Episodes
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Transcript
It is still designer commentary season on Dice Exploder, and today I'm talking with Jason Morningstar (Fiasco, Night Witches, a million other games) about Northfield: a game we co-designed about when Jesse James tried to rob the bank in my home town, we shot the hell out of him and his gang, and then we started an annual small town fair to celebrate our victory. You play as both a member of the James-Younger gang and as a person in the present day portraying your gang member in a reenactment.
It's a weird little game, much like its subject matter, and surprisingly personal to me (Jason was not surprised). On this episode, we break down the process of our collaboration and how we feel about the results (very positively).
More than any other designer commentary I've done, I hope you check out this game. I'm really proud of it. You can get it on the Bully Pulpit Patreon now for $5.
Further Reading
Northfield, the game, on the Bully Pulpit Patreon
Video of the Defeat of Jesse James Days reenactment
Official Defeat of Jesse James Days website
Photo of (allegedly) Charlie Pittsâ ear
Wikipedia articles on Northfield and the James-Younger gang
Socials
Sam on Bluesky and itch.
Jason on â Blueskyâ and â dice.campâ .
â Bully Pulpit Gamesâ
The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com
Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!
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Transcript
For Ken Loweryâs Disc 2 jam, I decided to finally release the game Iâve been working on for nearly four years: Space Fam.
This is a game about, you guessed it, found family in space. In particular, it takes a lot of inspiration from The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet in that youâre the crew of a ship escorting a traveler from point A to point B, and along the way you deal with your feelings of guilt and stress about living under an oppressive government.
Itâs a hack of Our Traveling Home by Ash Kreider, and itâs like 90% of the way to really great. But that last 10% is always the hard 10%, and I decided it was time to let this game just be what it is and push it out into the world.
As a part of that, I wanted to look back on the design process. What went well, what didnât, what would I change if I was going to spend another 30 minutes or 30 years on this thing. To do that, I sat down with two of my friends who playtested the game, and we talked about all things Space Fam.
Further Reading
Space Fam on itch
The Disc 2 jam.
A commentary podcast episode for Space Fam is available here.
I wrote about the design of Space Fam's "scenes menu" hereâ.
I wrote about the design of the Space Fam character sheet hereâ.
Our Traveling Home by Ash Kreider
Stewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern by Takuma Okada
Space Post by Jason Morningstar
The Watch
Night Witches by Jason Morningstar
Socials
Sam on Bluesky and itch.
The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com
Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!
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Missing episodes?
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Transcript
The first ever Dice Exploder game jam came to a close about a month ago, and today I sit down with the three hooligans from the discord who put it together and go through some of our favorite entries. If Dice Exploder is a show about concrete examples, this episode is as Dice Exploder as it gets.
All the games we talk about are pretty short, so it should be easy to follow along at home. Check out all the jam submissions here.
Thanks to Audrey Stolze (aka Lady Tabletop), Chris Greenbriar, and Sam Roberts for running the jam!
Further Reading:
Game Exploder full list of entries
Sam D's late entry: World Ending Game (Sam's Version)
Socials
Sam D on Bluesky and itch.
Sam R's game Escape from Dino Island.
Audrey on â Tumblrâ , and her podcast â Alone at the Tableâ about solo games.
The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com
Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!
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Transcript
What if your D&D adventuring party settled down and opened a tavern, and the vibes went from dragon murderers to Bobâs Burgers? That's my pitch for Stewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern, one of my favorite RPGs. It's currently on Backerkit, and you should check it out.
This week I'm talking about a super simple unnamed mechanic from Stewpot, and presumably other games before it, that's inspired much of my own work: everyone goes around and adds a detail about the scene at hand or whatever we're talking about. Simple but effective.
I think of this mechanic, and Stewpot generally, as especially welcoming to people new to the hobby. And so I brought on my favorite new to the hobby person: Lee Conrads, acclaimed theater director (there's a lot of theater and audience theory in this one) and also my spouse. It's a very special episode.
Further Reading:
The Stewpot backerkit campaign
Circle X theater company
Great Reckonings in Little Rooms
Comedy Book by Jesse David Fox
Socials
Sam on Bluesky and itch.
The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com
Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!
