What’s hot in indie story games seminar and a review of 2014

This is the seminar from Dragonmeet on 6th December 2014. “Some of the most passionate story gamers in the country share games you should know about, what’s exciting them most right now, and how to get the game you want. We also cover a review of the trends in 2014 in indie rpg and story games.”

Length: 74 minutes.

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Participants:

Anita Murray is the Contribution to Irish Gaming winner 2013 and the Irish National Game Writer Award winner for 2012. As well as organising design Playstorms for London Indiemeet, she’s also the founder and editor-in-chief of The Gazebo (an Irish and UK-based online RPG ‘zine) and a Twitching Curtain podcaster.

James Torrance is the founder of the Cambridge One-Shot Roleplaying Game group, which he created in February this year and which has grown to nearly a hundred members. He credits low-prep indie games with making the Cambridge group’s informal drop-in play model possible.

Joanna Piancastelli is a regular host on the story gaming podcast The Twitching Curtain, and has GM’d for indie Games on Demand on both sides of the Atlantic. She recently won an award in the first Golden Cobra Challenge for her superpower freeform game Unheroes.

Rob Carnel began reviewing rpgs in 1993 with the zine Carnel and he’s currently the editor of the webzine Thee Rapture in which he reviews many new, experimental games. He’s also one of the most prolific GMs in the London indie scene, all of which has led him to have an extensive knowledge of games and mechanisms.

Stephanie Jackson is co-organiser of London Indie RPG Meetup group and has been avidly devouring indie games for around five years now, with increasing expeditions into the world of freeform larp and game design.

With moderator Epistolary Richard

Schedule

• Joanna Piancastelli on Always / Never / Now by Will Hindmarch (00:00:23)
• James Torrance on Intrepid by John Keyworth (00:01:50)
• Anita Murray talks on Night Witches by Jason Morningstar (00:03:01)
• Rob Carnel on Kingdom by Ben Robbins and the Protocol game series by Jim Pinto (00:06:03)
• Stephanie Jackson on Cheat your own Adventure by Shane Mclean (00:08:54)
• Joanna Piancastelli on the increasing culture of playtesting (00:13:33)
• Rob Carnel on the impact of Patreon (00:20:04)
• Anita Murray on collaborative game design (00:29:48)
• Stephanie Jackson on sharing characters and tweaking games (00:36:16)
• Getting a game and James Torrance on setting up an indie gaming group (00:42:04)
• Open Q&A intro (00:52:45)
• Gaming in Europe (00:53:07)
• Gaming online (00:55:37)
• Designing and “the games you haven’t played” (00:59:17)
• Game reviewing and finding the games you might like (01:07:14)
• Getting your game playtested and then published (01:10:47)

Games Mentioned

• A Doomed Pilgrim (The Sundered Land) – http://nightskygames.com/welcome/game/TheSunderedLand
• A Penny for My Thoughts – http://www.evilhat.com/home/a­penny­for­my­thoughts/
• Always / Never / Now – http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/114457/Always­Never­Now
• Apocalypse World – http://apocalypse­world.com/
• Apocalypse World: Dark Age – http://lumpley.com/index.php/anyway/thread/780
• Atlas Reckoning – (Still in playtest, no link available)
• Cheat Your Own Adventure – http://www.ukroleplayers.com/wiki/Cheat_Your_Own_Adventure
• Death of a Gilded Age – http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/680086
• Don’t Rest Your Head – http://www.evilhat.com/home/dont­rest­your­head­2/
• Dungeon World – http://www.dungeon­world.com/
• Fiasco – http://www.bullypulpitgames.com/games/fiasco/
• Havoc Brigade – http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/767715
• Hell 4 Leather – http://www.princeofdarknessgames.com/Hell4Leather/
• Intrepid – http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/121044/Intrepid­A­Storytelling­Adventure
• Kingdom – http://www.lamemage.com/kingdom/
• Love in the Time of Seið – http://norwegianstyle.wordpress.com/2010/06/04/love­in­the­time­of-
  sei%C3%B0/
• Microscope – http://www.lamemage.com/microscope/
• Montsegur 1244 – http://thoughtfulgames.com/montsegur1244/
• Night Witches – http://www.bullypulpitgames.com/news/2014/03/21/press­release­bully­pulpit-
  games­announces­night­witches/
• Pathfinder – http://paizo.com/pathfinder
• Project: Dark – https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wordstudio/project­dark
• http://project­dark­rpg.tumblr.com/
• Protocol – http://postworldgames.com/protocol­game­series/
• ViewScream – http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/113064/ViewScream
• Witch: Road to Lindisfarne – http://www.ukroleplayers.com/witch/

