Shows
Dice Exploder10 Candles (10 Candles) with Jay DragonTranscripts available at diceexploder.comThis is, at long last, the end of this Dice Exploder miniseries on larp. And I wanted to send it off by returning to the question I kicked it off with: what can tabletop designers learn from larp? To get into that, there’s few people I’d rather have on than Jay Dragon (Wanderhome, Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast).When I pitched Jay this topic, Jay wanted to bring in the 10 Candles from 10 Candles. This is a game best known for, what else, the 10 candles you light at the beginning of pla...2025-05-0657 minDice ExploderExperience Design with Caro MurphyTranscripts available at diceexploder.comHere near the end of Dice Exploder's larp series, I wanted to have on Caro Murphy (Galactic Starcruiser) to talk about experience design, and specifically how to think about curating all those parts of an experience bigger and larger than most of us at home will ever have access to. How do you design the set a game is played on? How do you design something for hundreds if not thousands of participants?And Caro delivered so much more: we get into bleed and empathy and how Caro sees games...2025-04-2957 minDice ExploderSafety Tools, and Players Are More Important Than The Game, with Sarah Lynne BowmanTranscripts available at diceexploder.comSafety in RPGs and larp is a huge topic, one I’ve wanted to cover on Dice Exploder for a long time, but one I’ve avoided it because it feels hard to approach inside the “pick one mechanic” format of this show. Even more than most mechanics I cover on Dice Exploder, I feel like most safety mechanics are in conversation with each other in both logistical ways—how they compliment each other—but also in the philosophy behind their existence in the first place, how including these mechanics at the table is ide...2025-04-2158 minDice ExploderBeats (Heart: the City Beneath) with Aaron VoigtTranscripts available at diceexploder.comLast week, indie rpg YouTube essayist Aaron Voigt and I delved into Heart: the City Beneath, a surreal and maximalist dungeon crawler with lots to love. But when I ran the game, I had some trouble with it from a mechanic that by all accounts I should love: beats, little nuggets of story, little goals your character takes on that they advance by achieving. I’ve always found it strange I didn’t love beats in practice, and I today I wanted to break down how and why they left me overwhelmed and...2025-04-1533 minDice ExploderZenith Abilities (Heart: the City Beneath) with Aaron VoigtTranscripts available at diceexploder.comHeart: the City Beneath. It’s a surreal and bloody dungeon crawler full of so much to love… plus some bits that drive me up the wall. This week and next I’m devoting TWO episodes to it. Today, it’s everything I love about Heart as seen through the lens of zenith abilities: epic things that let players take control of the game and do something gigantic and fucking cool… before killing their character.I’m joined by ardent Heart-lover Aaron Voigt, aka the guy who makes the indie rpg video es...2025-04-0837 minDice ExploderElf Motors with Chris DuffyTranscripts available at diceexploder.comOver on the Dice Exploder discord, we welcome new members by asking them what their favorite mechanic is. It’s a great tradition, kicks off a lot of great conversations, but I have largely avoided having it turned my way. So today I thought let’s just get it out there in an episode: what is my favorite mechanic and what do I think about it?Further ReadingElf MotorsSocialsChris’s podcast How to Be a Better HumanSam on Bluesk...2025-04-0108 minDice ExploderFateplay Scenes (House of Craving) with Sharang BiswasTranscripts available at diceexploder.comLast week was a show about how it might work to frame a scene when you get to decide whatever you want that scene to look like. But this week, we're looking at the reverse: what happens when you're given a very detailed scene and must figure out how to incorporate it into your story?This episode brings together a bunch of threads I’ve been building up throughout this larp series: immersion, the separation or lack thereof between player and character, safer play, and more. I couldn't ask for a...2025-03-2550 minDice ExploderSpotlight Scenes with Moyra TurkingtonTranscripts available at diceexploder.comWhen you’re playing roleplay-heavy D&D, what does a scene look like? Since the game doesn’t give you much in the way of tools for doing so, are you framing scenes intentionally or just kind of letting them happen? And if the latter, is that serving you well?You very well might be, but I’ve become obsessed lately with how we frame scenes in roleplaying games, and today I want to talk about a mechanic that does so very firmly: spotlight scenes, a procedure in which each player...2025-03-1851 minDice ExploderShadows with Elin DalstålTranscripts available at diceexploder.comShadows are a metatechnique in larp where you have players in the role of something other than a traditional larp or rpg player character. Maybe they’re stagehands turning out the lights because there’s ghosts in this house. Maybe they’re the characters’ worst fears who wander around and whisper into players’ ears to egg them on into terrible actions and choices. They’re special effects, or ghosts, or whatever else you want them to be. Let's talk about them!Ad LinksExtra Ordinary on Kickstarter now!SocialsE...2025-03-1137 minDice ExploderWorkshops with Marc MajcherTranscripts available at diceexploder.comThere's this period of time between when we've all agreed we're going to play a game now and when we start "actually playing." We've got to learn the rules, learn the setting, maybe go over safety or characters. Maybe we order the pizza in here, too.This part of a game is just as much something that can be intentionally designed as gameplay itself, but I don't see much of that in ttrpgs. Meanwhile in larp, workshops to set up a game are standard practice. What do they look like...2025-03-0448 minDice ExploderDice Exploder is on Patreon, plus Yazeba's Bed & BreakfastTranscripts available at diceexploder.comThe show is on Patreon! There's not going to be a lot behind the paywall, but there is right now a pilot episode for a new podcast that's part play report, part games criticism, and part personal memoir. This pilot is about the excellent game Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast, and you can listen to it now on the brand new Dice Exploder patreon.https://www.patreon.com/DiceExploder2025-03-0304 min
Happy Jacks RPG Podcast: GM & Player Tabletop RPG AdviceHJRP S35E04 | Returning after 20 Years, Writer’s Block, & Systems for Non-Gamers◇ Spattz from Earth asks for advice for a GM returning to gaming after 20 years, Eric from New Jersey is struggling with writer's block, From the Archive 2018: Jen asks what system to run for a pair of non-gamers | Hosts: Kimi, CADave, & Sam Dunnewold ◇
00:33 - Welcome & Episode Summary |
1:26 - We will be at OrcCon 2025 at the LAX Hilton Feb 14-17th, streaming live on Saturday night! We will also be at GAMA Expo the weekend after that.
2:46 - Indie Designer of the Month: Sam Dunnewold (he/him.) You can find his work on sdunnewold.itch.io or diceexploder.com.
