RPG Design Panelcast
382 episodes - English - Latest episode: 23 days ago - ★★★★ - 23 ratingsThe best panels and seminars about analog game design & publishing.
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Episodes
Episode 277: How to Pitch Your Game
March 06, 2021 13:00 - 59 minutes - 40.9 MBRecorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Alex Cutler, Matt Forbeck, Kenneth Hite. You made a game! Congratulations! Now explain your incredible game in one sentence. That isn’t as easy as it sounds. You want people to buy into your game as players, as investors, or as retailers. You will only have one chance to make that first impression. It needs to have impact. If you want to see your game successful on a crowdfunding site, or sold by your local game store, then you need to know wh...
Episode 276 - How Larp Online Community Emerged
February 20, 2021 13:00 - 1 hour - 40.4 MBRecorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Gerrit Reininghaus, Tara Clapper, Acata Felton, and Kate Hill. Live Action Online Games (LAOG)s, also known as online LARPs, have reached unthinkable dimensions of attention due to the pandemic. This is a design framework with a completely new set of possibilities and requirements. We are not only talking about technology as a design surface but also questions around accessibility, safety and environmental awareness. Where do LAOGs come from? ...
Episode 276: How Larp Online Community Emerged
February 20, 2021 13:00 - 1 hour - 40.4 MBRecorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Gerrit Reininghaus, Tara Clapper, Acata Felton, and Kate Hill. Live Action Online Games (LAOG)s, also known as online LARPs, have reached unthinkable dimensions of attention due to the pandemic. This is a design framework with a completely new set of possibilities and requirements. We are not only talking about technology as a design surface but also questions around accessibility, safety and environmental awareness. Where do LAOGs come from? ...
Episode 275: How to Run Online Larps
February 15, 2021 01:23 - 1 hour - 38.4 MBRecorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Tara Clapper, Olivia Montoya, Joie Martin. Running a digital LARP (or LAOG - live action online game) can be a simple impromptu effort or a multi-session experience requiring significant organization. Let's talk about how to run a digital live action experience while keeping in mind safety and participants' needs.
Episode 275 - How to Run Online Larps
February 15, 2021 01:23 - 1 hour - 38.4 MBRecorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Tara Clapper, Olivia Montoya, Joie Martin. Running a digital LARP (or LAOG - live action online game) can be a simple impromptu effort or a multi-session experience requiring significant organization. Let's talk about how to run a digital live action experience while keeping in mind safety and participants' needs.
Episode 274: Running a Successful Virtual Playtest Group
February 07, 2021 13:00 - 51 minutes - 34 MBPresented at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Tam Myaing, David Gordon, Chris Backe, Kevin Dunkelberger. When the COVID lockdowns began, the NYC Playtest Group was one of the first to move to online playtesting. Since then we have run over 50 sessions since mid April, and have also helped other gaming conventions with running games virtually. In this panel we will discuss with moderators from other groups around the world, on the the lessons we've learned in the trenches in running a suc...
Episode 273: Running Games on Roll20
February 06, 2021 13:00 - 1 hour - 43 MBRecorded at Metatopia Online 2020 Presented by Chris O'Neill, Stephanie Bryant, Warren Morrison, Walt Ciechanowski. Roll20 provides players and GMs with a popular virtual tabletop for games. How can you best take advantage of it as a player, a designer or a publisher? Our experts and power-users will bring you up to speed on the service.
Episode 272: The Publisher Perspective for 2021
January 31, 2021 13:00 - 57 minutes - 40.4 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2020 Online Presented by Dan DiLorenzo, Frank DiLorenzo, Kira Peavley, Curt Covert, Shari Spiro, Ben Harkins. You have a great board/card game and you're ready to start shopping for a Publisher. What are they looking for these days? Our panelists will explain what excites them, and talk about how they look for key elements that they can extend into sellable games.
Episode 271: The Retail Perspective and Designing for Pandemic Sales in 2021
January 30, 2021 22:01 - 1 hour - 44.9 MBRecorded at Metatopia Online 2021 Presented by Bryan Dalrymple, Patrick Day. Any board or card game being published in 2021 needs to take into account the likelihood that in-person demos and shopping will be limited. Our panelists will talk about what the design implications of this are, and how you can adjust to make your board or card game more viable as a physical commercial product.
Episode 270: Kickstarter in the Age of Covid
January 24, 2021 13:00 - 52 minutes - 35.6 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2020 Presented by Jonathan Ritter-Roderick, Anya Combs. Join representatives of Kickstarter for a discussion of the state of crowdfunding projects going into 2021. Topics will include what's different, what hasn't changed at all and how to prepare for success if you're taking a campaign live.
