Heroes & Thieves
A creative world building exercise led by brothers Michael and Greg Starks, in which they attempt to build fantasy and sci-fi worlds every week using only three words as the basis. Good, bad, and ugly ideas are all welcome here.
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 59 minutes
- Episodes
- 73
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2023
The Paladin Executioner
Do you enjoy a good Rubik's Cube? Well, today we make it into a Dungeons & Dragons legendary item. Do you enjoy a good cowardly paladin? Well, today we make one. Enjoy your stay in The …
Faith Healer
Do you like snake oil, pyramid schemes, used cars that might be lemons, or YouTube tutorials on how to get rich quick if you just buy their $1,000 course? Boy, do we have the fantasy-eq…
The Pallid King
We begin our multi-episode deep dive into the nation of The Pale City. What are it's origins? Who are it's people? Who is The Pallid King? Let's shed some light on this foggy and damp n…
The Hunters
Have we found a new totally non embarrassing way to create new characters in our world?! Yep! We also added some lore and life to the Kingdom of Steelglaive. What would your embarrassin…
Axe Of The Executioner
Things get a little bit more dragon-y in our Dungeons & Dragons world. Other mentioned topics: Randy Orton, Jimmer Fredette, and a classic opening quest for a campaign. There is also a …
Day And Night
We're adding technology and some interesting cycles for our world! Do we know how these things technically work? No. Do we brute force them into the world anyway? Yep! We also bring two…
Cloak And Dagger
Today we come up with our first legendary item and, most impressively, it even gets a name! The world gets a littler grittier and a whole lot bigger this time around. Mulan also makes a…
On A Pale Horse
This time around we dive into the intricacies of our world, adding some depth to the coastal nation of Umbra and a new locale - The Pale City! Necromancers, magic missiles, dice! How mu…
The Wavecrashers
We did it! We finally created a city - an actual place on the map. This episode we create a port city by the sea that has the best night life in all of... [World Name Here]!
The Sons of Fire
Do you love ancient civilizations? Do you love real-world history? If the answer to either question is yes, then you need to listen to this one! If the answer is no, you should tune in …
The Endless Struggle
What does it take to bake the perfect fantasy world? A hint of magic, a dash of gods, and a massive scoop of fresh ideas! Welcome to the first of many episodes where we build ONE world …
Tricksters Doing Trickster Things
In a game where there are no points and no prizes to be won, Michael apparently wins. Listen in to find out how. Otherwise, we discuss something akin to fantasy virtual reality games. I…
Tunnels To The Future
In an episode that gets deep... metaphorically and literally. If you're digging up - that's not going deeper, is it? Is there a word for digging upward really far? Questions like these…
Why Is It All Wet?
If you don't like the word 'moist', you are in for some old-fashioned character building in this episode. Buckle up and dig in, champs, we've got a world to build!
Thank …
Skulls Are Good
Is necromancy always bad? Are tundra yetis really the only snow monsters? Find out with us this episode!
Thank you for listening. Find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or a…
The Running of the Aliens
This time we come up with a concept that completely sidesteps the first word. Are we breaking our own rules? Nah, it'll come out just fine.
Thank you for listening. Find …
Amazing Amazonian Amazons
In our first episode back from Thanksgiving, we dive into the world of Amazon warriors deep in a rainforest. After mixing and matching a few styles, we whip up a fresh batch of worldbui…
Look At All My Badges
Space scouts and gene-magic wielding humans are the feature of this episode. Blink and you will miss it! Wait, that doesn't make sense. Plug your ears and you will most definitely miss …
The Tower of Power
The brothers talk about a great many things, the most important being The Macho Man Randy Savage, yeah. This episode is the cream of the crop, and it will rise to the top. This world is…
We Need An Adult
What if our governments didn't give us mandates, but told us to go on more man dates? This breaking revelation changes everything in another spicy episode.
Thank you for …