Podcast appearances and mentions of sean nittner

The crew of El Tigre del Mar get crabs! Featured Music: "Weekend" by jo passed and "No One Like U" by CJ Wiley Odyssey Aquatica (Old Dog Games) is a 1960s oceanographic adventure playset for the PARAGON system from the AGON roleplaying game. AGON is designed by John Harper and Sean Nittner. Dungeon Punks is recorded and produced by Kirk Hamilton. Super U is played using Masks: A New Generation. ——— Support the show on Patreon: patreon.com/dungeonpunks Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Follow us on Bluesky @dungeonpunks.bsky.social, Instagram/Threads @DungeonPunks or subscribe on YouTube Come hang out on our Discord channel! Find the Songs From Bands We Like on our Spotify and YouTube Music playlists. ——— ODYSSEY AQUATICA CAST: Stu Popp as The GM aka Everyone's Podcast Dad™ aka The Director Taylor Ramone as Mingus Fil Cieplak as Jacob Isaacs Kirk Hamilton as Max Tenta Leigh Eldridge as Jill Brody

Check your colour palette, get everything symmetrical, and put on your toque because Dungeon Punks are going aquatic! Join the crew of El Tigre del Mar as they head out on expedition to the Shirahama Offshore Comprehensive Experiment Tower and try to find the sea creature(s?) troubling the locals. Featured Music: "resort towns" by houseguest and "help myself" by Yawn Odyssey Aquatica (Old Dog Games) is a 1960s oceanographic adventure playset for the PARAGON system from the AGON roleplaying game. AGON is designed by John Harper and Sean Nittner. Dungeon Punks is recorded and produced by Kirk Hamilton. Super U is played using Masks: A New Generation. ——— Support the show on Patreon: patreon.com/dungeonpunks Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Follow us on Bluesky @dungeonpunks.bsky.social, Instagram/Threads @DungeonPunks or subscribe on YouTube Come hang out on our Discord channel! Find the Songs From Bands We Like on our Spotify and YouTube Music playlists. ——— ODYSSEY AQUATICA CAST: Stu Popp as The GM aka Everyone's Podcast Dad™ aka The Director Taylor Ramone as Mingus Fil Cieplak as Jacob Isaacs Kirk Hamilton as Max Tenta Leigh Eldridge as Jill Brody

Transcripts available at diceexploder.comHeart: the City Beneath. It's a surreal and bloody dungeon crawler full of so much to love… plus some bits that drive me up the wall. This week and next I'm devoting TWO episodes to it. Today, it's everything I love about Heart as seen through the lens of zenith abilities: epic things that let players take control of the game and do something gigantic and fucking cool… before killing their character.I'm joined by ardent Heart-lover Aaron Voigt, aka the guy who makes the indie rpg video essays on YouTube. We get into Heart's spectacular setting, the act of handing story agency over to players, and the joys of playing to lose. Then come back next week for part two with more Heart and more Aaron!AdsRust Never Sleeps, a solo blackjack mecha rpgFurther ReadingHeart: the City Beneath by Rowan, Rook and DecardSpire: the City Must Fall by Rowan, Rook and DecardSanfielle by Friends At The TableAgon 2e by Sean Nittner and John HarperSocialsAaron on Bluesky, itch, YouTube, and PatreonSam on Bluesky and itchThe Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.comOur logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!Support Dice Exploder on Patreon!

