Ludonarrative Dissidents

ALICE IS MISSING is a self-contained one-session RPG for 3–5 players, designed by Spenser Stark and released in 2020 by Hunters Entertainment with Renegade Game Studios, after a Kickstarter that raised $138,000. It’s been described as ‘unique’, ‘sublime’ and ‘a little masterpiece’, and has won a bagful of awards including three 2021 Gold ENNIEs and the Indiecade award for tabletop design.Read the full show notes hereAlice is Missing homepageAlice is Missing online gameAlice is Missing at DriveThruRPGDiscuss this episode on our Discord.

Our monthly livestream for December! Watch the livestream here.⁠⁠⁠Discuss this episode on our Discord.

Gradient Descent is a module/campaign setting/megadungeon for the SF-horror RPG Mothership, released in 2020. It is written by Luke Gearing, with art by Nick Tofani and layout by Sean McCoy, and was published by Tuesday Night Games. Dimensionally it is a tightly packed 64-page digest-sized booklet, and the PDF sells for $20, or as part of the Mothership deluxe boxed set.Mothership homepageThe Mothership book range at at DriveThruRPGGradient Descent at DriveThruRPGRead the show notes here.⁠Discuss this episode on our Discord.

Our monthly livestream for November 2025. We talk about larping, new games in development and Dragonmeet!Watch the Livestream here.⁠⁠Discuss this episode on our Discord.

EABA (End All Be All) 2e is a generic roleplaying system with a core rulebook and a collection of sourcebooks designed by Greg Porter and published by his company BTRC (Blacksburg Tactical Research Centre). The first edition was released in 2003, the second – which is what we discuss in this episode – in 2012.Read the full show notes here.Discuss this episode on our Discord.

Our livestream for October 2025!Watch it on Youtube.⁠Discuss this episode on our Discord.

Our livestream for September 2025!Watch it on Youtube.Discuss this episode on our Discord.

Trabajo (Hebanon Games, 2019) is a 32-page ‘portfolio’, part sourcebook and part adventure pack, for the Red Markets post-apocalypse RPG of economic and undead horror, written by Ludonarrative Dissidents’ own Ross Payton. We analysed Red Markets last season and liked it a lot, as you can imagine, and this episode is an opportunity to hear more about how it looks in action, and get Ross’s insights into how he went about constructing this compact, intense supplement.Our previous episode covering Red MarketsTrabajo at DriveThruRPG Red Markets at DriveThruRPG, ridiculously good value at just $5Read the full show notes here.⁠Discuss this episode on our Discord.

Brindlewood Bay is a tabletop roleplaying game that combines Murder, She Wrote with H.P. Lovecraft. In it, you play a group of elderly women, members of the local Murder Mavens Mystery Book Club, who help the authorities solve murder cases in a picturesque New England Town.Read the show notes hereDiscuss this episode on our Discord.

JAILBREAK is a one-session scenario for Unknown Armies, originally written by Greg Stolze of this parish, in 1998 as a demo adventure for conventions, and subsequently published in the One Shots adventure anthology. It has since been described as one of the great horror adventures for any RPG. Greg is, of course, one of the creators of Unknown Armies, along with John Tynes, and his insights here into how the adventure came together, its structure, how it works and how it’s played are fascinating. Enjoy the episode! Read the full Show Notes HereJailbreak for UA first edition at Atlas Games, a free downloadThe full One Shots adventure collection on DriveThruRPG, also for UA 1eJailbreak slightly revised version (for the Elemental rules), also a free downloadThe Unknown Armies game line at Atlas GamesUnknown Armies 3e on DriveThruRPG

Our livestream for July! We talk about Gencon, the Ennies, and we get a surprise visit! Watch the episode here on Youtube if you want to see the visuals.Discuss this episode on our Discord.

RIFTS is a role playing game designed by Kevin Siembieda and originally published by his company Palladium Books in 1990. In this episode we examine the Rifts Ultimate Edition from 2005, a revised and expanded version of the original game rulebook. Like it, hate it or previously unaware of it, there’s nothing like it on the market today and we enjoyed the chance to delve into what makes it work.Read the full show notes here.See the original Rifts rulebook at DriveThruRPGSee the Rifts Ultimate Edition at DriveThruRPG. We can’t speak for other Rifts PDFs but this PDF is a scan of the print book, every page is an image, the text is not searchable, there is no indexing or bookmarking. It’s like an artefact from a more primitive time.See the Rifts game-line at the Palladium Books websiteSee Savage Rifts at DriveThruRPG

BLACK CHROME IS A 2023 gearbook for the Cyberpunk Red roleplaying game, written by James Hutt, Jay Parker, Turbo, J Gray, Anne Morrison, Chris Spivey, Fran Stewart, and Linda M Evans, and published by R Talsorian Games.Read the Wikipedia entry for the Cyberpunk RPGRead about Black Chrome on DriveThruRPGSee the Cyberpunk Red rulebook on DriveThruRPGRead the full Show Notes on the LND website⁠Discuss this episode on our Discord server!