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Transcript
Is sharing music with your friends an RPG? It sure is when you're playing Avery Alder's game Ribbon Drive. Takuma Okada, the designer of Stewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern (â on Backerkit right nowâ ), joins me this week to talk about music, contemplation, and unconventional ways to inspire players.
Further Reading:
â Ribbon Driveâ
â Spindlewheelâ
Everything Is Illuminated, the book and film
â Ten Candlesâ
â Dreadâ
â Star Crossedâ
â Our Radios Are Dyingâ
â Void 1680 AMâ
Samâs â playlistâ from playing Ribbon Drive
â The Awardsâ website
â The Awards interview on Yes Indie'dâ
Socials
Takuma on Twitter and Bluesky.
Sam on â Blueskyâ and â itchâ .
The Dice Exploder blog is at â diceexploder.comâ
Our logo was designed by â sporgoryâ , and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
Join the â Dice Exploder Discordâ to talk
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Transcripts are available at diceexploder.com
People talk a lot about how and whether RPGs emulate TV and movies, but this week cohost Meguey Baker (Apocalypse World, Under Hollow Hills) brings in a game that takes that sentiment to a compelling meta level. Fan Mail, from Primetime Adventures by Matt Wilson, is the core of the game's key metaphor: that players are simultaneously writers of a TV show, fans watching that show, and the characters portrayed on screen. We talk about the storygame scene in the early 2000s, how Primetime Adventures has influenced Meg's work, and how different this mechanic can feel in a one shot vs a full campaign.
This game feels like a classic. I wish I'd known about it ten years ago.
Further Reading:
Primetime Adventures by Matt Wilson
The Revolution Was Televised by Alan Sepinwall
Inspecters by Jared Sorensen
A Thousand and One Nights by Meguey Baker
Ritual in Game Design by Meguey Baker
Meguey & Vincentâs new game Under Hollow Hills
Socials
Meg on Twitter and Bluesky.
The Baker family blog and games.
Sam on Bluesky and itch.
The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com
Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!
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Transcript
What's the deal with Playbooks? That's a question that's way too big for one episode. But Moe Poplar, of the RPG Academy podcast Show & Tell, had a very particular effect of playbooks that he wanted to talk about on the show today: how playbook choice can be a line of communication between players, GM, and designer.
This is one of those episodes that's as much play advice as it is about design. I should do more of those.
Further Reading:
Monster of the Week
Blades in the Dark
Socials
Moeâs website, including his games.
Moeâs podcast via The RPG Academy, Show & Tell
Sam on Bluesky and itch.
The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com
Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show! -
Transcript
This week, now that the part of season 3 that was funded by Kickstarter is over, Iâve got a treat for you: the backers-only bonus episode with Mikey Hamm, designer of Slugblaster. You didnât think I was gonna just hold on to an episode this good forever, did you? Itâs the showâs namesake mechanic!
Mikey is currently Kickstarting Two-Hand Path, a solo game roll-and-write dungeon crawler. Check it out.
While I thought this episode would be a big of a goof about a goofy mechanic (and it is), it also brought out some of the most thoughtful thoughts on deploying mechanics with precision and purpose that Iâve had on the show yet. Also, we had a blast.
A slug blast.
List of Games with Exploding Dice
Middle Earth Roleplaying Game
Shadowrun
Earthdawn
Luck of Legends
The Burning Wheel
7th Sea
Heart (Deep Apiarist class)
Renegade Racers
Kids on Bikes
Armello
Socials
Back Two-Hand Path and buy Slugblaster now!
Mikey on Bluesky.
Sam on Bluesky and itch.
The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com
Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!
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Transcript
This week's cohost is James Wallis, cohost of the Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast, a show a lot like this one that's Kickstarting their third season now, and designer of one of the first story games: The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
Today we're breaking format: instead of talking about one game mechanic, James brought in the concept of innovation in game design. What does it look like, is it important, and how can we do more of it?
The show notes for this one are friggin packed.
