What Is Square Roots?

" 'Square Roots is like a book club, but for classic RPGs! Each episode John, Matthew, Jim and Vanessa play through a chunkerino of one of your favorite RPGs, from Final Fantasy through Chrono Trigger. Are they experts? No. Are they qualified? Absolutely not. Are they good at RPGs? Probably not. But they're the fun kind of dumb, and that's what counts.' "Square Roots is a video game themed podcast that was created in 2016 and features James 'Jim' Banks, Matthew Van Zandt, John Brandon, and Vanessa. The hosts play and discuss classic roleplaying games in book club style, focusing on one small chunk of the game at a time. They also discuss events in their personal lives and riff comedic takes on characters they come across in games and various other media.

Episode Format
Each episode follows a specific format to guide listeners through that week's RPG chunker. The episodes start with a recap of the previous episode where Vanessa recounts the main topics of the chunker they played as well as any jokes that stood out or particularly engaging conversations. When a new series starts, Vanessa will do a dramatic reading of the intro text to the game (if available) or a synopsis of the premise of the game. A fan-made rendition of one of the game's noteworthy theme songs will play and then the hosts introduce themselves and the podcast. After introductions, the hosts discuss in round table style their real life events or achievements for that week in a segment called Level Up.

Following Level Up, if the episode starts a new series the hosts will discuss their previous experience with the current game, if any, and what platform they are playing the current game on. The hosts then recount their experiences playing through that week's chunker of game. Towards the end of the episode John will lead a segment called John's Bullshit Mini-Game Corner, where the hosts discuss any mini-games present in that week's chunker and whether they liked it or not. The hosts then play Roundly For or Squarely Against, where they decide and discuss if they are Roundly For or Squarely Against any particular portion of the game, characters, mechanics, or plot. If there are any emails to read and discuss that week, the hosts will read them after Roundly For or Squarely Against before announcing the stopping point for the next week's episode. Each episode is closed out by the hosts reading the names of all the Patreon subscribers.

Occasionally there are bloopers at the end of the episode or bonus segments where John and Vanessa discuss whether or not certain characters are boyfriend material, each with vastly different qualifying criteria.

Where To Listen
The podcast can be accessed on most podcast services.

Is There More Content?
Square Roots Podcast also offers additional bonus content via Patreon (subscription fee required) and occasionally livestreams to Twitch and Youtube.

How To Contact Square Roots Podcast
The hosts regularly participate with the community via their facebook page (The Square Roots Podcast Group For Cool, Smart, Very Attractive People), Discord server, and [mailto:squarerootspodcast@gmail.com email].

Podcast Episode Link
Episode 0 - What Is Square Roots?

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