Shows
Thirty Minute Worlds’/x/games’In the most unhinged episode that the pod lads are capable of producing, ghosts grow tired of keeping up the "are they or aren't they real" charade, and have resoundingly told humanity: "We're real, and we can do sick stunts." Ghosts start doing gnarly, grindhouse stunts and pulling in reality TV deals left and right, but there's one monkey wrench in this plan: the Catholic Church, which is worried about this new spiritual trend.
How will the new spectral extreme sports industry handle the aims of the Vatican?
Prompts: Ghost. Spy. Extreme.
2022-05-0728 minThirty Minute Worlds’Bad News Bearers’In what will later be described as the chillest Walter-led world of all time, the Lads take you to the nation of Vargskyre, where long ago, the greatest king the country--High King Ksogga--took his own life after a year of terrible personal misfortune, plunging his empire into ruin. Now, Ksogga reigns as the God of Bad News, and the church of Vargskyre, to avert disaster, institutes a religious law that bad news can only be delivered on one day each year.
Prompts: Holiday. Delivery. Morning.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter...
2022-04-2431 minThirty Minute Worlds’Seagate’This relaxed two-person episode brings Chessman and Walter together, where they hatch a vision of a solar system where space is made up entirely of water. Strange gates between the worlds allow travel through space with wooden seafaring vessels, but why did the Sea Giants make these gates between worlds in the first place, and why are they killing those who traverse them? This setting has it all--a jellyfish sun, atmospheric collapse, and good old fashioned empire building gone wrong.
Prompts: none!
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at...
2022-04-1032 minThirty Minute Worlds’The Gaseous Collective’The Lads buckle down to make a serious sci-fi episode about gas tubes that store consciousness. Without Walter's science-dampening abilities, there's nobody there to harass Chessman about her stupid gravity explanations.
Prompts: Tubes, Gate, Sparkle,
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
Here's the link to our Discord: https://discord.gg/8qvuyTa3n2
2022-03-2733 minThirty Minute Worlds’Vox Ceracus’Fueled by black coffee and alien sighting conspiracy videos, Walter helms an episode that quickly veers into a radical future where humanity returns to a cherry tree-covered Earth, and is granted magical powers by an invisible entity called Vox, which claims it has been waiting for them to return home. But what is Vox? Why did we leave Earth in the first place? What's with all these goddamn cherry trees everywhere? Organic computers, mysterious religious rituals, and genetic betrayal highlight this standout episode. In other news: Daniel bravely comes out in opposition to cum-drinking, and Walter pitches an MLM...
2022-03-0638 minThirty Minute Worlds’Good Clean Fun’The masses have spoken, and they demand a wholesome, unobjectionable episode that they can listen to in the car while they're picking up their kids from their wives' boyfriends' houses. The boys try earnestly to pull this off.
In a pocket dimension of his own design, a brilliant wizard allows civilization to flourish by removing curse words from human development--ushering in the perfect society. But representatives from the Divine have found out about this, and they're not too keen on all this good, clean fun happening without their spiritual oversight. Prepare yourselves, listeners, for some low-stakes tension!
2022-02-2038 minThirty Minute Worlds’Legions of Stone’Chessman is banned from the show in a corporate move to make the podcast more relatable to mass audiences. To protest this, the lads do what they do best: crank out a mid-tier world using maybe ten percent of their available neural processing power.
In a highly industrialized island nation, special rock dwarf creatures are sung out of the stones belowground using ancient instruments, and conscripted into soldiery. Legislative intervention has changed all this, and the rock dwarfs must now live and labor with their former oppressors, and find meaning in a changing world.
Prompts: I...
2022-02-0628 minThirty Minute Worlds’The Emperor of Black Stripes’What a long, twisted road it has been. Season four is upon us--delayed by a series of mishaps that were as comedic as they were forgivable and absolutely excusable. While the rest of you were asleep, the boys slapped together a premier episode. Trapped in an endless cycle of reincarnation at the whims of a heavenly bureaucracy, a spiritually-elevated humanity is beset by coordinated animal attacks. Who is behind them, and what is their ultimate aim?