Events and Groups Mentioned

• Conception – http://www.conceptionuk.org/
• Dragonmeet – http://www.dragonmeet.co.uk/
• Dutch Invaders – http://www.ukroleplayers.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=183
• Indie+ (online community) – http://indieplus.org/doku.php
• Indiecon – http://www.indiecon.net/
• London Indie RPG Meetup – http://www.meetup.com/London­Indie­RPG­Meetup­Group/
• Nine Worlds – http://nineworlds.co.uk/
• Playtest UK – http://www.playtest.co.uk/
• Story Games Seattle – http://www.meetup.com/Story­Games­Seattle/
• The Game Kitchen – http://thegamekitchen.org/

Other Resources

• Counter – http://countermagazineonline.wordpress.com/
• DriveThruRPG – http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/
• Evolution of a character sheet article (Night Witches by Jason Morningstar) – http://analoggamestudies.org/2014/12/visual­design­as­metaphor­the­evolution­of­a­character-
  sheet/
• Larps from the Factory – http://larpfactorybookproject.blogspot.co.uk/p/welcome.html
• Patreon – http://www.patreon.com/
• Patreon: How to be successful on Patreon (CrowdCrux article) – http://www.crowdcrux.com/how-
  to­be­successful­on­patreon/
• Patreon: Epidiah Ravachol: Worlds Without Master – http://www.patreon.com/Epidiah
• Patreon: Grant Howitt – http://www.patreon.com/gshowitt
• Patreon: John Wick: Wicked Words – http://www.patreon.com/johnwickpresents
• PlaGMaDA: The Play Generated Map & Document Archive – http://plagmada.org/Home.html
• Play Unsafe – http://theunstore.com/index.php/unstore/game/49
• Play With Intent – http://playwithintent.wordpress.com/
• Storium – https://storium.com/
• That one episode of Fiasco on Tabletop – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuJizhyf­y4
• The concept of “Yes, and” – http://99u.com/articles/7183/the­yes­and­approach­less­ego­more-
  openness­more­possibility
• The problem of Early Access – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmLz00L6CmY
• What is GDP? – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_domestic_product

Epistolary Richard also produced these flyers for the day (PDFs):

• 2014 Seminar Summary Sheet 2014_review
• 2014 Year In Review

Welcome to episode two of the Twitching Curtain. This episode mainly focuses on inclusivity. In the aftermath of controversies such as “gamer gate” and “consultant gate”, and recent moves by mainstream publishers to reflect greater diversity in their games, how can we attract under-represented groups into our wonderful hobby? We talk about best practice from a number of conventions, especially the UK’s Nine World’s Geekfest, and explore how we can all make our spaces safer and more welcoming for everyone.

Length: 79 minutes.

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Participants in this episode

• Alex Gwilt-Cox
• Anita Murray
• Cat Tobin (Twitter: @CatTHM)
• James Graham (Twitter: @JamesGraham)
• Joanna Piancastelli

Glossary

See episode zero.

Schedule

• Part One – Catch Up (00:00:00)
• Part Two – Inclusivity (00:17:35)

Games Mentioned

• 24 Game Poems – PDF http://gamepoems.gizmet.com/pdf/24GamePoems.pdf / Lulu POD http://www.lulu.com/gb/en/shop/marc-majcher/twenty-four-game-poems/paperback/product-12919742.html
• Disco World: Underground Edition – http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/125317/Disco-World-Underground-Edition
• Dungeon Speed Dating – http://gamepoems.gizmet.com/tag/speed-dating/
• Dungeons and Dragons – http://dnd.wizards.com/
• GxB – http://atarashigames.wordpress.com/teachers-lounge/925-2/
• Hot Guys Making Out – http://www.tao-games.com/hot-guys-making-out/
• Mad About The Boy – http://mad-about-the-boy-larp.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-larp.html
• Numenera – http://www.numenera.com/
• Pathfinder  – http://paizo.com/pathfinder
• The One Ring – http://www.cubicle7.co.uk/our-games/the-one-ring/
• Witch: Road to Lindisfarne – http://www.ukroleplayers.com/witch/

