The Episode Without Master

October 8th, 2025  |  Season 2  |  59 mins 20 secs

game design, swords without master

The Season of Swords is upon us! Nathan and Eppy talk about Eppy's sword & sorcery classic Swords Without Master, how it came to be, how it works, and what's next for the game: a full standalone release, coming early 2026!

The TBR Pile Episode

September 17th, 2025  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 3 mins

arcane gems, homework

In this episode we tackle our to-be-read piles of recent game acquisitions for our homework, highlighting more recent work that we've both been digging and finding some common themes across different genres and types of game. We then talk about "instructional" and "non-instructional" text in games, what that divide even means, and pursue some questions that that brings up for our own work.

The Playtesting Episode

September 3rd, 2025  |  Season 1  |  51 mins 56 secs

conventions, play design, train of thought

In this episode Eppy leads off with a hot take about playtesting, leading us to a discussion of the multiple purposes of playtests, playstorming, techniques for effective playtests, and an introduction of a new feature of the Unwritten Earths Symposium Discord: Playtest Tuesdays!

The Ludography Episode

August 13th, 2025  |  Season 1  |  54 mins 51 secs

arcane gems, game discovery

In this episode we do our game design homework of looking through game ludographies to chase down a chain of influence. It's a fun journey and we end up in very different places for our arcane gems! We also give an update on the Adventurer & Hobbyist Annual 2025, coming out soon!

The Sailing Episode

July 30th, 2025  |  Season 1  |  55 mins 2 secs

game design

In this episode we talk about handling multiple ongoing projects as full-time working creative people, and then Nathan brings a game idea for discussion: a game that creates or invokes the simultaneous closed-in-ness and open-ness of sailing. We have some fun ideas for creating slow-burn drama with constrained resources. Have we.... made a game yet?

The Spiralbound Episode

July 16th, 2025  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 3 mins

arcane gems, game discovery

In this episode we go to the copyshop to dig up spiralbound games for our game discovery homework, and get deep into the weeds on both format and substance of our picks.

The Podcation Episode

June 25th, 2025  |  Season 1  |  57 mins 38 secs

train of thought

In this laid-back episode we chat about greeting cards and inspiration from non-games for game formats, follow a train of thought about using Valentine's Day exchange as a game mechanic, and check in with each other about how ideas and inspiration from previous episodes are coming together for new game projects.

The Nat Barmore Episode

June 11th, 2025  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 21 mins

arcane gems, game discovery, visiting scholar

In this episode, we welcome Dread co-creator Nat Barmore to the show, try to surprise each other with Arcane Gems from deep cuts in our collections, and talk about Nat's current projects. We talk about Dread, keeping horror campaigns going in long-term play, and approaching real-world cultural conflicts in game design. Thanks for joining us, Nat!

The White Whale Episode

May 28th, 2025  |  Season 1  |  50 mins 41 secs

game design

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.

The Hidden Information Episode

May 14th, 2025  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 5 mins

arcane gems, game discovery

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.

The Trends Episode

April 30th, 2025  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 1 min

arcane gems, game discovery

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.

The Ritual Episode

April 16th, 2025  |  Season 1  |  57 mins 11 secs

design, train of thought

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!