Yes Indie'd Pod
By Thomas M
Yes Indie'd PodApr 29, 2024
Hardcore RPG Theory (w/ Sidney Icarus)
On this week's episode, I talk to Sidney Icarus, a game designer of, among other things, the scifi horror game, Decaying Orbit, published by Storybrewers Roleplaying, which won the 2023 ARPIA Game of the Year. But I first heard of them as the fantastic host of the now-concluded Hard Move, a wonderful podcast where every episode, Sidney and a guest analysed one move from a PbtA game.
Show Notes:
03:12 - RPG Descriptivist
14:49 - The "Who Says What When" Framework
22:06 - What is Action Paths?
32:04 - Analyzing Decaying Orbit using Action Paths
1:08:46 - Sidney's next game: The Most Dangerous Game
1:12:03 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Bump in the Dark
1:13:50 - Tyranny of Numbers
1:16:50 - RePlay
1:18:14 - All advice is advice for myself
Making a TTRPG Career (w/ Sebastian Yue)
On today's show, we're talking ship with Sebastian Yue, a game designer, writer, and editor. Apart from their own self-published games and DMs Guild modules, They work full-time at Hit Point Press which is best known for various very succesful third party D&D 5e products like Heckna and Humblewood. They've also contributed as a designer to some wonderful projects like Apocalypse Keys, Cloud Empress, ennie-award winning Uncaged Goddesses anthology, and the currently in-progress official Tomb Raider RPG.
Show Notes
04:18 Getting started with game design
15:18 Working full-time at Hitpoint Press
22:10 Being in both the D&D and indie game communities
24:15 All about editing: style guides & more
29:50 Future plans
34:07 Advice for aspiring game designers
36:56 Infectious Enthusiasm: Ingkit by Pukepeku Games
38:15 Tyranny of Numbers: Annual earnings
42:15 RePlay
43:43 All Advice is Advice for Myself
Getting Weirder Than Lovecraft (w/ Graham Walmsley)
Today, we're talking to Graham Walmsley, the celebrated game designer behind tabletop RPGs like Cthulhu Dark and A Taste for Murder, larps like Will That Be All, and lovecraftian scenarios for games like Trail of Cthulhu. He's also the author of two non-fiction books called Stealing Cthulhu about telling lovecraftian stories and Play Unsafe about techniques for being a better player of tabletop games. This year, he's got two new games out, Cosmic Dark, a sequel to Cthulhu Dark about corporate employees in space, and Darkenwood, a GM-less game about a nightmarish forest.
Show Notes:
01:41 Introducing Graham
03:07 Starting with Lovecraft
12:08 What is weird fiction?
16:55 All the cool stuff in Cosmic Dark
26:24 Rules, advice, setting
39:22 Infectious Enthusiasm: Lumberjills by Moira Turkington
41:50 Tyranny of Numbers
43:44 RePlay
46:25 All Advice is Advice for Myself
The Awards (w/ Nico MacDougall and Tan Shao Han)
This week, we're talking to Nico MacDougall and returning guest Tan Shao Han about The Awards, an alternative tabletop RPG awards project.
Show Notes:
03:56 Introductions
13:31 Being a judge
16:09 The process of picking a winner
21:30 Who should be a judge?
25:36 Infectious Enthusiasm
27:59 Tyranny of Numbers: Breaking down submissions to the Awards
31:02 All Advice is Advice for Myself
Reading The F**king Manual (w/ Max Lander & Aaron King)
Today we're talking to Max and Aaron from RTFM. Maxwell Lander is a game designer, photographer, visual artist, and also musician with an album of dungeon synth. Aaron King is a game designer whose works including Patchwork World Sixth Edition. They are both the co-hosts of RTFM, an RPG book club podcast.
Show Notes:
[00:02:49] Why start an RPG bookclub podcast?
[00:14:43] What each person brings to the table
[00:28:47] Critiquing RPGs as an artform
[00:41:24] Infectious Enthusiasm: Sagas of the Icelanders, Bloodfeud
[00:45:03] Tyranny of Numbers
[00:50:08] RePlay
[00:53:13] All Advice is Advice For Myself: Prep more, be less?
