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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 3d

Could he also help by telling you about OTHER contemporaneous designers and what THEY designed?

Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 6d

Excellent! I look forward to playing it one day… though I have to admit, as someone who is more interested in the process of deciphering City of Six Moons than ‘playing’ the end product, I’m most fascinated with the possibility of the play involved in unraveling the story around the artefact :)

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 6d

@amabel.bsky.social I was very curious about the 'discovering an old TTRPG' idea you mentioned, which felt like a kindred spirit to @liz-shrikestudio.bsky.social's 'You Will Die In This Place'. Are you still working on that idea? And if so, how are those games in dialogue?

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 6d

Wonderful interview. Thank you for walking the line between fascinating insight and evil spoilers (from someone a couple of months in and still not done)!

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 6d

Brilliantly affordable. Unfortunately those of us living in the distant Antipodes are cursed with a $25 shipping cost for a $10 book! But we're used to it, and I have asked my favourite Aussie micro-importer (rpgbookshelf.com.au) whether they might be keen to order a bunch...

Reposted by Brett Rolfe

Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 8d

A short 🧵 on what I'm using for print on demand and why the print copy of SPINE is so darn affordable:

Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 9d

SPINE is my first time using Mixam's print-on-demand option. It was easy to set up.

The pricing ($9.99) really is a steal. It's printed in color as a "reading book," uncoated paper, which is exactly what I wanted for a game that you mark up. And yet, it's still Mixam's usual great print quality.

🔪🎲 World Champ 🔜 PaxU 3953 @worldchamp.bsky.social · 9d

interested in Spine by @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social, saw something that was a 1st for me: mixam on demand link.
got physical copy for $10 (a steal), creator doesn’t have to hold inventory, & I’ll get a better quality than I can print. Excited for potential this has for writers who don’t want to ship!

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 8d

Such a fascinatng conversation. The discussion about appropriate representation raised precisely all the gnarly questions I wrestled with, creating a classroom game exploring the impact of colonial first contact on Indigenous communities. (schoolhouse.games/terra-fabula/)

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 11d

Facinating conversation! @tasharobinson.bsky.social, given the breadth of indie games you've seen, I'm curious whether you have come across play experiences that are about the player directly exploring their own identity and sense of self (rather than doing so through the mediation of a character)?

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 11d

Amazing episode! @diceexploder.com and @car0mur.bsky.social, given the discussion of bleed... are there any play experiences you know of that are unapologetically about the player exploring their own identity and sense of self (rather than doing so through the mediation of a character)?

Sam D @diceexploder.com · Apr 29

This week on Dice Exploder: we're just about ready to land the plan on my larp series, but I wanted to make sure we squeeze in a last episode about the whole production of larp, so I sat down with Caro Murphy (Galactic Starcruiser) for a big episode about experience design.

Experience Design with Caro Murphy — Dice Exploder

Here near the end of Dice Exploder's larp series, I wanted to have on Caro Murphy ( Galactic Starcruiser ) to talk about experience design, and specifically how to think about curating all those parts...

www.diceexploder.com

Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 12d

Sounds like someone needs to write an indie game about critiquing indie games...

Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 12d

My final interview in the SPINE design series is w/ @liz-shrikestudio.bsky.social about what games can learn from House of Leaves. Liz discusses the implications of calling You Will Die in This Place a book versus a game, how metanarrative informs mechanics, and the paradox of unplayed indie ttrpgs.

Liz Little on Games and Ergodic Lit

An interview with Liz Little on Games and Ergodic Literature

www.backwardstabletop.com

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 12d

Hey game designers!
Do you remember playing interesting games while you were at school (like, actually AT school)? Or were there other formative experiences in the classroom that helped set you on the path to creating games?

Reposted by Brett Rolfe

Robbie @londonmikmaq.bsky.social · Sep 6

Tlingit artist Nicholas Galanin, “Architecture of return, escape (The British Museum)”, a deerskin map a floor plan of the British Museum and possible escape routes for various Indigenous cultural belongings held there.

An animal hide covered in blue felt with a floor plan of a museum drawn on it

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 14d

Not at all - I would be delighted if you find it useful!

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 19d

I can imagine cookbooks coming with a handy reference 'GM screen', for a start!

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 19d

Maybe that's the price of giving such a writerly text to the world. Say two people buy YWDITP. One of them reads it cover to cover but never tries to play it. The other skips the 'wordy stuff' and runs a dungeon-crawling adventure with their D&D crew. Would either of those outcomes disappoint you?

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 19d

Posting this, I went to write 'fictional game at their heart', and realised that there's no such thing as a 'fictional game' if the rules are made clear enough to play - it's simply a game. What if the rules are too ambiguous to play, I wonder? Is Herman Hesse's Glass Bead Game still an actual game?

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 19d

'You Will Die In This Place' (@liz-shrikestudio.bsky.social y.social) and 'City of Six Moons' (@amabel.bsky.social) are both intriguing, challenging artefacts with a game at their heart. It occurs to me that I don't think I'll ever actually play either of those games... and that's perfectly okay.

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 19d

Posting this, I wanted to write 'fictional game at their heart', and realised that (unlike other artistic forms) there's no such thing as a 'fictional game' if the rules are clear enough to play - it's just a game. What if the rules are ambiguous I wonder? Is Hesse's Glass Bead Game a real game?

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 19d

Couldn't resist any longer - I can pretty much guarantee I will never play a 'nihilistic survival-horror dungeon crawler', but this is an amazing piece of work.

Elizabeth Little @liz-shrikestudio.bsky.social · 22d

gamefound.com/en/projects/...

Oh, right, this goes live today. I should probably say something.

You Will Die In This Place by Shrike Studio - Gamefound

You Will Die In This Place is a nihilistic survival-horror dungeon crawl TTRPG about exile, decay, and the inevitability of death.

gamefound.com

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 19d

Just squeezed in before the gates of BackerKit clang shut!

Quinn Majeski @quinnmajeski.bsky.social · 20d

WE DID IT!!!!

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 19d

True.. schools are also moving to e-textbooks. However, the dreaded worksheets are still very popular, as well as small 'teacher-printed workbooks'. Things like that could definitely be a lot more engaging gamified. Some of Marco Salogni's work springs to mind www.kickstarter.com/projects/mar...

SOUL-BITING

A fully illustrated maze-and-write book. Physical edition and P&P

www.kickstarter.com

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 19d

I love Clayton's comment "I think the more interesting question, for me at least, is what part of rpgs is the 'play'." People have pointed out that the DM is just as much a player as everyone else, but I only recently realised that 'campaign design' has always been my favourite form of RPG 'play'.

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 19d

"I'd love a ttrpg that is basically an activity book or workbook." This is a brilliant thought. Can you imagine how much more exciting that would be as something to put in front of a high school student than a 'typical workbook'. There's a thought that's going to keep me up nights...

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Reposted by Brett Rolfe

Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 20d

My second interview in the SPINE design series is about book design with @explorersdesign.bsky.social. He discusses how designs can ground play, how book formats engineer expectations and use, and how books emulate other genres and objects. We also open the floodgates on the book design for D&D 3E.

Clayton Notestine on Book Design

An interview with Clayton Notestine about book design and how it can invite play

www.backwardstabletop.com

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Brett Rolfe @brettrolfe.bsky.social · 21d

Absoluetly - a rare mix of academic insight and authentic readability.
I'm intrigued, what were the other four?

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