Episode 269: Heartwarming Gaming During the Plague Times
January 23, 2021 13:00 - 1 hour - 41.7 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2020 Presented by Rach Shelkey and Jaqueline Bryk. It's time once again to talk about happy, uplifting games! How do you make space for pastoral gaming while the world is going through a global health crisis? How does one find joy when the long term outlook changes by the minute? Our panelists will share their thoughts and personal experiences on exploring the heartwarming through the plague.
Episode 268: Converting to Online Play
January 17, 2021 13:00 - 59 minutes - 42.6 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2020 Presented by Vivian Abraham and Jason Cox. Some games are easy to play online, and some have robust platforms to support them. But what if your game involves group singing? Or social mingling? Or some other mechanic that is harder to do online? Let's share some ideas for converting these trickier games to be enjoyable virtually!
Episode 267: How to Start Business
January 17, 2021 01:43 - 57 minutes - 38.4 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2020 Presented by Brian Dalrymple, Jessie Edwards, Hal Mangold. Our panelists will walk you through the basics of turning your game design hobby into a business. We'll talk about the most cost-efficient ways to register an LLC, open a business bank account, file a trademark and keep track of your expenses for tax season.
Episode 266: The Business of Small Press RPGs
December 22, 2020 02:45 - 1 hour - 47.1 MBRecorded at GenCon 2020 Online Hosted by Jason Walters and featuring Brian Dalrymple, Jennifer Ward, and Cat Tobin. This panel was hosted by Indie Press Revolution as part of GenCon 2020's online panel selection on behalf of the panelists. Brian Dalrymple- https://www.facebook.com/AdventureGam... Jennifer Ward- https://www.facebook.com/crazysquirre... https://twitter.com/csgamestore Cat Tobin- https://twitter.com/CatTHM
Episode 265 - The Cutting Edge RPG Panel
November 11, 2020 04:04 - 1 hour - 36.7 MBRecorded at GenCon Online 2020 Presented by Jason Walters, Pamela Punzalan, Wilson Zorn, and Maurice Poplar. Indie Press Revolution hosted this excellent discussion on the ideas and games at the forefront of modern RPG Design in the year 2020, during this special panel at GenCon Online. Pamela Punzalan - https://thedovetailor.itch.io/ https://twitter.com/TheDovetailor Wilson Zorn - https://twitter.com/zornwil Maurice Poplar - https://twitter.com/MauricePoplar
Episode 264 - Queer Game Designers
October 12, 2020 00:13 - 1 hour - 33.9 MBRecorded at GenCon Online 2020 Presented by AC, Kira Magrann, Wilson Zorn, Jay Dragon, and Lucian Khan. Streamed live for Gen Con Online 2020. You can find games from all these creators on IPR's website, linked below! https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/... Find Kira Magrann at - https://twitter.com/Kiranansi https://kiramagrann.itch.io/ Find Wilson Zorn at - https://twitter.com/zornwil Find Jay Dragon at - https://twitter.com/jdragsky https://jdragsky.itch.io/ Find Lucian K...
Episode 263 - Games in Education
June 20, 2020 17:29 - 1 hour - 40.7 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Jennifer Gutterman, Shawn Roske, Tim Blank. Are you an educator wanting to gamify your classroom? Are you building a traditional education game? Do you want your game to be fun but also teach the players about something? This is where we can discuss ideas, workflows, deployments and examples of games in education, gamification in the classroom or building games that teach.
Episode 262 - Design Considerations for Card Games
June 13, 2020 12:00 - 57 minutes - 37.9 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Tim Rodriguez & Beth Rimmels. Card games are a classic design model that have already expressed innumerable possibilities. We'll talk about classic styles of decks, iterations on classic games, alternate formats, the mathematics of card games, and why we all love them. We'll also consider and critique ideas and concepts and talk about why or why not to choose this design format.
Epsiode 261 - Updating Cyberpunk
June 06, 2020 15:24 - 54 minutes - 36.2 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2020 Presented by Dexter Duckworth, Elsa Sjunneson. The Distant Future, the Year 2000: Updating Cyberpunk for the 21st Century. The hard-hitting themes of social inequality and corporate exploitation found in cyberpunk are as relevant now as they were in the 80's, but not everything in the genre has stood the test of time. This panel will dive into how both the technologies and sensibilities found in cyberpunk can be updated in order to design games that are timely an...
