Rule of Carnage - Designing Better Miniatures Games

In Episode 109 Mike has been working on his latest game, Pacific Command, and there have been some last minute developments. He and Glenn talk about them. Check out Man O' Kent Games here: https://www.manokentgames.com Check out Planet Smasher Games here: http://planetsmasher.games The Rule of Carnage discord server: https://discord.gg/Gb4aK7uECh If you want to support the channel financially...

In Episode 108 the guys have been thinking about a range of ways to focus the attention of your game, Simulation VS Emulation, Abstraction VS Detail and Diegetic VS Non-Diegetic. All of these are ways of focusing your players to they pay attention to the parts of your game you want them to, and all are well worth thinking about. Check out Man O' Kent Games here: https://www.manokentgames.com C...

In Episode 107 the guys have decided its a good time to tell you all about some of the things they're working on, including a very special announcement of a project they're very proud of. Check out Man O' Kent Games here: https://www.manokentgames.com Check out Planet Smasher Games here: http://planetsmasher.games The Rule of Carnage discord server: https://discord.gg/Gb4aK7uECh

In Episode 106 Part 2 the guys have been considering the fact that sometimes they need to decide whether a game should be a minis game, or a card game or something else. Well, Glenn does, Mike just makes it into a minis game anyway. But if you're making the same considerations Mike has some reasons for why you might go one way rather than another. Check out Man O' Kent Games here: https://...

In Episode 106 Part 1 the guys have been considering the fact that sometimes they need to decide whether a game should be a minis game, or a card game or something else. Well, Glenn does, Mike just makes it into a minis game anyway. But if you're making the same considerations Glenn has some reasons for why you might go one way rather than another. Check out Man O' Kent Games here: https:/...

In Episode 105 part of Mike's process is to create small games and prototypes with the purpose of breaking them down into other games like some sort of Cronus of game design. Glenn doesn't really do this, but they chat about it here. Check out Man O' Kent Games here: https://www.manokentgames.com Check out Planet Smasher Games here: http://planetsmasher.games The Rule of Carnage discor...

In Episode 104, Mike is now working towards self-publishing some games, having previously worked with a publisher. Glenn is just finishing off a book with a publisher having previously self-published some games. Why did they each make those choices, and can their reasons help you make your own choices? Well, hopefully. Check out Man O' Kent Games here: https://www.manokentgames.com Check out P...

In Episode 103, Mike is pondering what to work on next, and wants to know how Glenn chooses what to work on next, and for that matter, maybe what all of you choose to work on next. Okay? Okay. What's next? Check out Man O' Kent Games here: https://www.manokentgames.com Check out Planet Smasher Games here: http://planetsmasher.games The Rule of Carnage discord server: https://discord.gg/Gb4...

In Episode 102, Glenn has been thinking about the fact that games often offer, as things that life sometimes doesn't, freedom and closure. These two elements, however, seem almost directly contradictory. Also, minis games feel like they almost inevitably give closure, but hardly ever give true freedom. So, can we make a wide and free sandbox minis game? Should we try? All these questions and m...

In Episode 101, Glenn has been pondering the idea of horror as an experience in tabletop games. Horror as genre is extremely popular from Universal movie style monsters to Lovecraftian entities, but very rarely as an experience. It is often based on surprise, but games require pre-knowledge, so how can it be achieved? If it can? Check out Man O' Kent Games here: https://www.manokentgames.com C...

In Episode 100, since Mike's Hobgoblin, a mass battle rank and flank game, is about to reach its final release date and Warhammer: The Old World, a mass battle rank and flank game, has just hit the market, he's been thinking about the relationship between the two. Obviously, Games Workshop is a far bigger company with far more resources than a small independent developer, so how do you exi...

In Episode 99, since the guys are both in the middle of putting together their own rulebooks, Mike has been thinking about what he does, would like to, and maybe should include in his. Specifically, he's been thinking about hobby sections, how to kitbash, build and paint minis for his games. Should you include a hobby section in your book? Is it the modern thing to do? Should it be something w...

