Dice Exploder

Sam Dunnewold
  • 5.0 (26)
  • DESIGN

A show about tabletop RPG design. Each episode we bring you a single mechanic and break it down as deep as we possibly can. Co-hosted by Sam Dunnewold and a rotating roster of designers. Part of the Many Sided Network. diceexploder.com

  1. 8H AGO

    Actual Play: An Uncomfortable Offer (Maia's Game Room: The Electric State) with Maia Wilson

    Transcripts available at diceexploder.com One of my favorite parts about these episodes where I'm highlighting a single moment from an actual play is how many practical lessons I can bring back to my own table by going beat by beat through a significant moment in play. And today, Maia Wilson has brought a particularly significant moment from her show Maia's Game Room in which one character, in desperate straights, is pressured by an NPC to pay for his help with sex. It's an intense moment. It may not be for you (and this episode may not be, either). But I think there's no better way to learn about how to establish good communication and try to keep people safe at the table than by breaking down a specific example. Plus, when you get this right like I think Maia and her table do, the results can be cathartic and compelling. Let's get into it. Further Reading Maia's Game Room: Electric State, episode 5 The Battle of Primrose Park: Playing for Emancipatory Bleed in Fortune & Felicity by Jonaya Kemper The Electric State rpg The Electric State art book Socials Maia on Bluesky Sam on Bluesky and itch The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show! Dice Exploder on Patreon

    49 min

  2. OCT 14

    Actual Play: A Tree Shanty (My First Dungeon: The Wildsea) with Brian Flaherty and Elliot Davis

    Transcripts available at diceexploder.com In The Wildsea, you play as sailors on a sea of trees in a climate post-apocalypse where the climate won. And in the My First Dungeon mini series of this game, today's co-cohost Brian Flaherty took it on himself - along with co-player J Strautman - to write an original song, a “tree shanty,” that played on each episode. Today Brian and I, along with his Talk of the Table cohost and Wildsea GM Elliot Davis, break down one of those tree shanties: how it came to be, and how this moment blends together preproduction, production at the table, and post production in a bunch of compelling ways. We also get to see some lessons on display about how to pace a campaign and how when you know you can trust your fellow players, you can take more risky creative swings. Take a listen! Further Reading The Wildsea by Felix Isaacs My First Dungeon: The Wildsea episode 5 Talk of the Table podcast Socials Brian on Bluesky Elliot on Bluesky and his games Sam on Bluesky and itch The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show! Dice Exploder on Patreon

    57 min

  3. OCT 7

    Actual Play: The First 30 Minutes (My First Dungeon: Orbital Blues) with Rowan Zeoli

    Transcripts available at diceexploder.com It's a new series on Dice Exploder all about actual play. For five episodes, instead of breaking down one mechanic, we're going to break down one moment from one actual play show. And to kick things off, I'm joined by actual play critic and all-around-writer Rowan Zeoli of Rascal and Polygon. We cover an overview of actual play as a medium and the current state of the scene, we dig deep into the fine line this medium walks between fiction and nonfiction, and then we get to our moment: the very beginning of My First Dungeon's six episode miniseries on Orbital Blues. How can you make the most of those precious opening moments when there's so much to establish? Further Reading Orbital Blues by Sam Sleney, Joshua Clark, and Zachary Cox My First Dungeon: Orbital Blues episode 1 Em Friedman on Patreon Socials Rowan on Bluesky and Rascal News Sam on Bluesky and itch The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show! Dice Exploder on Patreon

    49 min

  4. SEP 30

    You Will Die In This Place with Merrilee Bufkin and Jay Dragon

    Transcripts available at diceexploder.com Last summer a hot new game hit the indie rpg scene: You Will Die In This Place, a surreal and experimental... dungeon crawler? Technically? ...that seems to have more in common with House of Leaves than it does many roleplaying games. And for a couple weeks I saw so many discussions about this game that I eventually broke down and was like, do I need to do an emergency podcast about this? No. I did not. I was busy with a hundred other things. But past cohosts Merrilee Bufkin and Jay Dragon did. So I invited the two of them to take over the show for a special bonus episode where they talk all things, or at least some things, You Will Die In This Place. It’s a dense text. They get into House of Leaves, gender, autism, misogyny, the state of the games industry, and a ton more. Take a listen. Further Reading You Will Die In This Place by Elizabeth Little YWDITP on Gamefound Socials Jay on Bluesky and Possum Creek Games on itch and Warehouse 23 Merrilee on Bluesky and itch Sam on Bluesky and itch The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show! Dice Exploder on Patreon AP season "reading" list: My First Dungeon: Orbital Blues, session 1 My First Dungeon: Wildsea, episode 5 Maia's Game Room: Electric State, episode 5 - CW: sexual coercion Last Train to Brooklyn Void 1680 AM broadcasts