Episode 260 - Paying it Forward and Supporting Diverse Creators
May 30, 2020 15:10 - 49 minutes - 34.6 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Jason Pitre, Cat Tobin, Amanda Valentine, Lauren McMannon, Camdon Wright. Everyone should have a chance to create and publish games. Unfortunately, there are many structural barriers keeping unrepresented voices from coming to the table. In this roundtable discussion, our panelists discuss ways that established publishers can support new voices through information, promotion, funding, and education.
Episode 259 - More Than Just Victory Points
May 23, 2020 12:00 - 55 minutes - 39.9 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Peter Hayward, Gil Hova More Than Just Victory Points: Alternative Approaches to Win Conditions. "Most victory points" is the default victory condition for most board games, and why shouldn't they be? They solve most problems you encounter while designing - balance, investment, rewarding people for doing what you want them to be. Well, unfortunately, most everyone has worked out the same thing, and now the market is flooded with Victory Point win co...
Episode 258 - Crowdfunding on a Budget
May 16, 2020 12:00 - 1 hour - 45.3 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Jason Walters, Jeff Stormer, Christopher Badell. Your game's ready for Kickstarter! So how much will you be asking for? What's the absolute minimum you need to get your game made? What is the floor number for success? How will you handle unexpected levels of success? Let's get practical about your numbers.
Episode 257 - The Three-Ring Setting: Scope in Game Design
May 09, 2020 12:00 - 50 minutes - 37.2 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Kenneth Hite A METATOPIA tradition - Kenneth Hite rambling about game design. In this case the notion of scope: How big should your setting be? How can you design a setting to contain multiple core game activities, and should you? As always, Ken has notions and questions, and hopes you have more of both as we explore Bigness (and un-Bigness) in games.
Episode 256 - Turn, Turn, Turn
May 02, 2020 12:00 - 53 minutes - 35.1 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Geoffrey Engelstein "Turn, Turn, Turn" presented by Geoffrey Engelstein. The 'turn' is a fundamental concept for games of all types, and there are a wide variety of approaches the designer can take to structure them. The structure chosen has a major impact on the play experience, and should be carefully considered. This talk is a deep dive into turn options both common and rare, and discusses what each brings to the table.
Episode 255 - Publish your own Games!
April 25, 2020 12:00 - 59 minutes - 40 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Meguey Baker & Jason Pitre. Publishing your game doesn't need to be daunting. There's work involved, but with a diverse tool box and a clear understanding of your publishing goals, publishing might be more attainable than you imagine.
Episode 254 - Science in RPGs and Larps
April 18, 2020 12:00 - 45 minutes - 30 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Mary Georgescu, Sharang Biswas, Brianna Shuttleworth. Can we get nitty gritty with players and talk about science? Can we as designers build science into our games in fun ways that do not lend themselves to sci- fiction but a truer representation and reflection of our current or past understandings of the way our universe, our earth works? We will be talking about how we designed Starry Messenger, The Moon Stares at Us in Shame, and Magischola with s...
Episode 253 - Holding Space for Teens
April 11, 2020 12:00 - 53 minutes - 35.1 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Meguey Baker, Caleb Stokes, Clark Valentine, Edward LaValley. Teenagers bring innovation, creativity and hard questions to the game table. Our panelists will talk about how to hold space for everything that makes gaming with them magical.
Episode 252 - A Dive into the Theory of RPGs as a Communications Medium
April 04, 2020 12:00 - 57 minutes - 38.2 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Christopher O'Neill, Adriel Wilson, Cat Tobin, Misha Bushyager. Role playing as a HOBBY continues to evolve and mature. Has role-playing now gotten big enough to be considered a MEDIUM? Join us for a lively and passionate discussion on the concept that role-playing has become more than just games, but a medium - a channel for communication, information, and entertainment. In this panel, we will look at whether role-playing is a medium, and if so, wha...
Episode 251 - Creating Mysteries in RPGs
March 28, 2020 12:00 - 55 minutes - 39.8 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Kenneth Hite, Betsy Rosenblatt, Darren Watts. Mysteries are among the hardest genres to run successfully in tabletop games. How can designers structure stories to meaningfully involve players, guide them to clues and help them put them together to solve a crime without spoonfeeding them? How can GMs control pacing to duplicate the feel of classic whodunits?
Episode 250 - Integrating World Building in Traditional RPGs
March 21, 2020 12:00 - 56 minutes - 40.9 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Ryan O'Grady, Kenneth Hite, Brennan Taylor. There's something satisfying about taking ownership of a piece of the world as a player and watching it flourish (or not). There have been various approaches to this over the years (Ars Magica, MIcroscope, The Quiet Year, even D&D!) Let's discuss what player involvement of world building really means and different approaches for incorporating it into traditional RPGs.