22:22 - Spattz from Eart...2025-03-021h 26Dice ExploderEmbodiment with Kate HillTranscripts available at diceexploder.comIn a lot of tabletop rpgs, to do something in the fictional world, we engage with abstraction: to pick someone’s pocket, we describe picking their pocket, or we roll a die to see how well we pick it. But in larp, sometimes the action is the action. I pick your pocket... by picking your pocket.This embodiment of play, where my real life actions equal my fictional character's actions, might be what many people understand as the core difference between larp and tabletop games. Today, Kate Hill and I ge...2025-02-2551 minDice ExploderJust Read the Card (Ghost Court) with Randy LubinTranscripts are available at diceexploder.comLarp! 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 star...2025-02-1842 min
Wait, Roll That Again!S2E3 - Playtesting, and A Telling Off (ft. Sam Dunnewold)Alex has to playtest his latest changes to Fight or Fright, and he turns to Sam for some advice. Sam imparts some hard truths about some of Alex's design thoughts. Thanks to Sam Dunnewold for coming on the show! Check out his fantastic podcast Dice Exploder, and head to itch.io to check out his games, including Band-Aids and Bullet Holes, Space Fam, and We Three Shall Meet Again. Jay Dragon's article for Boom Town Playtesting can be found here.Fight or Fright! is available now! Check it out here, where s...2025-02-1338 minDice ExploderMule (Last Train to Bremen) and Pregenerated Characters with Aaron LimTranscripts available at diceexploder.comPregens! 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 KickstarterIthaca in the Cards: Second Expedition and What Should We Have Tomorrow? Full CourseAd Links...2025-02-1147 minDice ExploderColoring Book Character Sheet (Two Hand Path) with Jeeyon ShimTranscripts 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 mu...2025-02-0455 minDice ExploderFlauros the Demon (Wreck This Deck) with Audrey StolzeTranscripts available at diceexploder.com
Don't you hate it when one card in a deck gets a little bent? You ever have someone spill their coffee on your cards while you're playing and wish death upon them? What if I told you there was a game that told you to do these things and worse... on purpose?
We're kicking off season 5 of Dice Exploder with two episodes on physicality in games. Today that's Wreck This Deck, and the transgressive feeling you get when the core mechanic of a game is to fuck up a bunch...2025-01-2850 minDice Exploder2024 Year End BonanzaTranscripts can be found at diceexploder.com
It's the Dice Exploder 2024 year end bonanza! This year I'm joined by Aaron Voigt, Rowan Zeoli, and MintRabbit plus a cavalcade of friends of the show to go over games and adjacent things we loved from 2024. Come reminisce about the year with us!
Aaron on Youtube and Bluesky
Rowan on Bluesky
MintRabbit on Tumblr
Aaron’s picks
Last Train to Bremen by Caro Asercion
Fealty by Michael Elliot and Galen Pejeau
Helvetia by Bully Pulpit Games/Jas...2024-12-101h 35Dice ExploderThe Challenge Deck (Wickedness) with Audrey Stolze and Seraphina Garcia RamirezTranscripts available at diceexploder.com
A few weeks back, a conversation on the Dice Exploder discord lead to a new game jam: the Femininomenon Jam, a jam about femininity and whatever that means to you, happening now on itch.io through February 11th. To help kick off your thinking on what a game in this theme might look like, today two of the hosts of that jam sit down to talk about the challenge deck from Wickedness by M. Veselak. In this game about a coven of three witches, the challenge deck is a bespoke oracle for...2024-11-2632 minDice ExploderAMA with Merrilee BufkinTranscripts available at diceexploder.com
I usually like to think of Dice Exploder as a pretty focused show with a pretty tight format. Yeah we may sprawl sometimes, but we’re not here shooting the shit, we’re here to talk game mechanics. But sometimes, a guy wants to stretch out like a dog in the sun, hang out for a while, and just yap the day away while answering a bunch of listener questions. And there’s no one I like yapping with more than my friend Merrilee Bufkin. So this week, it’s casual times on Dice...2024-11-121h 00Dice ExploderDeep Cuts with John HarperTranscripts available at diceexploder.com
It’s a Dice Exploder EMERGENCY POD! Less than 24 hours ago as of recording, John Harper, designer of Blades in the Dark, released a brand new official supplement for the game: Blades in the Dark: Deep Cuts. It’s 110 pages packed full of new setting and new mechanic ideas, and I really wanted to talk about it! I love Apocalypse World’s concept of “advanced fuckery,” and I’ve never seen such a good and extended example of it all in one place.
Further Reading:
Deep Cuts by John Harper2024-11-0449 minDice ExploderDice Forager: a Dice Exploder zineTranscripts available at diceexploder.com
Hello from the between-season malaise! Today I'm joined by Aaron King, back again, who interviews me about my new zine Dice Forager: a 50 page collection of games, manifestos, and mini written-out episodes of Dice Exploder. We talk about how setting goals is great and people should do it for, what counts as a manifesto, and how making art meant just for your friends can be just as if not more rewarding than for any other reason.
Preorder Dice Forager now! (if you live in the US, otherwise DM me and...2024-10-2235 minDice ExploderThe Sooth Deck (Invisible Sun) and Custom Oracles with James D'AmatoTranscript
This week I’ve got James D’Amato (Campaign: Skyjacks, the Ultimate RPG book line, and the upcoming Oh Captain, My Captain) here to talk about custom oracle decks. Yeah a Tarot deck is cool, and great for doing Tarot, but James makes the case that it’s the “custom” in “custom oracle deck” that will really bring the not-quite-but-feels-like magic of an oracle to your table. But before we get into that, we dig deep into a mysterious black cube to get to our specific custom oracle deck: the Sooth Deck of Invisible Sun.
Fu...2024-09-181h 01Dice ExploderKeys (Keymaster) with Caro AsercionTranscript
Today, Caro Asercion (i'm sorry did you say street magic) brings us a game and mechanic all about instinct and physical embodiment: Keys from the larp Keymaster. This game isn't like most games. It’s so much about physical embodiment and exploring group identity rather than pesky shit like “storytelling”. Physicality! Larp! The Golden Cobra Challenge! We've got it all.
Further Reading
Keymaster by J Li
The Golden Cobra Challenge
i’m sorry did you say street magic by Caro Asercion
Socials
Caro on itch...2024-09-1249 minDice ExploderLove Letters (Apocalypse World) with Aaron KingTranscript
Thrilled this week to have on one of my favorite movewrights, it’s Aaron King of the RTFM podcast. Aaron brought on Love Letters from Apocalypse World, a kind of custom move the GM can write when it’s been a while since we played and everyone might need a refresher on what was going on to get the ball rolling again. I think custom moves are a wildly overlooked part of Apocalypse World, and today we go deep on why that is and how and when to write your own.