Other Links:
It's up to you really, an all vtuber actual play of Patchwork World
Meeting Games Where They're At [w/ Quinns]
Today, we're talking to Quintin Smith aka Quinns, who has been reviewing boardgames for more than a decade with the iconic show, Shut Up and Sit Down. Then about 3 years ago, Quintin joined People Make Games to cover everything from Roblox's relationship to child labour to the battle for ownership and control of Disco Elysium, from the revival of kabaddi in India to phenomenon that is jubensha in china. Now, he's gone and started Quinns Quest, a new youtube channel to review tabletop roleplaying games that feels like a lot like that one weird show where William Riker from Star Trek looked at the camera and asked us if we believed in ghosts. Don't worry, listeners, we're going to ask the question on everyone's mind: why?
Show Notes:
[00:02:00] What makes a good review?
[00:08:02] Horror versus Tension: one of the challenges of reviewing RPGs
[00:16:12] Would you ever do a bad review?
[00:23:22] Why playing games are vital for reviews
[00:40:44] Infectious Enthusiasm: World Wide Wrestling by Nathan Paoletta
[00:43:26] Tyranny of Numbers: Youtube drop-off
[00:45:12] Replay
[00:50:31] All Advice is Advice For Myself: Use your hands?
Other references:
I mentioned an article by Quinn Murphy which talks about promises, consistency and economy, you can find that here
If you liked this podcast, you'll probably love the Indie RPG Newsletter
Games That Make You Cry In A Panera (w/ Hannah Shaffer and Evan Rowland)
On this episode, we have Hannah Schaffer and Evan Rowland, the two creators behind indie game design outfit, turtlebun. They've published games like Questlandia, Noirlandia, Damn the man save the music, Mud: a golem memoir, and many more. You can find more about those games at turtlebun.com.
Evan and Hannah also co-host a podcast called Design Doc , which is in their own words, about "trying to make a living as people putting things out in the world". If you read any reviews of that show, you'll hear it being described with words like honest, vulnerable, caring, friendly. It's one of my favourite podcasts in the world and you should listen to it. Then, you can too get vulnerable insights into the daily practice of being a game designer and you can also learn that Carrie Fisher once overtweezed Hannah's mom eyebrows at a workshop.
Show Notes:
02:46 Getting started (Evan reinvents microtransactions)
09:07 Going from making big things to making medium-small things
11:30 Getting deep with Design Doc
25:00 What is collaboration and how do you even do it?
36:25 Infections Enthusiasm: The Beast and Usagi Yojimbo
39:40 Tyranny of Numbers
43:46 RePlay
45:33 All Advice Is Advice For Myself
Some of my personal greatest hits from Design Doc :
Bonus: Open Hearth's Games of the Year 2023
A guest episode on the feed today as I share with you something from the folks over at Playing at the Hearth, the podcast from the Open Hearth gaming community. It's a nice, welcoming online place where people from all over the place get together and play games. It's like having access to a convention all year round. If you'd like to join, head over to their website.
This episode has members of the community sharing their favourite games played in 2023. Lot of cool games mentioned and I add my 2 cents at the very end but I also got to play in two campaigns mentioned by other people which was Capitalites and Nahual.
Best of 2023: Games Recommended By Guests
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In this round-up episode for 2023, every single one of my guests sounds off about one game that they want to recommend to you!
[00:02:05] Judd Karlmann recommends Into the Odd, The Between, and As The Sun Forever Sets
[00:05:55] Lowell Francis recommends Eclipse Phase 2nd Edition
[00:08:27] Jahmal Brown recommends Legacy: Life Among The Ruins 2nd Edition
[00:12:05] Indrani Ganguly recommends Alice is Missing, Blase Monotony, and Bubble Bubble
[00:13:55] Tan Shao Han recommends The Nightmares Underneath
[00:17:07] Fiona Hopkins and Stephanie Burt recommend Wool of Bat and Monsterhearts
[00:20:20] Paul Beakley recommends a|state and Fellowship
[00:24:08] Becky Annison recommends Escape from Tentacle City
[00:27:38] Emily Friedman recommends The Quiet Year
[00:29:46] Chris Chinn recomends Errant
[00:31:58] Josh Fox recommends Microscope and Microscope Union
[00:35:23] Evan Torner recommends Prism
Listen to the other round-up episodes of 2023 on the Yes Indie'd patreon!
What We Get From Studying Games (w/ Evan Torner)
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Evan Torner is the Associate Professor of German Studies and Film / Media Studies at University of Cincinnati. He's the Director, UC Game Lab and has a co-edited volume (with William J. White) entitled Immersive Gameplay: Essays on Role-Playing and Participatory Media. He's also co-founder and one of the editors at Analog Game Studies, which has been publishing research into RPGs and larps for more than ten years, and the Golden Cobra Challenge, which is a larp competition. He's a lifelong game master and a game designer and larpwright including his freeform scenario “Metropolis” was nominated for an award at Fastaval.
