Transcripts are available at diceexploder.com

Larp! It’s that thing where you dress up like wizards, go into the woods, and hit each other with sticks. Right? Well.. yeah! Except no, because it’s a million other things, too.

Today I'm gonna introduce you to the world of larp. If you've ever been intimidated by it, this is a place to start. Because I think tabletop designers have so much we could learn from larp, so much that this is the start of a big series on larp.

And where better to start than with a mechanic that makes getting into larp easier than ever: just pick up a card and read what it says.

Further Reading

Ghost Court by Jason Morningstar

We Are Roommates Now by Wendy Gorman

Space Larps by Jason Morningstar

Welcome Guests by Jason Morningstar

The Climb by Jason Morningstar

So Mom I Made This Sex Tape by Susanne Vejdemo

Behind the Magic by Randy Lubin

The Hench Union Larp by Sam Dunnewold

Socials

Randy onBluesky

Randy’s foresight games are at leveragedplay.com

Randy’s consumer games are at diegeticgames.com

Randy’s online games platformStorySynth

Sam onBluesky anditch

The Dice Exploder blog is atdiceexploder.com

Our logo was designed bysporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song isSunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

Join theDice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcripts available at diceexploder.com

Pregens! They're not just a tool to get started playing quicker, they're also a way for a designer to take you by the hand and guide you to a very specific place, and they're a shared language across every table that picks up your game. Today, Aaron Lim and I break down all the joys and beauty of pregens, up to and including Aaron's meme charts.

Aaron’s Kickstarter

Ithaca in the Cards: Second Expedition and What Should We Have Tomorrow? Full Course

Ad Links

A Perfect Rock

Growing Thylacine: A Pamphlet Zine TTRPG

Further Reading

Last Train to Bremen by Caro Asercion

Caro Asercion on Dice Exploder

Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast by Possum Creek Games

Lady Blackbird by John Harper

Larp Design and the chapter BASICS OF CHARACTER DESIGN by Juhana Pettersson

Socials

Aaron onBluesky anditch.

Sam onBluesky anditch.

The Dice Exploder blog is atdiceexploder.com

Our logo was designed bysporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song isSunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

This episode was edited by Chris Greenbriar and Sam Dunnewold.

Join theDice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

Transcripts available at diceexploder.com

What’s the best way to convey the emotional experience of being a post-apocalyptic demon-fighting wizard action hero? Did you say “a coloring book with some Yahtzee on the side?” Because that’s what Two Hand Path designer Mikey Hamm landed on.

Last week was an episode all about the joy of destruction and transgression, and I wanted to balance that out today with another episode on physicality in games and the act of creation. But because I’m joined by the wonderful and prolific Jeeyon Shim, this spilled out into so much more: Jeeyon's background in child education, solo games that ask you to do a verb other than journal, how important it is for our humanity to take breaks and touch grass sometimes, and just how much fun art can be.

Further Reading

Two Hand Path by Mikey Hamm

Making Comics by Linda Barry

Field Guide to Memory by Shing Yin Khor and Jeeyon Shim

A Mending by Shing Yin Khor

Ad Links

Sock Puppets

Mission ImPAWsible

Socials

Jeeyon on Patreon, Bluesky, and itch.

Sam on Bluesky and itch.

The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com

Our logo was designed by sporgory, our ad music is Lilypads by Travis Tessmer, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!