This is the final episode of Season Five. Terry joins Monica again with the second half of their very long conversation about experiences with gaming and new people.
Today we talk about character development in RPGs: what that means, what people want when they say they’re into it, and how games do and don’t support character growth over time. It’s a very interesting discussion and a perfect send-off for our fifth season.
Terry (of Mage: the Podcast) joins Monica to talk about the wild experience of teaching Mage to new people and Monica commiserates about her experiences with teaching Exalted to beginners. We discuss the interesting cultural baggage that comes with most folks pop understanding of the hobby and what it’s like to show folks new games.
Here’s the long-awaited new episode. Chazz of Pain in the Dice, OPPCast and Systematic Understanding of Everything joins Monica to discuss games without randomizers. No cards. No dice. No coin flips – just a variety of narrative resolutions. We break down what we like about these games and what makes them work and (most importantly) what’s worth stealing for your own homebrew.
Monica overheard a conversation about someone being nervous to play D&D for the first time and their worries about how to be a good player, so here’s today’s episode. Rai and Monica hang out to discuss what sort of things are good to keep in mind when you’re a player for the first time – no matter what game you’re playing.
Today Rai and Monica sit down to discuss a favorite internet discourse topic: does system matter? Can you just enjoy any game, regardless of system? Do you even NEED to be a game designer?
You’ll just have to listen to the whole thing if you want the answer.
While Rai sorts out a few life things, D joins us again for another deep dive. Today, Monica and Danielle discuss streamlining game systems – whether you’re doing that on your own for fun or whether it’s a professional job. We talk about the meaning, goals, and methods of streamlining and give some examples of systems we’d fix and systems we wouldn’t.
We’ve really been going through it this year, so when we sat down to record our most recent episode we decided it would be fun and relaxing to just hang out instead.
Here’s nearly an hour of Monica and Rai talking about… everything and nothing.
In today’s episode, Monica and Rai sit down to discuss the concept of the hard bargain – a social refusal mechanic that can improve any game. We talk about what they are, how to use them, and how to implement them in your homebrew or professional design.
D joins Monica for another Deep Dive! We discuss the concept of a “core system” loop, aka what central concepts make a game’s system tick. We go in-depth into the mechanics of a handful of our favorite games to demonstrate.
In today’s episode, Monica is joined by David Castro of Ink Stained Studios to talk D&D 4e: the good parts, the bad parts, its history, and its impact on current design.