Dice Exploder

Coming August 17th, 2023: DICE EXPLODER SEASON 2.

(Here’s a transcript of this trailer.)

That’s right, we are back next week with an all new season. It's 12 new episodes, 13 new co-hosts diving face first with me into the world of tabletop RPG design one mechanic at a time.

This is gonna be a season that's a lot about flavor and vibes and how those things themselves are fundamentally mechanics in these games. We've also got a trio of episodes about different ways to depict travel, and of course a few deep dives into crunchy grindy bits of games.

Our longest episode yet. Our shortest episode yet. Splorts!

Tell your siblings and your niblings! Join our Discord if you can’t wait that long.

See you soon.

Transcript

This week I’m joined by Tasha Robinson, film editor at Polygon, Games on Demand aficionado, Golden Cobra honorable mentionee, and author of this excellent piece about today’s game and mechanic: Fall of Magic and the five and a half foot long handprinted scroll at its heart.

There’s a lot to say about such a unique physical object, and also a lot to cover about maps in RPGs at large. We get into all of it. Consider this the third part of the travel series this season opened with.

Pack your bags. It’s a heck of a journey.

Further reading:

Fall of Magic by Ross Cowman

Tasha’s article about Fall of Magic and City of Winter

Tasha’s article about larps about AI

Tasha’s archive on Polygon

Tasha’s Golden Cobra honorably mentioned larp The Regency Committee on Decorum and Punchbowl Poop Prevention

Rusalka by Nick Wedig

Wild Beyond the Witch Light

Doskvol Street Maps by Tim Denee

Blades in ‘68 on Twitter

Beak Feather and Bone, another mapmaking game from Possible Worlds Games

Dread by Epidiah Ravachol

Socials:

Tasha on Bluesky and Twitter.

Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.

Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey via Breaking Copyright.

Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript

This week, Sam talks with Pam Punzalan about Devil’s Bargains, one part of the dice pool mechanic from John Harper's game Blades in the Dark. Some topics discussed include:

Rulebooks as guidelines and play philosophy more than proper rules

DBs as a safety tool

Generic DBs

Do DBs slow down the game? Is that good or bad?

Retconning in RPGs (it's good)

Putting DBs into any old game

Our favorite DBs

Games mentioned:

Blades in the Dark

Navathem's End

The Exiles

Belonging Outside Belonging games such as Dream Askew // Dream Apart

You can find Pam on Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.io at TheDoveTailor. You can find their newsletter at thedovetailor.substack.com. Her website is thedovetailor.carrd.co.

You can find Sam @sdunnewold on Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.io

You can find Blades in the Dark at bladesinthedark.com.

The Dice Exploder logo is by sporgory, and the theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript

This week, Sam talks with Ryan Khan about Whispers, a player resource from The Wildsea by Felix Isaacs, but really about a whole bunch of mechanics from The Wildsea. Some topics discussed include:

Setting as game design, and open ended lore

Open ended prompts

Twists vs Devil’s Bargains

Player agency

Long skill lists: pros and cons

Games mentioned:

The Wildsea

Apocalypse World

Blades in the Dark

Heart: The City Beneath

Spire

You can find Ryan Khan on Twitter @theOneTrueK and on itch.io at the-one-true-ryan-khan.itch.io

You can find Sam @sdunnewold on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.io, and by subscribing to the Dice Exploder newsletter.

You can find The Wildsea at thewildsea.co.uk

The Dice Exploder logo is by sporgory, and the theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey

Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcript

This week, Sam talks with wendi yu about the Fate Point economy, a meta currency system from Fate by Fred Hicks and Rob Donoghue and published by Evil Hat. Some topics discussed include:

Getting into storygames

“Generic” RPGs

When crunch kills the vibe

The Hero’s Journey

The (lack of) difference between rules and flavor

Writing good aspects: it’s hard!

wendi’s game here, there, be monsters!

You can find wendi on Twitter @wen_di_yu, and you can buy here, there, be monsters! digitally on itch or physically from SoulMuppet.

You can find Sam @sdunnewold on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.io, and by subscribing to the Dice Exploder newsletter.

You can find Fate at Evil Hat.

The Dice Exploder logo is by sporgory, and the theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!