Transcript This week I’m joined by Tasha Robinson, film editor at Polygon, Games on Demand aficionado, Golden Cobra honorable mentionee , and author of this excellent piece about today’s game and mechanic: Fall of Magic and the five and a half foot long handprinted scroll at its heart. There’s a lot to say about such a unique physical object, and also a lot to cover about maps in RPGs at large. We get into all of it. Consider this the third part of the travel series this season opened with. Pack...
Oct 05, 2023•1 hr 5 min
Transcript In the year of our lord two thousand and twenty, many things occurred. But one of those things was the cultural event known as Blaseball. Blaseball was, more or less, a simulated baseball league that ran one game an hour, one season a week, that players could bet on and then use their winnings to vote for global rules changes. It got... weirder from there. And bigger. And memeier. It became nothing less than a lifestyle. And then, this past summer of 2023, it ended. What made it such ...
Sep 28, 2023•45 min
Transcript This week Sam is joined by Jason Morningstar of Bully Pulpit Games, known for Fiasco, Night Witches, and many other excellent games. Jason brought on transparency, a concept originating in the Nordic larp community, which describes the separation of player knowledge from character knowledge (similar to dramatic irony. We go through a whole library of example games in this one as we talk through genre, safety tools, playing to lose, and the deployment of secrets. Jason’s enthusiasm for...
Sep 21, 2023•43 min
Transcript Double the cohosts, double the mechanics, double the Kickstarters to back! This week, Sam talks with Kali Lawrie and Dan Phipps of Gem Room Games about Mork Borg by Pelle Nilsson and Johan Nohr: its graphic design and the Calendar of Nechrubel. Mork Borg is famous for the absolute assault on the eyes [complimentary] committed by its graphic design. In this season of the podcast about how mechanics can be more than just rules, I really wanted to cover it. And who better to do that with...
Sep 14, 2023•1 hr
Transcript This week, Sam talks with Tan Shao Han about stress from Brinkwood by Erik Bernhardt, a character resource originally from Blades in the Dark by John Harper. This is one of those episodes where to talk about the mechanic in question, we kind of have to talk about the whole-ass game around it because so much of Brinkwood is tied up in stress. And in this case, we really had to talk about two whole-ass games, because so much of what makes Brinkwood stress interesting is how a few small ...
Sep 07, 2023•35 min
Transcript This week, Sam talks with his middle school buddy David Block about We Are But Worms: A One Word RPG, other lyric games, and experimental art at large. Some topics discussed include: * Art * Games * Poetry * Lists The best place to find David is on the Dice Exploder Discord . But No More: A One Letter Supplement for We Are But Worms: A One Word RPG You can find Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch @sdunnewold. Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bri...
Aug 31, 2023•1 hr 5 min
Transcript This week, Sam talks with wendi yu about the Fate Point economy, a meta currency system from Fate by Fred Hicks and Rob Donoghue and published by Evil Hat. Some topics discussed include: * Getting into storygames * “Generic” RPGs * When crunch kills the vibe * The Hero’s Journey * The (lack of) difference between rules and flavor * Writing good aspects: it’s hard! * wendi’s game here, there, be monsters! You can find wendi on Twitter @wen_di_yu, and you can buy here, there, be monster...
Aug 24, 2023•48 min
Transcript This week, Sam talks with Morgan Nuncio about cramped quarters, a move from Uncharted Worlds. Some topics discussed include: * Travel in story games * Making this move at the beginning, middle, or end of a scene * Moves as training wheels * Stonetop’s “keep company” * Wanderhome * For the Queen You can find Mo on Twitter @SirenaBesos. You can find Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch @sdunnewold. Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely ...
Aug 18, 2023•28 min
Transcript This week, Sam talks with Clayton Notestine about hexagons and hex maps. Some topics discussed include: * The birth of RPGs out of wargaming * Avalon Hill’s hex map * The vibes of different numbers * Why hexes and not squares? * The hex’s modularity * How RPGs create stories in the fiction and at the table * Leaving hexes empty * Travel in RPGs * Hex flowers Clayton can be found @ClayNotestine on Twitter, @ExplorersDesign on Bluesky and dice.camp, at explorers.itch.io, and of course a...
Aug 17, 2023•49 min
Coming August 17th, 2023: DICE EXPLODER SEASON 2 . (Here’s a transcript of this trailer.) That’s right, we are back next week with an all new season. It's 12 new episodes, 13 new co-hosts diving face first with me into the world of tabletop RPG design one mechanic at a time. This is gonna be a season that's a lot about flavor and vibes and how those things themselves are fundamentally mechanics in these games. We've also got a trio of episodes about different ways to depict travel, and of course...
