Ludology

Erica and Scott welcome game design legend Mike Elliott, creator of innumerable Magic: the Gathering and Pokémon cards, designer of Thunderstone, and co-designer of Quarriors and the Dice Masters series. And of course, of DuelMaster and Charm Angel, which were both huge hits in Japan. Mike also runs the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame, commemorating the work of legendary tabletop game designers. SHOW NOTES 1m22s: NeoPets, Hecatomb, The Harry Potter Trading Card Game. 1m41s: Game designer and friend of the show Eric Lang. Gil and Geoff chatted with Eric in Ludology 175 - Auld Lang Design. , Also, Wiz Kids is a publisher that should not be confused with Hasbro-owned D&D and Magic: the Gathering publisher Wizards of the Coast (aka WOTC, often referred to as "WHAT-see"). Wiz Kids and WOTC are two unrelated companies, although Wiz Kids publishes some D&D-related products under license from WOTC. 3m24s: Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson are the credited designers behind the first version of D&D. Richard Garfield designed Magic: The Gathering, King of Tokyo, and Robo Rally. Jordan Weisman founded legendary RPG publisher FASA before starting WizKids. Reiner Knizia has designed hundreds of games, including Tigris & Euphrates, Medici, Ra, and Lost Cities. Vlaada Chvatl designed Through the Ages and Galaxy Trucker. 3m58s: Uwe Rosenberg designed Agricola, Le Havre, A Feast for Odin, and Bohnanza. Bruno Cathala designed 5 Tribes, Kingdomino, and 7 Wonders Duel. Maureen Hiron has been in the industry for decades, with games like 7 Ate 9, Cosmic Cows, and Qwitch. 4m31s: The Strong Museum of Play, in Rochester, New York, is a museum dedicated to play, toys, and games. If you're ever in Rochester, make an appointment with their archivist to look at Sid Sackson's meticulously-kept diaries; they are amazing. GAMA is the Game Manufacturer's Association, a trade organization of tabletop game publishers and retailers. GAMA runs the industry convention GAMA Expo (formerly the GAMA Trade Show), and the public convention Origins. 5m26s: Little Wars, by novelist H.G. Wells (author of War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, and The Island of Doctor Moreau), was a rulebook for playing with toy soldiers. That sort of formalized ruleset for a wargame was rather novel in 1913. Note the cringeworthy full title: Little Wars: a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books. 7m39s: Here's the website Mike mentions. Note that Mike is in the middle of the photograph on the front page, in the black short-sleeved shirt. 8m31s: Here's the Biography of a Board Game for Pass-out. 9m43s: And here's the Biography of a Board Game for Quarriors. 10m22s: Del Mar, California. 15m44s: Hearthstone 21m34s: If you want to know more about the intersection of gaming and improv, check out our episode of Improv for Gamers author Karen Twelves, Ludology 237 - Improv-ing Games. 28m22s: Halo ActionClix, Star Wars PocketModel TCG, DC HeroClix: Batman (Alpha) 34m00s: The Dice Masters family of games. 35m04s: Duel Masters Trading Card Game, from WOTC and Takara Tomy (both of which are part of Hasbro), part of the Duel Masters franchise. 38m44s: Battle Spirits: Trading Card Game 45m27s: More information about Target halting sales of trading cards, including Pokémon. 46m01s: Thunderstone, published by Alderac Entertainment Group. Alderac is usually abbreviated as AEG, but is unrelated to the massive sports/music promoter Anschutz Entertainment Group, which is also abbreviated as AEG. Alderac is run by John Zinzer. 47m25s: Kingdom of Loathing   50m45s: Card Jitsu was originally part of Disney's MMO Club Penguin, which has since been replaced by Club Penguin Island. 54m08s: Quarriors 58m25s: Yahtzee: Doctor Who edition, and its TARDIS dice cup. 1h00m26s: The Quacks of Quedlinburg, The Mind 1h05m17s: AR games, or Augmented Reality games, utilize technology like phones or tablets to augment real-world locations with computer-generated enhancements. The most successful AR game at the moment is Pokémon Go. 1h07m53s: Mark Rosewater is the head designer for Magic: The Gathering. 1h15m15s: The film American Pie.