Events and Groups Mentioned

• Storygasm Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/groups/storygasm/
• London Indie RPG Meetup – http://www.meetup.com/London-Indie-RPG-Meetup-Group/
• Dragonmeet (next event: 6 December 2014) – http://www.dragonmeet.co.uk/
• UK GamesExpo (next event: 29-31 May 2015) – http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/
• Origins (next event: 3-7 June 2015) – http://originsgamefair.com/
• GenCon (next event: 30 July – 2 August 2015) – http://www.gencon.com/
• Nine Worlds Geekfest (next event: 7-9 August 2015) – https://nineworlds.co.uk/
• PAX Prime (next event: TBA) – http://prime.paxsite.com/

Other Resources

• A. A. George, Gaming’s Race Problem: GenCon and Beyond – http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/08/gamings-race-problem-gen-con-and-beyond
• ConsultancyGate – http://rolesrules.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/distracted-nobody-noticed-consultants.html
• Designers and Dragons – http://www.evilhat.com/home/designers-dragons/
• Dice Tower / Tom Vasel – http://www.dicetower.com/
• Feminist Frequency / Anita Sarkeesian  – http://www.feministfrequency.com/
• GamerGate – http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/zoe-quinns-depression-quest
• Gender in Gaming seminar at Dragonmeet 2013 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE729j8jL9k
• Nine Worlds Geekfest’s Communications Preference System – https://nineworlds.co.uk/news/2014/07/21/communication-preferences-system

In retrospect, numbering our first episode “zero” wasn’t the best idea.

This, then is episode one – our second episode of the Twitching Curtain. In this episode our panels recommend the best games for people new to story gaming, discuss Knutpunkt 2014 and its impact on the UK LARP scene and talk about London Indiemeet’s recent “Playstorm”.

Length: 60 minutes.

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 Participants in this episode

• Anita Murray
• Cat Tobin (Twitter: @CatTHM)
• James Graham (Twitter: @JamesGraham)
• James Joyce
• Joanna Piancastelli
• Epistolary Richard (Twitter: @RichardAuthor)

Glossary

See episode zero.

Part One – Catch Up (00:00:00)

• Sean Buckley’s Fiasco playset “The Sound of Waves” has not yet been published, but check out his earlier playset “Back to the Old House” – http://www.bullypulpitgames.com/downloads/index.php?cat=7#111
• I Know You Are But What Am I? by Adam James – http://www.mradamjames.com/I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I#.U5bqyZRdUoY
• Remodel by Emily Care Boss – http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/130960/Remodel?manufacturers_id=3204
• Cafe Casablanca by Cruel Hoax – http://uk-freeforms.wikidot.com/cafe-casablanca / http://www.ishtari.co.uk/casablanca/
• Adrift by James Joyce – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GakBGFzBAiTFoOQqoeOID6FsdlBG44759nfVS4XqAPA/edit?usp=sharing

Part Two – Games For Newcomers (00:10:30)

F Free

P Pay What You Want

• Always/Never/NowP by Will Hindmarsh – http://always-never-now.tumblr.com/
• B x B / G x B by Jake Richmond and Heather Aplington – http://atarashigames.wordpress.com/teachers-lounge/
• Fiasco by Jason Morningstar – http://www.bullypulpitgames.com/games/fiasco/
• G x G by Michael Wight – http://celstyle.com/?p=732
• InSpectres by Jared Sorenson – http://rpggeek.com/rpg/651/inspectres
• Lady BlackbirdF by John Harper – http://www.onesevendesign.com/ladyblackbird/
• Love in the Time of Seið by Jason Morningstar and Matthijs Holter – http://norwegianstyle.wordpress.com/2010/06/04/love-in-the-time-of-sei%C3%B0/
• One Last Job by Grant Howitt – http://lookrobot.co.uk/2014/02/12/one-last-job-rpg/
• Powers for GoodP by Sage LaTorra – http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/126205/Powers-For-Good-0
• Storium – https://storium.com/
• Witch: The Road to Linsifarne by the Pompey Crew – http://ukrpdc.wordpress.com/pcd/witch/

Many of these games can be purchased from the publishers themselves and/or the following places:

• Leisure Games (support your friendly local gaming store!) – http://www.leisuregames.com/acatalog/Indy_Press_Games_Selection.html
• Indie Press Revolution –  http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/
• DriveThruRPG – http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/

Other references:

• Tabletop: Fiasco Episode – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXJxQ0NbFtk
• The Ennie Awards 2013 – http://www.ennie-awards.com/blog/announcing-the-2013-ennie-awards-winners/
• Story Game Replays – http://epistolaryrichard.wordpress.com/tag/story-game-replay/

Part Three – Knutpunkt and Progressive Larp (00:32:40)

