RPG Design Panelcast

Episode 372: Powered by the Apocalypse

Recorded at Metatopia 2023

Presented by Meguey Baker, Vincent Baker

An introduction to PbtA from a designer's point of view. How and why Apocalypse World works the way it does, what your game can take from it, and how and why your own game should work differently. Highlighting PbtA's conversation model, with an emphasis on consent and communication, and PbtA's model of fiction, with an emphasis on adapting it to your own game's needs.

Episode 357: Spinning Relationship Webs

Recorded at Metatopia 2023

Presented by Jason Pitre, Jenn Adcock, Brennan Taylor, Olivia Montoya

Larpwrights and tabletop game designers have long relied on the power of complex relationship webs to drive dramatic play. Crafting effective characters and their interconnections allows for a living, breathing, and often conflicted world. The panel speakers will share best practices and techniques for designing these webs.

Episode 355: Math Essentials for Designers

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2021

Presented by Jason Pitre, BJ Recio, Mags Maenad.

Math is often a barrier for analog game designers of all disciplines. This panel is meant to help lower that barrier by teaching you some basic, versatile tools you can use to solve most problems. How do you figure out probabilities of success when rolling dice or drawing cards? What is a bell curve, a mean and a median? How do you figure out combinations and permutation? We are here to give you the tools to thrive.

Episode 349: The Many Meanings of Diceless

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2021

Presented by Jon Lemich, Chance Feldstein, Alex White.

There are many diceless RPGs, but their mechanics and design objectives vary more than most designers realize. What do you need to consider when designing a diceless RPG? Do you simply want to replace dice with cards or hidden information wagers, or do you want it to be randomizerless, gameless, or pure collaborative authorship?

Episode 346: RPGs Without Obvious Combat Mechanics

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2021

Presented by Moe Poplar, Michael Low, J Gurantz.

Now kids, stop fighting! RPGs are intensely emotionally engaging, deeply moving experiences - and they're fun! Much attention has been paid, recently, to their application in therapy, helping people navigate complex emotional change. This creates a question - how does the violence often built into the system - and setting - of an RPG affect players, and how can we create games where tension, drama, and struggle don't have to be wedded to destruction?

Episode 341: Questions as Mechanics

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2021

Presented by Thomas Manuel, Logan Timmins, Rae Nedjadi, Aaron Lim, momatoes.

Asking and answering questions seems really simple but at the same time, it's a powerful tool in the game design process. Watch a group of storygame designers talk about the role of questions in their games and how they can help you get the best out of play at the table.

Epsiode 324: Building Better Character Connections

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020

Presented by Cat Tobin, Becky Annison, Sharang Biswas.

How to Design !More! !Drama! into your RPG! Some of the most satisfying role playing experiences come from the dramatic outcomes of emotional connections between player characters. We look at ways for tabletop and LARP writers to design for deeper character relationships and dynamics, to provide a structure for GMs to bring more of the good kind of drama to their RPGs

Episode 314: Forged in the Dark Designs

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020

Presented by Charles Simon, Justin Ford, Pamela Punzalan, Erik Bernhardt, Nychelle Schneider.

Forged in the Dark designers share their secrets! A diverse panel of up-and-coming indie designers inspired to create by Blades in the Dark who have variously playtested, engaged with fellow Forged in The Dark fans, and kickstarted projects comes together to discuss their inspirations, design challenges, and successes.

Episode 312 - Economics and Trade as Design Elements

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020

Presented by Jason Pitre, Rob Donoghue, Emily Dresner, Kenneth Hite

The 100 GP Pearl: Economics and Trade as Design Elements. Economics and trade have long been foundational elements of game design, from the hyperinflation of dungeon pillaging to the free traders of Traveller. In this panel, we discuss how these aspects can be used as the foundation for game mechanics and procedures. Don't make me quote the rules of acquisition at you

Episode 310: Asymmetric Roleplaying Game Design

Recorded at Metatopia 2020

Presented by Jason Pitre, Spencer Campbell, Sasha Moros, Ben Robbins, Caroline Hobbs.

Role playing games have a long history of asymmetrical rules, beginning with the establishment of the Dungeon Master in the very beginning and continuing to games such as Kingdom. Role playing games have explored countless different ways of allocating authority, and modern asymmetrical boardgames (Root, Vast, etc) have showed some new approaches worth considering. In this panel, we will dig into potential ways to approach asymmetrical design.

Episode 300: Crafting Game Mechanics to Support Player Agency

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020

Presented by Jacob Segal, Justin Ford, Ian Hart.

Systems like Forged in the Dark are designed with mechanics that deliberately support player agency. When paired with external safety tools, these agency-focused mechanics are intended to foster safer play culture and richer experiences. Our panelists will discuss what we mean by "player agency" and what these mechanics look like and how they work.

Episode 299: NPCs as a Design Elements

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020

Presented by Jason Pitre, Zedeck Siew, Sinta Posadas.

Non-player characters are vital to tabletop and live action roleplaying games. They provide companionship, contrast, resources, information, and dramatic conflict with the players. They are the avatars of the setting, and the best tools that a GM has at their disposal. In this panel, we discuss how games can be designed using NPCs as a key mechanism of play. 