Welcome to the final episode of series 71! In this series, we are thrilled to welcome Sean Nittner, Director of Projects at Evil Hat Productions and co-designer for the game we are covering in this series, AGON, a game where you play as heroes of myth and legend, prove the glory of your name, and win your way back home! In today's episode, we finish up our discussion and cover some really interesting game design points along the way! Character Creation Cast Patreon https://patreon.com/charactercreationcast Announcements: Help Tracy Barnett and family! https://gofund.me/742f4f73 Our social media info: https://contact.charactercreationcast.com Leave us reviews in any, or all, of these places: Character Creation Cast on Apple Podcasts (The best place to leave reviews for us) https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/character-creation-cast/id1363822066?mt=2&ls=1 Character Creation Cast on Podchaser https://podchaser.com/CharacterCreationCast Guests Sean Nittner Website: https://evilhat.com Games/Tools discussed this episode: AGON: Website: https://evilhat.com/product/agon/ DriveThruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/328661/agon?affiliate_id=1601603 Timestamps: (00:00:00) - Announcements (00:01:42) - Recap (00:02:05) - How does character creation in AGON stack up to other games? (00:08:03) - How does the process of character creation set us up for playing the game? (00:16:44) - What's the biggest flaw of character creation in AGON? (00:19:56) - What is the best part of character creation in AGON? (00:23:28) - Why does the narration come after the rolls? (00:28:12) - Why no D20 and playtesting? (00:36:18) - Take it up a level! (00:41:31) - Episode Closer (00:47:59) - Call to Action (00:55:17) - Credits Music: Opening: Meditation Impromptu 03 (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/Calming/Meditation_Impromptu_03) by Kevin MacLeod Clip 1: Great Beyond by Roze Sound From Soundstripe: https://app.soundstripe.com/songs/15591 Clip 2: Heroes Are Back by Adam Saban From Soundstripe: https://app.soundstripe.com/songs/15113 Main Theme: Hero (Remix) (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Steve_Combs/Principal_Photography_1493/11_Hero_Remix) by Steve Combs Our Podcast: Character Creation Cast: Website: https://www.charactercreationcast.com Contact Us: https://contact.charactercreationcast.com BlueSky: @CreationCast.net (https://bsky.app/profile/creationcast.net) Twitter: @CreationCast (https://twitter.com/CreationCast) Discord: https://discord.charactercreationcast.com/ Amelia Antrim: BlueSky: @gingerreckoning.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/gingerreckoning.bsky.social) Twitter: @gingerreckoning (https://twitter.com/gingerreckoning) Ryan Boelter: BlueSky: @lordneptune.com (https://bsky.app/profile/lordneptune.com) Twitter: @lordneptune (https://twitter.com/lordneptune) Our Network: https://oneshotpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the third episode of series 71! In this series, we are thrilled to welcome Sean Nittner, Director of Projects at Evil Hat Productions and co-designer for the game we are covering this series, AGON, a game where you play as heroes of myth and legend, prove the glory of your name, and win your way back home! In today's episode, we learn a bit about Sean before diving into some really great design discussion about AGON! Character Creation Cast Patreon https://patreon.com/charactercreationcast Announcements: For the Queen by Alex Roberts: https://darringtonpress.com/forthequeen/ Our social media info: https://contact.charactercreationcast.com Leave us reviews in any, or all, of these places: Character Creation Cast on Apple Podcasts (The best place to leave reviews for us) https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/character-creation-cast/id1363822066?mt=2&ls=1 Character Creation Cast on Podchaser https://podchaser.com/CharacterCreationCast Guests Sean Nittner Website: https://evilhat.com Games/Tools discussed this episode: AGON: Website: https://evilhat.com/product/agon/ DriveThruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/328661/agon?affiliate_id=1601603 Timestamps: (00:00:00) - Announcements (00:01:08) - Recap (00:01:27) - Terms and Concepts (00:04:53) - Let's make some people! - Introduction (00:06:24) - Epithet (00:09:25) - Names (00:14:25) - Lineage (00:24:01) - Honored God, Bonds and Divine Favor (00:31:51) - Style (00:37:04) - Final details (00:41:34) - The secret missing part that was taken out of AGON (00:47:13) - The next steps before play begins (00:48:35) - Episode Closer (00:49:52) - Call to Action (00:55:32) - Credits Music: Opening: Meditation Impromptu 03 (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/Calming/Meditation_Impromptu_03) by Kevin MacLeod Clip 1: Great Beyond by Roze Sound From Soundstripe: https://app.soundstripe.com/songs/15591 Clip 2: Heroes Are Back by Adam Saban From Soundstripe: https://app.soundstripe.com/songs/15113 Main Theme: Hero (Remix) (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Steve_Combs/Principal_Photography_1493/11_Hero_Remix) by Steve Combs Our Podcast: Character Creation Cast: Website: https://www.charactercreationcast.com Contact Us: https://contact.charactercreationcast.com BlueSky: @CreationCast.net (https://bsky.app/profile/creationcast.net) Twitter: @CreationCast (https://twitter.com/CreationCast) Discord: https://discord.charactercreationcast.com/ Amelia Antrim: BlueSky: @gingerreckoning.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/gingerreckoning.bsky.social) Twitter: @gingerreckoning (https://twitter.com/gingerreckoning) Ryan Boelter: BlueSky: @lordneptune.com (https://bsky.app/profile/lordneptune.com) Twitter: @lordneptune (https://twitter.com/lordneptune) Our Network: https://oneshotpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the second episode of series 71! In this series, we are thrilled to welcome Sean Nittner, Director of Projects at Evil Hat Productions and co-designer for the game we are covering this series, AGON, a game where you play as heroes of myth and legend, prove the glory of your name, and win your way back home! In today's episode, we get to the character creation and make a fantastic and dynamic group of epic heroes! Character Creation Cast Patreon https://patreon.com/charactercreationcast Announcements: Our social media info: https://contact.charactercreationcast.com Leave us reviews in any, or all, of these places: Character Creation Cast on Apple Podcasts (The best place to leave reviews for us) https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/character-creation-cast/id1363822066?mt=2&ls=1 Character Creation Cast on Podchaser https://podchaser.com/CharacterCreationCast Guests Sean Nittner Website: https://evilhat.com Games/Tools discussed this episode: AGON: Website: https://evilhat.com/product/agon/ DriveThruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/328661/agon?affiliate_id=1601603 Timestamps: (00:00:00) - Announcements (00:01:08) - Recap (00:01:27) - Terms and Concepts (00:04:53) - Let's make some people! - Introduction (00:06:24) - Epithet (00:09:25) - Names (00:14:25) - Lineage (00:24:01) - Honored God, Bonds and Divine Favor (00:31:51) - Style (00:37:04) - Final details (00:41:34) - The secret missing part that was taken out of AGON (00:47:13) - The next steps before play begins (00:48:35) - Episode Closer (00:49:52) - Call to Action (00:55:32) - Credits Music: Opening: Meditation Impromptu 03 (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/Calming/Meditation_Impromptu_03) by Kevin MacLeod Clip 1: Great Beyond by Roze Sound From Soundstripe: https://app.soundstripe.com/songs/15591 Clip 2: Heroes Are Back by Adam Saban From Soundstripe: https://app.soundstripe.com/songs/15113 Main Theme: Hero (Remix) (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Steve_Combs/Principal_Photography_1493/11_Hero_Remix) by Steve Combs Our Podcast: Character Creation Cast: Website: https://www.charactercreationcast.com Contact Us: https://contact.charactercreationcast.com BlueSky: @CreationCast.net (https://bsky.app/profile/creationcast.net) Twitter: @CreationCast (https://twitter.com/CreationCast) Discord: https://discord.charactercreationcast.com/ Amelia Antrim: BlueSky: @gingerreckoning.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/gingerreckoning.bsky.social) Twitter: @gingerreckoning (https://twitter.com/gingerreckoning) Ryan Boelter: BlueSky: @lordneptune.com (https://bsky.app/profile/lordneptune.com) Twitter: @lordneptune (https://twitter.com/lordneptune) Our Network: https://oneshotpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the first episode of series 71! In this series, we are thrilled to welcome Sean Nittner, Director of Projects at Evil Hat Productions and co-designer for the game we are covering this series, AGON, a game where you play as heroes of myth and legend, prove the glory of your name, and win your way back home! In today's episode, we learn about the game as well as have a great discussion about the game's development process! Character Creation Cast Patreon https://patreon.com/charactercreationcast Announcements: Our social media info: https://contact.charactercreationcast.com Leave us reviews in any, or all, of these places: Character Creation Cast on Apple Podcasts (The best place to leave reviews for us) https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/character-creation-cast/id1363822066?mt=2&ls=1 Character Creation Cast on Podchaser https://podchaser.com/CharacterCreationCast Guests Sean Nittner Website: https://evilhat.com Games/Tools discussed this episode: AGON: Website: https://evilhat.com/product/agon/ DriveThruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/328661/agon?affiliate_id=1601603 Timestamps: (00:00:00) - Announcements (00:01:58) - Introductions (00:07:10) - What's in a game? - Core Concept of AGON (00:09:39) - What is the setting for AGON? (00:14:35) - What materials do we need to play the game? (00:16:17) - What stories and themes is this game meant to explore? (00:28:29) - What do characters do in the game and how does it play? (00:45:40) - How did this game come to be? (00:56:19) - History of the game - How long did it take to design? (01:05:39) - Call to Action (01:15:37) - Credits Music: Opening: Meditation Impromptu 03 (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/Calming/Meditation_Impromptu_03) by Kevin MacLeod Clip 1: Great Beyond by Roze Sound From Soundstripe: https://app.soundstripe.com/songs/15591 Clip 2: Heroes Are Back by Adam Saban From Soundstripe: https://app.soundstripe.com/songs/15113 Main Theme: Hero (Remix) (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Steve_Combs/Principal_Photography_1493/11_Hero_Remix) by Steve Combs Our Podcast: Character Creation Cast: Website: https://www.charactercreationcast.com Contact Us: https://contact.charactercreationcast.com BlueSky: @CreationCast.net (https://bsky.app/profile/creationcast.net) Twitter: @CreationCast (https://twitter.com/CreationCast) Discord: https://discord.charactercreationcast.com/ Amelia Antrim: BlueSky: @gingerreckoning.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/gingerreckoning.bsky.social) Twitter: @gingerreckoning (https://twitter.com/gingerreckoning) Ryan Boelter: BlueSky: @lordneptune.com (https://bsky.app/profile/lordneptune.com) Twitter: @lordneptune (https://twitter.com/lordneptune) Our Network: https://oneshotpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you're a fan of the show, you'll know we love AGON, powered by the Paragon system. This time the lads are delighted to be joined by Sean Nittner, the co-author and independent game designer Tim Denee, who's done some great stuff with the game. Come on in for a deep dive on the game design process, what makes these sets of games great and how to squeeze more gaming juice from your sessions! Evil Hat have a ton of great games you can peruse for your delectation on their website.You can see more of Tim's great work on his website, Old Dog GamesIf you're in the US, or plan on travelling there for a convention, find out about Big Bad Con here. If you dig actual plays then check out the new Unconventional GMs for games played in about two hours!

If you're a fan of the show, you'll know we love AGON, powered by the Paragon system. This time the lads are delighted to be joined by Sean Nittner, the co-author and independent game designer Tim Denee, who's done some great stuff with the game. Come on in for a deep dive on the game design process, what makes these sets of games great and how to squeeze more gaming juice from your sessions! Evil Hat have a ton of great games you can peruse for your delectation on their website.You can see more of Tim's great work on his website, Old Dog GamesIf you're in the US, or plan on travelling there for a convention, find out about Big Bad Con here. If you dig actual plays then check out the new Unconventional GMs for games played in about two hours!

How does Evil Hat decide which games to publish? What happens from design to print, and why can it take years? Craig talks with Sean Nittner of Evil Hat Productions about how games are published. Evil Hat Website  Abyssal Playtest Details on Stewpot  Craig does a retrospective on the podcast episodes and actual plays released from The Third Floor in 2023. ********************* Support the show for as little as $1 month: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/Thirdfloorwars⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Add this to the end of your link on DriveThruRPG to support the show: ?affiliate_id=1044145 For example ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397612/Court-of-Blades--Scandal-Forged-in-the-Dark?affiliate_id=1044145⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our live-streaming content on ⁠⁠Twitch⁠⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitch.tv/thirdfloorwars⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Don't miss our RPG Actual Plays, tutorials, and gaming content on ⁠⁠YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/thirdfloorwars⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen to an excellent boardgame ⁠⁠podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.ascentofboardgames.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Go to the Writer's Room for ⁠⁠7th Sea Adventures! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/writersroom7thsea⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out the great games from ⁠⁠A Couple of Drakes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://acoupleofdrakes.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen to Thin Places Radio: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thin.place/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get a cool T-shirt or mug and help us bring you more content. ⁠⁠The store is open! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thirdfloorwars.com/shop/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on ⁠⁠Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/thirdfloorwars/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on ⁠⁠Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/ThirdFloorWars⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow on BlueSky: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/thirdfloorwars.bsky.social⁠ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thirdfloorwars/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thirdfloorwars/support

