Transcript

This week, Sam talks with Michael Elliott about Composure, a player resource mechanic from Ash McAllen’s game Antiquarian Adventures.

Michael is currently Kickstarting his game Nasty Brutish and Long, a simple RPG about lives complicated by revolution.

Some topics discussed today:

* Failure and conflict, why they're great, and mechanics that encourage players to embrace them

* Genre and mechanics that support it

* Simplifying mechanics when hacking, with Blades in the Dark as an example

* Passing the spotlight at the table

Games mentioned:

* Antiquarian Adventures

* Blades in the Dark

* Fiasco

Sam’s blog post whether conflict is necessary in RPGs

James Mendez Hodes’ website and blog

Pam Punzalan’s blog post “The Unbearable Otherness of a Global South Creator”

Asians Represent podcast on Twitter

Michael’s on Twitter, dice.camp, itch.io, and other places @NotWriting 

Sam is @sdunnewold on Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.io

The Dice Exploder logo is by sporgory, and the theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey

Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript

This week’s cohost is Ray Chou, who brings Rolling The Dice from John Harper’s iconic one page RPG Lasers & Feelings.

Topics discussed include:

* Minimalism

* Underlining genre through mechanics

* Episodic vs serialized stories

* When you should roll dice

* Randomness and fate in real life

* Beer & pretzels gaming

Games mentioned:

* Lasers and Feelings

* Cows and Boys

* Honey Heist

* 316 Carnage Amongst the Stars

* Heart: The City Beneath

* Couriers

Sam’s designer commentary on his own Lasers & Feelings hack, Couriers, can be found here.

You can find Ray's publishing company at myth.works.

You can find Sam @sdunnewold on Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.io.

The Dice Exploder logo is by sporgory, and the theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

Coming June 2023: DICE EXPLODER, a new podcast where each week we break down a tabletop RPG mechanic as deep as we possibly can, with Sam Dunnewold and a rotating co-host.

Produced by the Fiction First Network.