Dice Exploder

Transcript This is an intensely visual episode. If you'd like to follow along with the sheets we mention and get some extra commentary from me, you can do so at https://www.diceexploder.com/blog/2024/2/22/dice-exploder-aftershow-character-sheets I’m fascinated by character sheets, mostly because there are so so so precious few that I think do a good job. I don’t mean this to call anyone out - I think the job of making a good character sheet might genuinely be impossible. They just have so much they have to accomplish. Today I'm talking to Emanoel Melo, designer of CBR+PNK, about what we like in character sheets and whether there are any we would actually go to bat for. Further reading Aftershow blog post featuring all the character sheets we talk about plus extra commentary on diceexploder.com CBR-PNK Mothership Bruno Prosaiko, the artist behind the beautiful ornate sheets we talk about, on Instagram A collection of Brazilian tabletop games on itch that Emanoel curates Socials Emanoel on Twitter and Instagram. His website, Cabinet of Curiosities. Sam on Bluesky and itch. The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript Alex Roberts, designer of Star Crossed and For the Queen, joins me to talk about pity points from Kagematsu, a mechanic that doesn't actually do anything itself beyond evoke a particular feeling when put in opposition to love points. This episode is what I always dreamed Dice Exploder could be. We start from a simple game mechanic, but we get into power dynamics at the table in the past and the future, how people treat you when you’re disabled, cultural appropriation, my personal techniques for flirting, details of a new game Alex is working on, and of course “what is the true nature of love?” Happy day after Valentine’s Day. Further Reading Kagematsu is no longer available in print or online Kagematsu actual play, featuring Alex, on the One Shot podcast What Dice Do blogpost by Graham Walmsley The Quiet Year by Avery Alder Alex’s finished podcast Backstory Star Crossed by Alex Roberts For the Queen, second edition coming May 14th from Darrington Press Socials Alex’s personal carrd page Sam on Bluesky and itch. The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lily Pads by my boi Travis Tessmer. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript This week I've got designer and illustrator Strega Wolf van den Berg on to talk about money and the Mork Borg third party license. What, if anything, is the difference between making RPGs for fun, to pay rent, and to be paid fairly? And what is the cost (aha) of bringing money into making art? On the flip side, this is also an episode about community, and how the shape of Mork Borg’s license fostered a community around it that allowed Strega Wolf to find a space in this hobby. Community can give us so many things that money can’t. Further reading: The Mork Borg third party license Lichoma The Origin Of My Depression by Uboa Socials Strega Wolf's website and itch page Bogfolk, and on itch Sam on ⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠itch⁠⁠. The Dice Exploder blog is at ⁠⁠diceexploder.com⁠⁠ Our logo was designed by ⁠⁠sporgory⁠⁠, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lily Pads by my boi Travis Tessmer. Join the ⁠⁠Dice Exploder Discord⁠⁠ to talk about the show!

Nova, one of my favorite writers in the DIY elf game scene, joins the podcast to talk about making good random tables, adventures, and the power of point of view. They discuss the rumor table from Lorn Song of the Bachelor, the history and importance of rumor tables in RPGs, and the subtleties of dice probability. They also delve into the differences between random tables and pick lists, and the importance of rooms and passages in a dungeon.

Transcript On the season 3 premiere, I’m joined by John Harper, designer of many games featured on past episodes of Dice Exploder including Blades in the Dark, Lasers & Feelings, and Agon 2e. John brought in the Psi*Run risk sheet, a fairly complex dice resolution mechanic, known generically as Otherkind Dice. The risk sheet is such an elegant piece of design, packing essentially a whole game onto a single sheet of paper, and being so clear in both how it works and how you might tear it apart for your own ends. If you’re a new designer, or even just looking to get back in touch with the basics, John and I agree that hacking this thing is a great place to look. It’s good to be back. Further Reading: Psi*Run’s risk sheet Vincent Baker’s original 2005 post on Otherkind Dice Vincent’s 2022 Otherkind Dice SRD Psi*Run by Michael Lingner, Christopher Moore⁠, and Meguey Baker Annalise Socials John’s website, onesevendesign.com, and itch page. Sam on Bluesky and itch. The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lily Pads by my boi Travis Tessmer. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Thursday January 25th Dice Exploder is back with an all new crowdfunded-by-listeners season! The lineup includes John Harper, Alex Roberts, James Wallis, Idle Cartulary, Strega Wolf van den Berg, Emanoel Melo, Seb Pines and MORE - that's right, I'm over-delivering on the Kickstarter as a treat. Check back next week for the season premiere, and visit the blog's new home at diceexploder.com. Transcript

