web01.fireside.fm Wed, 27 May 2026 14:16:23 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Unwritten Earths Symposium - Episodes Tagged with “Scholars” https://unwrittenearths.fireside.fm/tags/scholars Wed, 27 May 2026 06:00:00 -0700 Welcome to the Unwritten Earths Symposium! In each episode, tabletop RPG designers Nathan D. Paoletta and Epidiah Ravachol try to trick each other into designing a game they wouldn't otherwise make. en-us episodic Discovering and designing genre-defining tabletop RPGs. Unwritten Earths Symposium Welcome to the Unwritten Earths Symposium! In each episode, tabletop RPG designers Nathan D. Paoletta and Epidiah Ravachol try to trick each other into designing a game they wouldn't otherwise make. no TTRPG, tabletop, games, rpg, design, game design Unwritten Earths Symposium provost@unwrittenearths.com The Prompts & Standards Episode https://unwrittenearths.fireside.fm/38 6c6d465c-1ae2-4cf7-b1b3-58597c40de75 Wed, 27 May 2026 06:00:00 -0700 Unwritten Earths Symposium 38 The Prompts & Standards Episode full 2 Unwritten Earths Symposium 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. 1:02:06 no <p>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.</p> <p>Show Notes:</p> <ul> <li>Jorge Luis Borges Quote (from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garden_of_Forking_Paths" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The Garden of Forking Paths</a>): "Writing long books is a laborious and impoverishing act of foolishness: expanding in five hundred pages an idea that could be perfectly explained in a few minutes. A better procedure is to pretend that those books already exist and to offer a summary, a commentary."</li> <li><a href="https://www.backwardstabletop.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Asa Donald/Backwards Tabletop</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poul_Anderson" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Poul Anderson</a>, author of The Broken Sword and Three Hearts and Three Lions</li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Design_of_Everyday_Things" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The Design of Everyday Things</a> by Donald Norman</li> <li>Jack Vance's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_Earth" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Dying Earth</a></li> </ul> <p>Games Mentioned:</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://dig1000holes.wordpress.com/vast-starlit/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Vast &amp; Starlit</a></li> <li><a href="https://dig1000holes.wordpress.com/what-is-a-roleplaying-game/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">What Is a Roleplaying Game</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usagi_Yojimbo_Role-Playing_Game" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Sanguine Games' Usagi Yojimbo</a></li> <li><a href="http://apocalypse-world.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Apocalypse World</a></li> <li><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/420087/flip-7" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Flip 7</a></li> </ul> <p>And there's more:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://unwrittenearths.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Unwritten Earths Symposium</a></li> <li><a href="https://patreon.com/UnwrittenEarths" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Our Patreon</a></li> <li><a href="https://discord.gg/cgJa5hWcVq" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Join the Discord</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.ndpdesign.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Nathan's games</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.dig1000holes.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Eppy's games</a></li> <li><a href="https://willjobst.carrd.co" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Music by Will Jobst</a> </li> </ul> game design, ttrpgs, indie games, indie game publishing, playtesting, rpgs, challenges 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.

Show Notes:

Games Mentioned:

And there's more:

]]> 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.

Show Notes:

Games Mentioned:

And there's more:

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