Dice Exploder

Transcript This week, Sam talks with Ash Kreider about character creation picklists, a common feature of most (all?) PBTA games, as well as many others. Some topics discussed include: * Character creation speed runs * Gender lists * Are pick lists mechanics? * How Wanderhome doubles the length of its pick lists with This One Cool Trick * Are pick lists poetry? Games mentioned * Apocalypse World *...

Transcript This week, Sam talks with Ryan Khan about Whispers, a player resource from The Wildsea by Felix Isaacs, but really about a whole bunch of mechanics from The Wildsea. Some topics discussed include: * Setting as game design, and open ended lore * Open ended prompts * Twists vs Devil’s Bargains * Player agency * Long skill lists: pros and cons Games mentioned: * The Wildsea * Apocalypse Wo...

Transcript This week, Sam talks with Greg Soper AKA sporgory about Divine Favor, one part of the dice pool mechanic from Agon second edition by Sean Nittner and John Harper. Some topics discussed include: - Having a family drama stapled to your character sheet - Greek Gods: bad parents - What makes hacking Divine Favor hard - Endeavor - Odyssey Aquatica - All Quiet No Peace - Starbones - The setti...

Transcript This week on the Dice Exploder podcast, Sam talks with Ema Acosta about Change The World, a move from The Watch by Ash Kreider. Some topics discussed include: * The Watch: it’s depressing! * The Watch and its gender dynamics * A lot of people will never see this bit of design and that’s okay * Balancing misery with hope and beauty * “Just tell the players to do the thing” * Inducing emo...

Transcript This week, Sam talks with Victor Lane about the Theorize move, originally from an idea by Oli Jeffrey and popularized in Brindlewood Bay by Jason Cordova. Some topics discussed include: * The history of solving mysteries in RPGs * The Three Clue Rule * Jason Cordova’s blogpost discussing Oli Jeffrey’s original Theorize move * Writing mystery stories VS reading or watching mystery storie...

Transcript This week, Sam talks with Pam Punzalan about Devil’s Bargains, one part of the dice pool mechanic from John Harper's game Blades in the Dark . Some topics discussed include: * Rulebooks as guidelines and play philosophy more than proper rules * DBs as a safety tool * Generic DBs * Do DBs slow down the game? Is that good or bad? * Retconning in RPGs (it's good) * Putting DBs into...

Transcript This week, Sam talks with Michael Elliott about Composure, a player resource mechanic from Ash McAllen’s game Antiquarian Adventures. Michael is currently Kickstarting his game Nasty Brutish and Long , a simple RPG about lives complicated by revolution. Some topics discussed today: * Failure and conflict, why they're great, and mechanics that encourage players to embrace them * Genr...

Transcript This week’s cohost is Ray Chou, who brings Rolling The Dice from John Harper’s iconic one page RPG Lasers & Feelings. Topics discussed include: * Minimalism * Underlining genre through mechanics * Episodic vs serialized stories * When you should roll dice * Randomness and fate in real life * Beer & pretzels gaming Games mentioned: * Lasers and Feelings * Cows and Boys * Honey He...

Coming June 2023: DICE EXPLODER , a new podcast where each week we break down a tabletop RPG mechanic as deep as we possibly can, with Sam Dunnewold and a rotating co-host. Produced by the Fiction First Network. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit diceexploder.substack.com