Narrative Control

Hi, and welcome back to the show! This week I'm speaking with Whitney Beltrán about her just released kickstarter for Bluebeard's Bride. Host: Sean Nittner Guests: Whitney Beltrán Length: 29:55 We discussed the origins, the goals, and the play experiences of Bluebeard's Bride. Check out these links: Bluebeard's Bride Kickstarter Bluebeard's Bride G+ Community @BluebeardsBride on Twitter @the_strix on Twitter Sean's AP Report from Origins The conversation continues...Here.

Hi, and welcome back to the show! We're talking to Kate and Hakan about how awesome language is and how they use it in their games! Host: Sean Nittner Guests: Kathryn Hymes and Hakan Seyalioglu Length: 51:05 Inspired by listening to Alex Roberts (Backstory) Games we talked about: Sign - A game about being understood Dialect - A game about language and how it dies Gushing about Dialect: Truckers on Mars - a game that's structure was built around the language we made! Not what I expected. Procedurally generated scenes that were very compelling. Secret Sauce: mayonnaise in the sun... actually, it's "can you tell a story while building a language?" Language creation as a window into people and identity. You pick the things that are important to you and build off them. Friendship as a byproduct of games. Sean's hypothesis: Any subject that people are passionate about could be turned into a game. Discuss! Game as non-dogmatic, non-prescriptive way to share your passions. People who your game connects with are kindred. Responsibility of the Designer Making sure that you're respectful to the subject matter of your game and the communities that identify with the subject matter. Lessons learned from sharing sign with the deaf community and getting feedback. Conventions we've just been to or are going to soon: Origins (Hakan and Sean) Go Play Northwest (Kate, Hakan, and Sean) Gen Con (Kate, Hakan, and Sean) Big Bad Con (Kate, Hakan, and Sean) Panels at Gen Con Kate and Hakan are on: Improv For Roleplaying5 Ways Of Finding Your SparkBeyond CombatLanguage & GamesMaking RPG Welcoming To New PlayersDesigning With Empathy Gaming community Welcoming new players to the community. Nurturing a fledgling community and new players. Mouse Guard is a great game for new players. Language in Design Fundamental to identity and relationships. Uniquely human. We absorb a ton of information through language. Ritual Phrases for the win! Hopscotch, the Larp. Kate and Hakan's next game!� The conversation continues...Here.

Hi, and welcome back to the show! Over a year later and we're back! John Harper came on the show to talk to me about how his gaming style affects his design and all the pieces of the venn diagram that make for a good times at the game table. Note: There is occasional profanity during the episode, but nothing so egregious that I would add the explicit tag. Also this is a long one, over two hours. We're making up for all the time we missed! Host: Sean Nittner Guests: John Harper Length: 2:12:35 Inspired by Alex Roberts (Backstory) and Marcelo Ferrari (The Curators) to start recording again. The Nuke Trust in Me Judd Karlman - The Githyanki Diaspora anyway. The "What would John do?" direct play for John's GMing advice for my game starts at 01:33:50! Games we talked about: Agon Blades in the Dark Apocalypse World Burning Wheel Fiasco Games we referenced: Blades in the Dark - Bloodletters (Actual Play | Youtube VODs) Blades in the Dark - Doskvol Spectral Society (Actual Play) Products we're plugging: Undying (Buy | Discuss | One Seven Design Hangout) Cons we're attending: Origins (Sean) Go Play NW (Sean and John) Gen Con (Sean) Big Bad Con (Sean and John) The conversation continues...Here.

Hi, and welcome back to the show! This episode I have Rob Donoghue and Vincent Baker on to respond to episode 80 and discus their thoughts on the current state of design. Host: Sean Nittner Guests: Vincent Baker and Rob Donoghue Length: 45:14 [00:26] Introduction to the show. Welcoming Vincent and Rob. [01:46] Vincent’s reaction to episode 80. [08:00] Rob’s reaction. [09:13] Defining Design. Where I get it all wrong. [15:40] Distinction between GMing, Expansibility, and...

Hi, and welcome back to the show! This episode was recorded many moons ago (June 2014), lost, found, and released! A bunch of fantastic perspectives on sincere emotions in games. Host: Sean Nittner Guests: Matthew Klein, Avery Alder McDaldno, and Shaun Hayworth Length: 47:52 [00:27] Intro to the show. Amazing experiences gaming with Avery McDaldno, Shawn Hayworth, and Matthew Klein. [03:26] Do you seek to get an emotional response consciously in game, or do you let it occur as a result...

Hi, and welcome back to the show! This episode sparked from a twitter conversation between Luke Crane and I about design intentions. To hack or not to hack, Conversations in Design. Luke had thoughts. An hour of thoughts. Check em out! Note: This is an explicit episode. Host: Sean Nittner Guests: Luke Crane Length: 1:08:21 [00:28] Intro to the show – Interview with Luke Crane. [01:16] Luke prepared for an interview and to say things he probably shouldn’t. [03:03] Design process....

Hi, and welcome back to the show! This episode I have three awesome gamers that have played in some extremely character driven games with me. I brought them on to discuss what's needed in a game to give players the tools they need to drive a game, how do you keep player antagonism safe at a table, and what external threats are necessary to keep the action moving and prevent the game from turing into a soap opera. Host: Sean Nittner Guests: Jon Edwards, Regina Joyner, and Karen...

