Dice Exploder

Transcript The first ever Dice Exploder game jam came to a close about a month ago, and today I sit down with the three hooligans from the discord who put it together and go through some of our favorite entries. If Dice Exploder is a show about concrete examples, this episode is as Dice Exploder as it gets. All the games we talk about are pretty short, so it should be easy to follow along at home. Check out all the jam submissions here. Thanks to Audrey Stolze (aka Lady Tabletop), Chris Greenbriar, and Sam Roberts for running the jam! Further Reading: Game Exploder full list of entries Sam D's late entry: World Ending Game (Sam's Version) Socials Sam D on Bluesky and itch. Sam R's game Escape from Dino Island. Audrey on ⁠Tumblr⁠, and her podcast ⁠Alone at the Table⁠ about solo games. The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript What if your D&D adventuring party settled down and opened a tavern, and the vibes went from dragon murderers to Bob’s Burgers? That's my pitch for Stewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern, one of my favorite RPGs. It's currently on Backerkit, and you should check it out. This week I'm talking about a super simple unnamed mechanic from Stewpot, and presumably other games before it, that's inspired much of my own work: everyone goes around and adds a detail about the scene at hand or whatever we're talking about. Simple but effective. I think of this mechanic, and Stewpot generally, as especially welcoming to people new to the hobby. And so I brought on my favorite new to the hobby person: Lee Conrads, acclaimed theater director (there's a lot of theater and audience theory in this one) and also my spouse. It's a very special episode. Further Reading: The Stewpot backerkit campaign Circle X theater company Great Reckonings in Little Rooms Comedy Book by Jesse David Fox Socials Sam on Bluesky and itch. The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript Is sharing music with your friends an RPG? It sure is when you're playing Avery Alder's game Ribbon Drive. Takuma Okada, the designer of Stewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern (⁠on Backerkit right now⁠), joins me this week to talk about music, contemplation, and unconventional ways to inspire players. Further Reading: ⁠Ribbon Drive⁠ ⁠Spindlewheel⁠ Everything Is Illuminated, the book and film ⁠Ten Candles⁠ ⁠Dread⁠ ⁠Star Crossed⁠ ⁠Our Radios Are Dying⁠ ⁠Void 1680 AM⁠ Sam’s ⁠playlist⁠ from playing Ribbon Drive ⁠The Awards⁠ website ⁠The Awards interview on Yes Indie'd⁠ Socials Takuma on Twitter and Bluesky. Sam on ⁠Bluesky⁠ and ⁠itch⁠. The Dice Exploder blog is at ⁠diceexploder.com⁠ Our logo was designed by ⁠sporgory⁠, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the ⁠Dice Exploder Discord⁠ to talk

Transcripts are available at diceexploder.com People talk a lot about how and whether RPGs emulate TV and movies, but this week cohost Meguey Baker (Apocalypse World, Under Hollow Hills) brings in a game that takes that sentiment to a compelling meta level. Fan Mail, from Primetime Adventures by Matt Wilson, is the core of the game's key metaphor: that players are simultaneously writers of a TV show, fans watching that show, and the characters portrayed on screen. We talk about the storygame scene in the early 2000s, how Primetime Adventures has influenced Meg's work, and how different this mechanic can feel in a one shot vs a full campaign. This game feels like a classic. I wish I'd known about it ten years ago. Further Reading: Primetime Adventures by Matt Wilson The Revolution Was Televised by Alan Sepinwall Inspecters by Jared Sorensen A Thousand and One Nights by Meguey Baker Ritual in Game Design by Meguey Baker Meguey & Vincent’s new game Under Hollow Hills Socials Meg on Twitter and Bluesky. The Baker family blog and games. Sam on Bluesky and itch. The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript What's the deal with Playbooks? That's a question that's way too big for one episode. But Moe Poplar, of the RPG Academy podcast Show & Tell, had a very particular effect of playbooks that he wanted to talk about on the show today: how playbook choice can be a line of