In this episode, Doc & Liv explore the relationship between a tabletop role-playing game’s setting and its system with Brendan Lasalle and Craig Campbell. There are many compelling worlds out there and many fun systems, but how do we match a setting to a system or vice versa? If you are designing your next game or system, our discussion is a great way to start thinking about how your story and mechanics line up to create a beautiful game.

Episode Topics

• Understanding the difference between a game’s setting, genre, tone, and system
• How mechanics communicate what a game considers important
• Choosing a system that supports the experience you want at the table
• Balancing player familiarity with the benefits of trying a new game
• Ways to move from an exciting setting idea to playable rules

Game Spotlight

This week, we discussed X-Crawl Classics (which has adapted its lore and world to several different RPG systems, such as Dungeon & Dragons Fifth Edition) and Capers (which built a new card-based RPG system for its 1920s setting). Did we mention our guest wrote them as well?

Peer Review

This week, we explore [what is the purpose of this peer review]! 

• [Bold Title] by Author(s) (Year) examines [what does it discuss briefly].

Find Us and Our Guests

Brendan Lasalle is a writer and the creator of X Crawl Classics – you can find his games here.

Craig Campbell is the mind behind Nerd Burger Games and the system, Capers.

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