Show Notes:
[00:02:38] Starting out as a GM
[00:10:02] Railroading Is Good Actually
[00:22:20] Actor stance is "commercially default, not culturally default"
[00:29:43] Where do tabletop RPGs stand in game studies?
[00:39:55] Game design as media analysis
[00:45:19] Infectious Enthusiasm: Prism by Whitney Delaglio
[00:46:54] Tyranny of Numbers
[00:49:17] RePlay
[00:51:21] All Advice Is Advice For Myself
Transcript of the entire episode can be found here.
Teaching Games: Girl by Moonlight
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The is the second in a series of special episodes meant to teach some of my favourite indie RPGs. Tune in to hear Andrew Gillis, designer of the stunning Girl by Moonlight.
In Girl by Moonlight, you play a group of magical girls resisting an oppressive society. It explores the heartbreak of denying who you really are, and the transcendent power of relationships and community. It's one of the best games to come out of the lineage of Blades in the Dark and will undoubtedly inspire a slew of games in its own right.
You can learn more on the Evil Hat website or on the Backerkit page.
Transcript of the entire episode can be found here.
Chapter Markers:
[00:05:32] Introduction to Girl by Moonlight, Series Creation,
[00:11:12] Character Creation: Playbook, Roles, Backgrounds
[00:18:24] Character Creation: Obligation, Actions, Attributes, Promises
[00:35:29] Cycle of Plays, Obligation Phase
[00:46:46] Downtime Phase
[00:49:49] Mission Phase, Engagement Roll, Action Roll, Position/Effect, Resistance Roll
[01:16:57] Fallout, Campaign Tracks
How To Run A Publishing Company: The Black Armada Story (w/ Josh Fox)
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Josh Fox is the award-winning designer of Flotsam: Adrift Amongst The Stars and Last Fleet. He's the co-designer of the highly influential GMless mystery game, Lovecraftesque alongside Becky Annison. And the two of them together run Black Armada Publishing, a UK-based publisher which has been putting out inventive roleplaying games for more than a decade. Josh is also the editor and cast member of Black Armada Tales, an actual play podcast that features a bunch of different indie games.
Lovecraftesque 2e is crowdfunding on BackerKit right now.
Show Notes:
04:18 - How Black Armada Began (2012)
08:17 - Lovecraftesque (2015)
25:34 - Lovecraftesque in Italian + Blacklight/UV Artwork
30:10 - Gaps in releases (2015-2017)
33:16 - Flotsam (2018)
41: 41 - Collaborations + Bite Marks (2019)
45:01 - Last Fleet (2020)
1:00:44 - Financial Side of Publishing
1:05:44 - Lovecraftesque 2e (2023)
1:14:15 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Microscope Union
1:16:39 - Tyranny of Numbers: Backerkit Advertising
1:22:33 - All Advice is Advice For Myself: Speaking Out Loud
Bonus: Discussing Band of Blades on DiceExploder
Hello! A cross-post in the feed today.
This in an episode I did with Sam Dunnewold for his podcast, Dice Exploder, where every episode is a deep dive into a single RPG mechanic (usually) from a specific game. I talk about the Secondary Mission roll from Band of Blades which is a very cool mechanic that I love to think about. It basically inspired me to make a whole game at one point.
This is an early release of the episode. It'll only be on Dice Exloder's feed by the end of the month. It's a great podcast and I totally recommend subscribing on your podcatcher of choice. Sam is also crowdfunding a third season of Dice Exploder, so check that out as well.
Teaching Games: Apocalypse Keys
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The first episode in a series of special episodes meant to teach some of my favourite indie RPGs. Listen in to hear Rae Nedjadi, designer of Apocalypse Keys, teach you how to play his game.
In Apocalypse Keys, you play OMEN-class monsters working for an organisation named DIVISION tasked with holding back the apocalypse. Inspired by Hellboy and BPRD, the players struggle to find Keys before the villainous Harbingers unlock the Doors of Power and bring doom on the world.
You can learn more on the Evil Hat website or on the itch page.
Transcript of the entire episode can be found here.
