Interview with Eclectic Goat

Eclectic Goat, seasoned TTRPG player and host of the livestream show “Slice & Dice” answers some questions about his TTRPG journey!

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Jared: First off, tell us a little about yourself.  

Eclectic Goat: I am The Eclectic Goat.  I have been playing ttrpgs for over 35 years and running for about 25. I like to run dark, heavy role-play based games, but I tend to play funny, creative games. I run a livestream show on Wednesday evenings called “Slice & Dice” where I and a group of panelists talk about under appreciated TTRPGs – either forgotten gems or Indy creations still finding their way. In the real world I write for magazines about homesteading, local food and livestock, as well as editing business newsletters, YT scripts, TTRPGs and Indy novels.

JB: When and how did you get started in tabletop games? 

EG: My best guess is about third grade. I started with the older editions of D&D and AD&D as most of us did. We also played a lot of Spellfire in my social circle, before WotC put them out of business. I was in college before I really realized other games existed, and it wasn’t long before I was far more into other games – mostly ShadowRun – and D&D lost interest for me. Then I ran my first game of KULT and I’ve primarily been a GM ever since. 

JB: What made you want to make content specifically for tabletop games? 

EG: I actually just have a soft spot for the underappreciated things I love. While Slice & Dice probably gets the most regular views, I also have a series of “Under Appreciated 90s” videos, a series called “#TheBookisBetter” where I compare movies to their source materials and assorted other videos as the mood strikes me. 

JB: Where did the name “The Eclectic Goat“ come from? 

EG: My first YT channel was for my personal homestead. I didn’t want to comment on other people’s videos with that account, so I made one called “FortheSakeoftheComments” because it literally was supposed to just be to comment on other people’s videos. I still had a bunch of goat icons from the homestead account, so I just used one of those. Over time, as I got more active on social media, I was encouraged to start making my own videos and appearing on other shows. However, as I got better known, there were complaints that my name was too long and it made my channel hard to find. So, since my tastes are eclectic, and I was already a goat, I became The Eclectic Goat! 

JB: What can people expect coming into the youtube/social medias etc? 

EG: Probably not everything there will be for them. My videos are all over the place between books, movies, TV, games and more. The only thing I can promise is that I try to make it a positive space. I don’t allow politics on my streams, I don’t cover controversial topics and I don’t hate-watch things. I’d like to think I’m a corner of the universe where people can find some pleasant nostalgia and where the hottest take I’ve had so far is that The Hunger Games movie isn’t that good.

JB: What do you see as the future of The Eclectic Goat? Goals? 

EG: Hmm, well, the dream of monetization is always there, though unlikely. It would be nice to pay for the extra bandwidth I spend on streaming at least, but realistically I’m a small, niche channel and likely to stay that way. My goal is just to reminisce about things I liked, share that with others and maybe do a review once in a while, just for fun. 

JB: What projects do you have coming up? 

EG: Currently I am working on a video about the history of the zombie movie genre. Slice and Dice runs every Wednesday from 6-8 p EST, though I may be taking some time off this summer to get  some real life stuff tidied up. I just completed editing the TTRPG PRETEND, written by the YTer, The Real Life Fake Wizard and I did an alpha read for a book called Beyond All Measure by the author Thom Tate. I’m looking at starting a couple more gaming projects, including one for Postmortem Studios and another for a new game called Red Mark.  

JB: Anything else you would like to add? 

EG: I’m always interested in new Indy authors, games and movies – both personally and professionally! If there are other creators out there who need an editor, more work is always welcome and having an editor who understands gaming can be helpful. I love collaboration projects and – at least for the moment – there are still a couple slots open on Slice & Dice for game designers to talk about their projects. People can reach out to me on Twitter or Discord where I am also The Eclectic Goat.