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Dead Letters episodes
- 29: Wet Grandpa
Long time boy scouts Misha and Walid take a break from watching corn sweat to bring on Eagle Scout Sam and discuss a fan favorite adventure: Evey Lockhart's Wet Grandpa. Join the scouts as they discuss the value of exposition, motivating players to do cool stuff, and revealing the gradient between the mundane and mystical.
Dead Letters forum: https://deadletters.nyc/forum/
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Follow Walid on his website: wraouda.com
1 hr 32 min - 28: Magical Industrial Revolution
Sam summons magical Fae beings Misha and Walid to step away from their days of mischief and mayhem and discuss tabletop roleplaying games. Today they will be discussing Skerple's Magical Industrial Revolution. Join the fairies as they argue the logistics of city crawls and dungeons, discuss what kind prep work is acceptable, and end with a small pivot into postmodernism!
Dead Letters forum: https://deadletters.nyc/forum/
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Follow Sam on bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social
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Follow Walid on his website: wraouda.com
1 hr 24 min - 27: The Invisible Rules of Roleplaying
Fire elementals Walid and Misha surface on earth during a devastating heatwave to give Sam and his AC a break. They're here to discuss Nordic scholar Markus Montola's Invisible Rules of Roleplaying. Join the toasty trio as they unpack roleplaying games, separate narratology vs ludology, define frame theory, and praise the power diegesis!
Dead Letters forum: https://deadletters.nyc/forum/
Follow us on bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/dead-letters.bsky.social
Follow Sam on bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social
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Follow Walid on his website: wraouda.com
1 hr 34 min - 26: The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford
Knights in shining armor Misha and Walid tag in squire Sam and embark on the epic adventure from Chance Dudinack: The Black Wyrm of Brandondsford. Listen to the guys breakdown the importance of maps in adventures, the topos - topography -topology connection, and the fragility of information ordering.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT : we have a website! Listeners, if you'd like to share your RPG takes with us, comment on episodes, or yap about the general discourse, join us on our forum!
Dead Letters forum: https://deadletters.nyc/forum/
Follow us on bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/dead-letters.bsky.social
Follow Sam on bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social
Follow Misha on bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/the-goblin.bsky.social
Follow Walid on his website: wraouda.com
1 hr 24 min - 25: Mythic Bastionland
Decorated historians Misha and Walid take a break from their respective research papers to bring on plebeian Sam and discuss a familiar topic: tabletop roleplaying games. Today they're examining the Ennie award winning TTRPG Mythic Bastionland by Chris McDowall. Tune in as the guys breakdown omens and myths, differentiate task and conflict resolution, and argue if this book is really just a story game in disguise!
Follow us on bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/dead-letters.bsky.social
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Follow Walid on his website: wraouda.com
1 hr 47 min - 24: The Turku School Manifesto
Long time communist Sam brings on two old school revolutionaries, Misha and Walid, to discuss the highly influential Turku School Manifesto (and some other supplementary readings) authored by Mike Pohjola. Listen to the theorists steelman RPG arguments from the 2000s, define roleplaying as "eläytyminen", and compare its application between RPGs and LARPs.
We apologize for the audio hiccups across this episode and appreciate our listeners patience as we continue to decipher how microphones work.
EDIT: We fixed the audio! Sorry about the flubs.
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1 hr 16 min - 23: The Great Pendragon Campaign
Dog sled racers Misha and Walid hop off their championship crews and join Sam to continue discussing Arthurian myth and legend. Today, they're reading Greg Stafford's 1985 supplement The Great Pendragon Campaign. Join the guys as they breakdown pseudo history, the importance of source material, and the difference between contemporary and traditional Arthuriana.
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1 hr 33 min - 22: Pendragon 6th Edition
Chess enthusiast Sam invites Grandmasters Walid and Misha to take a step away from the black and white checkered board and discuss the different types of knight moves in Greg Stafford's Pendragon. Join the guys as they break down Arthurian cannon, how they would run this system, and the issues with rules as meta-storytelling constraints.
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Follow Walid on his website: wraouda.com
1 hr 27 min - 21: YOU GOT A JOB ON THE GARBAGE BARGE
Sentient puppets Walid and Misha (ft. Misha's dog Bandit in the background sometimes) join terrified fan Sam to discuss Amanda Lee Franck's YOU GOT A JOB ON THE GARBAGE BARGE. Join the horrified trio as they discuss the nuance of adventure writing, trash dimensions, and transforming your at home RPG game into a published book!
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Follow Walid on his website: wraouda.com
1 hr 17 min - 20: Thief Gold
Former advisors to Richard Nixon, Walid and Misha bring in history enthusiast Sam for a very special 20th episode celebration of Dead Letters. Today, the guys discuss highly acclaimed action stealth video game: Thief Gold, developed by Looking Glass Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. Listen to the guys transition their game design skills to video, argue definitions of immersion, and wager their ability to run an OSR style thief TTRPG.
Follow us on bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/dead-letters.bsky.social
Follow Sam on bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social
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Follow Walid on his website: wraouda.com
1 hr 26 min
About Dead Letters
From the publisher's feed
Dead Letters is a podcast about tabletop role playing games. Sam, Misha, and Walid are game designers and academics committed to doing the readings. Rulebooks, adventures, blogposts, articles, and everything in between. Tune in for your weekly dose of RPG discourse every Friday!
If you’re interested in being a part of the conversation, Dead Letters holds a book club every bi-monthly at boshi's place in NYC. Visit boshis.place and join the discord for updates on the next meeting.
Follow us on bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/dead-letters.bsky.social
Follow boshi's place: boshis: boshis.place