Aug 10, 2023•3 min
Transcript This week, Sam talks with Ash Kreider about character creation picklists, a common feature of most (all?) PBTA games, as well as many others. Some topics discussed include: * Character creation speed runs * Gender lists * Are pick lists mechanics? * How Wanderhome doubles the length of its pick lists with This One Cool Trick * Are pick lists poetry? Games mentioned * Apocalypse World * The Watch * Blades in the Dark * Dream Askew // Dream Apart * Maid RPG * Wanderhome * Space Train Sp...
Jul 13, 2023•31 min
Transcript This week, Sam talks with Ryan Khan about Whispers, a player resource from The Wildsea by Felix Isaacs, but really about a whole bunch of mechanics from The Wildsea. Some topics discussed include: * Setting as game design, and open ended lore * Open ended prompts * Twists vs Devil’s Bargains * Player agency * Long skill lists: pros and cons Games mentioned: * The Wildsea * Apocalypse World * Blades in the Dark * Heart: The City Beneath * Spire You can find Ryan Khan on Twitter @theOne...
Jul 06, 2023•33 min
Transcript This week, Sam talks with Greg Soper AKA sporgory about Divine Favor, one part of the dice pool mechanic from Agon second edition by Sean Nittner and John Harper. Some topics discussed include: - Having a family drama stapled to your character sheet - Greek Gods: bad parents - What makes hacking Divine Favor hard - Endeavor - Odyssey Aquatica - All Quiet No Peace - Starbones - The setting elements mechanic from Dream Askew // Dream Apart - ~HACKING LIVE ON AIR!!!~ You can find Greg on...
Jun 29, 2023•38 min
Transcript This week on the Dice Exploder podcast, Sam talks with Ema Acosta about Change The World, a move from The Watch by Ash Kreider. Some topics discussed include: * The Watch: it’s depressing! * The Watch and its gender dynamics * A lot of people will never see this bit of design and that’s okay * Balancing misery with hope and beauty * “Just tell the players to do the thing” * Inducing emotions from technical language * “Rail shooter RPGs” * Crying Games mentioned: * The Watch * Night Wi...
Jun 22, 2023•46 min
Transcript This week, Sam talks with Victor Lane about the Theorize move, originally from an idea by Oli Jeffrey and popularized in Brindlewood Bay by Jason Cordova. Some topics discussed include: * The history of solving mysteries in RPGs * The Three Clue Rule * Jason Cordova’s blogpost discussing Oli Jeffrey’s original Theorize move * Writing mystery stories VS reading or watching mystery stories VS playing a mystery RPG * Bullshit * Quantum villains * Victor’s advice on running Brindlewood Ba...
Jun 15, 2023•50 min
Transcript This week, Sam talks with Pam Punzalan about Devil’s Bargains, one part of the dice pool mechanic from John Harper's game Blades in the Dark . Some topics discussed include: * Rulebooks as guidelines and play philosophy more than proper rules * DBs as a safety tool * Generic DBs * Do DBs slow down the game? Is that good or bad? * Retconning in RPGs (it's good) * Putting DBs into any old game * Our favorite DBs Games mentioned: * Blades in the Dark * Navathem's End * The Exiles * Belon...
Jun 08, 2023•37 min
Transcript This week, Sam talks with Michael Elliott about Composure, a player resource mechanic from Ash McAllen’s game Antiquarian Adventures. Michael is currently Kickstarting his game Nasty Brutish and Long , a simple RPG about lives complicated by revolution. Some topics discussed today: * Failure and conflict, why they're great, and mechanics that encourage players to embrace them * Genre and mechanics that support it * Simplifying mechanics when hacking, with Blades in the Dark as an exam...
Jun 01, 2023•35 min
Transcript This week’s cohost is Ray Chou, who brings Rolling The Dice from John Harper’s iconic one page RPG Lasers & Feelings. Topics discussed include: * Minimalism * Underlining genre through mechanics * Episodic vs serialized stories * When you should roll dice * Randomness and fate in real life * Beer & pretzels gaming Games mentioned: * Lasers and Feelings * Cows and Boys * Honey Heist * 316 Carnage Amongst the Stars * Heart: The City Beneath * Couriers Sam’s designer commentary o...
May 25, 2023•40 min
Coming June 2023: DICE EXPLODER , a new podcast where each week we break down a tabletop RPG mechanic as deep as we possibly can, with Sam Dunnewold and a rotating co-host. Produced by the Fiction First Network. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit diceexploder.substack.com
Apr 27, 2023•1 min