communication between players, GM, and designer. This is one of those episodes that's as much play advice as it is about design. I should do more of those. Further Reading: Monster of the Week Blades in the Dark Socials Moe’s website, including his games. Moe’s podcast via The RPG Academy, Show & Tell Sam on Bluesky and itch. The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript This week, now that the part of season 3 that was funded by Kickstarter is over, I’ve got a treat for you: the backers-only bonus episode with Mikey Hamm, designer of Slugblaster. You didn’t think I was gonna just hold on to an episode this good forever, did you? It’s the show’s namesake mechanic! Mikey is currently Kickstarting Two-Hand Path, a solo game roll-and-write dungeon crawler. Check it out. While I thought this episode would be a big of a goof about a goofy mechanic (and it is), it also brought out some of the most thoughtful thoughts on deploying mechanics with precision and purpose that I’ve had on the show yet. Also, we had a blast. A slug blast. List of Games with Exploding Dice Middle Earth Roleplaying Game Shadowrun Earthdawn Luck of Legends The Burning Wheel 7th Sea Heart (Deep Apiarist class) Renegade Racers Kids on Bikes Armello Socials Back Two-Hand Path and buy Slugblaster now! Mikey on Bluesky. Sam on Bluesky and itch. The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript This week's cohost is James Wallis, cohost of the Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast, a show a lot like this one that's Kickstarting their third season now, and designer of one of the first story games: The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Today we're breaking format: instead of talking about one game mechanic, James brought in the concept of innovation in game design. What does it look like, is it important, and how can we do more of it? The show notes for this one are friggin packed. Further Reading: Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast and season 3 Kickstarter The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen and on Wikipedia Nordic Larp book by Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola Nordic Larp wiki Fairweather Manor, the Downton Abbey larp The Diana Jones award Dominion, the deckbuilder board game by Donald X. Vaccarino Blades in the Dark by John Harper My blog post Calvinballing a Whole Campaign Star Crossed by Alex Roberts Dread by Epidiah Ravachol Apocalypse World by Meguey and Vincent Baker The Beast by Naked Female Giant The Crew by Thomas Sing Thousand Year Old Vampire by Tim Hutchings Bluebeard’s Bride by Marissa Kelly, Whitney Beltrán, and Sarah Doom The Well Played Game by Bernie de Koven Socials James Wallis on Bluesky and dice.camp. Sam on Bluesky and itch. The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

This week I'm bringing you an episode from the new podcast Lyrical Ludology with host Logan Timmins, a show all about lyric games. I'm very excited for it. There's already at least one more episode of Lyrical Ludology published, so if you like this one, go subscribe and take a listen!

Transcript It’s the solo games episode! Hopefully the first of many. I’m joined by Seb Pines, designer of The Awards winning game Dwelling and haver of MFA in basically solo games, to talk about prompts in solo games. This is a broad survey of solo games. We talk about a bunch of games (listed below) that all behave differently. If you’re curious about this side of the hobby, this is the primer for you. Further Reading: Dwelling by Seb Pines Thousand Year Old Vampire by Tim Hutchings Horse Girl by Babblegum Sam Artefact by Jack Harrison Project ECCO by Elliot Davis Notorious by Jason Price Void 1680 AM by Ken Lowery I Eat Mantras For Breakfast by Maria Mison The Ink That Bleeds and an excerpt on the Indie Game Reading Club My response to The Ink That Bleeds Socials Seb Pines on Bluesky and itch. Sam on Bluesky and itch. The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript This is an intensely visual episode. If you'd like to follow along with the sheets we mention and get some extra commentary from me, you can do so at