Transcript Hello and welcome to the Dice Exploder 2023 end of year bonanza! I love me a good ranked list of movies on an end of year movie podcast, but ranked lists are bad and this show’s about RPGs not movies, so you get this instead. It’s me, Aaron King of the RTFM podcast, Lady Tabletop of the Alone at the Table podcast, and Sharang Biswas of winning tons of Ennies this year and being a games academic, and the four of us (plus a half dozen other special guests) are here to tell you about a bunch of cool games shit we played, read, and listened to this year. Hope you had a great year in games! Come on down and listen to ours. Our picks: Aaron’s games * GREED by Gormengeist * Undertree Temple of the Elf Gods by Happy Chthonian * Crush Depth Apparition by Amanda Lee Franck Audrey’s games * Void 1680 AM by Ken Lowery * Wreck This Deck by Black Armada Games (Josh Fox and Becky Annison) * Extreme Meatpunks Forever by Sinister Beard Games Sharang’s games * Fight With Spirit by Story Brewers Roleplaying * The Silt Verses by Gabriel Robinson and Jason Cordova * The Broadcast by Jason Morningstar and Lizzie Stark Sam’s games * Eating Oranges in the Shower by Hazel Anneke Dixon * Barkeep on the Borderlands by W. F. Smith * Exiles by em acosta Game adjacent things * Aaron: Grog the Frog by Alba BG * Audrey: Roleplaying Games Enter the World of Ballet in a Unique New Performance by Linda Codega * Sharang: The Dungeons & Dragons players of Death Row by Keri Blakinger * Sam: The Ink That Bleeds by Paul Czege (here’s an excerpt from the Indie Game Reading Club) Thing we’re proud of * Aaron: RTFM, Speedrune, and Aaron’s annual list of favorite books * Audrey: Behold: A Game * Sharang: Winning 3 Ennies: Judges choice for MOONLIGHT ON ROSEVILLE BEACH and Best Rules/Best Family Game for AVATAR * Sam: you’re lookin at it Picks from friends of the show: * Ray Chou: Decuma * Thomas Manuel: A.A. Voigt on Youtube, Daydreaming About Dragons podcast by Judd Karlman, the Indie Game Reading Club, and Aaron Marks at Cannibal Halfling. * Mikey Hamm: Picturepedia and other coffee table reference books * John Harper: Girl By Moonlight * Em Acosta: The Zone and Blades in ‘68 * Nova / Idle Cartulary: mindfulness fantasy map drawing (see her Dungeons Regularly vols. 1 and 2) * Moe Poplar: the Dice Exploder podcast Further reading: * Meakpunk manifesto by Heather “Flowers” Robertson * Sharang’s piece about Brindlewood Bay * Amanda Lee Franck’s Comradery * Alba BG’s Instagram * BALLETCOLLECTIVE presents THE MOMENT IS IMMINENT * RTFM patreon episode on VOID 1680 AM * LadyTabletop’s VOID 1680 AM broadcast Socials Aaron can be found on, like, just listen to RTFM, linked above. Audrey on Tumblr, and her podcast Alone at the Table about solo games. Sharang is on itch and Twitter and Bluesky. Sam is @sdunnewold on all socials and itch. Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript Today I’ve got for you another between-season bonus episode. This time we’re breaking format to talk about i know the end, a module I published earlier this year about going back home after a long time away and all the horrors that entails. Because if you can’t occasionally publish something self-indulgent in your podcast feed, what’s even the point of having one? My cohost for this is my friend Nico MacDougall, the current organizer of The Awards, who edited i know the end and had almost as much to say about it as I did. For maximum understanding of this episode, you can pick up a free copy of the module here and follow along (or skim it in advance). Further reading: The original i know the end cover art The “oops all PBTA moves” version of i know the end Three of my short films My previous written designer commentaries on Space Train Space Heist and Couriers John Harper talking with Andrew Gillis about the origins of Blades in the Dark The official designer commentary podcasts for Spire and Heart Aaron Lim’s An Altogether Different River, which comes with a designer commentary version Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes, a photography theory book that we talked about during recording but which I later cut because I remembered most of the details about it incorrectly What Is Risograph Printing, another topic cut from the final recording because I got basically everything about it wrong while recording (the background texture of the module is a risograph printed texture) Before Sunrise by Richard Linklater Questionable Content by Jeph Jacques Socials: Nico’s carrd page, which includes links to their socials, editing rates, and The Awards. Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch. The Dice Exploder logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript It’s a bonus between-seasons Dice Exploder! Wowie! As promised back in my episode with Gem Room Games about Mork Borg, today I’m talking about accessibility in game design using Mork Borg’s graphic design as an example. My cohost is Marc Muszynski, a friend and screenwriter with low vision, and we talk in detail about his experience with Mork Borg. Is this game, with all its important and loud art, accessible to people who can’t see? Like with most accessibility questions, It’s Complicated™! Further reading: Mork Borg Accessibility in Gaming Resource Guide by Jennifer Kretchmer TTRPG Accessibility Drive 2023 game jam on itch Contrast checking tool for visual design. Color checking tool for colorblindness. Sylexiad, my favorite Dyslexia-friendly font: Fate Accessibility Toolkit by Evil Hat Two articles about “sanity” mechanics in RPGs (don’t put “sanity” mechanics in your games) Socials: Marc on imdb (lmao) Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch. Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Guest Nychelle Schneider, moderator from the Blades in the Dark discord, talks about customizing games and homebrewing mechanics. They discuss fluidity in game design, creating custom content, collaborating with others, and unique game experiences. They also delve into the game Broken Spire and the importance of new settings and scenarios in RPGs.