Ludology

Sen and Erica talk with Ellie Dix about her work in making corporate games. Whether they're to increase brand recognition or for team building and training purposes, Ellie describes her process when designing games outside of the hobby sphere.

Erica and Sen welcome Sarah Shipp, guest host of the Thinking Beyond Mechanisms segment, to talk about events in game design. Sarah talks about how to use well-designed events to provide variety, increase challenge, change up the narrative, and more when it comes to design a tabletop game.

Erica and Sen welcome Matt Leacock to talk about one of the hobby's staples - Pandemic. First published in 2008, the Pandemic system has been expanded and used to fight viruses, rising tides, Elder Gods, and now - the forces of evil that seek the One Ring. They talk all things Pandemic, from it's ideation to its many iterations, from fighting back chain reaction of diseases on Earth to fighting back hordes of orcs and other minions of Sauron in Middle Earth. 

This week, special guest host Steph Campbell discusses the importance of why learning should be fun and how TTRPGs can bring fun to what can be a very complex situation.

Erica and Sen talk to Matt Gubser, modeler and comedian, about his work in the tabletop industry and the shift from traditional to digital modeling techniques.

In this special guest episode, Sen and Erica welcome Sarah Shipp to talk about how designers can raise the stakes to strengthen a game's hook, taking it from bland to bold!

Sen and Erica welcome Evan Derrick from Van Ryder Games to discuss the past, present, and future of Final Girl - a highly expandable, solo, horror boardgame co-designed by Evan and AJ Porfirio. Evan talks about the game from inception to evolution and gives us some insight into what makes it tick. 

Steph Campbell brings their segment, TTRPGKids, to Ludology. This week, they breakdown their TTRPG "Photosynthians" that they made as a resource to demonstrate how to teach science with TTRPGs and how to integrate lesson plans and other classroom basics into the game itself for designers.  The game is free and part of the classroom-ready toolkit that Steph made and is available here: https://ttrpgkids.itch.io/the-classroom-ready-ttrpg-toolkit (name your price)  

Sen and Erica welcome guest host Sarah Shipp to her segment, Thinking Beyond Mechanisms. In this installment, Sarah looks at designing games that ask players to be creative. Sarah examines some of the common pitfalls you can encounter when you ask players create content for the game and discusses how to avoid them.

Sen and Erica welcome Professor Camilla Zamboni to discuss "Roll for Learning", a book she co-edited that contains 51 microRPGs that are intended for use in K-12+ classrooms in fields as diverse as STEM, SEL, and the Humanities.  You can download the pdf of the book for free here: https://playstorypress.org/books/roll-for-learning/  

In this episode of TTRPGKids, Steph Campbell provides excellent ideas on how to use TTRPGs to teach STEM subjects in the classroom and at home.

In this Host Roundtable, Erica and Sen talk about the importance of understanding who the audience for a specific game is during the design, development, and publication process. They discuss some of the ways in which they determine who the audience is and how knowing the key characteristics and desires of the demographic can help them make a game that satisfies the core consumer by design.

On this month's installment of Thinking Beyond Mechanisms, special guest host, Sarah Shipp, dives into the mechanism of bluffing and gives her thoughts on why it's more that merely mechanical.

Sen speaks with Nick Yu while their families are on vacation together in the Berkshires - so a very smol con, indeed. They discuss an IP they are working on with the creator called Tankhead by Emerson Tung (www.emersontung.com/tankhead). The two discuss their journey in designing a series of games for potential self-publication along with a plan to document their progress in a short form monthly podcast series.

In this episode of TTRPGKids, Steph Campbell differentiates between an RPG that could be used in an educational setting and an one that is classroom-ready! Steph provides a list of all the things you need to move from A to B in about an hour!

Sen and Erica welcome Jay Cormier of Off the Page Games to the podcast to talk about his penchant for making puzzley games that make players feel clever while giving them a sense of exploration and adventure, Jay discusses his first time at PAXU as well as his newest releases, Corps of Discovery and Design Your Destiny.