In Episode 98, Glenn has been thinking about Boarders and Black Flags, his game of high seas piratical action, and about how he hasn't allow players to stab or shoot each other in it, to make it more fun. Which seems counter intuitive for a game about pirates with cutlasses and muskets and all that, but the lesson he thinks he's learnt is, nothing has to be in your game, no matter how obvi...

In Episode 97, Mike recently watched this video: https://youtu.be/NsMHicoZTzQ?si=AZi0m-apY51LEmwv And was rather excited about the way in which it suggested a methodology for thinking about his creative process. Glenn watched it too and didn't really get it. So Mike's going to explain why it excited him. Then Glenn will probably explain why it didn't excite him. So that should be fun....

In Episode 96, its time to talk about structuring a rulebook. It needs to be done, we put it off for long enough, so here it is. Check out Man O' Kent Games here: https://www.manokentgames.com Check out Planet Smasher Games here: http://planetsmasher.games The Rule of Carnage discord server: https://discord.gg/Gb4aK7uECh If you want to support the channel financially you can join Mike's Pa...

In Episode 95, Mike has been considering resolution systems, many designers of miniatures wargames do, we find it quite comforting. In his consideration Mike has come to the conclusion that they don't really matter. Or rather, which one you use doesn't really matter. Glenn thinks sometimes they do, but yes, mostly they probably don't. Which is probably freeing or something. Check out M...

In Episode 94 there are many words, we have all the words, good ones and slippery little buggers alike. Must, May, Can, Should, Within, Without, Into, all are fine and splendid and rarely ever cause problems for anyone in day to day life. But the writing of rules is not day to day life, and in that these blighters cause all manner of problems. The guys disagree over the best use and meaning of May...

In Episode 93 when you create a game you create a world, which is great, but how should you visually represent it? Should you go with evocative drawings, expensive and lengthy to commission, but offering players freedom and inspiration, maybe too much freedom? Or should you go for photographs of inspiring, even intimidating tabletops, allowing people to see exactly what a game in play really looks...

The guys take a break from their usual rules discussion and analysis to take a little look back over 2023 at what they've played, what they've worked on, what has inspired them and what they intend to work on in the coming year. Thanks to all of you for following the channel, and a happy festive season to you all. Check out Man O' Kent Games here: https://www.manokentgames.com Check ou...

In Episode 92 when you create a game you create a world, which is great, but how specific should you be about that world? How much creativity should you leave players to build their own version of it, and what exactly does specificity look like in terms of games? These questions and more go totally unanswered in this chat. Glenn and Mike are the developer and designer respectively of games such as...

It can happen that halfway through a design that you realize it isn't what you thought it was, that an important mechanic doesn't really matter, or that the setting isn't fitting the game. You may well wonder if you should change whatever's working, if its central to the game. You should. Glenn and Mike are the developer and designer respectively of games such as Gaslands, Gaslands...

Many games choose to present themselves as being part of a dichotomy where on one side there is narrative and the other is competitive, as though a game can only be one or the other. We think that's pretty much utter bunk. The two just are not connected, a game can be neither, or both. So let's all agree to stop pretending otherwise shall we? Glenn and Mike are the developer and designer r...

Games are what your players spend most of their time doing. In most minis games, what players have to spend their time doing is experiencing downtime. Your game's downtime defines the nature of your game and its player's experience of it. So its worth thinking very hard about it. Glenn and Mike are the developer and designer respectively of games such as Gaslands, Gaslands: Refuelled and A...

Every game needs to find its audience, however good it is, if a game doesn't get to the right people it'll never get played, or at least, not more than once. How do you find the right people, or at least, how do you let them find you, or at least work out who they are? Goodness knows really, but here are a few guesses. Glenn and Mike are the developer and designer respectively of games suc...

Why are we even doing any of this? Not in a downer way, but does the world need the game you're working on? Does it need any games, yours or ours. Yes, obviously, but why? Let's figure that out. Glenn and Mike are the developer and designer respectively of games such as Gaslands, Gaslands: Refuelled and A Billion Suns and here they talk about how, why and sometimes if to design tabletop mi...