Iteration 182 - Simplicity and Other Game Design Topics

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In this iteration of the Simulationist podcast: we talk about the Academy Awards and try to convince ourselves why they are significant in our culture. Josh accuses Ryan of being a hipster. Then we talk about the DotA tournament in Shanghai that fired its announcer. Josh talks about comedy, Minecraft, and the TV shows we watched. On the topic of structuring television, telling stories forward and backward. Ryan reports on watching Deadpool. Then, prompted by Ryan recently tinkering with Hero Quest, we talk about the simplicity factor in game design, and how we add our own features and rules tweaks to role-playing games. And finally, we talk about board games, and picking a good board game for young children to play.


References and Recommendations:

The Wizard of Speed and Time (1988 film) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoLhLn9hVkE

Shanghai Major Dota 2 Tournament 2016: http://wiki.teamliquid.net/dota2/Shanghai_Major/2016

Roll for Initiative Victoria: http://www.rollforinitiative.ca/

Ye Olde Inn (HeroQuest site): http://www.yeoldeinn.com/

Board Game Geek: https://boardgamegeek.com/

Iteration 149 - To Perfection and Beyond - The Post-Endgame

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In this iteration of the podcast, we talk about what we've been up to in games, and then about elusive perfection, and whether game designers should build in achievable perfection into their games, or whether they should always force a choice, even to the bitter end.

References and Recommendations:

Roll for Initiative Victoria D&D event (correction: this event is July 25):
http://www.eventbrite.ca/e/roll-for-initiative-tickets-17189714900

The Tolkein Professor:
http://www.tolkienprofessor.com/wp/lectures/the-hobbit/

Iteration 118 - Best-Laid Schemes

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We talk about the Thetis Lake Monster, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Ningen of the Southern Ocean. Then, space travel, and aliens, and bird calls, and SETI.

The word of the day is "Gaser". Stands for Gravity Laser.

Who is the Moon Villain anyways?

Main Topic: About the futility of planning ahead. Or is it the unutterable joy of dreaming up details of things that might be?

References and Recommendations:



Interactivity Board Game Cafe http://www.ibgcafe.com/
Ningen http://cryptidz.wikia.com/wiki/Ningen

Josh and Ryan play and modify Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress.

Nobody expects the zombie apocalypse!

Iteration 106 - The Circle of Antagony

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A short discussion about the new D&D Monster Manual, the Paladin's warhorse, and teamwork and team-helping abilities in role-playing games. The Sims-ulationist! Josh played an hour of the Sims 4, and reports back in this podcast. And Josh goes to Interactivity again. Ryan plays around with Tri-Stat stats for Bender and Robo-Cop http://tristat.wikispaces.com/

Ryan discovers a monster he's been working on turns out to be an internet fetish. Sparkling mummies. What is closer to the wellspring of life? Josh says bacteria. Ryan says wolves. Ryan delves the bottom of the ocean for ideas for Cthulhoid monstrosities. If Cabin in the Woods
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1259521/ were a board game or a role-playing game, which characters/monsters are player characters?
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/15987/arkham-horror

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/553/chez-geek .

So we have protagonists and antagonists, what about retagonists? Josh and Ryan tangentially touch on Eastern religion. We think prequels need to start using negative numbers, like Order of the Stick http://www.giantitp.com/Comics.html . Playing as monsters. Non-standard goals for players--what if the players just want their characters to get drunk and have as much fun as possible? http://www.bullypulpitgames.com/games/fiasco/ .

Iteration 104 - Role-Play All the Things!

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It's a very special Labour Day show! (In which we do the same thing we do every show: talk about 1990s comic books and video games for longer than our allotted time). In this episode, we talk Waterworld, the Victoria Fringe Festival, and the Justice League: War movie! Ryan discovers @Fanfiction_txt's twitter account! Discussion Topic: Role-play All the Things! Josh and Ryan talk about infiltrating all games with the role-playing spirit.

Question for mandatory listener engagement: who is dumber, the Tick or Homer Simpson?


References and Recommendations:

Waterworld! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114898/

Justice League: War (2014 video) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3060952/

Jamaica (Pirate Ship Race Board Game) http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/28023/jamaica

Iteration 101 - On Location at Interactivity with Dave Morris

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Follow Josh on Twitter @Spaceboot1

In the first segment of the show, Josh and Dave discuss such board games as Machu Pichu, sacrificing llamas to the gods, Glass Roads with it's funky clock, Terra Mystica and all its complications, Arkham Horror and its way of giving cooperative characters slightly askew motivations, Puerto Rico, Pandemic and how to keep everyone involved, and Settlers of Catan! We talk a bit about designing our own games, and how board games are like improv.

In the second segment of this week's podcast, Ryan catches up to Josh to discuss Minecraft, Dungeons & Dragons, Magic the Gathering, Monopoly, Mancala, Chutes and Ladders, and cool new ideas to add on and make them crazy complicated!

References and Recommendations:

Moulin Rouge Roxanne https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s12XiAOtjcg

Interactivity http://www.ibgcafe.com/
Paper Street Theatre http://www.paperstreettheatre.ca/
Dave Morris http://www.davemorris.tv/

Iteration 095 - The Littlest Nomads

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The Littlest Nomads

Josh and Ryan talk about all the simulations they've been running this week: Josh prepares for some in-public D&D, Ryan plays Marvel Online, Josh writes himself a sitcom, Ryan notices a coincidence with the Tagalog word for onions and Ghostbusters lore, Mutants, mixing and matching genetic mutations for awesome comic book and video game characters. And once all the tangents are out of the way, for our main topic, we discuss how a nomadic lifestyle applies to the world of Dungeons & Dragons.

Iteration 091 - Statless, Unquantified, and Narrative Curses

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Find us on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-simulationist-podcast/id589774076

In this episode, Ryan expounds on the idea of the statless curse, that ineffable essence of something just being wrong, whether it's the dwarven gold, or the too-easy dungeon maze. There just has to be a curse here somewhere, doesn't there?

Iteration 089 - Arcane Trains and Divinely Morphic Planes

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In this iteration of the Simulationist Podcast:

Free RPG Day

What would Minecraft be like with smellovision?

8-minute empire
Smallworld

A small debate about blank turns.

Josh's and Ryan's adventures in Minecraft

Josh invites Simulationist fan fiction in which the characters hunt him down and kill him.

Schismo-tech: Ryan asks the question: what if arcane magic was the core driver of a technological revolution?