROUGH TABLETOP ROLE-PLAY

EPISODE 29: GEN AI IN EDUCATION WITH MICHAEL YOUNG

EPISODE 28: EXPLORING WORLDS THROUGH DIGITAL ROLE-PLAY

EPISODE 27: RECOMPOSITIONAL STORYTELLING WITH ROGER TRAVIS

EPISODE 26: ACCESSIBILITY

EPISODE 25: [WORLD ANVIL INTERVIEW] HOPEFUL SPECULATIVE FICTION

EPISODE 24: STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL

EPISODE 23: WORLDBUILDING WALKTHROUGH - PART III

EPISODE 22: WORLDBUILDING WALKTHROUGH - PART II

EPISODE 21: WORLDBUILDING WALKTHROUGH - PART I

EPISODE 20: TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING

EPISODE 19: INTERVIEW WITH BRYAN ALEXANDER

EPISODE 18: EPILOGUE - NOTES FROM THE END OF THE WORLD

EPISODE 17: WRAP-UP AND CRITICAL REFLECTION

[BONUS] FUTURE TRENDS FORUM: WORLDBUILDING Q&A

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Episodes 42

EPISODE 40: INDIGENOUS FUTURISM WITH WENDI SIERRA

EPISODE 39: MATERIALITY MATTERS

EPISODE 38: UNBUILDING A REALITY

EPISODE 37: WORLDBUILDING FOR STEM

EPISODE 36: RECOMMENDED READING

EPISODE 35: ENVIRONMENTAL AND EMERGENT STORYTELLING

EPISODE 34: ROME WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY WITH KEVIN BALLESTRINI

EPISODE 33: BUILDING AN UNREALITY

EPISODE 32: THE UNITED STATES OF WORLDBUILDING

EPISODE 31: THE INEVITABILITY OF EPIC FAIL

EPISODE 30: CO-CREATION THROUGH TABLETOP ROLE-PLAY

EPISODE 29: GEN AI IN EDUCATION WITH MICHAEL YOUNG

EPISODE 28: EXPLORING WORLDS THROUGH DIGITAL ROLE-PLAY

EPISODE 27: RECOMPOSITIONAL STORYTELLING WITH ROGER TRAVIS

EPISODE 26: ACCESSIBILITY

EPISODE 25: [WORLD ANVIL INTERVIEW] HOPEFUL SPECULATIVE FICTION

EPISODE 24: STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL

EPISODE 23: WORLDBUILDING WALKTHROUGH - PART III

EPISODE 22: WORLDBUILDING WALKTHROUGH - PART II

EPISODE 21: WORLDBUILDING WALKTHROUGH - PART I

EPISODE 20: TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING

EPISODE 19: INTERVIEW WITH BRYAN ALEXANDER

EPISODE 18: EPILOGUE - NOTES FROM THE END OF THE WORLD

EPISODE 17: WRAP-UP AND CRITICAL REFLECTION

[BONUS] FUTURE TRENDS FORUM: WORLDBUILDING Q&A