RPG Design Panelcast

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Heather O'Neill, Timothy Grant, Brian Quinones, Jack Berkenstock. This panel of game designers and therapists will discuss their journey to design RPGs for use in therapy as well as the overall benefit of using roleplaying games as a therapeutic tool. What games have they used in the past? What worked, what didn't? How did they modify games for therapy sessions? 

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Jeeyon Shim, Meguey Baker, Jason Morningstar.   Understanding the natural world as an active participant in games and design shifts our engagement with environmental justice and enriches every aspect of our work. Join this panel of game designers with backgrounds as adventure guides, outdoor educators, and naturalists as they discuss the various ways integrating the natural world positively impacts their design and community work in games. Attendees will learn tools to understand the more-than-human community around them in ways they can weave into their own participation in games, whether as players, designers, or organizers.

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Gabriel de los Angeles, Sen-Foong Lim, Brian Quinones. Using concepts from education theory is a natural and obvious way to improve game design practices. Our panelists will talk about how to apply an understanding of how people learn and engage in play to your design process to create more immersive, satisfying designs.

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Jason Morningstar, Sungil Kim, Taka'aki Ayukata, Steve Segedy. Asian game markets are booming! Come meet two publishers who are actively licensing and translating English-language properties for their own countries and beyond. Join us for an informal conversation with and between publishers from Japan and Korea. 

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Alastor Guzman, Sergio Ake.   "How To Include Latin America In Your Kickstarter Fulfillment"  Latin American gamers are often excluded in Kickstarts due to.  high shipping prices, tax and unfamiliarity with the market. In this panel, we'll talk about how to include them in your fulfillment estimates and make it worthwhile for all involved.

Recorded at Metatopia 2020 Online Presented by Anne Ratchat, Sharang Biswas, Bronwyn Sperling, Kristen Roberts.   Food is fundamental to survival and yet serves as so much more, building communities and relationships, serving as an artistic expression, connecting us to ideals and memories. We will explore our diverse relationship with food, cooking, and eating and, in turn, show how such simple acts can be very powerful mechanics in games, most notably LARP.

Recorded at Metatopia 2020 Online Presented by Avraham Yosef Baez, Bronwyn Sperling, Emily Care Boss   Role-playing games that integrate tactile components and mechanics allow our other senses to engage in play. Although COVID put a pause on many games that offer tactile experiences, join our conversation about what we are excited to have in the future. This panel will discuss how these little touches (see what we did there?) help enhance the game experience, how could they hurt it, and what considerations should be thought of when designing a game with tactile components. Whether it is sewing, stacking, smelling, or sounds, come join us and sigh about what we long to get back to. 

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Rach Shelkey, Jacqueline Bryk, Sidney Icarus, Jen Dixon. Has the current global health crisis inspired a new game idea? Considering writing a game about healthcare workers? Join our panelists as they discuss what role playing games can learn from the field of medicine and how to thoughtfully address the medical profession in your designs. Questions encouraged!

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020  Presented by Richard Ruane, Brian Yaksha, Zedeck Siew, Amanda Franck, Pamela Punzalan.   Microsettings (settings that focus closely on a specific area, region, or location) can be a powerful touchstone for game design. By focusing their attention and concerns on a small region, city, or even places as focused as a bar, a school, or a shopping center, microsettings give the smaller, more particular stories a space to happen. In the panel, we'd like to discuss how designing and detailing of focused microsettings can evoke a location's multiplicity and diversity, make the world of the game more accessible and real, challenge characters to form relationships within the setting, and invoke curiosity about mundane aspects of setting life.   A thread of additional questions and answers have been prepared by Brian Yaksha, one of the panelists. https://twitter.com/goatmansgoblet/status/1324917649143435265      

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2020   Presented by Ash Kreider, Jason Morningstar, Mike Czaplinski, Jeeyon Shim.   A panel about the limitations of imagination when it comes to how we see violence in tabletop games. With the entire range of human experience to draw from, why is designing games without violence still seen as having a "niche" audience? In this panel, we will discuss what it means to explore designing games that don't feature interpersonal violence as a resolution mechanic.