RPG Design Panelcast

Episode 273: Running Games on Roll20

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020

Presented by Chris O'Neill, Stephanie Bryant, Warren Morrison, Walt Ciechanowski.

Roll20 provides players and GMs with a popular virtual tabletop for games. How can you best take advantage of it as a player, a designer or a publisher? Our experts and power-users will bring you up to speed on the service.

Episode 269: Heartwarming Gaming During the Plague Times

Recorded at Metatopia 2020

Presented by Rach Shelkey and Jaqueline Bryk.

It's time once again to talk about happy, uplifting games! How do you make space for pastoral gaming while the world is going through a global health crisis? How does one find joy when the long term outlook changes by the minute? Our panelists will share their thoughts and personal experiences on exploring the heartwarming through the plague.

Episode 268: Converting to Online Play

Recorded at Metatopia 2020

Presented by Vivian Abraham and Jason Cox.

Some games are easy to play online, and some have robust platforms to support them. But what if your game involves group singing? Or social mingling? Or some other mechanic that is harder to do online? Let's share some ideas for converting these trickier games to be enjoyable virtually! 

Episode 263 - Games in Education

Recorded at Metatopia 2019

Presented by Jennifer Gutterman, Shawn Roske, Tim Blank.

Are you an educator wanting to gamify your classroom? Are you building a traditional education game? Do you want your game to be fun but also teach the players about something? This is where we can discuss ideas, workflows, deployments and examples of games in education, gamification in the classroom or building games that teach.

Episode 255 - Publish your own Games!

Recorded at Metatopia 2019

Presented by Meguey Baker & Jason Pitre.

Publishing your game doesn't need to be daunting. There's work involved, but with a diverse tool box and a clear understanding of your publishing goals, publishing might be more attainable than you imagine.

Episode 254 - Science in RPGs and Larps

Recorded at Metatopia 2019

Presented by Mary Georgescu, Sharang Biswas, Brianna Shuttleworth.

Can we get nitty gritty with players and talk about science? Can we as designers build science into our games in fun ways that do not lend themselves to sci- fiction but a truer representation and reflection of our current or past understandings of the way our universe, our earth works? We will be talking about how we designed Starry Messenger, The Moon Stares at Us in Shame, and Magischola with science in mind and their usage and representations of science.

Episode 253 - Holding Space for Teens

Recorded at Metatopia 2019

Presented by Meguey Baker, Caleb Stokes, Clark Valentine, Edward LaValley.

Teenagers bring innovation, creativity and hard questions to the game table. Our panelists will talk about how to hold space for everything that makes gaming with them magical.

Episode 252 - A Dive into the Theory of RPGs as a Communications Medium

Recorded at Metatopia 2019

Presented by Christopher O'Neill, Adriel Wilson, Cat Tobin, Misha Bushyager.

Role playing as a HOBBY continues to evolve and mature. Has role-playing now gotten big enough to be considered a MEDIUM? Join us for a lively and passionate discussion on the concept that role-playing has become more than just games, but a medium - a channel for communication, information, and entertainment. In this panel, we will look at whether role-playing is a medium, and if so, what that means for our hobby. The panelists all represent different aspects of designing and publishing role playing games and bring diverse and interesting points of view around the topic.

Episode 242 - On Failure

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.

Episode 241 - Nostalgia as a Genre

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.

Episode 237 - The Transitive Power of Myth

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?

Episode 231 - Now What? - Finishing Games

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.

Episode 229 - Beyond Bright Lights

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!

Episode 226 - Latinx Design

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.

Episode 221 - The Joy of Honobono

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.

Episode 220 - Stage Gate Development

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

Episode 208 - GM Masterclass

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

Episode 207 - Online Games

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.

Episode 206 - Running Convention Games

Recorded at Breakout 2019

Presented by Camdon Wright, Angela Murray and Chris Spivey, with moderation by Senda Linaugh

Let’s face it, some games are just better for cons than others! This panel of experts will discuss what makes a game a good pick for a con. What kind of mechanics work best? What kind of stories? How do you stay on time? How do you invest your players quickly in your game? All this and your questions!

Episode 205 - Larp 101

Recorded at BreakoutCon 2019

Presented by Anne Ratchet Nicole Winchester, Moyra Turkington and Jonaya Kemper

Have you always wanted to play LARPs at Breakout or out in the ‘real world’? Or are you wary of LARP and want your questions answered about this embodied form of play? Come on by to learn more about the different kinds of LARP, how to decide if a LARP is for you, how to tell if a LARP is safer space and more! We’ll also discuss our experiences with LARP as creators and players, offer examples of LARP from ‘black-box’ indie larps to rustic boffer campaigns to elaborate ‘blockbuster’ adventures, and talk about some LARPs you can play (or buy) at Breakout! 

Episode 204 - Creating Engaging Characters

Recorded at BreakoutCon 2019

Presented by Emily Griggs, Camdon Wright, Sharang Biswas, & Cat Ramen

Most great stories start with great characters, and the stories told around a game table are no exception. A discussion about creating player characters that will engage everyone in the table, and help tell amazing stories that everyone will enjoy.

Panelists: Emily Griggs, Camdon Wright, Sharang Biswas, Cat Ramen
Moderator: Emily Griggs

Episode 203 - Designing Asian Themes in Board and Roleplaying Games

Recorded at BreakoutCon 2019

Presented by James Mendez Hodes, Sharang Biswas, Agatha Cheng. Moderated by Daniel Kwan  Regrets from Banana Chan 

Are you interested in how Asian cultures can inspire games and game design? Are you curious about Asian portrayal in games? Join us for a panel discussion about these topics as experienced Asian TTRPG, LARP, and board game designers discuss cultural and historical themes. We will talk through examples that we’ve seen, the differences between Asian American and overseas Asian perspectives, and the impact of thoughtful representation and why it matters.

Episode 201 - Board Game Design Basics

Recorded at BreakoutCon 2019

Presented by Allysha Tulk, Nikki Valens, Shannon McDowell and moderated by Daryl Andrews

Common practices and workflow when designing games, including the basic expectations, and the basic assumptions of design work. Notes, playtesting, knowing your audience and art will all be discussed as we walk through what it is like to build a Boardgame.

Episode 199 - Horror Mechanics

Recorded at Metatopia 2018

Presented by Anne Ratchat, Kenneth Hite, Elsa Henry, Julia Ellingboe, Jabari Weathers. 

Horror Mechanics (For More Than Just Horror)"In the genre of horror, game designers and writers have developed an arsenal of tools specifically to disempower the characters in their worlds. These mechanics are assumed one-trick ponies but can also serve as useful mechanics for empowering play as well when understood. The goal of this panel is to break down why specific horror mechanics work and how to use them effectively, regardless of genre.

Episode 190 - Success Through Iteration

Recorded at Metatopia 2018

Presented by Jay Treat, Mark Richardson.

How much do you change your game between tests? Which way do you change it? How do you evaluate playtester feedback and suggestions against your design goals? When do you stop tweaking or abandon a path? Iteration is the key to success not just in a single project but in your design career. Let's talk about how, how to do that better, and what not to do.