Unwritten Earths Symposium

In this episode we talk about our "white whale" game design projects, both those we're currently in pursuit of and those we managed, at long last, to catch. Show Notes: We talk about these Robin Hoods: Howard Pyle's The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire (1883), Robin of Sherwood (1984-1986), Disney's Robin Hood (1973), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Robin Hoo...

In this episode we give a production update on the Annual 2025 before measuring our shelves for game discovery. Our homework happened to have a shared theme of hidden information, and we end up discussing the idea of "sleight of hand" to create moments of magic in play. Games Discussed: Lacuna Part 1: The Creation of the Mystery and the Girl from Blue City (second attempt) Castle Falkenstein Burni...

In this episode we come back from game discovery sabbatical to talk about some esoteric picks from our itch.io libraries, and then discuss how we approach and interact with trends in the larger ttrpg industry, in game design, and in how those intersect for us. Show Notes: We are now recording on Discord, in case things sound different Dissidia Final Fantasy (2008) The Lost Room (2006) (shoutout to...

In this episode we talk about building rituals in and for play, follow a train of thought about building in "blessings" for each other into gameplay, discuss the joy of dice, and come back from sabbatical to assign game discovery homework. Reminder: The Adventurer & Hobbyist Annual 2025 Kickstarter is live through the end of April! Show Notes: Primetime Adventures Star Trek: Lower Decks Time a...

Welcome to the Adventurer & Hobbyist Annual 2025! In this episode, we discuss the scenarios in our inaugural Unwritten Earths Symposium publication, design considerations for making these "system-adventurous" scenarios, and the origins of the project. Check out the show notes for a link to the Kickstarter, and thanks for all your support so far! Back the Annual on Kickstarter (live through the...

Oops, all Game Discovery! In this episode we do a brief overview of the history of TTRPGS (truly-true roleplaying games), each picking a game to highlight from our birth years in each decade from the 1970s to the 2020s. We delve into some 2010s highlights for Arcane Gems, but this is a good framework for us to talk about our personal game histories as well as chart high-level changes in game desig...

No, it's not a 4-hour episode! After talking about our game discovery homework guided by games we'd be excited to play at a convention (or elsewhere), we dive into how our experiences going to conventions and playing games in specific time slots has shaped our game design. Out inaugural project, the Adventurer & Hobbyist Annual 2025 set of time-spanning game scenarios, is coming to Kickstarter...

In this Plus Expenses we talk about: Articulating the Unwritten Earths Symposium and how it gives us productive constraints, repetition is the brevity of the soul, Voyagers! , The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, King Con by Stephen J. Cannell, Scarecrow and Mrs. King , Samurai Champloo , coming full circle on physical media, preserving obscure media, pulp fiction literally pulping, the Rockfo...

In this episode we discuss the arcane gems found within games we would play with our moms, give some updates on what's happening in the discord, and field a great question about productive constraints in design and play. Show Notes: Iron Game Chef: Historical - Summary Iron Game Chef: Historical - Forum Games We Talked About: Zombie Cinema Grey Cells Swords Without Master (in Issue 3 of Worlds Wit...

In this episode we talk about a Groundhog Day-inspired convention concept, some thoughts on setting design, where we're at with tricking each other into designing a game, and we field some listener questions about where to stay on top of TTRPG happenings and constraints on the design process (more of which we'll be talking about next time). Listeners, where do you find games? Get in touch and let...

In this episode we do our color-guided homework, explore the realm of rpg fiction written by people who haven't played rpgs (?), and talk about Epidiah "The Night Writer" Ravachol's handwriting strategy. Show Notes: Hobgoblin by John Coyne Witch and Wombat by Carolyn Cushman The CATS method is by Patrick O'Leary , and can be found in the TTRPG Safety Toolkit   Games We Talked About: Necronaut...

In this episode we lay out the template for Coffee & Game Design, assign some homework, delve into the archives for some Arcane Gems, share a war story and field a listener question about promoting our games. Show Notes: Color Contrast Bot on Mastodon Spencer Campbell's Unsung Hero thread on Bluesky Game We Talked About: The Shadow of Yesterday (html page with full text of the game) The Shadow...

In this Cursed Episode, despite being interrupted by a power outage we talk about some juicy Arcane Gems within our game discovery homework, and talk about our current works in progress. Show Notes: From the Guardian: "‘It’s game over for facts’: how vibes came to rule everything from pop to politics" The Ashcan Front Games We Talked About: Acts of Evil by Paul Czege Atlantis: the Second Age (this...

Show Notes: Horse Armor (from Elder Scrolls, not World of Warcraft) The box that turns itself off is also called a useless machine Eppy tried to calculate the number of deck shuffle possibilies in The Shrike but it was too many Games We Talked About: The game where you play a sword is Wield by John Wick and Gillian Fraser the d1 RPG The Shrike And there's more: Unwritten Earths Symposium Our Patre...

In this Plus Expenses we talk about: It’s the official “crossover” Plus Expenses, James Garner handing off a baton to a wizard, feelings about ending Two Hundred a Day (but Two Hundred a Day will remain!), actually ending a thing, starting a new podcast: Unwritten Earths Symposium , how Plus Expenses will fit into the new show, the early days of Dread, building our new Discord so it’s a place wher...

Welcome to the Unwritten Earths Symposium Podcast! On Episode 0, game designers Nathan D. Paoletta and Epidiah Ravachol introduce themselves, talk about the Symposium, and then uncover some arcane games from their game discovery homework. Have we designed a game yet? In this episode, we mentioned: Land of Nodd Stories From the Grave the d1 RPG The Shrike And there's more: Unwritten Earths Symposiu...