In this installment of Thinking Beyond Mechanisms, Erica and Sen welcome host Sarah Shipp to talk about failure and how loss can drive gameplay.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to keep a FLGS afloat in this age of online retailers and Amazon Prime? Sen and Erica welcome Caleb Wunderlich, Assistant Manager at Millennium Games in Rochester, NY - the biggest game store in the USA - to talk about building community, running events, and catering to customers' needs.

Erica and Sen welcome guest host Steph Campbell to talk about Arithmagine (https://luckoflegends.itch.io/arithmagine), a setting-agnositic TTRPG focused on teaching mathematics, on this episode of TTRPGKids.  

Sen and Erica welcome former host Scott Rogers back to the show to dive into his latest book, "Your Turn: The Guide to Great Tabletop Game Design" and tell us what he's been up to as of late. 

Sen and Erica welcome special guest host Sarah Shipp for her segment, Thinking Beyond Mechanisms. In this episode, Sarah discusses Game Theory and the importance of studying the design of tabletop games in a more academic manner.

Erica and Sen welcome Theresa Duringer to talk about her role as a tabletop game app developer at Temple Gates Games. They discuss what it takes to make an app translation of a tabletop hit, what some differences might be between the physical and digital versions, how the AI opponents are trained, and more!

Sen and Erica welcome Dr. Mary Flanagan and Max Seidman from Resonym Games to talk about their latest game, Phantom Ink, that has generated a lot of buzz around the industry as it made the SdJ short list for 2024. They discuss design, international licensing, and even the afterlife!

Sen and Erica welcome special guest host Steph Campbell who brings you their latest segment, TTRPGKids. This week, Steph talks about how to incorporate math into games in the classroom and at the dinner table.

In this episode of Thinking Beyond Mechanisms, Sen and Erica welcome guest host Sarah Shipp as she takes on the contentious issue of Take That mechanicsms but frames it in terms of player investment to shed light on when the mechanism in question might rub people the wrong way and when it might be exactly what's needed to spice up a game.

Sen and Erica talk to Jonathan Chaffer, designer and illustrator of the Holiday Hijinks series of 18-card puzzle games. We chat about Jonathan's take on puzzle design, his use of technology to drive the component-light system, and his opinion on things like clues vs. hints and the concept of red herrings.

Erica and Sen welcome guest host, Steph Campbell, as they talk about how parents and educators can use TTRPGs to foster a love of learning in young students in this 16th installment of TTRPGKids.

Sen and Erica welcome Daniel Cunningham (AKA Iron Kitten Games) to discuss his role as a mechanical engineer and how he parlays those skills into helping publishers design storage trays, dice towers, and cardboard constructibles for modern tabletop games.  

Erica and Sen welcome special guest (and new mom!), Sarah Shipp, back to her role on the Ludology Network as the host of Thinking Beyond Mechanisms. In this episode, Sarah talks about the concept of perception and how game designers need to hone their skills in this area, particularly when it comes to playtesting.

Erica and Sen talk to Michael Orion of www.rollingwizards.com about his recent move to Vietnam and his thoughts on the country's developing game design scene and, more broadly, the tabletop scene across South East Asia.

In this episode of Pros and Cons, Sen talks to Steph, Gordon, and Liam at Origins 2023 as they were getting ready for their biggest Kickstarter to date: Mistwind designed by Daryl Andrews and Adrian Adamescu which is currently making a splash!

In this interview, Sen talks to Jessica Geyer, President of the Indie Game Developers Network (https://www.igdnonline.com/) at Origins 2023 to find out what the IGDN can do for indie game devs and how that differs from the Tabletop Game Designers Association (TTGDN) would like to offer members.

In this episode, Sen interviews Smoox Chen at the Gathering of Friends in 2023, talking about his work with Taiwan Boardgames Design and how he's trying to get more eyes on games by Taiwanese designers.

This week, special guest host Steph Campbell tells us about the TTRPG Inspirisles and breaks down the specifics of what makes it "educational" beyond it simply being a TTRPG. 

Sen and Erica welcome Lin Codega and Chase Carter from Rascal News to talk about the importance of independent journalism in the tabletop gaming space.  Rascal News has a few weeks left in their funding drive, so if you value the independent press, support efforts like theirs at www.rascal.news

Sen and Erica interview Rebecca Strang, a librarian and game designers who promotes gaming in libraries and is active on the Gaming Round Table of the American Library Association. Rebecca was also recently featured in "Games for a Rainy Day," a book with 54 micro-games, puzzles, and more. Why do boardgames and libraries go hand in hand? Let's find out!

In this installment of TTRPGKids, Special Guest Host Steph Campbell talks about how TTRPGs can be used in the classroom to help students gain social and emotional learning (SEL) skills.

Sen talks to Patrick Leder from Leder Games at Origins 2023 in this installment of Pros and Cons. We're almost caught up with 2023's shows and we're recording 2024's Pros and Cons episodes right now! So much more to come!

Sen interviews Matt Faulisi, marketing manager at Skybound Tabletop, at Origins 2023. The Pros and Cons series continues in 2024 and we'll be slowly releasing those over the 2024/2025 season, first to Patreon subscribers and later in the schedule. Thanks for listening!

Sen and Erica welcome Whitney Red Loraine to the podcast to talk about how her experiences as a boardgame cafe owner / operator has informed her as she transitioned to become a boardgame designer. 

To start off their second year with Ludology, Steph Campbell of TTRPGKids sets the stage for the next 12 episodes that will deal with using TTRPGs for educational purposes. They start the discussion off by talking about the various ways that TTRPGs can help students connect more with learning materials versus more traditional routes.

Sen and Erica welcome Nat Delaney-John and Cam Jasson, creators and publishers of That Sound Game - a noisy game for weird people to Ludology to talk about how they connected with their audience in order to take a different road to publication than what it typically done these days.

Erica and Sen welcome Mandi Hutchinson from Salt & Sass to talk about trends in videogames using tabletop gaming mechanisms as well as ports from the console to the tabletop.

Special Guest Host Steph Campbell gives several suggestions on how to keep a good pace for younger players through using story and shifting focus from player to player while playing TTRPGs at home or in the classroom.

Sen and Erica interview Rita Orlov, the mind behind the enchanting and challenging Postcurious line of puzzle games, or puzzletales as she calls them. Find out more about how Rita conceptualizes, designs, and tests her games and what's so intriguing about them.

Sen talks with the always awesome Omari Akil at Origins 2023. They talk about making games, making music, and making authenticity the goal for the next year. 

In her 10th installment, special guest host Sarah Shipp lends her insights into how thematic win condition not only drive play, but allow for better immersion.

TTRPG Kids' host Steph Campbell joins us once again to drop knowledge about how to set up great encounters for your children or students. Whether those encounters are in a familiar system or a new one, whether they focus on combat or puzzles or social relationships, Steph gives great advice to set your kids up for success!

In this episode, Sen and Erica speak with Laia Gonzales, one half of Wonderbow Games about their amazingly successful Kickstarter project, Kelp, and the unfortunate issues that arose because of said success. Laia talks about the illicit copies of Kelp that were being sold even before their campaign ended and the continuous struggle she experiences as she wages war against the counterfeiters.

In the last episode, Sarah Shipp discussed the concept of gates that actively and intentionally restrict player agency as a useful tool for game design. In this episode, she takes a more in depth look at gates that specifically force players to confront loss. Spoiler Alert: if you intend to play the videogames Portal or Death Stranding, you may wish to avoid this episode. The Death Stranding video that Sarah refers to can be seen here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCCfeAvlNeQ

This episode, Erica and Sen welcome David Mullich to the show. David is a game designer and educator who was involved with outlining the requirements for the Game Design Merit Badge for the Boy Scouts of America. We talk about all of the things a Scout must accomplish to earn this badge as well as David's long and storied career in making games.