Timestamps:
[00:05:36] Part One - Introduction
[00:12:46] Part Two - Character Creation: Name, Origins, Prophecy
[00:24:19] Part Three - Darkness Tokens, Powers of Darkness, What the Darkness Demands
[00:35:28] Part Four - Basic Moves, Conditions
[01:00:00] Part Five - Ruin, Ruin Moves, Bonds, End of Session
[01:13:53] Part Six - Building out DIVISION, Running A Mystery
Reading 1000 RPG Books (w/ Layla Adelman)
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Layla Adelman, who goes by the handle pandatheist in RPG spaces, is a rpg designer, writer, and serial twitter thread writer. She's one of the co-designers of the Illuminated Worlds system for Critical Role's Darrington Press. This is the system which powers Candela Obscura and potentially other unannounced games. She was an Ennies judge two years. She blogs over at Bone Box Chant at wordpress.com, including a major series collating and analysing statistics around Kickstarter's ZineQuest and a series of interviews with TTRPG editors. You can follow her on BlueSky and Mastodon.
Show Notes:
01:04 - Layla's Introduction
08:18 - Masks of Nyarlathotep and GMing like an editor
15:53 - Layla's approach to reviewing
29:26 - Tips for writing a good rulebook
35:48 - Games Layla is excited about
39:54 - Tyranny of Numbers
41:11 - All Advice Is Advice For Myself
Reviewing Games on Youtube (w/ Dave Thaumavore)
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Dave is a youtuber, reviewer and game designer. His Youtube channel, Dave Thaumavore RPG Reviews, currently has about 180 videos and more than 25,000 subscribers. He's also got a great newsletter where he publishes written interviews game design luminaries. Links to all of this stuff will be in the show notes. He's designed supplements for the Index Card RPG but his most recent standalone game is Fluxfall Horizon, a zany, scifi PbtA game of dimension hopping do-gooders (and some potential do-badders).
Show Notes:
00:52 - Introducing Dave
01:56 - Youtube journey and the challenge of constant comparison with other creators
09:29 - Dave's process
15:34 - Making sponsored content
16:55 - Favorite games to review
21:43 - Do reviewers have to play games?
35:52 - Advice for reviewers
38:12 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Wanderhome
39:22 - Tyranny of Numbers
41:45 - All Advice is Advice for Myself
15 Years of Deeper In The Game (w/ Chris Chinn)
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Christopher Chinn is the blogger behind the long-running and well-loved Deeper in the Game blog. He's probably best-known for the Same Page Tool. But started in 2007, the blog has 15 years of thoughtful and insightful writing and advice on RPG design and play.
Show Notes:
01:17 - Introducing Chris
02:54 - The origin of the blog (also "rules are for preventing bitterness between friends")
9:56 - How Chris learned to ditch the railroad and embrace improvisation
23:34 - On playing with and writing for geeks of color
26:35 - Why the Same Page Tool shouldn't exist
37:38 - Advice for new bloggers
41:29 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Errant
43:37 - Tyranny of Numbers
46:20 - Replay: Tenra Bansho Zero
48:49 - All Advice Is Advice For Myself
Actual Play, Actual Work (w/ Emily Friedman)
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Emily C. Friedman is an associate professor of English at Auburn University and director of 18thconnect, a website dedicated to scholarship of the 18th century. Though an 18th-century literature scholar and critic by training, Emily is now one of the foremost chroniclers of the phenomenon we call actual play. She teaches games and actual play in the classroom and regularly writes about actual play on gaming website, Polygon. In fact, as of recording this, we're close to the one year anniversary of her first piece on Polygon, about New York by Night, a Vampire the Masquerade AP. She's also working on a book titled Improvised Worlds: Digital Storytelling Through Play. Also, here's her youtube channel, CriticalProf.
Show Notes:
00:46 - Emily's bio
02:28 - How did you start working on actual play?
09:22 - What is actual play anyway?
15:39 - The state of actual play today
23:07 - Examples of actual play that break the form
36:52 - Infectious Enthusiasm: The Quiet Year
38:42 - Tyranny of Numbers
40:07 - All Advice Is Advice For Myself
If you'd like a written transcript for this episode, you can find it here.
How To Summon Demons With Cards (w/ Becky Annison)
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On this episode, I'm talking to Becky Annison, the co-founder of UK-based design company, Black Armada Games. She's the award-winning designer of When the Dark Is Gone, part of the Seven Wonders anthology from Pelgrane Press. And is probably best known for the high drama werewolf game, Bite Marks, and GM-less mystery game, Lovecraftesque, on which she's the co-designer. When she's not working on games, she's a lawyer who works on high level climate change issues.
