Unwritten Earths Symposium - Episodes Tagged with “Game Design”

The Works In Progress Episode

Unwritten Earths Symposium — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 06:00:00 -0700

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.

Show Notes:

Two Hundred a Day "Live" Episode with Emily Care Boss
Numberphile "Cones Are Messed Up" (Martini Glass Video)
Maid Marian and Her Merry Men (BBC series)

Games Mentioned:

Remember Tomorrow
Bullwinkle & Rocky Role-Playing Party Game
Jason Morningstar’s The Skeletons
Rogue Trader (2009), but Nathan was probably playing Dark Heresy (2008)

And there's more:

The Hacks Episode

Unwritten Earths Symposium — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 06:00:00 -0800

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.

Show Notes:

Eppy plays Swords Without Master with New Edge Sword & Sorcery
New Edge's 2026 Backerkit (runs through March 14!)
List of Games that Blew our Minds, courtesy of Camilla Zamboni

Games Mentioned:

And there's more:

The Mind-Blown Episode

Unwritten Earths Symposium — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 06:00:00 -0800

Nathan and Eppy assigned homework off-mic, to discuss some games that showcase thinking about games in a way we never would have, or that made such an impression on us that we've made them part of our toolkits. We discuss what we mean by our minds being blown, then go over our lists. Then, we assign homework for next episode: to sketch out what one of our works-in-progress would look like, if we used one of our mind-blowing influences as a model! We're still aiming to make new games this season, and this was a really productive conversation to help us both along.

Show Notes:

Friday the 13th: The Series
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Avery Alder
Central Michigan University Press is republishing The Mountain Witch Art & System: Games for Expanded Play

Games Mentioned:

The Mountain Witch
Teen Witch
Still Life via Golden Cobra
Remember Tomorrow
Bullwinkle & Rocky Role-Playing Party Game
1001 Nights
Black Sun Deathcrawl
Darkpages (Aschan)
Apocalypse World (Read a Sitch, specifically)
Urban Jungle

And there's more:

The Survey Episode

Unwritten Earths Symposium — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 06:00:00 -0800

In this episode, Nathan and Eppy respond to listener feedback, talk about a recent play experience, and then go through some of the projects we're each working on or thinking about that are not the One Without Master. It's a high-level survey of where we're at, game-design-wise, going into 2026!

Check out Soapbox Game Mechanics! It's from All My Friends Are Stories (Patreon), they have some of the games for sale here, and here's the youtube channel. Eppy's episode hasn't been posted at the time of recording, but should be up eventually!

Show Notes:

At the Edge: Art of the Fantastic (Allentown Art Museum)
Bryant Johnson
Jennifer Adcock - check out The Price of Coal and Dollhouse D.R.A.M.A.
Kenny Omega vs Haruka (age 9)
Invisible Man vs. Invisible Stan (TWO invisible wrestlers!)
Apple Human Interface Guidelines

Games Mentioned:

Quest RPG
Mork Borg - Bare Bones Edition (the plain text version)
Necronautilus
Gamma World 7E
Prince Valiant Storytelling RPG
Five Star Match
Plasmodics: mutant freaks in the weird future

And there's more:

The Constraints Episode

Unwritten Earths Symposium — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 03:00:00 -0800

In this episode, Eppy brings a discussion of "technological" creative constraints in game design. We talk about what this means in the context of tabletop, how constraints surface through the design, and how we handle them as designers. This builds on our recent episode about design surfaces, and is ultimately another part of a long-term conversation about, well, game design! We also do our final homework for 2025, bringing some holidays from different projects in our back catalogue to celebrate the season.

This is our last episode of the year, and we'll be taking a few weeks off over the holidays. See you in 2026, Scholars!

Show Notes:

Missile Command Box Cover
Yar’s Revenge (and many other similar cover + gameplay images)
Sorcerer: An Intense Roleplaying Game by Ron Edwards
The Shrike
Vampire: the Requiem
Trial & Terror: Supernatural Victims Unit (free download!)
Fantasy World
The City of Fire & Coin

And there's more:

The Surfaces Episode

Unwritten Earths Symposium — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 03:00:00 -0800

In this episode, Nathan and Eppy report back on their recent work on PET CRIMES, centering on making digital tools for play. This leads into a discussion of the concept of designing the "surfaces" of your game - what are the things (physical, relational, temporal) that you need to design in order to enable someone to play? This is just the start of this conversation, but it feels like a useful framework as we continue to make games in this season of the podcast!

Patrons are getting access to PET CRIMES and it's associated digital tools as we develop them. Join them for just $3/month over at our Patreon!

Show Notes:

One More Thing online playspace (Google Sheet)
Eppy's game Vast and Starlit
Jason Morningstar's The Skeletons

And there's more:

The Card Concepts Episode

Unwritten Earths Symposium — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 03:00:00 -0800

In this all-homework episode, we each bring an initial sketch of the cards that could drive each of our card-based game concepts. Nathan's "Big Lore" game explores using card decks to reveal things about the game world and guide character progression, while Eppy's "Exploration Legacy" game uses cards to map out geography as well as encounter types for a game that becomes more unique the more its played. This is early-stage concept stuff, so listen in to hear how the vegan sausage is made!

Check out our Patreon for a post that includes the images of the cards we describe in this episode (no subscription required!)

Games Mentioned:

Search for the Emperor's Treasure, by Tom Wham
Minion Hunter from GDW Games
The Best of Dragon Magazine Games

And there's more:

The Season Two Premiere Episode

Unwritten Earths Symposium — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 03:00:00 -0700

We're moving into the next season of our podcast! In this one, Nathan and Eppy talk about how we're turning from the scholarly side of our project to the instructional side, and how our show homework is changing to match. What this means for our listeners is that you'll be hearing more about new game designs and works in progress, and less research and hunting out arcane gems from other games. Thanks for listening, Scholars!

Remember to sign up for the Swords Without Master fixup campaign, coming early 2026.

And there's more:

The Episode Without Master

Unwritten Earths Symposium — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 03:00:00 -0700

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!

Show Notes:

Swords Without Master is in Worlds Without Master, Issue 3 (for now...)
We're pumped to welcome Shel Kahn as our Art Director for the project.

And there's more:

The Sailing Episode

Unwritten Earths Symposium — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 03:00:00 -0700

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?

Show Notes:

And there's more:

The White Whale Episode

Unwritten Earths Symposium — Wed, 28 May 2025 03:00:00 -0700

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 Hood: Men in Tights (1993), Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales (1997)

Games Mentioned:

And there's more: