Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast System Shop
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Episode 14: Relationships in Play feat. Avery Alder | 04 Sep 2026 | 02:33:50 | |
In this relatable episode, we’re joined by special guest Avery Alder - creator of Monsterhearts, Dream Askew, and The Quiet Year - to talk about relationship mechanics. How does your game change when you model relationships as variable stats, states of being, currencies, cycles, roles, or power dynamics? How do you provide mechanical handles for specific types of relationships, while allowing them to be messy and emergent? What happens when two characters have wildly different interpretations of their mutual relationship? Where do relationships even exist, in terms of the physical sheet or game component that bears them? Avery sees the kids for the trees. Violet hassles her vassals. Freya sticks to the classics. Avery seizes the means of narration. Violet doctors the narrative. Freya draws her friends close. *** Check out Avery’s Stuff! *** https://buriedwithoutceremony.com/ *** Check out JourneyMon! *** https://ilgingell.itch.io/journeymon *** Check out Freya’s Blue Skies Sabbatical, Volume 1! *** https://severalseals.itch.io/drake-barcode-morse-inspector https://severalseals.itch.io/foleynauts *** Timestamps *** No mailbag this time! Intro to topic [*1] - 0:15:16 Why mechanise relationships? - 0:20:37 Design questions - 0:31:00 History - 0:53:47 Three angles on the Taxonomicon - 1:01:30 Rivalries - 1:07:51 Digression about Shock and conceptual poles - 1:13:45 Authority hierarchies - 1:21:46 Peer relationships - 1:30:49 Relationships as a resource - 1:39:00 Parasocial relationships - 1:45:16 Odds and ends and anecdotes - 1:53:17 Difficult relationships (and more Monsterhearts) - 2:02:16 Design Dreams - 2:12:27 Wrapup - 2:27:45 *** Design Dreams *** Freya: the League of Super Frenemies Violet: Hand Inarticulate Hand Avery: Love’s Letters Lost Bonus: The Dream Ghost Conspiracy [*2] *** Games discussed *** Monsterhearts Dream Askew / Dream Apart The Quiet Year JourneyMon Underwhelming Acolytes of an Ageing Immortal [-] D&D 3.5e D&D 4e AD&D Good Society The Deep Forest Masks Exalted Essence Vampire: The Masquerade Delta Green Pendragon Sagas of the Icelanders Girl Frame Hot Guys Making Out Star Crossed Interstitial Riddle of Steel Burning Wheel Blades in the Dark Reign A Place To Fuck Each Other Thirsty Sword Lesbians Lady Blackbird Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine Dogs in the Vineyard Apocalypse World Masks Dungeon World Bluebeard’s Bride World of Darkness (assorted) Aberrant Genius: the Transgression Over The Moon Tournament Arc Transit Shock Lasers & Feelings Avatar Legends Flabbergasted The Between Pathfinder Everyone Is John Belonging Outside Belonging Mad Alien With A Box Golden Sky Stories Blue Rose The Serpent’s Tooth Lost Kingdom (The many gm one streamer game) Dialect Going For Broke Smallville Last Fleet Exalted (not Essence) The Thunder Perfect Mind Silver And White [-] Microscope Children of Time [-] [*3] Seven-Part Pact [-] Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast Voidheart Symphony Midnight Muscadines *** Other media discussed *** Earthborne Rangers Steven Universe (obliquely) The L Word Animal Crossing Homestuck (inevitably) Kingdom Hearts Beastieball Pride & Prejudice Jeeves & Wooster Dr Who The Order Of The Stick Mage Knight Gloomhaven Battlestar Galactica [*4] Final Fantasy XIV Buffy the Vampire Slayer [*5] Dispatch Persuasion Portal 2 Philosophers in Space A Psalm for the Wild-Built A Close And Common Orbit Shogun (the board game, not the show) The World Ends With You: NEO *** Notes & Links *** [*1] …and apparently a local dog immediately goes wild in the background of Freya’s audio, sorry! It doesn’t last forever. [*2] if you know of a game that already implements Dream Ghost Conspiracy’s mechanics, tell us about it! It saves us having to write it ourselves. [*3] Predictably, the Children of Time crowdfunder ended some time before we finished editing this episode. [*4] the board game, but also the licensed RPG I guess! [*5] all this Monsterhearts talk and it took us two hours to mention Buffy. Spoilers at ~2:12:00! [-] games with this tag are unpublished (not yet released) or un-published (un-released). It is a fact universally acknowledged that when you make a joke and say “that was rubbish, you can edit it out,” that makes it funny enough to leave in. According to the dictionary wot I done red, a pastiche does not have to also be parody. The term, delightfully, is derived from a name of a pie with a melange of many ingredients. Sorry, Francis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_History_and_the_Last_Man *** Contact us! *** Thank you to everyone who has emailed into our mailbag - If you too have a question, idea, or interesting game you’d like to share with us, email systemshoppodcast@gmail.com *** Additional Credits *** Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ System Shop is made by humans. We do not use generative AI at any stage of our process, from research to editing. | |||
| Bonus Episode: Ennies Exploration 2026 | 31 Jul 2026 | 00:21:25 | |
Hello, systemic shoppers! This is (hopefully) part one of a 2-part bonus about the nominations for the 2026 Ennies: the annual public-vote awards for TTRPGs. We realised that the games tended to fall into either “I own and have played this” or “I haven’t even heard of this”. Now, we’re not going to talk at length about impressions of games we haven’t played, because judging a book by its cover is only appropriate for the games nominated for Best Cover Art. But we are going to each pick one game, give it a spin in the near future, then reconvene with part 2 to talk about our experiences. ****** Voting will have closed by the time this episode goes up (it’s only open for like a week!) but the list of categories and nominees is on their website: https://ennie-awards.com/2026-nominees/ ****** The Girl Frame review Freya references is by Caelyn Ellis of Rascal News: https://www.rascal.news/girl-frame-confidently-stomps-its-way-into-a-niche-mecha-genre/ ****** We also had a discussion about Deadline: A Clockwork Press that was definitely comedy gold, but (ironically enough) didn't make the cut because we’d decided to end the recording immediately before it. Whoops! | |||
| Episode 13: Vehicles | 27 Jul 2026 | 02:18:03 | |