• Knutpunkt 2014 – http://knutpunkt.se/
• Fastaval – http://www.fastaval.dk/?lang=en
• Larps from the Factory – http://larpfactorybookproject.blogspot.co.uk/p/welcome.html
• Richard’s Prezi on Larp styles – http://prezi.com/09e7_5p64_id/the-larp-gradient/
• Nordic Progressive Larp in Britain and Ireland Meetup – http://www.meetup.com/Nordic-Progressive-Larp-in-Britain-and-Ireland/
• The Game Kitchen – http://thegamekitchen.org/ (Facebook) https://www.facebook.com/groups/1412558185666552/?fref=ts

Part Four – Playstorm (00:48:40)

• Peaky – http://uk-freeforms.wikidot.com/peaky
• Anarktika: Fate of Heroes by Richard Williams and others – http://richard-williams.com/anarktica.php
• TED Talk: Sarah Lewis “Embrace the Near Win” – https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_lewis_embrace_the_near_win

We’ll include links to any finished games from the Playstorm as we have them.

Conventions and Events

(last known date included – these are all annual events unless otherwise stated)

• Conception: 29 January – 2 February 2014, Dorset UK – http://www.conceptionuk.org/
• UK Games Expo – 30 May – 1 June, Birmingham UK – http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/
• Nine Worlds Geekfest: 8-10 August 2014, London UK – https://nineworlds.co.uk/
• IndieCon: 6-9 November 2014 (tbc), Dorset UK – http://www.indiecon.net/
• Heroic Consequences: 20-23 November 2014, Dorset UK – http://www.ishtari.co.uk/consequences/
• Dragonmeet: 13 December 2014, London UK – http://www.dragonmeet.co.uk/
• Knudepunkt 2015: 12-15 February, Denmark – http://knudepunkt.org/

Groups and Businesses

• Leisure Games – http://www.leisuregames.com/
• London Indie RPG Meetup (aka “Indiemeet”) – http://www.meetup.com/London-Indie-RPG-Meetup-Group/
• Storygasm – https://www.facebook.com/groups/storygasm/

Welcome to the first of our new podcast, the Twitching Curtain. Over the next few months we plan to tell you all you need to know about the exciting world of story games, roleplaying and freeform.

Length: 56 minutes.

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 Participants in this episode

• Anita Murray
• Hope Gilham
• James Graham (Twitter: @JamesGraham)
• Joanna Piancastelli
• Sean Buckley (Twitter: @aGameofSeans)

Glossary

American Freeform: live action roleplaying games, influenced by both Nordic larp and US indie tabletop RPGs. See Lizzie Stark’s introduction to American freeforms.

Bleed: a common phenomenon in both tabletop roleplaying and larps where the thoughts and emotions of a character “bleed” into the real life of a player, or vice versa. There is a big debate about how best to mitigate this, support players who experience it and/or embrace it.

Indie RPGs: literally, a roleplaying game published by an individual or small company (although most roleplaying game companies are small!). It has come to refer to more experimental and avant garde roleplaying games with a focus on narrative.

Lines and Veils: a technique coined by game designer Ron Edwards to deal with problematic content and emotional bleed in roleplaying games. If players are uncomfortable with any content in a game, they are encouraged to either request that a “veil” is drawn over the content (i.e. it happens in the story but is not described in any detail and is brushed over), or draw a “line” in which that content is not introduced at all in the game (this is similar to another technique known as the “X card” where players use a card in the centre of the room to request that something not be introduced).

MC: Master of Ceremonies. A term used in the game Apocalypse World, Monsterhearts and other games based on the system to describe player whose role is to facilitate the game and set the challenges for the other players. Similar to the more common term Game Master (or Dungeon Master, Storyteller, Keeper, etc) used in traditional tabletop RPGs.

Nordic Larp: A type of live action roleplaying which has developed in Nordic countries, with a greater emphasis on immersion, collaboration and artistic vision.

Story game: typically used to describe a tabletop based roleplaying game with a greater emphasis on narrative and simplified mechanics compared to traditional roleplaying games. Often focus on a much wider range of genres and dispense with or significantly alter common techniques such as having a single player take on the role of Game Master. Of course, this is a big topic and precisely what our podcast is about exploring!

Trad: Traditional tabletop roleplaying games. Simply put, tabletop RPGs that are not story games. The most iconic “trad” game is Dungeons and Dragons. Such games tend to have detailed rules systems with a focus on combat and allow players apart from the Game Master very limited narrative control beyond deciding on their own character’s actions.

