Yes Indie'd Pod

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 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

⁠⁠⁠⁠Support this show!⁠⁠⁠ Huffa is a game designer and art historian. You can find her work at: https://huffa.itch.io/ Between the Skies @ Exalted Funeral Show Notes: 03:06 - Introducing Between the Skies 11:50 - Working with Exalted Funeral 15:45 - The joys of playing without systems 40:00 - How does this relate to old school d&d? 48:63 - Art history and RPGs 54:42 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Wanderhome, here there be monsters 57:41 - Tyranny of Numbers 59:28 - RePlay 1:03:18 - All advice is advice for myself ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Indie RPG Newsletter

⁠⁠⁠Support this show!⁠⁠ Joshua McCrowell is the designer of new tarot-based dungeoncrawler His Majesty The Worm, published by Exalted Funeral. He's also the current editor of Knock Magazine, the OSR focused anthology zine that has quickly became a fan favourite, and a blogger at riseupcomus.blogspot.com where he talks about everything from how to adapt tolkien in games to what makes a good social encounter. Show Notes: 02:22 - Running a game for 8 years 05:39 - Dungeoncrawling in 2024 16:46 - The design of His Majesty The Worm 36:13 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Vermis, Black Sword Hack and Valley of Flowers 38:14 - Tyranny of Numbers 42:05- All advice is advice for myself ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Indie RPG Newsletter

⁠⁠⁠Support this show!⁠ Mint is an rpg designer and blogger from New Foundland, Canada. She runs There's a TTRPG For That, an rpg recommendation blog on tumblr, which has lists for all kinds from the general to the very specific, "games that are grunge" to "two player games" to "games where you don't need to write anything down". She's currently working on a game called Protect the Child, a game of monster babysitters, that is equal parts comedy and queer found family. You can find the Protect the Child playtest server here. Show Notes: 02:53 - Getting started with Lady Blackbird 10:18 - RPG scene on tumblr 17:03 - Protect the Child's themes 26:44 - Protect the Child's design 39:09 - Infectious Enthusiasm: ⁠Bones Deep, Mothlight, Spectaculars 42:07 - Tyranny of Numbers 44:38 - Re:Play 45:59 - All advice is advice for myself ⁠⁠⁠⁠The Indie RPG Newsletter

⁠⁠Support the show!⁠ Prismatic Wasteland aka WF Smith is the prolific blogger behind prismaticwasteland.com and the creator / writer of Ennie award winning fantasy adventure, Barkeep on the Borderlands. He's also running a game jam where participants create their own pub or tavern, which is live as this episode comes out and runs until August 15th 2024. Show Notes: 02:02 - Producing Barkeep on the Borderlands 10:03 - The design of the adventure 16:41 - Good random encounters and tracking time 25:60 - The political side to the adventure 34:19 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Vampire Cruise by Amanda Lee Franck 35:56 - Tyranny of Numbers 39:43 - Re:Play 41:59 - All advice is advice for myself ⁠⁠⁠The Indie RPG Newsletter

⁠Support the show!⁠ Tom McGrenery is an RPG writer and translator from Hong Kong, who publishes under the banner, Porcupine Publishing. He's contributed to products like Feng Shui and Night's Black Agents as well as designed his own games like his hack of the Drama System featuring brazilian layabouts and swashbucklers, Malandros. In 2020, he translated and published the Brazilian rpg, the Elephant and Macaw Banner. He's also the co-host of the long running podcast, Fear of a Black Dragon. Show Notes: 07:48 - One Shot Saturday in Hong Kong 12:09 - Fantasy Non-fiction 19:41 - Revolution Comes To The Kingdom 31:10 - Games about war 36:45 - More RCTK 46:36 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Wolves Upon The Coast 55:11 - Tyranny of Numbers 57:04 - RePlay 58:26 - All advice is advice for myself ⁠⁠The Indie RPG Newsletter

Support the show!⁠ Jay Dragon is a queer disabled game designer behind such games as summer camp horror game, Sleepaway and the pastoral fantasy indie darling, Wanderhome. Jay is the editorial director at Possum Creek Games. As of publishing this episode, they print version of Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast has come out. It's a project of immense scope and skill that is clearly full of love and artistry. Show Notes: 05:14 - Introducing Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast and how it started with specific characters 15:02 - The three elements of the game 20:36 - Chapters as self-contained games 31:15 - Characters arcs or journeys 44:40 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Last Train to Bremen by Caro Asercion 45:51 - Tyranny of Numbers 47:23 - RePlay 49:36 - All Advice is Advice for Myself ⁠The Indie RPG Newsletter

Support the show! On this week's episode, I talk to Sidney Icarus, a game designer of, among other things, the scifi horror game, Decaying Orbit, published by Storybrewers Roleplaying, which won the 2023 ARPIA Game of the Year. But I first heard of them as the fantastic host of the now-concluded Hard Move, a wonderful podcast where every episode, Sidney and a guest analysed one move from a PbtA game. Show Notes: 03:12 - RPG Descriptivist 14:49 - The "Who Says What When" Framework 22:06 - What is Action Paths? 32:04 - Analyzing Decaying Orbit using Action Paths 1:08:46 - Sidney's next game: The Most Dangerous Game 1:12:03 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Bump in the Dark 1:13:50 - Tyranny of Numbers 1:16:50 - RePlay 1:18:14 - All advice is advice for myself The Indie RPG Newsletter

