Recorded at Metatopia 2019

Presented by Jason Morningstar, Jacqueline Bryk and Alastor Guzman. 

Failure is baked into any creative discipline, but we rarely discuss it. In this panel we'll discuss our most noteworthy failures and the role failure plays in our process. The goal is to normalize failure and to learn from the occasionally dramatic mistakes of others. It may be funny, it may be sad, but it will definitely be interesting.

Recorded at Metatopia 2019

Presented by Shoshanna Kessock, Brian Neff, Doug Levandowski, and Sean Jaffe.

Echoes of the late 20th century are all around us in 2019, especially in pop culture and media. Stranger Things, IT, and Bandersnatch have tapped into a rich vein of nostalgia that has entranced audience and permeated our time. Gaming, especially tabletop gaming, has been depicted as a vital part of 80s culture. In return, game creators are tapping into both the renewed interest in the hobby, and the evocation of nostalgia for this time period. In this panel we'll be exploring this recursive relationship with creators from Kids on Bikes and Rememorex. We’ll talk role playing and nostalgia, how to evoke an authentic sense of a time period, and what has drawn us as creators back to the past.

Recorded at Metatopia 2018

Presented by Kenneth Hite

In this year's installment of "Ken Thinks About Stuff Out Loud", I look at the structural patterns of mythology. Are there actually structures of myth, and if there aren't, can we pretend there are? How can we take real-world myths and make them game material? How can we translate one myth system (that of the "standard fantasy world" for example) into another (e.g., Greek mythology)? And how can we translate any of it into dice, numbers, and heroic player character stories?

Recorded at Metatopia 2018

Presented by Steve Segedy, Christopher Badell, Mark Richardson, and Cat Tobin.

Once you've created a game, what are your options for getting it out into the world? Come ask questions and find out about printing, distribution, and fulfillment options for independent designers and small publishers. We could also include discussion of Kickstarter, BackerKit, contracts, licensing, etc.

Recorded at Metatopia 2018

Presented by Jacqueline Bryk, Kate Bullock, Hamish Cameron

"Beyond Bright Lights: Doing Cyberpunk Differently".  Much of cyberpunk focuses on the heroic outcast: the usually white male hacker or delivery person or shadowrunner bent on twisting the system for himself. Most of these stories take place in massive, crowded cities -- so why is it so rare to see any other narrative? Let's talk about how to expand our view of cyberpunk!

Recorded at Metatopia 2018

Presented by Brandon Leon-Gambetta, Miguel Angel Espinoza, Mark Diaz Truman, Alejandro Guzman Vendrell, Jennifer Gutterman.

Join us for a celebration of Latinidad and an opportunity to come together as a Latinx community. This panel of Latinx game designers come together to discuss what it is like to write, play in, and run games while Latinx.

Recorded at Metatopia 2018

Presented by presented by Rach Shelkey, Jacqueline Bryk.

Honobono games. Heartwarming games. Pastoral games. Roleplaying games that focus on finding excitement in mundane situations and reinforcing positive emotion spaces go by several different labels. How do you design for uplifting gameplay? What impact do these games have on players? Our panelists will explore RPGs and mechanics that help players explore those warm fuzzy feelings.

Recorded at Metatopia 2018

Presented by Randy Lubin.

A Stage Gate Approach to Game Development:  A stage gate approach involves developing multiple ideas in parallel, starting with one sentence pitches. Each round of the design process advances to a higher fidelity pitch, rule set, or playtest and each round you cull a subset of the potential games. It's a highly effective method for generating a breadth of ideas, overcoming design anxiety, and developing with confidence

Recorded at BreakoutCon 2019

Presented by Chris Spivey, Robin Laws, James Mendez Hodes, with moderation by Corey Reid

Bring your thorniest GMing problems to our doughty panel, in a Q & A event focused on practical solutions to dilemmas both classic and new

Recorded at BreakoutCon 2019

Presented by Stephanie Bryant, Harlan Guthrie, Jo Fallak with moderation by Jennifer Adcock

An overview and discussion of virtual tabletops for playing tabletop games online, remotely as well as with an at-table device. Features to expect, different playstyles, etc.