Further Reading:
Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast and season 3 Kickstarter
The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen and on Wikipedia
Nordic Larp book by Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola
Nordic Larp wiki
Fairweather Manor, the Downton Abbey larp
The Diana Jones award
Dominion, the deckbuilder board game by Donald X. Vaccarino
Blades in the Dark by John Harper
My blog post Calvinballing a Whole Campaign
Star Crossed by Alex Roberts
Dread by Epidiah Ravachol
Apocalypse World by Meguey and Vincent Baker
The Beast by Naked Female Giant
The Crew by Thomas Sing
Thousand Year Old Vampire by Tim Hutchings
Bluebeardâs Bride by Marissa Kelly, Whitney BeltrĂĄn, and Sarah Doom
The Well Played Game by Bernie de Koven
Socials
James Wallis on Bluesky and dice.camp.
Sam on Bluesky and itch.
The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com
Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!
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This week I'm bringing you an episode from the new podcast Lyrical Ludology with host Logan Timmins, a show all about lyric games. I'm very excited for it.
There's already at least one more episode of Lyrical Ludology published, so if you like this one, go subscribe and take a listen!
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Transcript
Itâs the solo games episode! Hopefully the first of many. Iâm joined by Seb Pines, designer of The Awards winning game Dwelling and haver of MFA in basically solo games, to talk about prompts in solo games.
This is a broad survey of solo games. We talk about a bunch of games (listed below) that all behave differently. If youâre curious about this side of the hobby, this is the primer for you.
Further Reading:
Dwelling by Seb Pines
Thousand Year Old Vampire by Tim Hutchings
Horse Girl by Babblegum Sam
Artefact by Jack Harrison
Project ECCO by Elliot Davis
Notorious by Jason Price
Void 1680 AM by Ken Lowery
I Eat Mantras For Breakfast by Maria Mison
The Ink That Bleeds and an excerpt on the Indie Game Reading Club
My response to The Ink That Bleeds
Socials
Seb Pines on Bluesky and itch.
Sam on Bluesky and itch.
The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com
Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!
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Transcript
This is an intensely visual episode. If you'd like to follow along with the sheets we mention and get some extra commentary from me, you can do so at https://www.diceexploder.com/blog/2024/2/22/dice-exploder-aftershow-character-sheets
Iâm fascinated by character sheets, mostly because there are so so so precious few that I think do a good job. I donât mean this to call anyone out - I think the job of making a good character sheet might genuinely be impossible. They just have so much they have to accomplish.
Today I'm talking to Emanoel Melo, designer of CBR+PNK, about what we like in character sheets and whether there are any we would actually go to bat for.
Further reading
Aftershow blog post featuring all the character sheets we talk about plus extra commentary on diceexploder.com
CBR-PNK
Mothership
Bruno Prosaiko, the artist behind the beautiful ornate sheets we talk about, on Instagram
A collection of Brazilian tabletop games on itch that Emanoel curates
Socials
Emanoel on Twitter and Instagram. His website, Cabinet of Curiosities.
Sam on Bluesky and itch.
The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com
Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!
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Transcript
Alex Roberts, designer of Star Crossed and For the Queen, joins me to talk about pity points from Kagematsu, a mechanic that doesn't actually do anything itself beyond evoke a particular feeling when put in opposition to love points.
This episode is what I always dreamed Dice Exploder could be. We start from a simple game mechanic, but we get into power dynamics at the table in the past and the future, how people treat you when youâre disabled, cultural appropriation, my personal techniques for flirting, details of a new game Alex is working on, and of course âwhat is the true nature of love?â
Happy day after Valentineâs Day.
Further Reading
Kagematsu is no longer available in print or online
Kagematsu actual play, featuring Alex, on the One Shot podcast
What Dice Do blogpost by Graham Walmsley
The Quiet Year by Avery Alder
Alexâs finished podcast Backstory
Star Crossed by Alex Roberts
For the Queen, second edition coming May 14th from Darrington Press
Socials
Alexâs personal carrd page
Sam on Bluesky and itch.
The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com
Our logo was designed by sporgory, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lily Pads by my boi Travis Tessmer.
Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!
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Transcript
This week I've got designer and illustrator Strega Wolf van den Berg on to talk about money and the Mork Borg third party license. What, if anything, is the difference between making RPGs for fun, to pay rent, and to be paid fairly? And what is the cost (aha) of bringing money into making art?
On the flip side, this is also an episode about community, and how the shape of Mork Borgâs license fostered a community around it that allowed Strega Wolf to find a space in this hobby. Community can give us so many things that money canât.
