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Dice Exploder: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Sam Dunnewold
A show about tabletop RPG design. Each episode we bring you a single mechanic and break it down as deep as we possibly can. Co-hosted by Sam Dunnewold and a rotating roster of designers.
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- 3 weeks ago41 min
Deckbuilding (Signs of the Sojourner) with Lady Tabletop
Transcripts available at diceexploder.comFurther ReadingSigns of the Sojourner by Echo Dog GamesBand-Aids & Bullet Holes by Sam, on Kickstarter nowSlay the Spire 2 by Mega CritSocialsLady Tabletop on itchSam on Bluesky and itchThe Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.comOur logo was designed by sporgory, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer.Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!CreditsOur logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
- 4 weeks ago52 min
Minigames (Firebrands) with Viditya Voleti
Transcripts available at diceexploder.comFurther ReadingBand-Aids & Bullet Holes on KickstarterMobile Frame Zero: Firebrands by Meguey & Vincent BakerThe King Is Dead by Meguey & Vincent BakerStewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern by Takuma OkadaSocialsViditya on Bluesky and itchSam on Bluesky and itchThe Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.comOur logo was designed by sporgory, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer.Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!CreditsOur logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.This episode was edited by Em Acosta.
- May 12, 20261h 5m
John Wick (2014) and Genre Emulation with Sam Roberts
Transcripts available at diceexploder.comMy new game Band-Aids & Bullet Holes is still on Kickstarter! Check it out today.In honor of BABH, this month on Dice Exploder I'm covering mechanics from other games that inspired it. In keeping with this show's increasingly loose definition of "mechanic," today I'm joined by Sam Roberts (Escape from Dino Island) to tackle one of this game's greatest influences: the 2014 Keanu Reeves movie John Wick.The first half of this ep is basically a movie podcast. We go deep on what makes John Wick tick (in brief: the first 30 minutes). But the back half we get into the extremely popular concept within indie rpgs of genre emulation: making games that evoke another piece of media or genre of media. What makes genre emulation work? What do we think most people get wrong when they attempt to do it? And is it even a worthy goal?Further ReadingBack Band-Aids & Bullet Holes on Kickstarter now!John Wick (2014)Escape from Dino Island by Sam Roberts and Sam TungSocialsSam Roberts on BlueskySam Dunnewold on Bluesky and itchThe Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.comJoin the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!CreditsOur logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.This episode was edited by Em Acosta
- May 5, 20261h 4m
Character Nonmonogamy (Space Post) with Sidney Icarus
Transcripts available at diceexploder.comToday is the launch of Band-Aids & Bullet Holes, my melodramatic action game of bloody revenge. It's a one shot, capsule game, box set, deckbuilder rpg. Check it out.In honor of BABH, this month on Dice Exploder I'm covering mechanics from other games that inspired it, starting today with the idea of character nonmonogamy. Traditionally in rpgs each player gets one main character. This is often true regardless of whether or not there's a GM: certain characters "belong" to each player. Not so in Band-Aids & Bullet Holes.But what does that look like? And what does it do to play? There's a lot of games that have played with other models, but to kick things off today we're digging into how it works in Jason Morningstar's Space Post, a game about delivering the mail in space, where main postman and space ship characters are passed around between players.And to do that I'm joined by Sidney Icarus, game design smarty, designer of Decaying Orbit, and former host of The Hard Move aka the podcast whose format I stole for Dice Exploder. Come on, let's get into it...Further ReadingBand-Aids & Bullet Holes on KickstarterSpace Post by Jason MorningstarBluebeard's BrideBand of BladesEveryone Is JohnArs MagicaSocialsSidney’s website, YouTube channel, and BlueskySam on Bluesky and itchThe Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.comOur logo was designed by sporgory, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer.Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!CreditsOur logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
- Apr 28, 202632 min
Calling Cards (Band-Aids & Bullet Holes) with Lady Tabletop and Seraphina