Prompts: Joy. Cultivation. Tiger.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail...
2022-01-2532 minThirty Minute Worlds‘Season 3 Finale: Doom Rundown‘Sixteen worlds enter. Six or seven worlds don't enter. One world leaves.
It's that time of year again. We're taking all the worlds of this season and running them through our cruel, calculating machine until we find the one world that we want to revisit. We'll laugh and cry as we put our darlings and yours out to pasture in search of the very best. Spoiler Alert: It's not Squid Game II.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her...
2021-12-111h 26Thirty Minute Worlds‘The Salt Lines‘In an uncharacteristic display of competence, the pod boys clock in a terrific bite-sized episode before the start of the holiday season. On a planet surrounded by ten concentric salt rings, gargantuan lenses of unknown origin look out into mysterious and faraway parts of space. The natives are fascinated by them, and the discoveries they make astral projecting through the lenses to other galaxies have tremendously advanced their society, and cultivated interest in space at large. But unknown to the inhabitants of the planet, space is very, very interested in them.
Prompt words: Salt. Lens. Impact.
2021-11-2730 minThirty Minute Worlds‘Squid Game II: The Maze Runner‘The gang has been drafted by Amazon Studios to produce the second installment of the award-winning Japanese (?) period drama, Squid Game. What follows is, without a doubt, the greatest artistic undertaking in television history. The boys storm the idea-laden cliffs of Normandy in a D-Day of creativity, and you lucky listeners have a chance to be a fly on the wall in the most ingenious, prop gun-filled writers room that the world has ever known.
Sit in your favorite chair, crack open a seltzer, and treat yourself--to Squid Game II.
Prompt words: N/A
2021-11-1339 minThirty Minute Worlds‘Activision Blizzard‘s ”Afterlife 2”‘Are you tired of banking it all on the nebulous concept of the afterlife, with no certainty that it will actually occur? NEVER FEAR--private companies, the vanguard of innovation, have stepped in to create a new and exciting DIGITAL REALM where you can visit your dead relatives, who are trapped there for an eternity of fun co-op and story-based missions. Do you want to talk with an AI-rendered simulation of your departed great grandfather while wearing a Lego Darth Vader skin, and also you both have to parkour through Bowser's Castle? Do you want to yell at your mother's...
2021-10-3040 minThirty Minute Worlds‘CNBC Presents: Glaivewatch‘The Lads pitch a setting where one swing from an immensely powerful glaive will destroy the world. The year is 2390. The glaive has been swung seventeen times.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
Here's the link to our Discord: https://discord.gg/8qvuyTa3n2
2021-10-1936 minThirty Minute Worlds‘Swords of the Father‘Do you like swords? Do you like swords that have a mind of their own? Do you also like extended metaphors for the iniquities of a generation passing to another?
With the other hosts out of commission for dubious reasons, Walt and Dan go mano-a-mano on this promptless, no-holds-barred episode.
Check out the Three Dimensional Stories Project Here: https://sites.google.com/view/3dsp?fbclid=IwAR2f_Cxc8D_xfNJIxpWpQGja16_BxgjdmsKFooT4d3Cbueaihxvpmg7uHzw
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our...
2021-09-1136 minThirty Minute Worlds'Forgotten Gods' ft. Junius Wright IIIProving once again that their previously-promised upload schedule is subject entirely to their fickle whims, the boys harass their old creative writing professor, reclusive satyr Junius Wright III, to take part in the show. In this episode, the gang whips up a world where gods eat each other to gain more spiritual power. The implications of this are thoroughly discussed, and Wright gets to plug his Three Dimensional Stories Project--the premiere collaborative worldbuilding project in the multiverse.
Prompts: Forgotten. Blasphemy. Wheel.
Check out the Three Dimensional Stories Project Here: https://sites.google.com/view/3dsp?f...
2021-08-1343 minThirty Minute Worlds‘Crabstar‘s Wroth‘WE'RE BACK! Walter comes down to visit and the boys record in person for the first time. Their minds obliterated by shitty light beer, none of them could remember what this episode was about. In lieu of a coherent description, we're going to present, unaltered, the notes the boys scrawled on a Papa John's box:
THE CRABSTAR, ZOM extending a claw-shaped solar flare to wipe out the planet
spider crab people, whole ass crustaceans
spider crab people came from space?
in order to generate enough force, they would have to destroy the...