Support the show⁠! On today's show, we're talking ship with Sebastian Yue, a game designer, writer, and editor. Apart from their own self-published games and DMs Guild modules, They work full-time at Hit Point Press which is best known for various very succesful third party D&D 5e products like Heckna and Humblewood. They've also contributed as a designer to some wonderful projects like Apocalypse Keys, Cloud Empress, ennie-award winning Uncaged Goddesses anthology, and the currently in-progress official Tomb Raider RPG. Show Notes 04:18 Getting started with game design 15:18 Working full-time at Hitpoint Press 22:10 Being in both the D&D and indie game communities 24:15 All about editing: style guides & more 29:50 Future plans 34:07 Advice for aspiring game designers 36:56 Infectious Enthusiasm: Ingkit by Pukepeku Games 38:15 Tyranny of Numbers: Annual earnings 42:15 RePlay 43:43 All Advice is Advice for Myself The Indie RPG Newsletter

Support the show! Today, we're talking to Graham Walmsley, the celebrated game designer behind tabletop RPGs like Cthulhu Dark and A Taste for Murder, larps like Will That Be All, and lovecraftian scenarios for games like Trail of Cthulhu. He's also the author of two non-fiction books called Stealing Cthulhu about telling lovecraftian stories and Play Unsafe about techniques for being a better player of tabletop games. This year, he's got two new games out, Cosmic Dark, a sequel to Cthulhu Dark about corporate employees in space, and Darkenwood, a GM-less game about a nightmarish forest. Show Notes: 01:41 Introducing Graham 03:07 Starting with Lovecraft 12:08 What is weird fiction? 16:55 All the cool stuff in Cosmic Dark 26:24 Rules, advice, setting 39:22 Infectious Enthusiasm: Lumberjills by Moira Turkington 41:50 Tyranny of Numbers 43:44 RePlay 46:25 All Advice is Advice for Myself The Indie RPG Newsletter

⁠Support this show! This week, we're talking to Nico MacDougall and returning guest Tan Shao Han about The Awards, an alternative tabletop RPG awards project. Show Notes: 03:56 Introductions 13:31 Being a judge 16:09 The process of picking a winner 21:30 Who should be a judge? 25:36 Infectious Enthusiasm 27:59 Tyranny of Numbers: Breaking down submissions to the Awards 31:02 All Advice is Advice for Myself

Support this show! Today we're talking to Max and Aaron from RTFM. Maxwell Lander is a game designer, photographer, visual artist, and also musician with an album of dungeon synth. Aaron King is a game designer whose works including Patchwork World Sixth Edition. They are both the co-hosts of RTFM, an RPG book club podcast. Show Notes: [00:02:49] Why start an RPG bookclub podcast? [00:14:43] What each person brings to the table [00:28:47] Critiquing RPGs as an artform [00:41:24] Infectious Enthusiasm: Sagas of the Icelanders, Bloodfeud [00:45:03] Tyranny of Numbers [00:50:08] RePlay [00:53:13] All Advice is Advice For Myself: Prep more, be less? Other Links: It's up to you really, an all vtuber actual play of Patchwork World

Because of some travel, instead of an interview, something from the patreon feed makes it way into the main feed. This is a round-up of 2023's answers to the question, "What is something you're trying to do better at the gaming table?" Enjoy!

A guest episode on the feed today as I share with you something from the folks over at Playing at the Hearth, the podcast from the Open Hearth gaming community. It's a nice, welcoming online place where people from all over the place get together and play games. It's like having access to a convention all year round. If you'd like to join, head over to their website. This episode has members of the community sharing their favourite games played in 2023. Lot of cool games mentioned and I add my 2 cents at the very end but I also got to play in two campaigns mentioned by other people which was Capitalites and Nahual.

Support the show on PatreonIn this round-up episode for 2023, every single one of my guests sounds off about one game that they want to recommend to you![00:02:05] Judd Karlmann recommends Into the Odd, The Between, and As The Sun Forever Sets [00:05:55] Lowell Francis recommends Eclipse Phase 2nd Edition [00:08:27] Jahmal Brown recommends Legacy: Life Among The Ruins 2nd Edition[00:12:05] Indrani Ganguly recommends Alice is Missing, Blase Monotony, and Bubble Bubble [00:13:55] Tan Shao Han recommends The Nightmares Underneath [00:17:07] Fiona Hopkins and Stephanie Burt recommend Wool of Bat and Monsterhearts [00:20:20]  Paul Beakley recommends a|state and Fellowship [00:24:08] Becky Annison recommends Escape from Tentacle City [00:27:38] Emily Friedman recommends The Quiet Year [00:29:46] Chris Chinn recomends Errant [00:31:58] Josh Fox recommends Microscope and Microscope Union [00:35:23] Evan Torner recommends PrismListen to the other round-up episodes of 2023 on the Yes Indie'd patreon!Support the showThe Yes Indie'd Website // The Indie RPG Newsletter

Support the show on PatreonEvan Torner is the Associate Professor of German Studies and Film / Media Studies at University of Cincinnati. He's the Director, UC Game Lab and has a co-edited volume (with William J. White) entitled Immersive Gameplay: Essays on Role-Playing and Participatory Media. He's also co-founder and one of the editors at Analog Game Studies, which has been publishing research into RPGs and larps for more than ten years, and the Golden Cobra Challenge, which is a larp competition. He's a lifelong game master and a game designer and larpwright including his freeform scenario “Metropolis” was nominated for an award at Fastaval.Show Notes:[00:02:38] Starting out as a GM[00:10:02] Railroading Is Good Actually[00:22:20] Actor stance is "commercially default, not culturally default"[00:29:43] Where do tabletop RPGs stand in game studies?[00:39:55] Game design as media analysis[00:45:19] Infectious Enthusiasm: Prism by Whitney Delaglio[00:46:54] Tyranny of Numbers[00:49:17] RePlay[00:51:21] All Advice Is Advice For Myself Transcript of the entire episode can be found here.Support the showThe Yes Indie'd Website // The Indie RPG Newsletter