Transcripts available at diceexploder.comMy first stand-alone print game, Band-Aids & Bullet Holes, goes live on Kickstarter next week on May 5th. I have a lot to say about it, and I'm gonna say a lot of it: May's going to be all episodes about mechanics from other people's games that inspired me in this design.Today I wanted to talk about Band-Aids & Bullet Holes straight up, but I didn't want you to just take it from me all the stuff I love about it, so I'm handing the show over once again to Lady Tabletop and Seraphina Garcia Ramirez. They're gonna tell you about Band-Aids & Bullet Holes through its core mechanic: take a marker, sharpie your character's core traits onto playing cards, then shuffle those up and flip them at each other, high card wins. As Sera says, somehow adding flavor to the classic card game War makes it so much better...Further ReadingBand-Aids & Bullet Holes on KickstarterSocialsSeraphina on Bluesky and itchLady Tabletop on Tumblr and itchThe Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.comOur logo was designed by sporgory, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer.Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!CreditsOur logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
- Apr 21, 202630 min
Keys (Lady Blackbird) with Whitney Delaglio
Transcripts available at diceexploder.comI love pregens! But why do I love pregens? I dug into this a bunch on an episode last year with Aaron Lim about the characters in Last Train to Bremen: I love being given a clear goal and baseline temperament when I sit down to play so I can get into drama as fast as possible. But the game Lady Blackbird goes a step further. Each character has "Keys" which lay out not just character traits and goals, but the central dramatic questions and stakes each character's arc is likely to concern itself with. And that, more than anything else, is probably what I want from my pregens.Whitney Delaglio joins me to talk about Lady Blackbird's Keys (originally from The Shadow of Yesterday by Clinton R. Nixon). She's got her own game coming to Backerkit next month - The Old, The Cold, The Bold - which iterates on Keys. So today we get into not just how they work but how you can make them work for you.Further ReadingLady Blackbird by John HarperThe Shadow of Yesterday by Clinton R. NixonThe Old, The Cold, The Bold by Whitney Delaglio - second edition on Backerkit soon!SocialsWhitney on BlueskySam on Bluesky and itchThe Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.comOur logo was designed by sporgory, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer.Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!CreditsOur logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
- Apr 14, 202657 min
Weak, Strong, and Regular Moves (Dream Askew / Dream Apart) with Austin Walker
Transcripts available at diceexploder.comAustin Walker's new game Realis is on Kickstarter now, and it's been making splashes in the indie rpg scene since last year when the ashcan came out. The game's core mechanic, Sentences, feels like the exact kind of mechanic I love covering on this show. But where did it come from? I asked Austin to come talk to me about it and bring one of his influences, and he came back with another diceless, GM-less resolution mechanic: the token economy of weak, strong, and regular moves from Dream Askew / Dream Apart. So today we're completing Dice Exploder's accidental Dream Askew / Dream Apart trilogy (paired with the episodes on lures and setting elements from the past couple months) and then digging into what makes this system work and what Realis learned from it.Further ReadingRealis is on Kickstarter now!Follow Sam’s game Band-Aids & Bullet Holes on Kickstarter!Dream Askew / Dream Apart by Avery Alder and Benjamin RosenbaumSocialsAustin on BlueskySam on Bluesky and itchThe Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.comJoin the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!CreditsOur logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.This episode was edited by Em Acosta
- Apr 7, 202632 min
The Awards 2024 with Nico MacDougall
Transcripts available at diceexploder.com Follow Band-Aids & Bullet Holes on Kickstarter! The Awards are back! The rpg awards show with a bent towards indie games and the guaranteed worst SEO of all time is back for another around, and the current steward of The Awards - Nico MacDougall - is back on the show this week to talk through some of our favorite mechanics from the last batch of winners. If you want to get involved in The Awards, you can apply to be a judge through the end of April and you can submit your games during the month of May! This year's Awards will cover games published between June 1, 2024 and May 31, 2025. Further Reading The Awards 2026 - apply to be a judge today! Cloud Empress by Watt Border Riding by Stout Stoat Press This Maze Will Be Big Enough To Call Home Someday by Anna Anne Anthropy Stirring the Hornet's Nest at Het Thamsya by Munkao Socials Nico on Bluesky Sam on Bluesky and itch The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com Our logo was designed by sporgory, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer. Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show! Credits Our logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
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