2021-08-1329 minThirty Minute Worlds'Quantum Autodrive: Chaos on the Back Nine'Belvin's momentary absence from the podcast is all it takes for the boys to strike creative gold. In the far future, bioweapons have advanced to the point of sophistication that would make any war an extinction-level event. The Earth's greatest athletes play games of golf inside giant, space-ready robots to resolve international disputes.
But the mysterious Dark Golfer and the secretive organization NOCOUNTRY have an alternative, terrifying vision of the future, and they're disrupting the game in order to make it a reality.
Prompt words: Bioweapon. Shoes. Golf.
Reach out to the Lore...
2021-06-0537 minThirty Minute Worlds'Ghost Glass'Back in the saddle, back buildin' worlds. The great god Olag, gatekeeper to the afterlife, has discovered his new ambition: amassing hoards of wealth. He begins exporting spirit glass with magical properties to those on earth, causing all sorts of problems and technically using ghosts as slave labor. This setting earned worldbuilding's highest honor: The Worldbuilding Magazine Croix d’Honneur, which entitles the recipients to one "talk with someone who works at Hulu" that will never pan out.
Prompt words: Prison. Glass. Aspire.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gm...
2021-05-2339 minThirty Minute Worlds'The Mendican Gate: Redux'After lots of editing by Chessman to cover up various historical errors, the revisit of the Mendican gate is finally here! New listeners should listen to Season 2, episode 2 before diving into the revisit for proper background. In this revisit, we touch on the fate of Mendicus, the Mexican American War, the nature of the devils, and, of course, Mormon cosmology. Give it a listen if you're so inclined.
From this episode onward, we'll be releasing every other week as COVID lockdowns finally end in most places. We're sure you'll manage.
Reach out to the Lore L...
2021-05-0959 minThirty Minute Worlds“Chasing The Eschaton”The stars align and the boys not only create a grand slam episode, but also miraculously manage to get it published on time. Chessman is Lore Lad, and the crew outlines a world where a team of wizards harness the sorcerous energies of an armageddon that hasn’t yet happened as a magical power source. What could go wrong?
Featuring animal mutations, magitek, dome cities, the darkness at the heart of humanity, “heavy light,” and the machinations of Doctor Wizard, a man of many (competing) names.
Prompts: Ear. Yawn. Owl.
Reach out to the Lo...
2021-04-2437 minThirty Minute Worlds'Baron Lands'In a special old-timey radio episode, Chessman and Dan pull the ripcord on a new post-apocalyptic setting. Humans have regressed to Edwardian technology, and hidden alien interlopers interfere with mankind's attempts to reclaim civilization on an Earth that's been terraformed to be hostile to them.
Look forward to the Mendican Gate revisit next week!
Prompts: none
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2021-04-1743 minThirty Minute Worlds'Ironclad'Chessman's on deck as Lore Lad, and this setting involving robots controlled by tiny beetles quickly careens off the deep end and into madness. Fortunately, Walter wisely fucks up his audio in what is known as the "Kunkle Maneuver," effectively pouring cold water on the setting for a bit and adding some much needed dampening of the energy. This one's very put there--it features a tropical island world patrolled by ironclad ships, LIZARD PEOPLE (at the insistence of Daniel), and a Clandestine Alliance of Weaponized Insectoid Robots™.
Prompts: Robot. Gutter. Tropical.
Reach out to the Lo...
2021-04-1136 minThirty Minute Worlds‘Frasierpilled’Bound by their ancient pact to produce one incredibly stupid and obtuse world every four episodes, the fellas dream this monstrosity up. Imagine a world—a world where a a hyper-advanced Neural Intelligence Life Enhancement System (N.I.L.E.S.) controls every aspect of everyone’s lives, with the aim of producing millions upon millions of sitcoms for an alien audience. The only way to fight back? Weed duuuuuude.
Prompts: Sitcom. Flower. College.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torr...
