Transcript

This week, Sam talks with Tan Shao Han about stress from Brinkwood by Erik Bernhardt, a character resource originally from Blades in the Dark by John Harper.

This is one of those episodes where to talk about the mechanic in question, we kind of have to talk about the whole-ass game around it because so much of Brinkwood is tied up in stress. And in this case, we really had to talk about two whole-ass games, because so much of what makes Brinkwood stress interesting is how a few small tweaks from Blades in the Dark ripple out through the design and lead to big changes in play.

Get ready for the full firehose of mechanics: this is an episode jam-packed with delicious, crunchy examples.

Further reading:

Brinkwood by Erik Bernhardt: https://brinkwood.net/

Blades in the Dark by John Harper: https://bladesinthedark.com/

The Blades in the Dark discord: https://discord.gg/uXwCKq3

Thoughts on Forging in the Dark by Small Cool Games: https://smallcoolgames.itch.io/thoughts-on-forging-in-the-dark

An Amateur’s Guide to Hacking Blades in the Dark by past cohost Michael Elliott: https://notwriting.itch.io/an-amateurs-guide-to-hacking-blades-in-the-dark

Socials:

Shao on Bluesky, Twitter, and his personal website.

Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.

Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey via Breaking Copyright.

Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript

This week, Sam talks with his middle school buddy David Block about We Are But Worms: A One Word RPG, other lyric games, and experimental art at large.

Some topics discussed include:

* Art

* Games

* Poetry

* Lists

The best place to find David is on the Dice Exploder Discord.

But No More: A One Letter Supplement for We Are But Worms: A One Word RPG

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

Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

Transcript

This week, Sam talks with wendi yu about the Fate Point economy, a meta currency system from Fate by Fred Hicks and Rob Donoghue and published by Evil Hat. Some topics discussed include:

* Getting into storygames

* “Generic” RPGs

* When crunch kills the vibe

* The Hero’s Journey

* The (lack of) difference between rules and flavor

* Writing good aspects: it’s hard!

* wendi’s game here, there, be monsters!

You can find wendi on Twitter @wen_di_yu, and you can buy here, there, be monsters! digitally on itch or physically from SoulMuppet.

You can find Sam @sdunnewold on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.io, and by subscribing to the Dice Exploder newsletter.

You can find Fate at Evil Hat.

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, Sam talks with Morgan Nuncio about cramped quarters, a move from Uncharted Worlds. Some topics discussed include:

* Travel in story games

* Making this move at the beginning, middle, or end of a scene

* Moves as training wheels

* Stonetop’s “keep company”

* Wanderhome

* For the Queen

You can find Mo on Twitter @SirenaBesos.

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

Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript

This week, Sam talks with Clayton Notestine about hexagons and hex maps. Some topics discussed include:

* The birth of RPGs out of wargaming

* Avalon Hill’s hex map

* The vibes of different numbers

* Why hexes and not squares?

* The hex’s modularity

* How RPGs create stories in the fiction and at the table

* Leaving hexes empty

* Travel in RPGs

* Hex flowers

Clayton can be found @ClayNotestine on Twitter, @ExplorersDesign on Bluesky and dice.camp, at explorers.itch.io, and of course at explorersdesign.com. That’s also where you can get his sick layout templates and join the explorers design discord. I’ll see you in there.

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

Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Coming August 17th, 2023: DICE EXPLODER SEASON 2.

(Here’s a transcript of this trailer.)

That’s right, we are back next week with an all new season. It's 12 new episodes, 13 new co-hosts diving face first with me into the world of tabletop RPG design one mechanic at a time.

This is gonna be a season that's a lot about flavor and vibes and how those things themselves are fundamentally mechanics in these games. We've also got a trio of episodes about different ways to depict travel, and of course a few deep dives into crunchy grindy bits of games.

Our longest episode yet. Our shortest episode yet. Splorts!

Tell your siblings and your niblings! Join our Discord if you can’t wait that long.

See you soon.

Transcript

This week, Sam talks with Ash Kreider about character creation picklists, a common feature of most (all?) PBTA games, as well as many others. Some topics discussed include:

* Character creation speed runs

* Gender lists

* Are pick lists mechanics?

* How Wanderhome doubles the length of its pick lists with This One Cool Trick

* Are pick lists poetry?

Games mentioned

* Apocalypse World

* The Watch

* Blades in the Dark

* Dream Askew // Dream Apart

* Maid RPG

* Wanderhome

* Space Train Space Heist

* Under Hollow Hills

You can find Ash at peachpantspress on itch and @wundergeek on Twitter. Their website is peachpantspress.com, or here’s direct links to There Is Only One Bed and Queer Sir.

You can find Sam @sdunnewold on Bluesky, 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, Sam talks with Ryan Khan about Whispers, a player resource from The Wildsea by Felix Isaacs, but really about a whole bunch of mechanics from The Wildsea. Some topics discussed include:

* Setting as game design, and open ended lore

* Open ended prompts

* Twists vs Devil’s Bargains

* Player agency

* Long skill lists: pros and cons

Games mentioned:

* The Wildsea

* Apocalypse World

* Blades in the Dark

* Heart: The City Beneath

* Spire

You can find Ryan Khan on Twitter @theOneTrueK and on itch.io at the-one-true-ryan-khan.itch.io

You can find Sam @sdunnewold on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.io, and by subscribing to the Dice Exploder newsletter.

You can find The Wildsea at thewildsea.co.uk

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, Sam talks with Greg Soper AKA sporgory about Divine Favor, one part of the dice pool mechanic from Agon second edition by Sean Nittner and John Harper. Some topics discussed include:

- Having a family drama stapled to your character sheet

- Greek Gods: bad parents

- What makes hacking Divine Favor hard

- Endeavor

- Odyssey Aquatica

- All Quiet No Peace

- Starbones

- The setting elements mechanic from Dream Askew // Dream Apart

- ~HACKING LIVE ON AIR!!!~

You can find Greg on Twitter and itch.io at sporgory

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

Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript

This week on the Dice Exploder podcast, Sam talks with Ema Acosta about Change The World, a move from The Watch by Ash Kreider.

Some topics discussed include:

* The Watch: it’s depressing!

* The Watch and its gender dynamics

* A lot of people will never see this bit of design and that’s okay

* Balancing misery with hope and beauty

* “Just tell the players to do the thing”

* Inducing emotions from technical language

* “Rail shooter RPGs”

* Crying

Games mentioned:

* The Watch

* Night Witches

* Wanderhome

* Stewpot (currently unavailable)

* Our Traveling Home

* Blades in the Dark

* World Ending Game

You can find Ema’s games at ema-acosta.itch.io

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

Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!