In this tailor-made episode, we discuss the advantages and challenges of using and writing pre-generated character sheets. Is there a sweet spot of player choice? And what are the risks of telling players exactly who they are and how they should feel?
Freya watches for waspmen. Violet horseshoes around. Freya posits a post-it plan. Violet digs up a classic Indie game.
As a bonus, we also have a themed mini-debrief of the 2025 UK Games Expo. And that theme is? Themes.
As a double bonus, we introduce a new segment: “game ideas that it turns out somebody else has already done which is great because it means it already exists in the world”!
As a triple bonus, the Journeymon Kickstarter prelaunch page and free quickstart adventure went live while we were editing this episode! Check them out here - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ilgingell/journeymon-monster-trainer-roleplaying/
Timestamps
UGKE discussion - basically from the start
GITITOSEHADWIGBIMIAEITW - about 19:40
Mailbag - about 25:44
Intro & design Qs - about 30:53
History - 1:02:06
Taxonomicon - 1:11:45
Design Dreams - 1:40:00
Wrap up - 2:02:13
TTRPGs discussed
The Vanilla Game
Keep on the Borderlands
OSR in general
D&D (4e, 5e)
Psychodungeon
Voidheart Symphony
Subway Runners
iHunt
Call of Cthulhu
Changeling: the Lost
Tales of the Kytin Age *
Sagas of the Icelanders
For the Honor
Animon Story
Journeymon
Mappa Mundi
SPEEDRUN RPG
Pathfinder 1e
Biosphere Guardians 2050
Trickster’s Net
Rifts
Aberrant
Shadowrun
Savage Worlds
PbtA
Lady Blackbird
Monsterhearts
Dream Askew
World of Darkness (in general)
AD&D
The Adventures of Indiana Jones
Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast
Mistborn Adventure Game
The Exes of Casey Estrada
Last Day at Honkwarts
Genesys
Black Code
Pirate Borg
Edge of the Empire
Armour Astir
Stealing the Throne
Interstitial: Our Hearts Entwined
Mothership
Daggerheart
Other games and things discussed
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
Shadows of the Apt **
https://www.tumblr.com/haveyouplayedthisttrpg
Fullmetal Alchemist
Crescent Moon (board game)
Battlestar Galactica (board game)
The Commedia dell’arte
Lord of the Rings: the Third Age
“I Finished A Videogame”’s LotR adaptations retrospective ***
Escaflowne
Wheel of Time
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Dark Souls
Nier Automata
Root
https://www.youtube.com/@Hollandspiele
Original Podcast Do Not Steal ****
Notes
* as promised in the audio, the artist for this game is Yasen Stoilov https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:37fsd5g3kwmkmi5dvs2yxsgj
** yes, I must mention this every single episode
*** not merely four hours - it’s actually five. Enjoy. https://youtu.be/poMnJKLGYo0?si=ynx0cQu_43vamIZE
**** the bugworld guest episode is not yet up! They must have a mighty buffer. https://open.spotify.com/show/4a3x2GlQw0jsSk4vFTdpus
Violet’s oft-referenced LARP design handbook is “LARP Design: Creating Role-play Experiences”, available from the authors at https://trepo.tuni.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/136330/978-952-03-2260-1.pdf
The Hungarian for “thank you” is “Köszönöm”.
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/
Nov 17 20252 hrs and 19 mins