2021-04-0336 minThirty Minute Worlds'Martyr Country'Do you long for a setting that blends the freedom and headiness of the Old West with the crushing guilt and religious mystery of medieval Catholicism? You don't? Well that's what we made, and you have to wait a week for the next one, so you might as well enjoy it.
Faced with an embargo that blocks their powerful sainted relics from being delivered to the frontier, the Faithful will have to survive on what little they have. Gun-slinging saints guard reliquae-bearing pilgrimages further and further into the wilderness, cloven-hooved minotaurs menace mountain passes in service to...
2021-03-2836 minThirty Minute Worlds'Obscura'In the world of Unione, genius inventor Phillipa Chiaroscuro creates a camera that can travel through Il Fumo--the smoke that connects realities. A missing city, the study of portraiture, Renaissance art terms, and tortilla chips garnish this legendary episode.
Prompts: Bag. Photograph. Smoke.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
prompts: bag, photograph, smoke
2021-03-1537 minThirty Minute Worlds'You've Got Whale' feat. Will IsaacsonFriend of the pod and Prince of Revels Will Isaacson joins the boys to talk a bit about his work as a composer of music for vijyagaems. But a guest spot comes with a price--Will must build a world with 4 prompts and take the cursed throne of Lore Lad. In a world where special whalebone bells are vital to seaborne shipping, an ancient religion locks horns with a shadowy commerce guild to control them.
Prompts: Driftwood. Bell. Postage. Embassy.
Check out Will's amazing soundtracks and music at his website here.
Reach out to...
2021-03-0641 minThirty Minute Worlds'Three Minute Worlds: Revengance'The Pod Boys hastily arrange a three minute world episode to half-assedly crank out enough settings to keep their show. Will they survive? (yes)
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2021-02-2718 minThirty Minute Worlds'Pyramid Scream'The Sitarii are a conquering people who have figured out a way (it's bullshit and it involves pyramids) to amplify the world's natural harmonic sound magic to wreak terrible destruction. Who can stand against their awesome military might!? Will Chessman convince Walter to stop eating cashews while recording!? Will we find a third dramatic question to round out this bit now that we've seemingly committed to it!?
Find out in this EXCITING episode of 30MW.
Prompts: Sitar. Scavenger. Pyramids.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
2021-02-2143 minThirty Minute Worlds'Painters' Paradise' feat. Adam BassettThe fellas snag WB Mag editor in chief Adam Bassett for an extra special (and extra-length) worldbuilding session. In a London-esque, industrialized wasteland, color wizards derive magical powers (and mutations!) from special pigmentations found in coral reefs. We expect imminent lawsuits from the Magic: the Gathering legal team forthwith.
Prompts: Genuine. Fish. Mutation. Paint.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
Adam can be found on twitter as well @adamcbassett
Here's a b...
2021-02-1350 minThirty Minute Worlds'Pawn Stars'Trillions of years in the future, as the universe draws to a close, working stars are in short supply. A galactic-scale holding company moves stars for money. Naturally, problems ensue, and a lot of assets (and beings) get liquidated. Featuring: the triumph of communism, Space Mongols, mausoleum planets made of quartz, Walter constantly tapping his goddamn microphone, and robot eunuchs.
Prompts: Bank. Recycle. Stars.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2021-02-0644 minThirty Minute Worlds'Showbiz Kids'What if plays performed in front of an audience of fairies had the power to shape your entire life? Though Zach is the Lad on this one, this is probably the most Belvin setting of all time--so much so that he will be taken off the next several episodes to allow the creative ecosystem to balance out.
Prompts: Marriage. Kabuki. Copy.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2021-01-3038 minThirty Minute Worlds'Doom Runner'Chessman's in charge which means it's time to get weird. Using the Lore Lad's seldom used VIBE POWER, Chessman stipulates that this setting should have no people in it. In this one, a cognizant and not even really humanoid being travels through the end of every world to observe its destruction and pick up mementos. Belvin's little-known Katamari Damacy obsession rears its head here.
Prompt Words: Tie. Runner. Dissolve.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on...