Episode 287: Designing RPGs That Don't Centre on Violence

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020

 

Presented by Ash Kreider, Jason Morningstar, Mike Czaplinski, Jeeyon Shim.

 

A panel about the limitations of imagination when it comes to how we see violence in tabletop games. With the entire range of human experience to draw from, why is designing games without violence still seen as having a "niche" audience? In this panel, we will discuss what it means to explore designing games that don't feature interpersonal violence as a resolution mechanic.

Episode 281: The Human Heart

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020

Presented by Vee Hendro, Hayley Gordon.

All RPGs engage our emotions, and some are made with feels first in mind. We discuss the ethics and how-to of emotional storytelling and RPG design. From buy-in to agency and safety, how can we make anguish and yearning an enjoyable experience? Brought to you by Storybrewers, Australia.

Episode 280: No Gods, No Masters, No GMs

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020

Presented by A.C., Jay Dragon, and Viditya Voleti.

Being a GM is hard; like, really hard. Having nobody willing to fill that role has been the downfall of many a game group. But there is an alternative! GM-less roleplaying games are getting more and more popular, and this panel is here to discuss why.

Episode 265 - The Cutting Edge RPG Panel

Recorded at GenCon Online 2020

Presented by Jason Walters, Pamela Punzalan, Wilson Zorn, and Maurice Poplar.

Indie Press Revolution hosted this excellent discussion on the ideas and games at the forefront of modern RPG Design in the year 2020, during this special panel at GenCon Online.

Pamela Punzalan - 
https://thedovetailor.itch.io/
https://twitter.com/TheDovetailor

Wilson Zorn - 
https://twitter.com/zornwil

Maurice Poplar - 
https://twitter.com/MauricePoplar

Episode 259 - More Than Just Victory Points

Recorded at Metatopia 2019

Presented by Peter Hayward, Gil Hova

More Than Just Victory Points: Alternative Approaches to Win Conditions.  "Most victory points" is the default victory condition for most board games, and why shouldn't they be? They solve most problems you encounter while designing - balance, investment, rewarding people for doing what you want them to be. Well, unfortunately, most everyone has worked out the same thing, and now the market is flooded with Victory Point win conditions. Want to make your game stand out? Try something else.

Episode 256 - Turn, Turn, Turn

Recorded at Metatopia 2019

Presented by Geoffrey Engelstein

 "Turn, Turn, Turn" presented by Geoffrey Engelstein. The 'turn' is a fundamental concept for games of all types, and there are a wide variety of approaches the designer can take to structure them. The structure chosen has a major impact on the play experience, and should be carefully considered. This talk is a deep dive into turn options both common and rare, and discusses what each brings to the table.

Episode 250 - Integrating World Building in Traditional RPGs

Recorded at Metatopia 2019

Presented by Ryan O'Grady, Kenneth Hite, Brennan Taylor.

There's something satisfying about taking ownership of a piece of the world as a player and watching it flourish (or not). There have been various approaches to this over the years (Ars Magica, MIcroscope, The Quiet Year, even D&D!) Let's discuss what player involvement of world building really means and different approaches for incorporating it into traditional RPGs.

Episode 249 - Insights Forged in the Dark

Recorded at Metatopia 2019

Presented by Stras Acimovic, John LeBoeuf-Little.

Blades in the Dark has led to a new generation of game designs such as Scum and Villainy, Band of Blades, and Mutants in the Night. In this panel, we dig into the toolset and what sets it apart from similar design traditions. What are the core principles behind designing games Forged in the Dark? Where can we grow and diverge from the core?

Episode 248 - Time is of the Essence: Countdowns and Clocks in Games

Recorded at Metatopia 2019

Presented by Darren Watts, Stephen Dewey, Paul Stefko.

There are many different mechanics for tracking time and progress in games, and our panel speakers will explore all of them in depth. From countdown clocks and stress tracks, to flickering candles and Jenga towers, there's a lot to explore in this family of mechanics.

Episode 244 - Creating Safety Tools

Recorded at Metatopia 2019

Presented by Kate Bullock, Camdon Wright, Bronwyn Sperling.

Want to learn how to create safety tools that fit your game and are baked into the mechanics instead of just adding pre-established tools on top? This panel dives into the creative and mechanical process of understanding safety and support and integrating it into your ttrpg designs.

Episode 235 - Designing RPGs With Safety Tools Included

Recorded at Metatopia 2018

Presented by Philip Vecchione, Senda Linaugh and Alex Roberts.

Let's talk about integrating safety tools into your design process from the foundation. Yes, the x-card is valuable. Let's talk about design that builds the next generation of tools in from the beginning

Episode 230 - The Art of Mechanics

Recorded at Metatopia 2018

Presented by Jim McClure.

This panel will cover the art behind using game mechanics to influence player behavior. The panelist will dissect mechanics from published games and discuss how these mechanics influence play, and what lessons designers can learn from them.

Episode 198 - Choice Mechanics

Recorded at Metatopia 2018

Presented by Anne Ratchat, Rob Donoghue

In each game, players make choices starting character design/assignment. How does a designer balance creating meaningful decisions while balancing choice paralysis? How does the feel of the game change by increasing and decreasing choices available?