Check out Wreck This Deck on Backerkit.
Show notes:
00:41 - Becky's Introduction
05:25 - Being the UK's Queen of the Werewolves
10:18 - Wreck This Deck
20:18 - Favourite Demon
27:43 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Escape From Tentacle City
30:47 - RePlay
35:30 - All Advice Is Advice For Myself
If you'd like a written transcript for this episode, you can find it here.
Reading Indie Games At The Club (w/ Paul Beakley)
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This week, we're talking to Paul Beakley has been involved with the games industry since at least the mid 1990s. He's a Game Chef finalist, a Golden Cobra honourable mention, and an official designer/adventure module writer for games like Deadlands, Earthdawn, Mutant Chronicles and more. He's also been writing about games for a long time, across various websites, forums, and magazines like Pyramid and Inphobia. But we're here today to talk about the Indie Game Reading Club, which began on the long lost shores of GooglePlus in 2015. It's now a standalone website and slack community where there's a lot of great writing and discussion of small-press storygames. I love reading it and you will too!
Show notes:
1:38 - Starting the Indie Game Reading Club
16:32 - Why do we write about games?
21:31 - Roleplaying as faith practice
26:03 - How to be critical without being mean
38:02 - Who is your audience?
43:54 - Infectious Enthusiasm: a|state, Fellowship
49:58 - Tyranny of Numbers: the economics of criticism
51:53 - RePlay
59:30 - All Advice Is Advice For Myself
This episode was edited by Gabriel Caetano.
All Superhero RPGs, All The Time [w/ Fiona Hopkins and Stephanie Burt]
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On this episode, I'm chatting with Fiona Hopkins and Stephanie Burt, who are the co-hosts of Team Up Moves, a podcast about playing and discussing superhero tabletop RPGs. I'm a big fan of the podcast and so I reached out to the two of them. Apart from RPGs, Fiona is a front-end software engineer by trade who worked at Google, Twitter, the City of Boston and now the Democratic party. Stephanie is a poet and a professor of English at Harvard University. She's also a critic, who has published a number of books, which you can read about on her Wikipedia page, which she has.
Show Notes:
00:43 - Introducing Fiona and Stephanie
01:51 - Why supeheroes?
13:28 - Analyzing superhero RPGs
34:01 - Picking games for the podcast
44:02 - Infections Enthusiasm: Wool of Bat, Monsterhearts 2
50:21 - Tyranny of Numbers
52:13 - All Advice Is Advice For Myself
You can find a written transcript of the episode here.
Singapore, History, & RPGs (w/ Tan Shao Han)
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On this episode, we're talking to Tan Shao Han, a TTRPG designer, writer, and cultural consultant from Singapore. He's contributed words to various Paizo Pathfinder books, including Lost Omens: Impossible Lands, new Dagger Isles supplement for Blades in the Dark, and other games like Monster Care Squad and ARC.
He's the co-founder of Curious Chimeras, a company that makes games and games-adjacent interactive experiences. Shao Han interestingly did his Master’s Thesis on tabletop role-playing games and their ability to engage, empower and educate.
Show notes:
00:27 - Shao Han's bio
01:41 - Learning D&D from videogame manuals
08:01 - Merging gaming and history and mythology
23:08 - Da Xia, a WIP game of folk heroes in WW2 Singapore
24:04 - Showcasing indie RPGs in the community
33:42 - Infectious Enthusiasm: The Nightmares Underneath
36:28 - Tyranny of Numbers
37:48 - RePlay
38:46 - All Advice Is Advice For Myself
You can find a written transcript of the episode here.
Building India's RPG Scene (w/ Indrani Ganguly)
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On this episode, we're talking to Indrani Ganguly who is the marketing manager for Hunters Entertainment, the publisher of Kids on Bikes, Alice is Missing, among other games. She is also the co-founder of Desis n Dragons, probably India's largest community of tabletop roleplayers. Of which, I am a humble member. Indrani is also a dicemaker, an artisan, making beautiful and custom math rocks under the name Nonagon Dice. She was a part of last year's Big Bad Con PoC Leadership Team and expertly organized the India programme where three people from India were invited to attend Big Bad Con 2022. She is an inductee of the TheGameAwards Future Class of 2022.