2021-01-2540 minThirty Minute Worlds'At The Table of The Baron"SEASON THREE ARRIVES, and with it many formatting changes. With Walter as the lad, the guys conjure up a setting about a magical table owned by a scheming Baron--a table that allows him to see the secrets of all who dine there. Can he be stopped, or will his rapacious greed and animal cunning plunge the Twin Cities into peril? Soul-stealing, vigilantes, and intrigue play heavily into a setting that's definitely not at all derivative of The Scarlet Pimpernel.
Prompt words: Table. Surveillance. Manor.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at t...
2021-01-1639 minThirty Minute WorldsSeason 2 Finale (part 2): 'Bloodsplort'This episode was delayed due to a protest of the final results that caused a month’s worth of legal arguing and court disputes.
Which world will the lads revisit? Which ones will be eliminated tragically? Will one of Chessman’s riffs finally land?
Find out now—and see you next year in Season 3!
2020-12-2355 minThirty Minute WorldsSeason 2 Finale (part 1): 'Cricketworld'The gang load up their guns and prepare to put some bullets in the heads of this latest season's least satisfactory worlds. Tune in next week for the main event of Season 2, when we decide which world will win the honor of an in-depth revisit next season. The remaining settings will be buried in a shallow grave, never to be seen or heard from again.
If there's a world you're fond of and you don't hear it mentioned on here, don't worry. They're in the running for the finalist spot, and we wanted to keep our opinions o...
2020-11-261h 08Thirty Minute Worlds"Do Golems Dream of Concrete Caffeine?"After secretly promising not to make a setting that's any good before the season finale, the guys immediately break that promise and design a concrete megacity patrolled by rebellious golems. Learn more about the DC-area train system than you ever wanted to know.
Prompt words: Caffeine. Concrete. Plague.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
"Juno Listens to Jupiter's Auroras", "Musical tones from Juno Waves Perijove 4 pass", and "Juno Crosses Jupiter's Magnetopause" by The...
2020-11-1843 minThirty Minute Worlds'Bayou Bailiffs'Belvin swerves the setting toward familiar, swampy ground as he whips the world of Lura, a place where the truest art--gambling--is used to resolve all legal disputes.
Prompt words: Card. Bayou. Court.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
"Juno Listens to Jupiter's Auroras", "Musical tones from Juno Waves Perijove 4 pass", and "Juno Crosses Jupiter's Magnetopause" by The University of Iowa are licensed under CC BY 3.0.
2020-11-1143 minThirty Minute Worlds'Hyperborea'At last--long last--all is revealed, and the children of Abaris shall walk into the heavens. Global warming, the biblical flood, the miniature Ice Age, the presence of aliens on planet Earth, and the extinction of the dinosaurs are all explained plainly and logically through the writings of the Old Master, Herodotus.
Prompt words: Doctor. Smoke. Yummy.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
GREEN LEAVES is from Jason Shaw's album 'Audionautix: Acoustic'. You can...
2020-11-0442 minThirty Minute Worlds‘Celebrity Dump Spectacular‘Belvin returns from the hospital to lead the crew. In this world, a galactic empire loves its celebrities; that is until they say something unpatriotic, at which they and all their branded merchandise are canceled and unceremoniously dumped on Trash Planet.
Prompt words: Idol. Dump. Flag.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
GREEN LEAVES is from Jason Shaw's album 'Audionautix: Acoustic'. You can find it and other music licensed under Creative Commons...
2020-11-0441 minThirty Minute Worlds'The Benevolent Sun'LATE EPISODE AHOY! With Belvin tragically dead in a car accident, the remainder of the crew tearfully construct a world in his memory. When a cataclysmic event pretty much severs the connection between the human world and the plane of fire, an enterprising group of djinn devise a creative and exciting solution to the our world's woes.
Prompt words: Fire. Bureaucracy. Numbers.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-10-2437 minThirty Minute Worlds'Words With Goblins'Y'all ever heard of, uh... Goblins? The little green monsters make their first appearance on our drafting table. Also within:
- Gross flightless dragon gods who live deep underground.
- Salami the Prankster God makes his first of many appearances under a pseudonym.
- Chessman is wrong about something yet again.