On this episode I'm joined by Nychelle Schneider, also known as Mistletoe Kiss, a moderator from the Blades in the Dark discord and contributor to The Wildsea, the upcoming Dagger Isles supplement for Blades, and Underground Maps & Passkeys among others.Nychelle brought on the idea of customizing existing games, homebrewing mechanics for your table (or even publication). This is... a big conversation, chock full of cool ideas that I hope people take and run with. There are so many games out there, and I think there's so much to be gained by making stuff that can plug into and enhance other people's art.Nychelle also has so many interesting trains of thought about in this episode, many of which I didn't follow up on as much as I wish I had. So I encourage you to listen to what she says, and then take those ideas an run with them. I hope that every week, but especially with this one.Further reading:A post-show blogpost about Sam's joke Blades playbook The BoogeymanBlades in the DarkNychelle's Blades playbook The SurgeVincent Baker's blogpost Apocalypse World Custom AdvancementTim Denee's Dogs in the BarkSam's Blades crewsheet Spirit ChasersSam's Blades downtime hack Doskvol BreathesSeveral zines by Aaron King of PBTA moves that exist outside of games: Reading the Apocalypse, PbtA23 January Digest, and PbtA23 February Digest Socials:Nychelle's website, Twitter, and itch.The Blades in the Dark DiscordSam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!Transcript:Dice Exploder: Nychelle===Sam: Hello and welcome to the season 2 finale of Dice Exploder. Each week we take a tabletop RPG mechanic and pull it apart like your dad fixing a broken vacuum. My name is Sam Dunnewold, and yes, this is the end of Season 2. We've laughed, we've cried, we've funded a whole friggin Kickstarter, and we are now going to take one hell of a break, because damn am I tired.I'm expecting Season 3 at the end of January, but we'll see how it goes. And in the meantime, keep an eye out for a number of bonus episodes I got planned. I've got that Mork Borg and accessibility episode recorded. I'm plotting out a, like, let's celebrate this year in RPGs panel show near the end of the year, and I may have a couple of other treats for you too.But this week, my co host is Nychelle Schneider, also known as Mistletoe Kiss. I knew Nychelle first as a moderator on the Blades in the Dark discord, where she's a community leader and just General encourager of everyone who stops by. Just a lovely human being. But she's also contributed to like a million projects the Underground Maps and Passkeys charity bundle of Blades content I put together a few years ago, the Wildsea, the upcoming Dagger Isles supplement for Blades. She's made A lot of Blades content. And when I asked her to come on the show, I was delighted that Nychelle wanted to talk about just that: adding your own mechanics to existing games. This is a big conversation. It's so full of cool ideas that I hope people really take and run with. There are so many games out there, and I think there's just so much to be gained by making stuff that can be plugged into and enhance other people's art. I've done this a lot with Blades myself, and I just never get enough of it. And Nychelle has so many interesting trains of thoughts about how to do this in this episode, many of which I didn't follow up on as much as I wish I had.So I really encourage you to listen to what she has to say carefully, and then keep pushing at those ideas. I hope that every week, but especially this week. So, with that, here is Nychelle on adding to existing games. And be warned, we get right into it, no hellos or anything. Okay, uh, here we go, prepare your ears for game design.Nychelle: I think a lot of times in game design, we can get caught up a lot in making sure that things function a certain way or are laid out in a certain way that's very easy for the audience or the reader to pick up the book, read it, and then go ahead and produce it.And I think a lot of times that we can get bogged down in mechanics to where we're like, oh, this is the only way you can do this.Sam: Mm-hmm.Nychelle: So like D&D, everyone knows d and d. Everyone's also like, oh, well, we obviously fight them. No, that's not the only thing you can do, but why is it baked that way? Why is our assumption perspective always that? Oh, it's because of how it's written or how it's presented, gives you a certain paradigm for you to interact with the material in a certain manner.And so for me, I like playing with that. How can I interact with the same thing? If I'm handed the same object 14 times, how can I interact with that object 14 different ways or give flexibility to somebody else who play with it in a different way that I didn't even think about. And so that's what I really do do a lot of thinking of what I create mechanics is how much fluidity is built in while it's still having a structure.Sam: Yeah. Interesting. So I think it would be useful to like immediately jump into like some examples of what you mean. So what's one example of what you're talking about?Nychelle: Oh gosh. I would say a really good example of this is in the Blades in the Dark custom playbook that I created called The Surge, which for those who are listening, you can find it on my itch. And one of the abilities is called Can I Learn Rising Moon? And essentially you can gain temporary access to a veteran ability you currently do not have, and you start a four segmented clock. So anytime you go to access this ability, you have a clock that begins, or you add a tick to this clock. And then when the clock fills, the GM will bring in a special entanglement or situation or something that happens. And that is one way that I've really got to enjoy a twist to mechanics and games is adding more flexibility because it opens up a whole new possibility of how you can play with a particular dynamic.Sam: Yeah. Part of what you're talking about here and part of just knowing your history as a designer is that you seem to really enjoy making moves and making abilities and custom content for other games than making your own games from scratch. Do I have that right?Nychelle: Yes, it's a really weird thing. But I find that my creativity, especially when it comes to game design and mechanics, I can talk mechanics all day long. I've got a really, really good grasp of game mechanics. But I also love to build things fiction first. I am definitely a fiction first, mechanic second gm. I've had a regular table, oh gosh, I think we've been playing now like seven plus years or something together and I absolutely love baking and things, but I also love jumping off of somebody else's creativity.So like when I wrote for Wildsea, it was a ton of fun because I got to go through all of the course material and whatnot that Felix had written. And it was really great being able to take little hints or tips that he kind of wove into the core and build upon that and flush it out into something that was even greater than what initially he had planned.So, yeah.Sam: Yeah, just to, to speak personally, like I think it is really hard to come up with an idea from scratch, but it's much easier to find your groove in someone else's framework. Making custom content for games is like that. And to that note, I really wish more people did it. I think you see a lot of people making custom modules and adventures and stuff in this sort of OSR and the NSR scene. But for the story game scene, the tradition is much more to make your own game from scratch. Or at least like, to make a game that is inspired by, but functionally different from and standalone to another game. As opposed to making content that can be used with something like Blades in the Dark or The Wildsea.And yeah, I think it's easier to get started from making content for other people. I think it's really, really validating, and I think more people should do it.Nychelle: Yeah, I also think that, it could be something that is within the industry, but I think there's a lot of expectations of hat wearing when it comes to technical writing or game design specifically, because everyone thinks, oh, I have to do everything. I have to learn how to do layout. I have to learn how to do editing. I have to do the writing. I have to learn the artwork or find somebody who's willing to work with me on that. I have to learn publishing, I have to learn finance regarding hey, am I, publishing this to individual game shops or a big name? Contracts? Like there's so many different hats that we just expect to discover ourselves.Which is great. It's a wonderful way for a person to diversify their skills, learn something, being like, Hey, I really enjoy layout, but I really hate editing. Or like, I have high respect for people who do edits because they come in and they change like four little words in this one paragraph, and suddenly like, I sound so much more eloquent than I was before. But there's alsoSam: I, I just worked with an editor for the first time and it wasNychelle: oh my God. Yeah.Sam: Go on.Nychelle: But you can also learn in so much when you work together as a team. So like with the Blades in the Dark Dagger Isles expansion that we did, there was so many writers that were a part of that.I did the playbooks and crew sheets. But there were so many different writers and people who were doing the setting and the factions and the lore and like the crafting. And I would go ahead and run games for them and then we would just sit back I would just hear all these stories and wonderful aspects of like, oh, well, that's actually a piece from our culture, and you can connect that to this and that. And then we would just have a brainstorming session and I would have so many notes from every single session of like, oh my God, this is amazing. And then I'd try to weave that into the crew sheets and everything, and I have so much fun with that.Something I, I learned at residency for grad school was, what are your verbs doing? What is your verb poetry? And I was like, what is this thing you're talking about? Because we had to bring in pieces and workshop them and. It was so amazing 'cause I had one mentor who essentially like took everything out of this one scene and just read the verb poetry of it.Sam: Hmm. Nychelle: And it was like, what are your verbs doing? And then changing up like two of them, legit, only two of them, and removed another thing that didn't need to be in there. And then the verb poetry was just so different. So thinking of like how to apply that to like gain, like what verbs doing a certain passage is just like a whole different way to view it.Sam: Well there's, I was just talking on some server about this, how I was playing The Exiles, em's game, and, in the middle of the campaign I was playing, she put out like a very slightly tweaked version of the rules where essentially all that had changed was a couple of words here and there in order to make the layout, the graphic design of a rules reference page feel a little bit better.And a couple of the words that had left changed the entire vibe of like a whole move in a way that I thought was much worse. And so I just kept using the old rules because I wanted that, like two words of poetry to be in there. It made such a difference at the table. Nychelle: It really does. And I think that's another thing too, is like when you get in the editing, like I don't like editing, first off. I will hands down like editors are amazing, wonderful people and I will 100% hands down pay them what they actually deserve, like the, the work that they do. But there's also, I was talking to Felix about it, when he was doing layout for Wildsea and there was a phrase that he used, but you can't leave off with only like two words or like one word on a sentence. Like if it's the end of a paragraph or something and you start a new line and there's only like two words, you have to cut two words, so it goes back up into the other one. Otherwise it doesn't look correct. Mm-hmm. You can't have, your orphans there. Yeah, that may have been the term he used. But sometimes the words that they wanna cut are the poetry words, Sam: I know Nychelle: and it's like, oh gosh, I can't have you cut that. It's like, you take out my two words, Sam: yeah. You Nychelle: ruined the entire thing. My words have no meaning now.Sam: Sometimes, when I get that note, I'm like, what if I just add a couple of words instead? And, like, that doesn't always work. Sometimes you need the space. But sometimes it does make sense to like inflate the duration of a sentence so that you can keep a couple of those poetic words I think.Nychelle: But also I think that changing up how your verb poetry happens or something else that one of the mentors mentioned was we, especially nowadays, are such in a... not political correctness, it's probably the wrong term for it... we try not to have infliction, personal infliction upon something we say. It's passive versus active voice. You're separating yourself and it's, it becomes passive. And so when you have that in your work, even if it's a technical writing such as game design, you are already putting a barrier between your audience and the words for them to be engaged.And then if your verb poetry is a certain manner and adds another barrier, and by the time they get down to the end of a passage or something, they're not engaged. They don't have the buy-in that you want, and so they're gonna go ahead and walk away.And that's another thing too that got mentioned is a lot of, just kind of like a little side tangent, but a lot of people who are not English first speakers, when they write in English, it becomes passive, not active. 'cause that's how a lot of other languages are set up. So it's kind of a weird thing where they're almost at a disadvantage from being engaged, with their audience. It's kind of interesting thing.But we do the same thing in technical writing. In game design, we do that passive versus active. Sam: Totally totally. So, I want to veer us back to the subject of hacking games for your table. And specifically, I want to talk about one of my favorite blog posts in the hobby. Uh, which comes from Vincent Baker, designer of Apocalypse World, called... Apocalypse World Custom Advancement. In which he gets the question from a reader: “is there any solution that lets players play the same playbook potentially forever?”And Vincent's answer is, yeah, just hack the game. Keep hacking the game so that you can keep playing the same character. And specifically how, like hacking the game such that the rules accommodate really powerful characters because a game like Apocalypse World or Blades can I think really see the characters outgrow the setting that they're in pretty easily. And at a certain point it starts making sense to change the game so that the world can keep up with the players.And Vincent in this post has a bunch of good ideas for how to go about doing that. And you know, there's some great ones too, in the Apocalypse World Rule book and in the Blades in the Dark hacking the game sections.I think the idea of you're going to extend your time with one campaign and one game by bringing your own custom moves to it, by bringing your own hacking and custom materials to it, is really cool.Nychelle: Well, a game core isn't supposed to be the only material we take into a game, is it? It is meant to be a diving board, a foundation for us to go ahead and move on from it. That's the whole point of any particular game system core is, okay, now here's your foundation. Now go on, evolve it, build upon it, take parts out, change things like that's, that's a whole dynamic of what happens at a game table.And one campaign I did for Blades in the Dark was we wanted to really interact with the faction game. How does the mechanics behind factions really interact with each other? And so we did an entire campaign for a year and a half just on factions. And brought in our own factions and did different clocks and things like that. But like we learned and also grew so much just out of taking one particular mechanic and saying, okay, how are we gonna play with this here? And how can we grow this? Because the core should never, I think that's one thing is we should never limit ourselves to strictly one particular thing. We, we should forever be evolving and changing it to make what we enjoy because that's the whole point of playing games is to do something we have fun with. Right?Sam: Yeah. Yeah. That's really fucking cool. Because you are absolutely right, like fundamentally what you are doing at the hobby is making your version of Blades in the Dark.A theme of this season of Dice Exploder has really been that the flavor level of a game is as much mechanics as the like rules level of the game. And every group is bringing their own flavor to play and thus hacking the game. And sometimes you get like, you see someone like Tim Dinee putting out like on the one hand, Dogs in the Bark where you're playing Blades in the Dark as a pack of dogs, which totally works. This supplement is so simple and quite short andNychelle: Dude. I have done