System Shop cover art

System Shop

System Shop

By: Violet & Freya
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About this listen

Welcome to System Shop, the podcast where we deep dive into RPG design, one subsystem at a time.


Join us as we explore the origins, empirical trends, and future design space of all aspects of tabletop game design. What’s the point of mechanising carrying capacity or NPC attitudes? Why distinguish between armour and evasion, or attributes and skills? Many stories may begin with “because D&D did it”, but that’s far from the end…


We dig deeper by asking: how do differences in design decisions make players act and feel, and is this wholly intended? What is gained or lost by being able to sum up a monster with a challenge rating? How can initiative checks be used to make combat feel chaotic, tactical, or somewhere in between?


Finally, we suggest our own ideas for future innovations. Can we introduce new technologies and props? Can we shed assumptions of the past? Or should we bring them to the fore and embrace them to the extreme? Restrictions breed creativity, and our best ideas are often our most ridiculous.


System Shop is independent and ad-free. New episodes release whenever we have the time and energy to research and record a new topic.


Violet (She/her) is a recovering academic and alleged game designer, with a particular interest in system design and ludology.


Freya (She/her) is a demographer turned data engineer by day. She moonlights as collaborator, sounding board, and bad idea generator to her beloved and prolific game designer fiancée.

...

Cover design by Fallible Things (fallible.net).


Font on-cover is Lineal by Frank Adebiaye, with the contribution of Anton Moglia, Ariel Martín Pérez. Distributed by velvetyne.fr.

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Episodes
  • Episode 10: Monster Taming feat. Imogen Gingell

    Episode 10: Monster Taming feat. Imogen Gingell
    Nov 17 2025

    In this genre-defining episode, Violet and Freya are joined by fiancée of the show Imogen Gingell to talk about bringing a beloved videogame genre to the tabletop. How can you faithfully capture the themes while adapting mechanics to a new medium? How do you make each little guy mechanically unique and full of personality, without losing track of your travelling zoo? We explore how different games answer these questions - including, of course, Imogen’s upcoming JourneyMon, on Kickstarter right now!


    Freya builds buzz for her broadcasting bees-ness. Violet dabbles with disobedience. Imogen reflects on symmetry. Freya draws a circle, then a blank. Violet bundles babies in her backpack. Imogen opens a box of dogs.


    Check out JourneyMon on Kickstarter now!


    journeymonrpg.com


    Funded in seven hours, and (at time of press) well on the way to our second stretch goal! Campaign ends on Thursday, November 27th 2025.


    Timestamps


    What’s new? - 0:03:25

    Tabletop Scotland - 0:11:03

    Mailbag - 0:15:36

    Intro to the topic - 0:23:37

    Mechanics & design questions - 0:33:27

    History - 0:56:44

    Digression about 00’s homebrew forums - 1:08:21

    Taxonomicon - 1:13:55

    Design Dreams - 1:55:59

    Wrap up - 2:13:02


    Design Dreams


    Violet - PokémOSR, Squires & Spirits

    Freya - Isekai Ecologists, Everyone Is Mon

    Imi - JourneyMon!


    Games Discussed


    Eberron

    Cosmere RPG

    Journeymon

    Mythic Bastionland

    Monsterhearts

    Stonewalkers (Cosmere adventure path)

    Escape From Riedra (Eberron adventure path)

    Fall of Magic

    City of Winter

    Delve

    Microscope

    Armour Astir

    Masks

    Daggerheart

    Apocalypse World

    D&D

    OSR (in general)

    Runequest

    Shin Megami Tensei TTRPG

    Big Eyes, Small Mouth

    Cute And Fuzzy Cockfighting Seizure Monsters

    Pokéthulhu

    Pokemon Tabletop Adventures

    Pokémon Tabletop United

    Pokémon 5e

    Pokéroll

    Pokeymanz

    Monsters Tail

    Magimonsters

    Animon Story

    Monsters And Other Childish Things

    Monster of the Week

    Pocket Monster of the Week

    Lancer

    Everyone is John

    Lasers & Feelings

    Kids With Critters

    How To Train Your Mutant Fire Dog

    Genepals

    Convocation Prime

    Bones Deep

    ForeverDex

    Transit

    Wilderfeast


    Other media discussed


    Arkham Horror (card game)

    Game Soup

    Escape This Podcast

    Pokémon*

    Final Fantasy

    Digimon**

    Dark Souls

    Battletech (the tabletop wargame)

    His Dark Materials

    Megami Tensei

    Dragon Quest

    Critical Ditto

    The Adventure Zone

    Microsoft Excel

    Battletech (the videogame (2018))***

    Ben 10

    Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

    Pokemon: Too Many Types

    What Beats Rock

    World of Warcraft

    Let’s Learn Everything

    Decktamer

    My Card Is Better Than Your Card

    Encounters of the Spooky Kind

    Cassette Beasts

    Jade Empire

    My Trainer is Dumb?!