Cyberpunk RED is the latest edition of the dystopian sci-fi RPG series originally created by Mike Pondsmith. Set in 2045 after a major war, characters in Cyberpunk RED can pull off jobs for secretive clients, roam the wastelands, or reclaim them. It contains everything needed to play.Full Show Notes are available here!⁠Discuss this episode on our Discord server!

The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues is a 48-page adventure for the Paranoia RPG. It was written by John M. Ford, published by West End Games in 1985, and is generally regarded as one of the classic adventures for the game, and a milestone in the development of comedy in RPGs. It was re-released in 2017 for the rebooted edition of Paranoia that was co-designed by James Wallis, Grant Howitt and Paul Dean, and I swear that’s the first I’ve ever heard of that version, though it seems to be the only form in which TYCBBB is commercially available right now. $29.99 for a 48-page PDF from 1985. Read the Full Show Notes hereDiscuss the episode on our Discord!

THIS EPISODE COVERS DOGS IN THE VINEYARD, a 2004 game by Vincent Baker, who is better known as the co-designer of Apocalypse World, the game that the entire Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) RPG design movement is based on. Dogs in the Vineyard is no longer available for sale, for reasons that we discuss in the episode.“Mormon Judge Dredd” – Greg StolzeRead the Full Show Notes HereSee the Wikipedia entry for Dogs in the VineyardSee Vincent Baker’s homepageTalk about this on the LND Discord!Today's episode is brought to you by the Tabletop Arts Fund! The Tabletop Arts Fund is a community nonprofit dedicated to supporting independent TTRPG and actual play creators through professional development, networking opportunities, and charitable grants. Are you an independent creator with a game or scenario nearing the finish line? Submissions open February 15th for the first round of TTRPG Creator Grants, providing financial support for art, editing, layout, and other professional services. Full details on these and other projects are available at tabletopartsfund.org, or via social media at tabletopartsfund.org.

Our latest livestream! Greg talks about his new fantasy serial and we discuss zines, crowdfunding, and more! Watch it here if you want to see the visuals.Discuss it on the LND discord!

GROGS is a supplement for Ars Magica 5th edition, edited by longtime ArM line-editor David Chart, released in 2012 and still in print. Ars Magica is a roleplaying game of a community of wizards in a medieval world where magic is rare and feared by the general populace. This supplement presents systems and advice for expanding multi-character ‘troupe play’, a core concept of Ars Magica. Read the full show notes on our website! We explored Ars Magica way back in season 1, episode 9. It’s an important game in the history of RPGs, co-designed by Mark Rein*Hagen who went on to create Vampire: the Masquerade, and Jonathan Tweet who was lead designer on Dungeons & Dragons 3e. Click here to see Grogs on DriveThruRPG Click here to see Ars Magica 5th edition on DriveThruRPG This episode is brought to you by Laszlo Szidonya, who wants a shout out to his friend and longtime GM Aron Peterfy. We are enormously grateful to Laszlo (and Aron), and everyone else whose generosity helps to keep the podcast running. ⁠Please join our Discord server to discuss this episode! 

We're discussing European RPGs, especially the new wave of Italian games like Outgunned, plus action cinema and more. Watch this episode on Youtube. Discuss it on our Discord.

This episode covers the roleplaying game VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE 5th edition, developed by Kenneth Hite and Karim Muammar, published in 2018 by White Wolf Entertainment in association with Paradox Entertainment and Free League. The original Vampire: The Masquerade was designed by Mark Rein•Hagen and released by White Wolf Publishing in 1991. It dominated the RPG hobby in the 1990s and remains one of the biggest RPGs of all time. Click here to see Vampire: the Masquerade 5th edition at DriveThruRPGClick here to see the original 1991 Vampire:the Masquerade, which we also discuss and which is still on sale for a paltry $9.99. Read the full show notes on our website It’s a fascinating read for anyone who wants to experience the origins of the World of Darkness. “It would have been like kicking a tiny puppy in a tiny corset” – Greg Please join our Discord server to discuss this episode!