TGR 03.12.18. The Fantasy Role-Playing Renaissance

This week on The Gralien Report, we kick things off with the discussion of a rare substance from deep below the Earth which was recently found for the first time in a stable form above ground… trapped within a diamond. Also, a woman strolling along a West Australian beach recently discovered a nice looking vintage bottle, which contained what may be the oldest message in a bottle found in recent memory. Elsewhere, another discovery on a beach long ago has been revealed to have likely been the remains of Amelia Earhart.

Then shifting gears, we turn our attention toward a recent Washington Post op-ed by Christopher Mellon, in which he lambasts the Pentagon for not taking UFO reports seriously. To further emphasize the point, Mellon’s op-ed was accompanied by yet another UFO video captured by the US Navy using Raytheon’s AN/ASQ- 228 Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) Pod. Is this further evidence that Tom DeLonge and the To The Stars Academy are putting their money where their mouths are?

Then in hour two, we are joined by Micah’s brother Caleb Hanks and Wes Cordell, who host a new podcast together that chronicles their adventures through the realms of fantasy roleplaying. However, rather than a typical subject-oriented show, the program details the actual fantasy roleplaying sessions that Dungeon Master Wes produces for Caleb and the gang’s adventures. In fact, thanks to the popularity of podcasts in recent years, live-action role-playing has undergone a bit of a renaissance; we look at how this modern phenomenon occurred, as well as the many unusual parallels between the fantasy realms of games like Dungeons and Dragons, and subjects like UFOs, Forteana, and cryptozoology… all of this, and more on this week’s Gralien Report Podcast.