Episode 249 - Insights Forged in the Dark
March 14, 2020 12:00 - 57 minutes - 39.2 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Stras Acimovic, John LeBoeuf-Little. Blades in the Dark has led to a new generation of game designs such as Scum and Villainy, Band of Blades, and Mutants in the Night. In this panel, we dig into the toolset and what sets it apart from similar design traditions. What are the core principles behind designing games Forged in the Dark? Where can we grow and diverge from the core?
Episode 248 - Time is of the Essence: Countdowns and Clocks in Games
March 07, 2020 13:00 - 53 minutes - 36.9 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Darren Watts, Stephen Dewey, Paul Stefko. There are many different mechanics for tracking time and progress in games, and our panel speakers will explore all of them in depth. From countdown clocks and stress tracks, to flickering candles and Jenga towers, there's a lot to explore in this family of mechanics.
Episode 247 - How to Start a Business as a Game Designer
February 29, 2020 13:00 - 54 minutes - 37.6 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Emily Escovar, Chris O'Neill. Our panelists will walk you through the basics of turning your game design hobby into a business. We'll talk about the most cost-efficient ways to register an LLC, open a business bank account, file a trademark and keep track of your expenses for tax season.
Episode 246 - Making Good Financial Decisions as a Game Designer
February 22, 2020 13:00 - 56 minutes - 37.5 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Heather O'Neill, Tim Rodriguez, Jennifer Graham-Macht. You are an individual using your hard earned money to invest in your game project. Do you self-publish, Kickstart or attend that convention? You are an indie tabletop company, so you have some budget to work with. What's your next project? Which big conventions do you attend? We will address costs specific to the tabletop gaming industry (self-publishing, Kickstarter, conventions, marketing, etc....
Episode 245 - Selling Games into Mass vs. Specialty Retail
February 15, 2020 13:00 - 58 minutes - 39.7 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Brian Turtle, Peter Hayward, Avonelle Wing. I fell into games almost by accident back in 1994 when some friends and I created a game called "The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon". We started Endless Games shortly thereafter and the game found a home in the mass market before we knew it. In the 20+ years since, we've been navigating the toy industry and gaming landscape in both mass and specialty. That said, the hobby side of the industry is still somewhat ...
Episode 244 - Creating Safety Tools
February 08, 2020 13:00 - 53 minutes - 36.5 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Kate Bullock, Camdon Wright, Bronwyn Sperling. Want to learn how to create safety tools that fit your game and are baked into the mechanics instead of just adding pre-established tools on top? This panel dives into the creative and mechanical process of understanding safety and support and integrating it into your ttrpg designs.
Episode 243 - Responsible Research
February 01, 2020 14:01 - 58 minutes - 39.8 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Jason Pitre, Misha Bushyager, James Mendez Hodes. Some of the best games deal with heavy topics and challenging subject matter. Creators who look to design or publish games addressing sensitive subject matter need to do due diligence to reduce the chance their work could do harm. In this panel, we will discuss how creators can ethically do the legwork and research to tackle issues of race, sexuality, identity, and trauma.
Episode 242 - On Failure
January 25, 2020 13:00 - 50 minutes - 34.4 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Jason Morningstar, Jacqueline Bryk and Alastor Guzman. Failure is baked into any creative discipline, but we rarely discuss it. In this panel we'll discuss our most noteworthy failures and the role failure plays in our process. The goal is to normalize failure and to learn from the occasionally dramatic mistakes of others. It may be funny, it may be sad, but it will definitely be interesting.
Episode 241 - Nostalgia as a Genre
January 18, 2020 13:00 - 57 minutes - 39.1 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Shoshanna Kessock, Brian Neff, Doug Levandowski, and Sean Jaffe. Echoes of the late 20th century are all around us in 2019, especially in pop culture and media. Stranger Things, IT, and Bandersnatch have tapped into a rich vein of nostalgia that has entranced audience and permeated our time. Gaming, especially tabletop gaming, has been depicted as a vital part of 80s culture. In return, game creators are tapping into both the renewed interest in the ...
Episode 240 - Distribution and Fulfillment
January 11, 2020 13:00 - 1 hour - 41.6 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2019 Presented by Jason Walters, Mark Diaz Truman, Brennan Taylor, and Christopher Tang. Distribution And Fulfillment presented by Jason Walters, Mark Diaz Truman, Brennan Tylor, Christopher Tang. The ways to get your game into the hands of players are always shifting, but our experts can walk you through the three-tier system and the various alternatives to it.
