Wandering DMs

Jason Morningstar | Playing at Desperation | Wandering DMs S04 E31


Listen Later

Paul & Dan chat with Jason Morningstar, creator of Fiasco, Desperation, and other great RPGs.

Jason Morningstar is an American indie role-playing game designer, publishing mostly through Bully Pulpit Games. Morningstar's games often lack a Game Master and are often set in situations that quickly go unfortunately for the player characters. Grey Ranks (2007), for example, is about doomed child soldiers in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, and Fiasco (2009) is about impulsive crooks pulling heists that are sure to go terribly wrong. With these two games, Morningstar became the only named person to have won the Diana Jones award twice as of 2013. Morningstar also works with academia and industry, consulting on using games for teaching and learning in education, with a focus on health sciences.

Now, Jason's newest production provides "games of survival horror, often without the survival". Desperation is the engine that powers two unique and chilling experiences, built on the same dark tone

and mechanics, that are truly pick-up-and-play experiences for you and your friends. The Desperation Engine is different because you don’t decide what is said—you decide who says it. And in a small community, who says “I burned a house down with the family trapped inside” makes all the difference in the world.
The cards for each game include an entire claustrophobic world of characters that form a web of
relationships you will then apply agonizing pressure to and, in most cases, destroy.

Find out more about Jason Morningstar's Desperation game here

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Wandering DMsBy Wandering DMs

  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3

4.3

6 ratings


More shows like Wandering DMs

View all
Mastering Dungeons by Mastering Dungeons

Mastering Dungeons

167 Listeners

The Lazy RPG Podcast - D&D and RPG News and GM Prep from Sly Flourish by mike@slyflourish.com

The Lazy RPG Podcast - D&D and RPG News and GM Prep from Sly Flourish

176 Listeners

Fear of a Black Dragon by Jason Cordova

Fear of a Black Dragon

118 Listeners

Monster Man by James Holloway

Monster Man

72 Listeners

Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk by EN Publishing

Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk

29 Listeners

The Vintage RPG Podcast by Vintage RPG

The Vintage RPG Podcast

238 Listeners

Quillette Podcast by Quillette

Quillette Podcast

802 Listeners

Down in a Heap by Rob c

Down in a Heap

12 Listeners

The Eldritch Lorecast by Ghostfire Gaming

The Eldritch Lorecast

43 Listeners

The Splatbook by John Corey, Ben Donaldson, Jess Rhiannon

The Splatbook

36 Listeners

Between Two Cairns by Yochai Gal & Brad Kerr

Between Two Cairns

80 Listeners

Monsters and Treasure by Monsters and Treasure

Monsters and Treasure

25 Listeners