Yes Indie'd Pod

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠!Today, I’m talking to Josh Fox who was last on the podcast to talk about the second edition of his award-winning game, Lovecraftesque. We talked about Black Armada Games, the company he's been running for ten years with his partner, the game designer Becky Annison. This time, we’re talking about Ex Tenebris, a scifi gothic investigation game.Crowdfunding link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blackarmada/ex-tenebrisShow Notes:Alien⁠Black Armada Tales (AP of Ex Tenebris)⁠Games MentionedLast FleetFlotsamDark HeresyBrindlewood BayThe BetweenBump in the DarkExternal Containment BureauStealing the ThroneIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠!Today, I’m talking to Elizabeth Little. She’s a UK-based science teacher, artist, and game designer. She co-founded Shrike Studio in 2015 and released games such as Blight Seas Fleet, a dark fantasy naval skirmish game, for which she developed a whole range of 3D printable miniatures. This year, she released a demo of You Will Die In This Place, an RPG described as "a nihilistic dungeoncrawler about art, death and identity". It’s weird, meta, layered, and also very asymmetrical like a boardgame. We talk about its design and themes (everything is a labyrinth! relationships, games, mental illness!) and its crowdfunding campaign via GameFound's RPG Party later this year. Crowdfunding link: gamefound.com/en/projects/shrike-studio/you-will-die-in-this-place Itch.io link: https://liz-shrikestudio.itch.io/ Show Notes:The Denial of Death by Ernst BeckerMyth of SisyphusLabyrinths by Jose Luis BorgesDeimos by Dragan Bibin (painting)Toni R. Toivonen’s brass art Watching from a Distance by Warning (doom metal album)Essay about the game by the Split/Party newsletterGames MentionedCall of CthulhuDelta GreenWorld of DarknessZephyr: An Anarchist Game of Fleeting IdentitiesYazeba’s Bed and BreakfastPaint the Town RedIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠!In this episode, we talk to Hendrik ten Napel, a game designer from the Netherlands. He's self-published supplements for Brindlewood Bay, Bump in the Dark, and the Paragon system. His newsletter, Hendrik Biweekly, is a regular source of excellent game design thoughts. Today we're here to talk about his first crowdfunded game, The Girls of the Genziana Hotel, a gothic mystery PbtA game set in an isolated alpine hotel. You play chambermaids in the hotel trying to discover what happened to one of their own.The crowdfunding page of The Girls of the Genziana Hotel on Gamefound: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/hendriktennapel/the-girls-of-the-genziana-hotel Hendrik’s bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/napel.itch.io Hendrik’s itch page: https://napel.itch.ioShow Notes:Strega by Johanne Lykke HolmAfter Sappho by Selby Wynn SchwartzSally RooneyGames MentionedBrindlewood BayThe BetweenNight WitchesExilesCrescent 2eIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠!In this episode, we talk to Emily Allen, the game designer behind Dying Stylishly Games. She's best known for her two now classic OSR adventures, the Gardens of Ynn and the ennie-award winning Stygian Library, which popularized the depth-crawl format. Both of which are now republished in new editions from Soul Muppet Publishing. She’s also designed Dungeon Bitches, a violent sapphic PbtA game about trauma and survival and the Yellow Curtain, a weird meta-storygame inspired by the King in Yellow. And then this year, we got Black Death Rising, an OSR-ish game of religious horror amidst the black plague where you can play vampires, werewolves, homunculi, changelings, ghouls, grotesques, ghosts, and waifs. And fight fascists, demons, and intelligent rats.Emily Allen’s blog: https://cavegirlgames.blogspot.comTumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/cavegirlpoemsGames on drivethruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/8182/cavegirl-productionsEmily’s Games:Wolf Pack & Winter Snow (2017)The Dolorous Stroke (2018)Gardens of Ynn (2018)Stygian Library (2018)Deep Morphean Transmissions (2019)Esoteric Enterprises (2019)Dead Girls in Sarkash Forest (2021)Dungeon Bitches (2021/2022)The Wounded, Hungry and Forgotten (2022)Black Death Walking (2022)The Yellow Curtain (2024)Black Lung (2024)Black Death Rising (2025)Show Notes:Book of RevelationsJojo’s Bizarre AdventureGames MentionedStars without NumberBeyond the WallMiseries & MisfortunesVampire the Masquerade/World of DarknessLacuna by Jared SorensonMork BorgEmpire (larp)If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠!In this episode, we talk to Luke Jordan aka Wildwood Games, a queer non-binary game designer, writer, editor, performer, and professional GM. Their own games often combine a poetic sensibility, spooky themes, high emotion, and light mechanics. They've contributed to games like Girl by Moonlight published by Evil Hat and Koriko and The Slow Knife by Mouse House Press. Today, we're talking about two of their games that were crowdfunded in a double-barrel campaign with Possum Creek Games in late 2023. Grand Guignol, a second version of their game of queer gothic horror, and Harvest, a brand new folk horror set on some unnamed British isle. Harvest / Grand Guignol on Backerkit: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/jay-dragon/grand-guignol-harvest Wild Wood Games on itch: https://gamesfromthewildwood.itch.io/harvest  Luke Jordan on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wildwoodsgames.bsky.social Show Notes:The Picture of Dorian GrayDraculaJekyll and HydeFrankensteinPenny DreadfulThe Wickerman The Apostle (2018)Blood on Satan’s ClawWitchfinder GeneralWoodlands Dark and Days Bewitched (documentary)MidsommarThe Dark Is Rising by Susan CooperGames MentionedApocalypse WorldDream Askew/Dream ApartWanderhomeStonetop (with annotated actual play)If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠!Spoilers for Andor S2 from 04:30 to 10:30Spoilers for Rogue One all through the episodeIn this episode, I speak to Jess Levine. She is a teacher, organizer, writer and game designer.  