Show notes:
00;30 - Indrani's bio
02:24 - Getting started
08:26 - Starting Desis & Dragons
14:14 - The vision for the community
24:04 - Showcasing indie RPGs in the community
30:03 - Marketing TTRPGs
35:50 - Up All Night, a game of bargaining with your brain for one night's rest
37:29 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Alice is Missing, blase monotony, Bubble Bubble
38:54 - Tyranny of Numbers
40:24 - RePlay
41:52 - All Advice Is Advice For Myself
You can find a written transcript of the episode here.
The RPG Dream Hustle (w/ Mad Jay Zero)
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On this episode, we're speaking to Jahmal Brown aka Mad Jay Zero. Jay is a podcaster, designer and rockstar GM. His podcast Diceology features interviews with folks from the RPG scene as well as fun recaps of his various games in Last Week in Gaming. As a game designer, he's contributed words to books like Pathfinder's magnificent Mwangi Expanse as well as designed his own games, Lifted Vol 1: Indomitable, a people with superpowers game primed by cortex. He also did some Pro GMing before it became cool when he kickstarted a West Marches campaign called Into the Mad Lands.
Show Notes:
01:05 - Introduction to Jay
04:13 - About the Diceology podcast (talking to Mike Pondsmith and Sarah Doombringer)
06:19 - Jay, on playing with kids
10:45 - Jay's 30+ session Twilight 2000 campaign
14:16 - GMing Practices
21:50 - Running West Marches
28:36 - Lifted Vol 1: Indomitable
37:43 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Legacy 2e: Life Among The Ruins
41:09 - Tyranny of Numbers: Kickstarter Advice
47:40 - RePlay: Jay shares story from Lifted/Champions Now about every table making corporate superhero teams
You can find a written transcript of the episode here.
The Encyclopedic GM (w/ Lowell Francis)
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On this episode, we're speaking to Lowell Francis the writer behind the Ennie award winning RPG blog, Age of Ravens, which you can find at ageofravensgames.com. He's the co-designer of the fantastic Hearts of Wulin, a PbtA game of wuxia melodrama. He is also the Gauntlet Gaming Community Manager and co-host of Gauntlet Podcast. He is a comics author (he wrote Superman!), met his wife playing Magic the Gathering, and got knocked over by the fifth Dr. Who at a signing event.
Show Notes:
00:45 - Introducing Lowell
02:56 - Discussing Age of Ravens
07:08 - Reviews
12:12 - RPG Chronology Lists
15:43 - Post-Apocalyptic Games
20:57 - GMing Styles
26:54 - PbtA and Hearts of Wulin
34:20 - Community Management
41:04 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Eclipse Phase 2nd Edition
42:44 - Tyranny of Numbers: GMing 200 Games a Year
48:05 - RePlay: Scott Pilgrim via Hearts of Wulin
This episode comes with a transcript automatically. If your podcast reader does not display the transcript, you can find a version here.
The GM Who Talks To Goats (with Judd Karlman)
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On this episode, we're speaking to Judd Karlman, the podcaster behind Daydreaming about Dragons, my personal favourite source of GM advice. Every episode of his podcast has two parts: table techniques, where Judd talks offers techniques to play roleplaying games, and inspiration goat, where a real goat recommends media to Judd and he explains how that media can inspire your game. Judd is also the author of gaming supplements, most notably Dictionary of Mu, a setting for Sorcerer written like a dictionary. And you can find Judd's blog at GithyankiDiaspora.com. Also on reddit, where he's often on DM advice subreddits helping new DMs picking up D&D for the first time.
Some helpful timestamps:
00:54 - Introducing Judd
02:24 - Talking about Sons of Kryos, an early experiment in RPG podcasting
06:38 - Talking about friendly versus snarky advice, and generally the problem of talking on the internet
11:47 - My favourite episodes of Daydreaming about Dragons: Episode 85. Playing Chess With Villains and Episode 70. Making World History Relevant.
24:45 - How Judd preps for games
26:10 - Using socialism to find the fun in dungeons (the municipal, unionized dungeon-delving actual play with Sean Nittner)
31:19 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Judd recommends The Between, Into the Odd, and As The Sun Forever Sets
34:48 - Tyranny of Numbers: Judd shares his podcasting statistics
37:30 - RePlay: Judd shares a Dictionary of Mu gaming story
If your podcast player supports transcripts, you should see one automatically. Otherwise, please go here for a full transcript.
