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Playing New Games: 2016 In Review

I wanted to share with you part of the games list I’ve been keeping all year. Inspired in part by starting this podcast at the beginning of the year, and by Epidiah Ravachol’s games challenges / resolutions, I’ve been noting in my journal when I play a game that is new to me and when I play any game with a person I’ve never gamed with before.

I attended five games conventions this year, and had the immense joy of playing with so many new and wonderful people. The “who”s I’m keeping private (it’s a long list too though!), but here’s my list (in roughly chronological order) of games I played this year for the first time. RPGs (including LARPS and storytelling games) are in bold.

Funemployed by Urban Island Games

Monikers by Alex Hague & Justin Vickers

Codenames by Czech Games

Fall of Magic by Ross Cowman

Monsterhearts by Avery Alder / Buried Without Ceremony

Escape the Room (NYC)

Torchbearer by Thor Olavsrud & Luke Crane

Marrying Mr. Darcy by Erika Svanoe

Adventure Time Love Letter by Cryptozoic & Alderac

The Starlit Kingdom by Anna Kreider

Witch: The Road to Lindisfarne by Pompey Crew Design

Golden Sky Stories by Starline Publishing

Microscope by Lame Mage Productions

The Watch by Andrew Medeiros & Anna Kreider

Skeletons by Jason Morningstar

Inspectres by Memento-Mori

Headspace by Mark Richardson

Storium

One Missed Call by Less Than Three Games

Noirlandia by Make Big Things

The Quiet Year by Avery Alder / Buried Without Ceremony

Hades Holiday Party LARP

Shock by Joshua A C Newman

39 Dark by Tim C Koppang

Roll for the Galaxy by Rio Grande Games

Dark Heresy by Fantasy Flight Games

A Fake Artist Goes to New York by Oink Games

Slash by Games By PlayDate

Above & Below by Ryan Laukat

Fortune’s Fool by Pantheon Press

Dungeon Crawl Classics by Goodman Games

Mage: The Ascension by White Wolf Publishing

Urban Shadows by Andrew Medeiros

Kagematsu (for me, the Jane Austen / Victorian mod) by Danielle Lewon

13th Age by Pelgrane Press

Legend of the Elements by Max Hervieux

Masks by Brendan G Conway

Knight Realms LARP

Blades in the Dark by John Harper

The Strange by Monte Cook Games

One Last Job by Grant Howitt

Sushi Go PARTY by Gamewright

RARRR! by APE Games

Bad Beets by Stoneblade Entertainment

AFC LARP (Fairy Tale LARP) from LARPS From the Factory

D&D 5e by Wizards of the Coast

Tales from the Arabian Nights by ZMan Games

Exalted by Onyx Path Publishing

Five Across the Heart by Derek Chappell

Dialect by Thorny Games

Call Center by James D’Amato

Goth Court A Ghost Court supplement by Liz Gorzinsky & Jess Zimmerman

Pasion de los Pasiones by Brandon Leon-Gambetta

Tales of the Crystals by Milton Bradley

Phoenix Dawn Command by Keith Baker / Twogether Studios

Illimat by Twogether Studios & The Decemberists

10 Candles by Cavalry Games

It Was A Monstrous Decision by James D’Amato (a hack of It Was A Mutual Decision by Adept Press)

Coup by Indie Board & Card Games

Millennial Apartment Hunters by James D’Amato / Paracosm Press

NPC by Paracosm Press

AD&D 2nd Ed: Planescapes by Wizards of the Coast

Flavortown by Quinn Wilson

Burning Wheel by Luke Crane

And some games still on the schedule before 2016 is over:

Fiasco by Jason Morningstar

Rock, Paper, Wizard by Wizards of the Coast

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26. Modding 13th Age with J Michael Bestul

Listen to it at oneshotpodcast.com or through iTunes!

Heroes, it has been a HECK of a year, and we’re going out with a bang. J Michael Bestul gives us some hot tips on how to get the most out of modding 13th Age, which is a pretty rad system to begin with. Plus, a little waxing nostalgic in the intro and not one but TWO hidden kitties! Don’t ever say we never gave you nothing.