Episode 239 - Honing your Game Pitch
January 04, 2020 13:00 - 57 minutes - 41.5 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2018 Presented by Jim McClure, Kenneth Hite, Cat Tobin. This panel is designed to help you establish the best way to present your game to consumers. From Elevator pitches, to focus points, to mechanical highlights, we will cover what is most important in getting people to buy into your game. Attendees should be prepared to discuss their game project as part of a group, and have an elevator pitch pre-prepared. The panelists will then help each individual attendee to h...
Episode 238 - Xenobiology and Speculative Zoology
December 28, 2019 13:00 - 57 minutes - 42.9 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2018 Presented by Jason Pitre, Rob Donoghue, Darren Watts and Joshua A.C. Newman. Alien Worlds - Xenobiology and Speculative Zoology. Fictional alien biology and ecosystems are fascinating. From the implied phylogeny of James Cameron's Avatar to the Alien's Xenomorphs, exploration of alien biology is a fascinating topic worth exploring for your science fiction, post-apocalyptic or even fantasy roleplaying games. On this panel, we will discuss the principles of specul...
Episode 237 - The Transitive Power of Myth
December 21, 2019 13:00 - 58 minutes - 43.3 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2018 Presented by Kenneth Hite In this year's installment of "Ken Thinks About Stuff Out Loud", I look at the structural patterns of mythology. Are there actually structures of myth, and if there aren't, can we pretend there are? How can we take real-world myths and make them game material? How can we translate one myth system (that of the "standard fantasy world" for example) into another (e.g., Greek mythology)? And how can we translate any of it into dice, numbers,...
Episode 236 - Games And Education
December 14, 2019 13:00 - 1 hour - 44.9 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2018 Presented by Jennifer Gutterman, Maury Brown, Shoshana Kessock. At every milestone in our lives, we have used games or game mechanics to entice learning, reward progress in development, train for work or career preparation or use games for entertainment and relaxation. This panel will discuss how games are used in education, in teaching, and applied to game design education specifically but also in general application to training as a whole.
Episode 235 - Designing RPGs With Safety Tools Included
December 07, 2019 13:00 - 1 hour - 82.9 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2018 Presented by Philip Vecchione, Senda Linaugh and Alex Roberts. Let's talk about integrating safety tools into your design process from the foundation. Yes, the x-card is valuable. Let's talk about design that builds the next generation of tools in from the beginning
Episode 234 - Planning a Kickstarter? What You Need to Know!
November 30, 2019 13:00Recorded at Metatopia 2018 Presented by Juliet Meyer, Raymond Bruels, Chandler Copenhaver. Kickstarter can be amazing for creators, but there's a lot of other things around them that will help you find success. Learn how to market and plan for a Kickstarter, and what five things you should have in place long before the launch.
Episode 233 - Deconstructing Religion in your Games
November 23, 2019 13:00 - 59 minutes - 44.7 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2018 Presented by Shoshana Kessock, James Mendez Hodes. Religion has held sway across the world in various forms, and its influence has molded everything from how we live our everyday lives to the laws we make and the entertainment we consume. We will take a look at how real world religious ideologies have impacted the games we create, how they influence the worlds we build, and how we might deconstruct those ideas to approach our games from a different perspective. S...
Episode 232 - Making Your (Alt-)Historical Setting More Inclusive
November 16, 2019 13:00 - 58 minutes - 38.3 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2018 Presented by Eric Simon, Shoshana Kessock. History is more diverse than we think. Whether you're developing settings that are close to real history or highly speculative alt-history, there's always room to expand representation by highlighting real people and experiences. Let's research together in this interactive workshop!
Episode 231 - Now What? - Finishing Games
November 09, 2019 13:00 - 58 minutes - 43.2 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2018 Presented by Steve Segedy, Christopher Badell, Mark Richardson, and Cat Tobin. Once you've created a game, what are your options for getting it out into the world? Come ask questions and find out about printing, distribution, and fulfillment options for independent designers and small publishers. We could also include discussion of Kickstarter, BackerKit, contracts, licensing, etc.
Episode 230 - The Art of Mechanics
November 02, 2019 13:00 - 1 hour - 46.7 MBRecorded at Metatopia 2018 Presented by Jim McClure. This panel will cover the art behind using game mechanics to influence player behavior. The panelist will dissect mechanics from published games and discuss how these mechanics influence play, and what lessons designers can learn from them.