Further Reading
Ap...2024-09-041h 01
Party of One Podcast421 - Desperation (Dead House) with Sam DunnewoldSam is the host of Dice Exploder, an ENnie-nominated podcast where game designers break down the specific mechanics of their favorite TTRPGs (as well as an incredible game designer in his own right). We sat down to play Desperation (Dead House), a historical horror RPG, based on real history, about a small community in Kansas facing an oppressive, deadly winter. Who will survive being pushed to their limits?SAM DUNNEWOLD: https://samdunnewold.com/DICE EXPLODER: https://www.diceexploder.com/DESPERATION: https://bullypulpitgames.com/products/desperationSAM DUNNEWOLD ON ITCH: https://sdunnewold...2024-08-221h 36Dice ExploderSpeak Your Truth (Desperation) with Jeff StormerTranscript
It’s the crossover event of the season! This week I’m joined by Jeff Stormer of the Party of One podcast to talk about the core mechanic of Desperation by Jason Morningstar. In this game full of dread about a small Kansas town struggling through a never-ending winter, instead of deciding what happens, each turn you draw a card and decide who the thing on the card happens to. It’s a super slick mechanic. Meanwhile over on Party of One, you can listen to Jeff and I actually play the game.
Further Readin...2024-08-2134 minDice ExploderTHAC0 (AD&D 2e) with my dadTranscript
For this final episode of the Dice Exploder D&D miniseries, I wanted to go back to the source, to my first experiences playing the game. And I figured who better to do that with than someone else who was there, my first DM, my very own father.
We get plenty nostalgic for back when I was 8 years old, but I also made him talk to me about THAC0, early D&D's needlessly opaque and complicated version of an attack bonus. I made him do this because I think of THAC0 as so representative...2024-08-1343 minDice ExploderRule Zero (D&D) with Em AcostaTranscript
I have a list of mechanics I’d like to cover on Dice Exploder, and I’d say about a third of them are jokes. One of those jokes is Rule Zero, a maxim that says "the DM (or GM) is always right." I think of Rule Zero as originating in D&D culture, and as part of this D&D miniseries, I thought it'd be interesting to use as a way into talking about the play culture around the game, how it's actually played at the table, and how many of its rules people actually use...2024-08-0646 min
TABLETOP TALK - Third Floor WarsSam Dunnewold (Dice Exploder) Interview: ep. 243Craig sat down with Sam Dunnewold and learned where the inspiration for Dice Exploder emerged from, Sam's creative process works, and what it was like working with Jason Morningstar on a new game about time, reenactors, and the horrible human that was Jesse James.
Check out Dice Exploder
Back Season 4 of Dice Exploder
Fiasco RPG
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
I Saw the TV Glow
Kamikaze Girls
Constellation
When Evil Lurks
Game...2024-07-312h 11Dice ExploderPrestige Classes (D&D 3e/3.5e) with Sam RobertsBack Dice Exploder season 4 on Backerkit now!
Transcript
This episode I'm joined by Sam Roberts (Escape from Dino Island) to talk about prestige classes, special classes from D&D 3e that you could only take by multiclassing into them. Sam thinks of these things as a noble failure: a very cool idea whose execution almost immediately dropped the ball. But what can we learn from their corpse?
We get into that, along with a boots-on-the-ground discussion of what our experiences were like actually playing D&D 3rd edition and an exploration of advancement as a conce...2024-07-3042 minDice ExploderThe Adventuring Day (D&D) with Tristan ZimmermanBack Dice Exploder season 4 on Backerkit now!
Transcript
Welcome to the D&D miniseries! I wanted to kick this off with a look into the mechanical heart of D&D, but I didn't really know what that meant. So I asked my friend Tristan! Designer of the award winning game Shanty Hunters and author of the Molten Sulfur blog, Tristan now spends his time as a designer on Nations & Cannons, a hack of D&D set in the American Revolutionary War.
Tristan brought on a mechanized design principle underpinning D&D, the Adventuring Day...2024-07-2353 minDice ExploderD&D Miniseries Intro (Homage to the Player's Handbook)Back Dice Exploder season 4 on Backerkit now!
Transcript
Today I'm kicking off a miniseries of Dice Exploder episodes all about the Tarrasque in the room: Dungeons & Dragons itself. But before we get into that, I wanted to lay out for context where I'm coming from, what my relationship is like to "the world's greatest roleplaying game™" is like, and what questions I was hoping to answer with this series.
If you listen to this show, you probably come from a community that's skeptical of D&D. I'm not personally a fan. But it's unques...2024-07-1820 min
The RPG AcademyShow And Tell # 148 – Sam Dunnewold
https://therpgacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Show-Tell-Sam-D.mp3
This week’s Show and Tell finds Host Moe Poplar ( @Ashyfeet1 ) sitting down with Sam Dunnewald about his game Northfield and his Ennie nominated podcast Dice Exploder.
Links
https://samdunnewold.com/
http://www.diceexploder.com/
https://sdunnewold.itch.io/
VOTE FOR ACTION 12 CINEMA FOR AN ENNIE
E-mail us at TheRpgAcademy/Gmail.
Follow us on twitter @TheRpgAcademy
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Support our show by becoming a Patron at www.Patreon.Com/TheRpgAcademy
Playing Roleplaying games can...2024-07-1640 min
The RPG Academy: Faculty MeetingsShow And Tell # 148 – Sam Dunnewold
https://therpgacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Show-Tell-Sam-D.mp3
This week’s Show and Tell finds Host Moe Poplar ( @Ashyfeet1 ) sitting down with Sam Dunnewald about his game Northfield and his Ennie nominated podcast Dice Exploder.
Links
https://samdunnewold.com/
http://www.diceexploder.com/
https://sdunnewold.itch.io/
VOTE FOR ACTION 12 CINEMA FOR AN ENNIE
E-mail us at TheRpgAcademy/Gmail.
Follow us on twitter @TheRpgAcademy
Follow Michael on TikTok
Visit our Facebook Page
Support our show by becoming a Patron at www.Patreon.Com/TheRpgAcademy
Playing Roleplaying games can...2024-07-1640 min
The RPG Academy: Show and TellShow And Tell # 148 – Sam Dunnewold
https://therpgacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Show-Tell-Sam-D.mp3
This week’s Show and Tell finds Host Moe Poplar ( @Ashyfeet1 ) sitting down with Sam Dunnewald about his game Northfield and his Ennie nominated podcast Dice Exploder.
Links
https://samdunnewold.com/
http://www.diceexploder.com/
https://sdunnewold.itch.io/
VOTE FOR ACTION 12 CINEMA FOR AN ENNIE
E-mail us at TheRpgAcademy/Gmail.