In this special GameTek, Geoff and Gil sit down with Justin Bergeron of ARC Global Logistics to discuss the global shipping snarl that's delaying so many board games (among other goods). How is it affecting the industry, what's behind it, and how long could it possibly last? You can reach Justin via email. Here's the web site for ARC Global's parent company, Logimark Group.

Gil and Sen are delighted to have RPG/story game designer Avery Alder on the show to talk about her games that show how communities deal with upheaval and change. We also discuss the change that RPGs saw in the past 20 years, going from the expectation of custom, bespoke systems for each game to the consensual adoption of systems like Powered by the Apocalypse and Forged in the Dark. SHOW NOTES 02m39s: The Forge is no longer active, but you can read its archives here. Also, My Life With Master. 04m24s: The RPG Top Secret. 07m52s: Jiangshi. 10m36s: Here's Avery's talk at NYU's practice convention. Also, Dream Askew, and Apocalypse World. 14m09s: Dungeon World (note that its designer Adam Koebel has behaved problematically in the past, showing issues with consent in games - content warning for mention of sexual assault in link), Monster of the Week (and the Adventure Zone podcast), Avery's game Monsterhearts (now implemented as Monsterhearts 2), and the Powered by the Apocalypse system. 15m17s: Blades in the Dark, the Forged in the Dark system, and Scum & Villainy 16m36s: Dream Apart, Sleepaway, and the Belonging Outside Belonging system. 29m34s: Volley Boys, based on the anime Haikyu!! 39m19s: The Quiet Year 44m34s: Bohnanza 50m09s: Dramatic structures, including the 3-Act Structure, and the Hero's Journey 57m13s: The minis game Hordes, and its Legion of Everblight expansion. 1h07m13s: Geoff and Gil discussed hard vs. soft incentives in Ludology 185 - Soft Boiled. Also, Snow Tails.

Scott shambles through the history of the beer-and-pretzels game Zombies!!! He runs us through its various iterations, tells us what made it stand out from other games at the time, and discloses the personal impact the game and its designers had on him. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF A BOARD GAME (Audio) An interview with Todd Breitenstein  The Zombies!!! 20th anniversary Kickstarter (Text) Another interview with Todd Breitenstein on the digital version of the game Todd passed away in 2013 from cancer. 

