Backstory

What do game design and education design have to say to each other? How about larp and VR? Larpwright and academic Evan Torner joins us to talk uncertainty, ideology, transparency, and other fun things hiding in your games. Evan's website Evan on twitter Evan's talk on Teaching German Literature Through Larp Eirik Fatland What's a "nanogame?" Goethe's "The Sorrows of Young Werther" Larps from the Factory The #Feminism Nanogames Anthology The Golden Cobra Challenge What's "Jeepform?" DiGRA Ernest Hemmingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" Dante's Inferno, from The Divine Comedy Dante's Inferno, the video game Robin D. Laws' "Hamet's Hit Points" Mary Flanagan Ian Bogost Lizzie Magie's "The Landlord's Game" The Wyrd Con Companion Books Greg Costikyan's "Uncertainty in Games" Inside Hamlet Treasure Trapped Darkon Uber Goober Delirium College of Wizardry EVE Online Undertale Slayer Cake (and many more!) Analog Game Studies Gone Home

Can games unite the mystical and the digital? Writer, game designer, and cyberwitch Kira Magrann is here to talk magic, technology, and her new digital zine, RESISTOR. Kira on Twitter Kira on Tumblr RESISTOR A Cyborg Manifesto Eliza Gauger's Problem Glyphs The Witch (2016) Aleister Crowley Meg Baker on Rituals in Play Mad About the Boy Origins Game Fair Vampire: The Masquerade White Wolf Strict Machine, in the Indie Mixtape Megamix Mistress Matissse Blue Rose Just a Little Lovin' I Say a Little Prayer Night Witches Coming Out Under Fire Daughters of Bilitis The War Birds Anthology

Freeform designer Sara Williamson chills and chats with Alex about co-designing, designing for bleed, designing adaptations, and the potential of touch as a game mechanic. Also: a few very exciting announcements. Sara on Twitter Sara on Google+ Gen Con Industry Insider Featured Presenters New World Magischola Babycastles Sleep No More Double Exposure Events Fastaval See Me Now 183 Days Group Date, in the 2014 Golden Cobra Anthology 6 Months, 3 Days by Charlie Jane Anders Shelter and Darlin' Corey, in the Indie Mixtape Megamix Anthology Liz Gorinsky The Clay that Woke Twine Freeform NYC Emily Care Boss on Bleed The Skeletons

Podcaster and Big Bad Con organizer Sean Nittner shares his love of Actual Play reporting, staying positive, and making gaming events safer and more inclusive. Key quote: "If you feel awkward or like you're going outside your comfort zone... you're probably on the right track." Sean's website Big Bad Con Kickstarter Have Games, Will Travel Blades in the Dark Fiasco Mage: The Ascension Adam Koebel on Twitch George R. R. Martin's LiveJournal Narrative Control Katanas & Trenchcoats Big Bad Con Double Exposure Envoy Program Social Deduction Games One-Night Werewolf Coup FATE Good Omens Call of Cthulu Hero System Ars Magica Iron Heroes Castles and Crusades End Game Magic: The Gathering Katherine Cross Dungeon World Welcome to Night Vale Dread Pronoun Badge Ribbons Whitney "Strix" Beltrán on Getting Women and other Minority Folks to Write for Your Game Tanya D

Game designer and computational linguist Kathryn Hymes shares her love of locksmithing, larpspotting, and the incredible power of play. Is this the golden age of gaming? We certainly think so. Thorny Games Star Wars RPG by West End Games The Battlestar Galactica Board Game Games on Demand CAT Sign The Golden Cobra Challenge Big Bad Con Dialect Conlanging J Li Jason Morningstar Metatopia Xenolanguage "Stories of Your Life" by Ted Chiang "The Dispossessed" by Ursula LeGuin Notre Dame de Paris (French Rock Opera) Agglutinative Language Living Games New World Magischola

Game designer Glenn Given joins Alex to talk about the theater, philosophy, taxonomy, loving analog games in a digital world, and the curious gratification found in following the rules. Want to hear Alex call Wittgenstein a dirty word? You should hear what she says about Hegel. This episode comes with a content warning for brief discussion of self-harm. Take care, heroes. Games by Play Date Metatopia and Dreamation XCOM Majestic The Golden Cobra Design Competition Nemesis 382, in the Seven Wonders Anthology Just a Little Lovin' Bad Habit Pleasant Dreams Hearts Blazing Slash Editions of Dungeons & Dragons

Shanna Germain, co-founder and Creative Director of Monte Cook games, joins Alex for a deep dive into her creative process and bevy of current projects. We chat about everything from the challenges and rewards of designing games for kids to the interesting parallels between the role-playing and kink communities. What could be more intriguing than that? Shanna Germain's Website Monte Cook Games The Numenera Kickstarter Digipen No Thank You, Evil The Cypher System Bunnies and Burrows Hero Kids Faery's Tale Adventure Maximus Predation The Strange The Poison Eater

This episode we're joined by game designer, graphic designer, illustrator, and Director of Marketing at Magpie Games: Sarah Richardson! She chats with Alex about designing, GMing, and what is really at the heart of the OSR movement. Plus: two very special announcements about two very special events! Sarah's website Magpie Games Ken Hite on Twitter The Indie Game Developer Network (IGDN) Lamentations of the Flame Princess Fire on the Velvel Horizon, by Scrap Princess and Patrick Stuart Indie+ Spotlight on Sarah Richardson Apocalypse World Frank Mentzer Jim Ward A quick guide to the editions of D&D Shadowrun Earthdawn Dread Fiasco Kristin Firth Bluebeard's Bride Emily Care-Boss and Tanya D's Our Many Games Jean Wells' Palace of the Silver Princess The Work of Erol Otus TSR Lilian Cohen-Moore Meg Baker's 1,001 Nights The Con Crash Zine Pandemic Women Write About Comics Strix Elsa Henry's Dead Scare Nicole Winchester and Cheyenne Wall-Grimes Faster, Pussycat, Kill, Kill! Switchblade Sisters Frontier #2 by Hel

Sarah Lynne-Bowman, PhD, sits down with Alex to chat about educational larps, transformational larps, and what place words like "fun" and "self" can have in role-playing discourse. We also take a moment to defend that Lightning Bolt guy. See you at Living Games, heroes. Sarah's website Living Games Conference The Functions of Role-Playing Games Østerskov Efterskole Kapo, the Danish Prison Larp Shoshanna Kessok's Nordic Larp Talk X-Card College of Wizardry Wyrd Con Companion Book Trols Pedersen on Safety Culture Dystopia Rising This Miracle RuPaul's Drag Race Jung's "Personae" Erik Erikson's "Ego Identity" Analog Game Studies Keith Johnstone's Impro Chuubo's Marvellous Wish Granting Engine Amtgard Treasure Trapped Planetfall Mind's Eye Society New World Magischola Role Models "The Nordic Convention" Fastaval Nordsplainer vs Amerijerk

Designer and artist Laura Simpson chats with Alex about too many things to list! Highlights include her upcoming game Companion's Tale, designing in community, and pretending to be a vampire on the internet. If you remember what a MUSH is, you're in luck. Laura's Website http://www.laura-simpson.com/ Laura's Twitter https://twitter.com/labmouse What's a MUD/MUSH? http://www.topmudsites.com/article01.shtml Changeling: The Dreaming https://rpggeek.com/rpg/426/changeling-dreaming Mind's Eye Theatre http://www.bynightstudios.com/products/about-minds-eye-theatre-vampire-the-masquerade/ Planescape https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planescape Dungeon World http://www.dungeon-world.com/ BESM https://rpggeek.com/rpgfamily/327/besm-big-eyes-small-mouth Dev Purkayastha http://devpurkayastha.com/ The Dance and the Dawn http://ndpdesign.com/the-dance-and-the-dawn/ Elizabeth Sampat http://www.elizabethsampat.com/ It's Complicated https://www.nobleknight.com/ProductDetail.asp_Q_ProductID_E_2147439062_A_InventoryID_E_2147747520_

Tabletop game deigner Hannah Shaffer chats with Alex about collaborative design, collaborative worldbuilding, and finding one's place in the roleplaying game community. We also briefly attempt to define the word "game," but thankfully give up quickly. Works Cited Hannah's website http://makebigthings.com/ Hannah's twitter https://twitter.com/hanbandit Games People Play http://makebigthings.com/games-people-play-podcast/ Tabletop Superhighway http://thetabletopsuperhighway.com/ 14 Days http://makebigthings.com/14-days-a-game-about-life-with-migraines/ Questlandia http://questlandia.com/ Evan Rowland http://smallflygames.com/ Microscope http://www.lamemage.com/microscope/ Apocalypse World http://apocalypse-world.com/ Monsterhearts http://buriedwithoutceremony.com/monsterhearts/ Game Chef http://www.game-chef.com/ Metatopia http://www.dexposure.com/m2015.html Dreamation http://www.dexposure.com/d2016.html

It's a very larpy episode with author, journalist, and larpwright Lizzie Stark. She shares her experiences and insights from long-form boffer campaigns, experimental Nordic larps, and much more. Lizzie's blog http://leavingmundania.com/ Lizzie's book http://leavingmundania.com/the-book/ This Miracle http://leavingmundania.com/2015/04/06/this-miracle/ The Curse http://leavingmundania.com/2013/05/28/the-curse-a-freeform-game-about-brca/ Larps from the Factory http://larpfactorybookproject.blogspot.ca/ Knight Realms Campaign Larp http://www.knightrealms.com/ Markus Montola http://www.markusmontola.fi/ Emily Care Boss on "Bleed" http://www.blackgreengames.com/terms/ Sarah Lynne-Bowman http://www.sarahlynnebowman.com/home/ Anna Westerling http://annaw.org/

For our inaugural episode, Alex chats with Fiasco creator Jason Morningstar. We discuss his early forays into game design, his philosophy of play, and exciting happenings in the world of larp. Have you gone to Ghost Court? You will.