Yes Indie'd Pod

Thomas M
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Tabletop RPG game design. "Yes Indie’d is for me the gold standard for conversations with designers & other folks in the space. Thomas Manuel has few (if any) peers in his training and just care that he takes in prep and execution" - Dr Emily Friedman "I am a big fan" - Quinns

  1. 6 DAYS AGO

    10 Years Making Stonetop (w/ Jeremy Strandberg)

    You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! In this episode, I I am talking to Jeremy Strandberg, who is an instructional designer, software trainer, and. game designer. He's the creator of Homebrew World and Defy Danger, two RPGs you might have heard of from the Dungeon World scene. He has a blog called spoutinglore.blogspot.com and he is the designer of Stonetop, an iron age fantasy game of adventure and community. Games Mentioned Storming The Wizard’s Tower Dungeon World Dungeons & Dragons 4e Harvest and Grand Guignol (which were featured on a previous episode) If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter Music: eastern provided by mobygratis.

    1hr 34min

  2. 19 MAR

    Getting Your Own Month (w/ Zach Cox)

    You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! In this episode, I talk to Zach Cox, founder of Soul Muppet Publishing.They are also the designer or co-designer of sad adventurer game Best Left Buried, sad Arthurian gunslinger game Inevitable, and sad vampire game Paint the Town Red. They also worked at Rowan Rook & Decard for a while. But the big news is that the scifi sad space cowboy game Orbital Blues (that they co-created) is getting its own month-long crowdfunding event at Backerkit, with both Soulmuppet and other designers making  supplements and adventures for the game.  Orbital Blues month: https://www.backerkit.com/c/collections/orbital-blues-month Outlaws and Corporations: https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/568d3a57-1379-4b32-9f67-0044b6d9066d/landing?ref=discover_email_landing_pages Soul Muppet's website: https://soulmuppet-store.co.uk/ Games Mentioned Cataphracts BECMI Stygian Library Gardens of Ynn If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter Music: eastern provided by mobygratis.

    46 min

  3. 27 FEB

    Weird Place (w/ Gabriel and Le)

    You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! In this episode, I talk to Gabriel and Le, filmmakers and VFX artists based in Canada. They run the Youtube channel, Weird Place, which has a very cool series about games and game histories around the world as well as actual play, video essays, guides and more. They also make games: they funded and released Fluff n Fury last year, a cyberpunk rpg where you play chromed up teddy bears, and this year for Zinemonth, they're crowdfunding Residue, a solo scifi survival game set in a weird non-Euclidean world.  Residue: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/weirdplace/residue-rpg Weird Place on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@weird_place  Website: https://www.weirdplace.net/  Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/weirdplace.bsky.social  Show Notes: Is it a Borg? (video) Horizons Fellowship A Tale of Two Sisters (movie) Blue Planet The Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup and Animal Crackers (movie) Games Mentioned Fluff N Fury Two Hand Path Delta Green If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter Music: eastern provided by mobygratis.

    40 min

  4. 3 FEB

    Maximal Minimalism (w/ Tim Denee)

    You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! In this episode, I talk to Tim Denee, a Wellington-based graphic designer, illustrator, and game designer. His graphic design work has been recognised by the Best Awards, Tokyo Design Week and the International Society of Typographic Designers. He's also the co-author of We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa, which was shortlisted for the Ockham NZ Book Awards. Through Old Dog Games, he's published free RPG products like a hack of Band of Blades for playing in the Warhammer old world and last year, a hack for Twilight 2000 to play Andor. And recently, he's partnered with Evil Hat to release Deathmatch Island, a battle royale adaptation of Agon, and crowdfunding now, Blades '68, an expansion for the seminal Blades in the Dark.  Tim’s personal website: https://timdenee.com/  Old Dog Games: https://www.olddog.games/  Blades ‘68 crowdfunding: https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/c7788a1e-2f1c-4525-bc66-2a99b84ebae9/landing  Show Notes: Austin Powers Mad Men (TV Show) Games Mentioned Deathloop Dishonored Mythic Bastionland If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter Music: "eastern" provided by mobygratis.