Follow us on twitter @TheRpgAcademy
Follow Michael on TikTok
Visit our Facebook Page
Support our show by becoming a Patron at www.Patreon.Com/TheRpgAcademy
Playing Roleplaying games can...2024-07-1640 minDice ExploderThe Queen Is Under Attack (For The Queen) with Kimi HughesBack Dice Exploder season 4 on Backerkit now!
Transcript
Among my favorite RPGs is Alex Roberts' triumph of minimalistic, elegant design: For The Queen. Today I'm doing just with along with Kimi Hughes of Golden Lasso Games. For The Queen is a card drawing prompt game, and one prompt is always the game's last: "The Queen is under attack. Do you defend her?" That's today's mechanic, but we cover most of this pretty small game at some point.
You can back Kimi's new game Starscape on Kickstarter now!
Further Reading:
...2024-07-1637 minDice ExploderDesigner Commentary: Northfield (with Jason Morningstar)Transcript
It is still designer commentary season on Dice Exploder, and today I'm talking with Jason Morningstar (Fiasco, Night Witches, a million other games) about Northfield: a game we co-designed about when Jesse James tried to rob the bank in my home town, we shot the hell out of him and his gang, and then we started an annual small town fair to celebrate our victory. You play as both a member of the James-Younger gang and as a person in the present day portraying your gang member in a reenactment.
It's a weird little...2024-06-1351 minDice ExploderDesigner Commentary: Space Fam (with Claire and Caveat)Transcript
For Ken Lowery’s Disc 2 jam, I decided to finally release the game I’ve been working on for nearly four years: Space Fam.
This is a game about, you guessed it, found family in space. In particular, it takes a lot of inspiration from The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet in that you’re the crew of a ship escorting a traveler from point A to point B, and along the way you deal with your feelings of guilt and stress about living under an oppressive government.
It’s a hack o...2024-05-1541 minDice ExploderGame Exploder Jam RoundupTranscript
The first ever Dice Exploder game jam came to a close about a month ago, and today I sit down with the three hooligans from the discord who put it together and go through some of our favorite entries. If Dice Exploder is a show about concrete examples, this episode is as Dice Exploder as it gets.
All the games we talk about are pretty short, so it should be easy to follow along at home. Check out all the jam submissions here.
Thanks to Audrey Stolze (aka Lady Tabletop), Chris Greenbriar...2024-05-0251 minDice ExploderEveryone Adds a Detail (Stewpot) with Lee ConradsTranscript
What if your D&D adventuring party settled down and opened a tavern, and the vibes went from dragon murderers to Bob’s Burgers? That's my pitch for Stewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern, one of my favorite RPGs. It's currently on Backerkit, and you should check it out.
This week I'm talking about a super simple unnamed mechanic from Stewpot, and presumably other games before it, that's inspired much of my own work: everyone goes around and adds a detail about the scene at hand or whatever we're talking about. Simple but effective....2024-04-2546 minDice ExploderPlaylists (Ribbon Drive) with Takuma OkadaTranscript
Is sharing music with your friends an RPG? It sure is when you're playing Avery Alder's game Ribbon Drive. Takuma Okada, the designer of Stewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern (on Backerkit right now), joins me this week to talk about music, contemplation, and unconventional ways to inspire players.
Further Reading:
Ribbon Drive
Spindlewheel
Everything Is Illuminated, the book and film
Ten Candles
Dread
Star Crossed
Our Radios Are Dying
Void 1680 AM
Sam’s playlist from playing Ribbon Drive
The Award...2024-04-1839 minDice ExploderFan Mail (Primetime Adventures) with Meguey BakerTranscripts are available at diceexploder.com
People talk a lot about how and whether RPGs emulate TV and movies, but this week cohost Meguey Baker (Apocalypse World, Under Hollow Hills) brings in a game that takes that sentiment to a compelling meta level. Fan Mail, from Primetime Adventures by Matt Wilson, is the core of the game's key metaphor: that players are simultaneously writers of a TV show, fans watching that show, and the characters portrayed on screen. We talk about the storygame scene in the early 2000s, how Primetime Adventures has influenced Meg's work, and how...2024-04-0439 minDice ExploderPlaybooks and Communication with Moe PoplarTranscript
What's the deal with Playbooks? That's a question that's way too big for one episode. But Moe Poplar, of the RPG Academy podcast Show & Tell, had a very particular effect of playbooks that he wanted to talk about on the show today: how playbook choice can be a line of communication between players, GM, and designer.
This is one of those episodes that's as much play advice as it is about design. I should do more of those.
Further Reading:
Monster of the Week
Blades in the Dark2024-03-2841 minDice ExploderExploding Dice with Mikey HammTranscript
This week, now that the part of season 3 that was funded by Kickstarter is over, I’ve got a treat for you: the backers-only bonus episode with Mikey Hamm, designer of Slugblaster. You didn’t think I was gonna just hold on to an episode this good forever, did you? It’s the show’s namesake mechanic!
Mikey is currently Kickstarting Two-Hand Path, a solo game roll-and-write dungeon crawler. Check it out.
While I thought this episode would be a big of a goof about a goofy mechanic (and it is), it also bro...2024-03-2150 minDice ExploderInnovation in Game Design with James WallisTranscript
This week's cohost is James Wallis, cohost of the Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast, a show a lot like this one that's Kickstarting their third season now, and designer of one of the first story games: The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
Today we're breaking format: instead of talking about one game mechanic, James brought in the concept of innovation in game design. What does it look like, is it important, and how can we do more of it?
The show notes for this one are friggin packed.
Further Reading:
...2024-03-1437 min
Characters Without StoriesExit, the Outsider - Character Building is Worldbuilding with Sam Dunnewold (Apocalypse World)Sam Dunnewold brings Exit to the table. Exit is a scavenger living on the edges of a dangerous psychic mist and a society that demands they conform.Sam and I discuss building a character within the context of a post apocalyptic world, being brave because you have to be, and transparency in gaming.This character is built for Apocalypse World by D. Vincent and Maguey Baker.http://apocalypse-world.comSam Dunnewold is a Minnesotan game designer, screenwriter, and podcaster living in Hollywood like a chump. His podcast, Dice Exploder, breaks down a...2024-03-091h 00Dice ExploderLyrical Ludology: A New Show About Lyric GamesThis week I'm bringing you an episode from the new podcast Lyrical Ludology with host Logan Timmins, a show all about lyric games. I'm very excited for it.
