designpodcastTTRPG

Turning Spy Podcasts into Game Campaigns: A Designer’s Guide Inspired by The Secret World of Roald Dahl

UUnknown

2026-02-10

9 min read

A step-by-step designer’s guide to turning investigative podcasts like The Secret World of Roald Dahl into playable spy campaigns.

Hook: Turn serialized investigative audio into playable spy campaigns — without losing pacing, mystery, or player agency

Designers: if you’ve ever loved a doc podcast and wondered how to turn its serialized beats into a sessionable TTRPG arc or a branching narrative game, you’re not alone. The surge of investigative audio in late 2025 and early 2026 — including The Secret World of Roald Dahl, a doc podcast from iHeartPodcasts and Imagine Entertainment hosted by Aaron Tracy — creates a perfect, richly textured source of missions, NPCs, and moral ambiguity. But serials are dense, linear, and audio-first: adapting them for interactive play takes structure, tools, and a clear conversion method.

Why this matters in 2026

In 2026 the crossover between podcasts and games is mainstream. Producers are exploring “podcast-to-play” experiences; players expect layered audio, live-streamed sessions, and cross-media authenticity. AI tools now make transcript analysis and pattern extraction quick, while engines like Ink, Twine, and narrative middleware in Unity/Unreal support branching at scale. That means the barrier to turning a serialized investigative podcast (think the Dahl podcast) into playable missions is lower — but the design pitfalls are different: pacing, clue distribution, and preserving ambiguity.

Quick reference: what you’ll get from this guide

Step-by-step conversion workflow for serialized investigative audio
Practical tools & templates for TTRPGs and narrative games
Sample mission outline and NPC stat blocks inspired by Episode 1 of the Dahl podcast
Advanced tips: AI-assisted extraction, branching intel systems, and live-audio integration

Step 1 — Listen, timestamp, and map the audio architecture

Start like a journalist. Don’t adapt the podcast — dissect it.

Transcribe and timestamp. Use a 2026-era ASR tool (OpenAI Whisper variants, Microsoft Azure Speech, or Descript). Export full transcript with timestamps at 10–30s granularity.
Scene-slice the episodes. Break each episode into 3–8 scenes (intro, key interview, reveal, cliffhanger). Label each with: beats, emotional tone, and candidate clues.
Create a beat map. In Miro, Obsidian, or a spreadsheet, map beats to possible session lengths (1–3 hour TTRPG sessions or 15–30 minute game chapters).

Example: The Dahl podcast’s opening might contain a recruitment beat, a clandestine meeting, and a moral reveal. Each is a self-contained mission seed.

Step 2 — Extract clues, leads, and red herrings

A serialized investigation thrives on layers. Your job: turn audio mentions into investigative missions.

Identify explicit clues — names, dates, locations, unique phrases. Mark them as high-confidence clues.
Find implied leads — tone shifts, elliptical references, quiet pauses. These become low-confidence leads players must corroborate.
Design red herrings. Podcasts often foreshadow; keep some foreshadowed items as false leads to preserve mystery.

Tool tip: Use embeddings (2026 LLM pipelines) to cluster transcript segments by topic. That reveals repeating motifs you can convert into interconnected leads.

Step 3 — Define mission skeletons and session pacing

Every episode becomes one or more mission skeletons. Treat each skeleton as a modular block.

Hook: 5–10 minute audio prompt or read-aloud that recreates the podcast beat.
Investigation: 30–90 minutes of active play — interviews, searches, stakeouts.
Climax/Reveal: 10–30 minutes resolving the beat with a discovery or moral fork.
Aftermath: 5–15 minutes to hand off to the next serialized beat (the meta-arc keeps players wanting more).

Design note: Use episode cliffhangers as session hooks. A serialized podcast’s natural beat structure maps well to session-to-session continuity.

Step 4 — Convert characters into playable NPCs and antagonists

Not every audio persona needs a full stat block. Classify NPCs into three types and design accordingly:

Anchor NPCs (major figures, recurring): full stat blocks, motives, secrets, and advancement arcs.
Scene NPCs (interviewees, minor contacts): quick prompts, an agenda, and 2–3 hooks for interrogation.
Atmospheric NPCs (crowd, background): descriptive traits and possible clues.

Sample TTRPG NPC stat block (d20-style)

Use this as a template — tweak to your system.

Name: Captain Evelyn “C” Hart
Role: Case Officer (Anchor)
Motivation: Protect an asset; keep operation compartmentalized
Skills: Deception +6, Persuasion +5, Fieldcraft +4
Secrets: Recorded meeting with Dahl; hidden ledger in Nairobi
Weakness: Loyalty to an old contact — exploitable in social checks

For narrative games use a simplified tag system: tags (Trustworthy, Wary, HasFile), one-sentence goals, and two branching responses for player interaction.

Step 5 — Build a branching intel system

Serialized investigations are networks of intel, not linear clues. Model intel as nodes and dependencies.

Node types: Fact, Lead, Source, Artifact, Red Herring.
Edges: Corroborates, Contradicts, Requires, Unlocks.
State: Unverified, Corroborated, Debunked, Classified.

Implementation approaches

For TTRPGs: physical index cards or a Miro board. Give players “Lead Tokens” to spend verifying nodes.
For narrative games: a lightweight graph database or JSON-backed node system in Ink/Twine. Each node has a verification boolean and branching outputs based on state.
For hybrid/live streams: a public “Intel Board” (Notion + streamed Miro) where viewers can propose leads — great for community engagement.

Design pattern: require two independent corroborations to mark a node as Corroborated. That reduces railroady-solve speed and rewards cross-checking.