Prompt words: Maw. Speech. Goblin.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-10-1439 minThirty Minute Worlds'World Well Two' ft. James MollerAnime mongrel and friend of the show James Moller drops by and Belvin refuses to leave, so we have to do four prompts for this one. The Lads weave a complicated geopolitical web in this particular episode. A group of rogue monk-soldiers specializing in aerial combat break away from a war that is engulfing the world to lead an independence revolt on a distant island.
Prompt words: Key. Lime. Prophecy. World War II.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow h...
2020-10-0737 minThirty Minute Worlds'Crabyrinth' (1986)Not related to the film starring David Bowie, except for the swirly walls and the bulge. Content warning: animal anatomy, crab anatomy, swords with sandals, brain vore. I don't usually write the descriptions. Do people read these? Do people notice when episodes come out really, really late?
By the way, Walter has laid a tangled web of clues throughout all these descriptions, and if you can put them together and solve their riddle, it will lead you to a real world cash prize, probably! Terms and conditions apply, most likely.
Prompt words: Labyrinth. Nest. Money.
2020-09-2839 minThirty Minute Worlds'War o’ the Wisps'It’s my birthday and they made me put the podcast up anyway—fucking unbelievable. This one’s pretty bleak, folks, not gonna lie. Also: Belvin finally throws away his talking animal crutches and becomes Certified Cool.
Prompt words: Wisp. Fear. Caravan.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-09-1837 minThirty Minute Worlds'The Grey Frontier'The unholy union of Walter "Vitamin K" Kunkle and Zachary "Nabokov" Chessman produces a more freeform setting than the show has had previously. In this new land, prompts are thrown aside, and the Lads get down to the nitty gritty of building a world focused around colonizing a shattered afterlife. Nautical angels, tyrant kings, and colossal tomb castles stand out in this bleak episode.
Read Zach Chessman's winning flash fiction story, Foo Fighters, in Fantastic Other Magazine here: https://fantasticother.com/2020/08/31/foo-fighters-by-zach-chessman/
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
O...
2020-09-0940 minThirty Minute Worlds'Sunlit Sails'Without Chessman's fruitless song references to distract them, the boys center themselves, tighten their headbands, and construct the best swashbuckling setting the Earth has ever seen. A large inland sea has been locked in perpetual daylight for decades, and humans, as well as most of the gods, are stumped as to what to do. Who will take the helm of the sun galleon in the sky and steer her westward once again? And what's that scheming Night God up to?
Prompt words: Curse. Swashbuckling. Sunlight.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
2020-09-0336 minThirty Minute Worlds'Snakes on a Reflective Plane'In a time before time, the enlightened and powerful naga race, led by the trickster god Knifetongue, disappeared into mirrors to hide from Death. But this safeguard from mortality comes, as usual, at a terrible price.
Prompt words: Egg. Trickster. Death.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-08-2638 minThirty Minute Worlds‘Dangers in the Outfield’Times on the diamond were peaceful, until the giants came from across the sea. With them, too, came the strangely energizing and enigmatic juice, which soon covered the entirety of the known world. The fabric of human civilization itself strains under the pounding of earth-shattering feet—and the Eternal, Divine Game drags on for ceaseless millennia, spiraling society into a brutal hellscape in which only the strong (and the lucky) can hope to survive.
Prompt words: Baseball. Big. Juice.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amaz...
2020-08-2035 minThirty Minute Worlds'Skies of Truckadia'Lore Lad Pictures is proud to present Season 1's lost episode--restored to perfect fidelity using state-of-the-art AUDIO SURGERY. An omnipresent King sends machine-spirit guided transport craft down to the primitive humans of the world below. In return for these marvelous flying vehicles, the King asks for only one thing--our soil.
Prompt words: King. Soil. Truckin'.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-08-1235 minThirty Minute Worlds‘Mole Train’In Walter’s absence, the gang flings together a setting where mole men run a college located on a subterranean train. This one’s pretty out there.