Vrrrroom! (Sorry, I had to). In this all-hands-on-deck episode, we’re talking about vehicular play and the scale shifts it introduces as it opens new horizons. What happens when you bring a knife to a tank fight - and how do you avoid trivialising the whole game when you’re the one in the tank? How do you set stakes when everyone might go down with the ship? And when does hyper-specialisation for crew roles actually cripple your cooperation? Violet puts the cart before the oars. Freya mounts her soapbox. Violet rigs the game. Freya floats a flotilla. *** Timestamps *** Mailbag - 0:09:02 Topic intro & design questions - 0:17:34 History - 0:49:20 Comparing Wildsea experiences - 0:55:59 Taxonomicon - 1:03:13 Freya admits her serial salvage surplus & shipmate shortage - 1:41:59 to 1:52:05 Design Dreams - 1:53:23 Freya’s insectile aspiration announcement - 2:12:01 Wrapup (and oops, more bugs) - 2:12:54 *** Design Dreams *** Violet - Record of a Spaceborn Fugitive Freya - Disney Pixar’s Cars: The Driver’s Licensed TTRPG Violet - Wormhole Long Haul Freya - Transform and Role Out *** Games discussed *** Tool Team[*1] Bestial Princess Disease: A Torture Chamber[*1] (can be seen here: https://files.catbox.moe/5mb50b.webp) Several collage contributors Drake Barcode: Morse Inspector [*1] Shadowrun (2e, specifically) Pathfinder Lancer D&D 5e Scherzando! [*2] Break!! Sword World Pico Classified Rifts Traveller Mothership OD&D D&D 3.5e Star Trek Adventures Wildsea Last Caravan Ribbon Drive Car Wars GURPS Heavy Gear Apocalypse World Scum and Villainy Blades in the Dark Edge of the Empire / Genesys Fate Homeworld [*3] Mothership: Gradient Descent Transit Horse Girl My Girlfriend Has Turned Into A Car (And We’re Escaping This City) Savage Worlds Cypher The Magnus Archives RPG [*4] Electric Bastionland Mythic Bastionland Intergalactic Bastionland Wanderhome Stars Without Number Eberron Ion Heart Last Fleet Songs for the Dusk Pasión de las Pasiones Honey Heist Good Society *** Other media discussed *** Affinity Publisher (does that count as media??) Magic: the Gathering Camel Up, Heat, Thunder Road, and Magical Athlete The works of Adrian Tchaikovsky (as usual) Shadowrun series (Harebrained Schemes) Fuga: Melodies of Steel Slay the Spire Captain Sonar Star Trek (Voyager & DS9 specifically) Sunless Sea Rogue Trader Get in the Car, Loser! Subnautica Star Wars: Galactic Racer X-Wing Radio On (1979, dir. Christopher Petit) One Piece Live Action Season 2 Pacific Drive Magic Mike XXL (and other roadtrip movies) Revolutionary Girl Utena Shut Up & Sit Down Gaslands Akira Hot Fuzz Bug Fables The Wandering Village Dunecrawl Star Trek: Armada XCOM Moby Dick Railsea Embassytown Record of a Spaceborn Few Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters Battlestar Galactica Disney Pixar’s Cars Rocket League Iron Lung Shards of Earth (The Final Architecture) Transformers Thunderbirds Nowhere (1997) Cowboy Bebop Shadows of the Apt
*** Notes & Links *** [*1] if you haven’t heard of these games, that’s because they’re ours and some of them aren’t released yet. [*2] now with canon-compliant exclamation mark. [*3] which is indeed published by Modiphius. [*4] the Magnus Archives RPG is indeed based on the Cypher system. Some research thanks to my local tank museum (and also, totally normal people on the internet) suggests that modern tanks have dedicated commanders among a crew of 4, and WW1 tanks had crews of 8 or more because they were huge and horrible and required a lot of manual labour. My tolerance for military history forums hit its limit at that point so I refuse to research WW2. American Psycho (Wet) - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eY9ccvv7Nlg Living spaces in space, from Cowboy Bebop - https://www.tumblr.com/bluedelliquanti/123202722454/one-of-my-favorite-things-about-rewatching-cowboy Random bug generator - https://perchance.org/bug-species My chair is unusually creaky in this one, so keen ears will probably pick it up occasionally. Sorry about that! *** Contact us! *** Thank you to everyone who has emailed into our mailbag - If you too have a question, idea, or interesting game you’d like to share with us, email systemshoppodcast@gmail.com *** Additional Credits *** Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License | |||
| Bonus Episode: Violet's Conpulsion Con-trived Title | 08 May 2026 | 00:48:59 | |
In this bonus episode, Violet discusses the games she ran and played at Con-Pulsion 2026…. Which she in-con-veniently forgets to name during the recording. Whoops! ***** Timestamps ***** Panels & speakers - 02:55 Unravel - 06:01 Unravel… again! - 13:57 Spoilers for the Unravel quickstart scenario - 15:39 to 16:53 More mechanical discussion of Unravel - 17:39 Freya’s extremely subjective opinions about Earthborne Rangers - 21:40 The Thunder Perfect Mind - 25:08 Dream Askew - 34:57 Reflection & Wrapup - 43:13 ***** Games discussed ***** Unravel Liminal Horror Delta Green Lasers & Feelings CBR+PNK Earthborne Rangers The Thunder Perfect Mind[*1] Vampire: The Masquerade Daggerheart Dream Askew PbtA Wanderhome Mad Alien With A Box Gloomhaven ***** Other media discussed ***** Black Wave, by Michelle Tea Cross stitch (like, the actual textiles hobby) Elder Scrolls 3 : Morrowind Arkham Horror (the card game) Arkham Horror (the board game) Elder Sign (the other Arkham Horror board game) Orphan Black Trios ***** Notes & Links ***** Unravel quickstart: https://studio-mothmen.itch.io/unravel-the-work-is-in-good-hands Discord link: https://discord.gg/cMP257y8 [*1] the game by Tanya Floaker, not the 2,000 year old poem Freya will be wandering the halls of UK Games Expo in May, wearing her white JourneyMon t-shirts as usual. (In related news - the digital edition of JourneyMon has now released to kickstarter backers! Exciting!). | |||
| Episode 12: What is a Roleplaying Game? | 01 Apr 2026 | 02:16:10 | |