like a mini campaign with this. It is legit the best, especially when you play some of like the rat factions as if they're from like Brooklyn and New York. It like the, oh man, it's it's amazing. Sam: It's amazing. And then of course, when you switch back to regular Blades, like suddenly every rat and dog in the city is gonna be like someone you know. Right? It is gonna be amazing, but. Also, it's such a goofy take on the game.And on the other hand, he has also put out Blades in '68, which I guess isn't out yet, but is this moving the tech level like a hundred years in the future for Blades into this like seventies themed almost setting where war is over, superstition is gone and we're doing a much different vibe on the original thing. It's gonna feel really different.And then of course, like I'm coming in like hey, you should, play Doskvol Breathes, this downtime hack where you're just taking like three sessions to play out one downtime. And other people are coming in saying, yeah, I uh, I just like pick my two downtime actions and move the numbers around on my character sheet and get back to the next score 'cause that's the thing that I like.And all of those versions of the game are really valid and really exciting.Nychelle: Oh yeah. Now there was one experiment I did and I've kind of done it throughout Covid. I have run one particular, one shot, six different tables. Same setting, same scenario, everything. Not a single ending was identical. Six different tables, and it was like, it's the same scenario, it's the same setup. You have the NPCs and everything do the exact same thing, and there was a different ending for every single six of those games, which was just amazing.When you think about what a player and what a group of players being a variable can do to a game, so if you're doing that with mechanics, if you're changing a variable in a mechanic, you know that you're gonna get something completely different.Sam: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and I think people should not, like a mantra I have about doing this, I don't know if I picked this up from someone else or not, is nothing is safe. Like you should change everything when you're doing this. Just play with everything for your table and what it means. I think this is actually from the Vincent Baker article I was talking about earlier, that really if there's a mechanic that you are using, mess around with it and see if there's something else you can do with it, but do it with intention. Like try to figure out what the purpose is for the thing that you're trying to accomplish. Like I just wrote a custom move last week playing in my regular game where it's like a pirate themed game and someone got a necromantic book. It's me, I'm the someone, I got a necromantic book that can summon a kraken when you cast a spell right. And we just like wrote a move for what happens when you try to do that? 'cause it should be a little bit bigger than just pickin' up some dice and rolling to see if you did it. You know, there should be a little bit more to it than that.And having, this is something I love from this Vincent Baker article, from the Blades in the Dark hacking the game section, is the encouragement to write moves, special abilities, mechanics, whatever you wanna call them, specifically for like named people and objects and locations in your game.There's a, an example one from the Vincent Baker article that goes: “If Groam gets his hands on you, he ties you to a table and you know he is really fucking good at that. If you try to escape, roll plus hard.” And like, then there's a bunch of options for like, specifically what happens when Groam has tied you to a table because he's really good at that.It's just so specific. It's so tailor made, bespoke to whatever table had this character Groam at it and doing that in games is just so exciting.Nychelle: Oh yeah, one of my favorite things as a GM is I've had plenty of players that will just fill out a character sheet and they're just like, yeah, my name's Bob. I'm this alignment. Or sometimes they, they won't fill out the descriptors or, or like, what they look like. They're just like, it's Bob. It doesn't matter what he looks like. But no, no, Bob actually matters. Tell me how Bob looks. Does Bob have a particular person he really likes to talk to and why? Tell me if Bob has a special butter knife that he does and he only uses it on scones. Why does Bob only use this particular butter knife on scones? Well, there's a story behind it.And drawing that story out or encouraging your table to do that, I just absolutely love because then I can have this whole thing on Bob's scone butter knife, or maybe it's a flashback score where, you know, Bob really wanted to stick it to the man, and this is how he does it because he stole so and so's butter scone, you know, for, for being outed a coin or something. Like when you start customizing or home brewing, even if it's just at your table and for anyone who's listening, you don't have to be a game designer or this person that has like all this knowledge of what not to change your game.You simply focus on your table, what you guys are comfortable with, what intention you have behind it and go from there and build it out and change it that makes sense for you guys. Sam: Yeah, the, the secret is if you're playing these games, you're already a game designer Nychelle: Exactly. Sam: But don't tell anyone. Yeah.Nychelle: Everyone's a game designer in a certain flavor or aspect. But yeah. No, it's really great when you start doing that because it also makes 'em more personal. I had a recent conversation with Allison Arth. And we were talking and discussing what does gaming actually mean? And we essentially brought it back around to it is an intended and created community. And I think that really also speaks to game design too, or changing the game, is being really intentional about how you curate and cultivate a community that you're interacting with through game design, mechanic change, maybe even the environment that you're playing with at the table.Sam: Have you ever like, changed a major rule of Blades that's not like a special ability or anything like that, but like, a more generic rule at the table?Nychelle: Mm. One I haven't really played with too much though I am looking forward to it, is magnitude. This mechanic that I feel is very much a backbone in an aspect of how you can do the thing, but also it doesn't really get brought up a lot. I find, and I feel that it doesn't really get brought, it's more of like a backseat mechanic that gets done. I.Sam: Yeah. Gosh, I should have uh, pushed us to talk about this as the whole framing device for this conversation. But that reminds me of Broken Spire, which is a blade supplement by Sean Nittner where you are starting from a place of trying to kill the Immortal Emperor. You're already on that score. Then every time you do something you like flashback to an entire score of setup in which you prepared another thing in your final attempt to kill the Immortal Emperor.And the downtime system in Broken Spire works like mechanically very similarly to Blades, but the downtime actions have all been changed so that they have much more impact on the game. Nychelle: Because you're, you're working not in micro anymore. You're working on a macro scale. And, and I think that's a, a thing that we a lot of times really get stuck in the micro. And don't realize how much the micro can impact the macro of what is actually going on or how much it doesn't impact what's going on in macro.Sam: Yeah. Yeah.Nychelle: I, I have not had a chance to play broken Spire, but had a couple of conversations with Sean about it, and I am like, dude, I, I need to play this. Sounds so badass. Sam: The, the idea of like one of the downtime actions is “say how you shift your heat to another faction. Roll for your action.” So instead of like reducing your heat, you're taking all of your heat and dumping it onto an enemy. And another one is like you just reduce the tier, the entire tier of an enemy faction. Which is wild. There's like, you're just gonna like casually in your downtime, fuck up an entire organization. Maybe it happens off screen.Even the idea that you could be taking Blades in the Dark, which by default is so much a game about like scrapping your way up from the, like bottom of the streets, you get just a couple of changes and suddenly you are monarchs of the underworld destroying factions left and right at your whim. It's so cool.Nychelle: Oh yeah. And I don't even think you're necessarily just of the underworld at that scale. You're impacting the politics, not only locally but the faction and, and the consequences of those actions across the Shattered Isles. Like there's so much that could be going on here. It's really fascinating to think about, but also to consider that of like, yeah, no, that's, chump change.Sam: Yeah. Yeah. Another, related idea to all of this that I've been pouring over in my mind a lot is the idea that the scarce resource in RPGs for me, right now anyway, is not new games and new systems, it's new settings and especially new scenarios.Like for example, I don't need another variation on Powered by the Apocalypse. Like even if someone's gonna write like a hundred beautiful moves across seven playbooks and all the rest, I'm sure they'll do a better job than me, but the thing that excites me about a new game is not what is it doing differently mechanically, it's what is the premise of the thing itself.Nychelle: Mm. Sam: in part because I know I can bring all of the tools that we're talking about here, of ways to change the game, to take a different system and change it to fit whatever the idea for this game is whether or not you've included a package of rules with your, your setting. Premise or you haven't. And that's just another thing I wanna put out into the world again, that I want to see more weird stuff to do, not ways to play the game. I have plenty of ways to play RPGs. I want more weird ideas, like story ideas that I can bring to my table that I otherwise wouldn't have had myself. Nychelle: Well, that's why you play fiction first, Sam. No, I'm joking. But no, it pretty much is because honestly, learning how to hack the game, learning how to really grasp mechanics, and like lines and veils and like, there's a whole plethora of things that each of us take. Experiences and all that stuff. But really when you pack it down, it's all tools in your toolbox, right? It's everything that you, that you sit down with at a table and you open up your box and you have all the tools there to go ahead and play and tinker with whatever is on the table. But I think that's a thing of especially when it comes to traditional RPGs, I'm going to say, and this probably will be spicy, is I think we get a little too focused on the toolbox that we bring to the table and not actually what the thing is on the table. Sam: Exactly.Nychelle: And I think that's where we really need to focus is, yes, we have the toolbox. A toolbox will evolve. Sometimes you'll, you'll be like, man, this hammer, I use this hammer every single time. It's been my friend for years. And then you switch over to a screwdriver or something else, like your toolbox will always be there. There's plenty of things to help you better utilize your toolbox. But getting the fiction, getting the narrative, and honestly getting that community together where you're creating something completely new and beautiful and it, it takes a life of its own.That's where it's really at to be quite honest.Sam: Yeah, like I am so excited to receive an ultra power badass like nail gun for Christmas, right? I'm excited to add that to my toolbox, but let's not forget that we're trying to build something.Nychelle: Yeah. Sam: The thing that we're building together is, is the exciting. Nychelle: We're trying to build a birdhouse, you know? Sam: Yeah. Yeah. And I want more birdhouses and fewer hammers. To come back out of the metaphor, I feel like I've had a couple of groups that I've played with for many years, and sometimes in those groups I feel like we've found a really comfortable groove, like a kind of story that we come back to again and again. And I, you know, that groove is a hit. I am happy to keep telling the story of that groove in variation.But I also, I'm excited when someone is able to bring me an idea for a new kind of story that's gonna like knock us onto a new groove to find a new space to play in. And mechanics are not the thing that's going to do that very often unless those mechanics are really in support of the new cool story idea.And the new cool story idea to help knock me and my longtime friends into some new place to help us explore some new story? That's the thing that gets me really going in RPGs right now. Bird houses, not hammers.Nychelle: I, I think it also comes down to being willing to explore new things. Sam: Yeah. Nychelle: it is, having that understanding of my paradigm and my perspective and how I'm viewing this game isn't the only one out there, and I want to see the game from as many different angles as possible. And I think that that is one wonderful thing that can happen is how many different bird houses do you end up seeing? if we're staying with the, with the narrative here of like, how many different bird houses do we end up making? How, how many different bird houses do we end up seeing? And again, I think it goes back to that intention of community is what are you doing with intention?Sam: Yeah.Nychelle: Sorry. I know you guys came here to talk about mechanics and we're talking about philosophy of gameplay.Sam: No, no, no. I, I gave up 40Nychelle: Uh, true. Sam: talking about mechanics. So I, I, I kind of knew what I was gonna get to with this episode topic anyway. No, I think oh, here's, here's the variation on the metaphor I wanted to say. I feel like I've made a lot of different birdhouses and I wanna make some fucking chairs now. Like, like I want, like the thing I want out of the RPG design community at large is for people to bring me some new shit to make other than birdhouses. Yeah, and I also, the other thing I wanna say is it's perfectly fine to just love polishing hammers and to really just be on that side of things and to not give a shit about what you're making. And it's perfectly fine too to just make birdhouses and only birdhouses for the rest of your gaming life. If that's what you're enjoying, like more power to you. But for me personally, the thing that I am excited about is something new. And something new on the fiction side rather than, than the mechanics side.Nychelle: I do think we're getting there in the indie gaming space. I think we're moving away from mechanic speak. It seems to be going in a very certain direction in the last few years, and I, I think we're getting more to the story and the process of building other things besides birdhouse. It's like, how many different things can we build with this? What can we build with this? It's really interesting to see like in like five years down the road, I wouldn't be able to tell you what we would build.Sam: Yeah. Make shit weird and make weird shit as uh, Joe DeSimone says. Nychelle: Oh yes. Sam: Thank you so much for coming on Dice Exploder.Nychelle: Thank you for having me, Sam. I greatly appreciate it. You've been a wonderful host.Sam: Oh, you too.Thanks again so much to Nychelle for being here. Like I mentioned in my intro, I think there's so many threads in this one to follow up on, and I want to underline two things that I really took away from it. first, making content for other people's games is just a joy in and of itself. Just like there's joy in the creating of all new games, there's joy in exploring the crevices of others. And it's often a lot easier to do. So go spelunking into someone else's head and set up camp. Second, game design is community building. The goal of these storytelling games is to sit with your friends and tell a story. And the sitting with your friends part of that is just as much something to prioritize and design for as the story part. Maybe more so. Like, deciding what snacks to buy is game design for your playgroup. Love your friends and the people you play with. And I think that's a lovely note to go out on for season 2 of Dice Exploder. If you want more of what this episode is talking about, I do have a post up on the Dice Exploder blog breaking down a custom Blades playbook that I made for playing a character named John Wick. I think it's pretty fun and gets into a little bit more examples of what we talked about today. You can find Nychelle on Twitter at mistletoe trex, on itch at mistletoe kiss itch. io, or on the Blades in the Dark Discord. As always, you can find me on the socials at sdunnewold, Blue Sky and Itch preferred. And there's a Dice Exploder Discord! Come on by and talk about the show, if you like. Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.And thanks to you for listening this season! I'll see you in a few months! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit diceexploder.substack.com

