Episodes
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Bonus episode, where guests from across the year chime in with games they've played that they loved and want to talk about.
Games mentioned:
Hannah Shaeffer recommends The Beast
Evan Rowland recommends Usagi Yojimbo
Quinns recommends World Wide Wrestling
Aaron King recommends Saga of the Icelanders
Max Lander recommends Blood Feud
Graham Walmsley recommends Lumberjills
Sidney Icarus recommends Bump in the Dark
jay dragon recommends Last Train to Bremen
Tom McGrenery recommends Wolves Upon the Coast
Mint recommends Bones Deep, Moth-light and Spectaculars
Aaron Voigt recommends Subway Runners
Huffa recommends here there be monsters and many other games
B Marsollier recommends Anamnesis
J Strautman recommends Rom Com Drama Bomb
MV Soumithri recommends Stonetop
Zoheb Mashiur recommends After the Mind, the World Again
Marsh Davies recommends No-tell Motel
Jim Rossignol recommends Agon
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On this episode, I’m joined by Quinns from Quinns Quest as we look back on the last year together.
Show Notes:
Rascal News
Indie RPG Newsletter
Quinns mentioned Mythic Bastionland, Good Society, Public Access, The Siltverses, Blood Borg
Thomas mentioned Hearts of Wulin and its expansion, Numberless Secrets
Also: Draw Steel, Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast, Triangle Agency
Jubensha video on People Make Games
Street Fighter RPG from White Wolf
Mothership Month
Stream where Matt Colville talks about sending Quinns’ Draw Steel
Cain and the week that was all Tom Bloom
Reach out at thomas by writing to notrueindian at outlook.com
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Missing episodes?
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On this episode, I talk to Marsh Davies and Jim Rossignol. Jim was the co-founder of videogaming website Rock Paper Shotgun, where he worked for many years. He's also the author of This Gaming Life: Travels in Three Cities. Now, he does things like write the Ludocrats with Kieron Gillen and develop indie games through his company, Big Robot. Marsh is a writer and illustrator who has written about video games at RPS and PCGamer and was former head of creative writing at Minecraft developer Mojang. He's also part of the Crate & Crowbar, a weekly PC gaming podcast, that has more than 400 episodes and we can all agree might be too many.
Their itch page: https://teethrpg.itch.io/
You can support this show on Patreon!
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On this episode, I speak to Elliot Davis, an artist, podcaster and, game designer. He's one of the co-founders of Many Sided Media, a podcast production company behind shows like My First Dungeon, Bitcherton and Talk of the Table. His games include Rom Com Drama Bomb and solo timetravel game, Project Ecco.
He's currently crowdfunding his latest game, The Time We Have, a tragic game about two brothers, one of whom is slowly but inevitably turning into a zombie.
Show Notes:
03:09 - The Time We Have: brothers, using a door as immersion, and other design tweaks
18:00 - Becoming a full-time games person
37:40 - Infectious Enthusiasm: They Came To Play Ball by Adira Slattery
38:50 - Tyranny of Numbers
40:53 - RePlay
43:22 - All Advice is Advice For Myself
You can support this show on Patreon!
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You can support this podcast on patreon!
On this episode, I talk to MV Soumithri and Zoheb Mashiur who are cast members of Desperate Attune, a Blades in the Dark actual play set in Uduasha, a Middle Eastern/South Asian inspired alternative to Duskwall. They've now released a free supplement called Sunmirror, which brings a re-imagined city of gods and magic to the table.
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You can support this podcast on patreon!
On this episode, we talk to J Strautman and B Marsollier. J Strautman is a bass player, composer, sound designer, game designer, and podcaster. B Marsollier is an illustrator, voice over artist, game designer, podcaster and former antique rug salesperson. They are the co-DMs of the D&D actual play podcast, Planet Arcana. The podcast is fully sound designed and scored with original music by J. Last year, 2023, Planet Arcana received 9 nominations at the New Jersey and Minnesota Webfests, winning 3 awards, 2 for “Best D&D Actual Play” and 1 for “Best GM”.
They're about to launch their crowdfunding campaign for their newest game, A Fool's Errand, a tarot-based game of being fools, dealing with gods, becoming who you are, and saving the world from a second Big Oops.
Show notes:
03:24 - Introduction to the game and its podcast roots
10:55 - Using tarot to build a meddling pantheon
18:57 - Making a fool in Fool's Errand
35: 14 - The setting of the game and the campaign
40:01 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Anamnesis, Rom Com Drama Bomb
42:28 - Tyranny of Numbers
49:58 - RePlay
52:21 - All Advice is Advice for Myself
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On this episode, I talk to Ara Winter, who has spent the last few years playing old and out of print tabletop games. What did he learn from this? Let's find out!
Show Notes:
05:03 - Ara's antique gaming
19:14 - Discussing Bifrost (1977)
33:55 - Discussing Shadowrun 2nd Edition (1992)
48:58 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Fantasy Medieval Campaigns
50:14 - Tyranny of Numbers
52:08 - RePlay
54:18 - All advice is advice for myself
The Indie RPG Newsletter
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Aaron Voigt is a writer, game designer, podcaster and critic. You can find his video essays about tabletop games like They Took Our War, Heart, & Spire on his YouTube channel AA Voigt. He has two podcasts: one discussing Christian media called Bible Boys and one discussing sometimes-bad media called Mortified: The Friendship Quest. He's a first reader for Khoreo Magazine, an ignyte winning and Hugo nominated magazine for speculative fiction from immigrant and disapora authors. Today we'll be talking about his game Detente for the Ravenous which is based on a to-be self-published fantasy novel of the same name.