In this foolish episode, we…. Wait, what is it we do here again? I… I can’t remember… we’ve got a long road ahead of us if we’re going to make sense of all this. (Seriously. It turns out we can’t even begin to answer this question without talking about the nature of storytelling, improv, kayfabe, the role of GM, the purpose of rules, being instructed to *break* those rules, what it means to “play”, the promises made when a game describes itself… this was meant to be a silly joke episode, dangit!) Freya turns her lovers into fighters. Violet collates a collaborative coventure. Freya is drawn to a new role. Violet explores the past pre-tense. Freya breaks free of her bindings. Violet imagines a world without imagination. *** Timestamps *** What’s new - 02:56 Mailbag - 11:07 Intro to the topic - 18:30 History - 25:12 Taxonomicon - 40:16 Actual start of the taxonomicon - 41:06 Just kidding, it’s a discussion of the spectrum between ‘board game’ and ‘improv theatre’ - 41:07 Could this be the taxo- oh, no, now we’re talking about the nature of rules - 46:32 Listen, I think we’re just not going to have a normal taxonomicon in this one - ?:??:!? Wait! A list of games in quick succession! This must be it! - 53:20 Discussion about Wanderhome and Kishotenketsu and game Promises and- are we sure we actually know what this podcast is about at all? - 01:05:36 Who’s Game is it anyway? (Discussion on the nature of GMs) - 01:21:08 The Counterexampliad, whatever that means - 01:27:25 Exclusive unlocked patreon content preview [*1]: international paper size deep dive - 01:31:51 to 01:33:17 Design Dreams - 01:56:58 We made it! - 02:12:59 *** Design Dreams *** Two Truths And A Lie-Fall Parasocial Investigations Diararchaeology Redaction RPG PBTA Chaos Draft Co-Op Adventure QWOP RPG: Rebus-Picto-Glyphs *** Games discussed *** D&D 3.5e Heavy Gear D&D 1e Pathfinder 1e Eat the Reich Unravel Stories from the Grave Wildsea Eberron GoGo Golf Kagematsu Triangle Agency Hyborea Coventry [*2] Tunnels & Trolls Pasión de las Pasiones In Nomine Satanis / Magna Veritas Vampire: the Masquerade Apocalypse World Dogs in the Vineyard World Wide Wrestling Monsterhearts A Song Of Ice And Fire RPG Genesys Fellowship Masks Do: Fate of the Flying Temple Avatar Legends Yazeba’s Bed And Breakfast Troika Mausritter Golden Sky Stories Savage Worlds Wanderhome Journeymon Alas for the Awful Sea Transit Lancer Chuubo’s Marvellous Wish-Granting Engine Slugblaster Interstitial Pitcrawler Triangle Agency Mothership Cypher RuneQuest II Monster of the Week Brindlewood Bay Scherzando Lost Kingdom Belonging Outside Belonging Colostle For Small Creatures Such As We Wreck This Deck Hot Damn Deadly Alien Overlord Au Pair [*3] Tacklebox For The Queen Our Queen Crumbles The Tragedy of GJ237B Paranoia Toon Microscope I’m Sorry Did You Say Street Magic Acts Of Evil [*4] “Messed Up Little Guy” [*5] Goblin Country Dream Askew Band of Blades Ars Magica Everyone Is John Star Trek Adventures This Discord Has Ghosts In It Goblonia Everything Is Tables Your Body A Landscape Spire De Profundis Apothecaria *** Other media discussed *** Mass Effect The Twilight Zone (and its ilk) Majora’s Mask Final Fantasy Tactics Advance The Elusive Shift Kriegsspiel [6] The Lord of the Rings Battleship Mastermind Kiki’s Delivery Service Star Wars: Empire At War FTL Nier Final Fantasy XIV Fighting Fantasy Grapefruit (Yoko Ono) Foundation Unwritten Earths Symposium October: Ten Days That Shook The World Spyfall Pacific Rim Dicey Dungeons City of the Six Moons Wildermyth Penny Arcade *** Notes *** [*1] This is a joke, we don’t have a patreon and if we did we’d serve you something better than this gag, probably. [*2] As you’ll discover when listening, this and several other entries on this list are debatably proto-RPGs. I’m giving them the honour of not being relegated to the ‘other media’ zone… [*3] Once again - I’m sorry, world. [*4] The author’s name is Paul Czege. [*5] By Grant Howitt. This is a paraphrasing of the game’s name, but delightfully, you will find it if you google this. [*6] Unlike Coventry, this one definitely goes on the ‘other’ list. Because it definitely is a wargame. It’s in the name. *** Links *** The term “ashcan edition” derives from quick, low-quality mockups used in the comics industry to quickly establish trademarks, and not intended to be read: something you’d take one look at, then thrown in the (tr)ashcan. In publishing, the term has shifted to mean early promotional materials. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashcan_comic Ironically, if you haven’t seen this xkcd, we may have overestimated your familiarity. https://xkcd.com/2501/ “Fafhrd”, of “Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser”, probably isn’t pronounced the way Violet valiantly attempted. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fafhrd_and_the_Gray_Mouser Violet quotes from The Grasshopper: Games, Life, and Utopia, by ludologist Bernard Suits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusory_attitude Freya only references webcomics if they’re at least 17 years old. https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/03/20/in-search-of-a-robust-cosmology *** Contact us! *** Thank you to everyone who has emailed into our mailbag - If you too have a question, idea, or interesting game you’d like to share with us, email systemshoppodcast@gmail.com *** Additional Credits *** Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License | |||
| Bonus Episode: Freya's Contingency Con-Return | 04 Mar 2026 | 01:46:18 | |
In this tradition-setting bonus episode, Freya debriefs about the mechanics and tabletop experiences of seven games she played, two she ran, and one she designed (!) at Contingency 2026, the UK’s premier seasonally skewed seaside TTRPG convention. As always, a massive thank you to all the GMs and players who make this con a highlight of my year ~ Timestamps Immediate digression about competitive tabletop games - 0:07:04 The Code of Steam and Steel - 0:13:35 Tournament Arc - 0:22:42 Guest appearance from my cat - 0:29:53 Nibiru - 0:33:42 Inhuman Game Jam - 0:38:51 Phoenix: Dawn Command - 0:49:28 Goblonia - 0:57:26 Digression about games for actual toddlers - 1:05:20 Demigods - 1:08:55 Slugblaster* - 1:12:49 Rivers of London - 1:14:42 Break!! - 1:27:14 Con Haul - 1:35:10 Digression about settings where you’re just a lil guy - 1:38:32 Wrap up & what we’d like to play again - 1:42:48 Games discussed Wildsea Cosmere RPG Shadowdark Black Code Black Rune The Code of the Space Lanes (briefly) The Comics Code Belonging Outside Belonging JourneyMon Interstitial The We-ness Warhammer (briefly) Wanderhome Vampire: The Masquerade Spire The Sprawl The PBTA genre in genre-al Call of Cthulhu D&D Pathfinder Delta Green The One Ring Die Avatar Legends** Cypher System (2019 edition) Magnus Archives RPG (briefly) Genesys Mouse Guard Mausritter Mythic Bastionland Other media discussed Warhammer Magic: the Gathering Battletech (Is Tarot “media”? Hmm.) Megaman: Battle Network Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged The works of Adrian Tchaikovsky The Mind The concept of the mechsploitation genre Leverage That children’s memory game where you flip and match pairs of cards Baby youtuber thumbnails Various other infant toys, sorry, we got stuck on A Thing Rivers of London (the novels themselves) Inscription Iron Lung (briefly) Waters of Leith*** Battlecon: War of Indines Millennium Blades (briefly) Hollow Knight Roadside Picnic**** STALKER Notes & Links * You may have noticed this section is short. There’s not much to say about Slugblaster! It’s good. More verbose and video-oriented reviewers have talked much about it already. ** Mild spoiler warning in the final few minutes for some of the season premises (and a canon ship, ha) of Legend of Korra. *** I have now *finished* listening to Waters of Leith. It’s a fun and competent production… but despite the GM’s stated intentions, it doesn’t really engage with the anticolonialist antagonist in an interesting or nuanced way. Which is not great, considering it’s set in (a version of) the real world and names real locations, peoples, and cultural artifacts. **** Spoiler warning for a seminal 1970s sci fi story. Wolfram Alpha reports that the probability of at least one 4 on 4d4 is a bit over 2/3rds. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=probability+of+at+least+one+4+on+4d4 “Nibiru” is an Akkadian term for “point of transition”. Nice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_(Babylonian_astronomy) Games For Crabs is running July 18th - 19th, 2026, in Sheffield (UK). https://gamesforcrabs.co.uk/ Toast Tea in Edinburgh is indeed a good café, and they are not - unfortunately - paying us. Violet will be at Conpulsion in April - https://conpulsion.org/ | |||
| Episode 11: Hunger feat. Roz Leahy | 22 Feb 2026 | 02:13:53 | |
In this ravenous episode, Violet is joined by returning guest Roz Leahy as we* talk about hunger mechanics. Don’t get confused with cozy campfire cooking: we’re discussing the tension and drama of *not* getting the sustenance you need. Everyone’s gotta eat in real life, but what does it mean for our storytelling? How do you make ingestion interesting? Should there be benefits to “staying hungry”? Does it matter whether your tummy is half full or half empty? Are toothless hunger mechanics worse than none at all? And most importantly, why does mechanised hunger work great for vampires, but not so well for hunters, a grab bag of “beasts”, and *checks notes* mummies? Violet’s calamari hooks her on a white whale. Roz struggles to retain retainers. Violet snacks on a hunger bar. Roz hungers for punishment. Violet rates rational numbers. Roz has one square meal. Timestamps What’s new? - 0:01:18 Intro to the topic - 0:11:16 Content warning (eating disorders) - 0:29:41 to 0:30:49 History - 0:34:37 Deep dive on Vampire: the Masquerade et al - 0:51:27 to 1:04:59 Taxonomicon** - 1:07:47 Strong opinions about “usage dice”*** - 1:46:54 to 1:53:13 Content warning (eating disorders) - 1:55:25 to 1:56:25 Design Dreams - 1:56:36 Wrapup - 2:09:44 Design Dreams Violet - Expeditions & Anticipations Roz - Truly Miserable Hunger: Trench Foot Edition Violet - Hungry Hungry Homunculi Games discussed Carved in Stone Leathers OD&D Bluebeard's Bride Heart Castle Ravenloft/Curse of Strahd Vampire the Masquerade (in particular, 5th edition) Mothership Black Hack Wilderfeast Delving Deeper Basic Fantasy OSE Hyperborea Chivalry and Sorcery Traveler AD&D, specifically Wilderness Survival Guide, and Dark Sun The Morrow Project Aftermath! GURPS Rifts (briefly) Werewolf the Forsaken Mage the Awakening and Exalted (briefly) Hunter: the Vigil D&D 3.5, 5e Beast: the Primordial Vampire: the Requiem, Werewolf: the Apocalypse, Hunter: the Reckoning, Changeling: the Lost (briefly) Mummy: the Curse Monsterhearts Masks Apocalypse World Torchbearer Ryuutama: Book of Gastronomy Golden Sky Stories Lamentations of the Flame Princess His Majesty the Worm Errant Knave (Briefly) Mausritter Daggerheart (Beast Feast) Yes, Chef Bakto's Terrifying Cuisine Algophilia Nechronica (Briefly) Spire Swyvers Other media discussed Articles by Jay Dragon (see links below) Resident Evil & Stardew Valley (in the same breath!) It Has Come To Pass (painting by Sergei Lukin, 1958) Delicious in Dungeon / Dungeon Meshi Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit Outdoor Survival Chainmail (briefly) The Complete Guide To Role-Playing Games (Rick Swan, 1990) Article by Merritt K (see links below) The Score (Thi Ngyuyen) Radical Uncertainty (John Kay & Mervyn King) Battle Chef Brigade Consume Me Fear and Hunger Notes & links * Well, not me, Freya. I’m writing the shownotes, but I wasn’t in this one! ** …which does, as it happens, start with two more World (well, Chronicle) of Darkness games! *** We don’t strictly define “usage dice” in this section, though! Basically, instead of tracking item quantity / durability on a numerical scale, you roll a die of a certain size when you use it, and something bad (such as the die shrinking next time) happens if you roll badly. As Violet remarked when I was writing this comment, we *did* talk about usage dice way back in episode 1, so, long time fans will surely remember ;-) The official-ish website for ZiMo - Zine Month - doesn’t actually commit to when exactly Zine Month might happen, other than to clarify that it’s distinct from the two other things also called “Zine Month”. So, keep an eye out and solve their riddles three if you want to participate next year! https://iwanttoplay.games/zinemonth Jay Dragon articles: https://possumcreek.medium.com/a-dozen-fragments-on-playground-theory-684104bcb4ab https://possumcreek.medium.com/the-game-left-unplayed-60062beadded https://possumcreek.medium.com/rules-are-a-cage-and-im-a-puppygirl-69e8d569b2b6 The rather endearing life level index chart from Outdoor Survival: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/254292/outdoor-survival The Merritt K article no longer seems to be available, or at least neither of us could find it - sorry! “Sekhem” appears to be etymologically related to words for “power” and “form”, with connotations along the same lines as mana / chi / your life force of choice. Googling it in 2026 provides a long list of new-age healing businesses…. Followed by the White Wolf wiki. Disclaimer: I am not an egyptologist. Content warnings Given the subject of this episode, we discuss: - Eating disorders - The biology and physiology of starvation Notable instances are logged in the timestamp section. Contact us! Thank you to everyone who has emailed into our mailbag - If you too have a question, idea, or interesting game you’d like to share with us, email systemshoppodcast@gmail.com Additional Credits Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License | |||
| Episode 10: Monster Taming feat. Imogen Gingell | 17 Nov 2025 | 02:18:34 | |