DICE EXPLODER IS KICKSTARTING SEASON 3 September 26th through October 6th!Here's the link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sdunnewold/dice-exploder-a-tabletop-rpg-design-podcastPlain text transcripts are available at diceexploder.substack.comThis week, Sam talks with Greg Soper AKA sporgory about Divine Favor, one part of the dice pool mechanic from Agon second edition by Sean Nittner and John Harper. Some topics discussed include:- Having a family drama stapled to your character sheet- Greek Gods: bad parents- What makes hacking Divine Favor hard- Endeavor- Odyssey Aquatica- All Quiet No Peace- Starbones- The setting elements mechanic from Dream Askew // Dream Apart- ~HACKING LIVE ON AIR!!!~You can find Greg on Twitter and itch.io at sporgoryYou can find Sam @sdunnewold on Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.ioThe Dice Exploder logo is by sporgory (!!), and the theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely GreyJoin the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit diceexploder.substack.com

     In this episode we interview Sean Nittner of BigBadCon.  Saul and Jolene have a great talk with Sean Steward of BigBadCon a convention in the Bay Area that is one of the most inclusive and loved gaming cons on the West Coast.  We discuss with Sean his vision of Big Bad Con,  the Pandemic effect and the post pandemic recovery.  What Big Bad Con Does for the gaming community.   Big Bad Con is a charity con so you can have a great time playing games and feel good about donating to an official non-profit charity.    You can go to https://www.bigbadcon.com/   to get all the info you need about Big Bad Con.     Thank you all for listening.    Web Art by Jim Foster     Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones    

