web01.fireside.fm Wed, 15 Apr 2026 02:48:44 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Unwritten Earths Symposium - Episodes Tagged with “Train Of Thought” https://unwrittenearths.fireside.fm/tags/train%20of%20thought Wed, 17 Dec 2025 03:00:00 -0800 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 Constraints Episode https://unwrittenearths.fireside.fm/29 4e9560aa-12d4-4579-b5bf-5db04798b186 Wed, 17 Dec 2025 03:00:00 -0800 Unwritten Earths Symposium 29 The Constraints Episode full 2 Unwritten Earths Symposium In this episode, Eppy brings a discussion of where the "technological" creative constraints in game design come from. 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 a little on our conversation 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. 1:04:02 no 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 (https://www.thecoverproject.net/view.php?game_id=3666) * Yar’s Revenge (and many other similar cover + gameplay images) (https://retrosecret.com/best-games-for-atari-2600/) * Sorcerer: An Intense Roleplaying Game (https://payhip.com/b/JDT8) by Ron Edwards * The Shrike (https://sadpress.itch.io/the-shrike) * Vampire: the Requiem (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire:_The_Requiem) * Trial & Terror: Supernatural Victims Unit (free download! (https://dig1000holes.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/trial-and-terror-svu-free-edition-v2.pdf)) * Fantasy World (https://fantasyworldrpg.com) * The City of Fire & Coin (https://unwrittenearths.itch.io/the-city-of-fire-coin) And there's more: * Unwritten Earths Symposium (http://unwrittenearths.com) * Our Patreon (https://patreon.com/UnwrittenEarths) * Join the Discord (https://discord.gg/cgJa5hWcVq) * Nathan's games (https://www.ndpdesign.com) * Eppy's games (https://www.dig1000holes.com) * Music by Will Jobst (https://willjobst.carrd.co) game design, ttrpgs, indie games, indie game publishing, playtesting, rpgs, challenges 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:

And there's more:

]]> 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:

And there's more:

]]> The Playtesting Episode https://unwrittenearths.fireside.fm/22 f418d98e-eb4d-4192-9883-68a1f9c1044a Wed, 03 Sep 2025 03:00:00 -0700 Unwritten Earths Symposium 22 The Playtesting Episode full 1 Unwritten Earths Symposium 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! 51:56 no 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! Show Notes: * Playtest Tuesdays are on the Discord (https://discord.gg/cgJa5hWcVq) - you do not need to be a Patreon member to join, and we're aiming at short bursts of targeted play for anyone who would find that helpful. * The JiffyCon (https://jiffycon.blogspot.com) Community site still exists, for posterity! And there's more: * Unwritten Earths Symposium (http://unwrittenearths.com) * Our Patreon (https://patreon.com/UnwrittenEarths) * Join the Discord (https://discord.gg/cgJa5hWcVq) * Nathan's games (https://www.ndpdesign.com) * Eppy's games (https://www.dig1000holes.com) * Music by Will Jobst (https://willjobst.carrd.co) game design, ttrpgs, indie games, indie game publishing, playtesting, rpgs, challenges 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!

Show Notes:

  • Playtest Tuesdays are on the Discord - you do not need to be a Patreon member to join, and we're aiming at short bursts of targeted play for anyone who would find that helpful.
  • The JiffyCon Community site still exists, for posterity!

And there's more:

]]> 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!

Show Notes:

  • Playtest Tuesdays are on the Discord - you do not need to be a Patreon member to join, and we're aiming at short bursts of targeted play for anyone who would find that helpful.
  • The JiffyCon Community site still exists, for posterity!

And there's more:

]]> The Podcation Episode https://unwrittenearths.fireside.fm/18 1e6cfac2-4c09-49c2-a574-ce0407e4120a Wed, 25 Jun 2025 03:00:00 -0700 Unwritten Earths Symposium 18 The Podcation Episode full 1 Unwritten Earths Symposium 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. 57:38 no 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. Games Mentioned: * Kagematsu (https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/55827/kagematsu) * Timeline (https://www.zygomatic-games.com/en/game/timeline-classic/) * Microscope (https://www.lamemage.com/microscope/) And there's more: * Unwritten Earths Symposium (http://unwrittenearths.com) * Our Patreon (https://patreon.com/UnwrittenEarths) * Join the Discord (https://discord.gg/cgJa5hWcVq) * Nathan's games (https://www.ndpdesign.com) * Eppy's games (https://www.dig1000holes.com) * Music by Will Jobst (https://willjobst.carrd.co) game design, ttrpgs, indie games, indie game publishing, playtesting, rpgs, challenges 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.

Games Mentioned:

And there's more:

]]> 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.

Games Mentioned:

And there's more:

]]> The Ritual Episode https://unwrittenearths.fireside.fm/13 8350000e-f16b-41b5-ac00-44f6e8ec612e Wed, 16 Apr 2025 03:00:00 -0700 Unwritten Earths Symposium 13 The Ritual Episode full 1 Unwritten Earths Symposium 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! 57:11 no 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 (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/unwrittenearths/adventure-and-hobbyist-annual-2025?ref=e1y1hq) through the end of April! Show Notes: * Primetime Adventures (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primetime_Adventures) * Star Trek: Lower Decks (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9184820/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1) * Time and Temp (https://unwrittenearths.itch.io/time-temp) * Masks of the Mummy Kings (https://unwrittenearths.itch.io/masks-of-the-mummy-kings) * Our itch.io storefront (https://unwrittenearths.itch.io) And there's more: * Unwritten Earths Symposium (http://unwrittenearths.com) * Our Patreon (https://patreon.com/UnwrittenEarths) * Join the Discord (https://discord.gg/cgJa5hWcVq) * Nathan's games (https://www.ndpdesign.com) * Eppy's games (https://www.dig1000holes.com) * Music by Will Jobst (https://willjobst.carrd.co) game design, ttrpgs, indie games, indie game publishing, playtesting, rpgs, challenges 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:

And there's more:

]]> 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:

And there's more:

]]> Mounts, Death and Music https://unwrittenearths.fireside.fm/03 53c9ddd9-fb29-4e2e-a44d-be9acdb676a5 Wed, 04 Dec 2024 03:00:00 -0800 Unwritten Earths Symposium 03 Mounts, Death and Music full Unwritten Earths Symposium In this episode, we talk about mounts and companions, death in RPGs, and follow a Train of Thought about translating sheet music into playable patterns before delving into our game discovery homework. Have we designed a game yet? 1:07:18 no Show Notes: * Horse Armor (https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/horse-armor) (from Elder Scrolls, not World of Warcraft) * The box that turns itself off is also called a useless machine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useless_machine) * Eppy tried to calculate the number of deck shuffle possibilies in The Shrike but it was too many (https://bsky.app/profile/epidiah.bsky.social/post/3lbxwjatgns2g) Games We Talked About: * The game where you play a sword is Wield (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/131729/wield) by John Wick and Gillian Fraser * the d1 RPG (https://snepshark.itch.io/the-d1-rpg) * The Shrike (https://sadpress.itch.io/the-shrike) And there's more: * Unwritten Earths Symposium (http://unwrittenearths.com) * Our Patreon (https://patreon.com/UnwrittenEarths) * Join the Discord (https://discord.gg/cgJa5hWcVq) * Nathan's games (https://www.ndpdesign.com) * Eppy's games (https://www.dig1000holes.com) * Music by Will Jobst (https://willjobst.carrd.co) game design, ttrpgs, indie games, indie game publishing, playtesting, rpgs, challenges 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:

And there's more:

]]> 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:

And there's more:

]]>