https://www.diceexploder.com/blog/2024/2/22/dice-exploder-aftershow-character-sheets I’m fascinated by character sheets, mostly because there are so so so precious few that I think do a good job. I don’t mean this to call anyone out - I think the job of making a good character sheet might genuinely be impossible. They just have so much they have to accomplish. Today I'm talking to Emanoel Melo, designer of CBR+PNK, about what we like in character sheets and whether there are any we would actually go to bat for. Further reading Aftershow blog post featuring all the character sheets we talk about plus extra commentary on diceexploder.com CBR-PNK Mothership Bruno Prosaiko, the artist behind the beautiful ornate sheets we talk about, on Instagram A collection of Brazilian tabletop games on itch that Emanoel curates Socials Emanoel on Twitter and Instagram. His website, Cabinet of Curiosities. Sam on Bluesky and itch. The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript Alex Roberts, designer of Star Crossed and For the Queen, joins me to talk about pity points from Kagematsu, a mechanic that doesn't actually do anything itself beyond evoke a particular feeling when put in opposition to love points. This episode is what I always dreamed Dice Exploder could be. We start from a simple game mechanic, but we get into power dynamics at the table in the past and the future, how people treat you when you’re disabled, cultural appropriation, my personal techniques for flirting, details of a new game Alex is working on, and of course “what is the true nature of love?” Happy day after Valentine’s Day. Further Reading Kagematsu is no longer available in print or online Kagematsu actual play, featuring Alex, on the One Shot podcast What Dice Do blogpost by Graham Walmsley The Quiet Year by Avery Alder Alex’s finished podcast Backstory Star Crossed by Alex Roberts For the Queen, second edition coming May 14th from Darrington Press Socials Alex’s personal carrd page Sam on Bluesky and itch. The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lily Pads by my boi Travis Tessmer. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript This week I've got designer and illustrator Strega Wolf van den Berg on to talk about money and the Mork Borg third party license. What, if anything, is the difference between making RPGs for fun, to pay rent, and to be paid fairly? And what is the cost (aha) of bringing money into making art? On the flip side, this is also an episode about community, and how the shape of Mork Borg’s license fostered a community around it that allowed Strega Wolf to find a space in this hobby. Community can give us so many things that money can’t. Further reading: The Mork Borg third party license Lichoma The Origin Of My Depression by Uboa Socials Strega Wolf's website and itch page Bogfolk, and on itch Sam on ⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠itch⁠⁠. The Dice Exploder blog is at ⁠⁠diceexploder.com⁠⁠ Our logo was designed by ⁠⁠sporgory⁠⁠, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lily Pads by my boi Travis Tessmer. Join the ⁠⁠Dice Exploder Discord⁠⁠ to talk about the show!

Transcript This week I've got Nova, aka Idle Cartulary, of the excellent Playful Void blog among other places linked below. Nova's one of my favorite writers in the, as she puts it, DIY elf game scene, and I knew that was a world I wanted to cover more this season. Nova brought on the rumor table from Zedeck Siew's Lorn Song of the Bachelor, an excellent elf game adventure. We got to talk about what makes a good random table at large, our taste in how adventures are written, and how point of view is the thing that often turns serviceable fiction into real primo shit. Further Reading: Nova’s kickstarter for The Curse of Mizzling Grove Dice Exploder on pick lists Lorn Song of the Bachelor The Isle, in print and on itch Socials Nova’s blog, ⁠Playful Void⁠ Nova’s podcast, ⁠Dungeon Regular⁠ Nova’s games ⁠on itch⁠ Sam on ⁠Bluesky⁠ and ⁠itch⁠. The Dice Exploder blog is at ⁠diceexploder.com⁠ Our logo was designed by ⁠sporgory⁠, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lily Pads by my boi Travis Tessmer. Join the ⁠Dice Exploder Discord⁠ to talk about the show!