ICONS J Michael Bestul on Twitter J Michael Bestul on G+ J’s website

BACKGROUNDS Quinn Murphy’s post on Backgrounds Wade Rockett’s post on creating meaningful Icons Vault of the 13th Age

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25. Building A Better Deck-builder With Dan Enders

Listen to it at oneshotpodcast.com or through iTunes!

We’re taking a look at hacking deck-builder card games this week, specifically Cryptozoic’s Cerberus Engine system, with card-game aficionado / hostage Dan Enders. Dan also wrote micro RPG card game The Bite, so this one is just ALL about cards and feeling bad.

DRAW Dan on Twitter Dragon Ball Cerberus hack on Reddit The Bite

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24. Supporting Setting with Mechanics in Jason Pitre’s Sig

Listen to it at oneshotpodcast.com or through iTunes!

Sig is a multiplanar fantasy setting for Jason Pitre’s game Spark, and is a fantastic example of mechanics supporting and reinforcing setting. But, how do you do that thing? Luckily Jason has some experience crafting mechanics that evoke experience and promote setting, so we talk all about it, and his upcoming Sig kickstarter too!

SPARK Jason’s twitter Jason’s G+ Genesis of Legend

SMOKE One Shot playthrough of Sig Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 SH&R Genre Bacon

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23. Join the Secret Society with Keith Baker’s Illimat

Listen to it at oneshotpodcast.com or through iTunes!

Am I allowed to just issue an open invitation like that? Am I going to get kicked out now? Shoot. Don’t tell anyone I told you, okay? Oh good. Since we’re cool now, Keith Baker is here to tell us all about Illimat, and what it was like to create a game from a bunch of components that had already been carefully designed.

CAPTAIN OF EYES Keith’s twitter Keith’s website

THE ILLIMAT Illimat website Twogether Studios Find an Illimat Outpost (game cafes that have demo copies!) One Shot Plays Illimat

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22. Culture Modding with Quinn Wilson

Listen to it at oneshotpodcast.com or through iTunes!

This week we get deep, discussing the role of culture in games and how to approach modifying that part of the fiction. Quinn Wilson, GM of Swallows of the South and noted Guy Fieri enthusiast, leads the way.

THE GOOD GOOD LINKS Quinn’s garbage twitter Swallows of the South Flavortown Quinn Murphy’s Drau

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21. Scaling Games Part 2: GO …HOME?

Listen to it at oneshotpodcast.com or through iTunes!

Technically you don’t HAVE to go home. In fact, stay here for a little while! Jeff Stormer from Party of One, the podcast all about two-player RPGs, is here to talk about playing SMALL games. How do you play or modify games for just two people? Or even ONE person? There’s a lot more out there for the small table, and we talk about it.

PARTY PEOPLE Jeff / Party of One Twitter Party of One Podcast

CROSSOVER Meghan Plays 39 Dark on Party of One

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20. Scaling Games Part 1: GO BIG

Listen to it at oneshotpodcast.com or through iTunes!

Multi-DM games. Multi-table games. The Specials. There are many names for these massive convention games, but luckily for us we’ve got several guests here to help break them down. Geoffrey Peart, Troy Pichelman, and Darcy Ross are all experienced in ways to make your game bigger, whatever the system.

THE SPECIALS Geoffrey Peart Troy Pichelman Darcy Ross

SCALE IT UP Pathfinder Society Events Ontario Pathfinder Society Monte Cook Games Asset Team

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19. (More) Accessibility With Aser & Megan Tolentino

Listen to it at oneshotpodcast.com or through iTunes!

It’s another episode all about accessibility in gaming, this time with blind gamer Aser Tolentino and his wife Megan. Both are extremely talented players and GMs (who you might recognize from The Redacted Files or the Firefly Podcast) and they have a wealth of knowledge to share when it comes to tools and tips for making, running, and playing accessible games.

THE TOLENTINOS Aser Megan The Redacted Files Firefly Podcast

THE TIDBITS Voice Dream Reader Kurzweil 1000 Braille dice on Shapeways 64oz Games (Braille game kits) jsdice.com dice roller Roll20 DriveThruRPG

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18. A Beguiling Homebrew: Converting 3.5e’s Beguiler to Pathfinder

Listen to it at oneshotpodcast.com or through iTunes!