She publishes RPGs under the label, Jumpgate Games. Her work includes I Have the High Ground—a game of "banter, posturing, and capes"—and her satirical military scifi game PLANET FIST. Today we'll be talking about going rogue 2e, an award-winning game of war, rebellion, and sacrifice.Galactic & Going Rogue’s crowdfunding campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/galacticgoingrogue/galactic-and-going-rogue-two-ttrpgs-of-war-among-the-stars?ref=97zzps Jess Levine’s bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jessfrom.online Show Notes:A More Civilized Age’s actual playGuide to the BDS BoycottAA Voigt’s video about Going RogueGramsci?Roleplay Public Radio actual playGames Mentionedhook, line & cyb3r by wicked glitch gamesA Quiet Year by Avery AlderDream Askew/Dream Apart by Avery Alder and Benjamin RosenbaumIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠!In this episode, I speak to Navaar Seik-Jackson who is a game designer, writer, and the host of the Secret Nerd and other podcasts. Navaar makes action drama games — his The Last of Us inspired survival game, The Corrupted, is published by Plus One Exp through their Zine Club programme. You can listen to a lovingly produced actual play of the game called The Ties That Bind run by Navaar on the Secret Nerd podcast. He's currently working on Soothwardens, a diceless monster-hunting game of warriors eternally bound together.Navaar’s itch page: https://navaarsnp.itch.io/The Secret Nerd podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/secret-nerd-podcast/id1576080929 Show Notes:Rowan Zeoli talks about The Corrupted on PolygonTransplanar, actual play showBloodhounds, TV ShowCastlevania and Castlevania NocturneGames MentionedGodkiller by Connie ChungIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠!In this episode, I speak to Paul Czege, a game designer with a deep catalogue that is hard to pin down. An article on RPG.net from 2009 reads "Paul himself defies any sort of easy classification" . It continues, "Depending on your viewpoint, Paul is either one of the most prolific of the Gaming Outpost/Forge designers or one of the least. Also, depending on you how look at it, his best contribution lies in a single game (the still popular My Life With Master) or in the thought and effort he has put into the hobby of role playing and the practice of game design." Apart from LWM for which he won the Diana Jones Award in 2004, he also designed the melancholic minotaur game, The Clay That Woke. Recently, he's been writing about solo journalling games, publishing two zines, The Ink That Bleeds and Inscapes about how to play them, as well as some actual games including the Balsam Lake Unmurders, about catching a necromancer in Minnesota who keeps bringing people back to life, which is crowdfunding on Kickstarter.Paul Czege’s itch page: https://paulczege.itch.io/ The Balsam Lake Unmurders on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/252728880/the-balsam-lake-unmurders Show Notes:Mosaic StrictThe interview on the Indie Game Reading ClubCarl Jung, The Red BookClose Encounters of the Third KindM John Harrison’s ViriconiumGames MentionedEarthdawnThe Clay That WokeThe Ink That BleedsInscapesTraverser (unreleased)Earth Mother, Sky FatherA Viricorne GuideIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠!In this episode, I’m talking to Gabriel Robinson, a writer and game designer. He's the lead writer on the Silt Verses, an RPG published by the Gauntlet press adapted from the hit audio series. He's contributed to a number of other Gauntlet publications like Trophy, Brindlewood Bay, and more. Through his own imprint Glowing Roots press, he's published Token, a two-player tragic fantasy game, and Candlelight, a GM-less game of lost spirits revisiting their final moments. His games often have a folk horror aesthetic, dark and mysterious but usually stopping shy of macabre.Gabriel’s website: https://glowingroots.carrd.co/Gabriel’s bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glowingroots.bsky.social Show Notes:The Silt Verses, horror-fantasy podcastThe Dark Is Rising by Susan CooperGames MentionedSilt Verses RPGThe Wassailing of Claus ManorIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠!In this episode, I’m joined by Caro Asercion, who is an interdisciplinary artist, game designer, and theatre person. They do a lot of work in theatre as a dramaturg and producer of various kinds. In games, they're best known for im sorry did you say street magic, a game of cities and their secrets, based on the classic world building game, Microscope. They've also co-designed supplemental material for Beam Saber with Rufus Roswell, coining the mantra, "bangers only", which was all about how much a precise and skillful use of language gives to game design. Last year, they released Last Train To Bremen, a 4 player game of doomed musicians trying to outrun a deal they made with the devil.Caro’s itch.io page: https://seaexcursion.itch.io/ Show Notes:Chase Carter’s review of Last Train to BremenArticle about all the Rascals playing the gameCheap Bots Done QuickGames MentionedCJ Linton’s Prince of Nothing Good (unreleased, work in progress)Space Between Stars by Viditya VoletiIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! On this episode, I’m joined by Levi Kornelsen, previously known as Amagi Games. He is a Canadian designer who's been part of the scene for a long time. He's designed a bunch of games like the Schema framework and the recent Saints of the Empty Throne but is probably best known for his RPG theory, such as the essential Manyfold Glossary. He's a big open source advocate and most of his work is distributed for free under a creative commons license. Everything he writes on his itch page is worth reading for designers looking for language and tools to diagnose or just better understand what it is exactly they're doing. Blog: https://levikornelsen.wordpress.com/ Itch store: https://levikornelsen.itch.io/ Show Notes: Praxic Compendium (by Levi Kornelsen) Manyfold by (Levi Kornelsen) Rec.games.frp.advocacy rpg.net The Phoenix Guards by Steven Brust (novel) Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell (novel) Games Mentioned (Too many to list them all) Saints of the Empty Throne Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple  The Whispering Vault League and Fathom Castle Falkenstein Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast Under Hollow Hills If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