Erica, Gil, Scott, and Sen have a roundtable discussion about player counts. We go through each of the common player counts, as well as a few uncommon counts, and discuss what's special about designing for them. SHOW NOTES 0m39s: Our thoughts about and general strategies for designing games at different player counts. 5m42s: 2-player games 9m20s: We chatted with Matt Wolfe about decision scales on Ludology 157 - Come Scale Away. 13m08s: Inhuman Conditions 13m59s: Belfort 16m24s: Alien: Fate of the Nostromo 19m41s: Pandemic 22m06s: Tokaido, High Rise 24m20s: Scott Pilgrim Miniatures the World 24m38s: 3p games 26m44s: The three-body problem. 27m38s: Here's Cole Wehrle's talk on kingmaking in games, and how it can be a good thing. 28m16s: Churchill 28m37s: Basari, which was adapted into Edel, Stein, and Reich in 2003 and modified to try to better handle a higher player count. Also, a note on ties with 3-players: it's impossible to tie on a vote with 3 voters (or any number of odd voters), as long as you are limited to two choices to vote for. Once you have at least 3 choices to vote for, the possibility space gets far more complicated (see the three-body problem above). 30m52s: Rayguns & Rocketships 32m25s: 9-5-2 is known by various names. Here are the rules to Sergeant Major, which is a very similar game; rule changes for 9-5-2 are further down the page. Also: Carolus Magnus, Bargain Hunter, End of the Triumvirate (Gil was wrong, it can play 2 players), Three Kingdoms Redux 32m58s: 4p games 38m24s: Stuffed Fables, Between Two Cities 39m14s: Tichu 40m03s: 5p games. Also, a note: Eagle-eared listeners will notice that you don't hear much from Scott from now until the end of the episode. He had to leave our recording session early, so we quickly recorded his bits for the end of the episode. And that's how the sausage gets made! 41m10s: 7 Wonders 44m16s: Alhambra, Alhambra: The Vizier's Favor, Catan: 5-6 Player Extension 47m36s: 6p games 50m44s: Godfather: A New Don. The "other Godfather game" Sen is hinting at is The Godfather: Corleone's Empire by friend of the show Eric Lang. 54m43s: Floor Plan, Welcome To..., Take It Easy, Time's Up, Karuba 56m11s: Werewolf, Two Rooms and a Boom 57m11s: The Unlock! series of games, Cranium 1h00m59s: Terra Mystica 1h01m23s: Arkham Horror 1h02m02s: 1p games. If you want to know more about designing solo versions of games, check out Ludology 154 - Leave Me Alone! (with Morten Monrad Pedersen), Ludology 234 - Playing With Time (with Dávid Turczi), and Ludology 248 - Solo-liloquy (with Carla Kopp). 1h05m12s: Onirim 1h06m38s: Chainsaw Warrior. Sen also mentions Ian Livingstone, who created the Fighting Fantasy series of interactive books with Steve Jackson (that is, the British Steve Jackson who co-founded Games Workshop, not the American Steve Jackson who designed Ogre, GURPS, Illuminati, and Munchkin. To muddy the picture further, the latter Steve Jackson authored three Fighting Fantasy books himself!). 1h07m33s: Kingdom Rush: Rift in Time 1h10m03s: 0p games, starting with So, You've Been Eaten. (Note that the BGG header only shows it as a 1-2 player game; technical limitations prevent it from properly showing as a 0-2 player game.) 1h11m34s: Strat-o-matic Baseball 1h13m30s: In Ludology 142 - Slots of Fun, Geoff and Mike chatted with slot machine designer Jeremy Hornik. 1h15m19s: Another link to Alien: Fate of the Nostromo. 1h15m43s: Sen's project: Avatar: Last Airbender RPG, Tiny Frontiers: Mecha and Monsters (referred to as "Mechs vs. Kaiju"), Coded Chronicles (Jay and Sen have already designed games with the Scooby Doo and The Shining licenses for this series), Dungeon & Dragons: Rock Paper Wizard 1h16m34s: Erica's projects: Rat Queens: To the Slaughter, Disney Sidekicks 1h17m37s: Gil's projects: Networks Broken Token insert, shipping issues, con season coming up

Geoff discusses the knitting community, how some knitters make the leap from hobby into entrepreneurship, and how research has shown the one thing that many of these self-employed knitters have in common. What can board gamers learn from this?

Erica and Scott welcome graphic designer, production superhero, and prototype craft wizard Lindsay Daviau to the show. We talk about her experience at Hasbro making (among many other things) fake games for fake stores. We also bring up her favorite games that she worked on, and her job at Restoration Games (with her husband Rob, who you may have heard of), where she works on games like Unmatched, Fireball Island, Stop Thief, and the soon-to-come Return to Dark Tower. SHOW NOTES 04m10s: This is Don Norman's legendary book, Design of Everyday Things. It frequently comes up in this show, although despite what Scott says, we have never done a dedicated episode on it. We did discuss it a lot with game designer and graphic designer Daniel Solis on Ludology 204 - The Eyes Have It. 05m09s: The prestigious Rhode Island School of Design (RISD, pronounced "RIHS-dee").  12m57s: For those of you outside the US, the functional metric equivalent to 11"x17" paper is A3. 16m12s: The most recent Pandemic Legacy game is Pandemic Legacy: Season 0. 16m56s: Laser cutters emit toxic fumes; please only ever use them with proper ventilation!  17m48s: The Brother ScanNCut. 18m34s: Gil's tip for making quick tokens: get a bunch of circle labels, and a bunch of poker chips! 1" diameter labels work well for standard poker chips, 0.5" diameter labels work well for mini poker chips. Once you set up to print to the circle template, you can make a bunch of tokens very quickly. And to replace them, simply print new labels and stick them above the old labels. It's great for early prototypes where the shape of the token is not hugely important! 21m08s: Heroscape 42m09s: The web suggestion form Lindsay mentions is right on Restoration's front page! 45m24s: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 46m41s: Pillars of the Earth is both a well-known book by Ken Follett and a solid worker-placement board game with a polarizing turn order mechanism. 49m00s: This cake discussion actually came relatively early in the interview. It was a bit too much of a tangent to include in the main episode, but we've put it here as a bonus. Enjoy! 53m24s: For more on edible board games, check out Ludology 210 - The Way to a Gamer's Heart, in which we chat with Jenn Sandercock about her cookbook/rulebook where she gives recipes and instructions for several edible games.

Scott rampages through the history of Richard Garfield's hit game King of Tokyo. How was this game made, and what did its standalone sequel King of New York add to it? BIBLIOGRAPHY OF A BOARD GAME https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepodcastepisode/76209/podcast-20-king-tokyo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afu516A828k https://www.iello.com/co.uk/news/monster-of-the-week-game-is-over-all-about-king-of-verse https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/116703/interview-richard-garfield-designer-magic-gatherin https://meepletown.com/2012/09/game-designer-interview-richard-garfield/

Gil and Sen welcome Calvin Wong Tze Loon 黃子倫 to the show to discuss narrative in games. How can we improve a game's narrative through its mechanisms, its components, and even its box size? SHOW NOTES 0m46s: Calvin played P.T. Goh in the film Crazy Rich Asians. Also, info on Twilight Imperium's expansion Prophecy of Kings that Calvin did some writing for, and forthcoming RPG Embers of the Imperium. 3m16s: "Mayfair" in UK-based editions of Monopoly is equivalent to "Boardwalk" in US-based editions of the game.  7m39s: Android: Netrunner 10m18s: The fan organization NISEI, currently supporting organized Netrunner play, releasing new cards, and keeping the game alive. 11m28s: Here's what Gil wrote about flavor text on Twitter. 14m44s: Pasaraya Supermarket Manager. Gil also regrets not bringing up diegesis in games (making the components, graphic design, and form of a game match its narrative) like in Inhuman Conditions. 19m22s: The Tiny Epic series of games. 23m31s: Gil accidentally gave out the name of the game series with this puzzle, so we bleeped it out! 26m04s: Crisis 28m13s: Ryan and Geoff discussed the magic circle in Ludology 79. 28m22s: The story game Fiasco, and the strategy game Barrage. 32m47s: Memoir '44 35m26s: Millennium Blades, Falsche FuFFziger, Descent: Legends of the Dark 41m17s: Here's the essay Crimes Against Mimesis. Also, here's Gil's talk on merging theme and mechanism. 49m45s: The Rick Riordan Presents line of books. The book Gil mentioned is Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, by Carlos Hernandez.  53m40s: More info about the Prison Architect: Cardboard County Penitentiary board game. 55m32s: An Infamous Traffic 1h00m51s: Hollandspiele, This Guilty Land 1h02m07s: Hub Games 1h04m12s: The Typing of the Dead, Unspeakable Words 1h07m51s: Half-Life Alyx 1h09m51s: The wonderful Crystal Dax! 1h11m31s: Calvin's Twitter.

Geoff muses on the combination of two of his favorite topics: loss aversion and the lottery. Why do more people buy lottery tickets when the odds of winning are lower? How does that affect the payout? And what is the effect of a lottery win on a person's life?