Today Monica gets together with Heather (her wife) to discuss one of their mutually shared core principles of game design: participation makes the game. If you remove players from play, you are denying them the chance to experience your game. We break down what this means as well as provide good and bad examples of designing for character creation, incapacitation, elimination, and replacement. We also discuss constructive self-entertainment vs. disruptive behavior and techniques for different designs and different styles of play.
Tag: Numenera
MM Plays 26 – The Heavy Hand of Narration
Don’t take away my agency…unless you have a good reason.
And don’t make me pay for it.
In fact, pay me to take away my agency…in currency or in a story I can get behind.
BXP 6×10 – Monica and Alex Break Down Setting Design Using Video Games
Today I’m joined by friend and colleague Alex Guerrero to discuss how video games utilize narrative and setting design to create a sense of wonder and mystery – and how you can bring that to the table in your own tabletop RPGs!
BXP 6×09 Monica and D Evaluate Rules Exceptions
D is back in the studio with me today to deliver on our promise to discuss exceptions-based rules design. We talk about Exalted: Essence an awful lot, but also talk about Malifaux, Chronicles of Darkness, and some upcoming games. We talk about good examples of how to build strong exceptions and an equal number of bad ones, and point out games that don’t do this at all.
BXP 6×08 Monica and Hiromi Demystify Accessibility
Today Monica sits down with friend and colleague Hiromi Cota to discuss how you can improve the accessibility of your tabletop RPG. We talk about making things accessible to folks with physical issues, but mental ones as well. We also talk about math a lot.
BXP 06×07 – Monica and the Scoundrels Discuss Content Creation
Today Monica is joined by the hosts of the Malifaux podcast, Steampowered Scoundrels, to have a lively discussion about being small content creators in a niche field, being the microest of micro celebrities, having relationships with tabletop game designers, and a lot, and I really mean a lot, of talk about Malifaux.
BXP 06×06 – MTP Crossover 2: Design Directives Mechanics Workshop
Here’s another crossover with Mage: The Podcast. This time Danielle Lauzon joins us as we discuss the concept of design directives in games.
BXP 06×05 – Monica and Elliott Dissect Character Sheets
Today Monica is joined by Exalted developer, Elliott Freeman, to break down their favorite (and least favorite) characters sheets: what works, what doesn’t, what they like to see, and so on.
PTG Chit Chat 10
Another Chit Chat for us — you know the drill, friends! That means this is 90% unedited. This week we talked games and food, of course, as food seems to be a reoccurring pandemic theme MORE
MMP#337 – Numenera 2. Part 6 – Mass Combat
Hey folks. It’s our last week in the 9th world as we finish up our run of Numenera. The battle is on as our heroes fight off a horde of cyborgs while trying to fix MORE