Support the show! Today, we're talking to Quintin Smith aka Quinns, who has been reviewing boardgames for more than a decade with the iconic show, Shut Up and Sit Down. Then about 3 years ago, Quintin joined People Make Games to cover everything from Roblox's relationship to child labour to the battle for ownership and control of Disco Elysium, from the revival of kabaddi in India to phenomenon that is jubensha in china. Now, he's gone and started Quinns Quest, a new youtube channel to review tabletop roleplaying games that feels like a lot like that one weird show where William Riker from Star Trek looked at the camera and asked us if we believed in ghosts. Don't worry, listeners, we're going to ask the question on everyone's mind: why? Show Notes: [00:02:00] What makes a good review? [00:08:02] Horror versus Tension: one of the challenges of reviewing RPGs [00:16:12] Would you ever do a bad review? [00:23:22] Why playing games are vital for reviews [00:40:44] Infectious Enthusiasm: World Wide Wrestling by Nathan Paoletta [00:43:26] Tyranny of Numbers: Youtube drop-off [00:45:12] Replay [00:50:31] All Advice is Advice For Myself: Use your hands? Other references: I mentioned an article by Quinn Murphy which talks about promises, consistency and economy, you can find that here If you liked this podcast, you'll probably love the Indie RPG Newsletter

Support the show! On this episode, we have Hannah Schaffer and Evan Rowland, the two creators behind indie game design outfit, turtlebun. They've published games like Questlandia, Noirlandia, Damn the man save the music, Mud: a golem memoir, and many more. You can find more about those games at turtlebun.com. Evan and Hannah also co-host a podcast called Design Doc , which is in their own words, about "trying to make a living as people putting things out in the world". If you read any reviews of that show, you'll hear it being described with words like honest, vulnerable, caring, friendly. It's one of my favourite podcasts in the world and you should listen to it. Then, you can too get vulnerable insights into the daily practice of being a game designer and you can also learn that Carrie Fisher once overtweezed Hannah's mom eyebrows at a workshop. Follow them on Instagram Show Notes: 02:46 Getting started (Evan reinvents microtransactions) 09:07 Going from making big things to making medium-small things 11:30 Getting deep with Design Doc 25:00 What is collaboration and how do you even do it? 36:25 Infections Enthusiasm: The Beast and Usagi Yojimbo 39:40 Tyranny of Numbers 43:46 RePlay 45:33 All Advice Is Advice For Myself Some of my personal greatest hits from Design Doc : Burnout A Cat in the Lap and Other Good Things The Work of Games is Not Just Making Games The Games You Want To Make The Life You Want To Live