Hi, and welcome back to the show! This episode I have two phenomenal GMs, Leonard Balsera and Todd Furler, on to talk about the rationale for running games either with low/no or very high prep, as well as their techniques for doing so. Host: Sean Nittner Guests: Leonard Balsera and Todd Furler [00:26] Intro to the Show [01:06] Introducing my guests Todd Furler and Leonard Balsera [02:10] Todd and Lenny represent pillars of best practices for different methodologies for running...

Hi, welcome to the show! This week I’m reflecting on the emotional impact of a particular LARP I was in at GenCon, how to facilitate that kind of play in general, and how to port those experiences to tabletop. My guests are awesome LARPers, and other players in the game Lizzie Stark, Emily Care Boss, and Jason Morningstar. Host: Sean Nittner Guest: Lizzie Stark, Emily Care Boss, and Jason Morningstar Length: 54:10 [00:27] Intro to the show [01:30] Introduce the guests to the...

Hi, welcome back to the show. This week I’m talking torches with Shaun Hayworth, Josh Curtis, and David Gallo. We discussed GMing and playing Torchbearer! Host: Sean Nittner Guest: Shaun Hayworth, Josh Curtis, and David Gallo Length: 1:35:16 [00:23] Intro to the show [01:36] Introducing the guests: Shaun Hayworth, Josh Curtis, and David Gallo [03:48] Keeping suspense in the game. Setting player expectations to expect and enjoy the grind. [09:40] The system is definitely a game....

Welcome back to Narrative Control, season 3. This season we’re taking calls from listeners and offering up what advice we can about their gaming conundrums. This episode we talked to David McBride about handling a back-seat GM. Hosts: Sean Nittner, Leonard Balsera, and Eric Fattig Guest: David McBride Length: 52:05 [00:27] Intro to the show. Explicit episode in both English and French. [01:26] News: Fattig got a HOUSE! [02:17] Fate Core is at print!...

Welcome back to Narrative Control, season 3. This season we’re taking calls from listeners and offering up what advice we can about their gaming conundrums. This week we talked to Austin Smith about hierarchies in game settings. Hosts: Sean Nittner, Eric Fattig, and Lenny Balsera Guest Caller: Austin Smith Length: 52:26 Show Notes [00:26] Introduction to the show. Brining back Austin Smith from Episode 70. [01:20] Austin’s games. Built into the game setting was a hierarchy. Problems...

Welcome back to Narrative Control, season 3. This season we’re taking calls from listeners and offering up what advice we can about their gaming conundrums. This week we talked to Jamil Walker about presenting non-violent opposition for his PCs. This really touched on a cornerstone of our GMing styles. It’s a good 40 minutes. Have a listen! Hosts: Sean Nittner, Eric Fattig, and Lenny Balsera Guest Caller: Jamil Walker Length: 42.16 Show Notes [00:26] Introduction to the show. Jamil...

Welcome back to Narrative Control, season 3. This season we’re talking about methos for finding a game that will suit your needs. It's kind of the anti-hack episode (Episode 69) where our goal is to find you a system that will match your epectations without having to re-invent it yourself. We doing something special this year and hosting a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders Hosts: Sean Nittner, Eric Fattig, and Lenny Balsera Guest Caller: Soren Ludwig Length: Show Notes [00:30]...

Welcome back to Narrative Control, season 3. This season we’re taking calls from listeners and offering up what advice we can about their gaming conundrums. This week we talked to Rich Rogers about a transgressive experience he had playing in a game and review both what he could have done differently and what both GMs and players should watch out for so that they don't cross over boundries inadvetantly. Hosts: Sean Nittner, Eric Fattig, and Lenny Balsera Guest Caller: Rich Rogers, of Canon...

Welcome back to Narrative Control, season 3. This season we’re taking calls from listeners and offering up what advice we can about their gaming conundrums. This week we talked to Austin Smith about both dropping clues to your players, keeping them attached to the outcomes, and introducing a rich setting. Hosts: Sean Nittner, Lenny Balsera, and Eric Fattig Guest Caller: Austin Smith Length: 1:01:36 The conversation continues… here.

Welcome back to Narrative Control, season 3. This season we’re taking calls from listeners and offering up what advice we can about their gaming conundrums. This week we talked to Joe Harney about hacking settings from one game into the system of another’s. In this case we focus on Gordian Knot of Settings: Shadowrun Hosts: Sean Nittner and Lenny Balsera Guest Caller: Joseph Harney Length: 45:07 Show Notes [00:25] Intro to the show – Hacking settings to systems. [00:55] Joe starts the...

Welcome back to Narrative Control, season 3. This season we’re taking calls from listeners and offering up what advice we can about their gaming conundrums. This week we talked to David Bozarth talking about selling players on complicating their characters. Hosts: Sean Nittner, Eric Fattig, and Lenny Balsera Guest Caller: Dave Bozarth Explicit. This episode contains a smattering of explicit language. Length: 37:14 Show Notes [00:27] Intro to the show. Dave Bozarth coming on and talking...

Welcome back to Narrative Control, season 3. We’ve taken a break for Gen Con and my very own Big Bad Con and now we’re back in the saddle. Season 3 has a new format. We’re taking calls from listeners and offering up what advice we can about their gaming conundrums. This week we talked to David Miessler-Kubanek from dmkcreative.com. We’re talking about intellectual properties, setting expectations and finding out what’s going on with an unhappy player. Hosts: Sean Nittner and Lenny...

Hi, welcome to the last episode of Season 2. Warning, this one is explicit. This episode is my farewell for a time as well as the bloopers from Season 2. Good times in here! Hosts: Sean Nittner, Justin Evans and Eric Fattig Length: 25:29 Show Notes A few minutes of me talking about the show followed by 20 minutes of our mistakes. Have fun.