Ludonarrative Dissidents

Ross Payton

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Ludonarrative Dissidents is a podcast from Greg Stolze, James Wallis, and Ross Payton to explore and analyze tabletop RPGs. What does each game do, how does it work, and why do people play it? We are currently in season 3, and we've expanded to include sourcebooks and adventures. Visit our website at https://www.ludonarrativedissidents.com/ to get detailed show notes. Join our Discord at https://discord.gg/CQt5DbFZCD

4 days ago

Swords of the Serpentine Actual Play

IN OUR TRADITIONAL style, as we reach the end of the season we’re bringing you a couple of Actual Play sessions of games that we’ve covered in earlier episodes, putting some actual ludo-ing into the customary narrative. This episode is the first part of the Ludonarrative Dissidents Season 3 finale and we are delighted that Kevin Kulp, co-designer of Swords of the Serpentine, volunteered to administer a one-off adventure for Greg, Ross and James. It was a splendid evening of entertainment, running the system through its paces as we hurtled through several of the setting’s notable locations, and finding every possible opportunity to fall in the water. SWORDS OF THE SERPENTINE is a game of fantasy shenanigans in a labyrinthine sinking city populated by rogues, schemers, cultists, swashbucklers and your player characters, written by Kevin Kulp and Emily Dresner, and published by Pelgrane Press in 2022. It uses a variation of the Gumshoe system originally created by Robin D. Laws in 2007. The book has 396 pages. Swords of the Serpentine at Pelgrane PressSwords of the Serpentine at DriveThruRPGNo conventional show-notes this time, except to express our thanks to Kevin for giving up an evening to escort us through his co-creation, and to you for giving up your time to listen to it. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Thank you for listening! The hosts of this episode were Ross Payton, Greg Stolze and James Wallis, with audio editing by Ross and show notes by James. We hope you enjoyed it. If anything in this podcast or these notes has spurred your interest then we invite you to come and chat about it on our friendly Discord. If you click on any of the above links to DriveThruRPG and buy something, Ludonarrative Dissidents will receive a small affiliate fee. You will not be charged more, and the game’s publisher will not receive less, it’s a win-win-win. Thank you for supporting the podcast this way.
24 Aug

Dialect

DIALECT: A Game About Language And How It Dies is a 2018 single-session RPG by Hakan Seyalioglu and Kathryn Hymes, published by Thorny Games. It’s a game about a small community, isolated from larger groups, that first creates its own verbal forms to describe its situation, and then must adapt or lose them as the community reacts to external threats. It is critically acclaimed and a winner of multiple awards. Dialect at Thorny GamesDialect at WikipediaPreview sample of the Dialect rulebook Read the full show notes here. ⁠Discuss this episode on our Discord.
17 Aug · Bonus

Ludonarrative Dissidents Livestream for August 2026

Our livestream discussion for August! Watch the episode on Youtube ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discuss this episode on our Discord.
2 Jul

Swords of the Serpentine

SWORDS OF THE SERPENTINE is a game of fantasy shenanigans in a labyrinthine sinking city populated by rogues, schemers, cultists, swashbucklers and your player characters, written by Kevin Kulp and Emily Dresner, and published by Pelgrane Press in 2022. It uses a variation of the Gumshoe system originally created by Robin D. Laws in 2007. Swords of the Serpentine at Pelgrane PressSwords of the Serpentine at DriveThruRPGFull show notes are here Discuss this episode on our Discord.
23 Jun · Bonus

Ludonarrative Dissidents Livestream for June 2026

Our livestream discussion for June! Watch the episode on Youtube ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discuss this episode on our Discord.
29 May

Chicago by Night: Vampire the Masquerade 5th Edition

CHICAGO BY NIGHT is a 2018 city sourcebook for Vampire the Masquerade 5th edition, written by Matthew Dawkins and a host of others, and published by Renegade Game Studios, who have the rights to do all this stuff these days. The most recent iteration of a sourcebook that first appeared in 1991, this edition is by far the longest at 357 pages. It describes the vampire culture, clans, people, locations, backstory and subterfuges of the eponymous city. (‘Eponymous’, because I always have to check, means ‘lending its name to’ a thing, not ‘taking its name from’). We talked about the latest edition of Vampire the Masquerade earlier this season and concluded that it did what it needs to in a suitable style, if you like that sort of thing. How does that fit with huge chunks of crunchy campaign-world detail like this? Don’t click that dial! Chicago by Night at DriveThruRPG (there’s more information here than at the publishers’ website)Vampire the Masquerade 5th edition at DriveThruRPGThe original Chicago by Night from 1991 at DriveThruRPGChicago by Night second edition (1993) at DriveThruRPG Read the full show notes here. Discuss this episode on our Discord.
25 May · Bonus

Ludonarrative Dissidents Livestream for May

Our livestream discussion for May, featuring special guest Jerry Grayson of Khepera Publishing. Check out the Godsend Agenda today. Watch the episode on Youtube ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discuss this episode on our Discord.
5 May · Bonus

Ludonarrative Dissidents Livestream for April 2026

Our April livestream! Watch the livestream on Youtube ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discuss this episode on our Discord.

Ludonarrative Dissidents is a podcast from Greg Stolze, James Wallis, and Ross Payton to explore and analyze tabletop RPGs. What does each game do, how does it work, and why do people play it? We are currently in season 3, and we've expanded to include sourcebooks and adventures. Visit our website at https://www.ludonarrativedissidents.com/ to get detailed show notes. Join our Discord at https://discord.gg/CQt5DbFZCD

Creator

Ross Payton
Years Active

2022 - 2026
Episodes

88
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

© Ross Payton
Show Website

Ludonarrative Dissidents