Creative Chat with Craig Shipman
“Creativity is choices. That's all it is, is picking A over B. That's all creativity is.”
This week’s Creative Chat guest might be my new bestie: Craig Shipman, the fellow behind all the tabletop gaming content coming out of Third Floor Wars, including the luminous and illuminating Tabletop Talk podcast (one of my favorite listens, to be sure). Here’s a teaser:
After guesting on Craig’s show (you can listen to our conversation here), I immediately asked Craig to join me on Little Oracles — and dang: he did not disappoint. We talk about the intersections of creativity and curiosity; music and media Craig’s loving right now; and how a career in close-up magic set Craig up for success in his corporate life and his current hobbies. You can grab the episode transcript here. Enjoy!
xx, aa
[ Teaser video transcript; dialogue playing over music bed ]
craig shipman: Creativity is choices. That's all it is, is picking A over B. That's all creativity is.allison arth: Now on the Little Oracles podcast, a Creative Chat with the brilliant mind behind Third Floor Wars and the Tabletop Talk podcast, Craig Shipman.
aa: You used to do magic. Like tricks!
cs: I was in college, and actually went to my first magic store and had not realized that there was a whole world there.
aa: Yeah.
cs: There was an entire theoretical approach. It taught me the power of language, the power of atmosphere, the power of intimacy. And these are skills that not only have I carried into my interviewing and stuff, it's helped me in my profession as well.
aa: There's something here about this interplay of practice and curiosity. And it sounds to me like that's kind of where you sit as a creator. Like, you get curious about something and then you practice it.
cs: As I was finding all of these roleplaying games after being away from it for so long — for 20-some-odd years — I was just like: I need to talk to this person. Like, I need to understand how this gets made.
aa: [laughs] Why do I have this amazing thing?
cs: Yeah! I started interviewing people and that became a whole new world for me. Like, I didn't realize like interviewing was its own thing. Even though it's focused on tabletop gaming, it's about the creative process. That's what I try to unlock.
aa: There's kind of an analogy there with gaming too, and sitting down at a table and collaborating with people to tell a story, right?
cs: No question. You know, tabletop roleplaying is a very unique thing, and it's not a coincidence that I left it when I did, and then I found it and fell in love deeper than ever before. Now I can sit at the table as a player or as a GM and go, “Let's do this. Let's— let's do this together.” I might put down the tablecloth; I might set the table; but we're going to cook this dinner together and we're going to eat it and enjoy it together.
aa: Find Little Oracles wherever you get podcasts.
