You can support this show on Patreon!In this episode, I speak to Navaar Seik-Jackson who is a game designer, writer, and the host of the Secret Nerd and other podcasts. Navaar makes action drama games — his The Last of Us inspired survival game, The Corrupted, is published by Plus One Exp through their Zine Club programme. You can listen to a lovingly produced actual play of the game called The Ties That Bind run by Navaar on the Secret Nerd podcast. He's currently working on Soothwardens, a diceless monster-hunting game of warriors eternally bound together.Navaar’s itch page: https://navaarsnp.itch.io/The Secret Nerd podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/secret-nerd-podcast/id1576080929 Show Notes:Rowan Zeoli talks about The Corrupted on PolygonTransplanar, actual play showBloodhounds, TV ShowCastlevania and Castlevania NocturneGames MentionedGodkiller by Connie ChungIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter
--------
51:20
Talking To Your Unconscious (w/ Paul Czege)
You can support this show on Patreon!In this episode, I speak to Paul Czege, a game designer with a deep catalogue that is hard to pin down. An article on RPG.net from 2009 reads "Paul himself defies any sort of easy classification" . It continues, "Depending on your viewpoint, Paul is either one of the most prolific of the Gaming Outpost/Forge designers or one of the least. Also, depending on you how look at it, his best contribution lies in a single game (the still popular My Life With Master) or in the thought and effort he has put into the hobby of role playing and the practice of game design." Apart from LWM for which he won the Diana Jones Award in 2004, he also designed the melancholic minotaur game, The Clay That Woke. Recently, he's been writing about solo journalling games, publishing two zines, The Ink That Bleeds and Inscapes about how to play them, as well as some actual games including the Balsam Lake Unmurders, about catching a necromancer in Minnesota who keeps bringing people back to life, which is crowdfunding on Kickstarter.Paul Czege’s itch page: https://paulczege.itch.io/ The Balsam Lake Unmurders on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/252728880/the-balsam-lake-unmurders Show Notes:Mosaic StrictThe interview on the Indie Game Reading ClubCarl Jung, The Red BookClose Encounters of the Third KindM John Harrison’s ViriconiumGames MentionedEarthdawnThe Clay That WokeThe Ink That BleedsInscapesTraverser (unreleased)Earth Mother, Sky FatherA Viricorne GuideIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter
--------
58:50
Post-Fantasy Worlds (w/ Viditya Voleti)
You can support this show on Patreon!In this episode, I’m talking to Viditya Voleti, a game designer and interactive artist. He's a visiting instructor at the Pratt Institute in NYC. He's freelanced for Paizo, Possum Creek Games, Evil Hat, and RRD. His own tabletop designs include vampire cowboy game, Bloodbeam Badlands, GMless optimistic scifi game, Space Between Stars (forthcoming from Possible Worlds Games), and A Land Once Magic, a post fantasy worldbuilding game currently crowdfunding on Backerkit.Viditya’s itch page: https://vidityavoleti.itch.io A Land Once Magic on Backerkit: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/moreblueberries/a-land-once-magic?ref=yesindied Show Notes:Action Button Reviews Tokimeki Memorial (6 hour video essay)Kekkai Sensen // Blood Blockade Battlefront (anime)The original post coining the term Fruitful Void by Vincent Baker++ Here’s a good Levi Kornelsen article about whether D&D has oneLudonarrative DissonanceGames MentionedIthaca in the Cards by Aaron Lim, crowdfunding on Kickstarter Free from the Yoke (Legacy) by Mina McJandaIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter
--------
57:54
Anti-Canon Settings (w/ Gabriel Robinson)
You can support this show on Patreon!In this episode, I’m talking to Gabriel Robinson, a writer and game designer. He's the lead writer on the Silt Verses, an RPG published by the Gauntlet press adapted from the hit audio series. He's contributed to a number of other Gauntlet publications like Trophy, Brindlewood Bay, and more. Through his own imprint Glowing Roots press, he's published Token, a two-player tragic fantasy game, and Candlelight, a GM-less game of lost spirits revisiting their final moments. His games often have a folk horror aesthetic, dark and mysterious but usually stopping shy of macabre.Gabriel’s website: https://glowingroots.carrd.co/Gabriel’s bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glowingroots.bsky.social Show Notes:The Silt Verses, horror-fantasy podcastThe Dark Is Rising by Susan CooperGames MentionedSilt Verses RPGThe Wassailing of Claus ManorIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter
--------
43:28
Theatre & Games (w/ Caro Asercion)
You can support this show on Patreon!In this episode, I’m joined by Caro Asercion, who is an interdisciplinary artist, game designer, and theatre person. They do a lot of work in theatre as a dramaturg and producer of various kinds. In games, they're best known for im sorry did you say street magic, a game of cities and their secrets, based on the classic world building game, Microscope. They've also co-designed supplemental material for Beam Saber with Rufus Roswell, coining the mantra, "bangers only", which was all about how much a precise and skillful use of language gives to game design. Last year, they released Last Train To Bremen, a 4 player game of doomed musicians trying to outrun a deal they made with the devil.Caro’s itch.io page: https://seaexcursion.itch.io/ Show Notes:Chase Carter’s review of Last Train to BremenArticle about all the Rascals playing the gameCheap Bots Done QuickGames MentionedCJ Linton’s Prince of Nothing Good (unreleased, work in progress)Space Between Stars by Viditya VoletiIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter
Do I like game design? Yes, indie'd! A podcast of bitesize interviews with indie tabletop roleplaying game creators about their work and game design theory & practice. Releases every two weeks.
Sverige