Ludology Erica Hayes-Bouyouris, Sen-Foong Lim

In her 10th installment, special guest host Sarah Shipp lends her insights into how thematic win condition not only drive play, but allow for better immersion.

TTRPG Kids' host Steph Campbell joins us once again to drop knowledge about how to set up great encounters for your children or students. Whether those encounters are in a familiar system or a new one, whether they focus on combat or puzzles or social relationships, Steph gives great advice to set your kids up for success!

In this episode, Sen and Erica speak with Laia Gonzales, one half of Wonderbow Games about their amazingly successful Kickstarter project, Kelp, and the unfortunate issues that arose because of said success. Laia talks about the illicit copies of Kelp that were being sold even before their campaign ended and the continuous struggle she experiences as she wages war against the counterfeiters.

In the last episode, Sarah Shipp discussed the concept of gates that actively and intentionally restrict player agency as a useful tool for game design. In this episode, she takes a more in depth look at gates that specifically force players to confront loss.

Spoiler Alert: if you intend to play the videogames Portal or Death Stranding, you may wish to avoid this episode.

The Death Stranding video that Sarah refers to can be seen here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCCfeAvlNeQ

This episode, Erica and Sen welcome David Mullich to the show. David is a game designer and educator who was involved with outlining the requirements for the Game Design Merit Badge for the Boy Scouts of America. We talk about all of the things a Scout must accomplish to earn this badge as well as David's long and storied career in making games.

Guest host Steph Campbell talks about how to include educational elements to TTRPG sessions for children in the classroom and at the dining room table in this installment of their TTRPG Kids series.