Step 6 — Translate audio prompts into gameplay hooks

Podcasts are audio-first; use that. Bring short, diegetic audio clips into sessions as hooks.

Snippet as starter: Play a 30–60s podcast clip to open the session and set tone.
Found audio: Use “leaked tape” snippets players find in-game — then they must authenticate and trace origin.
Audio puzzles: Clues hidden in cadence, background noises, or specific words — perfect for auditory puzzles in narrative games.

Accessibility note: always provide transcripts for sessions and in-game audio prompts.

Step 7 — Pace reveals and control meta-information

A serialized podcast may reveal a big truth across episodes. For interactivity, split revelations into micro-reveals.

Give players partial evidence early to generate hypotheses.
Hold the full reveal until players meet verification requirements.
Use “forced ambiguity” moments where the GM or system supplies conflicting intel to create tension.

Example: an audio mention that Dahl had “liaisons” becomes a set of verifiable documents and an unreliable witness. Let players decide which to trust.

Step 8 — System-specific conversions

TTRPG (tabletop) checklist

Session guide: hook, 3 investigative scenes, a moral fork, and a cliffhanger.
NPC dossier: motives, three prompts, one secret.
Intel board: physical index cards + verification rules.
Mechanic: use a resource like “Press” or “Contacts” points to get extra info; limit to keep stakes high.

Narrative game (digital) checklist

Node schema: id, text, audioClip, leads[], state.
Branching logic: 2–3 major branches per episode — too many branches explode content costs.
Replayability: randomize one false lead per playthrough and re-seed audio clues.
Integration: store transcript in searchable embeddings for in-game hint system (caveat: verify AI outputs to avoid hallucinations).

Step 9 — Use AI to accelerate — responsibly

AI tools in 2026 let you auto-extract themes, generate NPC bios, and propose branching trees. Use them as assistants — not authorities.

Extraction: LLMs can summarize episodes into beat lists and candidate clues.
Clustering: embeddings reveal recurring motifs to turn into campaign leitmotifs.
Drafting: generate NPC dialogue stubs and then human-edit for verisimilitude.

Red flag: LLMs sometimes invent specifics. Always cross-check generated facts against the transcript, especially with real-world subjects like Roald Dahl.

Case study: Converting Episode 1 (Dahl podcast) into a 3-session TTRPG arc

Context: Deadline’s exclusive described the series as one that "peels back the secret spy life of the beloved children’s author". Use that tone but center your arc on recruitment, first mission, and moral fallout.

Session 1 — Recruitment (Hook + Investigation)

Hook: 60s audio clip of a recruitment vignette
Objective: learn why the subject (Dahl-analog) was chosen
Key NPCs: The Officer (Anchor), Young Author (Scene NPC)
Clues to plant: a torn telegram, a false passport, the name of a contact in Cairo
Cliffhanger: a voice-mail from an unknown source with partial coordinates

Session 2 — Fieldwork (Investigation + Conflict)

Hook: players must tail a contact in Nairobi
Mechanics: pursuit rules + social probe to extract an address
Branch: expose contact (leads to asset extraction) or spare them (gains long-term ally)
Cliffhanger: discovery that the ledger contains someone’s name tied to a cultural institution — moral choice

Session 3 — Reveal & Reachback (Climax + Aftermath)

Hook: an NPC provides a recorded confession; players must validate it
Mechanics: verification roll + use of assets
Outcome: reveal changes public narrative — set up the next episode’s arc

Meta-episode scoring: grant players “Clout” for discoveries that become in-game puzzle points across later episodes.
Community hooks: let live audiences vote on which lead the players pursue, but keep the core beat intact.
Season finale planning: craft a reveal that recontextualizes prior sessions — serialized podcasts are built around reframing; your campaign should do the same.

Legal and ethical notes

When adapting real-world investigative audio (like the Dahl podcast), check rights. Use public-domain facts, original fiction, or secure licenses. Also, be sensitive to living people referenced in real investigations and prefer fictionality or anonymization when in doubt.

Toolbox — Practical resources (2026 edition)

Transcription & audio editing: Descript, Otter.ai, Whisper.
Knowledge mapping: Obsidian, Roam, Miro.
Branching engines: Ink, Twine, Articy, Yarn Spinner.
Game VTTs: Foundry VTT, Roll20 for tabletop; Unity/Unreal for custom narrative games.
AI helpers: LLMs for summarization, embeddings for semantic search — always human-verify outputs.

Actionable takeaways — Your 48-hour adaptation sprint

Day 1 Morning: Transcribe one episode; create a 6–8 beat map.
Day 1 Afternoon: Extract 8 candidate clues; classify 3 as red herrings.
Day 1 Evening: Draft one mission skeleton and two NPC dossiers.
Day 2 Morning: Build a mini-intel graph (Miro); assign verification rules.
Day 2 Afternoon: Run a 2-hour playtest or a 30-minute digital prototype with one branch.
Day 2 Evening: Iterate based on player confusion points and tighten audio prompts.

“The Secret World of Roald Dahl peels back the secret spy life of the beloved children’s author.” — Deadline (Jan 2026)

Final notes: what makes a podcast-to-game adaptation sing

It’s not about slavish fidelity. The best conversions keep the audio’s mood and investigative logic while embracing interactivity. That means building branching intel systems that reward curiosity, designing NPCs with agendas you can interrogate, and using audio as both atmosphere and playable evidence.

Call to action

Ready to adapt a serialized podcast into playable missions? Start small: pick one episode of the Dahl podcast, run a 2-hour session using this template, and share the results with the Squads.live community. Want the template we used here (beat map, NPC dossier, intel graph JSON)? Download it on squads.live/adapt and tag your session #PodcastToPlay — we’ll feature the best player-driven conversions in our next newsletter.

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