There's already at least one more episode of Lyrical Ludology published, so if you like this one, go subscribe and take a listen!2024-03-0710 minDice ExploderSolo Game Prompts with Seb PinesTranscript
It’s the solo games episode! Hopefully the first of many. I’m joined by Seb Pines, designer of The Awards winning game Dwelling and haver of MFA in basically solo games, to talk about prompts in solo games.
This is a broad survey of solo games. We talk about a bunch of games (listed below) that all behave differently. If you’re curious about this side of the hobby, this is the primer for you.
Further Reading:
Dwelling by Seb Pines
Thousand Year Old Vampire by Tim Hutchi...2024-02-291h 08Dice ExploderCharacter Sheets with Emanoel MeloTranscript
This is an intensely visual episode. If you'd like to follow along with the sheets we mention and get some extra commentary from me, you can do so at https://www.diceexploder.com/blog/2024/2/22/dice-exploder-aftershow-character-sheets
I’m fascinated by character sheets, mostly because there are so so so precious few that I think do a good job. I don’t mean this to call anyone out - I think the job of making a good character sheet might genuinely be impossible. They just have so much they have to accomplish.
Today I'm talk...2024-02-2246 minDice ExploderPity Points (Kagematsu) with Alex RobertsTranscript
Alex Roberts, designer of Star Crossed and For the Queen, joins me to talk about pity points from Kagematsu, a mechanic that doesn't actually do anything itself beyond evoke a particular feeling when put in opposition to love points.
This episode is what I always dreamed Dice Exploder could be. We start from a simple game mechanic, but we get into power dynamics at the table in the past and the future, how people treat you when you’re disabled, cultural appropriation, my personal techniques for flirting, details of a new game Alex is wo...2024-02-151h 01Dice ExploderThird Party License (Mork Borg) with Strega Wolf van den BergTranscript
This week I've got designer and illustrator Strega Wolf van den Berg on to talk about money and the Mork Borg third party license. What, if anything, is the difference between making RPGs for fun, to pay rent, and to be paid fairly? And what is the cost (aha) of bringing money into making art?
On the flip side, this is also an episode about community, and how the shape of Mork Borg’s license fostered a community around it that allowed Strega Wolf to find a space in this hobby. Community can give us...2024-02-0826 minDice ExploderRumor Tables (Lorn Song of the Bachelor) with NovaTranscript
This week I've got Nova, aka Idle Cartulary, of the excellent Playful Void blog among other places linked below. Nova's one of my favorite writers in the, as she puts it, DIY elf game scene, and I knew that was a world I wanted to cover more this season.
Nova brought on the rumor table from Zedeck Siew's Lorn Song of the Bachelor, an excellent elf game adventure. We got to talk about what makes a good random table at large, our taste in how adventures are written, and how point of view is...2024-02-0148 minDice ExploderThe Risk Sheet (Psi*Run) with John HarperTranscript
On the season 3 premiere, I’m joined by John Harper, designer of many games featured on past episodes of Dice Exploder including Blades in the Dark, Lasers & Feelings, and Agon 2e.
John brought in the Psi*Run risk sheet, a fairly complex dice resolution mechanic, known generically as Otherkind Dice. The risk sheet is such an elegant piece of design, packing essentially a whole game onto a single sheet of paper, and being so clear in both how it works and how you might tear it apart for your own ends. If you’re a ne...2024-01-2538 minDice ExploderDice Exploder: Season 3 TrailerThursday January 25th Dice Exploder is back with an all new crowdfunded-by-listeners season! The lineup includes John Harper, Alex Roberts, James Wallis, Idle Cartulary, Strega Wolf van den Berg, Emanoel Melo, Seb Pines and MORE - that's right, I'm over-delivering on the Kickstarter as a treat. Check back next week for the season premiere, and visit the blog's new home at diceexploder.com.
Transcript
2024-01-1802 min
Dice Exploder2023 Year End BonanzaTranscript
Hello and welcome to the Dice Exploder 2023 end of year bonanza! I love me a good ranked list of movies on an end of year movie podcast, but ranked lists are bad and this show’s about RPGs not movies, so you get this instead. It’s me, Aaron King of the RTFM podcast, Lady Tabletop of the Alone at the Table podcast, and Sharang Biswas of winning tons of Ennies this year and being a games academic, and the four of us (plus a half dozen other special guests) are here to tell you about a bu...2023-12-121h 53
Dice ExploderDesigner Commentary: i know the end (with Nico MacDougall)Transcript
Today I’ve got for you another between-season bonus episode. This time we’re breaking format to talk about i know the end, a module I published earlier this year about going back home after a long time away and all the horrors that entails. Because if you can’t occasionally publish something self-indulgent in your podcast feed, what’s even the point of having one?
My cohost for this is my friend Nico MacDougall, the current organizer of The Awards, who edited i know the end and had almost as much to say about it...2023-12-041h 51
Dice ExploderAccessibility and Graphic Design (Mork Borg) with Marc MuszynskiTranscript
It’s a bonus between-seasons Dice Exploder! Wowie!
As promised back in my episode with Gem Room Games about Mork Borg, today I’m talking about accessibility in game design using Mork Borg’s graphic design as an example. My cohost is Marc Muszynski, a friend and screenwriter with low vision, and we talk in detail about his experience with Mork Borg. Is this game, with all its important and loud art, accessible to people who can’t see? Like with most accessibility questions, It’s Complicated™!
Further reading:
Mork Borg
...2023-11-0949 min
Dice ExploderCustomizing Games for Your Table with Nychelle SchneiderTranscript
On this episode I’m joined by Nychelle Schneider, also known as Mistletoe Kiss, a moderator from the Blades in the Dark discord and contributor to The Wildsea, the upcoming Dagger Isles supplement for Blades, and Underground Maps & Passkeys among others.
Nychelle brought on the idea of customizing existing games, homebrewing mechanics for your table (or even publication). This is... a big conversation, chock full of cool ideas that I hope people take and run with. There are so many games out there, and I think there’s so much to be gained by maki...2023-10-1938 min
Dice ExploderSecondary Missions (Band of Blades) with Thomas ManuelTranscript
Thomas Manuel of the Indie RPG Newsletter and the Yes Indie’d podcast joins me to talk about Secondary Missions, a mechanic from Band of Blades by Off Guard Games.
In Band of Blades, a grim military fantasy forged in the dark game, you and your party go off and do missions. Meanwhile, there’s a whole other squad out there doing a whole other mission! What’s up with them? This mechanic tells us. It’s such a change in the mouthfeel of Band of Blades compare to other forged in the dark games.2023-10-1234 min
Dice ExploderA Five and a Half Foot Long Hand-Printed Scroll (Fall of Magic) with Tasha RobinsonTranscript
This week I’m joined by Tasha Robinson, film editor at Polygon, Games on Demand aficionado, Golden Cobra honorable mentionee, and author of this excellent piece about today’s game and mechanic: Fall of Magic and the five and a half foot long handprinted scroll at its heart.