Further reading:
The Mork Borg third party license
Lichoma
The Origin Of My Depression by Uboa
Socials
Strega Wolf's website and itch page
Bogfolk, and on itch
Sam on â â Blueskyâ â and â â itchâ â .
The Dice Exploder blog is at â â diceexploder.comâ â
Our logo was designed by â â sporgoryâ â , our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lily Pads by my boi Travis Tessmer.
Join the â â Dice Exploder Discordâ â to talk about the show!
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Transcript
This week I've got Nova, aka Idle Cartulary, of the excellent Playful Void blog among other places linked below. Nova's one of my favorite writers in the, as she puts it, DIY elf game scene, and I knew that was a world I wanted to cover more this season.
Nova brought on the rumor table from Zedeck Siew's Lorn Song of the Bachelor, an excellent elf game adventure. We got to talk about what makes a good random table at large, our taste in how adventures are written, and how point of view is the thing that often turns serviceable fiction into real primo shit.
Further Reading:
Novaâs kickstarter for The Curse of Mizzling Grove
Dice Exploder on pick lists
Lorn Song of the Bachelor
The Isle, in print and on itch
Socials
Novaâs blog, â Playful Voidâ
Novaâs podcast, â Dungeon Regularâ
Novaâs games â on itchâ
Sam on â Blueskyâ and â itchâ .
The Dice Exploder blog is at â diceexploder.comâ
Our logo was designed by â sporgoryâ , our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lily Pads by my boi Travis Tessmer.
Join the â Dice Exploder Discordâ to talk about the show!
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Transcript
On the season 3 premiere, Iâm joined by John Harper, designer of many games featured on past episodes of Dice Exploder including Blades in the Dark, Lasers & Feelings, and Agon 2e.
John brought in the Psi*Run risk sheet, a fairly complex dice resolution mechanic, known generically as Otherkind Dice. The risk sheet is such an elegant piece of design, packing essentially a whole game onto a single sheet of paper, and being so clear in both how it works and how you might tear it apart for your own ends. If youâre a new designer, or even just looking to get back in touch with the basics, John and I agree that hacking this thing is a great place to look.
Itâs good to be back.
Further Reading:
Psi*Runâs risk sheet
Vincent Bakerâs original 2005 post on Otherkind Dice
Vincentâs 2022 Otherkind Dice SRD
Psi*Run by Michael Lingner, Christopher Mooreâ , and Meguey Baker
Annalise
Socials
Johnâs website, onesevendesign.com, and itch page.
Sam on Bluesky and itch.
The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com
Our logo was designed by sporgory, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lily Pads by my boi Travis Tessmer.
Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!
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Thursday January 25th Dice Exploder is back with an all new crowdfunded-by-listeners season! The lineup includes John Harper, Alex Roberts, James Wallis, Idle Cartulary, Strega Wolf van den Berg, Emanoel Melo, Seb Pines and MORE - that's right, I'm over-delivering on the Kickstarter as a treat. Check back next week for the season premiere, and visit the blog's new home at diceexploder.com.
Transcript
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Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Dice Exploder 2023 end of year bonanza! I love me a good ranked list of movies on an end of year movie podcast, but ranked lists are bad and this showâs about RPGs not movies, so you get this instead. Itâs me, Aaron King of the RTFM podcast, Lady Tabletop of the Alone at the Table podcast, and Sharang Biswas of winning tons of Ennies this year and being a games academic, and the four of us (plus a half dozen other special guests) are here to tell you about a bunch of cool games shit we played, read, and listened to this year.
Hope you had a great year in games! Come on down and listen to ours.