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! On this episode, I’m joined by Quinns from Quinns Quest as we look back on the last year together.  Show Notes: Rascal News Indie RPG Newsletter Quinns mentioned Mythic Bastionland, Good Society, Public Access, The Siltverses, Blood Borg Thomas mentioned Hearts of Wulin and its expansion, Numberless Secrets Also: Draw Steel, Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast, Triangle Agency Jubensha video on People Make Games Street Fighter RPG from White Wolf Mothership Month Stream where Matt Colville talks about sending Quinns’ Draw Steel Cain and the week that was all Tom Bloom Reach out at thomas by writing to notrueindian at outlook.com

On this episode, I talk to Marsh Davies and Jim Rossignol. Jim was the co-founder of videogaming website Rock Paper Shotgun, where he worked for many years. He's also the author of This Gaming Life: Travels in Three Cities. Now, he does things like write the Ludocrats with Kieron Gillen and develop indie games through his company, Big Robot. Marsh is a writer and illustrator who has written about video games at RPS and PCGamer and was former head of creative writing at Minecraft developer Mojang. He's also part of the Crate & Crowbar, a weekly PC gaming podcast, that has more than 400 episodes and we can all agree might be too many. Their itch page: https://teethrpg.itch.io/ You can support this show on Patreon⁠!

On this episode, I speak to Elliot Davis, an artist, podcaster and, game designer. He's one of the co-founders of Many Sided Media, a podcast production company behind shows like My First Dungeon, Bitcherton and Talk of the Table. His games include Rom Com Drama Bomb and solo timetravel game, Project Ecco. He's currently crowdfunding his latest game, The Time We Have, a tragic game about two brothers, one of whom is slowly but inevitably turning into a zombie. Show Notes: 03:09 - The Time We Have: brothers, using a door as immersion, and other design tweaks 18:00 - Becoming a full-time games person 37:40 - Infectious Enthusiasm: They Came To Play Ball by Adira Slattery 38:50 - Tyranny of Numbers 40:53 - RePlay 43:22 - All Advice is Advice For Myself You can support this show on Patreon!

⁠You can support this podcast on patreon! On this episode, I talk to MV Soumithri and Zoheb Mashiur who are cast members of Desperate Attune, a Blades in the Dark actual play set in Uduasha, a Middle Eastern/South Asian inspired alternative to Duskwall. They've now released a free supplement called Sunmirror, which brings a re-imagined city of gods and magic to the table.

You can support this podcast on patreon! On this episode, we talk to J Strautman and B Marsollier. J Strautman is a bass player, composer, sound designer, game designer, and podcaster. B Marsollier is an illustrator, voice over artist, game designer, podcaster and former antique rug salesperson. They are the co-DMs of the D&D actual play podcast, Planet Arcana. The podcast is fully sound designed and scored with original music by J. Last year, 2023, Planet Arcana received 9 nominations at the New Jersey and Minnesota Webfests, winning 3 awards, 2 for “Best D&D Actual Play” and 1 for “Best GM”. They're about to launch their crowdfunding campaign for their newest game, A Fool's Errand, a tarot-based game of being fools, dealing with gods, becoming who you are, and saving the world from a second Big Oops. Show notes: 03:24 - Introduction to the game and its podcast roots 10:55 - Using tarot to build a meddling pantheon 18:57 - Making a fool in Fool's Errand 35: 14 - The setting of the game and the campaign 40:01 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Anamnesis, Rom Com Drama Bomb 42:28 - Tyranny of Numbers 49:58 - RePlay 52:21 - All Advice is Advice for Myself

⁠⁠⁠⁠Support this show!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ On this episode, I talk to Ara Winter, who has spent the last few years playing old and out of print tabletop games. What did he learn from this? Let's find out! Show Notes: 05:03 - Ara's antique gaming 19:14 - Discussing Bifrost (1977) 33:55 - Discussing Shadowrun 2nd Edition (1992) 48:58 - Infectious Enthusiasm: ⁠Fantasy Medieval Campaigns 50:14 - Tyranny of Numbers 52:08 - RePlay 54:18 - All advice is advice for myself ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Indie RPG Newsletter

⁠⁠⁠⁠Support this show!⁠⁠⁠⁠ Aaron Voigt is a writer, game designer, podcaster and critic. You can find his video essays about tabletop games like They Took Our War, Heart, & Spire on his YouTube channel AA Voigt. He has two podcasts: one discussing Christian media called Bible Boys and one discussing sometimes-bad media called Mortified: The Friendship Quest. He's a first reader for Khoreo Magazine, an ignyte winning and Hugo nominated magazine for speculative fiction from immigrant and disapora authors. Today we'll be talking about his game Detente for the Ravenous which is based on a to-be self-published fantasy novel of the same name. You can check out the game and the novel here Show Notes: 02:27 - All about the novel 12:27 - Adapting the novel into a game 16:29 - Digression into history of Christianity in India 20:00 - Religious and monstrous themes in the novel 28:34 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Subway Runners 29:56 - Tyranny of Numbers 31:44 - RePlay 33:02 - All advice is advice for myself ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Indie RPG Newsletter