In this episode we talk about our "white whale" game design projects, both those we're currently in pursuit of and those we managed, at long last, to catch.

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In this episode we give a production update on the Annual 2025 before measuring our shelves for game discovery. Our homework happened to have a shared theme of hidden information, and we end up discussing the idea of "sleight of hand" to create moments of magic in play.

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In this episode we come back from game discovery sabbatical to talk about some esoteric picks from our itch.io libraries, and then discuss how we approach and interact with trends in the larger ttrpg industry, in game design, and in how those intersect for us.

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In this episode we talk about building rituals in and for play, follow a train of thought about building in "blessings" for each other into gameplay, discuss the joy of dice, and come back from sabbatical to assign game discovery homework.

Reminder: The Adventurer & Hobbyist Annual 2025 Kickstarter is live through the end of April!

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Welcome to the Adventurer & Hobbyist Annual 2025! In this episode, we discuss the scenarios in our inaugural Unwritten Earths Symposium publication, design considerations for making these "system-adventurous" scenarios, and the origins of the project. Check out the show notes for a link to the Kickstarter, and thanks for all your support so far!

Back the Annual on Kickstarter (live through the end of April, 2025)

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Oops, all Game Discovery! In this episode we do a brief overview of the history of TTRPGS (truly-true roleplaying games), each picking a game to highlight from our birth years in each decade from the 1970s to the 2020s. We delve into some 2010s highlights for Arcane Gems, but this is a good framework for us to talk about our personal game histories as well as chart high-level changes in game design since the beginning.

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No, it's not a 4-hour episode! After talking about our game discovery homework guided by games we'd be excited to play at a convention (or elsewhere), we dive into how our experiences going to conventions and playing games in specific time slots has shaped our game design.

Out inaugural project, the Adventurer & Hobbyist Annual 2025 set of time-spanning game scenarios, is coming to Kickstarter soon. Click here to get notified on launch!

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In this Plus Expenses we talk about:Articulating the Unwritten Earths Symposium and how it gives us productive constraints, repetition is the brevity of the soul, Voyagers!, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, King Con by Stephen J. Cannell, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Samurai Champloo, coming full circle on physical media, preserving obscure media, pulp fiction literally pulping, the Rockford Files is a good show, we’re trying out Ellipsus, setting up stuff outside of free tools and avoiding AI, game publishing is a lot of skills, a thought on another WWWRPG Promotion, some thoughts on a Swords/WWW mashup, shout out to Zine Month, and stay strong out there!.

Plus Expenses is a second biweekly show that is normally for our patrons.

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In this episode we discuss the arcane gems found within games we would play with our moms, give some updates on what's happening in the discord, and field a great question about productive constraints in design and play.

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In this episode we talk about a Groundhog Day-inspired convention concept, some thoughts on setting design, where we're at with tricking each other into designing a game, and we field some listener questions about where to stay on top of TTRPG happenings and constraints on the design process (more of which we'll be talking about next time).

Listeners, where do you find games? Get in touch and let us know!

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