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Episodes
The best panels and seminars about analog game design & publishing.
Episodes
Saturday Jul 25, 2015
Saturday Jul 25, 2015
Bisociation, Mashups, the Uncanny, and the Weird
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by Kenneth Hite.
“Bisociation, Mashups, the Uncanny, and the Weird: Toward an Aesthetic of Setting Bricolage” presented by Kenneth Hite. A dictionary may have been involved.
In an age where “everything is mashup”, what makes a game setting more than the sum of its parts? Both the modern “uncanny” and the postmodern “slipstream” depend on subverting or deranging expectations, but how can you get good play without something to play off of? Do Koestler’s “bisociation” or Lovecraft’s “truly weird” help us out or derail us? Designer Kenneth Hite (NIGHT’S BLACK AGENTS, DAY AFTER RAGNAROK) isn’t sure yet, which is why he asks you to join him and think out loud on these topics.
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Saturday Jul 11, 2015
Saturday Jul 11, 2015
Coming Up in the Indies: From Newcomer to Company Owner
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by Fred Hicks, Shoshana Kessock and Tim Rodriguez.
This panel will be a discussion between newer and more established company owners with success stories in the indie RPG world. They are ready to share their insight and tips about becoming part of the publishing world.
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Saturday Jul 04, 2015
Saturday Jul 04, 2015
Accessibility and Disability
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by Russell Collins, Elsa Henry, and Shoshana Kessock.
The final frontier of game design seems to be accommodating for those who are differently-abled. Designers of games who have a background with being differently-abled will discuss how to design to be more inclusive in this manner. We’ll discuss the foibles, pitfalls and issues associated with designing games that are not accessible.
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Saturday Jun 27, 2015
Saturday Jun 27, 2015
Style Guides are your Friend
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by Amanda Valentine and John Adamus
Style guides are one of the indispensable tools an editor uses to help make your project the best it can be. Learn more about them and the other must-have tools an editor uses, and find out why following the style guide can mean the difference between making “a thing” and “a game”.
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Saturday Jun 20, 2015
Saturday Jun 20, 2015
Gaming As Other: Moving Beyond Tokenism
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by Misha Bushyager, Julia Ellingboe, Ajit George & Mark Diaz Truman
John Stavropolous moderates as our panelists continue the discussion about the challenges faced by ethnic minorities and people of color within the hobby. In this panel, they will tackle how gaming companies, designers, conventions and communities can effectively bring greater diversity to their ranks, mentor emerging voices, and share leadership roles.
Friday Jun 12, 2015
Friday Jun 12, 2015
So You’re Making Your First Game
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by John Adamus and Mark Richardson.
Learn from a pair of first time game makers and industry professionals the perils, frustrations and strategies it takes to put together your first game from start to finish.
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Saturday May 30, 2015
Saturday May 30, 2015
What Editors Do
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by John Adamus, Jeremy Morgan & Amanda Valentine.
Cleaning up your tortured syntax and fixing your punctuation is only the beginning. A good editor can help you improve the presentation of your game on many levels
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Friday May 22, 2015
Friday May 22, 2015
How to Succeed at Conventions
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Join veteran conventioneer, Avonelle Wing, for a conversation on attending trade shows and conventions as an industry professional. Talk about identifying and setting goals, representing yourself and your brand and otherwise setting yourself up for success.
Tuesday May 12, 2015
Tuesday May 12, 2015
Playtest Feedback
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by Cam Banks, Tim Rodriguez & Jay Treat
We all know playtesting is vital, but how do you take the results of playtests and apply them to your game? Three industry veterans explain what works for them.
Monday May 04, 2015
Monday May 04, 2015
Cartography of Fictional Worlds
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by Kenneth Hite, Hal Mangold & Mark Richardson
Learn from a panel of veteran cartographers and game designers the techniques they use to make maps of fictional worlds.
A map from Mark Richardson about renaissance superheroes from The Enlightened Man.
Wednesday Apr 15, 2015
Wednesday Apr 15, 2015
Work Together AND Keep Your Friends: Healthy Publishing Collaboration
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by Joshua A. C. Newman, Epidiah Ravachol & Hannah Shaffer.
Collaborating on a creative project is great! You get double the creativity, double the productivity, and the benefit of mutual support. Nothing could go wrong, right? Whether you’re collaborating with friends or strangers, there are some important strategies to keep your collaboration healthy and productive. What happens when one person is doing the majority of the work? Do you need a contract when working with your friends? Who owns the intellectual property that you produce? What happens if you become an overnight success? We’ll share strategies, horror stories, and success stories about creative collaboration.
Monday Mar 30, 2015
Monday Mar 30, 2015
Episode 51 – RPG Podcasting and Design
This special episode is a crossover with The Jankcast and the Tabletop Superhighway podcasts. In this episode, I am speaking with Todd (Jankcast), Alex (Tabletop Superhighway) and Larry (Tabletop Superhighway) about how RPG Podcasting interacts with design, and what we see from our particular vantage points.
Welcome to the RPG Design Jankcast Superhighway.
Saturday Mar 21, 2015
Saturday Mar 21, 2015
Computer Hacking in Games
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by Shane Harsch, Clark Valentine & Tim Rodriguez
Our panel discusses the actual process/stages of intrusion (what we call the “Kill Chain”) and then facilitates a discussion about the challenges of turning that real-world process into an actionable and fun gaming experience.
