RPG Design Panelcast

Episode 279: What We Mean, When We Talk About Lyric Games

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020

Presented by Maria Mison, Casey Johnson, Jay Dragon.

What are Lyric Games exactly? And why are they deemed an important body of work, both in a personal and game scene level? What makes a game 'Lyric'? Additionally, our panelists share tips on how to go about the process of creating and sharing such games - fever dreams, love letters, rituals and treatise calling to be born. The panel will also have a segment for questions. 

Episode 278: How to Playtest Your Game

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020

Presented by Daryl Andrews, Jessie Edwards, Omari Akil, Bruce Harlick. 

Join us for a roundtable conversation about how to get the best data from your time at the playtesting table. We'll discuss our experiences running playtests, and talk about common mistakes and how to avoid them

Episode 277: How to Pitch Your Game

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020

Presented by Alex Cutler, Matt Forbeck, Kenneth Hite.

You made a game! Congratulations! Now explain your incredible game in one sentence. That isn’t as easy as it sounds. You want people to buy into your game as players, as investors, or as retailers. You will only have one chance to make that first impression. It needs to have impact. If you want to see your game successful on a crowdfunding site, or sold by your local game store, then you need to know what kind of pitch types and styles to maximize both what you say and target the right audience.

Episode 276: How Larp Online Community Emerged

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020

Presented by Gerrit Reininghaus, Tara Clapper, Acata Felton, and Kate Hill.

Live Action Online Games (LAOG)s, also known as online LARPs, have reached unthinkable dimensions of attention due to the pandemic. This is a design framework with a completely new set of possibilities and requirements. We are not only talking about technology as a design surface but also questions around accessibility, safety and environmental awareness. Where do LAOGs come from? What were the driving forces? What has happened in 2020? How to become a LAOG designer? Where to find all the games and the community?

Episode 275: How to Run Online Larps

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020

Presented by Tara Clapper, Olivia Montoya, Joie Martin.

Running a digital LARP (or LAOG - live action online game) can be a simple impromptu effort or a multi-session experience requiring significant organization. Let's talk about how to run a digital live action experience while keeping in mind safety and participants' needs.

Episode 274: Running a Successful Virtual Playtest Group

Presented at Metatopia Online 2020

Presented by Tam Myaing, David Gordon, Chris Backe, Kevin Dunkelberger.

When the COVID lockdowns began, the NYC Playtest Group was one of the first to move to online playtesting. Since then we have run over 50 sessions since mid April, and have also helped other gaming conventions with running games virtually. In this panel we will discuss with moderators from other groups around the world, on the the lessons we've learned in the trenches in running a successful virtual playtest group. 

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 272: The Publisher Perspective for 2021

Recorded at Metatopia 2020 Online

Presented by Dan DiLorenzo, Frank DiLorenzo, Kira Peavley, Curt Covert, Shari Spiro, Ben Harkins.

You have a great board/card game and you're ready to start shopping for a Publisher. What are they looking for these days? Our panelists will explain what excites them, and talk about how they look for key elements that they can extend into sellable games.

Episode 271: The Retail Perspective and Designing for Pandemic Sales in 2021

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2021

Presented by Bryan Dalrymple, Patrick Day.

Any board or card game being published in 2021 needs to take into account the likelihood that in-person demos and shopping will be limited. Our panelists will talk about what the design implications of this are, and how you can adjust to make your board or card game more viable as a physical commercial product.

Episode 270: Kickstarter in the Age of Covid

Recorded at Metatopia 2020

Presented by Jonathan Ritter-Roderick, Anya Combs.

Join representatives of Kickstarter for a discussion of the state of crowdfunding projects going into 2021. Topics will include what's different, what hasn't changed at all and how to prepare for success if you're taking a campaign live.

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 267: How to Start Business

Recorded at Metatopia 2020

Presented by Brian Dalrymple, Jessie Edwards, Hal Mangold.

Our panelists will walk you through the basics of turning your game design hobby into a business. We'll talk about the most cost-efficient ways to register an LLC, open a business bank account, file a trademark and keep track of your expenses for tax season.

Episode 266: The Business of Small Press RPGs

Recorded at GenCon 2020 Online

Hosted by Jason Walters and featuring Brian Dalrymple, Jennifer Ward, and Cat Tobin.

This panel was hosted by Indie Press Revolution as part of GenCon 2020's online panel selection on behalf of the panelists.

• Brian Dalrymple- https://www.facebook.com/AdventureGam...
• Jennifer Ward- https://www.facebook.com/crazysquirre...
  https://twitter.com/csgamestore
• Cat Tobin- https://twitter.com/CatTHM

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 264 - Queer Game Designers

Recorded at GenCon Online 2020

Presented by AC, Kira Magrann, Wilson Zorn, Jay Dragon, and Lucian Khan.

 

Streamed live for Gen Con Online 2020. You can find games from all these creators on IPR's website, linked below!

https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/...

Find Kira Magrann at - 
https://twitter.com/Kiranansi
https://kiramagrann.itch.io/

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

Find Jay Dragon at -
https://twitter.com/jdragsky

https://jdragsky.itch.io/

 

Find Lucian Kahn at - 
https://twitter.com/oh_theogony

https://necromancy.itch.io/

 

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 262 - Design Considerations for Card Games

Recorded at Metatopia 2019

Presented by Tim Rodriguez & Beth Rimmels.

Card games are a classic design model that have already expressed innumerable possibilities. We'll talk about classic styles of decks, iterations on classic games, alternate formats, the mathematics of card games, and why we all love them. We'll also consider and critique ideas and concepts and talk about why or why not to choose this design format.

Epsiode 261 - Updating Cyberpunk

Recorded at Metatopia 2020

Presented by Dexter Duckworth, Elsa Sjunneson.

The Distant Future, the Year 2000: Updating Cyberpunk for the 21st Century. The hard-hitting themes of social inequality and corporate exploitation found in cyberpunk are as relevant now as they were in the 80's, but not everything in the genre has stood the test of time. This panel will dive into how both the technologies and sensibilities found in cyberpunk can be updated in order to design games that are timely and inclusive.

Episode 260 - Paying it Forward and Supporting Diverse Creators

Recorded at Metatopia 2019

Presented by Jason Pitre, Cat Tobin, Amanda Valentine, Lauren McMannon, Camdon Wright.

Everyone should have a chance to create and publish games. Unfortunately, there are many structural barriers keeping unrepresented voices from coming to the table. In this roundtable discussion, our panelists discuss ways that established publishers can support new voices through information, promotion, funding, and education.

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 258 - Crowdfunding on a Budget

Recorded at Metatopia 2019

Presented by Jason Walters, Jeff Stormer, Christopher Badell.

Your game's ready for Kickstarter! So how much will you be asking for? What's the absolute minimum you need to get your game made? What is the floor number for success? How will you handle unexpected levels of success? Let's get practical about your numbers.

Episode 257 - The Three-Ring Setting: Scope in Game Design

Recorded at Metatopia 2019

Presented by Kenneth Hite

A METATOPIA tradition - Kenneth Hite rambling about game design. In this case the notion of scope: How big should your setting be? How can you design a setting to contain multiple core game activities, and should you? As always, Ken has notions and questions, and hopes you have more of both as we explore Bigness (and un-Bigness) in games.

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 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.