Games Mentioned

F Free

P Pay What You Want

• Always/Never/Now P by Will Hindmarsh – http://always-never-now.tumblr.com/
• Apocalypse World by D. Vincent Baker – http://apocalypse-world.com/
• Baccanalia by Paul Czege and Michele Gelli – http://www.bacchanaliagame.com/#!/
• The Climb by Jason Morningstar – http://www.bullypulpitgames.com/games/the-climb/
• Dog Eat Dog by Liam Burke – http://liwanagpress.com/dog-eat-dog/
• Dogs in the Vineyard by D. Vincent Baker – http://theunstore.com/index.php/unstore/game/1
• Dream Askew F by Avery Mcdaldno – http://buriedwithoutceremony.com/dream-askew/
• A Flower for Mara by Seth Ben-Ezra – http://www.darkomengames.com/mara.html
• Fiasco by Jason Morningstar – http://www.bullypulpitgames.com/games/fiasco/
  • Playset: Back to the Old House F by Sean Buckley – http://www.bullypulpitgames.com/downloads/index.php?cat=7#111
• Golden Sky Stories by Ryo Kamiya and Ewen Cluney – http://starlinepublishing.com/our-games/golden-sky-stories/
• Heroine by Josh T Jordan – http://rpggeek.com/rpg/23292/heroine
• Hot Guys Making Out by Ben Lehman – http://www.tao-games.com/hot-guys-making-out/
• Kingdom by Ben Robbins – http://www.lamemage.com/kingdom/
• Larps from the Factory by various  – http://larpfactorybookproject.blogspot.co.uk/p/welcome.html
• Marquis of Ferrara by Pompey Crew – http://ukrpdc.wordpress.com/pcd/marquis-of-ferrara/
• Monsterhearts by Avery Mcdaldno – http://buriedwithoutceremony.com/monsterhearts/
  • Cavendish Academy (website curating the game mentioned by Joanna at Conception 2014) – http://cavendishacademy.t15.org/
• A Mother’s Heart by Christina Christensen & Eirik Fatland (from Larps from the Factory) – http://larpfactorybookproject.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/a-mothers-heart.html
• My Life With Master by Paul Czege – http://www.halfmeme.com/master.html
• The Outsiders by Mo Holkar and Cat Tobin – http://larpresume.boldlygoingnowhere.org/games/633/the-outsiders
• Penny For My Thoughts by Sean Nittner – http://www.evilhat.com/home/a-penny-for-my-thoughts/
• Prime Time Adventures by Matt Wilson – http://www.dog-eared-designs.com/pta.html
• The Prince’s Kingdom by D. Vincent Baker and Clinton R. Nixon http://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/43895/the-princes-kingdom
• Torchbearer by Luke Crane and Thor Olavsrud – http://www.torchbearerrpg.com/
• Under My Skin F by Emily Care Boss – http://www.blackgreengames.com/ums.html
• What You Wish For P by Ashley Griffiths – http://damwaingames.co.uk/games/wywf/

Many of these games can be purchased from the publishers themselves and/or the following places:

• Leisure Games (support your friendly local gaming store!) – http://www.leisuregames.com/acatalog/Indy_Press_Games_Selection.html
• Indie Press Revolution –  http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/
• DriveThruRPG – http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/

Conventions and Events

(last known date included – these are all annual events unless otherwise stated)

• Dragonmeet: 7 December 2013, London UK – http://www.dragonmeet.co.uk/
• Conception: 29 January – 2 February, Dorset UK – http://www.conceptionuk.org/
• Knutpunkt: 3-6 April 2014, Sweden – http://knutpunkt.org/
• Nine Worlds Geekfest: 8-10 August 2014, London UK – https://nineworlds.co.uk/
• IndieCon: 6-9 November 2014 (tbc), Dorset UK – http://www.indiecon.net/
• Heroic Consequences: 20-23 November 2014, Dorset UK – http://www.ishtari.co.uk/consequences/

 Groups and Businesses

• Leisure Games – http://www.leisuregames.com/
• London Indie RPG Meetup (aka “Indiemeet”) – http://www.meetup.com/London-Indie-RPG-Meetup-Group/
• Storygasm – https://www.facebook.com/groups/storygasm/

Other Links

• Gender in Gaming Seminar (Dragonmeet/GMS Magazine): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE729j8jL9k
• Literally Hacking Games: http://imaginaryfunerals.com/literally-hacking-games/