147 episodes
Yes Indie'd Pod Thomas M
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- Arts
Do I like game design? Yes, indie'd! A podcast of bitesize interviews with indie tabletop roleplaying game creators about their work and game design theory & practice. Releases every two weeks.
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Analyzing Yazeba's B&B (w/ jay dragon)
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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 -
Best of 2023: All Advice Is Advice For Myself
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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Hardcore RPG Theory (w/ Sidney Icarus)
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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 -
Making a TTRPG Career (w/ Sebastian Yue)
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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 -
Getting Weirder Than Lovecraft (w/ Graham Walmsley)
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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 -
The Awards (w/ Nico MacDougall and Tan Shao Han)
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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