You can support this show on Patreon!In this episode, I talk to Asa Donald is one-half of Backwards Tabletop, the publisher of the Backwards Universe of American horror games and Rust Never Sleeps, a solo mecha game. Their current project is Spine, a dark solo RPG about losing yourself in a book. Asa Donald on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/backwardsttrpg.bsky.social Spine (Digital): https://backwards-tabletop.itch.io/spineSpine (Physical): https://mixam.com/print-on-demand/68ec499e9e0b692d084d6b6c Show Notes:Asa’s series on Bookplay and interviews with other designers: www.backwardstabletop.com Pale Fire by NabokovGames MentionedYou Will Die In This PlaceNormalityWisher Theurgist FatalistHarvestWreck This Deck (and Wreck This Book)Seven Part PactThe Sun’s RansomYazeba’s Bed and BreakfastIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter
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51:48
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51:48
Reality Checking (w/ Allen Varney)
You can support this show on Patreon!Today, I’m talking to Allen Varney, who runs the Bundle of Holding currently, which I think everyone listening to this had heard of. Before that, he worked as a freelance writer, editor, game designer for TSR, Steve Jackson Games, West End Games, FASA, and more. He was the lead designer for Paranoia XP, the 2004 edition of the game from Mongoose, and wrote a ton of articles for house magazines like Dragon. Bundle of Holding: https://bundleofholding.com Show Notes:Space Gamer magazineWarren SpectorGames Mentioned Steve Jackson's Man-to-Man Fantasy Combat (also Car Wars, Ogre, and more)ToonParanoiaGareth Ryder-Hanrahan (Dracula Dossier, Darkening of Mirkwood, Eyes of the Stone Thief)Primal OrderIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter
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50:07
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50:07
Ex Tenebris (w/ Josh Fox)
You can support this show on Patreon!Today, I’m talking to Josh Fox who was last on the podcast to talk about the second edition of his award-winning game, Lovecraftesque. We talked about Black Armada Games, the company he's been running for ten years with his partner, the game designer Becky Annison. This time, we’re talking about Ex Tenebris, a scifi gothic investigation game.Crowdfunding link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blackarmada/ex-tenebrisShow Notes:AlienBlack Armada Tales (AP of Ex Tenebris)Games MentionedLast FleetFlotsamDark HeresyBrindlewood BayThe BetweenBump in the DarkExternal Containment BureauStealing the ThroneIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter
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53:41
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53:41
Art, Death, & RPGs (w/ Elizabeth Little)
You can support this show on Patreon!Today, I’m talking to Elizabeth Little. She’s a UK-based science teacher, artist, and game designer. She co-founded Shrike Studio in 2015 and released games such as Blight Seas Fleet, a dark fantasy naval skirmish game, for which she developed a whole range of 3D printable miniatures. This year, she released a demo of You Will Die In This Place, an RPG described as "a nihilistic dungeoncrawler about art, death and identity". It’s weird, meta, layered, and also very asymmetrical like a boardgame. We talk about its design and themes (everything is a labyrinth! relationships, games, mental illness!) and its crowdfunding campaign via GameFound's RPG Party later this year. Crowdfunding link: gamefound.com/en/projects/shrike-studio/you-will-die-in-this-place Itch.io link: https://liz-shrikestudio.itch.io/ Show Notes:The Denial of Death by Ernst BeckerMyth of SisyphusLabyrinths by Jose Luis BorgesDeimos by Dragan Bibin (painting)Toni R. Toivonen’s brass art Watching from a Distance by Warning (doom metal album)Essay about the game by the Split/Party newsletterGames MentionedCall of CthulhuDelta GreenWorld of DarknessZephyr: An Anarchist Game of Fleeting IdentitiesYazeba’s Bed and BreakfastPaint the Town RedIf you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter
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1:17:16
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1:17:16
Girls of the Genziana Hotel (w/ Hendrik ten Napel)
You can support this show on Patreon!In this episode, we talk to Hendrik ten Napel, a game designer from the Netherlands. He's self-published supplements for Brindlewood Bay, Bump in the Dark, and the Paragon system. His newsletter, Hendrik Biweekly, is a regular source of excellent game design thoughts. Today we're here to talk about his first crowdfunded game, The Girls of the Genziana Hotel, a gothic mystery PbtA game set in an isolated alpine hotel. You play chambermaids in the hotel trying to discover what happened to one of their own.The crowdfunding page of The Girls of the Genziana Hotel on Gamefound: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/hendriktennapel/the-girls-of-the-genziana-hotel Hendrik’s bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/napel.itch.io Hendrik’s itch page: https://napel.itch.ioShow Notes:Strega by Johanne Lykke HolmAfter Sappho by Selby Wynn SchwartzSally RooneyGames MentionedBrindlewood BayThe BetweenNight WitchesExilesCrescent 2eIf 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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