In this "bonusode*" for Roll for Mutation: Post-Apocalyptic TTRPG History, we talk with Wil Hutton aka Rivetgeek, lead developer for Tribes in the Dark. TitD reworks and re-imagines Tribe 8, Dream Pod 9's fantastical post-apocalyptic rpg from the late 1990s. This new version adapts the Forged in the Dark mechanics to this game of tribes, outcasts, and prophecy.

Tribes in the Dark is Kickstarting through September 14 2025.
Tribe 8 on Wikipedia
Tribe 8 on DTRPG
Tribe 8 on RPGGeek
Wil on Bluesky  @rivetgeek.aggregatecognizance.com‬

*term borrowed from the Ranged Touch podcast...

Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @[email protected] 

Music: Here Comes the Night Karl Casey @White Bat Audio 

First episode of Roll for Mutation, a new series looking at the history of Post-Apocalyptic TTRPGs. In this one hosts Lowell Francis and Marc Majcher cover the extended history of Gamma World, with a focus on the first two editions (of many). We talk about what Gamma World is, where it fits in gaming history, what the media context is like, and our general thoughts about the game. Roll for Mutation won't be covering things chronologically, but we do hope to hit the "tentpole" games in the genre early.

References
Gamma World on Wikipedia
Gamma World on RPG Geek
Grognardia on Gamma World 
Grognardia on Gamma World 2e
Designers & Dragons Volume 1 The 1970s
Game Wizards

For other shows like this, check out Roll for Origin: Supers TTRPG History.

Marc Majcher is an award-winning game designer, performer, educator, director, woodworker, writer, and all-around goblin-man recently relocated from Austin, Texas to East Lansing, Michigan. You can find their RPGs and larps inspired by the works of Philip K Dick, a bird apocalypse, eldritch startup cults, viral videos, and much, much more at https://majcher.itch.io/ and everything else at https://majcher.com/.

Lowell is the designer and co-author of Hearts of Wulin. He's the ENnie-winning creator of the Age of Ravens blog and community manager for the Open Hearth Gaming Community.

You can find Lowell's work on YouTube, on Itch.io, and on DriveThruRPG.

Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @[email protected] 

Music: Here Comes the Night Karl Casey @White Bat Audio

00:00 Introduction: Gamma World
02:05 What is it?
10:10 Gaming History
19:12 The Media Context
25:30 Our Thoughts

Lowell Francis provides a short introduction to the Open Hearth Gaming Community: what we are, what we do, how you can join, and how you can support what we do.

Website

Discord Invite

Patreon

Playabl

Shared Hearth

Community Code of Conduct

Online Play Resources

Around the Hearth

Playing at the Hearth

YouTube

Play Issues

Gameway

Contact Us: [email protected]
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @[email protected]  

00:00 Introduction
00:52 What is Open Hearth
04:07 Joining Us
07:36 Signing Up For Games
14:20 What Happens When You Sign Up
17:03 What to Expect from Play
19:38 Getting Into Sessions
21:37 Running Games
23:25 Play Issues
26:53 Open Hearth Projects and Events 
34:06 How to Support Us

This is the edited version of an older seminar by Lowell Francis talking about planning and running TTRPG mysteries. It's about 50 minutes of talk followed by a Q&A. Lowell talks about his approach and best practices for running mysteries in rpgs. Topics include: 

• Kinds of mysteries (set, set variable, improv) 
• Plotting mysteries 
• The power of the timeline 
• Information handling 
• Keeping player involvement 
• Table management 

...and more.

See here for an outline of the talk

Lowell is the designer and co-author of Hearts of Wulin. He's the ENnie-winning creator of the Age of Ravens blog and community manager for the Open Hearth Gaming Community.

You can find Lowell's work on YouTube, on Itch.io, and on DriveThruRPG.

Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @[email protected] 

This time Roll for Origin: Supers TTRPG History jumps forward in time to the mid-1990s. Hosts Jay Brown and Lowell Francis look at Underground (1993), Mayfair's attempt to build on the DC Heroes system with a dystopian, cyberpunk supers setting. Content warning: cannibalism, PTSD, transphobia, regressive treatment of disabilities and mental illness. We go over what the game is, its place in the history of gaming, and what was going on in comics media at the time. We then move to general discussion, including what we found weird and what we dug.

If you dig this series, please rate, review, and subscribe.

Jay's the author of By Aecer’s Light, The Clockwinders for Fate, Cortex Prime's Supers, and a contributing author on Pathfinder’s Mwangi Expanse, Trophy Gold, Hit the Streets: Defend the Block, and the upcoming Lifted: Indomitable RPG, a supers game about everyday folks with extraordinary powers in a tech-aggressive world.

Check out Mad Jay's work at Play.Fearless and at the Diceology Podcast.

Lowell is the designer and co-author of Hearts of Wulin. He's the ENnie-winning creator of the Age of Ravens blog and community manager for the Open Hearth Gaming Community.

You can find Lowell's work on YouTube, on Itch.io, and on DriveThruRPG.

Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @[email protected] 

00:00 Intro
00:25 The Pitch
03:35 Gaming History
11:40 Comics & Media History
15:42 Thoughts  

In the inaugural episode of Fireside Chat with Agatha, Agatha is joined by Lowell Francis, Community Manager for the Open Hearth and designer of Hearts of Wulin, to talk game design. Listen as Agatha pushes Lowell for more stuff for HoW and beyond!

Agatha Cheng is the Co-Creator and Co-Host of the Asians Represent! and The Game Design Game Show podcasts
She works as a Cultural Consultant for content on Chinese history and mythology + the Chinese diaspora and Taiwan
She is the designer of Deadly Society

Lowell Francis is the designer and co-author of Hearts of Wulin. He's the ENnie-winning creator of the Age of Ravens blog and community manager for the Open Hearth Gaming Community. You can check out all of Lowell's actual plays on YouTube. You can find Hearts of Wulin and more on Itch.io, and on DriveThruRPG.

Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @[email protected]  

In this episode we cover a wide range of games old and new. Host Lowell Francis is joined by Rich Rogers (+1 Forward, Hit the Streets) and Jay Brown (Diceology, Life: Indomitable).

Smallville
Flying Circus
Blackout
Mythomorphosis
Spooky Asian Club
Just King Things

Find Rich Rogers' Hit the Streets here
+1 Forward Podcast Archives

Jay's the author of By Aecer’s Light, The Clockwinders for Fate, Cortex Prime's Supers, and a contributing author on Pathfinder’s Mwangi Expanse, Trophy Gold, Hit the Streets: Defend the Block, and the upcoming Lifted: Indomitable RPG, a supers game about everyday folks with extraordinary powers in a tech-aggressive world.

Check out Mad Jay's work at Play.Fearless and at the Diceology Podcast.

Lowell is the designer and co-author of Hearts of Wulin. He's the ENnie-winning creator of the Age of Ravens blog and community manager for the Open Hearth Gaming Community.

You can check out all of Lowell's actual plays on YouTube. You can find Hearts of Wulin and more on Itch.io, and on DriveThruRPG.

Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @[email protected] 

00:00 Introduction 
01:15 Rich and Smallville
16:14 Jay and Flying Circus
32:45 Lowell and Mythomorphosis
44:45 Giving Me Life 

Be sure to check out the Hearts of Wulin Bundle of Holding running through Wednesday July 23rd, 2025.

This is an edited and cleaned up version of a talk Lowell Francis, designer and co-writer on Hearts of Wulin, gave talking about moves, NPCs, set ups, and other topics in this game of wuxia melodrama. It is split between presentation and audience Q&A.  This is part of the Open Hearth series of seminars, discussions, and workshops.

Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @[email protected] 

Horror as a genre can be a great tool to use in your ventures in GMing horror games, but horror movies aren’t the only place to pull from. You can pull from many forms of media including books and real life situations. Sit down with us folks and let’s see how we each approach running horror ttrpgs!
 
This panel talk is part of the Open Hearth series of seminars, discussions, and workshops. Host Jellyfishlines moderates a panel with Mads, Vixie, and David Robles. The panel wraps with some audience Q&A.

Jellyfishlines
https://jellyfishlines.carrd.co/
https://bsky.app/profile/jellyfishlines.itch.io
https://jellyfishlines.itch.io/

Mads
Madelancholy on YouTube and Discord
https://bsky.app/profile/madelancholy.bsky.social
https://madelancholy.itch.io/

Vixie
https://linktr.ee/thepocketdragonpub
https://ko-fi.com/pocketdragonpub
Indie Game Designer Month in September! The PDP is accepting submissions! Email [email protected]

David Robles
https://linktr.ee/streamingrainbow
You can see how David GMs for horror in Mythos of War Journey through the Pyrenees and SS Sophia available on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts

Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @[email protected]

In this second episode of Roll for Origin: Supers TTRPG History, hosts Jay Brown and Lowell Francis look at Villains & Vigilantes, the superhero rpg that broke the genre open. We go over what the game is, its place in the history of gaming, and what was going on in comics media at the time. We then move to general discussion, including what we found weird and what we dug.

If you dig this series, please rate, review, and subscribe.

Jay's the author of By Aecer’s Light, The Clockwinders for Fate, Cortex Prime's Supers, and a contributing author on Pathfinder’s Mwangi Expanse, Trophy Gold, Hit the Streets: Defend the Block, and the upcoming Lifted: Indomitable RPG, a supers game about everyday folks with extraordinary powers in a tech-aggressive world.

Check out Mad Jay's work at Play.Fearless and at the Diceology Podcast.

Lowell is the designer and co-author of Hearts of Wulin. He's the ENnie-winning creator of the Age of Ravens blog and community manager for the Open Hearth Gaming Community.

You can find Lowell's work on YouTube, on Itch.io, and on DriveThruRPG.

Find out more about the Open Hearth Gaming Community
Support us on Patreon!
Our actual play podcast can be found here
Follow us on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/open-hearth-rpg
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/openhearthrpg
Mastodon: @[email protected] 

00:00 Intro
02:50 The Pitch
09:20 Gaming History
13:52 Comics & Media History
17:20 Thoughts