In this genre-defining episode, Violet and Freya are joined by fiancée of the show Imogen Gingell to talk about bringing a beloved videogame genre to the tabletop. How can you faithfully capture the themes while adapting mechanics to a new medium? How do you make each little guy mechanically unique and full of personality, without losing track of your travelling zoo? We explore how different games answer these questions - including, of course, Imogen’s upcoming JourneyMon, on Kickstarter right now! Freya builds buzz for her broadcasting bees-ness. Violet dabbles with disobedience. Imogen reflects on symmetry. Freya draws a circle, then a blank. Violet bundles babies in her backpack. Imogen opens a box of dogs. Check out JourneyMon on Kickstarter now! Funded in seven hours, and (at time of press) well on the way to our second stretch goal! Campaign ends on Thursday, November 27th 2025. Timestamps What’s new? - 0:03:25 Tabletop Scotland - 0:11:03 Mailbag - 0:15:36 Intro to the topic - 0:23:37 Mechanics & design questions - 0:33:27 History - 0:56:44 Digression about 00’s homebrew forums - 1:08:21 Taxonomicon - 1:13:55 Design Dreams - 1:55:59 Wrap up - 2:13:02 Design Dreams Violet - PokémOSR, Squires & Spirits Freya - Isekai Ecologists, Everyone Is Mon Imi - JourneyMon! Games Discussed Eberron Cosmere RPG Journeymon Mythic Bastionland Monsterhearts Stonewalkers (Cosmere adventure path) Escape From Riedra (Eberron adventure path) Fall of Magic City of Winter Delve Microscope Armour Astir Masks Daggerheart Apocalypse World D&D OSR (in general) Runequest Shin Megami Tensei TTRPG Big Eyes, Small Mouth Cute And Fuzzy Cockfighting Seizure Monsters Pokéthulhu Pokemon Tabletop Adventures Pokémon Tabletop United Pokémon 5e Pokéroll Pokeymanz Monsters Tail Magimonsters Animon Story Monsters And Other Childish Things Monster of the Week Pocket Monster of the Week Lancer Everyone is John Lasers & Feelings Kids With Critters How To Train Your Mutant Fire Dog Genepals Convocation Prime Bones Deep ForeverDex Transit Wilderfeast Other media discussed Arkham Horror (card game) Game Soup Escape This Podcast Pokémon* Final Fantasy Digimon** Dark Souls Battletech (the tabletop wargame) His Dark Materials Megami Tensei Dragon Quest Critical Ditto The Adventure Zone Microsoft Excel Battletech (the videogame (2018))*** Ben 10 Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Pokemon: Too Many Types What Beats Rock World of Warcraft Let’s Learn Everything Decktamer My Card Is Better Than Your Card Encounters of the Spooky Kind Cassette Beasts Jade Empire My Trainer is Dumb?! Disco Elysium Inside Out Monster Hunter Dungeon Meshi Notes and links * we make it 25 minutes before naming Pokemon… ** …and it took us 42 minutes to namedrop Digimon! *** I got the year wrong, clearly I’m not a True Fan ProZD’s Q&A about his home Pokemon TTRPG -https://youtu.be/pndtlIKl0Qw?t=272 One youtuber’s report from the front lines of Pokemon: Too Many Types - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjoLQvj7lAE I couldn’t find the Chansey Death Stranding game again. I’m moderately confident that it wasn’t a fever dream. Contact us! At systemshoppodcast@gmail.com Additional credits Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |||
| Episode 9: Mapmaking feat. Roz Leahy (Part 2) | 02 Sep 2025 | 02:15:50 | |
In this conclusive episode, we round off our discussion of mapmaking. How can random map generation both add and remove meaning in a world? Is verisimilitude in tension with playability? Do spaces need to generate conflicts? Violet re-orients her priorities. Freya turns on the worm. Roz breaks the annual silence. Violet goes loopy. Freya goes flat-out. Roz throws shade on the dark. Violet’s ideal excludes idylls. Freya enjoys a beach episode. Roz edinburrows through Edinborough. We will be at Tabletop Scotland! In Edinburgh *this weekend* (5th - 7th September). Say hi if you spot us! Freya says if you spot her in her white JourneyMon t-shirt and enthuse about your favourite companion monster, she’ll give you a bag of monster munch. Check out Roz’s stuff Roz’s portfolio can be found here - https://rozleahy.carrd.co/ Her Philip K Dick podcast, Chicks with Dick, can be found in your preferred podcasting place. Timestamps Map-related news - 01:03 The ever-popular taxonomicon - 13:38 …including but not exclusively extended discussions of… The Quiet Year - 17:20 Seas of Sand - 44:37 Wanderhome - 1:03:38 Mappa Mundi - 1:10:21 Spotlighting some games that we found through a keyword search on itch.io - 1:19:27 Design Dreams - 1:38:00 Surprise! Actually it’s a discussion about real world architecture - 1:38:01 Okay, now Design Dreams - 1:43:41 Wrapup - 2:10:11 Design Dreams Violet: Spiral School, Blobworld, Urchins Under Adventurefication, Border Loopers, Gold Rush God Game Freya: Isekai Leyline Wizards, Turns & Tides Games discussed Keep on the Borderlands (“very slight spoiler” warning around the 1 hour mark) On Mighty Thews Swords Without Master In A Wicked Age Beyond the Wall - Further Afield Microscope The Quiet Year I’m Sorry Did You Say Street Magic Your Cool City Needs A Food Supply Delve Dawn of Worlds Bottled Sea Undying Sands Umbra Rise Mothership The Vast in the Dark Seas of Sand Dark Sun Mausritter D&D (took us a while to mention it this time!) Wanderhome Journeymon (took us a while to mention this, too!) Ryuutama Under Hill, By Water Mappa Mundi Heart Bad Maps World In Your Hand Sock Puppets A Show of Hands Your Body a Landscape Walking to France Wisher, Theurge, Fatalist My Bad Galaxy Into The Odd Delta Green DOGS (which may or may not be in the Vineyard) Cosmere RPG Other media discussed Pseudoregalia Majora’s Mask (specifically the 3DS remake) Blue Prince Harvest (2024) Conan the Barbarian Lord of the Rings The Domesday Book Seeing Like a State Invisible Cities (Violet tried not to talk about it, but successfully failed) Hello Future Me Victoria 3 Small World (board game) Carcassonne Civilization: New Dawn Dwarf Fortress Flatland Planet Zoo Dark Souls Citizen Sleeper Tress of the Emerald Sea Magic: The Gathering Diablo Zelda: Breath of the Wild Skyrim The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis Talisman Captain Sonar Zelda (in general) Bloodborne Hobbit Tales From The Green Dragon Inn Hand of Fate Advance Wars Delicious in Dungeon Lil’ Guardsman Hundreds of Beavers Too Many Cooks (cw: surprise horror) Late Shift (2025) Inis Notes and links The National Underground Asset Register appears to require an account to access its beta form - https://portal.nuar.uk/ Restrictions breed creativity in the WTF game jam - https://itch.io/jam/wtfjam2025/entries Watabou’s generators on itch are just one of the many map-making tools out there - https://watabou.itch.io/ If you find the post about the guy getting stuck in the backstage of a hotel, send it to Roz because she can’t find it and it’s driving her crazy. Isekai is a truly prolific genre of anime and manga about protagonists who get magically transported to other worlds. But you knew that, you weeb ;-) Contact us! At systemshoppodcast@gmail.com Additional credits Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |||