There’s a lot to say about such a unique physical object, and also a lot to cover about maps in RPGs at large. We get into all of it. Consider this the third part of the travel series this season opened with.
Pack your b...2023-10-051h 05
Yes Indie'd PodBonus: Discussing Band of Blades on DiceExploderHello! A cross-post in the feed today. This in an episode I did with Sam Dunnewold for his podcast, Dice Exploder, where every episode is a deep dive into a single RPG mechanic (usually) from a specific game. I talk about the Secondary Mission roll from Band of Blades which is a very cool mechanic that I love to think about. It basically inspired me to make a whole game at one point. This is an early release of the episode. It'll only be on Dice Exloder's feed by the end of the month. It's...2023-10-0335 min
Dice ExploderBlaseball with Chris GreenbriarTranscript
In the year of our lord two thousand and twenty, many things occurred. But one of those things was the cultural event known as Blaseball.
Blaseball was, more or less, a simulated baseball league that ran one game an hour, one season a week, that players could bet on and then use their winnings to vote for global rules changes. It got... weirder from there. And bigger. And memeier. It became nothing less than a lifestyle.
And then, this past summer of 2023, it ended.
What made it such a phenomenon...2023-09-2844 min
Dice ExploderExploding Dice with Mikey Hamm (KICKSTARTER PREVIEW)Transcript
DICE EXPLODER IS KICKSTARTING NOW
Ignore the lies of previous weeks, the Kickstarter has come early, and you can back it right the heck now. Here’s the link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sdunnewold/dice-exploder-a-tabletop-rpg-design-podcast
Today on this beautiful Tuesday I have for you a preview of the Kickstarter’s backers-exclusive episode featuring Mikey Hamm (Slugblaster) talking about exploding dice. Of course, what else could it be?
And while I thought this episode would be a bit of a goof about a goofy mechanic (and it is), it also brou...2023-09-2607 min
Dice ExploderTransparency with Jason MorningstarTranscript
This week Sam is joined by Jason Morningstar of Bully Pulpit Games, known for Fiasco, Night Witches, and many other excellent games.
Jason brought on transparency, a concept originating in the Nordic larp community, which describes the separation of player knowledge from character knowledge (similar to dramatic irony. We go through a whole library of example games in this one as we talk through genre, safety tools, playing to lose, and the deployment of secrets. Jason’s enthusiasm for this topic is infectious - there’s so much to think about here! If you’re lis...2023-09-2142 min
Dice ExploderGraphic Design // The Calendar of Nechrubel (Mork Borg) with Gem Room GamesTranscript
Double the cohosts, double the mechanics, double the Kickstarters to back! This week, Sam talks with Kali Lawrie and Dan Phipps of Gem Room Games about Mork Borg by Pelle Nilsson and Johan Nohr: its graphic design and the Calendar of Nechrubel.
Mork Borg is famous for the absolute assault on the eyes [complimentary] committed by its graphic design. In this season of the podcast about how mechanics can be more than just rules, I really wanted to cover it. And who better to do that with me than Gem Room Games, authors of...2023-09-141h 00
Dice ExploderStress (Brinkwood) with Tan Shao HanTranscript
This week, Sam talks with Tan Shao Han about stress from Brinkwood by Erik Bernhardt, a character resource originally from Blades in the Dark by John Harper.
This is one of those episodes where to talk about the mechanic in question, we kind of have to talk about the whole-ass game around it because so much of Brinkwood is tied up in stress. And in this case, we really had to talk about two whole-ass games, because so much of what makes Brinkwood stress interesting is how a few small tweaks from Blades in...2023-09-0734 min
Dice Exploder[redacted word] (We Are But Worms: A One Word RPG) with David BlockTranscript
This week, Sam talks with his middle school buddy David Block about We Are But Worms: A One Word RPG, other lyric games, and experimental art at large.
Some topics discussed include:
* Art
* Games
* Poetry
* Lists
The best place to find David is on the Dice Exploder Discord.
But No More: A One Letter Supplement for We Are But Worms: A One Word RPG
You can find Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch @sdunnewold.
Our logo...2023-08-311h 05
Dice ExploderFate Points and Aspects (Fate) with wendi yuTranscript
This week, Sam talks with wendi yu about the Fate Point economy, a meta currency system from Fate by Fred Hicks and Rob Donoghue and published by Evil Hat. Some topics discussed include:
* Getting into storygames
* “Generic” RPGs
* When crunch kills the vibe
* The Hero’s Journey
* The (lack of) difference between rules and flavor
* Writing good aspects: it’s hard!
* wendi’s game here, there, be monsters!
You can find wendi on Twitter @wen_di_yu, and you can buy here...2023-08-2447 min
Dice ExploderCramped Quarters (Uncharted Worlds) with Morgan NuncioTranscript
This week, Sam talks with Morgan Nuncio about cramped quarters, a move from Uncharted Worlds. Some topics discussed include:
* Travel in story games
* Making this move at the beginning, middle, or end of a scene
* Moves as training wheels
* Stonetop’s “keep company”
* Wanderhome
* For the Queen
You can find Mo on Twitter @SirenaBesos.
You can find Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch @sdunnewold.
Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge...2023-08-1827 min
Dice ExploderThe Hex with Clayton NotestineTranscript
This week, Sam talks with Clayton Notestine about hexagons and hex maps. Some topics discussed include:
* The birth of RPGs out of wargaming
* Avalon Hill’s hex map
* The vibes of different numbers
* Why hexes and not squares?
* The hex’s modularity
* How RPGs create stories in the fiction and at the table
* Leaving hexes empty
* Travel in RPGs
* Hex flowers
Clayton can be found @ClayNotestine on Twitter, @ExplorersDesign on Bluesky and dice.camp, at explorers.itch...2023-08-1748 min
Dice ExploderDice Exploder: Season 2 TrailerComing August 17th, 2023: DICE EXPLODER SEASON 2.(Here’s a transcript of this trailer.)That’s right, we are back next week with an all new season. It's 12 new episodes, 13 new co-hosts diving face first with me into the world of tabletop RPG design one mechanic at a time.This is gonna be a season that's a lot about flavor and vibes and how those things themselves are fundamentally mechanics in these games. We've also got a trio of episodes about different ways to depict travel, and of course a few deep dives into crun...2023-08-1002 min
Dice ExploderPick Lists with Ash KreiderTranscript
This week, Sam talks with Ash Kreider about character creation picklists, a common feature of most (all?) PBTA games, as well as many others. Some topics discussed include:
* Character creation speed runs
* Gender lists
* Are pick lists mechanics?
