Total Pebble Knockdown

On the show today: The Exit 8 is not a long game, but it's not a bad thing. Can you imagine an Exit 80 just to pad the runtime? Some gamers want to maximize the amount of content, but it doesn't always apply. What do we want to experience in a game and how long is too long? Traditional thinking is that villains are more interesting to play than heroes, but perhaps that's just because h...

On the show today: Green Hell may have the most extreme level of survival mechanics Nathan has ever seen. It is unapologetic in how many ways you can die and presenting you with a world that wants you dead. It can be frustrating and will likely make you paranoid. It is also one of the best survival crafting games he has ever played. Why does this level of mechanics work so well for Green Hell and...

On the show today: Have you ever started playing a survival crafting game where you wash up alone on an island? I know, it's never happened before, but for the sake of this conversation, we're going to talk about how this is a common trope and we can change up the formula. Maybe it's not an island. Maybe you're not alone. Maybe you went there intentionally. Also, we brainstorm a su...

On the show today: Someone needed to know what happens when you get turned to stone. Primarily, do you shrink? Yes, this is a physics segment about being turned to stone. You are welcome. https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/p1325p/a_pointless_thought_on_the_physics_of_being/   The bad guy is using ceremonial circles for blood sacrifices. What do you do? Is there something more interesting than j...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: KlaytonCalix joins us to discuss Steam Next Fest Summer 2024. He wanted to tell us about playing Drill Core and Ova Magica, which were among the 12 games he got to this time. Alex tells us about Viking survival in Aska and why it worked better for him than Valheim. Nathan attempts to explain what you do in Goblin Cleanup, the most unique and bizarre game...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: We are back from vacation and Nathan wanted to discuss his time at Hancock Shaker Village because it got him thinking about how fantasy tech works. We will talk a bit about the round hay barn, the water turbine and how pre-industrial societies handled common day-to-day life. What does this teach us about the world-building of your RPG? Nothing says relaxi...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: It's our first episode recorded in front of a live studio audience! Some folks listened in to our episode before we went on vacation and had some comments to add to this discussion of weird questions from Reddit. The player wants to kill off their character because they did stats bad. But, like, why would you do that? Perhaps they can just go to an ad...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Nathan searched for "Total", "Pebble" and "Knockdown" at r/DMAcademy and found the first entry that came up. The results will shock you. Should you take away player agency or perform "total action denial"? Is it good game design for either the players or the monsters? We shall discuss this because we here at TPK sti...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: May 9 saw the release of at least 10 noteworthy indie games, at a time when AAA publishers are shuttering studios. We discuss whether the major releases are even interesting anymore and what smaller games we have been playing lately. A thread on new indie games - Ryan T. Brown 🎮🩷 on X: "There may never have been a day as big as today for indie game...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Comedy is all over games, but some games rely on it far more than others. After playing Helldivers 2, Alex and Nathan decided to compare the humor seen in that game to some others, such as Borderlands and Breathedge. What is the difference between them and what works better? The Helldivers 2 we were NOT going to discuss at this time - Helldivers 2 on Stea...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Candyland may not be a very feature-rich game, but perhaps it could be used as a mechanic for another game... for reasons. We look at a post suggesting this and ask the question about what these mechanics could be if we really wanted to whip out this board game from the back of the closet. Candyland as a mechanic? - https://twitter.com/riseupcomus/status/...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Fallout got a TV show and Nathan thinks it did a really good job at representing the series, even for people who have no previous experience with the series. Let's talk about how the characters help introduce many of the big themes about Fallout. Also, how can you adapt one medium into another, especially when you move from an interactive to non-inter...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Metroidvanias are coming back and Nathan recently found a few interesting mechanics that should be more utilized in examples of the genre. Why? Because Nathan needs his Metroids and Vanias! Alex got to play Ripout during a free weekend and frankly did not know how to feel about it. He spent 6 hours trying to figure out if he liked it or not. His conclusio...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: After hearing about the horror that is the false hydra, Nathan started thinking about rectifying player knowledge versus character knowledge. If you know how to combat a monster that is imperceivable by normal means as a player, should your character prepare to fight it accordingly? Dungeon Dad explains the False Hydra - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Nine years ago we released the 1st episode of Delve, a podcast about game mechanics. On this episode we revisit some of our early topics from the show. What are some of the RPG skills that don't get represented in games? Can you build small machines or mediate a discussion between others? We talk about the skills that are often not listed in the playe...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown:   To celebrate March Madness and our very good understanding of sports ball, we are talking about sports IN games. Namely, how could we create competitions in a role-playing game. And what D&D classes would be best suited for our fantasy Olympics.   Sometimes, even a straight-forward board game can have mechanics that derail the action and discourage...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Should we worry about RPG campaigns that are focused on storytelling? An article shared with one of our long-time friends of the show discussed an experience where plot dominated the agency of the players. We discuss the legitimacy of this concern and also talk about how we disagree with the conclusion. Realm Builder Guy - https://www.realmbuilderguy.com/...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: After seeing the end of joy that was Willy's Chocolate Experience in Glasgow, Scotland, Nathan felt inspired to make his own version of a trainwreck with "Super Awesome Dungeon". While it may not have oompa loompa at home or AI image promotion, it may have three goblins in a trenchcoat. The Chocolate Experience that wasn't - https://www....

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: What if you went to the Van Gogh Museum and came away with a painting of Pikachu? Crazy, right? Anyway, that was an actual possibility in 2023 and is possibly going to happen again. So, let us discuss Pikachu in Grey Felt Hat and brand integration with museums. Pokemon x Van Gogh - https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/about/collaborate/van-gogh-museum-brand-li...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: It’s Steam Next Fest 2024 and KlaytonClaix rejoins us to tell us some fun games he played as the plethora of demos fell upon us. He takes a second look at Folklands, gets his tactics on in Sword of Convallaria, does some resource collecting in Isometria, builds a better skeleton in Necrosmith 2 and makes a sweet gun in NIMRODS. Alex also played demos duri...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Bethesda had a Developer Direct showcasing 5 games coming out in 2024. We will discuss these as well as talk about how they relate to the leak from September on their roadmap of content and what this means. Developer_Direct 2024 Microsoft documents leak new Bethesda games, including an Oblivion remaster Baldur’s Gate 3 is a very good game, but Nathan had...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: KlaytonCalix joins us for a special Palworld episode as we have each played it for more than 50 hours. There must be something great about this game to hold our attention this long. What did we love about this game and what itches did it scratch for us as gamers. If you take the good, you take the bad. Those are the facts of life. Palworld is not without...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: We have reached 500 videos on YouTube! Well, 506 or so, but we’re late to the party. It sure feels like we should do something to celebrate, so let’s look at a mathematically constructed list of the 500 greatest games of all time. What were the best of all time? More importantly, what were the least best of all time? A very official list of the best games...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: It’s that time of year again when we do Save, Bury, Reboot. What games do we keep, which do we throw away and which ones need a makeover? Better listen to find out. The Steam Awards happened and we smell some shenanigans. Trolls apparently got into the mix and voted for some unlikely choices for nominees in these game categories. So, let’s talk about Labo...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Some games deserve a second chance. Nathan talks about some of the games he plans on giving this chance in 2024 and what he hopes to get out of the experience. We are not a news program. However, we are hoping to revisit old news stories that fell by the wayside. What ever happened with the OpenGL or Unity stories? What happened to the bad games that got...