Our picks:
Aaronâs games
* GREED by Gormengeist
* Undertree Temple of the Elf Gods by Happy Chthonian
* Crush Depth Apparition by Amanda Lee Franck
Audreyâs games
* Void 1680 AM by Ken Lowery
* Wreck This Deck by Black Armada Games (Josh Fox and Becky Annison)
* Extreme Meatpunks Forever by Sinister Beard Games
Sharangâs games
* Fight With Spirit by Story Brewers Roleplaying
* The Silt Verses by Gabriel Robinson and Jason Cordova
* The Broadcast by Jason Morningstar and Lizzie Stark
Samâs games
* Eating Oranges in the Shower by Hazel Anneke Dixon
* Barkeep on the Borderlands by W. F. Smith
* Exiles by em acosta
Game adjacent things
* Aaron: Grog the Frog by Alba BG
* Audrey: Roleplaying Games Enter the World of Ballet in a Unique New Performance by Linda Codega
* Sharang: The Dungeons & Dragons players of Death Row by Keri Blakinger
* Sam: The Ink That Bleeds by Paul Czege (hereâs an excerpt from the Indie Game Reading Club)
Thing weâre proud of
* Aaron: RTFM, Speedrune, and Aaronâs annual list of favorite books
* Audrey: Behold: A Game
* Sharang: Winning 3 Ennies: Judges choice for MOONLIGHT ON ROSEVILLE BEACH and Best Rules/Best Family Game for AVATAR
* Sam: youâre lookin at it
Picks from friends of the show:
* Ray Chou: Decuma
* Thomas Manuel: A.A. Voigt on Youtube, Daydreaming About Dragons podcast by Judd Karlman, the Indie Game Reading Club, and Aaron Marks at Cannibal Halfling.
* Mikey Hamm: Picturepedia and other coffee table reference books
* John Harper: Girl By Moonlight
* Em Acosta: The Zone and Blades in â68
* Nova / Idle Cartulary: mindfulness fantasy map drawing (see her Dungeons Regularly vols. 1 and 2)
* Moe Poplar: the Dice Exploder podcast
Further reading:
* Meakpunk manifesto by Heather âFlowersâ Robertson
* Sharangâs piece about Brindlewood Bay
* Amanda Lee Franckâs Comradery
* Alba BGâs Instagram
* BALLETCOLLECTIVE presents THE MOMENT IS IMMINENT
* RTFM patreon episode on VOID 1680 AM
* LadyTabletopâs VOID 1680 AM broadcast
Socials
Aaron can be found on, like, just listen to RTFM, linked above.
Audrey on Tumblr, and her podcast Alone at the Table about solo games.
Sharang is on itch and Twitter and Bluesky.
Sam is @sdunnewold on all socials and itch.
Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!
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Transcript
Today Iâve got for you another between-season bonus episode. This time weâre breaking format to talk about i know the end, a module I published earlier this year about going back home after a long time away and all the horrors that entails. Because if you canât occasionally publish something self-indulgent in your podcast feed, whatâs even the point of having one?
My cohost for this is my friend Nico MacDougall, the current organizer of The Awards, who edited i know the end and had almost as much to say about it as I did.
For maximum understanding of this episode, you can pick up a free copy of the module here and follow along (or skim it in advance).
Further reading:
The original i know the end cover art
The âoops all PBTA movesâ version of i know the end
Three of my short films
My previous written designer commentaries on Space Train Space Heist and Couriers
John Harper talking with Andrew Gillis about the origins of Blades in the Dark
The official designer commentary podcasts for Spire and Heart
Aaron Limâs An Altogether Different River, which comes with a designer commentary version
Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes, a photography theory book that we talked about during recording but which I later cut because I remembered most of the details about it incorrectly
What Is Risograph Printing, another topic cut from the final recording because I got basically everything about it wrong while recording (the background texture of the module is a risograph printed texture)
Before Sunrise by Richard Linklater
Questionable Content by Jeph Jacques
Socials:
Nicoâs carrd page, which includes links to their socials, editing rates, and The Awards.
Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.
The Dice Exploder logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!
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Transcript
Itâs a bonus between-seasons Dice Exploder! Wowie!
As promised back in my episode with Gem Room Games about Mork Borg, today Iâm talking about accessibility in game design using Mork Borgâs graphic design as an example. My cohost is Marc Muszynski, a friend and screenwriter with low vision, and we talk in detail about his experience with Mork Borg. Is this game, with all its important and loud art, accessible to people who canât see? Like with most accessibility questions, Itâs Complicatedâą!
Further reading:
Mork Borg
Accessibility in Gaming Resource Guide by Jennifer Kretchmer
TTRPG Accessibility Drive 2023 game jam on itch
Contrast checking tool for visual design.
Color checking tool for colorblindness.
Sylexiad, my favorite Dyslexia-friendly font:
Fate Accessibility Toolkit by Evil Hat
Two articles about âsanityâ mechanics in RPGs (donât put âsanityâ mechanics in your games)
Socials:
Marc on imdb (lmao)
Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.
Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!
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