    Disco Elysium

    Inside Out

    Monster Hunter

    Dungeon Meshi


    Notes and links


    * we make it 25 minutes before naming Pokemon…

    ** …and it took us 42 minutes to namedrop Digimon!

    *** I got the year wrong, clearly I’m not a True Fan


    ProZD’s Q&A about his home Pokemon TTRPG -https://youtu.be/pndtlIKl0Qw?t=272


    One youtuber’s report from the front lines of Pokemon: Too Many Types - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjoLQvj7lAE


    I couldn’t find the Chansey Death Stranding game again. I’m moderately confident that it wasn’t a fever dream.


    Contact us!


    At systemshoppodcast@gmail.com


    Additional credits


    Our intro music is

    "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

    Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
    Show More Show Less
    2 hrs and 19 mins
  • Episode 9: Mapmaking feat. Roz Leahy (Part 2)

    Episode 9: Mapmaking feat. Roz Leahy (Part 2)
    Sep 2 2025
    In this conclusive episode, we round off our discussion of mapmaking. How can random map generation both add and remove meaning in a world? Is verisimilitude in tension with playability? Do spaces need to generate conflicts?Violet re-orients her priorities. Freya turns on the worm. Roz breaks the annual silence. Violet goes loopy. Freya goes flat-out. Roz throws shade on the dark. Violet’s ideal excludes idylls. Freya enjoys a beach episode. Roz edinburrows through Edinborough.We will be at Tabletop Scotland!In Edinburgh *this weekend* (5th - 7th September). Say hi if you spot us! Freya says if you spot her in her white JourneyMon t-shirt and enthuse about your favourite companion monster, she’ll give you a bag of monster munch.Check out Roz’s stuffRoz’s portfolio can be found here - https://rozleahy.carrd.co/Her Philip K Dick podcast, Chicks with Dick, can be found in your preferred podcasting place.TimestampsMap-related news - 01:03The ever-popular taxonomicon - 13:38…including but not exclusively extended discussions of…The Quiet Year - 17:20Seas of Sand - 44:37Wanderhome - 1:03:38Mappa Mundi - 1:10:21Spotlighting some games that we found through a keyword search on itch.io - 1:19:27Design Dreams - 1:38:00Surprise! Actually it’s a discussion about real world architecture - 1:38:01Okay, now Design Dreams - 1:43:41Wrapup - 2:10:11Design DreamsViolet: Spiral School, Blobworld, Urchins Under Adventurefication, Border Loopers, Gold Rush God GameFreya: Isekai Leyline Wizards, Turns & Tides Games discussedKeep on the Borderlands (“very slight spoiler” warning around the 1 hour mark)On Mighty ThewsSwords Without MasterIn A Wicked AgeBeyond the Wall - Further AfieldMicroscopeThe Quiet YearI’m Sorry Did You Say Street MagicYour Cool City Needs A Food SupplyDelveDawn of WorldsBottled SeaUndying SandsUmbraRiseMothershipThe Vast in the DarkSeas of SandDark SunMausritterD&D (took us a while to mention it this time!)WanderhomeJourneymon (took us a while to mention this, too!)RyuutamaUnder Hill, By WaterMappa MundiHeartBad MapsWorld In Your HandSock PuppetsA Show of HandsYour Body a LandscapeWalking to FranceWisher, Theurge, FatalistMy Bad GalaxyInto The OddDelta GreenDOGS (which may or may not be in the Vineyard)Cosmere RPGOther media discussedPseudoregaliaMajora’s Mask (specifically the 3DS remake)Blue PrinceHarvest (2024)Conan the BarbarianLord of the RingsThe Domesday BookSeeing Like a StateInvisible Cities (Violet tried not to talk about it, but successfully failed)Hello Future MeVictoria 3Small World (board game)CarcassonneCivilization: New DawnDwarf FortressFlatlandPlanet ZooDark SoulsCitizen SleeperTress of the Emerald SeaMagic: The GatheringDiabloZelda: Breath of the WildSkyrimThe Logical Journey of the ZoombinisTalismanCaptain SonarZelda (in general)BloodborneHobbit Tales From The Green Dragon InnHand of FateAdvance WarsDelicious in DungeonLil’ GuardsmanHundreds of BeaversToo Many Cooks (cw: surprise horror)Late Shift (2025)InisNotes and linksThe National Underground Asset Register appears to require an account to access its beta form - https://portal.nuar.uk/ Restrictions breed creativity in the WTF game jam - https://itch.io/jam/wtfjam2025/entries Watabou’s generators on itch are just one of the many map-making tools out there - https://watabou.itch.io/ If you find the post about the guy getting stuck in the backstage of a hotel, send it to Roz because she can’t find it and it’s driving her crazy.Isekai is a truly prolific genre of anime and manga about protagonists who get magically transported to other worlds. But you knew that, you weeb ;-)Contact us!At systemshoppodcast@gmail.comAdditional creditsOur intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
    Show More Show Less
    2 hrs and 16 mins
  • Episode 8: Mapmaking feat. Roz Leahy (Part 1)

