Undesign - Ep14 - Least Favorite Genre of RPG
Join Vince and Travis as they discuss their least favorite genres of RPGs. Which RPG genres just don't work in their opinions and why? That pretty much sums it up.
Undesign - Ep13 - Ability Scores
Join Vince and Travis as they talk through Ability Scores. They are part of nearly every RPG in some form or another but why is that the case? What are ability scores truly meant to represent, how do they make you as a player see your character? How can they be best implemented for your individual game? All of these questions and less will be answered within.
Also, thanks to Kirk Kovich (The Red Wizard) for the new theme song!
Undesign - Ep12 - Representing Damage in Games
Join Vince and Travis as they talk about damage and death in games. How should damage be represented, should a sword swing slice flesh and burst organs, or be a minor inconvenience to the heroes inevitable victory? What about damage tracks? Why the heck do we even have hit points to begin with? All of this and less will be covered in the episode!
Undesign - Ep11 - Best MMORPG
Join Vince, Travis and their special guest Tom as they discuss their favorite MMORPGs. What was the best MMORPG and why? What innovated and what was merely a clone of a clone of a clone. All of these questions and less will be answered within!
Undesign - Ep10 - Class or Freeform
Join Vince and Travis as they talk about the difference between using classes or having a freeform method of character creation. Why use classes at all? Can a freeform system ever be big enough or balanced enough to capture reality? Do these systems work better in certain games or genres? All of these questions and less will be answered within!
Undesign - Ep09 - The Old School Renaissance
Join Vince & Travis as they talk about the newest old thing in gaming - The Old School Renaissance (OSR). What is it? Why does it matter? What about those good old games appeal to new and experienced gamers alike? All of these questions and less will be answered!
Undesign - Ep08 - Intelligence in RPGs
Join Vince and Travis as they talk about Intelligence in RPGs - what does this stat mean and how do you best portray a character with high or low intelligence? What dividends should high intelligence pay when resolving challenges in an RPG? All of these questions and less will be addressed!
Undesign - Ep07 - How Important is Art
Join Travis and Vince as they explore the importance of Art for RPGs. How important is art for a game? How can it set the tone of your game and help your players or potential players get interested fast. A picture is worth a thousand words - so listen to a podcast that has no images whatsoever as we use all those words and more.
Undesign - Ep06 - Settings for New Games
Travis and Vince talk about the importance of having a setting for a new game and how it helps players get interested. We go through some ideas around how to create your settings and how having a world for your game can help to guide your design process.
Undesign - Ep05 - Feats Fetish
Vince & Travis dive deep on the concept of feats, specifically those in the 3rd edition of Dungeons and Dragons. Were feats a good idea? Did they accomplish what they were meant to? Did they ruin the whole game? All these questions and more will be kind of answered.
Undesign - Ep04 - Aiding New GMs with Game Design
Carnivorous Irradiated Conifers are on the loose! In this episode Vince and Travis discuss how good design in both layout, rules and even art can aid newer GMs in running games and understanding your world.
Undesign - Ep03 - The Black Hole at your Table
Forget distracted driving, we talk about the perils of distracted gaming. Vince and Travis discuss their least favorite player types. Those people who ruin or at least detract from your play experience and turn good games bad.
Undesign - Ep02 - Tables of Content
Vince and Travis talk about Tables of Content - proving at last that you can talk for around 20 minutes on just about anything related to RPGs. We cover the best way to design them to actually be useful in the age of iPads and PDFs.
Undesign - Ep01 - Randomoscity
Vince & Travis talk about Random Tables in games - where are they the most useful and where are they a hindrance. How can you as a game designer make them as asset instead of a liability? All of these questions and more (such as the real presence of a table about meeting prostitutes that once existed in D&D) will be moderately addressed in this episode.
Undesign - Ep00 - Intro
Join Vince and Travis as they introduce what they are doing here - namely talking about games and generating ideas from a random table.