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You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! In this episode, I talk to Tim Denee, a Wellington-based graphic designer, illustrator, and game designer. His graphic design work has been recognised by the Best Awards, Tokyo Design Week and the International Society of Typographic Designers. He's also the co-author of We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa, which was shortlisted for the Ockham NZ Book Awards. Through Old Dog Games, he's published free RPG products like a hack of Band of Blades for playing in the Warhammer old world and last year, a hack for Twilight 2000 to play Andor. And recently, he's partnered with Evil Hat to release Deathmatch Island, a battle royale adaptation of Agon, and crowdfunding now, Blades '68, an expansion for the seminal Blades in the Dark.  Tim’s personal website: https://timdenee.com/  Old Dog Games: https://www.olddog.games/  Blades ‘68 crowdfunding: https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/c7788a1e-2f1c-4525-bc66-2a99b84ebae9/landing  Show Notes: Austin Powers Mad Men (TV Show) Games Mentioned Deathloop Dishonored Mythic Bastionland If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter Music: "eastern" provided by mobygratis.

As per annual tradition, I'm once again joined by Quinns from QQuest to talk about the year and forge our bond in the fire of podcasting. Show Notes: Fastaval, the larp festival in Denmark Last year's 2024 year in review Games Mentioned The Tribunal The Straights Are Not Okay Tacklebox Mythic Bastionland Gradient Descent God’s Teeth / Delta Green D&D Draw Steel Daggerheart Magnus Archives Old Gods of Appalachia The Silt Verses Old School Essentials / Dolmenwood Cain Pirate Borg Fabula Ultima The Between Masks of Nyarlathotep Eternal Lies Pirates of Drinax A Nocturne Apocalypse World: Burned Over You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! In this episode, I talk to Aaron Lim, a game designer from Malaysia. His work includes sad village-building game An Altogether Different River, very sad journey game Itchaca on the Cards, and tragic mecha game Spectres of Brocken. He's also the organizer of Playtest Zero, a fortnightly RPG playtesting community that's been going on since 2021.  Aaron Lim on bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ehronlime.bsky.social Aaron’s itch page: https://ehronlime.itch.io/ Show Notes: Playtest Zero FAQ My article about visiting Malaysia for the Asian Board Games Festival Only Yesterday (1991) Games Mentioned Ithaca on the Cards: Second Expedition Microscope Big Grave Fashion Fantasy Desperation Zhenya’s Wonder Tales If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! In this episode, I talk to Asa Donald is one-half of Backwards Tabletop, the publisher of the Backwards Universe of American horror games and Rust Never Sleeps, a solo mecha game. Their current project is Spine, a dark solo RPG about losing yourself in a book.  Asa Donald on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/backwardsttrpg.bsky.social  Spine (Digital): https://backwards-tabletop.itch.io/spine Spine (Physical): https://mixam.com/print-on-demand/68ec499e9e0b692d084d6b6c Show Notes: Asa’s series on Bookplay and interviews with other designers: www.backwardstabletop.com  Pale Fire by Nabokov Games Mentioned You Will Die In This Place Normality Wisher Theurgist Fatalist Harvest Wreck This Deck (and Wreck This Book) Seven Part Pact The Sun’s Ransom Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! Today, I’m talking to Allen Varney, who runs the Bundle of Holding currently, which I think everyone listening to this had heard of. Before that, he worked as a freelance writer, editor, game designer for TSR, Steve Jackson Games, West End Games, FASA, and more. He was the lead designer for Paranoia XP, the 2004 edition of the game from Mongoose, and wrote a ton of articles for house magazines like Dragon.  Bundle of Holding: https://bundleofholding.com   Show Notes: Space Gamer magazine Warren Spector Games Mentioned  Steve Jackson's Man-to-Man Fantasy Combat (also Car Wars, Ogre, and more) Toon Paranoia Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan (Dracula Dossier, Darkening of Mirkwood, Eyes of the Stone Thief) Primal Order If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! Today, I’m talking to Josh Fox who was last on the podcast to talk about the second edition of his award-winning game, Lovecraftesque. We talked about Black Armada Games, the company he's been running for ten years with his partner, the game designer Becky Annison. This time, we’re talking about Ex Tenebris, a scifi gothic investigation game. Crowdfunding link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blackarmada/ex-tenebris Show Notes: Alien ⁠Black Armada Tales (AP of Ex Tenebris)⁠ Games Mentioned Last Fleet Flotsam Dark Heresy Brindlewood Bay The Between Bump in the Dark External Containment Bureau Stealing the Throne If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! Today, I’m talking to Elizabeth Little. She’s a UK-based science teacher, artist, and game designer. She co-founded Shrike Studio in 2015 and released games such as Blight Seas Fleet, a dark fantasy naval skirmish game, for which she developed a whole range of 3D printable miniatures. This year, she released a demo of You Will Die In This Place, an RPG described as "a nihilistic dungeoncrawler about art, death and identity". It’s weird, meta, layered, and also very asymmetrical like a boardgame. We talk about its design and themes (everything is a labyrinth! relationships, games, mental illness!) and its crowdfunding campaign via GameFound's RPG Party later this year.  