RPG Design Panelcast

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Jason Morningstar, Jabari Weathers, Brennen Reece.  Art Direction: From Designer to Director to Artist. A game designer, an art director, and an artist who recently worked on a project together will talk about the project (Bully Pulpit Games' "Dead House") from each of their perspectives - how they collaborated and communicated and perceived both the brief and the final output. 

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Will Sobel, Beth Rimmels. For better or worse, traditional RPGs have a reputation for crunch and complication that can be scary for new players. How can designers and publishers make their games less imposing both in substance and appearance? 

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Curt Covert, Melissa Lewis-Gentry, Jason Walters, Isaac Vega. How do you present a game to playtesters without biasing them, but getting what you want from the test? How do you present that same game to a publisher differently? How do you present the game to fans at a show to get them excited enough to buy it? Some things will be identical, others will be custom-tailored to the audience and what they care about (or what you want from it). And there are multiple versions of each.

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Olivia Montoya, Donna Prior, Avonelle Wing.   Discord. Itch. Twitch. If you blinked and suddenly your peers sound like they’re talking about new horsemen of a very minor apocalypse, we’re here to help you catch up. There are a plethora of new(ash) platforms available to empower your gaming experiences. Avie’s here as our token dinosaur, while Donna and Olivia bring the knowledge

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Pamela Punzalan, Vince Smith, and Alastor Guzman.   Much of the dialogue relevant to the tabletop gaming industry and the communities that form around it is centered around the United States of America. Many know that creators from all around the world exist, but few understand just how different their contexts can be from the status quo. This panel seeks to bring multiple voices from beyond America together in order to discuss these differences, and provide some nuanced insight on how the America-centered industry informs their own contexts and communities.

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by James Wallis, Cat Tobin, Kieron Gillen, Jacob Jaskov. We all know how certain games feel in play and how they make us feel, but as designers and critics we don't have a set of words to describe it. Do we need an experiential vocabulary of play, and what would one look like?

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Jacob Segal, Justin Ford, Ian Hart. Systems like Forged in the Dark are designed with mechanics that deliberately support player agency. When paired with external safety tools, these agency-focused mechanics are intended to foster safer play culture and richer experiences. Our panelists will discuss what we mean by "player agency" and what these mechanics look like and how they work.

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Jason Pitre, Zedeck Siew, Sinta Posadas. Non-player characters are vital to tabletop and live action roleplaying games. They provide companionship, contrast, resources, information, and dramatic conflict with the players. They are the avatars of the setting, and the best tools that a GM has at their disposal. In this panel, we discuss how games can be designed using NPCs as a key mechanism of play. 

Recorded at Metatopia 2020 Online Presented by Kitty Stryker, Spider Perry, Avonelle Wing. We will talk about practical actions you can take to be better prepared the next time you have the chance to speak up. It might be addressing a micro-aggression at the game table or shutting down a bully who wants to make somebody feel small in an online setting, for example. These aren't easy things and the skills don't always come naturally. Our panelists will talk about practicing phrases and learning to overcome the social conditioning that perpetuates "isms

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Anne Ratchat, Spider Perry, Misha Bushyager, Mids Meinberg, Pamela Punzalan. For all the merits of the genre, it is not an exaggerated statement to say that horror is the least accessible genres in analog gaming. Between mechanics that require physical ability, the habitual use of monsters whose descriptions sound uncomfortably close to home, and the widespread misunderstanding of how mental health and mental illnesses work, a large swath of players are alienated before the game even begins. In this panel, we will use the recurrent inaccessible themes in horror to explore how one can build a more accessible game from the core mechanics out.