Transcript On the season 3 premiere, I’m joined by John Harper, designer of many games featured on past episodes of Dice Exploder including Blades in the Dark, Lasers & Feelings, and Agon 2e. John brought in the Psi*Run risk sheet, a fairly complex dice resolution mechanic, known generically as Otherkind Dice. The risk sheet is such an elegant piece of design, packing essentially a whole game onto a single sheet of paper, and being so clear in both how it works and how you might tear it apart for your own ends. If you’re a new designer, or even just looking to get back in touch with the basics, John and I agree that hacking this thing is a great place to look. It’s good to be back. Further Reading: Psi*Run’s risk sheet Vincent Baker’s original 2005 post on Otherkind Dice Vincent’s 2022 Otherkind Dice SRD Psi*Run by Michael Lingner, Christopher Moore⁠, and Meguey Baker Annalise Socials John’s website, onesevendesign.com, and itch page. Sam on Bluesky and itch. The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lily Pads by my boi Travis Tessmer. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Thursday January 25th Dice Exploder is back with an all new crowdfunded-by-listeners season! The lineup includes John Harper, Alex Roberts, James Wallis, Idle Cartulary, Strega Wolf van den Berg, Emanoel Melo, Seb Pines and MORE - that's right, I'm over-delivering on the Kickstarter as a treat. Check back next week for the season premiere, and visit the blog's new home at diceexploder.com. Transcript

Transcript Hello and welcome to the Dice Exploder 2023 end of year bonanza! I love me a good ranked list of movies on an end of year movie podcast, but ranked lists are bad and this show’s about RPGs not movies, so you get this instead. It’s me, Aaron King of the RTFM podcast, Lady Tabletop of the Alone at the Table podcast, and Sharang Biswas of winning tons of Ennies this year and being a games academic, and the four of us (plus a half dozen other special guests) are here to tell you about a bunch of cool games shit we played, read, and listened to this year. Hope you had a great year in games! Come on down and listen to ours. Our picks: Aaron’s games * GREED by Gormengeist * Undertree Temple of the Elf Gods by Happy Chthonian * Crush Depth Apparition by Amanda Lee Franck Audrey’s games * Void 1680 AM by Ken Lowery * Wreck This Deck by Black Armada Games (Josh Fox and Becky Annison) * Extreme Meatpunks Forever by Sinister Beard Games Sharang’s games * Fight With Spirit by Story Brewers Roleplaying * The Silt Verses by Gabriel Robinson and Jason Cordova * The Broadcast by Jason Morningstar and Lizzie Stark Sam’s games * Eating Oranges in the Shower by Hazel Anneke Dixon * Barkeep on the Borderlands by W. F. Smith * Exiles by em acosta Game adjacent things * Aaron: Grog the Frog by Alba BG * Audrey: Roleplaying Games Enter the World of Ballet in a Unique New Performance by Linda Codega * Sharang: The Dungeons & Dragons players of Death Row by Keri Blakinger * Sam: The Ink That Bleeds by Paul Czege (here’s an excerpt from the Indie Game Reading Club) Thing we’re proud of * Aaron: RTFM, Speedrune, and Aaron’s annual list of favorite books * Audrey: Behold: A Game * Sharang: Winning 3 Ennies: Judges choice for MOONLIGHT ON ROSEVILLE BEACH and Best Rules/Best Family Game for AVATAR * Sam: you’re lookin at it Picks from friends of the show: * Ray Chou: Decuma * Thomas Manuel: A.A. Voigt on Youtube, Daydreaming About Dragons podcast by Judd Karlman, the Indie Game Reading Club, and Aaron Marks at Cannibal Halfling. * Mikey Hamm: Picturepedia and other coffee table reference books * John Harper: Girl By Moonlight * Em Acosta: The Zone and Blades in ‘68 * Nova / Idle Cartulary: mindfulness fantasy map drawing (see her Dungeons Regularly vols. 1 and 2) * Moe Poplar: the Dice Exploder podcast Further reading: * Meakpunk manifesto by Heather “Flowers” Robertson * Sharang’s piece about Brindlewood Bay * Amanda Lee Franck’s Comradery * Alba BG’s Instagram * BALLETCOLLECTIVE presents THE MOMENT IS IMMINENT * RTFM patreon episode on VOID 1680 AM * LadyTabletop’s VOID 1680 AM broadcast Socials Aaron can be found on, like, just listen to RTFM, linked above. Audrey on Tumblr, and her podcast Alone at the Table about solo games. Sharang is on itch and Twitter and Bluesky. Sam is @sdunnewold on all socials and itch. Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript Today I’ve got for you another between-season bonus episode. This time we’re breaking format to talk about i know the end, a module I published earlier this year about going back home after a long time away and all the horrors that entails. Because if you can’t occasionally publish something self-indulgent in your podcast feed, what’s even the point of having one? My cohost for this is my friend Nico MacDougall, the current organizer of The Awards, who edited i know the end and had almost as much to say about it as I did. For maximum understanding of this episode, you can pick up a free copy of the module here and follow along (or skim it in advance). Further reading: The original i know the end cover art The “oops all PBTA moves” version of i know the end Three of my short films My previous written designer commentaries on Space Train Space Heist and Couriers John Harper talking with Andrew Gillis about the origins of Blades in the Dark The official designer commentary podcasts for Spire and Heart Aaron Lim’s An Altogether Different River, which comes with a designer commentary version Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes, a photography theory book that we talked about during recording but which I later cut because I remembered most of the details about it incorrectly What Is Risograph Printing, another topic cut from the final recording because I got basically everything about it wrong while recording (the background texture of the module is a risograph printed texture) Before Sunrise by Richard Linklater Questionable Content by Jeph Jacques Socials: Nico’s carrd page, which includes links to their socials, editing rates, and The Awards. Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch. The Dice Exploder logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript It’s a bonus between-seasons Dice Exploder! Wowie! As promised back in my episode with Gem Room Games about Mork Borg, today I’m talking about accessibility in game design using Mork Borg’s graphic design as an example. My cohost is Marc Muszynski, a friend and screenwriter with low vision, and we talk in detail about his experience with Mork Borg. Is this game, with all its important and loud art, accessible to people who can’t see? Like with most accessibility questions, It’s Complicated™! Further reading: Mork Borg Accessibility in Gaming Resource Guide by Jennifer Kretchmer TTRPG Accessibility Drive 2023 game jam on itch Contrast checking tool for visual design. Color checking tool for colorblindness. Sylexiad, my favorite Dyslexia-friendly font: Fate Accessibility Toolkit by Evil Hat Two articles about “sanity” mechanics in RPGs (don’t put “sanity” mechanics in your games) Socials: Marc on imdb (lmao) Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch. Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript On this episode I’m joined by Nychelle Schneider, also known as Mistletoe Kiss, a moderator from the Blades in the Dark discord and contributor to The Wildsea, the upcoming Dagger Isles supplement for Blades, and Underground Maps & Passkeys among others. Nychelle brought on the idea of customizing existing games, homebrewing mechanics for your table (or even publication). This is... a big conversation, chock full of cool ideas that I hope people take and run with. There are so many games out there, and I think there’s so much to be gained by making stuff that can plug into and enhance other people’s art. Nychelle also has so many interesting trains of thought about in this episode, many of which I didn’t follow up on as much as I wish I had. So I encourage you to listen to what she says, and then take those ideas an run with them. I hope that every week, but especially with this one. Further reading: A post-show blogpost about Sam’s joke Blades playbook The Boogeyman Blades in the Dark Nychelle’s Blades playbook The Surge Vincent Baker’s blogpost Apocalypse World Custom Advancement Tim Denee’s Dogs in the Bark Sam’s Blades crewsheet Spirit Chasers Sam’s Blades downtime hack Doskvol Breathes Several zines by Aaron King of PBTA moves that exist outside of games: Reading the Apocalypse, PbtA23 January Digest, and PbtA23 February Digest Socials: Nychelle’s website, Twitter, and itch. The Blades in the Dark Discord Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch. Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript Thomas Manuel of the Indie RPG Newsletter and the Yes Indie’d podcast joins me to talk about Secondary Missions, a mechanic from Band of Blades by Off Guard Games. In Band of Blades, a grim military fantasy forged in the dark game, you and your party go off and do missions. Meanwhile, there’s a whole other squad out there doing a whole other mission! What’s up with them? This mechanic tells us. It’s such a change in the mouthfeel of Band of Blades compare to other forged in the dark games. We get into how it supports the genre and themes of the game, all the tough choices it puts in front of players, and how mechanics like this one that couldn’t exist in any other game are often our favorites. It’s a classic Dice Exploder deep dive this week. Enjoy. Further reading: * Blades in the Dark * Malazan Book of the Fallen * Band of Brothers * Darkest Dungeon * The Watch * Dream Askew // Dream Apart Socials: Thomas on itch and Twitter. Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch. Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!