Crowdfunding link: gamefound.com/en/projects/shrike-studio/you-will-die-in-this-place  Itch.io link: https://liz-shrikestudio.itch.io/  Show Notes: The Denial of Death by Ernst Becker Myth of Sisyphus Labyrinths by Jose Luis Borges Deimos by Dragan Bibin (painting) Toni R. Toivonen’s brass art  Watching from a Distance by Warning (doom metal album) Essay about the game by the Split/Party newsletter Games Mentioned Call of Cthulhu Delta Green World of Darkness Zephyr: An Anarchist Game of Fleeting Identities Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast Paint the Town Red If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! In this episode, we talk to Hendrik ten Napel, a game designer from the Netherlands. He's self-published supplements for Brindlewood Bay, Bump in the Dark, and the Paragon system. His newsletter, Hendrik Biweekly, is a regular source of excellent game design thoughts. Today we're here to talk about his first crowdfunded game, The Girls of the Genziana Hotel, a gothic mystery PbtA game set in an isolated alpine hotel. You play chambermaids in the hotel trying to discover what happened to one of their own. The crowdfunding page of The Girls of the Genziana Hotel on Gamefound: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/hendriktennapel/the-girls-of-the-genziana-hotel Hendrik’s bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/napel.itch.io Hendrik’s itch page: https://napel.itch.io Show Notes: Strega by Johanne Lykke Holm After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz Sally Rooney Games Mentioned Brindlewood Bay The Between Night Witches Exiles Crescent 2e If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! In this episode, we talk to Emily Allen, the game designer behind Dying Stylishly Games. She's best known for her two now classic OSR adventures, the Gardens of Ynn and the ennie-award winning Stygian Library, which popularized the depth-crawl format. Both of which are now republished in new editions from Soul Muppet Publishing. She’s also designed Dungeon Bitches, a violent sapphic PbtA game about trauma and survival and the Yellow Curtain, a weird meta-storygame inspired by the King in Yellow. And then this year, we got Black Death Rising, an OSR-ish game of religious horror amidst the black plague where you can play vampires, werewolves, homunculi, changelings, ghouls, grotesques, ghosts, and waifs. And fight fascists, demons, and intelligent rats. Emily Allen’s blog: https://cavegirlgames.blogspot.com Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/cavegirlpoems Games on drivethruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/8182/cavegirl-productions Emily’s Games: Wolf Pack & Winter Snow (2017) The Dolorous Stroke (2018) Gardens of Ynn (2018) Stygian Library (2018) Deep Morphean Transmissions (2019) Esoteric Enterprises (2019) Dead Girls in Sarkash Forest (2021) Dungeon Bitches (2021/2022) The Wounded, Hungry and Forgotten (2022) Black Death Walking (2022) The Yellow Curtain (2024) Black Lung (2024) Black Death Rising (2025) Show Notes: Book of Revelations Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Games Mentioned Stars without Number Beyond the Wall Miseries & Misfortunes Vampire the Masquerade/World of Darkness Lacuna by Jared Sorenson Mork Borg Empire (larp) If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! In this episode, we talk to Luke Jordan aka Wildwood Games, a queer non-binary game designer, writer, editor, performer, and professional GM. Their own games often combine a poetic sensibility, spooky themes, high emotion, and light mechanics. They've contributed to games like Girl by Moonlight published by Evil Hat and Koriko and The Slow Knife by Mouse House Press. Today, we're talking about two of their games that were crowdfunded in a double-barrel campaign with Possum Creek Games in late 2023. Grand Guignol, a second version of their game of queer gothic horror, and Harvest, a brand new folk horror set on some unnamed British isle.  Harvest / Grand Guignol on Backerkit: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/jay-dragon/grand-guignol-harvest  Wild Wood Games on itch: https://gamesfromthewildwood.itch.io/harvest   Luke Jordan on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wildwoodsgames.bsky.social  Show Notes: The Picture of Dorian Gray Dracula Jekyll and Hyde Frankenstein Penny Dreadful The Wickerman  The Apostle (2018) Blood on Satan’s Claw Witchfinder General Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched (documentary) Midsommar The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper Games Mentioned Apocalypse World Dream Askew/Dream Apart Wanderhome Stonetop (with annotated actual play) If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! Spoilers for Andor S2 from 04:30 to 10:30 Spoilers for Rogue One all through the episode In this episode, I speak to Jess Levine. She is a teacher, organizer, writer and game designer.  