Marx Shepherd discusses Yes Indie'd Pod
Thomas Manuel
Marx interviews Thomas Manuel about games journalism, the synergy or dissonance between being a playwright and being a game designer, and about his games The Spider and the City, Hypercity, and Depths Unfathomable.
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showCezar Capacle discusses Push
Marx interviews Cezar Capacle about Push and philosophies of game design, I Guess This Is It and minimalist story gaming, and how to publicise oneself in a post-Twitter world.
This episode is kindly sponsored by Matthew Gravelyn, whose game Tapestry is available now.
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showMichael Low discusses Starsworn
Marx interviews Michael Low of Luck of Legends Games about games in the classroom, education in games, and about the choose-your-own-adventure colouring book RPG training manual Starsworn.
This episode is kindly sponsored by Matthew Gravelyn, whose game Tapestry is available now.
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showThomas Eliot discusses Fear of the Unknown
Marx interviews Thomas Eliot of Sixpence Games about Fear of the Unknown, a one-shot game of building towns and investigating horrors.
This episode is kindly sponsored by Kurt Refling and Ian Howard, whose game Here We Used to Fly is on Kickstarter now.
- The Midnight World official website
- The Midnight World on Facebook
- The Midnight World on DTRPG / Itchio
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showJames Davey discusses The Midnight World
Marx interviews James Davey of Gem and Eye Games about The Midnight World, a game about mental health, world-altering powers, and terrifying gods from other dimensions.
This episode is kindly sponsored by Kurt Refling and Ian Howard, whose game Here We Used to Fly is on Kickstarter now.
- The Midnight World official website
- The Midnight World on Facebook
- The Midnight World on DTRPG / Itchio
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showAnnouncement - September 2022
A brief announcement about the future of Yes Indie'd Pod.
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showIPM 2022 - Draw Your Dice
Marx interviews Jeremy Gage of Have You Played This, whose podcast Draw Your Dice is an educational podcast exploring how to make TTRPGs.
This week’s sponsor is By Odins Beard RPG whose game We Deal In Lead is available for pre-order now! Or, check out the Other Worlds game jam on Itchio.
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showIPM 2022 - The Lost Bay
Marx interviews Iko of The Lost Bay Podcast, a podcast focusing on indie TTRPG zines and their creators.
This week’s sponsor is Elijah Mills whose game Campfire is out now!
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showSpooky Bell Games discuss Beyond Deep
Marx interviews Chris and Wes of Spooky Bell Games about Beyond Deep, an adventure and locale for Mörk Borg set in a mining company town.
This week’s sponsor is Gamenomicon whose game Goblin Market is on Kickstarter now!
- Beyond Deep on Kickstarter
- Chris on Twitter / Wes on Twitter
- Spooky Bell Games on Instagram / Facebook / TikTok
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showJim Hall discusses Worldlings
Tanya Floaker discusses Lo! Thy Dread Empire
Marx interviews Tanya Floaker about Lo! Thy Dread Empire, a narrative wargame about undead workers fighting capitalist death cults in the ashes of a dying world.
This week’s sponsor is Grumpy Bear Stuff whose game Daily Dread is Kickstarting in August 2022 in as part of Zinequest 4.
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showBen Wallis discusses Broken
Marx interviews Ben Wallis, a.k.a. ThatGamerPriest, about Broken, a duet story game telling the story of the breakdown of a relationship.
This week’s sponsor is Grumpy Bear Stuff whose game Daily Dread is Kickstarting in August 2022 in as part of Zinequest 4.
- Benjamin Wallis on Twitter
- APON Games on Twitter
- BR💔KEN on Itchio
- All Ports Open Network official website
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showAlex Roberts
Marx interviews Alex Roberts, creator of Starcrossed and For The Queen, larper extraordinaire, and former host of the podcast Backstory.
This week’s sponsor is Beyond Cataclysm, whose podcast What Is Roleplay? is available now.
- Alex Roberts on Twitter
- Alex Roberts on Itchio
- Alex Roberts official website
- Backstory on the OneShot Podcast Network
- Benjamin Wallis on Twitter
- APON Games on Twitter
- BR💔KEN on Itchio
- All Ports Open Network official website
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showYes In RPGLatAm'd - Ductomaniac a.k.a Adrián Mejía
Marx interviews Adrián Mejía, an Ecuadorian creator creating Koboa, a Latin American-inspired setting guide featuring creators from many cultures across South America.
This week’s sponsor is Beyond Cataclysm, whose podcast What Is Roleplay? is available now.
