Hey y’all! We’re the STF 

We first formed when four friends decided to review the Game of Thrones television show through the lens of those that had read the books. At the time, we called ourselves Southern Tomfoolery, wanting to represent the best sides of the South, seeing as that’s where we all have our roots. After a time, we decided to use the podcast medium to share our thoughts with each other and a few other listeners. Ah, the good ole days of huddling together around a single iPhone and sharing our poorly recorded, nerdy opinions with the world. But these humble beginnings helped to mold the group into what it would become.

These days, we’re a little more sophisticated when it comes to recording.

Enter: Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Heath, having recently watched HarmonQuest, suggested that we all try a tabletop RPG. Well, you say one thing involving, “I have an idea for a project” around Adam, and you know what happens next... Suddenly he’s chosen a cast, drawn up a recording schedule, and composed an original theme song for the show.

So we finally all got together and gave it a try. Our very first campaign, like many before us, was the Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition, Lost Mines of Phandelver. From there things only got better.

STF grew from four guys playing on a whim, to a group of 10 people playing no less than three games on a regular weekly/biweekly schedule.

We started recording our games for our own memories and to share with friends. As the campaign evolved and we continued to record and share our RPG shenanigans with those nerdy enough to be interested, we realized that we had grown a true passion for TTRPG storytelling. So after months of researching, conversations, and character building, we decided to give this thing a serious try and do a real play podcast.

But, in true STF fashion, we went about it in a rather unorthodox manner. Did we decide to play the D&D 5th edition system which we were all familiar with? Nope! We decided to instead learn a brand new system with Paizo's Starfinder! But who could blame us?

The Starfinder system is all the best things rolled into one; Aliens? Check. Elves? Check. Magic? Check. Super awesome kick ass space ships that you get to fly using the skill and know-how of each member of your team? Double check! Needless to say, we all really enjoyed the premise of the system and thought that giving listeners an opportunity to learn the game along with us would be informative and most likely hilarious as we make inevitable mistakes along the way.

Here comes space fantasy…

And well, here we are, literally hundreds of episodes later and we’re still goin’ strong! Now we’ve got three whole seasons of the Apollo Protection Agency podcast, as well as a second public Starfinder podcast with Live and Let Fly, our playthrough of the Fly Free or Die adventure path. We’ve had so many amazing guests and friends come hang out with us on both our STFUnlimited and STF&Friends shows, Patreon exclusive content, and we’ve been able to host an online gaming convention AND STFConline is now annual! And that’s especially thanks to the support of our amazing community, whom we fondly know as the Possum Kingdom.

So, that's our story so far. We're here to spread our love of gaming and share our passion for storytelling to any and all who will listen. We hope to spotlight the unique flavor and creative talents of not only the South, but also the wide world of amazing friends we’ve made throughout this wonderful journey. And most of all, we want to have a good time playing a great game with some amazing friends. We hope y'all enjoy the ride!

And you know know what?

We’ll See ya!

Meet the STF

  • Adam Kelly

    Strange Table Friends' Creative Director and Resident GM piloted this gaming crew's starship into podcasting from day one. He and his wife live in New Orleans, where he continues his love for improvisation through music. A master herder of cats, slinger of sarcasm, and champion of fools, Adam leads this group through adventures with a mixture of tough love and absurdity.

  • Emily Summerlin

    Emily has been with the STF Network for nearly 4 years. She lives in the Jackson, Mississippi area with her husband, 2 dogs and 2 cats. She has a movie reaction/review channel on YouTube, and when not playing/GMing various TTRPGs, Emily can be found tormenting others with terrible puns or doing weird things to her hair. She loves foxes and possums and is terrified of penguins. Yes, penguins. They are the Devil’s birds and will bring doom to us all.

  • Heath Parker

    Heath has been an STF member since the very beginning. Hailing from the Hattiesburg, MS area, Heath has a love of books, funk music, Cajun food, football, and combat sports as well as Role Playing Games of many kinds. He's a direct but friendly guy, just be prepared for an argument if you utter an unkind word about the New Orleans Saints.

  • John Thomas

    John has been playing with the STF crew for roughly 3 years. Starting off on 5E with Adam running the campaigns, he's since added the Paizo format to his list of TTRPGs. An average tech nerd who's been guilted into fixing the computers of friends and loved ones and was dumb enough to make it into a career. When he's not reading the Core Rulebook or playing, he's either resolving tribal disputes, one-arm wrestling bears, or jet-setting in his private plane.

  • Josh Richards

    Josh has been playing with STF for about 5 years. He is our resident tech nerd and resides in Jackson, Mississippi. When not playing TTRPGs, you'll probably find him tinkering with one of his many keyboards, playing one of the 700+ video games in his backlog, or trying (and failing) to catch up on movies and anime.

  • Zac Evans

    Zac is a founding member of STF. When he isn’t busy managing emergencies, he enjoys music, storytelling, and gaming. Although reserved and aloof at times, he loves to discuss topics he's passionate about for hours on end. A critic at heart, he’ll always give you his honest opinion.

  • Dustin Robinett

    Dustin has been the shadow on the sidelines since the beginning of STF. He rolled dice with the gang in Storm King’s Thunder, and now makes his STF debut in Under The Table. He lives in the woods of Mississippi with his equally weird and wonderful wife and their two crazy chaotic and kind kids. In his limited free time, if he’s not playing TTRPGS with the gang, he’s typically playing Magic: The Gathering, reading some ridiculous LitRPG, or tending to his ever expanding vegetable garden.