| Episode 8: Mapmaking feat. Roz Leahy (Part 1) | 04 Aug 2025 | 01:19:55 | |
In this trailblazing episode, we have our first ever guest and our first ever two-parter! We’re joined by Roz Leahy, game designer and editor, to talk all about maps. Who makes the map, and when? How is the act of mapmaking at the table reflected within the fiction? And when can a “bad” map be better than a “good” one? Freya invents Bawdy&D. Roz lays her cartography on the table. Violet joins the little leagues. Freya is inclined to descend. Roz delivers a north-winded explanation. Violet goes dotty. And most importantly, everyone enthuses about local history. There’s no pun there, we just think it’s neat. Check out our various things! The kickstarter prelaunch page for Journeymon, the monster-training RPG written mostly by Freya’s award-winning fiancée but also partially by her, is waiting for you at https://journeymonrpg.com/ . There’s also a free quickstart adventure. Check it out! Roz’s portfolio can be found here - https://rozleahy.carrd.co/ . Her Philip K Dick podcast, Chicks with Dick, can be found in your preferred podcasting place. Timestamps What’s new - 3:05 Mailbag - 11:46 Intro to topic - 15:05 Design Qs - 22:00 History - 58:50 Wrapup - 1:18:55 TTRPGs (and a lot of specific modules this time!) Border Riding Keep on the Borderlands Journeymon Going for Broke Masks Dungeons & Dragons: Men & Magic booklet Cosmere RPG Stars Without Number Mothership Mausritter Mörk Borg Planescape Dawn of Worlds Hyperborea Hyboria (not to be confused!) Descent into the Depths of the Earth West Marches Dungeon Geomorphs Traveller Microscope The Quiet Year Dark Forest I’m Sorry Did You Say Street Magic Songs for the Dusk Other media things discussed The Carry On film series, for some reason Kill James Bond Original Podcast Do Not Steal Escape This Podcast City of Six Moons Chicks with Dick Pathologic A prospective map of unified Germany from 1848 Shadow & Bone (season 2) Game of Thrones Babylon 5 Sword of the Stars Stellaris Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes Captain Sonar Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space Outdoor Survival Chainmail Guild Wars 2 Elden Ring Big Walk Ratatouille Fallout 3 Assassin’s Creed Notes and links The virtual escape room “Break this Game” praised in Freya’s intro can be found here - https://mattj375.itch.io/vr-game-escape-room “On Exactitude in Science”, by Jorge Luis Borges, happens to only be one paragraph long, and you can read the text in translation here - https://neilgreenberg.com/ao-quote-borges-on-exactitude-in-science/ The National Library of Scotland’s archive of maps is available here - https://maps.nls.uk/ Mystic Arts’ Video on 3-mile hexes is on youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEIg1DlRkLg More information about the singular phenomenon that is Hyboria can be found here - https://snv-ttm.blogspot.com/p/tony-baths-hyboria.html Contact us! At systemshoppodcast@gmail.com Additional credits Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License | |||
| Episode 7: Pre-Generated Characters | 30 Jun 2025 | 02:06:52 | |
In this tailor-made episode, we discuss the advantages and challenges of using and writing pre-generated character sheets. Is there a sweet spot of player choice? And what are the risks of telling players exactly who they are and how they should feel? Freya watches for waspmen. Violet horseshoes around. Freya posits a post-it plan. Violet digs up a classic Indie game. As a bonus, we also have a themed mini-debrief of the 2025 UK Games Expo. And that theme is? Themes. As a double bonus, we introduce a new segment: “game ideas that it turns out somebody else has already done which is great because it means it already exists in the world”! As a triple bonus, the Journeymon Kickstarter prelaunch page and free quickstart adventure went live while we were editing this episode! Check them out here - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ilgingell/journeymon-monster-trainer-roleplaying/ Timestamps UGKE discussion - basically from the start GITITOSEHADWIGBIMIAEITW - about 19:40 Mailbag - about 25:44 Intro & design Qs - about 30:53 History - 1:02:06 Taxonomicon - 1:11:45 Design Dreams - 1:40:00 Wrap up - 2:02:13 TTRPGs discussed The Vanilla Game Keep on the Borderlands OSR in general D&D (4e, 5e) Psychodungeon Voidheart Symphony Subway Runners iHunt Call of Cthulhu Changeling: the Lost Tales of the Kytin Age * Sagas of the Icelanders For the Honor Animon Story Journeymon Mappa Mundi SPEEDRUN RPG Pathfinder 1e Biosphere Guardians 2050 Trickster’s Net Rifts Aberrant Shadowrun Savage Worlds PbtA Lady Blackbird Monsterhearts Dream Askew World of Darkness (in general) AD&D The Adventures of Indiana Jones Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast Mistborn Adventure Game The Exes of Casey Estrada Last Day at Honkwarts Genesys Black Code Pirate Borg Edge of the Empire Armour Astir Stealing the Throne Interstitial: Our Hearts Entwined Mothership Daggerheart Other games and things discussed Yumi and the Nightmare Painter Shadows of the Apt ** https://www.tumblr.com/haveyouplayedthisttrpg Fullmetal Alchemist Crescent Moon (board game) Battlestar Galactica (board game) The Commedia dell’arte Lord of the Rings: the Third Age “I Finished A Videogame”’s LotR adaptations retrospective *** Escaflowne Wheel of Time Everything Everywhere All At Once Dark Souls Nier Automata Root https://www.youtube.com/@Hollandspiele Original Podcast Do Not Steal **** Notes * as promised in the audio, the artist for this game is Yasen Stoilov https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:37fsd5g3kwmkmi5dvs2yxsgj ** yes, I must mention this every single episode *** not merely four hours - it’s actually five. Enjoy. https://youtu.be/poMnJKLGYo0?si=ynx0cQu_43vamIZE **** the bugworld guest episode is not yet up! They must have a mighty buffer. https://open.spotify.com/show/4a3x2GlQw0jsSk4vFTdpus Violet’s oft-referenced LARP design handbook is “LARP Design: Creating Role-play Experiences”, available from the authors at https://trepo.tuni.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/136330/978-952-03-2260-1.pdf The Hungarian for “thank you” is “Köszönöm”. Contact us! At systemshoppodcast@gmail.com Additional credits Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License | |||