She publishes RPGs under the label, Jumpgate Games. Her work includes I Have the High Ground—a game of "banter, posturing, and capes"—and her satirical military scifi game PLANET FIST. Today we'll be talking about going rogue 2e, an award-winning game of war, rebellion, and sacrifice. Galactic & Going Rogue’s crowdfunding campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/galacticgoingrogue/galactic-and-going-rogue-two-ttrpgs-of-war-among-the-stars?ref=97zzps Jess Levine’s bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jessfrom.online  Show Notes: A More Civilized Age’s actual play Guide to the BDS Boycott AA Voigt’s video about Going Rogue Gramsci? Roleplay Public Radio actual play Games Mentioned hook, line & cyb3r by wicked glitch games A Quiet Year by Avery Alder Dream Askew/Dream Apart by Avery Alder and Benjamin Rosenbaum If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! In this episode, I speak to Navaar Seik-Jackson who is a game designer, writer, and the host of the Secret Nerd and other podcasts. Navaar makes action drama games — his The Last of Us inspired survival game, The Corrupted, is published by Plus One Exp through their Zine Club programme. You can listen to a lovingly produced actual play of the game called The Ties That Bind run by Navaar on the Secret Nerd podcast. He's currently working on Soothwardens, a diceless monster-hunting game of warriors eternally bound together. Navaar’s itch page: https://navaarsnp.itch.io/ The Secret Nerd podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/secret-nerd-podcast/id1576080929  Show Notes: Rowan Zeoli talks about The Corrupted on Polygon Transplanar, actual play show Bloodhounds, TV Show Castlevania and Castlevania Nocturne Games Mentioned Godkiller by Connie Chung If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! In this episode, I speak to Paul Czege, a game designer with a deep catalogue that is hard to pin down. An article on RPG.net from 2009 reads "Paul himself defies any sort of easy classification" . It continues, "Depending on your viewpoint, Paul is either one of the most prolific of the Gaming Outpost/Forge designers or one of the least. Also, depending on you how look at it, his best contribution lies in a single game (the still popular My Life With Master) or in the thought and effort he has put into the hobby of role playing and the practice of game design." Apart from LWM for which he won the Diana Jones Award in 2004, he also designed the melancholic minotaur game, The Clay That Woke. Recently, he's been writing about solo journalling games, publishing two zines, The Ink That Bleeds and Inscapes about how to play them, as well as some actual games including the Balsam Lake Unmurders, about catching a necromancer in Minnesota who keeps bringing people back to life, which is crowdfunding on Kickstarter. Paul Czege’s itch page: https://paulczege.itch.io/  The Balsam Lake Unmurders on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/252728880/the-balsam-lake-unmurders  Show Notes: Mosaic Strict The interview on the Indie Game Reading Club Carl Jung, The Red Book Close Encounters of the Third Kind M John Harrison’s Viriconium Games Mentioned Earthdawn The Clay That Woke The Ink That Bleeds Inscapes Traverser (unreleased) Earth Mother, Sky Father A Viricorne Guide If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! In this episode, I’m talking to Viditya Voleti, a game designer and interactive artist. He's a visiting instructor at the Pratt Institute in NYC. He's freelanced for Paizo, Possum Creek Games, Evil Hat, and RRD. His own tabletop designs include vampire cowboy game, Bloodbeam Badlands, GMless optimistic scifi game, Space Between Stars (forthcoming from Possible Worlds Games), and A Land Once Magic, a post fantasy worldbuilding game currently crowdfunding on Backerkit. Viditya’s itch page: https://vidityavoleti.itch.io A Land Once Magic on Backerkit: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/moreblueberries/a-land-once-magic?ref=yesindied  Show Notes: Action Button Reviews Tokimeki Memorial (6 hour video essay) Kekkai Sensen // Blood Blockade Battlefront (anime) The original post coining the term Fruitful Void by Vincent Baker ++ Here’s a good Levi Kornelsen article about whether D&D has one Ludonarrative Dissonance Games Mentioned Ithaca in the Cards by Aaron Lim, crowdfunding on Kickstarter  Free from the Yoke (Legacy) by Mina McJanda If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter

You can support this show on Patreon⁠⁠! In this episode, I’m talking to Gabriel Robinson, a writer and game designer. He's the lead writer on the Silt Verses, an RPG published by the Gauntlet press adapted from the hit audio series. He's contributed to a number of other Gauntlet publications like Trophy, Brindlewood Bay, and more. Through his own imprint Glowing Roots press, he's published Token, a two-player tragic fantasy game, and Candlelight, a GM-less game of lost spirits revisiting their final moments. His games often have a folk horror aesthetic, dark and mysterious but usually stopping shy of macabre. Gabriel’s website: https://glowingroots.carrd.co/ Gabriel’s bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glowingroots.bsky.social  Show Notes: The Silt Verses, horror-fantasy podcast The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper Games Mentioned Silt Verses RPG The Wassailing of Claus Manor If you liked this podcast, check out the weekly Indie RPG Newsletter