Podcast - Megagame Assembly

Jon Gracey - Bring Them Home!

Megagame Assembly Podcast

In this very special episode Harrison is joined by Jon Gracey from Treehouse Entertainment.

You may know him from his Werewolf: Live! shows, No Rolls Barred or lots of Blood on the Clocktower shows and events, but did you know he’s also written a Megagame? Bring Them Home is a mini Megagame in which the space agencies of the world have to put aside their cold wars differences and suspicions and rescue a stranded Astronaut and their crew. It’s been covered not only by Shut Up & Sit Down but by our very own BeckyBecky.

In the interview, Jon talks about his inspirations for designing the game and some of the challenges he faced and overcame on many topics that will be familiar to Megagame designers and runners the world over, struggles with adding extra roles, making the game fun and immersive without pricing out too many people and making the whole thing as accessible as possible.

We also talked about general issues facing the hobby and how to get more people to discover this weird and wacky thing we all love. It’s a really interesting conversation and we really hope that you enjoy it!

Let us know what you think by heading over to our Facebook page and tell us what you think!

Links

Bring Them Home tix!

Werewolf: Live tix!

Jon's Twitter

Jon's Insta

Jon's Substack

Treehouse Insta

Shut Up and Sit Down blog

BeckyBecky Megagame Report

Facebook Page

Players at Zane’s game Aftermath

Zane

Megagame Assembly Podcast

Harrison talks with Zane from Diversionary Games and Very Large Huge Games. Zane was started young on D&D by his father and when he discovered megagames, the stars aligned.

Zane talks through his experience running a game in a new area having only watched a certain YouTube video, designing his first game, refining his games, helping friends design their own games, running games at work and converting a game from 30 to 200 players.

Zane is one of the most open and helpful people you could ever hope to meet and his insight in to design is really interesting, so if you’re looking for help on your own game, he would love to talk to you about it.

Links

Very Large Huge Games

Very Large Huge Games mailing list

Diversionary Games

Diversionary Games - Facebook

Southampton Megagames - Facebook

Megagame Organizer Mentor Program

Megagame Coalition

Contact Page for Megagame Coalition

Google form for GenCon Submissions

Tony from The Dukes of Highland

Megagame Assembly Podcast

Harrison talks Tony from the Dukes of Highland who runs us through his megagame journey, from attending his first game, to running a heavily modified version of Watch The Skies.

Tony talks in detail about some of the issues he faced, like setting up a megagame group in an area where there have been no megagames before, running a game at a con and how to run a game you haven’t played, going only from the rule book.

It’s a really interesting chat that covers topics many people may be struggling with as they try and get megagames established in their local area. Tony also talks about the Megagame Coalition’s mentorship program, a network of experienced game runners who can help you with setting up and running games.

Links

The Dukes of Highland

Megagame Coalition

First Contact: 2035

Megagame Assembly Podcast

In this Very Large episode, Harrison is joined by Matt, Tom and Zane who are three quarters of Very Large Huge Games, the group that ran the epic 200-player game First Contact in June 2022 in London. Together they run through some of the design challenges faced with such a massive game, as well as the issues they wrestled with in design and on the day.

Very Large Huge Games website

Very Large Huge Games on Facebook

Shut Up & Sit Down Play a Goddamn Megagame

Fae's Anatomy

Megagame Assembly Podcast

We're back baby! Yes it would seem that as life returns to normal, megagames are back on the menu, so we figured it was time to dust off our microphones and return to the Megagame Assembly podcast.

In this episode, Harrison is joined by Patrick Rose from Pennine Megagames and John Keyworth to discuss their game Fae's Anatomy. With a pun that strong, how could it be anything other than amazing!

Useful Links

John Keyworth’s site

Pennine Megagames

Reading Megagames

Omega

Paddy on Twitter

Galactic Dawn - 3rd December

Megagame Assembly

Casting Questionnaires with Becky

Megagame Assembly Podcast

This month, Matty and Harrison are joined by Becky from BeckyBecky Blogs to discuss the casting questionnaire that Becky sends out for the megagames she designs. The gang go through Becky's questionnaire point by point and discuss the goals and aims that Becky sets herself for casting her games.

As we've said many times on this podcast, casting is an art, not a science, and we think Becky is absolutely to person to talk to for all of your casting tips and tricks!

Useful Links

BeckyBecky Blogs

HOW TO WRITE A MEGAGAME PART 7: CASTING

Megagame Assembly

Red Planet Rising

Megagame Assembly Podcast

On this month’s episode, Matty is joined once again by LJ and Ed Silverstone to discuss Andrew Shiel Dods’ game, Red Planet Rising. LJ and Ed were both control for the game so are able to provide some great insights.

As well as going through the game, from preparation to the actual day, they also go off on a few little tangents discussing, among over things, some good tips for how to be a great control player yourself.

Don’t forget to check out the Mega Con Website

Thanks for downloading and we will see you next time!

Deborah Southwell (pictured centre) playing ‘By the Grace of God’, a historic megagame written by Ed Silverstone. (Picture by: Jim Wallman)

Gender in Historical Megagames

Megagame Assembly Podcast

This month Matty is joined by Deborah Southwell and Peter Nixon to tackle the tricky but important subject of gender in historical games. They discuss some of their own experiences from playing in games where this has been handled well, or handled badly.

They also speak about potential ways to approach the design of historical games to try to tackle some of these issues and make things better for all.

Some of the resources mentioned during the episode;

Peter’s appearance on The Great Game podcast

The Handbook for As Thou Commands

Deborah’s Seminar at Megacon

Playtest of As Thou Commands at Megacon

Megacon site

Some suggested further reading;

Suarez, C. (2018). The power manual: How to master complex power dynamics. New Society Publishers.

Shaw, A. (2014). Gaming at the edge: sexuality and gender at the margins of gamer culture. University of Minnesota Press.

Thompson, J. (2010). Wargames: Inside the world of 20th century war reenactors. Smithsonian Books.

Promoting Inclusivity & Improving Experience through Logistics

Megagame Assembly Podcast

This month Harrison and Matty were joined by Leslie from West Coast Megagames and the Megagame Coalition. They discussed what techniques and approaches Leslie has used and encourages others to use, to better promote inclusivity and improve a player’s experience in a megagame.

This is often a common goal, but Leslie approaches this through logistics using her organisational skills. We thought this was a fairly unusual approach and felt it would be a great conversation, and it was!

You can find West Coast Megagames on their Facebook Page and Megagame Coalition on their Facebook Page. Both groups also have very active Discord servers if you’re looking for some help, advice or general Megagame conversation.

You can also find Leslie’s talks and panels on gender inclusivity here

Thanks for downloading and we’ll see you next month!

Pop Culture Games with Alex Beck

Megagame Assembly Podcast

Alex runs Horizon Megagames, a group based in London who specialise in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror games. Alex joins Harrison and Matty to discuss the thought and design process of designing his three games, each of which has slowly strayed further from the "traditional" megagame genres. They discuss why he chose the themes he chose and lots more.

If you're looking to run a game with a more pop culture theme, this is the episode for you!

Horizon on Facebook

Horizon Megagames

Thanks for listening, please subscribe to get new episodes every month and check out our Facebook Page and Website for lots of other Megagame resources.