Rob interviews  Sean Nittner about the Backerkit for,  "Big Bad Con 23"! Support this Backerkit at this link: https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/79ab90a4-9eed-4b37-a417-01692df6f57c/landing   Big Bad Con is a tabletop gaming convention focused on supporting gamers from marginalized backgrounds and nurturing a space to grow the gaming community by hosting a convention that is as physically, socially, and financially accessible as possible. We are a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization composed of volunteers, staff, GMs, and players.   We welcome you to join us on September 28 for Big Bad Con 2023, featuring four days of TTRPGs, LARPs, board and card games, panels, workshops, and more.     Social Media Links & Tags Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BigBadCon Twitter  https://twitter.com/bigbadcon Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bigbadcon/   YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZTZeTM1WamDePxRpEMCftw Discord: https://www.bigbadcon.com/community-discord/ Website: https://www.bigbadcon.com/ Email: info@bigbadcon.com   Find Go Fund This at: southgatemediagroup.com twitter.com/rsouthgate facebook.com/gofundthispodcast patreon.com/southgatemediagroup

Episode 175 - Paragon System with Sean Nittner and Tim Denee If you're a fan of the show, you'll know we love AGON, powered by the Paragon system. This time the lads are delighted to be joined by Sean Nittner, the co-author and independent game designer Tim Denee, who's done some great stuff with the game. Come on in for a deep dive on the game design process, what makes these sets of games great and how to squeeze more gaming juice from your sessions! Evil Hat have a ton of great games you can peruse for your delectation on their website. You can see more of Tim's great work on his website, Old Dog Games If you're in the US, or plan on travelling there for a convention, find out about Big Bad Con here. If you dig actual plays and reviews of played modules, check out the new YouTube channel. Get in touch, the lads love to hear from you!Twitters: twitter.com/the_smart_partyEmail: thesmartparty@hotmail.comKo-Fi: ko-fi.com/thesmartpartyPatreons: patreon.com/thesmartparty We always welcome lovely reviews on iTunes or elsewhere too. If you're less keen, give us a shout, we'd are open to development opportunities! :)

Recorded at Metatopia 2021 Presented by Jason Pitre, Rae Nedjadi and Sean Nittner with regrets from Jay Dragon.   Countless brilliant analog game designers are creating innovative games around the world. Unfortunately, creatives from many countries face harsh barriers in terms of crowdfunding access, banking regulations, shipping challenges, or other factors. That is why international co-publishing agreements have come on the scene. In this panel, Filipino Designer/Publisher Jamila Nedjadi joins North American publishing partners to discuss the different business models that have worked for them.

Support the show on PatreonOn this episode, we're speaking to Judd Karlman, the podcaster behind Daydreaming about Dragons, my personal favourite source of GM advice. Every episode of his podcast has two parts: table techniques, where Judd talks offers techniques to play roleplaying games, and inspiration goat, where a real goat recommends media to Judd and he explains how that media can inspire your game. Judd is also the author of gaming supplements, most notably Dictionary of Mu, a setting for Sorcerer written like a dictionary. And you can find Judd's blog at GithyankiDiaspora.com. Also on reddit, where he's often on DM advice subreddits helping new DMs picking up D&D for the first time.Some helpful timestamps:00:54 - Introducing Judd02:24 - Talking about Sons of Kryos, an early experiment in RPG podcasting06:38 - Talking about friendly versus snarky advice, and generally the problem of talking on the internet11:47 - My favourite episodes of Daydreaming about Dragons: Episode 85. Playing Chess With Villains  and  Episode 70. Making World History Relevant. 24:45 - How Judd preps for games26:10 - Using socialism to find the fun in dungeons (the municipal, unionized dungeon-delving actual play with Sean Nittner)31:19 - Infectious Enthusiasm: Judd recommends The Between, Into the Odd, and As The Sun Forever Sets34:48 - Tyranny of Numbers: Judd shares his podcasting statistics37:30 - RePlay: Judd shares a Dictionary of Mu gaming storyIf your podcast player supports transcripts, you should see one automatically. Otherwise, please go here for a full transcript. Support the showThe Yes Indie'd Website // The Indie RPG Newsletter

In dieser Episode geben Frank, Markus und Frank Tipps für Agon, das Rollenspiel von John Harper und Sean Nittner. Markus God of War Spielreihe (Videospiel) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_of_War_(2005) O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Film) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190590/ The Killing...

AGON // Evil Hat John Harper and Sean Nittner join us from Evil Hat Productions to talk to us all about AGON, the thinking behind some of the truly unique game mechanics that sets AGON apart from other games. AGON brings unique dice mechanics, story mechanics, and downtime rules supported by some remarkable assets on Roll20. The story behind why Roll20 became their platform of choice for Evil Hat games is a great look at how production companies make partnership decisions for their players to. Evil Hat Website Twitter Roll20 AGON John Harper Twitter Sean Nittner Twitter One More Multiverse VTT Listen on: iTunes//Google//Spotify//Stitcher HSC Links: Twitter - https://twitter.com/HighShelfCLTV Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/highshelfcltv/ Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/highshelfcollective Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/highshelfcollective Website - https://www.highshelfcollective.com TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@highshelfCLTV Redbubble - https://www.redbubble.com/people/HighShelfCLTV/shop Teepublic - https://www.teepublic.com/user/highshelfcollective

Can players and GMs get more from their sessions with improv tools? Craig sits down with Karen Twelves and Sean Nittner to discuss the new Improv for Gamers 2nd edition. Twitter: https://twitter.com/SeanNittner Big Bad Online: https://www.bigbadcon.com/ Fundraiser: https://www.mightycause.com/story/Bigbadonline2022 New EHP Projects: https://www.evilhat.com/home/project-status/ Improv for Gamers: https://gamefound.com/projects/evil-hat/improv-for-gamers?refcode=zb0E8FZxpk2MtgBOoaGz-Q ********************* Check out the great games from A Couple of Drakes: https://acoupleofdrakes.com Support the show for as little as $1 month: https://www.patreon.com/Thirdfloorwars Check out our live streaming content on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/thirdfloorwars Don't miss our battle reports, painting tutorials, and gaming content on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA496705JLkpgAssAhetpdw Get a cool T-Shirt or mug and help us bring you more content. The store is open! https://thirdfloorwars.com/shop/ Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thirdfloorwars/ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThirdFloorWars Please give us feedback or leave us a message that we can use in a future episode! You can record your message here: https://anchor.fm/thirdfloorwars/message You can also record your question as an audio file and email it to us at admin@thirdfloorwars.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thirdfloorwars/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thirdfloorwars/support

Why will John Harper give up on an idea? What makes Sean Nittner sought after as a design collaborator? How does Craig prepare for interviews? These three sit down and interview each other and cover a range of topics in the RPG space. Check out the latest from Evil Hat: https://gamefound.com/projects/evil-hat/improv-for-gamers Get more Sean: https://seannittner.com/ Get more John: https://johnharper.itch.io/ Support John: https://www.patreon.com/johnharper ********************* Check out the great games from A Couple of Drakes: https://acoupleofdrakes.com Support the show for as little as $1 month: https://www.patreon.com/Thirdfloorwars Check out our live streaming content on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/thirdfloorwars Don't miss our battle reports, painting tutorials, and gaming content on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA496705JLkpgAssAhetpdw Get a cool T-Shirt or mug and help us bring you more content. The store is open! https://thirdfloorwars.com/shop/ Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thirdfloorwars/ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThirdFloorWars Please give us feedback or leave us a message that we can use in a future episode! You can record your message here: https://anchor.fm/thirdfloorwars/message You can also record your question as an audio file and email it to us at admin@thirdfloorwars.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thirdfloorwars/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thirdfloorwars/support

Finally, we welcome two designers whose games we talked about many times: John Harper and Sean Nittner join us to discuss their game of epic storytelling in ancient Greece, Agon.

