How do you figure out who’s on first? And how do you balance the excitement of surprise against the satisfaction of a perfectly executed plan?

Violet advocates for inaction. Freya trusts in the heart of the cards. Violet reaches into her bag of tricks. Freya turns into a lighthouse.

Games discussed in this episode:

• D&D
• Tunnels & Trolls
• Traveler
• Phoenix: Dawn Command* 
• Deadlands / Savage Worlds
• Troika
• Edge of the Empire / Genesys
• Vaesen / Mutant Year Zero
• Daggerheart**
• Cosmere RPG
• Mothership
• 13th Age (briefly)
• Monsters & Other Childish Things / Reign / One Role System

• Arkham Horror
• Blood Bowl
• Battletech
• Falling
• Space Alert
• Quacks of Quedlinburg
• Cobalt Core
• Tactical Breach Wizards

Notes:

* I don’t know why this is the only game where I also named the author. No disrespect intended towards other designers! - F

** Speaking of which, and to answer a Q from the discussion: the lead designer is Spenser Starke; Mr Mercer is credited as creative advisor.

A disclaimer: 

Freya is a volunteer playtester for both the Cosmere RPG and Daggerheart. She is not being paid in any way, and draws examples from their open beta material when relevant because they’re fresh in her mind!

Additional credits:

Our intro music is 

"Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Editing, musical stings, and other sound effects by Violet Henderson