| Episode 6: Multi-Attacks & Dual Wielding | 30 May 2025 | 01:19:23 | |
In this all-out episode, we discuss dual wielding and various other kinds of multiplicative modes of attack. How can frequency-focused fighting styles make different characters feel different? And how can you balance attack and defense mechanics so that “just attack more” isn’t the only answer? Violet trades a strike in the hand for two in the bush. Freya studies the studs. Violet decides Drizzt is a decent dude. Freya accidentally designs a videogame (again). Timestamps Mailbag - 8:29 Intro to the topic - 11:08 History - 26:23 Taxonomicon - 33:15 Design Dreams - 59:21 TTRPGs discussed Band of Blades Blades in the Dark Exalted (various editions) & Exalted Essence PbtA (in general) D&D (various editions) Lancer Cosmere RPG Empire of the Petal Throne Runequest Pathfinder OSR (in general) Dark Heresy Old World of Darkness Vampire: the (various things) One Roll System (Reign, Monsters and Other Childish Things, etc) Genesys Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy Tiles and Truenames* Last Days at Honkwarts* Other games and things discussed Blue Prince Gone Home Animal Well Link’s Crossbow Training XCOM Knights of the Old Republic 2 Battletech Bushido Knights of the Old Republic… 1! Total War Warhammer 40k Dissidia: Final Fantasy The concept of LARPing Absolver Combo Fighter Yomi Final Fantasy XIII Signs of the Sojourner Megaman: Battle Network Cobalt Core Paperback Adventures Notes *Dear listeners, allow us the brief indulgence of talking about our own games during the wrapup. Some illustrated sources re the question of historic “studded leather armour”: https://youtu.be/hmm_2GRa-o8?t=230 Pathfinder 2e does not use base attack bonus! It rolls the concept of weapon skill into its general tiered proficiency system, which applies the same rules to attacks, skills, saves, spellcasting, and probably several other things. The referenced clown college gag on Tumblr is apparently from 2016 and the original poster has deactivated, but it lives on in our hearts and our reblog chains, e.g. https://sunbeamstarship.tumblr.com/post/656273434937016320/new-clown-in-town-juzavoices-im-in Convention alert! Freya will be at UK Games Expo in Birmingham on Saturday 31st May and Sunday 1st June. She will be wearing a white Journeymon promo t-shirt on at least one and possibly both of those days. Say hi if you see her! Contact us! At systemshoppodcast@gmail.com Additional credits Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License | |||
| Bonus Episode: Violet's Conpulsion Con-venture | 03 May 2025 | 00:50:26 | |
In this unconventionally conventional episode, Violet talks about a recent event in Edinburgh. Violet has to hand it to handouts. Freya learns about a Thing or two. Violet takes the wrong notes. Freya is unexpectedly out-gayed. Thank you to everyone who emailed into our mailbag - If you too have a question, idea, or interesting game you’d like to share with us, email systemshoppodcast@gmail.com Timestamps Start of Con Discussion: 3:07 Liminal Horror: 9:27 Delta Green: 21:22 Kaleidoscope: 26:41 The Family: 34:41 Games discussed Liminal Horror Delta Green Kaleidoscope The Family Black Hack (and OSR in general) Monsterhearts Microscope Belonging Outside Belonging / Dream Askew / Dream Apart / No Dice No Masters Wanderhome Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine Mörk Borg Avatar Legends Masks Games that aren't TTRPGs that we nonetheless discussed, sometimes at surprising length Dead Rising Battlestar Galactica (the board game) Betrayal at the House on the Hill Mario Party Immortality (confirmed, this is on Netflix) The Executive Lost Odyssey Notes & links Itch page for the designer of the Family https://clevercrumbish.itch.io/ Weird Hope Engines: https://www.ntu.ac.uk/about-us/events/events/2025/3/weird-hope-engines Video essay about Lost Odyssey - https://youtu.be/iqgSDClU4Qo?si=M1vnb3gixwhaz8zM Additional Credits Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License | |||
| Episode 5: Challenge Rating | 03 Apr 2025 | 01:20:37 | |
In this level-appropriate episode, we discuss encounter design through the lens of totally objective ratings of enemies’ power levels. Yes, we do mention Dragonball Z - but somehow entirely refrain from any “over 9000” jokes. Violet shares tips on tipping points. Freya mopes about mopping up. Violet hates on Fate. Freya insists she liked D&D 4e all along. Thank you to everyone who emailed into our mailbag - if you have any thoughts, comments, or questions please email us at: systemshoppodcast@gmail.com Timestamps Mailbag - 9:00 Intro to the topic - 11:18 Design questions - 19:40 History - 35:40 Taxonomicon - 47:45 Design dreams - 1:03:15 Games discussed Star Trek Adventures Last Days at Honkwarts* The Great Dalmuti Master and Apprentice* Pathfinder Fate D&D Dark Heresy Capers D&D 4E specifically Vampire: the Masquerade Lancer (like, a lot) 13th Age Battletech (it’s back!) Grimwild Genesys Time of Monsters Vaesen Mothership *These are games designed by Violet herself. She apparently forgot to even mention the name of the second one :-P Notes It turns out that Freya’s graphics card has become eight years old since she last checked, so she’s definitely not going to play Monster Hunter Wilds, alas. The nineteen-year-old Order of the Stick comic that Freya recalls with only moderate accuracy is https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0347.html Additional credits Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License | |||
| Bonus Episode: Freya's Con-tingency Conventure | 10 Feb 2025 | 01:12:35 | |
In this first ever bonus episode, Freya reflects on the games she played at Contingency 2025 - a TTRPG convention on the wintry Norfolk coast. We discuss a pair of very yellow games, ruminate upon “A+B” dice mechanics, and analyse the comedy-to-therapy spectrum. Timestamps CBR+PNK - 2:02 Yellow King RPG (sort of) - 9:16 Confectioners vs Cromwell (using GM’s own system) - 16:56 Never Stop Exploding - 21:47 Troika! - 26:29 Star Trek Adventures (1E) - 30:40 JourneyMon - 39:21 Tool Team - 39:50 DIE - 41:57 One Ring (2E) - 1:02:29 Notes and links The extremely long Lord of the Rings video Freya mentioned: https://youtu.be/poMnJKLGYo0?si=hQO5mbdDtRnAjKOu The Meguey Baker article we discussed: https://lumpley.games/2021/12/30/ritual-in-game-design/ | |||