John Harper und Sean Nittner haben mit Agon ein Rollenspiel erschaffen, das Geschichten im Stil der griechischen Epen abbildet, und auch mechanisch einige spannende Dinge versucht.

This week we'll discuss our recent trip to Cherokee NC, how Kevin's new meds are working - and the impact of not taking them. We also talk about the dividing line between a Novel and Novelette, and Kevin's new favorite device. After that, we'll talk to Sean Nittner, game producer, project manager, and con host! Links for this Episode: Charity Spotlight: TLDEF - Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund Charity Spotlight: Black Lives Matter Sean Nittner Sean on Twitter Sean on Twitch Sean on YouTube Big Bad Con Cal Performances Evil Hat Thirsty Sword Lesbians War of Ashes Asana InstaGantt ReMarkable 2 Cult Pens Advent Calendar

For use with the PARAGON system, ©2020 John Harper & Sean Nittner. AGON-RPG.COM

For use with the PARAGON system, ©2020 John Harper & Sean Nittner. AGON-RPG.COM

Rising Tide is a Paragon play set. For use with the PARAGON system, ©2020 John Harper & Sean Nittner. AGON-RPG.COM

Rising Tide is a playset for the Paragon System, by John Harper and Sean Nittner.

Mike Sand, creator of Monster of the Week, joins us as a guest GM and we try out AGON by John Harper and Sean Nittner. In AGON, we become classical heroes of Greco-Roman origin. These heroes sail their way to the island of Kryos where they find the people of a coastal town besieged by pirates and harpies. Lykas earns leadership through mercy, Arcadia uses a makeshift harpoon, Di learns that wine can't solve all problems, Efimia has a crazy plan that just might work, and Ialmenes uses an old mirror as a laser pointer. Recorded on 11/06/20

Before the Bluecoats, led by the erstwhile Elsie Evensteps, can make their move, the Twilight Patrol make theirs first, pulling off an elaborate con worthy of any gang of thieves to convince the so-called Doskvol's law to back away. Officer Solomon Reynes reaches out to a deadly killer, Alek The Tough One connects and "protects" a dirty Bluecoat copper and the Raven Doctor puts on the performance of a lifetime. The Gauntlet, and everything related, can be found at http://gauntlet-rpg.com/ Blades in the Dark, by John Harper, can be found at https://bladesinthedark.com/ Vigilantes, by Sean Nittner, can be found at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3tt8i4czfnlfsgo/AACzQRVMZaw6kJV17Rd9AEm-a?dl=0 The Rolistes Podcast can be found at https://rolistespod.com/

The Twilight Patrol has made themselves known. Now come the sharks. The Bluecoats are making their move but, with the help of a tough Tycherosi cutter, the Patrol may just come out on top. The Gauntlet, and everything related, can be found at http://gauntlet-rpg.com/ Blades in the Dark, by John Harper, can be found at https://bladesinthedark.com/ Vigilantes, by Sean Nittner, can be found at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3tt8i4czfnlfsgo/AACzQRVMZaw6kJV17Rd9AEm-a?dl=0

Following the Daring Defence of Dogtown's Denizens, the Twilight Patrol have opportunity to strike back. With the Crows on their last legs, riven by conflict, influenced by a lurking threat, it's time to ensure that Crow's Foot has one less menace on its streets. The Gauntlet, and everything related, can be found at http://gauntlet-rpg.com/ Blades in the Dark, by John Harper, can be found at https://bladesinthedark.com/ Vigilantes, by Sean Nittner, can be found at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3tt8i4czfnlfsgo/AACzQRVMZaw6kJV17Rd9AEm-a?dl=0

An Iruvian Slide named Amraani has been given a chance to start wiping away her debts. She need only help the Twilight Patrol in repelling an incursion by the Crows into Charhollow. Amidst the Dogtown street fair, the Twilight Patrol are about to make their biggest debut yet. The Gauntlet, and everything related, can be found at http://gauntlet-rpg.com/ Blades in the Dark, by John Harper, can be found at https://bladesinthedark.com/ Vigilantes, by Sean Nittner, can be found at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3tt8i4czfnlfsgo/AACzQRVMZaw6kJV17Rd9AEm-a?dl=0 Plugs! 1) Jim Likes Games at https://jimlikesgames.com/ 2) Heart and Glory at https://dkusan.itch.io/heart-and-glory 3) The Gauntlet's Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/gauntlet/posts

As the Twilight Patrol smash through the Dimmer Sisters' snuff operation, they find themselves on the edge of a burgeoning criminal empire. Just who is the Nightingale? Redcoat dredges up a blood-soaked memory, Slider starts a rather ghostly courtship, the Window Penderyn aids the crew amidst a spot of tea and whiskey, the Raven Doctor is tasked with looking after family and the Midnight Magpie thumbs her nose at her erstwhile rival. The Gauntlet, and everything related, can be found at http://gauntlet-rpg.com/ Blades in the Dark, by John Harper, can be found at https://bladesinthedark.com/ Vigilantes, by Sean Nittner, can be found at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3tt8i4czfnlfsgo/AACzQRVMZaw6kJV17Rd9AEm-a?dl=0 Jim Crocker's business can be found at https://jimlikesgames.com/

After extracting a feckless but well-meaning youth from a 3-way gang fight, the newly-christened Twilight Patrol attend to personal matters before becoming tangled with the supernatural snuff trade. Dr. Ravenglass comes face to face with an aristocratic foe, Solomon basks in some well-earned tabloid applause, Daphnia attends to the comfort of her girls, Basil helps to enact reform in Doskvol's streets and Victoria swears to stay her blade, if only for at least one job. The Gauntlet, and everything related, can be found at http://gauntlet-rpg.com/ Blades in the Dark, by John Harper, can be found at https://bladesinthedark.com/ Vigilantes, by Sean Nittner, can be found at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3tt8i4czfnlfsgo/AACzQRVMZaw6kJV17Rd9AEm-a?dl=0 The Lark Brigade, an RPG index by Robert Angus, can be found at https://twitter.com/larkbrigade

Our gang of hardened toughs and scoundrels move to take on the Fog Hounds amidst a wave of strange snuff not for profit or vengeance but for the sake of a foolhardy brother and the sibling who pleaded to them for help. Slider gets the attention of a dangerous assassin, Magpie swims through a canal to come out on top, Redcoat takes the fight to a bear of an opponent and the Widow Penderyn bakes a mean basket of scones. The Gauntlet, and everything related, can be found at http://gauntlet-rpg.com/ Blades in the Dark, by John Harper, can be found at https://bladesinthedark.com/ Vigilantes, by Sean Nittner, can be found at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3tt8i4czfnlfsgo/AACzQRVMZaw6kJV17Rd9AEm-a?dl=0

Character and crew creation, fleshing out a recently-formed group of crimefighters, shadowy heroes looking out for the downtrodden, hoping to push back the dark and bring light to Doskvol's streets. What kind of heroes will we find amongst an aristocratic Lurk, a crimson-coated Cutter, a Whisper with ideas of grandeur and an experienced Spider? The Gauntlet, and everything related, can be found at http://gauntlet-rpg.com/ Blades in the Dark, by John Harper, can be found at https://bladesinthedark.com/ Vigilantes, by Sean Nittner, can be found at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3tt8i4czfnlfsgo/AACzQRVMZaw6kJV17Rd9AEm-a?dl=0 Plugs! 1) Jim Likes Games at https://jimlikesgames.com/ 2) Trophy RPG can be found at https://trophyrpg.com/ 3) Voidheart Symphony can be found at https://ufopress.co.uk/voidheart-symphony/

Episode 118 - John Harper Interview (aka The Same Page Page) John Harper is a game designer with an embarrassment of riches in his back catalogue. Blades in the Dark, Lady Blackbird, Lasers and Feelings, Danger Patrol, Ghost/Echo and most recently the rebooted Agon in collaboration with Sean Nittner. He joins the lads to discuss BitD and other forged in the dark games, share insights on upcoming content including the cyberpunk Null Vector, reflect on Lady Blackbird and of course give insights into the latest project of Greek heroes, Agon. You can find out more about his games on the One Seven design page, including some free, back his efforts by supporting Patreon, or find him on Twitter among other places. Check out Agon on the Evil Hat website. Get in touch, the lads love to hear from you! Facebook: facebook.com/thesmartparty Twitters: twitter.com/the_smart_party Email: thesmartparty@hotmail.com Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/thesmartparty Patreons: patreon.com/thesmartparty