    Episode 8: Mapmaking feat. Roz Leahy (Part 1)
    Aug 4 2025

    In this trailblazing episode, we have our first ever guest and our first ever two-parter! We’re joined by Roz Leahy, game designer and editor, to talk all about maps. Who makes the map, and when? How is the act of mapmaking at the table reflected within the fiction? And when can a “bad” map be better than a “good” one?


    Freya invents Bawdy&D. Roz lays her cartography on the table. Violet joins the little leagues. Freya is inclined to descend. Roz delivers a north-winded explanation. Violet goes dotty. And most importantly, everyone enthuses about local history. There’s no pun there, we just think it’s neat.


    Check out our various things!


    The kickstarter prelaunch page for Journeymon, the monster-training RPG written mostly by Freya’s award-winning fiancée but also partially by her, is waiting for you at https://journeymonrpg.com/ . There’s also a free quickstart adventure. Check it out!


    Roz’s portfolio can be found here - https://rozleahy.carrd.co/ . Her Philip K Dick podcast, Chicks with Dick, can be found in your preferred podcasting place.


    Timestamps


    What’s new - 3:05

    Mailbag - 11:46

    Intro to topic - 15:05

    Design Qs - 22:00

    History - 58:50

    Wrapup - 1:18:55


    TTRPGs (and a lot of specific modules this time!)


    Border Riding

    Keep on the Borderlands

    Journeymon

    Going for Broke

    Masks

    Dungeons & Dragons: Men & Magic booklet

    Cosmere RPG

    Stars Without Number

    Mothership

    Mausritter

    Mörk Borg

    Planescape

    Dawn of Worlds

    Hyperborea

    Hyboria (not to be confused!)

    Descent into the Depths of the Earth

    West Marches

    Dungeon Geomorphs

    Traveller

    Microscope

    The Quiet Year

    Dark Forest

    I’m Sorry Did You Say Street Magic

    Songs for the Dusk


    Other media things discussed


    The Carry On film series, for some reason

    Kill James Bond

    Original Podcast Do Not Steal

    Escape This Podcast

    City of Six Moons

    Chicks with Dick

    Pathologic

    A prospective map of unified Germany from 1848

    Shadow & Bone (season 2)

    Game of Thrones

    Babylon 5

    Sword of the Stars

    Stellaris

    Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

    Captain Sonar

    Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space

    Outdoor Survival

    Chainmail

    Guild Wars 2

    Elden Ring

    Big Walk

    Ratatouille

    Fallout 3

    Assassin’s Creed



    Notes and links

    The virtual escape room “Break this Game” praised in Freya’s intro can be found here - https://mattj375.itch.io/vr-game-escape-room


    “On Exactitude in Science”, by Jorge Luis Borges, happens to only be one paragraph long, and you can read the text in translation here - https://neilgreenberg.com/ao-quote-borges-on-exactitude-in-science/


    The National Library of Scotland’s archive of maps is available here - https://maps.nls.uk/


    Mystic Arts’ Video on 3-mile hexes is on youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEIg1DlRkLg


    More information about the singular phenomenon that is Hyboria can be found here - https://snv-ttm.blogspot.com/p/tony-baths-hyboria.html


    Contact us!


    At systemshoppodcast@gmail.com


    Additional credits


    Our intro music is

    "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

    Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 20 mins
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