    49 min

  5. SEP 9

    Love, Sex, and Romance: The War (Will That Be All?) with Kim Lam

    Transcripts available at diceexploder.com Today we’re wrapping up the Dice Exploder series on love, sex, and romance with Will That Be All? by Graham Walmsley, a game about the social relationships between the downstairs staff at Melton Hall, a fictional British estate, over the course of about a decade between the first and second world wars. It’s a lovely game about finding solace and community even as the world outside feel deeply uncertain - and that’s what Kim wanted to talk about: how setting, and in this case the spectre of war, can encourage and affect how not just romance but relationships of all kinds can play out in a game. Further Reading Will That Be All? by Graham Whalmsley Breaking the Ice, and The Romance Trilogy, by Emily Care Boss Rosenstrasse by Jessica Hammer and Moyra Turkington Downton Abbey Socials K Lam on Bluesky and itch Sam on Bluesky and itch The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show! Dice Exploder on Patreon

    46 min

  6. SEP 2

    Love, Sex, and Romance: Big Chunky Prompts with Tasha Robinson

    Transcripts available at diceexploder.com I’m back! Alex and Sharang have done an amazing job talking love, sex, and romance over the past month but I have plenty to say on the subject myself. In particular, I wanted to approach the conversation Alex and Sharang started about the quantification of romance from the perspective of how I feel when I’m actually at the table playing these games. Because that quantification makes me feel kinda weird… but what do I want instead? Because freeform romance is tough for me. Romance is scary! I want some help, some guidelines, some dare-I-say rules and mechanics for it. But if not quantification... then what? What else might help alleviate my fear and awkwardness? Or is that awkwardness part of the fun and charm of romance, and really we should leave it in? Today, Tasha Robinson returns to the show to talk it all through with me. Further Reading Steal My Heart by Sam Dunnewold The King Is Dead by Meguey and Vincent Baker Socials Tasha on Bluesky The Next Picture Show podcast Sam on Bluesky and itch The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show! Dice Exploder on Patreon

    1h 3m

  7. AUG 26

    Love, Sex, and Romance: Physical Touch with Alex & Sharang

    Transcripts available at diceexploder.com In this final episode hosted by Sharang and Alex, perhaps their climactic episode, they are turning up the heat on sex mechanics all the way to physical contact, both as a way to simulate sex acts through other kinds of physical touch... and through actual sex acts being used as game mechanics. This stuff is fascinating, I think much more broadly applicable than you might believe at first blush, and I think also very obviously under discussed in the way that all things sex and sexuality are under discussed. Let's get into it. Further Reading The Sleepover by Kat Jones & Julia B. Ellingboe This interview by Lizzie Stark with Emma Wieslander, who created Ars Amandi for the 2001 larp Between Heaven and Sea A Place to Fuck Each Other by Avery Alder Kirigami Dominatrix Display Simulator by Aura Belle Praise the Hawkmoth King by sage the anagogue Vice & Violence by Scalli ORKFUCK by SympatheticSapphic Sapphicworld by Darling Demon Games Socials Alex on Bluesky and carrd Sharang on Bluesky and itch Sam on Bluesky and itch The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show! Dice Exploder on Patreon

    44 min

  8. AUG 19

    Love, Sex, and Romance: The Phallus with Alex & Sharang

    Transcripts available at diceexploder.com Our series on game mechanics centered around sex and romance continues with returning champions Alex Roberts and Sharang Biswas, and today they are talking about dicks. “The phallus.” Or more generally, physical objects. I did some episodes on physicality earlier this year and how the physicality of a game undeniably affects how it feels to play it. But Alex and Sharang go a step further, talking about how in a game you can use an object as almost a vessel for player emotions. Take a listen. Further Reading Tales of the Fisherman’s Wife by Julia Bond Ellingboe The Beast by Aleksandra Sontowska Just a Little Lovin’ by Tor Kjetil Edland and Hanne Grasmo Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire Let These Mermaids Touch Your Dick Maybe by Riverhouse Games Socials Alex on Bluesky and carrd Sharang on Bluesky and itch Sam on Bluesky and itch The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show! Dice Exploder on Patreon

    35 min
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Trailer

5
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About

A show about tabletop RPG design. Each episode we bring you a single mechanic and break it down as deep as we possibly can. Co-hosted by Sam Dunnewold and a rotating roster of designers. Part of the Many Sided Network. diceexploder.com

Information

  • Creator
    Sam Dunnewold
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2025
  • Episodes
    89
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Sam Dunnewold
  • Show Website
    Dice Exploder

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