Ludonarrative Dissidents

Greg Stolze's procedurally generated game puts  you in the corrupt,  dissolute city-state of Vindamere, but don't  worry. You play the best people there, spoiled children of privilege  with nothing better to do  than pursue swordplay, flirt outrageously,  and snack on delicious  vol-au-vents. A single game session covers the  social year from Ye  Midwinter Balle through the prestigious Alle-Valley  Fencinge  Championeshippe. Your louche elite blade-swanks fall in love,  brawl,  sneer and engage in truly petty social rivalries.  Learn more about Dueling Fops of Vindamere. We'll have an episode zero of Season 2 on this podcast when we launch the Kickstarter. We'll be previewing a new type of episode where discuss a common type of game mechanic found in many RPGs. Which mechanic? You'll have to stay subscribed to find out. See you at the Kickstarter! 

Base Raiders is a Fate powered superhero RPG about dungeon crawling in  abandoned villain and hero bases.  Characters find super power sources  in bases or buy them from the black market. It was written by Ross  Payton and published in 2014. Buy Base Raiders here. Our season 1 finale, an actual play of Dueling Fops of VIndamere, is coming next week. After that, our Kickstarter for Season 2! Stay tuned! 

The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen by James Wallis is a  humorous and competitive storytelling  game of telling tall tales.  During the game, each player must tell a story,  while the other players  attempt to interject and stage interruptions or  distractions. The  player with the best story at the end of the game is  the winner. Our next episode will look at Base Raiders, a Fate powered superhero  game about dungeon crawling in abandoned bases. After that, our final  episode for season 1 will be an actual play of Dueling Fops of  Vindamere. We hope to launch a crowdfunding campaign for season 2 this  year, so stay tuned!

Unknown Armies is a modern horror RPG  that presents magick as it might exist in a  world informed by crime  fiction and secret histories, as twisting  wrinkles in reality created  by greater and greater risk, sacrifice, and  obsession. It was created  by Greg Stolze and John Tynes.

13th Age is a d20 fantasy role playing game designed for "experienced  Gamemasters and players of all experience levels." It features several  new mechanics and character class designs unique to it, like the Icon  system and One Unique Thing. It was written by D&D designers Rob  Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet.

In Thousand Year Old Vampire by Tim Hutchings you chronicle the many  centuries of a vampire’s existence, beginning with the loss of mortality  and ending with inevitable destruction. Prompt-driven play and simple  resource tracking provide easy rules for exploring your character’s  human failings, villainous acts, and surprising victories.

The Quiet Year is a storytelling game from Avery Alder about map-making  and building a community after the apocalypse. "You define the struggles  of a community  living after the collapse of civilization, and attempt  to build  something good within their quiet year. Every decision and  every action is set against a backdrop of dwindling time and rising  concern."

Ars Magica is a "role playing game aboutsorcerers and their allies in  Mythic Europe." Play focuses around the covenant, a community of magi,  companions, and servants and guards (known as grogs). Players take up  multiple roles in the game, playing as all three types of characters  throughout a campaign.  A highly influential game that launched the  careers of many well-known designers, we focus primarily on the current  edition, fifth, but also talk about earlier ones.

Content warning: Bluebeard's Bride is a  "game about the terrible realities of women's lives." It discusses  sexual assault, body horror, torture, murder, suicide, and other  horrific topics. Our conversation about the game touch on these topics  as well. Thank you for your understanding. Bluebeard's Bride is "an investigatory horror tabletop roleplaying  game based on the Bluebeard fairy tale." Players take on personality  aspects of the young bride as she explores Bluebeard's mansion, looking  for clues on Bluebeard's nature. No aspect fully controls the bride's  actions, as players take turns guiding her through the horrors of the  mansion. Will the bride be faithful or disloyal to her new husband? Only  the players decide through the course of this game.

Continuum is a role playing game about time travel. Published in 1999,  it boasts that its setting has a society of time travelers and a history  of the past and future of earth. It also has rules for 'time combat'.  Time travelers can try to kill each other by introducing paradoxes into  the timelines of their foes. Do the rules work? Greg, James, and I  discuss this infamous RPG.