Prompt words: Railway. College. Mole People.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-08-0543 minThirty Minute Worlds'Flow Wars: Officially Sponsored by Planters Nuts 'A rehash of James Cameron's Avatar never looked this good. Daniel leads the fellas in outlining a setting where Flow, a mental state of lucid concentration, is treated like a commodity and harvested unsustainably from the earth. Featuring conquistadors, on-mic cashew chewing, and GUN HALBERDS. Prompt words: Jungle. Lamp. Flow. Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-07-2900 minThirty Minute Worlds'Three Minute Worlds'Corporate is about to demolish the podcast and turn it into a Melting Pot franchise, and the only way the Lore Lads can save it is by building four worlds in 20-ish minutes. New episodes will now release Wednesday, instead of Saturday.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-07-2517 minThirty Minute Worlds‘The Arachnid Union’In the carcasses of kaiju-sized spider monstrosities, a hideous, teeming society begins to spread its reach across the furthest reaches of the jungle. Millions of predatory spiders have unified into a rudimentary society. Their aim? To prolong the grotesque flesh feasts that keep their awful gods sated. May also diverge into a cooking anime.
Prompt words: Union. Spider. Chef.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-07-1838 minThirty Minute Worlds'Nation of Fools'All four boys are on deck, and they deliver a setting where twin gods--one devoted to Reason, the other to Tomfoolery--duke it out in the lowest-stakes cosmic chess game imaginable. Your enjoyment of the setting may vary wildly depending on how funny you find pratfalls to be. Belvin being an actual circus clown in real life contributes greatly to this bit.
Prompt words: Fireworks. Chalice. Fool.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-07-1234 minThirty Minute Worlds'True Cuts: Redux'We return to our most promising world of season one.
We return to 24th century Earth besieged by an all-consuming hivemind of hair. We return to the hair-obsessed aliens, the Pompadorians, that have given chase to it across the galaxy bringing every sentient creature into the fold of their federation along the way. We return to POMADE, the brave monastic order of barber-knights that defend the Earth from bad hair with techniques both human and alien and both mundane and fantastic. We return to The Growth and its legions of puppets and death. We return to the...
2020-07-0554 minThirty Minute Worlds'Garlic Baby House'Ladies and gentlemen: "Garlic Baby House."
Prompt words: Garlic. Baby. House.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-06-2838 minThirty Minute Worlds'Termites and Talons' feat. Ianara NatividadThe boys, as well as SPECIAL GUEST and friend of the show Ianara Natividad, take you to world littered with the abandoned spires of giant tomb trees belonging to fierce bird people. Losing a war against intelligent insects, the avians stake their future on a dangerous gamble--the revival of their ancient and terrible god, Talon.
Prompt words: Abandoned. Gambling. Talon.
Ianara Natividad, a.k.a. Imachinate, is a writer, editor, and worldbuilder. Check out her website here, and follow her on twitter @Imachinate.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Ou...
2020-06-2039 minThirty Minute Worlds'The Diner in the Flats'Let the boys take you on a journey to a secluded valley filled with scorching hot salt flats. Every summer, a diner appears there, bringing with it unexplainable and terrible phenomena. The spiritual successor to Frog Quest.
Prompt words: Summer. Diner. Salt.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-06-1341 minThirty Minute Worlds'Exiles of Varn'Welcome to Varn--a freezing cold planet with an entirely oil-based surface. Stranded space dwarves navigate tarry seas and asphalt continents at the behest of the Plastic Cities, searching for lost Fabrication Keys that further the manufacturing potential of their race.
Prompt words: Odyssey. Oil. Discovery.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-06-0639 minThirty Minute Worlds'Moth K Ultra'What happens when you combine Chessman's love for aeronautic nerderie with boilerplate consciousness-expansion bullshit? You get whatever this setting is--where super intelligent moths menace a Cold War-level society by bombarding us with mind altering compounds. Our only defense: hyper-aware, psychically trained fighter pilots (and McCarthyite secret police).
Prompt words: Glory. Curse. Hippies.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-05-3037 minThirty Minute Worlds'The Mendican Gate'Belvin wields the Hammer of the Lore Lad in a romp through 1850s frontier America with a twist. The first fantasy setting to unconditionally accept the teachings of the LDS church as true.