| Episode 4: Aid Another | 06 Feb 2025 | 01:09:36 | |
In this camaraderie-ridden episode, we’re talking about mechanics for helping other characters in joint efforts. We discuss how teamwork can double the risks, double the rewards, and hopefully say something about the nature of your characters’ relationships in the process. Violet uses "Stanford prison experiment" as a verb. Freya farms friends. Violet turns over an old leaf. Freya tears and shares. Our thanks to Charlie, Joey, and Amber for writing in! If you too have a question, idea, or interesting game you’d like to share with us, email systemshoppodcast@gmail.com. Timestamps Mailbag - 5:35 Intro & history of helping - 14:34 Design questions - 24:33 Example deep dives - 32:57 Gradual slip into design dreams - 51:11 Games discussed in this episode (In order of first mention) Daggerheart Sar-Stan Tiles and Truenames What’s In Your Mouth?! Super Saviour Squad The Token Bag Game Jam in general Armour Astir Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Mystery homebrew system by Joey Jones Ars Magica Dogs in the Vineyard DOGS [*1] City of Winter Death of a Hero [*2] Masks Golden Sky Stories Empire of the Petal Throne D&D Tunnels and Trolls Traveller Apocalypse World Monsterhearts Blades in the Dark Genesys Edge of the Empire Vampire: the Masquerade JourneyMon Interstitial: Our Hearts Intertwined Vaesen Heart Notes and links Two of the more esoteric entries on the above list can be found here: [*1] https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/274623/dogs [*2] https://babblegumsam.itch.io/death-of-a-hero The two UK TTRPG conventions mentioned are - https://tabletopscotland.co.uk/ Submissions to the Token Bag game jam can be found here: https://itch.io/jam/token-bag/entries Its follow-up - the New Year, Old Ideas game jam - has indeed already ended. Submissions can be found at https://itch.io/jam/new-year-old-ideas-jam/entries | |||
| System Shop Update | 23 Nov 2024 | 00:01:31 | |
Just a brief update on the podcast, which is going on a brief hiatus due to various personal issues. Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License | |||
| Episode 3: Death | 30 Oct 2024 | 01:20:33 | |
In this nominally spooky episode, we’re talking about DEATH. Who decides when a hero falls - is it the whims of the dice, the demands of the narrative, or a knife-edge entente between the two? Violet calculates the exact value of her friends’ lives. Freya uses a stake to take a break. Violet brings a gun to a dice fight. Freya gets knocked down, but gets back up again. Our thanks to the listeners who mailed in with comments on last week’s topic, Initiative - if you have a question, idea, or interesting game you’d like to share with us, email systemshoppodcast@gmail.com! Games discussed in this episode: Call of Cthulhu Wanderhome OD&D Traveller Vampire: the Masquerade Dogs in the Vineyard Apocalypse World / Powered by the Apocalypse Monsterhearts Vaesen Dread Ten Candles* Mothership Delta Green Paranoia Phoenix: Dawn Command Blades in the Dark Pathfinder (1e) Edge of the Empire / Genesys Cosmere RPG Armour Astir Daggerheart Wildsea Old School Essentials Heart Legacy: Life Among the Ruins Pendragon Mummy: the Curse Rogue Trader Arkham Horror Aeon’s End Star Wars Armada Grandia Battletech** Forbidden Stars Game of Thrones (the board game) Gears of War Control Wildermyth Rogue*** Magic: the Gathering Notes: * less spooky, but perhaps more manageable, than thirteen candles. ** the videogame by Harebrained Schemes, not the tabletop wargame, for once! *** and its roguelike descendants. 1. Violet’s Bag Jam can be found at https://itch.io/jam/token-bag , running from Friday 1st to Saturday 23rd November 2024. 2. Shared Fantasy: Role Playing Games as Social Worlds, by Gary Alan Fine, was first published in 1983. 3. A helpful chart: https://xkcd.com/1890/ A disclaimer: Freya is a volunteer playtester for both the Cosmere RPG and Daggerheart. She is not being paid in any way, and draws examples from their open beta material when relevant because they’re fresh in her mind! Additional credits: Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Spooky halloween music by Divider Line (dividerline.bandcamp.com) Sound effects by the BBC © copyright 2024 BBC (https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=07043402) Editing, musical stings, and other sound effects by Violet Henderson | |||
| Episode 2: Initiative | 11 Oct 2024 | 01:01:35 | |
How do you figure out who’s on first? And how do you balance the excitement of surprise against the satisfaction of a perfectly executed plan? Violet advocates for inaction. Freya trusts in the heart of the cards. Violet reaches into her bag of tricks. Freya turns into a lighthouse. Games discussed in this episode:
Notes: * I don’t know why this is the only game where I also named the author. No disrespect intended towards other designers! - F ** Speaking of which, and to answer a Q from the discussion: the lead designer is Spenser Starke; Mr Mercer is credited as creative advisor. A disclaimer: Freya is a volunteer playtester for both the Cosmere RPG and Daggerheart. She is not being paid in any way, and draws examples from their open beta material when relevant because they’re fresh in her mind! Additional credits: Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Editing, musical stings, and other sound effects by Violet Henderson | |||
| Episode 1: Inventory Management | 11 Oct 2024 | 01:14:17 | |
Welcome to the very first* episode of System Shop, the podcast where we deep dive into RPG design, one subsystem at a time. Today, we’re talking about inventory systems: what’s the point of tracking all your bits and bobs, and can it actually be fun? Violet can’t wait to talk about Ryuutama, and wants everyone to know it. Freya can’t stop talking about counting missiles (ancient and modern). Violet gleefully torments her players with maths homework. Freya has no idea how heavy 1lb is**. Blades in the Dark defies the Taxonomicon, for what will surely not be the last time. Games discussed in this episode:
Notes: * Unless we become bold enough at a later date to release our secret Episode Zero! ** The D&D 5e Player’s Handbook says a longsword weighs 3lbs, in defiance of Wikipedia’s estimate of 4-6.6lbs. Either way, I was way out - F. The “inciting blog post” discussed in this episode can be found at https://harbingergames.blogspot.com/2020/04/if-your-torches-burn-for-only-one-hour.html Additional credits: Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Editing, musical stings, and other sound effects by Violet Henderson | |||