Fri, 23 October 2009 This month being the month of all things horror, Ryan gets together with Monica Valentielli of Flames Rising to talk about some basic things to consider when designing a horror game. The folks at Flames Rising really know their horror, so it's no surprise that Monica's full of great insight about mood, theme, player involvement, and pacing. Towards the end of the conversation, they discuss a little bit of the differences between more traditional horror game set-ups and some of the newer, indie/character-focused ones. After the interview, Ryan reminds you he exists by continuing to talk, this time about the recent The Thing's The Game episode and Jess Hartley's new book, Conventions for the Aspiring Game Professional. Monica Valentinelli & Flames Rising:
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Tue, 11 August 2009 Ryan talks about reincorporation from a design perspective. And he's going to write proper show notes later, when he's not packing for GenCon. |
Tue, 21 July 2009 Continuing the series on pacing mechanics, Ryan talks about campaign-level pacing systems. He revisits D&D, as having a loose sense of pacing based on the setting material linked to various character levels. Afterward, he talks at length about Polaris, as a prime example of an individual character-focused pacing mechanic -- with what it means to achieve and how it achieves it. Then he brings up a setting book for Polaris, Thou Art But A Warrior, that introduces a group-focused (or world-focused) pacing alongside the character-focused one. Finally, he talks about Burning Empires as a competitive, GM vs. PCs system. He closes out by bringing up some pitfalls to watch out for in any pacing mechanic you do. He also shamelessly asks you for you consideration in voting for The Voice of the Revolution at the ENnie Awards. Games Mentioned:
Running time: 31:59 / File size: 21.9M Discuss this episode on the forums |
Tue, 30 June 2009 On this fiftieth episode of Master Plan, Ryan talks with Paul Tevis about text production and his new book, A Penny For My Thoughts. Given that Ryan worked with Paul on the game by developing and editing it, it’s not a standard interview -- they talk about it as insiders sharing a bit about creating the project with fans, especially over some of the pitfalls and issues they ran into together. After the interview, a few people wish Ryan well on achieving his fiftieth episode, and he shares his thoughts on the future of the show. A Penny For My Thoughts:
Running time: 32:04 / File size: 22.0M Discuss this episode on the forums |
Fri, 19 June 2009 Ryan sits down for another episode, this one kicking off a series about pacing mechanics. To start off, he talked about there being some broad, different types of pacing mechanics, and focuses on one in particular: the "refresh scale" mechanics -- those that happen then resources are expended in order to regain them. This idea traces back to old school D&D, but people have done interesting things with it since -- including the recent edition of D&D and Dirty Secrets. To end, he talks a touch about a pitfall with designing these mechanics that he ran into when working on Mythender and urges others to consider avoiding. Games Mentioned:
Running time: 25:45 / File size: 17.7M Discuss this episode on the forums |