Hosts: Scott, Todd, Trez

In this not regular episode, Todd sits down to have a conversation with his friends Scott and Trez about the intersections of gaming, art, and music (particularly metal). Mostly we just end up waxing about our often strangely intersecting nerdy childhoods and the current Dungeon World game we're playing now.

Also included in the episode are clips from Scott and Trez's respective bands, American Heritage and Mares of Thrace. Head to jankcast.com for links to buy their stuff, if you want to support them.

Hosts: Dave, Megan, Timo, Todd

What'd We Play? (7:15)

Main Topic (18:20): Player Agency?

We bring our buddy Dave on to talk about the different interpretations we have of player agency and what you want your character to do/be able to do.

Rants (1:02:50)

Dave- Technology gives and technology taketh away.

Timo- Work. Work. Work.

Todd- Work. Work. Work.

Megan- Creatures of light, Update on Fight for Foxy.

Players: Joe, Megan, Timo, Todd, Tom

Sadness prevails. A lot. This one is a bummer.

In all seriousness: brace yourself. There is a fair amount of violence, death, and people wailing, screaming, in this one. Teeth gnashing, clothes rending, it's all here. We go full on Days of Our Apocalypse. If you would be super bummed out by something like that, listen with caution.

Also- for some reason, we get more interference from our phones than usual on this one, so there's some static that comes in at some points. Sorry about that. I blame Timo. Making all that static. With his Timoness.

How about this? Pretend it's radiation left over from the Apocalypse trigger geiger counter type stuff. Ooooh... atmospheric.

Players: Joe, Megan, Timo, Todd, Tom

The next installment of our ongoing Apocalypse World AP.

A word of warning: this one gets pretty brutal at the end. If you're squeamish about violence, you might want to start keeping your ears perked up for stuff that might be a little disturbing to you around the 2 hour mark.

We had a listener ask us to talk about the way last sessions play out in game. The conversation moves to talking about the general flow of stories through play, the inevitability of certain events, and the way that shared control of the story means flying somewhat blind in to fun.

Players: Joe, Megan, Timo, Tom, Todd

The epic saga of Black Diamond continues, and gets even more epicy in this installment. Enjoy.

Players: Joe, Megan, Timo, Todd, Tom

The third session in our ongoing Black Diamond AW campaign. Things get crazy. And by crazy, we mean Tootles shows up.

Speaking of, IMPORTANT NOTE! We get a few names from the Leviathan campaign wrong in here, so if you catch that, rest assured that we do our best to fix it by the next session as well as roll with the weird alternate reality we've come up with. Timo actually saves our poor memory super well and turns it into a cool little emergent thing.

Enjoy!

Kevin and Allegra from the Walking Eye join us to discuss the way the popularity of a franchise influences the conversation around the hobby. We discuss D&D, Star wars and star trek among others, and why people get so intense about these titles.

Players: Joe, Megan, Timo, Todd, Tom

The second session in our ongoing Black Diamond AW campaign. In this session, more violence, more sex, and more Goldie and Rolfball having intense moments together. What more do you want?

Hosts: Megan, Scott, Timo, Todd

Metal guys. The bears of the straight world.

What'd we play?: 7:20

Timo, Todd, Megan: Apocalypse World

Scott: X-Wing, The Star Wars Card Game

Todd: Questlord and Dragon's Dogma

Megan: Borderlands 2

Timo: Uncharted 2

Topic: 32:35

Story, Mechanics, and Dynamical Meaning

Braid designer Jonathan Blow suggests that story and mechanics in video games are often at odds. Mechanics are meaningful, he suggests, something he calls "dynamical meaning," and they are not often paired well with the stories the games are trying to tell. We explore this idea in RPGs, discussing games such as D&D, Misspent Youth, Hell 4 Leather, Apocalypse World, Fiasco, Dogs in the Vineyard, and more, to examine how the mechanics of games provide meaning that may or may not service the stories people are trying to tell.

Rants: 1:21:05

Timo- Don't be entitled, people, especially not at Dim Sum.

Scott: I like independent content delivery.

Todd: A funny thing happened on the L...

Megan: Learn small details, like what flowers I like.