Saturday Mar 07, 2015
Saturday Mar 07, 2015
Gmless RPGs and Other Variations
Recorded at Metatopia 2013
Presented by John Stavropoulos and Brennan Taylor
Role playing games have game masters, right? Well, not necessarily – plenty of interesting games have chosen not to assign that role, or share it between some or all of the players at the table. What goes into the decision whether to have one, many or no game masters?
Saturday Feb 28, 2015
Saturday Feb 28, 2015
The Writer’s Workshop
Recorded at Metatopia 2013
Presented by John Adamus.
Here’s a chance for authors and creators to get answers to their writing questions as they work on developing their first, or tenth project. Questions often include issues of layout, editing costs, the best way to write to the reader, and the best way to take an idea from the abstract idea phase to the down-on-paper phase
Saturday Feb 14, 2015
Saturday Feb 14, 2015
Playtesting Brutally
Recorded at Metatopia 2013
Presented by John Stavropoulos and Dave Chalker.
Your best friend, your spouse, and your grandma all say they like your game, so it must be ready to be published, right? WRONG. The most refined games come from an extended playtesting process, where your decisions are challenged and every mechanic is put through the burning forge of brutal playtesting. Learn how to examine games of your own design and others for ways to streamline, balance, and otherwise turn into a better game by “killing your darlings” and learning what red flags to watch out for in the playtesting process that could sink you after publication.
Saturday Feb 07, 2015
Saturday Feb 07, 2015
Least System Necessary
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by Cam Banks, Rob Donoghue, Clark Valentine & Stephen Hood.
How much system does your game *need*? We’ll be examining very minimal systems like Risus, CORE, Amber DRPG and so on as a starting point for design, always coming back to the question of whether you are adding things to your system because it need it, or because you’re “Supposed To”.
Minimal Game system references to:
Saturday Jan 31, 2015
Saturday Jan 31, 2015
Icons and Anchors
Recorded at Metatopia 2013
Presented by Rob Donoghue & Jason Pitre.
Icons and anchors are fascinating pieces of RPG design technology, establishing people and organizations within settings that are strongly tied to player characters and to each other. Let’s talk about how these can be effectively used in your own game designs.
References include:
1) My own summary of the mechanic: Examining Icons in Design
2) Rob’s ample blog discussion: [1][2][3] [4] [5] [6].
3) Chris Chin’s discussion of Keys, in the other excellent article.
4) And the economic devastation of the Identify skill over at Project Multiplexer
Saturday Jan 24, 2015
Saturday Jan 24, 2015
Succeeding at Conventions and Trade Show
Recorded at Metatopia 2013
Presented by Avonelle Wing
Conventions are overwhelming, and setting yourself up for success involves many components: Branding yourself for visibility, interacting appropriately with the convention, maximizing the impact of your contact with your public, and other ideas. Double Exposure Senior Vice President, Avonelle Wing, will share her experiences, both as a convention organizer and as an attendee representing her own brands.
Saturday Jan 17, 2015
Saturday Jan 17, 2015
Book Design 101 – First Principles
Recorded at Metatopia 2013
Presented by Fred Hicks and Hal Mangold
The panelists look at the book as an object of design. Whether it’s conveying rules or setting, the look and feel of the book itself is crucial to the experience of play. Our experts will draw on their own experiences to explain why books look the way they do.
Saturday Jan 10, 2015
Saturday Jan 10, 2015
Adventure Design as Technology
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by Cam Banks & Rob Donoghue.
We started with a map and a key. There have been structural improvements since then: boxed text, wandering monsters, plot point adventures, hard and soft points, personality-driven dungeons, mad libs plots and many more. This process has not been rigors, so the spread of these ideas has been haphazard and without the thought that’s gone into rules improvements. That is a shame. Take some time to talk about these technologies and how they can help you make better adventures.
Saturday Dec 27, 2014
Saturday Dec 27, 2014
Episode 41 – Designing RPGs for Kids
Presented by Amanda Valentine, Tim Rodriguez & Krista White.
Designing games intended for younger audiences doesn’t mean dumbing down. What are the additional challenges involved in making products to appeal to the younger set?
Sunday Dec 14, 2014
Sunday Dec 14, 2014
Hacking Apocalypse World
Recorded at Metatopia 2014
Presented by Vincent Baker, Misha Bushyager, Marissa Kelly, Mark Richardson & Mark Diaz Truman.
Learn about the Apocalypse World engine and why it has become popular amongst indie designers. This will be a panel of veteran *World players and *World game designers, including the designer of Apocalypse World!
Sunday Dec 07, 2014
Sunday Dec 07, 2014
Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition Analysis
Presented by Rob Donoghue & Jason Pitre.
So, the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons is out. Now it’s time to dig into the design and talk about the rules, procedures and advice that the game brings to the RPG design field. Let’s look at the crunchy bits! The companion reference to this discussion can be found on Rob Donoghue’s blog, where he discusses the Starter Set, the Player’s Handbook and the Monster Manual in detail.
Episode 39: Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Analysis [ 55:00 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (336)
Saturday Nov 29, 2014
Saturday Nov 29, 2014
D036 – Accessibility Issues For Game Designers
Presented by Russell Collins & Jason Pitre. Games are about imagination and creativity so the print medium shouldn’t be a barrier to entry. Understanding the needs of persons with learning differences and the options that designers have will keep you from excluding people who are eager to enjoy our hobby. This seminar will focus on blindness, low vision, and dyslexia and strategies to present your game content for those with print disabilities in digital and audio media.
Episode 38: Accessibility Issues for Game Designers [ 55:00 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (146)