For our first proper homebrew Chris takes us through his process of converting D&D 3.5’s Beguiler class over to Pathfinder. We talk about how to approach a conversion, how to get feedback, and what makes a homebrew appealing to players outside your group.

PART ROGUE, PART WIZARD Chris’ Beguiler Conversion The Beguiler in Golarion

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17. Let’s Visit Mark Richardson’s Headspace

Listen to it at oneshotpodcast.com or through iTunes!

This one goes long heroes, but that’s because Mark has just as much to say about his shared-conciousness RPG “Headspace” as I have to ask, and he’s too polite (Canadian) to tell me to wrap it up already. Jack in, this one goes places!

OPERATORS Mark Richardson Green Hat Designs Headspace RPG

UPGRADES Headspace on One Shot Part One | Part Two

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16. Reflections with Jim and Paulomi

Listen to it at oneshotpodcast.com or through iTunes!

I did this to myself. I made jokes. I let guests talk about L5R. Now he’s here, in my podcast. Jim McClure and Paulomi Pratap from Third Act Publishing are here to talk about “Reflections”, a two-player storytelling RPG about dueling samurai, and the game’s journey from where it began as Tobie Abad’s “A Single Moment”.

SAMURAI Jim McClure Paulomi Pratap Tobie Abad

THE DUEL Reflections Kickstarter Reflections at Third Act Publishing A Single Moment

REFLECTIONS APS Party of One The RPG Academy She’s a Super Geek One Shot

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15. The (Open) Legend of Brian Feister

Listen to it at oneshotpodcast.com or through iTunes!

Open Legend is an “open source RPG” created by Brian Feister with the intent that the system can be used to tell any epic story of your choice. We take a look at how the system is broken down into components and how those can be manipulated to suit your preferred genre.

CHARACTERS Brian Feister

BOONS Open Legend RPG (website) Open Legend RPG (twitter) Open Legend Community

BANES Masks AP Livestream video

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14. Hacking Apocalypse World with Andrew Medeiros

Listen to it at oneshotpodcast.com or through iTunes!

Urban Shadows. The Watch. Andrew Medeiros knows how to hack Apocalypse World, and more importantly, he knows what happened to Janet! Come listen to us chat about why it’s so fun to be Powered by the Apocalypse.

PLAYBOOKS Andrew Medeiros on the web (NorthFireGames) Andrew Medeiros on Patreon Andrew Medeiros on G+

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13. Playing By Post on the GamersPlane

Listen to it at oneshotpodcast.com or through iTunes!

This week, Rohit of GamersPlane shares his experience crafting a dedicated play-by-post space online, and how these games are different and often advantageous to their in-person counterparts. PbP games are a unique experience, and we take a look at how that happens.

SEEKING PLAYERS GamersPlane.com GamersPlane on Twitter

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL AcadeCon 2016 “Tabletop Gaming Has A White Male Terrorism Problem” – Emily Garland “It’s not just video games — tabletop gaming has a harassment problem too”  – Aja Romano (Vox) 39 Dark – Party of One

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12. Beautiful Senshi Hearts, Make UP!

Listen to it at oneshotpodcast.com or through iTunes!

Art by devon

This week we’re basically a Sailor Moon fan podcast, thanks to the creative team behind Beautiful Senshi Hearts, a magical girl spin on Monster Hearts. Josh Kronegold, Anne Ratchat, and James (JC) Holder talk about their game and the magical girl genre. Special guest Lisa Padol.

FIGHTING EVIL BY MOONLIGHT Josh (the pink one) Anne (the blue one) James (the green one) Lisa (the cat)

WINNING LOVE BY DAYLIGHT Beautiful Senshi Hearts

NEVER RUNNING FROM A REAL FIGHT Stop, Hack, & Roll

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11. The Dark Eye with Tim Brown

Listen to it at oneshotpodcast.com or through iTunes!

Studio Manager for Ulisses North America and RPG veteran Tim Brown gives us a look at what it takes to bring The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge), one of the most popular German-language RPGs with a 30+ year history, to English audiences. How are German games different from English games, and what makes the new edition of The Dark Eye so special?

UNSER GAST Timothy Brown Ulisses Spiele North America The Dark Eye Kickstarter