Episodes
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The Fun Episode
August 12th, 2026 | Season 2 | 1 hr 1 min
game design
It's finally time for us to seriously address the elephant in the room for truly-true roleplaying games: fun. We talk about how hard it is to describe fun, what elements of gameplay (can) lead to or combine to create fun, and why "make it fun" isn't a very fruitful design goal. Look, we're game designers, we have to treat fun with the gravitas it deserves!
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The Diction Episode
July 29th, 2026 | Season 2 | 50 mins 29 secs
game design, words
In this episode, we carefully consider our words in order discuss the different purposes served by creating abstractions with your game rules, and how word choices can both result from and drive game design. Remember, 90% of game design is naming things!
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The Small Changes Episode
July 15th, 2026 | Season 2 | 54 mins 10 secs
game design
In this episode, we talk about being at the top of the truly-true Design Ziggurat where small changes have big effects. Specifically, one of the signs that a game is close to done is when enough of the design is settled that an insight that leads to a significant change is just a small thing that doesn't require significant playtesting or changing of anything else. It's not a departure, it's a product of the experience you have with the design.
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Plus Expenses #118
July 1st, 2026 | Season 2 | 50 mins 32 secs
plus expenses
Plus Expenses is our bonus show for Patrons, dropping every other week between our regular episodes. This one is on the public feed for everyone, to round out our Origins Interviews episode with our reflections on the convention. Thanks so much for listening - if you dig this, you can get it for just $5 a month over at our Patreon!
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The Origins 2026 Interviews Episode
June 24th, 2026 | Season 2 | 2 hrs 46 mins
convention, game design, interviews
We went to Origins Game Fair! It was a great time, and we were lucky enough to catch up with old friends and chat with new ones for the show. This episode consists of 6 in-person interview/conversations with game designers, GMs and publishers about Origins, Games on Demand, boothing, and game design theory and practice. We felt extremely fortunate to have the chance to chat with all of these incredible folks, and hope you enjoy the conversations!
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The Sexy Episode
June 10th, 2026 | Season 2 | 1 hr 5 mins
publishing
It's the summer, which means time for a sweaty, exciting episode about... distribution platforms! A new challenger has entered the Arena, and we discuss the role of these digital marketplaces as part of actually getting games into peoples hands, the features and constraints they each have and how those can shape the design of your business, and what's exciting about this new option, rpg-trader.com. Note: we have no relationship with the site other than (as of this release) adding our products to it to see how it goes.
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The Prompts & Standards Episode
May 27th, 2026 | Season 2 | 1 hr 2 mins
scholars, train of thought
We come back from a brief sabbatical to consider a bundle of topics from our Scholars. We talk about prompts in truly true roleplaying games (and reclaiming them from their AI-related meaning), things in our lives we've adopted from games and that we adapt into our game design, and different interpretations of the idea of a "standard" in game design. An assumption, yes, but what about a mode of experimentation, like a Jazz Standard? This is one of our more after-hours style conversations that touches on lots of the things we're always thinking about.
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The Works In Progress Episode
April 29th, 2026 | Season 2 | 1 hr 5 mins
game design, homework
Nathan and Eppy finally turn in their spring semester homework, discussing where they are at with The Marian and Robin Roleplaying Party Game (and spinners!), and Fair Winds and Following Seas (and music!), respectively. Informed by both formal exploration and input from Scholars over at our Discord, both of these games are starting to get somewhere.
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The Haters Episode
April 15th, 2026 | Season 2 | 59 mins 1 sec
mailroom, swords without master
No, this isn't about games we don't like; following up on a question from our Wisdom Episode, we talk about the parts of making games that are not fun, from merely boring all the way to actively hate. This turns into a conversation about how we get through those periods, how the unique nature of truly true roleplaying games makes perfection impossible, and harnessing the hate that flows through you for good. We balance that out with an update on something we're loving right now, the incoming artwork for Swords Without Master!
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The Wisdom Episode
April 1st, 2026 | Season 2 | 50 mins 36 secs
publishing, wisdom
As is tradition on this first day of April, Nathan and Eppy are going through some of the wisdom we've accumulated as self-publishers over the years, in hopes it'll help out those who are starting their game design journey. We try to address some of the basic questions that you might not know you should be asking, and talk about the core work of finding an audience, benefits and drawbacks of different kinds of conventions, designing your business like it's a game, and starting small in order to give yourself the space to learn and grow. If there's any fools today it's going to be us, but hopefully this is helpful - and if raises further questions, please get in touch so we can continue this conversation!
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The (First) Mailroom Episode
March 18th, 2026 | Season 2 | 53 mins 21 secs
mailroom
In this episode, we visit the mailroom to field some listener questions! We discuss design rituals that we each have, the experience of having games or mechanics fall flat for us in play, and some potential homework for future episodes. The conversation includes digressions into spinner design, playtesting our way out of mechanics that don't work, and how we approach disappointing experiences as something to learn from. Thanks for all the mail!
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The Hacks Episode
March 4th, 2026 | Season 2 | 1 hr 55 secs
game design, homework
In this episode, Nathan and Eppy report back about their "do this with that" homework assignment. Eppy debuts The Marion and Robin Party Roleplaying Game, and Nathan outlines how Remember Tomorrow reconfigures Fair Winds and Following Seas. Then, we reflect on how using other games as the basis of new work (hacks, if you will) can be a really helpful part of the game design process.