You can check out the game and the novel here
Show Notes:
02:27 - All about the novel
12:27 - Adapting the novel into a game
16:29 - Digression into history of Christianity in India
20:00 - Religious and monstrous themes in the novel
28:34 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Subway Runners
29:56 - Tyranny of Numbers
31:44 - RePlay
33:02 - All advice is advice for myself
The Indie RPG Newsletter
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Huffa is a game designer and art historian. You can find her work at:
https://huffa.itch.io/
Between the Skies @ Exalted Funeral
Show Notes:
03:06 - Introducing Between the Skies
11:50 - Working with Exalted Funeral
15:45 - The joys of playing without systems
40:00 - How does this relate to old school d&d?
48:63 - Art history and RPGs
54:42 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Wanderhome, here there be monsters
57:41 - Tyranny of Numbers
59:28 - RePlay
1:03:18 - All advice is advice for myself
The Indie RPG Newsletter -
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Joshua McCrowell is the designer of new tarot-based dungeoncrawler His Majesty The Worm, published by Exalted Funeral. He's also the current editor of Knock Magazine, the OSR focused anthology zine that has quickly became a fan favourite, and a blogger at riseupcomus.blogspot.com where he talks about everything from how to adapt tolkien in games to what makes a good social encounter.
Show Notes:
02:22 - Running a game for 8 years
05:39 - Dungeoncrawling in 2024
16:46 - The design of His Majesty The Worm
36:13 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Vermis, Black Sword Hack and Valley of Flowers
38:14 - Tyranny of Numbers
42:05- All advice is advice for myself
The Indie RPG Newsletter
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Mint is an rpg designer and blogger from New Foundland, Canada. She runs There's a TTRPG For That, an rpg recommendation blog on tumblr, which has lists for all kinds from the general to the very specific, "games that are grunge" to "two player games" to "games where you don't need to write anything down". She's currently working on a game called Protect the Child, a game of monster babysitters, that is equal parts comedy and queer found family. You can find the Protect the Child playtest server here.
Show Notes:
02:53 - Getting started with Lady Blackbird
10:18 - RPG scene on tumblr
17:03 - Protect the Child's themes
26:44 - Protect the Child's design
39:09 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Bones Deep, Mothlight, Spectaculars
42:07 - Tyranny of Numbers
44:38 - Re:Play
45:59 - All advice is advice for myself
The Indie RPG Newsletter
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Prismatic Wasteland aka WF Smith is the prolific blogger behind prismaticwasteland.com and the creator / writer of Ennie award winning fantasy adventure, Barkeep on the Borderlands. He's also running a game jam where participants create their own pub or tavern, which is live as this episode comes out and runs until August 15th 2024.
Show Notes:
02:02 - Producing Barkeep on the Borderlands
10:03 - The design of the adventure
16:41 - Good random encounters and tracking time
25:60 - The political side to the adventure
34:19 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Vampire Cruise by Amanda Lee Franck
35:56 - Tyranny of Numbers
39:43 - Re:Play
41:59 - All advice is advice for myself
The Indie RPG Newsletter
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Tom McGrenery is an RPG writer and translator from Hong Kong, who publishes under the banner, Porcupine Publishing. He's contributed to products like Feng Shui and Night's Black Agents as well as designed his own games like his hack of the Drama System featuring brazilian layabouts and swashbucklers, Malandros. In 2020, he translated and published the Brazilian rpg, the Elephant and Macaw Banner. He's also the co-host of the long running podcast, Fear of a Black Dragon.
Show Notes:
07:48 - One Shot Saturday in Hong Kong
12:09 - Fantasy Non-fiction
19:41 - Revolution Comes To The Kingdom
31:10 - Games about war
36:45 - More RCTK
46:36 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Wolves Upon The Coast
55:11 - Tyranny of Numbers
57:04 - RePlay
58:26 - All advice is advice for myself
The Indie RPG Newsletter
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Jay Dragon is a queer disabled game designer behind such games as summer camp horror game, Sleepaway and the pastoral fantasy indie darling, Wanderhome. Jay is the editorial director at Possum Creek Games. As of publishing this episode, they print version of Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast has come out. It's a project of immense scope and skill that is clearly full of love and artistry.
Show Notes:
05:14 - Introducing Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast and how it started with specific characters
15:02 - The three elements of the game
20:36 - Chapters as self-contained games
31:15 - Characters arcs or journeys
44:40 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Last Train to Bremen by Caro Asercion
45:51 - Tyranny of Numbers
47:23 - RePlay
49:36 - All Advice is Advice for Myself
The Indie RPG Newsletter
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Because of some travel, instead of an interview, something from the patreon feed makes it way into the main feed. This is a round-up of 2023's answers to the question, "What is something you're trying to do better at the gaming table?" Enjoy!
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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
The Indie RPG Newsletter
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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
The Indie RPG Newsletter
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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 Indie RPG Newsletter
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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
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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
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