Advertise on podcast: Game Design Deep Dive

Akar Bharadvaj is designer of the upcoming game Chalice of Poison about the Iran-Iraq War from GMT and the Zenobia Award-Winning Tyranny of Blood. We chat about both designs, the future of the Zenobia awards, and much more. Hellcouch designed by Carol Mertz and Francesca Caletto-Leon also came up in conversation, and we are all about giving credit where due.  Outro music: Lifeguard "It Will Get Worse" Send us Fan Mail

We welcome back Cole Wehrle (who hopefully needs no introduction) for a wide ranging discussion about expansions, Buried Giant- his new publishing home, and much much more.  Outro music: "King's Army" The Scarring Party  Send us Fan Mail

Liz Davidson has co-designed Queen of Spies and the forthcoming Night Witches with David Thompson. She is also the Creative Director at Leder Games, but you may know her best for her work on her Bobby Nunez-award winning Beyond Solitaire podcast. We chat about her work at Leder, her historical design work, and the transition from game critic to game designer. Note: This episode is tagged explicit solely for cussing.  Outro Music: Jonny Fritz "Debbie Downers" Send us Fan Mail

Our guest is designer John Carnahan. His latest, Come Out Fighting will be on Kickstarter on November 30th. I am not sure how many listeners have dipped their toe in miniature games, but I had to invite John to discuss his latest design, because it incorporates something extraordinary and radical in that space.  Come Out Fighting on BGG Come Out Fighting on Kickstarter Outro Music: Gene Autry "Don't Fence Me In" Send us Fan Mail

Recorded live at SD HistCon, our esteemed panel was comprised of designers John Butterfield (RAF, Enemy Action Series, D-Day Omaha, Ambush), David Thompson (Valiant Defense Series, War Story, Undaunted), and Jeremy White (Skies Above Series, Enemy Coast Ahead Series, Atlantic Chase). We discuss embedded vs emergent narrative in historical games and how one leverage mechanisms to achieve the desired play experience in solitaire design.  Outro music: Might Hannibal "All Nite Long" Send us Fan Mail

Greg Loring-Albright is the designer of Ahoy, Keep the Faith, and co-designed Bloc by Bloc: Uprising with T.L. Simmons. Moreover, he teaches Game Studies and Game Design at Harrisburg University. We discuss his recent zine RULEBOOKS FOR RADICALS on the importance of designing games in dire times.  Outro music: Radioactivity "Time Won't Bring Me Down"  Send us Fan Mail

Lisa Smedman is a best-selling author, journalist, and designer of many RPG games and modules. We discuss Trench Raid, her first solitaire tabletop wargame for Compass, the tactical approach to the topic of WW1, and the relationship between serious games and design intent.  Trench Raid from Compass Games Outro music: "Kingdom Come" by Cindy Lee  Cindy Lee is marvelous! Go check out Diamond Jubilee by Cindy Lee here: https://cindylee.bandcamp.com/album/diamond-jubilee Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, a proper interview with Fred Serval, designer of A Gest of Robin Hood, Red Flag Over Paris, and A Very Civil Whist. Fred is also the host of an excellent channel dedicated to historical tabletop gaming, Homo Ludens. We discuss his design approach and how it informs critique of other games. Outro music: "All Good Things Will Come to Pass" - Lael Neale Send us Fan Mail

Mary Flanagan, is a game designer, professor, and an author. She joins us to discuss her book, co-authored with Mikael Jakobson, PLAYING OPPRESSION: THE LEGACY OF CONQUEST AND EMPIRE IN COLONIALIST BOARD GAMES. We discuss representation of non-western cultures, colonialist mechanisms, and whether or not decades of conquest and exploitation based games have calcified to form the bedrock of competitive play.   Outro Music: "Funeral for Justice" - Mdou Moctar Public Nominations for the Summit Award are open. Complete the survey here: https://sdhist.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=985b96c86d7bad0572684acc4&id=677c3ab117&e=3333a4975d Send us Fan Mail

Brian Asklev designed my favorite wargame of last year, 1812: Napoleon's Fateful March. We discuss what went into his phenomenal design, his upcoming game Baltic Empires, event design, and the challenges of playtesting multiplayer games.  Outro music: Sons of Kemet "The Hour of Judgement" Send us Fan Mail

Pako Gradaille has flexed an impressive range of historical topics and systems with his designs Plantagenet, Cuius Regio, Habemus Papam, and Onoda. We discuss how solitaire games can present challenging narratives, considerations when designing negotiation-based systems, and much more.  https://gamefound.com/en/projects/saltandpepper/habemus-papam Send us Fan Mail

SEASON FINALE: We welcome designer and developer Joe Schmidt to discuss In the Shadows: Resistance in France 1943-1944 (a game we designed together), his Levy & Campaign game Henry, solitaire design for Gunnar Holmback's Weimar Republic (GMT), and his development work on the forthcoming game Hellraisers from Wehrlegig.  Outro music: "Help Save the Youth of America" - Billy Bragg Send us Fan Mail

Today, I chat with Talia Rosen, designer of First Monday in October which is a game about the history of the US Supreme Court coming soon to Kickstarter from Fort Circle Games. We discuss what inspired Talia's first design and the challenges of modeling the supreme court.  Outro music: "The Devil's Great Grandson" - Sons of the Pioneers Send us Fan Mail

As a designer, John Butterfield is a bit of a troublemaker. He likes to insert friction in his designs where wargamers aren’t used to finding it. His games don’t just tell stories, they host a space for players to make their OWN stories. His titles include Ambush, RAF, Enemy Action: Ardennes & Karkov, the D-Day Series, Hell’s Highway and so many more. We discuss solitaire design, the evolution of his work, and his collaboration with Kai Jensen on Downfall. Outro music: Jessica Ackerley All Of the Colours Are Singing | Jessica Ackerley (bandcamp.com) Send us Fan Mail

For this episode, we chat with filmmaker and game designer Yoni Goldstein about his upcoming game Chicago '68 from The Dietz Foundation about the 1968 DNC protests and his journey in game design.  Chicago '68 on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dietzfoundation/chicago-68 Jean Genet in Chicago: https://vimeo.com/78486625 Outro Music: "Popular Myth and the Destruction of Sodom" by Peter Thomas Sound Orchester Send us Fan Mail