* How Wanderhome doubles the length of its pick lists with This One Cool Trick
* Are pick lists poetry?
Games mentioned
* Apocalypse World
* The Watch
* Blades in the Dark
* Dream Askew // Dream Apart
* Maid RPG
...2023-07-1330 min
Dice ExploderWhispers (The Wildsea) with Ryan KhanTranscript
This week, Sam talks with Ryan Khan about Whispers, a player resource from The Wildsea by Felix Isaacs, but really about a whole bunch of mechanics from The Wildsea. Some topics discussed include:
* Setting as game design, and open ended lore
* Open ended prompts
* Twists vs Devil’s Bargains
* Player agency
* Long skill lists: pros and cons
Games mentioned:
* The Wildsea
* Apocalypse World
* Blades in the Dark
* Heart: The City Beneath
* Spire
Yo...2023-07-0632 min
Dice ExploderDivine Favor (Agon 2e) with Greg SoperTranscript
This week, Sam talks with Greg Soper AKA sporgory about Divine Favor, one part of the dice pool mechanic from Agon second edition by Sean Nittner and John Harper. Some topics discussed include:
- Having a family drama stapled to your character sheet
- Greek Gods: bad parents
- What makes hacking Divine Favor hard
- Endeavor
- Odyssey Aquatica
- All Quiet No Peace
- Starbones
- The setting elements mechanic from Dream Askew // Dream Apart
- ~...2023-06-2938 min
Dice ExploderChange The World (The Watch) with Ema AcostaTranscript
This week on the Dice Exploder podcast, Sam talks with Ema Acosta about Change The World, a move from The Watch by Ash Kreider.
Some topics discussed include:
* The Watch: it’s depressing!
* The Watch and its gender dynamics
* A lot of people will never see this bit of design and that’s okay
* Balancing misery with hope and beauty
* “Just tell the players to do the thing”
* Inducing emotions from technical language
* “Rail shooter RPGs”
* Crying
Games ment...2023-06-2245 min
Dice ExploderTheorize (Brindlewood Bay via Oli Jeffrey) with Victor LaneTranscript
This week, Sam talks with Victor Lane about the Theorize move, originally from an idea by Oli Jeffrey and popularized in Brindlewood Bay by Jason Cordova. Some topics discussed include:
* The history of solving mysteries in RPGs
* The Three Clue Rule
* Jason Cordova’s blogpost discussing Oli Jeffrey’s original Theorize move
* Writing mystery stories VS reading or watching mystery stories VS playing a mystery RPG
* Bullshit
* Quantum villains
* Victor’s advice on running Brindlewood Bay (he’s got great tips)
* Stru...2023-06-1550 min
Dice ExploderDevil's Bargains (Blades in the Dark) with Pam PunzalanTranscript
This week, Sam talks with Pam Punzalan about Devil’s Bargains, one part of the dice pool mechanic from John Harper's game Blades in the Dark. Some topics discussed include:
* Rulebooks as guidelines and play philosophy more than proper rules
* DBs as a safety tool
* Generic DBs
* Do DBs slow down the game? Is that good or bad?
* Retconning in RPGs (it's good)
* Putting DBs into any old game
* Our favorite DBs
Games mentioned:
* Blades in the Dark...2023-06-0836 min
Dice ExploderComposure (Antiquarian Adventures) with Michael ElliottTranscript
This week, Sam talks with Michael Elliott about Composure, a player resource mechanic from Ash McAllen’s game Antiquarian Adventures.
Michael is currently Kickstarting his game Nasty Brutish and Long, a simple RPG about lives complicated by revolution.
Some topics discussed today:
* Failure and conflict, why they're great, and mechanics that encourage players to embrace them
* Genre and mechanics that support it
* Simplifying mechanics when hacking, with Blades in the Dark as an example
* Passing the spotlight at the table
Games mentioned:...2023-06-0134 min
Dice ExploderRolling The Dice (Lasers & Feelings) with Ray ChouTranscript
This week’s cohost is Ray Chou, who brings Rolling The Dice from John Harper’s iconic one page RPG Lasers & Feelings.
Topics discussed include:
* Minimalism
* Underlining genre through mechanics
* Episodic vs serialized stories
* When you should roll dice
* Randomness and fate in real life
* Beer & pretzels gaming
Games mentioned:
* Lasers and Feelings
* Cows and Boys
* Honey Heist
* 316 Carnage Amongst the Stars
* Heart: The City Beneath
* Couriers
Sa...2023-05-2539 min
Dice ExploderDice Exploder: Season 1 TrailerComing June 2023: DICE EXPLODER, a new podcast where each week we break down a tabletop RPG mechanic as deep as we possibly can, with Sam Dunnewold and a rotating co-host.Produced by the Fiction First Network. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit diceexploder.substack.com2023-04-2701 min
Count Me InEugenia Cheng, Part 2Today we feature the second installment of our two-part conversation with the mathematician and musician, Dr. Eugenia Cheng, a Scientist in Residence at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, a concert pianist, and the author of several books including How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the mathematics of Mathematics, The art of logic: How to make sense in a world that doesn’t, and x + y: A mathematician’s manifesto for rethinking gender. Eugenia was born in the UK, earned three degrees from Cambridge including a PhD in category theory, and now lives in Chicago wher...2022-11-0742 minCount Me InEugenia Cheng, Part 2Today we feature the second installment of our two-part conversation with the mathematician and musician, Dr. Eugenia Cheng, a Scientist in Residence at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, a concert pianist, and the author of several books including How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the mathematics of Mathematics, The art of logic: How to make sense in a world that doesn’t, and x + y: A mathematician’s manifesto for rethinking gender. Eugenia was born in the UK, earned three degrees from Cambridge including a PhD in category theory, and now lives in Chicago wher...2022-11-0742 minCount Me InEugenia Cheng, Part 1Today we feature the first installment of a two-part conversation with the mathematician and musician, Dr. Eugenia Cheng, a Scientist in Residence at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, a concert pianist, and the author of several books including How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the mathematics of Mathematics, The art of logic: How to make sense in a world that doesn’t, and x + y: A mathematician’s manifesto for rethinking gender. Eugenia was born in the UK, earned three degrees from Cambridge, including a PhD in category theory, and now lives in Chicago wher...2022-11-0753 minCount Me InBen OrlinToday we feature a delightful conversation with Ben Orlin, author of Math with Bad Drawings: Illuminating the Ideas That Shape Our Reality, Change Is the Only Constant: The Wisdom of Calculus in a Madcap World, and, as of April 2022, Math Games with Bad Drawings: 75 1/4 Simple, Challenging, Go-Anywhere Games—And Why They Matter. Ben grew up in Massachusetts, attended Yale as an undergraduate, and, as he puts it, has taught mathematics to every age between 12 and 18. He finds teaching an appealing career and is particularly interested in obstacles that keep people away from mathematics and how students experience failure in th...2022-10-3156 minCount Me InMoon DuchinToday we feature a vibrant conversation with Moon Duchin, Professor of Mathematics at Tufts University where she oversees the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group which focuses their research on data science interventions for civil rights. Moon earned her undergraduate degrees in mathematics and women’s students from Harvard University and her masters and PhD in mathematics from the University of Chicago. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2018 and she has been a Fellow of the American Matheamtical Society since 2017. In this conversation, you will hear about Moon’s strategy to build the kind of community you want to be i...2022-10-2456 minCount Me InSeason 2 - TrailerJoin Della Dumbaugh and Deanna Haunsperger this fall for Season 2 of Count Me In with Della and Deanna. Listen to interesting conversations with mathematicians about their personal stories of growing up. These conversations will give you insights into the many paths people take to find their way to a career in mathematics and the many people who help them along the way. You can listen to colleagues talk about moments when they felt like they were part of a community—and moments they struggled to feel like they belong. You will laugh out loud when you hear the funny it...2022-10-1702 minCount Me InTensia SotoToday we feature a heart-felt conversation with Dr. Tensia Soto, Professor of Mathematics at Colorado State University. As a very small child, she grew up in a 2-room adobe home in Mexico. She moved to Nebraska soon after and lived on a farm with her 8 brothers and sisters. Tensia earned her undergraduate and masters degrees in mathematics education at Chadron State College. She earned her PhD in mathematics education from the University of Northern Colorado. Her research focuses on the teaching and learning of undergraduate mathematics where she embraces an Embodied Cognition perspective in her work. She currently serves...2021-11-0855 minCount Me InLloyd DouglasToday we feature a delightful conversation with Lloyd Douglas, a mathematician who spent the vast majority of his career outside of academics. Lloyd grew up in Brooklyn, New York where he attended a high school focused on Engineering that had, as you will learn in the conversation, a really distinctive mascot. He earned his undergraduate degree at the City University of New York and his Master’s degree at Miami University in Ohio. Lloyd took his first job with the Navy where he worked on simulation and computer programming for submarines and torpedoes. Eventually, he found his way to th...2021-11-0157 minCount Me InAlicia Prieto LangaricaToday we have a lively and joyful conversation with Dr. Alicia Prieto Langarica, professor of mathematics at Youngstown State University. Alecia grew up in Mexico where she competed in the Mexican Mathematical Olympiad. She earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics from the University of Texas at Dallas and her PhD from the University of Texas Arlington. Her research focuses on the intersection of mathematics and biology, specifically problems related to the medical field. She is one of the four co-founders of Lathisms, a website that features Hispanic and Latinx mathematicians, their research, and their contributions.She received...2021-10-251h 09Count Me InSusan ColleyToday we feature a lively and thought provoking conversation with Dr. Susan Jane Colley, the Andrew and Pauline Delaney Professor of Mathematics at Oberlin College and Editor-in-Chief of the American Mathematical Monthly, the most widely read mathematics journal in the world. Susan grew up in NYC, in Manhattan, and attended a K-12 all-girls school. She earned her undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, otherwise known as MIT, in the Boston area. Her research is in enumerative geometry. She has spent her entire career on the faculty at Oberlin College and in 2017, she became the...2021-10-1851 minCount Me InFrank FarrisToday we feature a remarkably honest conversation with Dr. Frank Farris, Professor of Mathematics and Chair at Santa Clara University. Frank is a fourth generation Californian who grew up in the Los Angeles area. He attended Pomona College as an undergraduate and earned his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He studied geometry and, over time, that original mathematical interest expanded into a rich study of mathematics and art. He is the author of Creating Symmetry: The Artful Mathematics of Wallpaper Patterns which he published in 2015 with Princeton University Press. He has served as editor of Mathematics Magazine and i...2021-10-1153 minCount Me InErica WintererIf you want to rethink your classroom in exciting and innovative ways, this conversation is for you. Today we feature a motivating conversation with Erica Winterer, a PhD candidate in STEM education at the University of Texas Austin where she is working under the direction of Yuri Treisman. She earned her undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering and then taught for two years in the Teach for America program and two additional years at the high school level in New Orleans. Erica calls attention to the importance of parents who model a strong work ethic, the power of regularly reflecting...2021-10-0458 minCount Me InErica FlapanToday we have an exciting conversation with Dr. Erica Flapan, the editor in chief of the Notices of the American Mathematical Society, the official magazine of the society that is distributed to more than 30,000 colleagues every month. Erica earned her Ph.D. from the University of Madison Wisconsin and served on the faculty at Pomona College for 32 years . While there, she authored and co-authored several books, the titles of two of them show her breadth as a mathematician, When Topology Meets Chemistry and Number Theory: A Lively Introduction with Proofs, Applications, and stories. The Mathematical Association of America has...2021-09-2752 minCount Me InZerotti WoodsIf you have ever felt challenged or discouraged, this upcoming conversation is for you. Today we feature an inspirational and breathtakingly honest conversation with Dr. Zerotti Woods, a mathematician in the applied physics laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. Zerotti earned his undergraduate degree from Morehouse College and his PhD in mathematics in 2019 from the University of Georgia. In this encouraging conversation, Zerotti talks about the important insights he gained from growing up in inner city Atlanta, the critical role of mentors in advancing individuals, and the power of a mother and a mother’s voice. Please join us as we...2021-09-2049 minCount Me InTalithia WilliamsToday our guest is Talithia Williams, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College. You may know her from her TED talk “Own your body’s data” or her book Power in Numbers: The Rebel women of mathematics or as the cohost of the PBS series Nova Wonders. She grew up in Columbus Georgia, and did her undergraduate at Spelman College. She earned a masters in Math from Howard, and a PhD in Statistics from Rice. She is committed to making sophisticated mathematics accessible to broad audiences. In this very lively conversation, you will not only see how her life underscor...2021-09-131h 08Count Me InCount Me In - Season 1 TrailerJoin former MAA President Deanna Haunsperger and Monthly Editor Della Dumbaugh as they explore the lives of mathematicians in this podcast to reveal the humanity of the discipline. These conversations will inspire others with their shared experiences of challenge and support, of doubt and devotion, and of isolation and community.2021-09-0101 min