I talked with Greg Stolze, author of Reign, Termination Shock, co-author of Unknown Armies, and writer on many other books (and my co-host on Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast) about his new Kickstarter for Ships, a supplement for Termination Shock. We talked about the core mechanics for Termination Shock, game design, and crowd funding RPGs.

Back Ships: How to Build and Blast Them on Kickstarter now! Greg has his own Termination Shock actual play podcast, if you want to hear how the game plays.

I’ll be recording RPPR After Hours with Greg for the RPPR Patreon soon.

Caleb is back discussing his progress on Red Markets. After a recent gaming retreat, Caleb developed a theory he wanted to discuss in this episode, about the obscene and the scene. The scene represents the public, socially acceptable aspects of a given object or activity. The obscene refers to the hidden, taboo aspects. In RPGs, the scene is what we say about our games but the obscene is how we actually engage with them. “I hate this game. I’ve run a hundred sessions of it.” There’s the promised version of a game during its Kickstarter campaign, the version delivered, and the version actually played. We discuss these weighty topics and how it is affecting the development of Red Markets.

Check out Hebanon Open Game Design to keep track of Red Markets development!

Caleb and I discuss the possibility of creating a second edition of Red Markets and Base Raiders. It’s a major task, so examining the pros and cons is a necessary first step. Updating the mechanics, revising the lore, and improving the information design are all big challenges, not to mention the logistics of getting a game funded by crowdfunding.

Check out Hebanon Games to see Caleb’s latest game design work.

News: I started a new bonus podcast on the RPPR Patreon. Recommendizer is focused on media recommendations. In episode zero, we talk about two new horror video games, Signalis and Scorn and some underwater horror movies.

Song: Dotlights – Come In And Stay on Chillhop Essentials Winter 2022