Prompt words: Paper. Magician. Blood.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-05-2436 minThirty Minute Worlds'100 Views of Mt. Funk'Walter commandeers the ship in the first episode of Season 2. His brain irreparably poisoned by lethal amounts of Final Fantasy VII, he leads the rest of the crew in constructing Midgar-like hive cities in the caldera of a planet-sized volcano. Funk dancing, cable cars, and racism against cloud people feature prominently in this standout episode.
Prompt words: Funk. Volcano. Dance.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-05-1738 minThirty Minute WorldsSeason 1 Finale: 'Cognitive Behavoral Therapy'The Lads pour one out to the best that Season One has to offer, and pick one world for a revisit. There's laughter, tears, and liberal use of cut-aways as the boys definitively nail down their favorite world of the first season of the show, as well as some honorable mentions. See you all in Season 2!
Prompt words: We're beyond prompts now, old man.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-05-1050 minThirty Minute Worlds‘Eureka Box’Coronavirus and isolation wear on our boys--with Daniel strapping in as Lore Lad this week, they whip up a grim virtual reality setting that's totally not derivative of the Matrix. Before an earth-shattering calamity strikes, the Architects amass all of humanity's minds in stasis, with the goal of conserving what limited time they have. But when comprehension stretches to infinity, how can you trust your own memories?
Prompt words: Isolation. Mechanic. Angel.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-05-0337 minThirty Minute Worlds'Green Hell'LORE LADS RIDE AGAIN! The boys let Belvin take the wheel as he conjures up a setting that's initially somewhat wholesome but then devolves into homo sapiens' worst nightmare. Give it a listen, and then contemplate your own role in society. Also, the Lads reveal that Merlin evidently had a role in advancing the Shinto religion, which is cool, I guess.
Prompt words: Green. Prison. Dogs.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-04-1839 minThirty Minute Worlds'Mongolian Wood (This Khan Has Flown)'It's an action-packed episode with Daniel in the driver's seat as Lore Lad--taking us to the nascent Mongol Empire in the year 1214 AD. A temporal accident of fate grants the horse lords muscle cars and 1960s acoustic rock. Also discussed: who deserves to be castrated in a fantasy society.
Prompt words: Whistle. Dissolve. Car Radio.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-03-1438 minThirty Minute Worlds'Sea of Time'Shiver me timbers! The Lads hoist the mainsail, run up the black flag, and set a course to steal from the good ship Wind Waker once again. In a world of endless seas and archipelagos, a giant and presumably alien timekeeping device of impossible vastness provides the basis for all society.
Prompt words: Tower. Clock. Sail.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-02-2941 minThirty Minute Worlds'True Cuts'Some opening riffs on Deep Space 9 lead the Lore Lads to a jaunty (and horrifying) setting where an order of JoJo-esque anime barbers--the elite force known as P.O.M.A.D.E.--combat rampant hair growth from a space station shaped like a barber pole.
Prompt words: Space Station. Hair.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-02-0636 minThirty Minute Worlds'Plane of Elemental Good(fellas)'"I have had it with these motherfucking mobsters on this motherfucking plane."
--People living there, presumably.
Prompt words: Mafia. Artist. Random Disappearances.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-01-3032 minThirty Minute Worlds'Frog Quest'Get ready to get swampy as the Lore Lads take you on a frog-themed metaphysical journey to learn more about... yourself, I guess? Voted "Worst Setting of 2020" by Worldbuilders Imaginary Magazine.
Prompt words: Frog. Liquor. Memory decay.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-01-2437 minThirty Minute Worlds'Bridge of the Gods'Dan pitches his concept for a flooded world where the remnants of humanity flock to a giant bridge for shelter. What results is a pre-Columbian Wind Waker ripoff and lots of ranting about MegaMan Legends.
Prompt words: Bridge. Knots. Loyalty.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2020-01-1839 minThirty Minute Worlds'The Shroomlands'In a world frozen over by ice storms, humanity’s only escape is living underground and getting high. Pleasure cities, sentient crystals, and a settlement called Cobb’s Knob round out the boys’ first episode.
Prompt words: Ice. Road. Hash.
Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.
Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
2019-12-1335 min