Episode 4: Aid Another
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 [email protected].
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
Welcome to System Shop, the podcast where we deep dive into RPG design, one subsystem at a time.
Join us as we explore the origins, empirical trends, and future design space of all aspects of tabletop game design. What’s the point of mechanising carrying capacity or NPC attitudes? Why distinguish between armour and evasion, or attributes and skills? Many stories may begin with “because D&D did it”, but that’s far from the end…
We dig deeper by asking: how do differences in design decisions make players act and feel, and is this wholly intended? What is gained or lost by being able to sum up a monster with a challenge rating? How can initiative checks be used to make combat feel chaotic, tactical, or somewhere in between?
Finally, we suggest our own ideas for future innovations. Can we introduce new technologies and props? Can we shed assumptions of the past? Or should we bring them to the fore and embrace them to the extreme? Restrictions breed creativity, and our best ideas are often our most ridiculous.
System Shop is independent and ad-free. New episodes release whenever we have the time and energy to research and record a new topic.
Violet (She/her) is a recovering academic and alleged game designer, with a particular interest in system design and ludology.
Freya (She/her) is a demographer turned data engineer by day. She moonlights as collaborator, sounding board, and bad idea generator to her beloved and prolific game designer fiancée.
...
Cover design by Fallible Things (fallible.net).
Font on-cover is Lineal by Frank Adebiaye, with the contribution of Anton Moglia, Ariel Martín Pérez. Distributed by velvetyne.fr.
Where can you listen?