Episode 118 - John Harper Interview (aka The Same Page Page) John Harper is a game designer with an embarrassment of riches in his back catalogue. Blades in the Dark, Lady Blackbird, Lasers and Feelings, Danger Patrol, Ghost/Echo and most recently the rebooted Agon in collaboration with Sean Nittner. He joins the lads to discuss BitD and other forged in the dark games, share insights on upcoming content including the cyberpunk Null Vector, reflect on Lady Blackbird and of course give insights into the latest project of Greek heroes, Agon. You can find out more about his games on the One Seven design page, including some free, back his efforts by supporting Patreon, or find him on Twitter among other places. Check out Agon on the Evil Hat website. Get in touch, the lads love to hear from you! Facebook: facebook.com/thesmartparty Twitters: twitter.com/the_smart_party Email: thesmartparty@hotmail.com Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/thesmartparty Patreons: patreon.com/thesmartparty

Part 2 of the Let's Play for Agon by John Harper and Sean Nittner. To back Agon go to: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/evilhat/agon?ref=p1kwbj Hear more of The Critshow, an actual play podcast focused on PBtA games (First season, Monster of the Week, Second season Dungeon World), on iTunes, PodBean, Google Podcast or anywhere you get your podcasts.------ You can support The Critshow through our Patreon to get more weekly TTRPG Actual Play content, access to our discord community, and much more! Follow The Critshow on twitter, join our subreddit, and follow us on Instagram. Get a free MotW mystery and some Keeper tips from Rev by signing up on our website! And don’t forget to check out our wonderful sponsors!This episode was edited by Brandon (Rev) Wentz with music by Jake Pierle.

Part 1 of the Let's Play for Agon by John Harper and Sean Nittner. To back Agon go to: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/evilhat/agon?ref=p1kwbj Hear more of The Critshow, an actual play podcast focused on PBtA games (First season, Monster of the Week, Second season Dungeon World), on iTunes, PodBean, Google Podcast or anywhere you get your podcasts.------ You can support The Critshow through our Patreon to get more weekly TTRPG Actual Play content, access to our discord community, and much more! Follow The Critshow on twitter, join our subreddit, and follow us on Instagram. Get a free MotW mystery and some Keeper tips from Rev by signing up on our website! And don’t forget to check out our wonderful sponsors!This episode was edited by Brandon (Rev) Wentz with music by Jake Pierle.

Part 3 of the Let's Play for Agon by John Harper and Sean Nittner. To back Agon go to: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/evilhat/agon?ref=p1kwbj Hear more of The Critshow, an actual play podcast focused on PBtA games (First season, Monster of the Week, Second season Dungeon World), on iTunes, PodBean, Google Podcast or anywhere you get your podcasts.------ You can support The Critshow through our Patreon to get more weekly TTRPG Actual Play content, access to our discord community, and much more! Follow The Critshow on twitter, join our subreddit, and follow us on Instagram. Get a free MotW mystery and some Keeper tips from Rev by signing up on our website! And don’t forget to check out our wonderful sponsors!This episode was edited by Brandon (Rev) Wentz with music by Jake Pierle.

     Today we have Sean Nittner the person that puts on BigBadCon in the Bay Area.  We wanted to get Sean to talk to us because BigBadCon is not a typical game con.   It has a different heart that other cons.  They all have their own character and BigBadCon is known for the great RPGs and LARPs.   In the last few years they have added  Boardgames, and Panels to BigBadCon.  Though most of the people that attend are from the San Francisco Bay Area there are quite a few that come from all over the U.S. to attend BigBadCon.      We really appreciate Sean taking time from his busy schedule to talk to us about BigBadCon from it roots to its future.       Though the Kickstarter is over you can still buy tickets starting in early July.       Here is the link the conventions website: https://www.bigbadcon.com/     BigBadCon takes place from October 10th-13th at the Marriot in Walnut Creek, California.    Here is the link to the Hotel block:  https://www.marriott.com/event-reservations/reservation-link.mi?id=1555698790823&key=GRP&app=resvlink    If you want to go to a great RPG con that runs many small press and independent rpg games BigBadCon should be on your list of cons to attend every year.    As always thanks for listening and all we ask is that you share our podcast with your family and friends.

Roll To Play Level Up Big Bad Con Featuring: Kristin Devine with special guests Banana Chan and Sean Nittner This episode of Level Up Kristin Devine sits down with Banana Chan of Game and a Curry and Sean Nittner of the Big Bad Con gaming convention to chat about Big Bad Con. To find out more about theBig Bad Con Kickstarter, go here. Social Media: www.rolltoplaypodcast.com Facebook: Roll To Play Podcast Twitter - @RollToPlayPod Instagram – rolltoplaypodcast Email – gm@rolltoplaynetwork.com

Welcome back to Gaming with Gage, your podcast for Roleplaying Games and the Periphery.Thanks for being hereAnd thanks to all of you have been listening to our new Actual Play. If you haven’t joined our Discord, you can actually find the full cast there. It’s also where we do all of our interviews and occasionally run online gaming sessions.This week I got the chance to chat with Sean Nittner, Director of Projects at Evil Hat Productions and host of twitch.tv/actualplay. We spent a lot of time talking about exciting projects for 2019 including For The Queen a card-based story-building game that you can start playing in minutes. Fans of the show will recognize the game’s designer Alex Roberts from her appearance on this show. We loved Star-Crossed, even did a little AP of it, and we’re super excited to try this game out.We also talked about Improv for Gamers, a book of practical tools to bring to your gaming experience and for all you Blades fans the recently announced Band of Blades.As always we ask that you rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen.Subscribe on Apple PodcastSubscribe on AndroidAnd with all that out of the way, let’s jump into the our chat with Sean Nittner.Some other helpful links,Our WebsiteTwitterInstagram

Lowell sits down with Sean Nittner from Big Bad Con and Evil Hat Productions. Big Bad Con 00:00:46 - Overview 00:05:03 - How the Con got started 00:09:00 - What makes Big Bad Con special? 00:18:30 - Kickstarter Sean's Work in Tabletop Publishing 00:28:26 - Sean's work at Evil Hat 00:35:45 - Advice for first-time game publishers 00:39:38 - Moving on to work with bigger publishers Giving Me Life 00:44:47 - Playtesting new games 00:47:10 - Indexes Links Big Bad Con Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1157274964/big-bad-con-2018

Star Crossed Story Time comes to a close with Sean Nittner and Kira Magrann re-telling a tale as old as time: a barely-contained love ensnared between warring clans of werewolves and vampires. Star Crossed is on Kickstarter until May 10th! Thanks to all our backers for making this mini-series possible

Podcaster and Big Bad Con organizer Sean Nittner shares his love of Actual Play reporting, staying positive, and making gaming events safer and more inclusive. Key quote: "If you feel awkward or like you're going outside your comfort zone... you're probably on the right track." Sean's website Big Bad Con Kickstarter Have Games, Will Travel Blades in the Dark Fiasco Mage: The Ascension Adam Koebel on Twitch George R. R. Martin's LiveJournal Narrative Control Katanas & Trenchcoats Big Bad Con Double Exposure Envoy Program Social Deduction Games One-Night Werewolf Coup FATE Good Omens Call of Cthulu Hero System Ars Magica Iron Heroes Castles and Crusades End Game Magic: The Gathering Katherine Cross Dungeon World Welcome to Night Vale Dread Pronoun Badge Ribbons Whitney "Strix" Beltrán on Getting Women and other Minority Folks to Write for Your Game Tanya D

The first episode of Sean Nittner's actual play actually begins on episode 3, due to the fact that the first two episodes were not recorded (although play reports for the first two episodes can be found at his website, link following later). If you are familiar with the Temple of Elemental Evil module, you probably will have little difficulty following along. You can find more information and play reports at http://www.seannittner.com/tag/torchbearer/.GM: Sean NittnerPlayers: Shaun Hayworth, Jon Edwards, Tim Sanders, and Soren LudwigOriginal Airing: 06/03/2012Link: www.seannittner.com/actual-play-flight-into-darkness/

The GenCon stack and RinCon plansIntro by Sean Nittner and Justin Evans of Narrative Control.--PaulDiscuss this episode in the HG,WT forum

Failure and forward progress in RPGs.Intro by Sean Nittner and Justin Evans of Narrative Control.--PaulDiscuss this episode in the HG,WT forum

The Twelve Days of HG,WT: For A Few Games More-mas: Day 11Pretense vs. Agenda in RPGsIntro by Sean Nittner and Justin Evans of Narrative Control.--PaulDiscuss this episode in the HG,WT forum

The Twelve Days of HG,WT: For A Few Games More-mas: Day 2StakesIntro by Sean Nittner and Justin Evans of Narrative Control.--PaulDiscuss this episode in the HG,WT forum