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showYes In RPGLatAm'd - Diogo of Toca do Coruja
Marx interviews Diogo of Toca do Coruja, a Brazilian translation team working to bring indie TTRPGs to Brazilian Portuguese speakers.
This week’s sponsor is Beyond Cataclysm, whose podcast What Is Roleplay? is available now.
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showYes In RPGLatAm'd - Misha Panarin
Marx interviews Argentinian game designer and scene organiser Misha Panarin, about her LatAm Breakout project Cantrip, and about introducing people to new roleplaying games.
This week’s sponsor is Anthropos Games, whose game Heterodoxy is available from June 2022.
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showAireCon 2022 Special
A special episode from analogue games convention AireCon, featuring interviews from board game, card game, and roleplaying game creators.
This week’s sponsor is Anthropos Games, whose game Heterodoxy is available from June 2022.
- AireCon official website / on Twitter
- Paper Boat Games official website / on Twitter
- Beyond Cataclysm Books official website / on Twitter
- Stuff By Bez official website / on Twitter
- Arion Games / on Twitter
Opening music and interstitials derived from: Which That Is This? from the album Jonah's Message for New York by Doctor Turtle, licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. End music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar, licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Harrigan discusses play-by-post
Marx interviews Harrigan, a huge play-by-post enthusiast and a big fan and consumer of the OSR scene.
This week’s sponsor is James M Hewitt of Needy Cat Games, whose game Vampires Suck At Shopping is available now!
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showTony of Plus One discusses Through The Void
Marx interviews Tony of Plus One Exp about Through The Void, a dungeon-crawling storytelling game set in an impossible space station in the midst of lethal space.
This week’s sponsor is Jamie O’Duibhir of Therapeutic Blasphemy Games, whose mental health and destressing podcast Quiet Power is available now wherever podcasts are found.
- Josh Fox on Twitter
- Becky Annison on Twitter
- Black Armada Tales on Twitter
- Black Armada Games official website
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showKalum of The Rolistes discusses Paris Gondo: The Life-Saving Magic of Inventorying
Marx interviews Kalum of the Rolistes about Paris Gondo, the Life-Saving Magic of Inventorying, a game of stuff you find in a dungeon, and how it can truly transform your life.
This week’s sponsor is CM Lowry, whose game Tyrannosaur Inside is Kickstarting and Itchfunding right now!
All music derived from: be quiet from the album Sketches by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showYes InZine'd Pod 2022 - Ema Acosta of Pocket Compass Co. discusses The Exiles
Nondairy Giant and Mac interview Ema Acosta about The Exiles, a dark fantasy expansion for the feelings-delving RPG Crescent Moon telling the story of blight-touched outcasts fighting their way out of the underworld as they grapple with their inner demons.
Today’s episode is sponsored by Kelly Bean of Thick Thief Games, whose project The Skills To Pay The Bills is Itchfunding from February 1st 2022!
- Pocket Compass Co. on Twitter / Instagram
- Pocket Compass Co. official website
- Ema Acosta official website
- The Exiles on Kickstarter
All music adapted from: Nothing Like Captain Crunch from the album Slam Funk by Broke for Free is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 Unported License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showYes InZine'd Pod 2022 - NondairyGiant and Mac discuss NUKED!
Richard interviews Nondairy Giant and Mac about NUKED!, a post-apocalyptic Knave hack where players take on the role of raider-blasting, bunker-delving Skrappers, just trying to make it in the remains of the world.
Today’s episode is sponsored by By Odin’s Beard RPG (Twitter), whose game Runecairn: Warden is coming soon to Exalted Funeral!
All music adapted from: Nothing Like Captain Crunch from the album Slam Funk by Broke for Free is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 Unported License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the showYes InZine'd Pod 2022 - Richard Ruane discusses Sherwood Outlaws
Max interviews Richard Ruane about Sherwood Outlaws, a Robin Hood-inspired game of forming a crew of outlaws, setting a code of honor, and using banditry and burglary to deal with local landlords and other petty tyrants.
Today’s episode is sponsored by in*die zine, six back issues available now and the in🦕die zine available in March 2022!
- Richard Ruane on Twitter
- R. Rook Studios on Twitter
- R. Rook Studios official website
- Sherwood Outlaws on Itchio
All music adapted from: Nothing Like Captain Crunch from the album Slam Funk by Broke for Free is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 Unported License • available from Free Music Archive
Support the show