You can support this show on Patreon!In this episode, we talk to Emily Allen, the game designer behind Dying Stylishly Games. She's best known for her two now classic OSR adventures, the Gardens of Ynn and the ennie-award winning Stygian Library, which popularized the depth-crawl format. Both of which are now republished in new editions from Soul Muppet Publishing. She’s also designed Dungeon Bitches, a violent sapphic PbtA game about trauma and survival and the Yellow Curtain, a weird meta-storygame inspired by the King in Yellow. And then this year, we got Black Death Rising, an OSR-ish game of religious horror amidst the black plague where you can play vampires, werewolves, homunculi, changelings, ghouls, grotesques, ghosts, and waifs. And fight fascists, demons, and intelligent rats.Emily Allen’s blog: https://cavegirlgames.blogspot.comTumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/cavegirlpoemsGames on drivethruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/8182/cavegirl-productionsEmily’s Games:Wolf Pack & Winter Snow (2017)The Dolorous Stroke (2018)Gardens of Ynn (2018)Stygian Library (2018)Deep Morphean Transmissions (2019)Esoteric Enterprises (2019)Dead Girls in Sarkash Forest (2021)Dungeon Bitches (2021/2022)The Wounded, Hungry and Forgotten (2022)Black Death Walking (2022)The Yellow Curtain (2024)Black Lung (2024)Black Death Rising (2025)Show Notes:Book of RevelationsJojo’s Bizarre AdventureGames MentionedStars without NumberBeyond the WallMiseries & MisfortunesVampire the Masquerade/World of DarknessLacuna by Jared SorensonMork BorgEmpire (larp)If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter
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1:04:11
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1:04:11
Gothic & Folk Horror (w/ Luke Jordan)
You can support this show on Patreon!In this episode, we talk to Luke Jordan aka Wildwood Games, a queer non-binary game designer, writer, editor, performer, and professional GM. Their own games often combine a poetic sensibility, spooky themes, high emotion, and light mechanics. They've contributed to games like Girl by Moonlight published by Evil Hat and Koriko and The Slow Knife by Mouse House Press. Today, we're talking about two of their games that were crowdfunded in a double-barrel campaign with Possum Creek Games in late 2023. Grand Guignol, a second version of their game of queer gothic horror, and Harvest, a brand new folk horror set on some unnamed British isle. Harvest / Grand Guignol on Backerkit: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/jay-dragon/grand-guignol-harvest Wild Wood Games on itch: https://gamesfromthewildwood.itch.io/harvest Luke Jordan on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wildwoodsgames.bsky.social Show Notes:The Picture of Dorian GrayDraculaJekyll and HydeFrankensteinPenny DreadfulThe Wickerman The Apostle (2018)Blood on Satan’s ClawWitchfinder GeneralWoodlands Dark and Days Bewitched (documentary)MidsommarThe Dark Is Rising by Susan CooperGames MentionedApocalypse WorldDream Askew/Dream ApartWanderhomeStonetop (with annotated actual play)If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter
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1:10:21
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1:10:21
Political Rebellion & Games (w/ Jess Levine)
You can support this show on Patreon!Spoilers for Andor S2 from 04:30 to 10:30Spoilers for Rogue One all through the episodeIn this episode, I speak to Jess Levine. She is a teacher, organizer, writer and game designer. She publishes RPGs under the label, Jumpgate Games. Her work includes I Have the High Ground—a game of "banter, posturing, and capes"—and her satirical military scifi game PLANET FIST. Today we'll be talking about going rogue 2e, an award-winning game of war, rebellion, and sacrifice.Galactic & Going Rogue’s crowdfunding campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/galacticgoingrogue/galactic-and-going-rogue-two-ttrpgs-of-war-among-the-stars?ref=97zzps Jess Levine’s bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jessfrom.online Show Notes:A More Civilized Age’s actual playGuide to the BDS BoycottAA Voigt’s video about Going RogueGramsci?Roleplay Public Radio actual playGames Mentionedhook, line & cyb3r by wicked glitch gamesA Quiet Year by Avery AlderDream Askew/Dream Apart by Avery Alder and Benjamin RosenbaumIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter
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1:18:32
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1:18:32
2 Players, 1 GM, Max Fun (w/ Navaar Seik-Jackson)
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
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51:20
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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
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.
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