    54 min

  5. 20/12/2025

    2025 in Rearview (w/ Quinns)

    As per annual tradition, I'm once again joined by Quinns from QQuest to talk about the year and forge our bond in the fire of podcasting. Show Notes: Fastaval, the larp festival in Denmark Last year's 2024 year in review Games Mentioned The Tribunal The Straights Are Not Okay Tacklebox Mythic Bastionland Gradient Descent God’s Teeth / Delta Green D&D Draw Steel Daggerheart Magnus Archives Old Gods of Appalachia The Silt Verses Old School Essentials / Dolmenwood Cain Pirate Borg Fabula Ultima The Between Masks of Nyarlathotep Eternal Lies Pirates of Drinax A Nocturne Apocalypse World: Burned Over You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

    1hr 21min

  6. 17/11/2025

    Games Need Communities (w/ Aaron Lim)

    You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! In this episode, I talk to Aaron Lim, a game designer from Malaysia. His work includes sad village-building game An Altogether Different River, very sad journey game Itchaca on the Cards, and tragic mecha game Spectres of Brocken. He's also the organizer of Playtest Zero, a fortnightly RPG playtesting community that's been going on since 2021.  Aaron Lim on bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ehronlime.bsky.social Aaron’s itch page: https://ehronlime.itch.io/ Show Notes: Playtest Zero FAQ My article about visiting Malaysia for the Asian Board Games Festival Only Yesterday (1991) Games Mentioned Ithaca on the Cards: Second Expedition Microscope Big Grave Fashion Fantasy Desperation Zhenya’s Wonder Tales If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

    1hr 3min

  7. 31/10/2025

    Solo Bookplay (w/ Asa Donald)

    You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! In this episode, I talk to Asa Donald is one-half of Backwards Tabletop, the publisher of the Backwards Universe of American horror games and Rust Never Sleeps, a solo mecha game. Their current project is Spine, a dark solo RPG about losing yourself in a book.  Asa Donald on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/backwardsttrpg.bsky.social  Spine (Digital): https://backwards-tabletop.itch.io/spine Spine (Physical): https://mixam.com/print-on-demand/68ec499e9e0b692d084d6b6c Show Notes: Asa’s series on Bookplay and interviews with other designers: www.backwardstabletop.com  Pale Fire by Nabokov Games Mentioned You Will Die In This Place Normality Wisher Theurgist Fatalist Harvest Wreck This Deck (and Wreck This Book) Seven Part Pact The Sun’s Ransom Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

    52 min

  8. 09/10/2025

    Reality Checking (w/ Allen Varney)

    You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! Today, I’m talking to Allen Varney, who runs the Bundle of Holding currently, which I think everyone listening to this had heard of. Before that, he worked as a freelance writer, editor, game designer for TSR, Steve Jackson Games, West End Games, FASA, and more. He was the lead designer for Paranoia XP, the 2004 edition of the game from Mongoose, and wrote a ton of articles for house magazines like Dragon.  Bundle of Holding: https://bundleofholding.com   Show Notes: Space Gamer magazine Warren Spector Games Mentioned  Steve Jackson's Man-to-Man Fantasy Combat (also Car Wars, Ogre, and more) Toon Paranoia Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan (Dracula Dossier, Darkening of Mirkwood, Eyes of the Stone Thief) Primal Order If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

    50 min
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About

Tabletop RPG game design. "Yes Indie’d is for me the gold standard for conversations with designers & other folks in the space. Thomas Manuel has few (if any) peers in his training and just care that he takes in prep and execution" - Dr Emily Friedman "I am a big fan" - Quinns

Information

  • Creator
    Thomas M
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    181
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Thomas M
  • Show Website
    Yes Indie'd Pod

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